First Appointment- medication?

I do acknowledge this, stopdog. I absolutely agree - I highly encourage anybody and everybody to thoroughly research and consider any meds recommended, whether psychiatric or otherwise. Education empowers people to be able to make the decision about their healthcare that's right for them. Knowing the situation with medical companies, the dangers involved, the side effects, recognizing that some might not work for you or even cause worse problems - that's vital.

To be entirely clear, it is specifically these comments:

That I take offense at.

If you don't want to take them for whatever reason, don't take them. If you are upset at a corrupt system, you stand against that corrupt system. If you're worried about the way drugs can be overprescribed or cause harm, you read everything you can get your hands on. That's great, knowledge is power. You're welcome to research, to educate others about the dangers, the problems with the industry and the doctors and the medications themselves and their effectiveness or lack thereof.

But (and none of this is directed at you, stopdog, or the OP), don't presume to tell me what my needs are because a book or blog told you I don't need medication. Don't tell me that the drug that's helped me doesn't treat my issue. That's insulting. You might as well be telling me there's nothing wrong with me at all and it's all in my head.

To try and put this in perspective, imagine the following:

"These chemotherapy drugs don't "treat" anything."
"I would question whether any human being requires insulin… ever."

If you wouldn't say these things about other types of medication, don't say them about psych meds. (If you *would* say those things about other types of medication, to people who take them...I don't even know what to tell you.)

Again, I apologize for getting this so off topic. I wish the OP the best. I believe I'll just see myself out at this point. I'm at a loss as to how I can make this more clear, about why I feel insulted by these comments and why I feel that attitude is very harmful toward people who are mentally ill and take medication.

Well I meant psychologist at first but now I am thinking psychiatrist, I have seen a therapist in the past and a psychologist as well but for some reason I thought they could give medication. I am still looking for a psychiatrist at the moment though instead because of the medication.

My therapist specifically said psychologist so I don't know why she would tell me that instead of psychiatrist.

Thanks for help though everyone! Didn't mean to start a debate

No, if you are looking for medication treatment, you'll need to see a psychiatrist as they are medical doctors. It is a common misunderstanding. Hope you find the help you are looking for.

But that's the thing, there is no evidence for the theory that any mental disorder is due to a chemical imbalance, and that psych drugs correct such an imbalance. 50 yrs of outcomes literature and data show the exact opposite.

Understood and agree about the emotion, it is serious stuff. But I can;t leave your above statement about chemical imbalance unchallenged either. If you make such an emphatic and cateogorical statement in a public forum, I imagine you'd have evidence to back it up?

Sorry if I caused offense with the "I would question whether any human being requires psych drugs… ever." comment. Maybe I am being overly provocative with such a statement. But I did qualify that by saying that acute/emergency situations could be different. Still… I should be more careful with my words. I did not intend to be so judgmental.

I have a real stake in this too, as I have had enormous pressure from family, doctors, therapists to drug myself. And I have a relative who is in real trouble and SSRIs are part of the problem I believe. I have an acquaintance who is on a cocktail of 4 psych drugs and is suicidal, hears voices, has tremors. It is tragic.

The insulin for diabetes argument is exactly the way psychiatry and pharma have attempted to frame mental illness. Problem is it is a baseless assertion. If you study the literature, the theory died long ago. The belief lives on.

Maybe I should start a new thread...