Bee Mark 2
The above is a better version of my bee or at least I think it is. I can't really draw very well on a computer or anywhere really but I passed an Art qualification many moons ago.
Today's topic or rumination is medication. The popping of pills into cake-hole in the attempt at ameliorating the problem. This has always been an interesting topic or discussion in mental health for me and many others mainly about the effectiveness of taking medication for psychological problems.
An obvious observation is that the effects of ingesting alcohol can be immediately noticeable. Your speech may become slurred, you feel numb, ''anaesthetised' - which alcohol probably could be used for and was actually used in previous times in the history of medicine . You may behave erratically, perhaps become more lively, perhaps become or behave more stupidly. Or you may slow right down and collapse in a heap or fall asleep in front of the telly. You may tell your best or casual friends that you love them irrespective of your orientation in physical pursuits or you may jibber- jabber endlessly, so by the end of the night you have NO friends. Then there is the scene in the curry house but that features in the next paragraph.
The aftermath is that there is a ringing in our head that is not the telephone but our early warning system telling us not to repeat last night's performance. This includes that incident in the curry restaurant.
This is an extreme example to over-illustrate the power on mind and behaviour of swallowing something . Another obvious example is taking drugs as a 'recreation', and the apocryphal and actual stories of going on, for instance, an LSD 'trip' with its hallucinogenic effects This particular recreational drug was used as a therapy I believe in 1950s/1960s detailed by some film star biographies such as the one on Cary Grant. Most people's recreation involves more prosaic trips, like to the park.
Even not ingesting but by inhalation our minds and behaviour can be affected such as the effects of smoking substances such as nicotine and cannabis.
So perhaps with this kind of evidence, substances taken internally and otherwise can obviously affect mind and behaviour. Therefore medication obviously has a potential to offer some way of affecting the mind in a helpful way?
There is the classic mind and body dualistic argument that the body can affect the mind and vice versa. But without getting bogged down, the aim of mental health medication is to somehow affect the mind in a beneficial way. The mind is a concept we recognise that exists but which is intangible. I mentioned the word reify before - I guess it is easier to think and to deal with the mind as part of the brain which is physically obvious and therefore address it in this way through medication. After all, the mind could not logically be located anywhere else?
As we can affect the brain with various types as drugs such as alcohol we should be able to synthesise something that can alter moods, as surely alcohol can? An interesting argument (at least for me) is that as in the above, alcohol can affect people in different ways. As noted some become pacified, some become hyperactive and then pacified and some may not even be physically able to tolerate it all all. As I mentioned film actor Cary Grant, the stage and film actor Richard E Grant reported his role in 'Withnail and I' was difficult for him as he had to drink alcohol which makes him physically ill. It may be interesting to you to note that if it was marketed as a prescription drug, alcohol's side effects would include that incident in the curry house as well as slurred speech, lethargy, hyperactivity, headache etc.
A difficulty reported is that certain types of psychological medication, such as antidepressants have differing level of effectiveness on people. But this is not limited to psychological medicine as medication for physical conditions can also result in differing reactions and effectiveness between people.
Sometimes the very act of taking a pill can provide help irrespective of the ingredients, as in the placebo effect which goes along with the mind-body argument of one affecting the other.
A question which we could apply to any therapy or even medical intervention (as we posted before) perhaps returns to "Does it work for you?"
Also going back to the 'Withnail and I' mention above, perhaps another question could be, is my medication causing me drastic side-effects?
These questions should really be the ones the doctor who prescribed the medication to you would ask you in order that they can do something about it, perhaps changing the type or dose.
I found it essential to report this kind of thing to my doctor when I was on medication and I would rate this as being essential with any type of taking medicine matter.
Remember to Bee careful.

No comments:
Post a Comment