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1. Tones text states “Thorazine inaugurated the massive deinstitutionalization of psychiatric patients, chiefly schizophrenics.” (80) She also tells us how Thorazine provided scientists with a “promising research agenda” as they realized that schizophrenia was caused by chemical deficiencies. (80) Is it ethical to place psychiatric patients in a “zombie like state” to control a serious mental illness? Do we do it for the “greater good?” The issue of drugging people into calmness and submission is a “slippery slope.” Kids with AD/HD are given Adderall and told they need it for the rest of their lives. (Whitaker 10-11) What are your thoughts on pharmaceutical intervention as a solution to chemical brain disorders?
2. Tones says that pills were “cheap and easy to take” and seemed a “straightforward route to treat run-of-the-mill anxiety.” (90) What do you think of this statement? What is run-of-the-mill anxiety? The New York Academy of Medicine’s Subcommittee on Tranquilizing Drugs wrote in 1956: “Should there be a pill for every mood or occasion?” (86) Conversely, many physicians in the 1970s and 80s asked if we are depriving severely anxious patients of an appropriate treatment? (215) What are your feelings on how American psychiatry approaches depression and/or anxiety disorder in a time when we are all trying to process the impact of a global pandemic?
3. Chapters eight and nine (Tones) address addiction narratives, the plethora of questions regarding women and pills, and the advertising “push” for psychiatric medications. I watch a lot of television and noticed that the Latuda (lurasidone) and Rexulti (brexpipazole) commercials target women. What things have you noticed in American culture about the targeting of women by drug manufacturers? Why does our media continue to depict women as the victims of bipolar disorder and/or anxiety? I know just as many men who are suffering. Opinions?
Submitted by Bonnie Akkerman I pledge…