A CHOICE – DRUGS OR PSYCHOTHERAPY, CHOOSE WISELY

PUBLIC SERVICE ESSAY
A Choice – Drugs or Psychotherapy, Choose Wisely
“There’s Not a Drug on Earth That Can Make Us and  Our Life Worthwhile, Meaningful and Fulfilling.“
Joseph W. Ferrara, EdD
www.soundmentalhealth.com

Unfortunately, patients report they are being told they have a “chemical imbalance,” an ethical crisis of our time. Essentially, our bodies produce chemicals or ancient neuro-transmitters naturally, i.e. serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine to exclusively control both our sensitivity and reaction to physical pain. This capability is not to be equated with artificial mood-altering drugs such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil or any other type of medication propagandized and prescribed to “cure” anxiety, sadness, agitation, hostility, fatigue, guilt, depression or suicide through some “chemical balance”. At best, drugs only mask these symptoms and camouflage their causes. At their worst, they create infantile dependency and attachments. Neurons like drugs/chemicals are mentally and emotionally mindless, i.e., medications cannot cogitate nor produce insight, rational choices or healthy consequences but suppress and restrict behavior. Our electrochemical brain housed in our mammalian body does not know the difference between our pain of a broken arm from our pain of a broken heart. Instead, our unconscious mind and the social context of our background involuntarily actuates mental images which in turn generates compulsive needs, wishes, feelings and desires. These mental images are then transmitted into the neuron structure of the cells in the tissues of our brain. Our brain, through our sensory-channel experiences becomes a trainable and educable human mind with intelligence, memory and an imagination, then forms an indelible, obsessive memory of the mental image or context which, in turn, becomes a compulsive habit in our relationship with ourselves and others. There’s not a drug on earth that can make us and our life worthwhile, meaningful and fulfilling.  Consequently, if you want to advance scientific truth and the health, safety and welfare of the public, kindly pass this essay on to others and contact

to require warnings on drug labeling which state that drugs cannot:

• Resolve the thoughts, mental images and feelings of repressed, traumatic memories,
• Change dysfunctional needs and subsequent inappropriate choices,
• Foster problem-solving insight, fulfilling priorities and realistic aspirations,
• Dissolve interpersonal, social and occupational barriers in career and professional relationships,
• Modify personality content, structure and functioning of the multiple growth areas of self-esteem,
• Eliminate compulsive self-defeating habits and undesirable consequences,
• Master the dangerous obsessive urges, fantasies, wishes and desires of our common human unconscious.

Just like an iceberg, our total life experiences which make up our distinct background or unconscious lies concealed below the waterline of our past. Thus, the above are some of the self-actualizing, curative accomplishments of what cost-effective and time-productive psychotherapy can achieve which will simultaneously improve the quality of people’s life and life expectancy. Through sustained psychotherapy, people can heal their past, enjoy the present and have a happier and successful future for themselves, their family and our society.