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Letters
One of the letters about "Mental Illness Meets a Bullet" offers a solution that could've come straight from the pages of a George Orwell novel. Many people don't realize how dangerous psychiatric drugs can be, particularly when someone is just starting to take them, or when they are trying to stop. Under these circumstances, the drugs themselves can cause a person to behave more rashly and bizarrely than they would've if they had never taken such drugs at all. There are plenty of resources devoted to getting people to start taking these drugs, but almost no support available for people who want to quit taking them. As a result, people sometimes withdraw too quickly instead of gradually tapering down their dosage, or they don't know that the strange feelings they are having are a result of the withdrawal, rather than something inherently wrong with them. Many psychiatrists probably don't even know how to help someone safely withdraw from the drugs that they have gotten them hooked on. And even if they did know how, there isn't much incentive for them to offer this kind of assistance. This despite the fact that there are many health hazards associated with long-term use of most psychiatric drugs, and most people taking them would have much better chances of recovery in the long-run if they didn't continue to use them for years on end (and there have been studies to show that as well, although the people working for the TAC would probably like to deny it). Forcing someone to take drugs that they don't want to take, and euphemistically calling it "assisted treatment", is dangerous and deceitful.— December 11, 2010 12:03 p.m.