NEUROLEPTIC OR MIND ALTERING DRUGS.

This article is also from the book called, --- The Human Mind.   The word Neuroleptic doesn't seem to be used very much and so a better title might be --- MIND ALTERING DRUGS.   I consider the ideas expressed in this article to be the "kicker" that validates my belief that in many cases, the cause of stress related problems and even that which is currently called mental illness; is nevertheless caused by distorted and conglomerated fears.  It is also my contention that the overriding cause of mental illness is a fear of the feelings of fear itself.        

   

NEUROLEPTIC DRUGS

The cost of avoiding the truth is never fully paid.

(myself)

Bio-Psychiatrists have shown that people who are considered to be mentally ill or are suffering from acute stress disorders, do not have enough of the chemical serotonin in their brain metabolism.  Prozac and other Selective Serotonin Uptake Inhibitors have the capacity to increase the level of serotonin in the brain.

Although this would appear to validate the biological definition of mental illness, further examination is required.  Dr. Michael J. Norden, M.D., has authored an important book called, “Beyond Prozac.”  On page 176, the following quotation from Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz appears: ---

“Psychological treatments clearly produce biological effects on the brain.   My colleagues and I have recently shown that, similar to Prozac, a form of cognitive behavioral therapy is capable of correcting abnormalities in the brain metabolic rates of patients with obsessive compulsive behavior.”   

Giving someone a Selective Serotonin Uptake Inhibitor such as Prozac is similar to giving someone a fish for supper.  Giving someone beneficial psychological therapy, which would have to include knowledge about conglomerated fear, is similar to teaching someone how to fish.

If I have left you with the impression that I would like to see the use of neuroleptic [read mind altering] drugs for the treatment of mental illness --- and/or for alleviating stress, eliminated from further use, then I have misled you.  Just as we now use anesthetics to temporarily block out pain during medical operations, so also will we use these neuroleptic drugs to temporarily block the emotional pain for those whose conglomerated fears have become too severe to handle in any other way.  

The main point to remember of course is that these drugs must only be used on a temporary basis until such time as the correct use of cognitive behavioral therapy becomes available to the long - suffering patient. 

On page 167 of the above mentioned book called, “Beyond Prozac“, we find the following quote by Milton Rokeach: --- “To say that a particular psychiatric condition is incurable or irreversible, is to say more about the state of our psychological ignorance, than about the state of the patients mental health.”  Hats off to you Milton Rokeach!!!  Hat's off to you!!!