Pills

[LMNO]

seems this isn't what this thread's about anymore, but i took pills to represent any external "fix" for any particular problem.  external as opposed to internal. 

good or bad doesn't really change whether a fix is a fix or not.  not being able to fix your own problems can hurt your pride a bit i suppose and could be construed as bad.

Sometimes they're a fix.  Sometimes they're just what you need.  Sleep.  A hard dick.  A sexy new car.  A vicarious fun, young life delivered via TV.  You can tell by the drug commercials...everyone's good looking, in a middle age way, and they're all so happy and affectionate to each other.  You need this.  Yes.  Yes, you do.

Anything that keep you passive... receptive... quiet.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

seems this isn't what this thread's about anymore, but i took pills to represent any external "fix" for any particular problem.  external as opposed to internal. 

good or bad doesn't really change whether a fix is a fix or not.  not being able to fix your own problems can hurt your pride a bit i suppose and could be construed as bad.

Sometimes they're a fix.  Sometimes they're just what you need.  Sleep.  A hard dick.  A sexy new car.  A vicarious fun, young life delivered via TV.  You can tell by the drug commercials...everyone's good looking, in a middle age way, and they're all so happy and affectionate to each other.  You need this.  Yes.  Yes, you do.

Anything that keep you passive... receptive... quiet.

...and yet productive!

[LMNO]

Well, we don't want no SLACKERS!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, we don't want no SLACKERS!

Pills to sleep, coffee to wake up, booze to "relax", all transforming into a hideous speedball that can only be lessened by obesience to the nicotine gods.

We'll all die on the toilet, like Elvis.

[LMNO]

Don't forget apathetic masturbation.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Don't forget apathetic masturbation.

Oh.  Thought that was a given.

[rong]

Well, we don't want no SLACKERS!

Pills to sleep, coffee to wake up, booze to "relax", all transforming into a hideous speedball that can only be lessened by obesience to the nicotine gods.

We'll all die on the toilet, like Elvis.

like THE KING!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

^This^

But also, they blur in reality.

Yes! They do, and I wasn't even thinking of that. It's hard to tell sometimes where the metaphorical "pills" end and the literal pills begin.

It's an irrelevant distinction.

I think it's irrelevant for the sake of this discussion, because in writing it kind of doesn't matter whether the pills are literal or metaphorical. However, in real life, in specific situations, it is quite a relevant distinction, because metaphorical pills won't keep your heart beating. What I was musing on was cases where, in real life, the boundaries are blurred... not as with you, but as with certain types of happiness pills. I was on happiness pills for OCD for a while a couple of years ago (and a damn good thing) but that particular OCD episode was triggered by something I saw on the internet. Which pill is which? Sometimes it's hard to tell. Metaphorically speaking. Or maybe I'm just out of my nut.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Well, you are talking about somatic oriented pills, i was speaking of psychological oriented ones.

I fail to see a difference.  One treats a heart condition, and one treats a brain condition.  You aren't one of those guys who tells depressed people to "just cheer up", are you?

Like, depression is that sort of thing that you can live with it, because its just a symptom of usually discomfort with your life.

Really?  Because as I understand it, it's usually chemically driven.  I mean, I might be wrong, but you don't think it might have occurred to those with chronic depression that they could just smile, fart rainbows, and fix whatever is bugging them? 

No one is really sure whether the chemical imbalance is a cause or an effect of depression. IMO most depression is a natural and normal response to an unnatural and abnormal environment, rather than the result of a faulty brain, which is why there is so much of it.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I used to wonder why people who had depression couldn't just find some way of getting happy.  I didn't judge people so much as just not understand how it feels, and it's a lot more than a case of the sads.  This much I have discovered.

Thanks to 'pills' I'm able to not feel like killing myself and/or my baby anymore.

Hopefully, my need for medication will pass, but if not, so be it.

Aliantha! Good to see you here.

[BabylonHoruv]

"Pills" is simply a generic, casual reference to prescription drugs, whether they be for a mental disorder, cancer, heart disease, acid reflux, whatever. 

There is this thing that some kids do where they will snag random medications from friends, family, etc., dump them all in a bowl and pop them like they are skittles.  Pill Party.  Also called Pharm Parties, or fish bowling.

And speaking as a brother of someone who has depression in a bad way, I can safely say that JohNyx is full of shit!  My brother if finally to the point where he can actually function in public.  He's going back to college.  And it is because of the "pills" AND the therapy that he is able to do so.  But before they had the medication regimen sorted out, no amount of therapy in the world was helping him. 

Wait, you're in favor of mind altering drugs?  That make you happy?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I used to wonder why people who had depression couldn't just find some way of getting happy.  I didn't judge people so much as just not understand how it feels, and it's a lot more than a case of the sads.  This much I have discovered.

Thanks to 'pills' I'm able to not feel like killing myself and/or my baby anymore.

Hopefully, my need for medication will pass, but if not, so be it.

Pills aren't good or bad, Aliantha.  The means by which they are prescribed can be good or bad.  At least for the "literal" pills.

This.

[AFK]

"Pills" is simply a generic, casual reference to prescription drugs, whether they be for a mental disorder, cancer, heart disease, acid reflux, whatever. 

There is this thing that some kids do where they will snag random medications from friends, family, etc., dump them all in a bowl and pop them like they are skittles.  Pill Party.  Also called Pharm Parties, or fish bowling.

And speaking as a brother of someone who has depression in a bad way, I can safely say that JohNyx is full of shit!  My brother if finally to the point where he can actually function in public.  He's going back to college.  And it is because of the "pills" AND the therapy that he is able to do so.  But before they had the medication regimen sorted out, no amount of therapy in the world was helping him. 

Wait, you're in favor of mind altering drugs?  That make you happy?

This isn't going to happen in this thread.  This thread is not about that. 

[fomenter]

No one is really sure whether the chemical imbalance is a cause or an effect of depression. IMO most depression is a natural and normal response to an unnatural and abnormal environment, rather than the result of a faulty brain, which is why there is so much of it.

this is how i have always viewed it, as a chicken egg thing, a head full of bad/depressed thoughts repeating them self's endlessly will effect chemistry - a brain full of chemistry can cause bad/depressed thoughts

i  personally don't like the types of drugs they give for depression the new gen lithium/prosac, they lobotomize the frontal lobe, its like putting a fast moving car   in first gear the engine revs and gears grind, its not a good feeling i would rather have a normal functioning mind and fight off or deal with depressing thoughts on my own (this is not best for everyone..or in any way reasonable medical advice)

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I also think that depression tends to be an addictive cycle, in and of itself... when I was depressed (and had anxiety issues so extreme that my first husband tried to have me committed... big fun) I actually noticed that I would get out of it and be OK for a while, and even feel physically different, but when something came along that got me down it was almost SEDUCTIVE... the chemistry of depression, for me, almost felt good, while I was courting it. I became convinced that I was physically addicted to my own chemistry changes, and the result was depression-seeking behavior. I can monitor myself for this, and when I notice it I am able to force myself to break that cycle and avoid going into a bad spiral.

Unfortunately, my best writing occurs during bad spirals. I try to limit them to just one night, if I let them happen, and couple them with intense creative productivity in order to maintain a sense of self-worth. And then take a few days to recover.

My little brother put a shotgun in his mouth one night during a bad spiral, so they scare me. My crazy, pretty little poet-soldier would have been 35 this year. If pills could have saved him...