Tonight’s discussion really got me thinking about how our western society is all about the quick fix and the magic pill to cure all ills. If you’ve got a headache, take an asprin; depressed, take prozac. We’ve got a multi-million dollar industry that does nothing but think of new things they can put in pill form. It’s as though people don’t want to admit that there are things out there that they don’t understand. Anything that can’t be understood must be surpressed by self-medicating.
I wonder if I am the person I am today because I didn’t get put on pills as a child. My parents let me experience childhood as I wanted to. No Ritalin for me. I think that they helped me get through the tough times, and I think that part of what led me to be the creative person I am today has to do with the fact that my impulses were nurtured rather than shot down. If I wanted to paint, they bought me a watercolour set, if i wanted to play piano, they got me lessons. (Not that we had money, just that my creative instincts were indulged). I spent 1/2 my life at the library curled up with a book.
I stated in class that I don’t agree with Freud. While I still think that he was obsessed with genitalia, I do appreciate the fact that he was working to get people off medications like lithium. I know that while I was on anti-depressants I felt mildly better, but it wasn’t until I went to actually talk to someone that I got better completely. It’s obvious to me that there isn’t such a thing as a quick fix, no matter what modern society may think.
I guess I have Freud to thank for that afterall.
Annaliese
