I read a heartbreaking article in the New York Times today. Soldiers with PTSD, who come home from war with insomnia, anxiety and chronic pain, are prescribed powerful drug cocktails. The cocktails include pain, anti-anxiety, antidepressant and antipsychotic medications. Some soldiers also combine the prescribed medications with other illegally-obtained drugs. The result is a toxic combination. The article describes three cases, but there are many more.
I question the logic of "drug cocktails". How can you know the effect of a drug when it's combined with many other drugs? There are so many interactions and side effects to disentangle. I understand that these soldiers are in pain, but can't psychiatry provide better care for them?
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Psychiatry, by and large, cannot, because they aren't providing better care for the bulk of their civilian clients. I am shocked at the number of drugs individuals are being prescribed. One young man I know, aged 22, whose real problem is his mother, is on four drugs. Four prescription drugs might be understandable in cases in the elderly, but for a 22 year old?
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