I am really worried about the practice of putting women on psychiatric drugs these days - when they are suffering from hormonal imbalances.

I really thought the "give the little lady a pill" days were behind us. Then I read Brooke Shield's story about being given Paxil for low progesterone levels, and did some research on my own. Unfortunately, her story is not unusual.

I just can't fathom how a woman suffering from hormonal imbalances should be given a dangerous psychiatric drug. It's akin to giving a diabetic Prozac - instead of insulin. It does, however, fit into the psychiatric tradition of treating women as insane, simply for being women. Menstrual cramps? All in our pretty little heads. Endometriosis? Again - all in our pretty little heads.

The word "hysterical" comes from the Greek word for WOMB.

Psychiatry, indeed, has long believed women to be insane simply because we're women.

As for Paxil, as a drug, it has been proven to be NO MORE effective than a placebo. It's also shown to cause test subjects to be four times more likely to be suicidal. It's a bad, bad thing, and instead of treating women with postpartum depression with the hormonal and nutritional therapies they need, they are simply giving us a dangerous drug - one that makes us more likely to be suicidal.

As a nation of women, I think we've been hoodwinked.


Postpartum Depression - PPD
The Psychiatric Pseudoscience of treating Postpartum Depression as a Mental Illness
Postpartum Depression
http://i-newswire.com/pr34683.html">