9 points

Who needs all that science anyway.

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19 points

Antidepressants aren’t a “make you happy” pill.

They are a pill that inhibits serotonin reuptake (in the case of SSRIs) and thereby can help treat biological illnesses such as Major Depressive Disorders (not to be confused with short-term reactive depression, which is psychological in nature and therefore doesn’t respond to antidepressants).

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10 points

You are correct.

But there are a great variation in anti depressants as well as ssri.

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50 points

So, step 1, substantially reduce agricultural migrant labor; step 2, create gulags for the neurodivergent to try to make up the difference? Lovely.

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13 points

My fear exactly.

Doesn’t this kind of thing always start off “voluntary”?

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22 points

Nothing like cramming a bunch of mentally unwell people recently off their meds into slave labour camps. That’ll work out real nice.

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I got an ADHD diagnosis and started on adderall a few months ago. I fucking hate these people so much.

so i guess even if they manage to forcibly detransition me and not just kill me, I have this to look forward to? fuuuuuuck.

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3 points

It may be worth trying to get to a state that’ll be likely to try to fight this nonsense if you’re not already in one. I’m sure that’s something you’ve already thought about, but… this just makes it more dire.

I have to hold out hope that we can protect people to some degree at the state level.

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yeah, I live in Washington state, so I’m covered there. though, I’m not exactly enthused about my life depending on politicians deciding not to capitulate. thankfully, we bucked the trend this election and actually went more left.

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10 points

While I’m not a fan of RFK Jr., this seems to be a misinterpretation of what he’s saying. Regarding antidepressants, he said, “other psychiatric drugs, if they want to, to get off of SSRIs, to get off of benzos, to get off of Adderall, and to spend time as much time as they need…” (emphasis mine)

It seems like, in addition to drug related offenses (which is its own rather thorny issue) he intends for this to be for people who want to stop taking SSRIs, benzos, and other psych meds and need support doing it. I’m not seeing any indication that this would be involuntary, and I’m certain that if he said anything like that the quote would be present, but it’s not.

Having seen how devastating the withdrawal can be for some psych meds, even with tapering, I can’t say that this seems like a bad idea on its face. So many people try to quit psych meds and end up hospitalized; I’ve believed for a long time that there should be some sort of recovery program for people coming off of these medications, because they will 100% mess you up when you start taking less.

Now, adderall I don’t really understand its inclusion here, because it isn’t known for withdrawal.

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10 points

They are never that direct. It starts at one thing and in a few months its in full swing

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9 points
*

“if they want to”

So…

The Chinese government has claimed that the Xinjiang re-education camps were voluntary educational centers aimed at combating extremism and teaching vocational skills…

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5 points

They actually spread multiple different stories about what these concentration camps were. First they denied their existence outright, then satellite photos and documentation was published that proved these were real, so they claimed they were factories, schools, prisons for terrorists, etc. Many of these lies were published at nearly the exact same time.

That’s how we know that they are actually concentration camps, that there is actually a genocide going on.

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7 points

There is no such thing as addiction to antidepressants.

This viewpoint is supported by the Mayo Clinic, The Cleveland Clinic, as well as this 2019 study published by the national institutes of health, which draws from decades of research.

The above sources even clarify that withdrawal symptoms are not a sign of addiction.

Many psychiatric conditions are incurable. As a result, these lifelong conditions can only be treated by the lifelong administration of medicine.

Anyone who does not understand that should not have a say in public policy. Full stop.


Think it through to its logical conclusion.
ADHD does not go away. Depression (for many people) does not go away. Schizophrenia does not go away.
What happens to those people if they ‘voluntarily’ agree to go to a labor camp but never wind up ‘cured’?
Hint: They get worked to death.

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1 point

Many psychiatric conditions are incurable. As a result, these lifelong conditions can only be treated by the lifelong administration of medicine.

I agree with you.

And I’m willing to entertain that maybe the word ‘addiction’ has a connotation that I’m not seeing, but as far as I can tell, there is certainly a physical dependence upon SSRIs. No one is abusing SSRIs or getting high, but if they cause the same withdrawal symptoms as drugs of abuse, and as severely, what would you call it if not addiction? Honestly asking, because I’m willing to be educated here.

What happens to those people if they ‘voluntarily’ agree to go to a labor camp but never wind up ‘cured’?

I would certainly hope that such a facility would be staffed by medical professionals who would be able to recognize “Nope, you need medication” in those cases.

Now, whether that’s what RFK is envisioning here is debatable. And it wouldn’t surprise me if he thought you could just put people to work and they wouldn’t need meds anymore. I have no desire to defend RFK or anyone else tapped to be in the next administration. I just don’t think it’s necessarily a bad idea to have a safe place available for people who need to deal with withdrawals for anything.

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5 points

Addiction has a medical definition, not a connotation.
As previously shown, SSRI’s do not cause addiction, even if they can cause withdrawal or physical dependence for some people.

I guess I’m wondering if support of this policy has to be riddled with asterisks and accompanied by statements that express hopes of how the programs will be run, then why express any support at all for them?

And finally: There are safe places available for people to go if they feel they are having mental health issues that require more intensive care. Mind you, these are really only available to people with health insurance - Regan largely killed off federal and community mental health care in the 80’s. Care that cannot be replaced with a labor camp.
The only proper replacement for that care is rebuilding that/those system(s), and that is not what RFK is proposing. He’s proposing a labor camp to take advantage of and imprison away vulnerable populations.

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5 points

Please don’t give this hateful grifter any benefit of the doubt. He’s been marginalizing the already disadvantaged while fighting against public health for money for decades.

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5 points

Sure. Just don’t expect me to get out of bed on your “farm”, Maggie.

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