The Liberals’ Creed

[Larner]

As for bipolar not being a reason for using drugs--my experience in meeting active and recovering addicts has indicated that very often they are subject to serious biochemical imbalances, and that their reasons for using do indeed include self-medication.

Sport here introduced me to the world of addiction, and so many of his using friends turned out to be subject to clinical depression, bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and so on. Self-medication appears to be a strong reason why some folks play around with addictive drugs but then appear to be able to leave them alone, while others can become drug-centered from their first exposure as the Kid did. I'd never have believed anyone could do that if Sport here hadn't shown me graphically that it is possible.

His addiction also assisted me in realizing what was going on with my own mother when we were growing up. Our family doctor got her on a "sleeping pill" to which she exhibited sensitivity, but when she tried to tell him of her reactions he insisted she continue taking it anyway. Finally she appeared to have adjusted to it, but then the morning after a slumber party she went into seizures and had to be hospitalized.

It was many, many years before we learned that this particular "sleeping pill" which our family doctor had insisted could not be the cause for the problems Mom had exhibited had been removed from the market in the U.S. specifically because so many patients had experienced the same responses--and that it was a serious barbituate. Apparently the reason she went into seizures when she did was due to withdrawal symptoms--skip a dose once you're physically addicted to a barbituate, and it can lead to seizures and even death. But our wow of a physician just decided she had a seizure disorder of unknown etiology and put her on dilantin to control her "epilepsy." The combination of the two medications (he insisted she keep using the "sleeping pill") almost destroyed her and our family. Since then I've learned that alcoholism runs in the family as well as the extreme alcohol intolerance she herself displayed--Dad could drink all night long and never show any sign of inebriation, while if Mom had three drinks over the space of an evening she'd be physically ill for the next two and a half days--saw it happen twice and realized just why she rarely drank anything. Added to my own decision not to drink more than a single drink at a time or to use drugs when I was growing up, seeing how hypersensitive Mom appeared to be to things.

 

[ResearchMonkey]

You ask the Kid if he's receiving entitlements. That, of course, is a very personal question, and I hope he will choose not to answer.

Personal questioning would be “are you mentally ill?” and “what type(s) of medication do you take for your mental illness?” The defendant stated he takes Lithium for Bi-Polar D.O. on his own accord prior to my asking if receives funding from the government.

Since he is being treated with lithium it would lead a reasonable person to believe his condition is chronic and persistent, and Bi-Polar qualifies him for SSI and/or SSDI.

Being the topic is “liberal creed”, and the defendant is indeed quite liberal, I suggest that the line of questioning is reasonable. Making the point that; if he was receiving free money and health care from the government for his condition, it could be motivation as to why he supports redistribution of wealth.

Being a tax-paying citizen, I was only asking the question for rhetorical effect.


- - question with drawn your honor.

As for bipolar not being a reason for using drugs--my experience in meeting active and recovering addicts has indicated that very often they are subject to serious biochemical imbalances, and that their reasons for using do indeed include self-medication.

It's true Bi-Polar’s love meth while they are in the depression phase, but then why do they use it in the manic-cycles? Why do they do other drugs that complicate the issue?

It's not like they are diagnosing themselves and then Rx’ing to alleviate the symptomology. They are just getting high and killing pain like everyone else that gets addicted to a mind altering substance. There are few exceptions, each case is different.

what is different; they often make a mild mental illness much worse.

Drugs and alcohol complicate the situation far more than it helps. The standard reasoning and treatment modality of dual-diagnosis placed no accountability on the dual-diagnosed individual. The more successful newer model of treatment calls a spade a spade and holds people accountable for their actions. (dual-diagnosis is a relatively new speciality field of treatment)

There's research supporting drugs can induce a number of mental illnesses. Either way, it comes down to a choice.

Sport here introduced me to the world of addiction, and so many of his using friends turned out to be subject to clinical depression, bipolar, ADD, ADHD, and so on. Self-medication appears to be a strong reason why some folks play around with addictive drugs but then appear to be able to leave them alone, while others can become drug-centered from their first exposure as the Kid did. I'd never have believed anyone could do that if Sport here hadn't shown me graphically that it is possible.

Ask yourself this: Why so many? . . . why is the ratio so high? What are the common threads (hint; think social)

Mom, and barbs

Yuppers, early modern pharmacology was voodoo. Kennedy was strung-out on Rx'ed speed during the cuban missile crisis. When it comes to today’s treatment of mental health issues, it’s still sorta’ voodoo.


**Learnd’d’er, YGPM