>>My personal opinion, is that people are looking for escape goats, like smoking, it has been decades now that people have been warned about the dangers of smoking, there are people sueing the tobacco companies

amen to that. plus is not only the "lack of taking responsibility" thing but also the "sue 'em!" thing that has been getting worse and worse. It's like a mentality that having an accident or illness is like hitting the lottery... CHA-CHING!"

Remember this one from a while ago, woman had her baby in one of those wheelie things, that you put the baby in and they can propel themselves around with their feet. So OK, the POINT of this thing is that your baby, who can't walk yet, can now move around on their own. That's number one. so this woman leaves the baby unattended. Now I don't have kids but I know that you do NOT leave them just unattended in the kitchen especially when they are in a wheelie move-around-by-themselves device. so that's TWO. Number three, while leaving the baby alone in the kitchen, she left the DOOR TO THE CELLAR WIDE OPEN. Guess what happened? (baby was OK I think, just a bit hurt nothing serious) but of course GUESS WHO GOT SUED. the stroller company was forced to put a warning label on the strollers.

I really wish I was the person in charge of creating the warning labels. I could manufacture them in bulk for every company very cheaply because they would all be the same: "WARNING: DO NOT BUY OR USE THIS PRODUCT IF YOU ARE AN IDIOT"

So anyway, back on track, I want to say again that I do not think that the possiblitly of anti depressants causing suicide should be kept secret or is nonsense and should be forgotten (as I said above, even if it turns out it is not directly related to the medication, just an effect of getting one's energy back because the AD is working---that is STILL something that is important and must be disgused and should be warned about by the doctor to keep an eye on and report anything IMMEDIATELY)

it's just that when the media picks up and runs with this it comes out of context, and this is a great "media" story because of the irony, "hey it turns out the meds they put you on to prevent suicide actuall cause suicide" and most people take that as a "fact" like everyone gets every side effect to everything. This is something that yes, the FDA should be investigating, and yes, doctors primarily have a huge response to inform their patients and warn them about this, and i also believe that news like this should be available so I'm not saying it should be kept out of the media, but when it is presented like a new discovery and like an absolute fact (the implication I believe is that even if this side effect is very rare it is "unavoidable" when in fact the proper focus should be to remain aware of it, monitor it, and make an informed decision as to whether you want to take this med or not (it may scare people even if they are properly informed but at least they can make their decisions with proper info not some headline in a newspaper)

the big problem here is that there is still such a stygma involved with mental illness, and also a huge amount of fear and stygma about medications, along with a lot of false rumors that add to that stygma. Seeking treatment for this is hard. People have no problem coming up with excuses not to seek treatment... they can deal on their own, they know they need help but are afraid their family will find out etc etc we don't need more sensational "news" that can REALLY scare people off. "Hey I'm depressed, should I see a doctor?" "NO! I just read that if you see a doctor they give you pills that cause you to commit suicide"

yes i'm ranting...

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
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