The science of pharmacology has managed to bring to the forefront many of the mental health issues that plague Americans' today.
By way of advertising, manufacturers have provided the fastest method of de-stigmatization.
Taboo subjects that were once frowned upon are now discussed openly and give consumers a reason to be hopeful.
One such illness is called Bipolar Disorder, a very difficult malady to control.
The name Bipolar Disorder was changed from manic-depression to dispel the stigma of the disorder because the "having of it" was like having the plague.
Thieves, murders, rapists...
they were held to a lesser standard than the manic-depressives.
Although self-serving and for the purposes of stock-holders and finances, pharmaceutical companies continue to develop and up sell the very medications that consumers find essential for life.
If one must justify the onslaught of advertising information of a particular disease like mental illness, it would come in the form of relief; there are those who lack hope and rely on medications to merely exist, or expect with every new pill...
there is a cure.
Through pharmacology, a once closed door might be opened, symptoms of a lifelong illness eradicated, prayers answered, and longevity retrieved.
It is exhausting trial and error until medications make able, but the end justifies the means.
Scientific researchers must not be denied their place of importance.
As they study the body, they bring to the table knowledge that may someday alter lives and change the direction of any illness shared by humankind.
We are fortunate to live in this age of discovery.
We have the benefit of investigators, who by nature are curious humanitarians.
They will not cover up the symptoms, they will dramatically alter future generations by understanding our genomics.
Scientists today are more sophisticated, they are not of the "lobotomy" generation.
But they will dissect your brain, if you donate it to science.
Medication, research, and psychotherapy is found at the fifty-yard line.
When stigma exists, it is often due to families as they perpetuate the stigma by denying the illness or become embarrassed as if it was their own.
Consumers perpetuate the stigma by internalizing the illness as if it is their fault.
It is neither.
The goal is to work together as a unit.
Stigma pushes the ill back, losing site of the goal.
Support groups are a wonderful way of shedding off the old beliefs and allowing the new.
Whether in person or on the wonderful world wide web, support is available.
So the roll pharmacology plays in mental well-being is an important one, but there is a high price to pay.
Those with mental disease are a captured audience and statistics prove it so.
In essence, I suppose you don't have to search for information on their medical marvels, the ads will come to you eventually, even if it is ...
in-between your shows on TV.
Thought for Today: Think positive always and in the worst of times it will carry you.