Pharmaceutical Prejudice

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All I'm wondering about is why other solutions are better. Why should psychiatric medications be of last resort? The above statement seems to me to be presented as a truth ("normally,") as something to be generally accepted and not the usual, "it's up to the individual."

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Not all other solutions are better, but personally as a general rule I'd much prefer talk therapy to tablets, if there's hope for the former's effectiveness. Solutions other than pills have the advantage that they don't put potentially harmful chemicals into the body, though I don't doubt that some of the more extreme non-drug therapies could be also harmful, and it could be a mistake to not take psych meds if the target condition was a pretty dire one and the meds were known to be a lot more effective than any alternative interventions. I'd not be glad to know that anybody I cared about had started taking psych meds without first considering alternatives, but as I said before, as long as the person isn't likely to harm others, as far as I'm concerned it's up to them, as it's their body and mind.

An older woman I know takes pride in the fact that (unlike most elderly people) she doesn't take any meds at all.

But my spouse and I say, entre nous, that the people in her life would probably really appreciate it if she did, as she is persistently negative and cranky. Just a thought.