At the outset, I would like the readers of this entry to know how much I love you as a person and for the many kindnesses you have shown to me personally in the past, and for inspiring amcha.
I too am struggling. I don’t know what to make of your article on medication.
In Pirkei Avot, 3:17 (d) it says, “a protective fence for wisdom is silence.” I believe that despite your good intentions, by opening up the issue of medication, you have entered a very difficult and complex terrain where silence may have been preferable. You oversimplify a complex matter, and I felt that on balance, your comments erred to the side of the judgmental.
And Sam, because you are a celebrity, you have to be mindful of the influence even well-intended words may have on people who admire you greatly.
At the risk of oversimplification on my end, let’s talk about personality-numbing prescription drugs for a moment.
The drug Ritalin, for example, one of several drugs prescribed for the treatment of a range of Attention Deficit disorders, is given to children and adults alike, and is effective for a few hours. When the drug wears off, the person who takes it reverts to what you describe as a freer, more creative state. In other words, Ritalin is not a life sentence depriving a person of their Hashem-given creativity and insights during all of their waking hours.
On the other hand, the woman you describe in your article seems to have a different problem altogether. If she is hears things, sees things, or feels things the rest of us rarely (if at all) experience, it may not be Ruach Hakodesh. She may suffer from a bipolar disorder (e.g., schizophrenia). For such people, the fine line between reality and the imaginary is blurred. It is difficult to distinguish one from the other. It is entirely possible that the medication she requires to live in a “normal” world demanding “socially appropriate” behaviors is also protecting her from the harm she might inflict on herself or others; ultimately it might even save her life. I appreciate that your story is anecdotal and some details may have been left out, but I do not get the impression that you know this woman well enough to diagnose her medical problems and know what is best for her.
I work closely with people like this woman, and their lives can be a living hell. What they sacrifice in savant genius, spirituality or creativity is tragic and often true, but it is a small price to pay for the overall benefit they receive from the medication.
“Normal” people do not often appreciate this.
I am personally aware of a case of a well intended Rabbi, a devout, Hashem fearing man who urged a young woman to dispense with the medication she was taking for the treatment of schizophrenia; he told her that Hashem would protect her. She took his advice and sadly, she eventually took her own life.
A cost-benefit analysis when discussing medication is never simple.
Are legal medications overprescribed? Without a doubt. Sometimes, pushy parents are afraid their child will be left behind because they tend to day dream in school. They are looking for a magic pill which helps their child focus and compete with other children at the expense of their unique personality and compensatory Hashem-given gifts. In the old days before medication we had other labels for children who marched to the beat of a different drum. We called them “slow,” or “dumb” or “stupid.” Some parents will do anything to help their children and to spare them undeserved, hurtful epithets. Can you blame them? And since there is more art than science in medicine than we care to admit, many children become guinea pigs in legal, socially-sanctioned drug experiments.
Conversely, there are people who really need medication and are not seeking help, and it isn’t necessarily because they don’t have health insurance. There is a stigma about needing medication for psychological problems, which some people do not consider to be as real as physical ailments. According to this logic, the person medicated for high blood pressure and the person medicated for a psychological disorder are viewed and judged differently. Both require biochemical interventions for the preservation or quality of life, but the person taking medication for a psychological problem is considered a weak person, because it’s “in their head.”
You really got me going when you talked about the concert you attended recently. The subject of medication is closely allied with a broader topic: the role that mind altering drugs of all types play in the apparent enhancement of spirituality and creativity. Ritalin may suppress creativity, but other substances enhance creativity and spirituality according to their users, and take them to heights they can take to the bank.
Would you have us believe that members of legendary musical groups like Earth Wind and Fire never used mind altering substances to reach a higher spirituality which in turn enhanced their creativity? And if they did use these substances, does the use/abuse of legal or illegal substances (including alcohol) to enhance spirituality and creativity invalidate their creative end products? Some of Ray Charles best music was created under the influence of drugs.
Should we stop listening to his oeuvre because he didn’t rely on a natural high?
Hi Simcha! Thanks for your comment. I share your dilemma.
Do you remember giving me a vort on Shma Koleynu? I was recently trying to remember your take on “chus”. Can you enlighten me?
Hope to see you soon.
Sam:
At the outset, I would like the readers of this entry to know how much I love you as a person and for the many kindnesses you have shown to me personally in the past, and for inspiring amcha.
I too am struggling. I don’t know what to make of your article on medication.
In Pirkei Avot, 3:17 (d) it says, “a protective fence for wisdom is silence.” I believe that despite your good intentions, by opening up the issue of medication, you have entered a very difficult and complex terrain where silence may have been preferable. You oversimplify a complex matter, and I felt that on balance, your comments erred to the side of the judgmental.
And Sam, because you are a celebrity, you have to be mindful of the influence even well-intended words may have on people who admire you greatly.
At the risk of oversimplification on my end, let’s talk about personality-numbing prescription drugs for a moment.
The drug Ritalin, for example, one of several drugs prescribed for the treatment of a range of Attention Deficit disorders, is given to children and adults alike, and is effective for a few hours. When the drug wears off, the person who takes it reverts to what you describe as a freer, more creative state. In other words, Ritalin is not a life sentence depriving a person of their Hashem-given creativity and insights during all of their waking hours.
On the other hand, the woman you describe in your article seems to have a different problem altogether. If she is hears things, sees things, or feels things the rest of us rarely (if at all) experience, it may not be Ruach Hakodesh. She may suffer from a bipolar disorder (e.g., schizophrenia). For such people, the fine line between reality and the imaginary is blurred. It is difficult to distinguish one from the other. It is entirely possible that the medication she requires to live in a “normal” world demanding “socially appropriate” behaviors is also protecting her from the harm she might inflict on herself or others; ultimately it might even save her life. I appreciate that your story is anecdotal and some details may have been left out, but I do not get the impression that you know this woman well enough to diagnose her medical problems and know what is best for her.
I work closely with people like this woman, and their lives can be a living hell. What they sacrifice in savant genius, spirituality or creativity is tragic and often true, but it is a small price to pay for the overall benefit they receive from the medication.
“Normal” people do not often appreciate this.
I am personally aware of a case of a well intended Rabbi, a devout, Hashem fearing man who urged a young woman to dispense with the medication she was taking for the treatment of schizophrenia; he told her that Hashem would protect her. She took his advice and sadly, she eventually took her own life.
A cost-benefit analysis when discussing medication is never simple.
Are legal medications overprescribed? Without a doubt. Sometimes, pushy parents are afraid their child will be left behind because they tend to day dream in school. They are looking for a magic pill which helps their child focus and compete with other children at the expense of their unique personality and compensatory Hashem-given gifts. In the old days before medication we had other labels for children who marched to the beat of a different drum. We called them “slow,” or “dumb” or “stupid.” Some parents will do anything to help their children and to spare them undeserved, hurtful epithets. Can you blame them? And since there is more art than science in medicine than we care to admit, many children become guinea pigs in legal, socially-sanctioned drug experiments.
Conversely, there are people who really need medication and are not seeking help, and it isn’t necessarily because they don’t have health insurance. There is a stigma about needing medication for psychological problems, which some people do not consider to be as real as physical ailments. According to this logic, the person medicated for high blood pressure and the person medicated for a psychological disorder are viewed and judged differently. Both require biochemical interventions for the preservation or quality of life, but the person taking medication for a psychological problem is considered a weak person, because it’s “in their head.”
You really got me going when you talked about the concert you attended recently. The subject of medication is closely allied with a broader topic: the role that mind altering drugs of all types play in the apparent enhancement of spirituality and creativity. Ritalin may suppress creativity, but other substances enhance creativity and spirituality according to their users, and take them to heights they can take to the bank.
Would you have us believe that members of legendary musical groups like Earth Wind and Fire never used mind altering substances to reach a higher spirituality which in turn enhanced their creativity? And if they did use these substances, does the use/abuse of legal or illegal substances (including alcohol) to enhance spirituality and creativity invalidate their creative end products? Some of Ray Charles best music was created under the influence of drugs.
Should we stop listening to his oeuvre because he didn’t rely on a natural high?
Hi Simcha! Thanks for your comment. I share your dilemma.
Do you remember giving me a vort on Shma Koleynu? I was recently trying to remember your take on “chus”. Can you enlighten me?
Hope to see you soon.