Hey. I hear what you are saying, and I'm glad you have posted it. I guess our opinions differ though because from my perspective:

1)I really believe most people (especially on PC) can be legitimately helped by psychotherapy, friends (on boards or IRL), and coming to some sort of understanding of what is going on for them. I believe that process is really hindered by the very prevalent assumption that mental disorders are neurological disorders that require medication as intervention.

2)I also think that the harmful effects of medications (some of which are above) while others include side-effects and withdrawal syndromes are typically underemphasised considerably. there is a proliferation of advertising which are little more than emotional appeals which encourage people to take medication without informing them of the potential risks.

3)I've taken a number of medications over the years too. for the most part... i found some benefit to them to helping me get through crisis but they simply weren't tenable long-term. because of the line of work that i'm in i am very sensitive to changes in concentration, focus, mental befuddlement etc and i simply didn't manage to find a medication that assisted me where the side effects were manageable. basically, the harms outweighed the benefits for me.

but you know...

i think that is really cool. it means that people can read what you have to say and what i have to say and reflect a little on their own experiences... read about other peoples experiences with respect to how much meds helped and how much they harmed and have a think about other varieties of intervention... and hopefully they will be better placed to make up their own mind.

i hear you saying that you think there is an over-focus on the harms on this board.

i guess i think... that it is important to counter the advertising propaganda and also important to think critically about the current biomedical model that has become the dominant conception of mental disorder.