Don't blame the depressed
Thank God Ms. O'Brien let us know that exercise can cure depression ("Depressing our prescription dependency," June 29)! If only I had known, I would have thrown out my Lexapro months ago. And if I get cancer, I can get Patch Adams to treat me with jokes and balloon animals!
Indeed, I am one of the lazy ones that relies on a dreaded SSRI to be a fully functional human being. My brain doesn't produce enough serotonin, so I need a drug to help me make more - much in the same way a person with diabetes needs insulin. What's lazy is that Ms. O'Brien wrote a misinformed, blatantly offensive column blaming depressed people for being depressed.
Multiple psychiatric visits (that's therapy, Ms. O'Brien) are required any time someone starts on an antidepressant. In an emergency situation (attempted or contemplated suicide), medication is started immediately, but otherwise, multiple therapeutic sessions are needed before drugs are even considered.
Had she done her homework, Ms. O'Brien would have known that almost all the common side effects of SSRIs are minimal and go away within two months of starting the medication. She would also have known that psychiatrists work very hard to take people off the drugs as quickly as possible.
To imply that clinical depression can be cured with exercise is not only ignorant but deeply hurtful. An SSRI saved my life, and discrediting the entire idea of medication as a crutch for lazy people is disgraceful.
David Kallison Sociology senior
Don't blame the children
In response to "Depressing our prescription dependency," June 29: Besides causing suicide, enough evidence now exists to prove that psychotropic drugs have played a major role in the senseless acts of violence by school-age children in this country in recent years.
The pharmaceutical companies need to take responsibility for the suffering that people go through from prescription-drug side effects.
Clare O'Keefe Hingham, Mass. Online reader
Beware racist elites
In response to "Blinded by our rights," June 29: The Supreme Court is not retreating from Brown. Also, the court addressed the issue of schools voluntarily adopting race-based considerations. Roberts' opinion held that, in your words, "keeping schools diverse" due to race is not the sole factor involved here. There are other elements that make up a diverse campus. On top of that, the case that was brought before the court didn't use race as a method to diversify schools - only to assign students to different ones.
I find myself agreeing with Justice Thomas, for the first time I think ever, when he wrote in his concurrence with the majority opinion, "If our history has taught us anything, it has taught us to beware of elites bearing racial theories."
I think the same could be said regarding the elites of the university paper.
Robert Beckhusen Editor of the Accent Student newspaper of Austin Community College
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