(Submitter’s note: while Stonetoss is normally a reprehensible person with toxic garbage views, this comic hits on a particular bugaboo of mine that seems to happen on all sides, not just with right wing assholes like Stonetoss: shaming people with mental illness into going off their meds.)
Best Disinfectant
image
spoiler 1st panel:
Duck-person with blue and white hair in a purple shit, holding a pill bottle: “I’m a big advocate for mental health”
2nd panel: Duck-person with green shirt, walking stick, and camping/hiking gear: “Hell yeah. Isn’t nature and sunshine great?”
3rd panel: Duck-person with purple shirt looks visibly uncomfortable, as if this idea either never occurred to them or they are somehow adverse to it.
14 comments
Continued submitter’s note (I didn’t want it taking up most of the post!): Shaming and manipulating people into going off their meds has the potential to be extremely dangerous and has resulted in a lot of deaths and general misfortune, and it’s based off the idea that the same things that work for people without mental illness will work for those with it, and if they don’t, the person is a failure, lazy, or not doing it right.
I can agree that mental health management means more than only pills. General awareness also helps to reduce the unnecessary "stigma" (and "big advocate for mental health" can mean just that, acknowledging that there's no shame to have). It can affect anyone anytime, is often temporary, especially if access to services is available. Then many medications need to gradually be reduced over a time period, with professional supervision. Consult a second psychiatrist if you want but let qualified people help, instead of random quacks, who ironically will often try to sell you alternatives that don't work.
Unfortunately antipsychiatry exists, not helping is that it doesn't always succeed and it had a difficult history. A lot of progress was made still. Then if something is marketted as being "as effective as the placebo effect", it's misrepresentation, meaning that it's not effective (the concept is only useful in blind trials to determine if a molecule has an actual effect)...
@Croquemitaine #138222
Some medications need to be reduced over time, and others are designed to be taken long-term. Also, depression is temporary for some people but not all. Those of us with chronic depression have to go a more permanent route, which usually includes a combination of meds, lifestyle things (like eating well and going outside), and therapy. What people like Stonetoss are trying to say is we’re not really depressed, we’re just dumb and lazy so we allowed big Pharma to trick us. They are basing it off an assumption that if the person is on meds, they must not be trying anything else.
@Yutolia #138233
I agree with everything you wrote, your post also helped me to better understand what Stonetoss meant, thanks for that (I didn't click the link so didn't see the actual image, too, only its description).
If one were inclined to be charitable towards that general point of view, there do exist people who refuse to avail themselves of certain options, not because those things are effectively unavailable to them, or are quackery, or are high-cost-low-success-chance, or are too disruptive to their lives, but because the idea of doing it causes distress. Even then, assuming they’ve evaluated this situation correctly (and there’s a good chance they haven’t), people who think this should still butt out because you can’t just “get over” that sort of distress quickly or easily even under ideal mental health conditions, and it’s far harder when you’re suffering depression, so it’s usually far more productive to tackle the depression itself even if it means whatever you’re doing might not necessarily be the best option or combination of options.
PebbleYeet’s particular take is definitely not one you should charitable towards. He’s assuming that fat = unhealthy (not always true), that healthier living is the cure (it would help a little, so maybe in mild cases it would work as a treatment, but in severe cases the effort would drain away what little willpower you have, which is also needed for other things), and that it is a cure (false, if it’s at least partly psychological you need to untangle the root of the issue, otherwise you’re just treating it but avoiding an actual cure, and if it’s at least partly a chemical imbalance then depending on the exact cause there may not be a complete cure).
Huh. Honestly, when I first read this I just figured it was being dickish and offensive in another manner.
My take was the obviously more heavy set, blue haired type was just so aghast at the other person's suggestion of going outside and doing activities, since they're out of shape.
Like someone who has some reason for pills for their mental health is "of course gonna be fat and can't go outside." Finding other takes on people like Stonetoss is always neat to see, because he's so BAD at satire and jokes in general, figuring out his point is rough. The other interpretations or bits of insight are interesting.
Well, f*ck you too, stonetoss! I have a clinical depression for years now. While sunny weather and keeping myself busy certainly helps keep the dark thoughts at bay, I need my medication to keep my emotions and moods from going completely out of control. It’s not a placebo, I’ve tried stopping (under guidance) two times now and each time the people around me told me how much more negative my behavior was. I’ve even tried different medication, and then my loved ones told me I was pretty much an empty husk.
It don’t like being dependant on meds for so long (especially since sometimes they can make me a bit lethargic), but I have no other choice at this point if I don’t want to risk hurting myself.
I have never even needed to medicate for my mental illness, but I still want to tell you to fuck off. Several of my friends wouldn't be alive today if they didn't have meds, and no amount of nature walks would have fixed that.
We don’t see the same kind of stigma against drugs about bodily illness such as pains and cancer. Why should mental health drugs be different? Both allow patients to life normally (and in some case, to live ).
And in both cases, an anti-drug position would only lead to further harm or even death.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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