Some Thoughts

Generally speaking, I am not against the proscribing of certain drugs for psychological symptoms. They have their place, and to a limited degree, they work for some people. That is about it.
My objections to the way drugs are proscribed to teenagers and children are numerous, however:

1) The safety of the newer anti-depressants in developing bodies over the long term is not
established
2) Many times the drugs are proscribed for reasons that have never been studied
3) Medications do not work better than therapy
4) Most proscribers have a very limited working knowledge of their patients goals,
subjective experience, or social world
5) Interactions with other drugs have not been studied. The all too frequent cocktail of anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, anti-anxiety meds, seizure medications, et al have no basis in empirical research
6) Interactions with street drugs have not been studied, this includes street drugs such as Ritalin, Seraquel, and Xanax. Nor have interactions with pot or birth control pills. Or alcohol.
7) Many doctors, and of course ALL the drug companies, have a vested interest in increasing the number of prescriptions filled.
8) The diagnosis of a mental health problem has never been demonstrated to have any bearing on the outcome of the treatment. The diagnoses themselves- such as Bi-Poloar Disorder, Schizo-affective Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder- are not distinct from one another, often blur into one another, and are rarely agreed upon by clinicians.

Safety, integrity of diagnosis, and transparency. These are the big, big problems with prescribing psychiatric medications to young people. Certainly there are times where there is no choice but to insist on meds. But the dangers are very real and the process is so murky that we should be very careful.

And most psychiatrists are not.

(edit: inexplicable misspelling of "prescriptions" and "prescribing")

Drug Free School Zone News

(from Furious Seasons) This is maddening: court documents released today show details of so-called call notes made by Lilly sales reps of visits and golf games with doctors in South Carolina, where the company was working hard to get doctors to switch patients to Zyprexa, even for unapproved uses. There were basically payoffs going on, the State of South Carolina alleges in a lawsuit against Lilly, and some of that involved reps making bets with doctors during golf games. One doc agreed that for each time a sales rep made par during one outing that he'd start a new patient on Zyprexa, according to Bloomberg.

And then there was this:

"Lawyers for the state pointed to a sales note from Sullivan in which he tells another salesman to tie a doctor’s Zyprexa prescriptions to participation in a speakers’ program.

"The company paid doctors and psychiatrists to address physician gatherings about the benefits of the antipsychotic. 'If his numbers go up, maybe he can talk,' Sullivan said in the August 2001 note."

The state's case against Lilly could go to trial later this month. Lilly told Bloomberg that the notes were taken out of context. Yeah, right.

At this point a question has got to be asked: why the hell are the doctors who keep taking payoffs from pharma companies--a la last week's Pfizer settlement--not named publicly? Why are they still practicing medicine? Why are they facing no discipline of any kind?

On the Contemplation Front

Today the TAS contemplative ed program begins. Seven students and I had a hour long meeting to discuss what they are interested and how the group should be formed. Generally speaking, they are highly interested in pursuing their art practice in a more self-learning mode, in various types of body practice and healing techniques, and going on retreats both in school and away. Of considerably less interest is sitting meditation.
Along the way manner interesting ideas were suggested: exploring hypnosis, care of animals, encouraging student teaching, fundraising for the school, exploring "spooky" stuff and how it relates to sprirituality, and finally, the idea of a Zen patch, a tiny, private plot on school property that a student takes care of. This is instead of a rather involved Zen garden.

For me, the most remarkable idea was suggested by one of the students when we were trying to figure out how to actually form (and allow) a membership. Basically, each interested student will pursue a project for a week, and while doing so, will allow those efforts to show them whether or not they want to join the program. For instance, one student, a guitarist, will approach his guitar practice as a meditation for the week. He will share his experience doing so with the others, and evaluate for himself joining the program. Another student is going to spend her week encouraging other students to come up with ideas for their own student teaching and student developed classes.

The beauty of it is their enthusiasm and openness. This is a real opportunity to create a group of "leaders"- not student council presidents, but young men and women who set an example for self-reflection and awareness.

Happy New Year!

    What is ahead?

   No one knows. Sure, we have orientation and schedule making and classes to sign up for, and some get to know get togethers and a few talks. And a satisfying meal, of course. There are new students and a new teachers. We must catch up on rumors and news, aspirations and worries. But there is no "year" ahead of us, only endless opportunity to be exactly and totally in the present.

   But first, let us tear the devil out by the roots. What devil? Ah, the devil of Multitasking, that handmaiden of mediocrity:

   ...researchers at Stanford University published a study showing that the most persistent multitaskers perform badly in a variety of tasks. They don’t focus as well as non-multitaskers. They’re more distractible. They’re weaker at shifting from one task to another and at organizing information. They are, as a matter of fact, worse at multitasking than people who don’t ordinarily multitask.

    So strive to do one thing at a time, and do it well. Watch and listen, and concentrate, as if your life depends on it! The link is here