(no subject)

[pengke.livejournal.com]

I’m sure everyone has read someone’s post on this community or read a comment that made you stop and think, “I don’t believe you.” If you haven’t, either you don’t read the threads very closely or you work very hard not to think critically about anything you read here, because there have been some very outrageous claims made here over the years. (But that’s an entirely different discussion.) I want to know what people think when they come across one of these statements that they just can’t believe.

Do you:

A) Think the person is lying.
B) Think the person is knowingly role playing
C) Think the person believes that they are multiple but is probably unintentionally role playing or some other form of imagination
D) Think the system is lying about the experiences
E) Think the system is knowingly or unintentionally role playing the experiences
F) Think the system is adhering to the community’s cultural norms/trying to fit in
G) Think the system probably honestly believes their claims even though another explanation seems more logical to you
H) Think the system probably started out making things up but has since convinced themselves that their claims are true
I) Worry that you might be making things up too or that someone else might think you are
J) Think something else entirely – please share

Also, do your thoughts change depending on why you can’t believe the statement? For example, is there a difference between someone claiming to do/be something that you think is impossible and someone contradicting themselves or claiming that something happened in real life that could not have happened?

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Well, I like you too, what little I know of you from what I read here, and even though we disagree about a number of issues. But since all you know of me is what little you read here, I don't see that you're in any position to know whether or to what degree I'm "sane" or "rational", and that's why your opinion on that particular topic doesn't matter to me.

By the same token, I'm not in any position to judge how sane or rational you are. However, I have taken Prozac, for two years in the early 90's - I used cocaine back in the 80's, though never as a regular thing - I have watched a dear friend deal with full-blown cocaine addiction, and I have watched several others go through Prozac addiction. Based on my personal experience and observation, I don't think there is much difference between the two drugs, except that the effects of Prozac are slower and more subtle.

If you care to read the links (by qualified medical practicioners) that I've posted, you will see that Prozac is not a "mild drug" by any definition. Type "prozac survivors" into your search engine and you can read about the experiences of hundreds of others who originally held the same opinions of that drug as you hold, but have since altered their opinions rather drastically.

You can cease to respect me for my opinions about "psychiatric medications" if you like, but that's not going to change them. And you can resent the fact that I think the use of mind-altering drugs of any sort lessens a person's credibility about certain things, but that's not going to change it either. My opinions are based on a great deal of personal experience with drugs, a great deal of personal experience with drug-users, and a great deal of research into the topic - I stand by them, and if someone doesn't respect me for holding them, that's okay with me.

I have never known a drug-user (of any drug) who didn't resent having their drug-use criticized, and deny that it was doing them any harm, so your reaction doesn't surprise me. And no, I don't think drugs are a healthy way of "dealing with whatever is so wrong in their brain/body/life". Psychiatric medications may relieve symptoms for some people, but they don't actually fix anything, any more than morphine fixes a broken leg.

This is not to say I think a person whose symptoms are causing them unbearable distress should not have any relief. If I broke my leg, I'd sure as hell appreciate some painkillers; if a person's mind/emotions are so broken that they can't function, psycho-active drugs may be the only thing that helps. However, if you do nothing for a broken leg besides take morphine, it's not going to heal; what you'll end up with is chronic pain and morphine addiction. The same is true for the use of drugs to numb out mental/emotional distress.

A lot of drug-users (both self-medicating and doctor-medicated) who vehemently deny that there's anything wrong with their drug use and resent anyone saying there is eventually get off the drugs and admit that the people who urged them to do so were right after all. In a few years, you may be one of them, even though you don't believe it at this time.

If not, then not. What you do to your body is your own business, and I don't expect you to heed the words of some person on the other side of the planet from you, of whom you know nothing but what you've read on a Livejournal community.