We're weeding out our geniuses. We're killing off our prophets. We're drugging our messiahs.
Were she alive today, Sylvia Plath would be on anti-depressants. Salvador Dali would be on anti-psychotics. Beethoven would be on Lithium. Newton would likely be committed as well as heavily drugged for his multiple, pervasive mental illness symptoms.
Don't even get me started on Jesus Christ.
Heroin addiction is as much a symptom of spiritual malaise as it is a cure.
[...]
If you're thinking that medications would have decreased these people's suffering while allowing their gifts and talents to be explored, I'd suggest reading Ken's book for a sobering look at the effects of Lithium. Then, go on Google and look up some common mental illness medications, their symptoms, and their side effects.
Perhaps the drugs would have prevented some suicides, though even that is questionable (as you'll find on your search - many medications have been linked to suicide). But suppose they had. Then we'd have artificially extended their lifespans allowing them to fade into obscurity, known by few, admired by fewer.
23 comments
So you want them to have no access to modern medicine... Because you might have fewer things to read. Never mind the suffering of real human people who didn't need to suffer.
You sick, sadistic and grossly selfish pig of a creature!
Wow, another Mother Theresa, thinking there is something good about the suffering of other people. Plath could have written more. Dali could have painted more. Beethoven could have composed more. From the standpoint of the individual, dead is dead, and neither fame nor obscurity makes any difference at all.
Uh huh..
Having faced severe depression, hallucinations, sleeplessness (48+ hours on a weekly basis for months at time, psychotic episodes, currently suffering from PTSD, voices, sucidial ideation, and other various conditions.
I'm well qualified to tell you to fuck off and take your precious point and shove it. Those meds are all that keep some people alive and functioning. Therapy is all that keeps us sane and balanced.
So fuck off and DIAF.
Anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and the like can fuck with your head if your not careful. It''s easy to become dependent on them and use them as a crutch. It can take a long time to find the right meds, and the process is a hellish one when you're constantly going off and on them. The side effects are brutal sometimes.
1) Um, Sylvia Plath was prescribed anti-depressants and you have no idea what she might have gone on to write had she lived.
@Old Viking
"Congratulations, Vironika, you're a strong contender for the Most Bizarre Observation of the Year Award."
Also the Most Bizarre Name of the Year Award too: 'Vironika Tugaleva'.
'Ivana Humpalot' ring any bells, Viralknickers Tugandleaveya? Oh, Behave ! [/Austin Powers] X3
Chemical analysis of Beethoven's hair showed that he had a severe case of *lead* poisoning, which may have contributed to his mental problems. The analysts were actually looking for mercury (which was used as a treatment for syphilis at the time), to see if Beethoven had ever suffered from syphilis. No mercury was found in his hair.
"The most High hath created medicines out of the earth, and a wise man will not abhor them ." --Ecclesiasticus (a.k.a. Sirach) 38:4
He'd be in an insane asylum. Where else do you put someone who insists that we prioritize taking care of the sick and the poor?
They are to be held in contempt. Everyone knows that.
I regularly see a psychologist & psychiatrist and I take Prozac. I've been getting a lot better.
If Sylvia Plath had adequate psychiatric care, she probably wouldn't have put her head in the oven.
EDIT: Oops! Plath did get help. Sorry about that.
many medications have been linked to suicide
Not sure why this is fundie. Loss of creative drive is a well-known side effect of many medicinal psychotropics. I suffer from MDD, GAD, visions and occasional voices, I'm on a combination of several anti-depressents, anti-psychotics and extremely powerful painkillers for my arthritis and the side effects are hellish.
Now, that said, the meds are the only thing that keeps me alive and (sometimes) functional and my loved ones would rather have me here at 80% capacity than dead at 100%, even if there have to be days when I can't come out of my light-sealed bedroom.
Maybe I'm reading this differently to everyone else but I don't see the OP as actually advocating for people to give up their meds but for simply noting that the meds come with a trade-off; you lose some mental capacity in exchange for living longer.
If Jesus were alive today he's just be yet another religious nut and probably have his own megachurch. Instead of "give all you have to the poor" he'd probably be preaching the prosperity gospel.
But what about all the people suffering from mental illness who have no artistic talent? Why do they have to suffer?
"We're weeding out our geniuses. We're killing off our prophets. We're drugging our messiahs."
Don't worry Vironika, you're definitely safe then.
blah blah, suffering poets need to suffer, blah. There are bipolar people who take meds when they feel they need them, but would not opt to be 'cured' if that were possible. Some people are able to manage meds without losing any creativity. Having a competent doctor helps.
@ Anon-e-moose - Vironika is merely a variant of Veronica. Tugalev is not an uncommon surname, and Tugaleva is merely the feminine version. Can't hold a candle to British names like Glasscock, Dungworth, or Smellie.
Sylvia Plath would be on anti-depressants. Salvador Dali would be on anti-psychotics. Beethoven would be on Lithium.
None of these people were an a priori danger to themselves or others; they'd only get those things if they wanted them and asked for them. Actually, nowadays we're less likely to commit people involuntarily than we were in the past.
@nazani14
"Can't hold a candle to British names like Glasscock, Dungworth, or Smellie."
Such is our British sense of Irony. Also our ability to laugh at ourselves.
Mike Myers, brought up on British humour, realised that too, re. "Austin Powers".
A genius is he, Vibratingknickers Tugyoualova. X3
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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