I think it is very dangerous promoting this sort of misleading science. South Australian's are currently being cut off of long term pain relief for chronic pain sufferers. This is happening to hundreds of people with very severe medical conditions. The drugs of Dependence Unit forces people off their medications without ever seeing the patient or talking to their GP (according to the patients I have spoken to)*. The patient has no way of fighting the Drugs of Dependence Unit's judgement for if they do they are labelled as addicts and forced to go on the methadone program, where they are treated like common addicts and criminals. Nor are their GP's able to fight for them as they are not given the opportunity and the doctors all know what happened to DR Ian Buttfield when he tried to fight for his patient's rights and well being. This sort of story is just giving Doctors another excuse to not offer proven and established pain medications. The real story is what is happening to people in chronic pain in our hospitals and long term pain sufferers in our community. Who is going to stand up for these marginalised people and is anyone going to be held accountable when even one of them finds their pain impossible to cope with and commits suicide?
A concerned health professional.
*For further information examples see Dignity for Chronic Pain Sufferers http://sacfs.asn.au/news/2011/05/05_21_dignity_for_chronic_pain_sufferers.htm
Dear Leslie, This is an important segment and I thank you for your engagement in this subject. It seems to me that the unspoken element here as to why it works is belief -- a word that we all know is loaded with connotations both positive and negative. Belief is often associated with faith, worship, as well as brainwashing, a lack of critical acumen, and blind faith. What is belief? Indeed, there was also a tie-in with the story on the 99 week+ unemployed aired on Sunday in which we saw people's beliefs about themselves shift radically once they felt empowered. Let me suggest a follow up study on belief, and the mind...and how the mind does indeed affect the body. Wellness may yet be demystified for many. Thanking you for your intent and interest.
I am a medical and clinical psychologist with experience working with people on and off medications. While I don't prescribe, I have extensive training in psychopharmacology as well as skills more typical to clinical psychologists, e.g., psychotherapy and psychological assessment. My clinical experiences are consistent with findings that show that what makes the most difference in helping a patient get better is the therapeutic relationship. Part of what makes for a good therapeutic relationship are the therapist's skills and ability in identifying - and helping the patient identify - his or her emotional and interpersonal-relational needs so that those needs can then be addressed through a number of avenues, e.g., exploring and working through conflicts and painful feelings (e.g., associated with loss, trauma, grief), support and developing communication skills with more satisfying results. How can a medication alone do these things? It cannot. Medications can in some cases support and facilitate the therapeutic process through reducing the worst symptoms while the patient and therapist work collaboratively towards more meaningful and lasting positive change. Some psychologists are currently prescribing medications which is promising because the medications are then being utilized in a context where the prescriber is especially informed about the relational and emotional needs of the patient, i.e., rather than being prescribed just to "mask" over symptoms, a situation that all too often happens with prescribers from professions not so well-informed about the psychological and emotional needs of the patient. I am glad CBS and 60 Minutes aired this important episode, bringing the public to greater awareness about psychotropic medications and their limits as well as their (sometimes) benefits,
As a medical psychologist I have been treating patients for years who are now dependent on pharmaceuticals. The key question to always ask is,"How long is in necessary to use the medication?" Most patients opinion and that of the prescibing physician is " the rest of your life." This cannot be seen as a cure rather a dependancy. The best is always to treat the cause of the problem. Not the symptom. Medication without therapy is not effective treatment of psychological problems. Thank you for bringing this issue to the forefront for Americans to begin to understand.
At www.nappp.org some of us did a white paper reviewing the science on this a year ago (see: TruthinDrugs Campaign at that web site). Some of us have published infor about the "hoax" of some of these claims that these drugs are "stand alone inteventions" (without pschotherapy) for depression. This is a great little film, but fails to realize that some psychologists prescribe these medicines also, or recommend them to prescribers, but with the requirement for psychotherapy and that they are a "technique that might help a little" along with therapy, but not a stand alone intervention.
I found your report on the placebo effect to be very interesting. I have been trying to convince my psychology students for years just how powerful the placebo effect can be. Your interview also demonstrated one of Pamela Meyer's techniques from her TED Talk on How to Spot a Liar when at the beginning of the interviewing with Michael Face he nodded his head yes while saying that he didn't believe Irving Kirsch placebo research. You might want to watch that segment over for yourself, because ironically Face's face seems to say what he truly believes. Truly classic.
Thank you for all the segments you have done on the brain, memory, and other medical research, I use them often in my psychology classes.
It was great to see someone finally discovered what I've known for 12 years. In 1998 I was prescribed Zoloft, then moved to LexaPro. From the very beginning, the Psychiatrist trained me to Kiss the pill in the morning!!! I always knew exercise treats my depression better than LexaPro but because of the terrible withdrawal effects, I went back to it many times. The worst thing is the side effects of these drugs, which is suicidal ideation and impotence. Thank you for your studies and your 60 minutes interview.
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A concerned health professional.
*For further information examples see Dignity for Chronic Pain Sufferers http://sacfs.asn.au/news/2011/05/05_21_dignity_for_chronic_pain_sufferers.htm
http://www.dfps.org.au/
This is an important segment and I thank you for your engagement in this subject. It seems to me that the unspoken element here as to why it works is belief -- a word that we all know is loaded with connotations both positive and negative. Belief is often associated with faith, worship, as well as brainwashing, a lack of critical acumen, and blind faith. What is belief? Indeed, there was also a tie-in with the story on the 99 week+ unemployed aired on Sunday in which we saw people's beliefs about themselves shift radically once they felt empowered. Let me suggest a follow up study on belief, and the mind...and how the mind does indeed affect the body. Wellness may yet be demystified for many. Thanking you for your intent and interest.
Dr. Jeffrey Cupchik
Dr. Jeffrey Cupchik
Dr. Jeff Cole
Binghamton, NY
Dr. Frank Lucchetti
Sonoma, Ca.
I found your report on the placebo effect to be very interesting. I have been trying to convince my psychology students for years just how powerful the placebo effect can be. Your interview also demonstrated one of Pamela Meyer's techniques from her TED Talk on How to Spot a Liar when at the beginning of the interviewing with Michael Face he nodded his head yes while saying that he didn't believe Irving Kirsch placebo research. You might want to watch that segment over for yourself, because ironically Face's face seems to say what he truly believes. Truly classic.
Thank you for all the segments you have done on the brain, memory, and other medical research, I use them often in my psychology classes.
Sincerely,
Bob
It was great to see someone finally discovered what I've known for 12 years. In 1998 I was prescribed Zoloft, then moved to LexaPro. From the very beginning, the Psychiatrist trained me to Kiss the pill in the morning!!! I always knew exercise treats my depression better than LexaPro but because of the terrible withdrawal effects, I went back to it many times. The worst thing is the side effects of these drugs, which is suicidal ideation and impotence. Thank you for your studies and your 60 minutes interview.
Sincerely:
Dariush Mahdavi
dmahdavi@roadrunner.com
Phone: (310) 954-6034