Doctors and Mental Health: The Real Problem Isn’t You.

My experience with mental health systems started as a teen, maybe earlier. We never could afford much, and as an adult, that hasn’t changed. My story is not some lovely recovery arc. PTSD and everything that comes with it still challenge any sense of “getting better.” A lot of my struggle isn’t just internal—it’s against the world, this real one, where protections are vanishing, rights are up for sale, and suddenly, we’re Russia’s sidekick.

I am 63 and have been through countless counselors, programs, and situations—some helpful, many intolerable. Nothing said in this post should be taken as medical advice, I am just sharing my own truth. This post addresses a trend where your general practitioner, your regular doctor, asks you about depression or gives you that silly depression checklist. That little thread exposes a world of potential harm.

Have You Been Feeling Down Lately?

Today, you fill out a questionnaire, but it amounts to your doctor asking you if you are depressed, only it’s streamlined like an efficient little side business. Your regular doctor gets paid when they prescribe antidepressants or refer you for additional services. Yeah, it’s a bounty system. If you are talking to a doctor, you have some insurance that will cover it. Right?  I don’t play this game any longer. I will tell my doctor I am depressed but that they should mind their own business about, unless they will take 30-60 additional minutes to explore it with me. These doctors have little to no training on mental health issues, yet they prescribe dangerous drugs like SSRIs and much more dangerous medications.

What Dangerous Mental Health Meds Can GPs Prescribe?

Antidepressants (SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs) – Prozac, Zoloft, Lexapro, Cymbalta, etc.

Anxiolytics (Anti-anxiety meds, including benzodiazepines) – Xanax, Valium, Ativan (highly addictive, but they still prescribe them).

Antipsychotics (for bipolar, schizophrenia, even “off-label” for depression) – Seroquel, Abilify, Risperdal, Zyprexa.

Mood Stabilizers (for bipolar disorder, but also used for depression & PTSD) – Lithium, Depakote, Lamictal.

What Is the Reality?

I had been homeless but clean (no hard drugs) for a few years, after spending 5+ years homeless and using hard drugs in another state. I had a local person take interest in me, and she convinced me I wasn’t a horrible person, I was just going through mental illness. She was awesome and right, but what followed was less than awesome—or right.

You see, I needed help, and she drove me to a larger town where I saw a psychiatrist. In a 15-minute session where he took a phone call in the middle of it he decided I have PTSD, hypervigilance, social and generalized anxiety, agoraphobia for a short list. I am not saying he was wrong. I have added diagnoses in the years since, not recovered. Recovery isn’t the goal. Keeping us in the system is.

So, this was all covered under Oregon’s health care system. It didn’t cost me money, at all. Even the Prozac that we swapped out for Paxil were free. These drugs did nothing good! Coupled with no access to counseling, this was a dangerous direction. The best support I found was the local A.A. meetings. I love the 12-step programs and feel they are great, not perfect. Contacts I made in A.A. helped me get a part-time job. Then, just like that, I lost my way to pay for Paxil. It’s more than my pay, and I just lost OHP. Oops. That’s the system for you.

I nearly didn’t survive the rapid detox off of Paxil. Today, I still have self-harm ideations that I never had before—more than 30 years later. For more than a decade, I also had physical twitchiness. Honestly, some people handle drugs better, or so I thought. You see, I went back to feeling it was all my fault and I should just accept my fate.

Drugs Aren’t All Good.

GPs have been able to prescribe many of the drugs discussed here since they were developed—but was that ever really the best idea, or just the easiest solution? Since the 1990s, GPs have ramped up prescriptions for these drugs based on minutes of questioning and a two-page ‘mental health check-in’ form you fill out in the waiting room. I’m not the crazy one here, the system is.

I am more sad than angry. That YOU might go see your doctor about back pain and come out with a prescription for one of the new mental health “solution” scares me. I can say that I have been hooked on Crack, METH, God, and tried a lot of others, nothing was as dangerous as Paxil.

The Most Overlooked Solution?

Common sense should prevail. Doctors are in business to earn a living, many blindly follow protocols and many don’t. Often the protocol is to earn as much as they can in 15 minutes or less. Your GP may not be the most knowledgeable or experienced person to discuss antidepressants or other mental health solutions; in situations like this, a second opinion is often a wise choice.  Depression isn’t a random lightning strike—it has causes, and most GPs won’t bother to ask the right questions. A recent change in your diet? A shift in sleep habits? Stress piling up from relationships, work, or life itself? These things matter. If your mental health has taken a sudden hit, there is a reason. Before accepting a prescription as the “solution,” consider whether you’re addressing the cause—or just medicating the symptoms for someone else’s profit. The system isn’t here to fix you. It’s here to bill your insurance.

Supporting Facts That Challenge the System:

• Diet and Depression: Studies show that reducing ultra-processed food intake improves mood and energy, while high sugar consumption increases depression risk by 27%.
• Nutritional Impact: Eating one orange daily may reduce depression risk by 20%, emphasizing how small dietary changes can have a big impact on mental health.
• Lifestyle vs. Medication: Preventive cognitive therapy has been found as effective as antidepressants in preventing relapse, showing that mental health solutions extend beyond prescriptions.
• Long-Term Risks: Research links prolonged antidepressant use to increased heart disease risk and cognitive decline, reinforcing the need to explore alternative treatments.

Before accepting a prescription, ask yourself: Is this treating the cause—or just covering the symptoms?

The Answer Isn’t in Their Prescription Pad
The medical system thrives on treatment, not cures. It’s easier (and more profitable) to prescribe than to listen, to mask than to fix, to treat than to heal.

You are not a diagnosis. You are not a profit margin.

Before accepting a quick prescription, ask real questions. Challenge the checklists, the rushed 15-minute consults, the pre-approved solutions.

Who benefits from your treatment—you, or the system?

If it’s not you, then maybe the real solution lies outside their office.

 

Hey, I have a shop now!