What to Do ?

Read an interesting article today in the New York Times about Lotus Therapy, aka Focused Awareness , aka Mindfulness. This is a new psychiatric therapy you can read about here and make up your own mind.

After reading this I was really bugged; not by whether the therapy works but by the doctors. ( of course) One specialist saying it's the best treatment for mental disorders, another saying no it makes things worse. Then there's the doctor who says it works, but only for severe cases, and another who says the opposite, no its only good for mild cases.

I get the impression that nobody in the health care profession is interested in what is right. That ego gets in the way of patient care. There's no cooperation to find solutions , only competition to push their own agenda.

Then we have the poor soul, the patient , a person suffering from anxiety disorder or severe depression who goes to one of these specialists. Say they get the doctor who thinks it's the best therapy ever. The patient tries it and feels no better. The doctor always has an out . The doctor can say" Oh you just didn't try hard enough or" you didn't follow the instructions" but maybe that isn't so. Maybe in fact the treatment doesn't work. Maybe the poor soul, the patient, will get the doctor who doesn't believe in this treatment and yet it could be the best thing ever.

So what do you do ? Drag yourself from one doctor to another until you get the right therapy , the one that works ? What really works ? Will these doctors ever get their act together and try and find solutions and do what they're supposed to do .Help patients get well. Sure our health is our responsibility. We should inform ourselves to make decisions about our health to make the right choices. Not so easy when you are so depressed , busy thinking of ways to do yourself in, or you have such bad anxiety you're afraid to go outside.