Degree in Anthropology =/= qualification to talk about psychiatric medications

So I got this link from matociquala, and I went right to Helen Fisher's video on the site, because I know her from a lot of programs concerning sexuality.

And most of her talk was informative, funny, and wonderful.

Then she got to the bit about antidepressants, and her warning about using them long term. And I sort of lost some respect for her, especially because her reasoning for not using antidepressants long term was that it kills the sex drive and that love is necessary to life.

Which I found to be so horribly ignorant of her.

Yes, the sex drive is nice and all - but it is not the end all, be all of life.

Furthermore, long term antidepressant use is the only way that some people can keep from offing themselves. I challenge her to try to live with massive, chronic depression or other such disorders and say that love is all you need.

The fact of the matter is that while there do need to be some changes in the way modern psychology/psychiatry operates, and the way medicines are used - I don't think using the sex drive to justify yanking people off of medications that allow them to lead a bearable existence is it.

I also challenge her to live with the weight of chronic depression or OCD or anxiety and see if love is all she needs.

That's what I hate about people who dispense advice about psychiatric medications who aren't actually on any themselves. They have the privilege of getting to live a life where their brain hasn't gone out of control. They have the good fortune to look down on all of us druggies and psychos, because they've never had to be in a place where they literally did not know if they were going to be able to last the night (or the next few hours) without harming themselves or others.

I think Helen Fisher made the mistake of speaking outside of her expertise. She's an anthropologist, not a psychiatrist or a psychologist or even a neurologist.

And it's a little shameful that someone with her amount of neurological knowledge and know-how would say something like that. Surely, she of all people, realizes that depression is not just a feeling. It's not just a bad day. It is a state of being in which the chemistry of your brain has gone so out of whack that you stop functioning.

Telling people to "just snap out" of depression is like telling someone to pull themselves out of a black hole. The nature of depression is that it prevents you from being able to do that because it shuts down your ability to think straight.

I'd also like Tom Cruise, if he's still in there somewhere and hasn't just become ScientologyBot2000, to have to see his wife turn into a shell of herself after severe post-partum depression. Let him see what happens when someone he loves can't quit crying, can't get out of bed, can't function, can't sleep, can't eat, can't think, is always tired, just sits and stares at the walls, and doesn't want to talk or go out of the house. That is, if he actually gives a crap about her and isn't just keeping her as a slave girl in the closet. I have my doubts as to whether Tom Cruise still has feelings, or even free will.

I think Helen Fisher, in her talks, neglects that sex and love are a part of life, not the sum total.