I Didn’t Know
Anything Was Wrong…

Many addicts, in an attempt to handle their addiction, have found themselves sitting in front of a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist’s seemingly sole purpose was to prescribe drugs and psychoanalyze our lives to “determine” why we use drugs. Given nothing but a prescription and a new label, we left their offices just slightly more broken than we were when we first entered those doors. No tests were given, no labs were drawn and we were diagnosed with mental illnesses and given strong medication. Doctor’s sign a Hippocratic Oath to “Do No Harm,” yet time and time again psychiatric drugs have proven to be dangerous and lack the ability to heal an addiction.

DO NO HARM

“…I will exercise my art solely for the cure of my patients, and will give no drug, perform no operation for a criminal purpose, even if solicited far less suggest it.“

—Hippocratic Oath

Below is a narrative of one of my visits to a psychiatrist’s office.

As I sit across from the doctor, he studies me for a moment and then scribbles some notes down on a sheet of paper that only he can see. I’m sure it says something to the effect of:

“Important note: patient is a nut job.”

Or maybe that’s just me passing judgement on myself. Gotta love insecurity, but hey, isn’t that why I’m sitting in this chair right now?

I find myself wondering what the doctor is thinking…does he think I’m insane? Sinking into the gray, padded leather chair I hear the doctor mutter something to himself as I look around the office.

There’s a pad of blue sticky notes on the shiny, black metal desk that says “Prozac” on it. Next to it there is a mug that says “Effexor” and it contains about 4 pens that also bear the same markings. I hear the monotonous ticking of the clock perched on the wall behind the doctor that says “Abilify.”

“Only 28 minutes left and I can get out of this office. God I hate being in here,” I think to myself.

This guy doesn’t understand me. I don’t care if he has an MD or a Ph.D. Apparently I have ADD, PTSD, GAD, and MAD. He doesn’t know what it’s like to jones out for a line of coke. Man, that sounds good right about now. The doctor finally looks up from his pad and says:

“How have you been doing since your grandfather died?”

“Fine, I guess.”

“Have you been sad?”

“Um, yeah, my grandfather and I were really close.”

“Have you been using?”

“Yep.”

“Mmhmm. Well, I think it would be best to increase your Wellbutrin and I’m going to prescribe something for the insomnia.”

The doctor grabs his trusty prescription pad, writes two scripts, tears them out and hands them to me.

“I think this will help” he says.

Oooh, look, Xanax. Here we go again, more drugs. That’s right doc, throw meds at me. I AM an addict ya know…jeez. This guy doesn’t get it. I didn’t even realize anything was “wrong” until the doctor told me there was. Apparently, it’s not “normal” to be sad because of a death in the family and it must be treated. But who cares, I’m picking up an 8ball on my way home and everything will be just fine.

My mid 20’s has not been kind to me, struggling with drug addiction, lost relationships and being a college graduate, working as a waiter. My parents thought I was having trouble “adjusting” or “finding myself” and set me up with this quack to “talk” about my problems. All he does is medicate them away. I don’t think he spoke to me for more than 10 minutes during our first meeting before he started prescribing me medication. Now I live in a cocaine, benzo and anti-depressant-induced haze. I’ve tried “traditional” rehabilitation programs 4 times and it’s the same scene…give drugs to get off drugs because we’re all crazy.

This is too often the scenario for many drug addicts. Not given the right tools and treatment to succeed, we get perched in front of psychiatrists who talk to us for 10 minutes, determine that we’re mentally ill and prescribe intense pharmaceuticals.

What happens then?

We get lost in a sea of mental health diagnosis, labels and medication, furthering our low self-confidence and self-worth and imprinting our minds with the idea that something is drastically wrong with us. This does NOTHING to handle our addictions and actually adds an impetus to it. Drugs don’t take the cravings away or heal the mental anguish. They don’t reverse our past bad decisions nor act as a prophylactic against them. They turn us into mindless drones. The true zombie apocalypse.

A shift needs to occur in the regular treatment of addiction. Psychiatry has proven ineffective time and time again at handling an addict. Of course addicts portray symptoms of bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. They’re on drugs. You can’t properly diagnose a person as “mentally ill” who is on drugs or who just recently quit.

No chemical in this world can create sobriety. A person has to do quite the opposite…get the drugs out completely. Follow that with some basic life skills and actually handling a person’s problems and you have a basic, yet comprehensive strategy to quell an addiction.

The right treatment exists and no addict needs to go through the rehab “trial and error” process.

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction call Narconon Suncoast to speak to a counselor today.