Struggles and Solutions

So I have an issue.

Well, I'm sure that comes as a surprise to no one. :P

But really, I have an issue. I'm supposed to be taking anti-anxiety medication, because I get very easily stressed out, and then I feel all panicky and upset and I cry and it's all a messy, painful, unpleasant ordeal. So, you know, when this really became an issue, I went to the doctor and she put me on this low, low dosage of anti-anxiety meds! OK, cool. My boyfriend likes to complain about people who are on medication for anxiety/depression, and says they're all whiners, babies, etc. OK, whatever. I even wrote this column for the Exponent in which I discussed that, and the need for our society to be more forgiving of mental health issues. And I still firmly believe that.

But after going through this certain class (I won't say which or go into any more detail, because I think it would be too easy for you to find names and that would be highly unethical on my part), I learned that several of my classmates are also on anti-anxiety or anti-depressant medication. Now, this makes me wonder: is our society becoming too dependent on things like this?

I know we are very unforgiving of people who truly do have these problems, that truly, truly is an issue. But for so many people to be put on them... now another problem, as I learned in my Psychology of Women class, is that doctors are very likely to prescribe anti-depressants to women right off the bat,even when their symptoms are due to something else. My professor herself had an example of this: she had a severe eye problem, which she worried was a certain disease that ran in her family. She went to the doctor and was told that he was going to start her on anti-depressants and to come back in 6 months, or whatever. She was shocked and angry, since she was having problems with her eyes with very good reasons (such as hereditary, hello?) to worry that it was this certain disease. She sought other opinions and it turns out that she was right.

Another lady from a different class told us about this severe problem she had with her reproductive organs. It took her years to finally find a doctor who would listen to her and run a few tests to diagnose it, and still they were dismissive of the problem. I myself have been dismissed by male doctors and have, for that reason, vowed never to visit any but a female physician for matters of depression, reproductive health, and things like that. To try to protect myself a little, I'd hope.

OK OK, but I'm veering off topic from the depression/anxiety thing and scooching over into the failings of women's reproductive health systems--antoher of my favorite topics and extremely important and likely to get me all hot under the collar, if you'll forgive the cliche, but not really the point of this post.

The point of this post is really a self-relflection that I'm sharing with you because it affects college students. College kids are, I think, one of the age groups most likely to be diagnosed with and treated for depression or anxiety disorders. Now that's no surprise--think of the things with which we need to deal! Moving out on our own, new friends, new responsibilites, tougher classes... all that stuff! I'm just worried that maybe we are losing our ability to cope on our own and have begun automatically turning to medication instead. How do we determine who is truly depressed and who maybe needs to work on developing better coping skills, sans medication? It's an important question, I think. And it makes me wonder about myself; should I take my anti-anxiety pills (I haven't really taken them much--I'm awful at remembering to take meds), or should I maybe just see a counselor and work on better coping/ non-procrastination techniques?

Plus, haven't you noticed that things seem to go in waves? Perfect example: ADD. A few years ago, it started up, and now it seems like every kid I hear of who is a little highstrung or misbehaves is diagnosed with ADD and handed a bottle of pills. Yikes! Some kids probably need it, but don't you think some kids should maybe just join a sport and/or receive a little actual... I dunno... parenting once in awhile? (This has been somewhat of an issue with family members, that's why this one is a bit of a sore spot with me)!

But these are just my opinions. I have a lot of them--that's why I'm the Opinions Editor, after all. A position I'd really love to keep, but I guess we'll see.

But any of you--how about it? Does anyone actually even read these things of mine? I feel like they don't, since I seem to have so few comments psoted. But if you *ARE* reading it, please drop a comment and give me your opinion! I'd really love to know!

Oh, and please remember, anyone who *IS* reading this: I'm not saying that every person diagnosed with anxiety/depression/ADD is a fake or just needs to grow up. I 110% believe that these conditions are real, serious, and it is imperitave that they be treated and that people be tolerant, accepting, and understanding of them. I'm just worried that we might get lazy and start diagnosing everyone with them--which I'm sure you all agree cannot be good!

Poetry Contest

Hey!! The weather is *fantastic* outside, I love it!! The whole rain and springtime thing is amazing. No frost on my car when I'm running late for work is also fantastic.

Right now I'm preparing for a Poetry Contest; deadline tomorrow. One of my favorite professors, Stormy Stipe, is in charge of it. I can enter 2 fiction pieces, 3 poems, and 2 creative non-fiction: i.e., personal essay or chapters of a memoir.

I kind of want to enter this other essay that I wrote in high school, though. It's modeled off of Swift's "A Modest Proposal," and it's extremely hilarious if I do say so myself. Satire is my forte, my high school English teacher said. I wonder if I could re-construct it a little so that it would fall into the personal essay format. Hmm.

I'll have to give it a try. I'll let you know how it goes...

Anyway the contest is great. This is the first year they've done the creative non-fiction section, though, so the prize money is a little less than other years, but that's OK. Money would be awesome, but I also really need to win. To show myself that I'm a good enough writer to be making a career out of it, you know?? I didn't win last year (the only year I've entered), which was a huge disappointment. Wish me better luck this time...

Exam

By the way, if any of you are wondering how my exam went, let's just say: NOT WELL AT ALL.

I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. studying on Thursday night. The beginning of the test seemed like it was going good, as did the last few questions, but that middle part! Awful! Same with the short answer and the essay questions. I'm really worried about my grade now. Ugh!!

It was one of those things were you feel like you had grasped the basic aspects of it, but you didn't really have the terminology down pat, and got all confused as to what was what. I tried drawing things out for myself, but it was no use.

I'll let you know how it went. I was getting a pretty decent grade in the class before this.

Relax

It's nice to finally be able to relax. I realized today that this is the first time in forever that I've actually been able to sleep in, since on weekdays I have class and on weekends I work. Crazy!

I watched "300" with my mom and sister tonight. My mom watched it only because we made her. I guess she doesn't really like the whole swords-and-spears thing unless there's just a little bit of it and the rest is like, romance or a story of the people, or whatever. She doesn't even like "Troy," which I know a lot of people don't but that's usually because they complain about Orlando Bloom or whatever, not because they don't like war stuff.

Me? I love the swords-and-spears-and-archery thing. Really, really love it. I'm not so much for the bombs and guns thing, though. I personally feel that the world would be a better place if we tried more diplomacy, and the fighting that does occur takes places the good old-fashioned way: with archers and sword-fighters and honorable warfare. Don't you think?

Lost Power Cord

Well I lost my power cord for my MacBook for about a week. Finally found it in the Exponent office. I should have known. My earbuds were in there, too.

My computer there died, apparently, and was restored to me last night, but Quark (the program we use for laying out the computer) didn't have all the correct fonts and things, and so I had to use Dan (the layout editor)'s computer. He was very nice. He has a bad cold or something like it, and had a lot of medicine that he said made him incapable of being angry at anyone (not like he's usually angry--he is very nice), so that was really good because I was so frustrating last night. To myself really, and therefore probably to others around me.

Then my assistant showed up, and... well, let's just say some things about her really rub me the wrong way at times. But I can't say much about her, even on here in case someone reads it, because she is easily upset and then her boyfriend gets involved eventually, and he's my friend. One of *THOSE* situations, if you know what I mean. LAME.

Really, I think I just need a break. Spring Break is next week, I have an exam on Friday that I'm not at *ALL* prepared for, though... I just hope I make it all right. WISH ME LUCK.

Playing nice with the other kids

I *FINALLY* finished my column for this week. I just couldn't figure out what to write about, and it was hard getting started. Once I decided though, it flowed easily, though it ended up at a different place than I had originally thought it would.

I'm going to post it on here a bit early because I know that most of you who are reading this probably don't have access to the Exponent (although you can read it online). It's important, I think, because these are the types of things that you learn in college. Respect and tolerance are a *MUST* both in college and in real life, and the sooner we all figure that out, the better.

Here it is:

Religion is giving me a headache. I'm not ashamed to own up to my beliefs: I believe in medicine, art, science and God. They co-exist peacefully in my mind and give me a comforting and hopeful outlook on our future. It's obvious, however, that not everyone is as content as I. The biggest mystery for me remains the hypocrisy that is tearing religion apart. Hypocrisy has been a destructive and unfortunate part of religion ever since the beginning of time. From holy wars to anti-abortionists bombing clinics and murdering doctors, humans seem incapable of learning their lesson, no matter how many centuries pass. My boyfriend once found an anti-Islam pamphlet in a bathroom and showed it to me. It was a cartoon of a Christian helping a Muslim to "realize" that his religion came from nothing more than pagan beliefs and that "Allah" was just another product of paganism. I nearly choked to death on my frustration. Apparently the cartoonist didn't do his homework, or he would have realized that a) Allah and God are one and the same, b) Islam regards both the Old and New Testaments as religious texts, and c) that most Christian rituals stem from pagan beliefs and rituals as well. Yesterday I saw a bumper sticker in a parking lot that I really liked. It simply said "co-exist," the letters constructed of various religious symbols. "Yes!" I thought. But why are we as humans so incapable of co-existence with one another? Why do we squabble and argue and cause so much hurt and pain for one another? I don't pretend to know all the answers to everything, not by any stretch of the imagination, nor do I claim to always be exempt from prejudice. But if I could hazard a guess, I would say that it comes from ignorance. We are ignorant of one another, and it is easy to hate what you don't know. As for solutions? A wise, philosophical friend of mine once told me that what the world needs is something to bring it together. It needs an invasion of zombies or aliens to make us all band together for a common cause. Zombies seem too unlikely, and the Star Trek timeline doesn't put us at first contact with the Vulcans until 2063 after practically everyone is dead from World War III. So in the meantime, I'm going to say that what we need to do is to learn. We should try to become interested in and understand other cultures, to discover how much we have in common, to integrate some of our differences into our repertoire of beliefs. If we all (myself included) make more of an effort to do this, perhaps we can skip WWIII all together.