(np) new hope for the nutty

[Ian Livingston]

I think I'm developing acute anxiety.

On Sun, Nov 20, 2011 at 10:00 PM, Michael Bailey
<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> This could work!
>
> http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/cash.html
>
> longish excerpt:
>
>
> Psychiatric medications relieve symptoms of depression and anxiety by
> restoring chemical balance within the brain, but exactly how these
> drugs restore the brain's chemical balance while simultaneously
> wreaking havoc on every other organ in the body remains a mystery.
> Equally mysterious is the mechanism by which cash payments provide
> therapeutic benefit to depressed and anxious patients.   The receipt
> of a large sum of money may somehow stimulate, increase, block, adjust
> or otherwise act upon the level, supply, transmission, inhibition,
> secretion or bodily excretion of dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine,
> acetylcholine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, dihydrogen monoxide, propylene
> glycol or some other chemical compound yet to be discovered.
>
> Elation and euphoria are the most common side effects associated with
> cash.   The favorable side effect profile and high response rate
> compared to placebo are the main advantages of cash over standard
> pharmaceutical treatment, while the major disadvantage of cash would
> appear to be its prohibitive cost.   However, retrospective analysis
> supports the hypothesis that over the long haul cash is not only safer
> but also more cost-effective than any medication currently on the
> market.
>
> A depressed and/or anxious patient is typically maintained for an
> indefinite period of time on two or more psychiatric drugs
> simultaneously, in addition to numerous other medications prescribed
> to control side effects ranging from diabetes to high blood pressure
> to urinary incontinence to insomnia to everything in between.   The
> cost of maintaining a patient on a standard treatment regimen of half
> a dozen or more prescription drugs might easily surpass $1,200 per
> month, amounting to roughly $150,000 over the course of ten years, or
> nearly $300,000 after 20 years.   Seen in this light, a lump sum
> payment of $100,000 or even $200,000 would be a genuine bargain by
> comparison.   Cash-strapped state Medicaid programs squeezed by
> escalating pharmaceutical costs would be well-advised to adopt
> formulary guidelines and preferred drug lists authorizing pre-approved
> cash payments as a treatment alternative.
>
> In a random survey, 3,964 Medicaid patients were asked whether they
> would prefer to receive various combinations of prescription drugs for
> the rest of their lives, or a single lump sum payment of $250,000.
> The vast majority (99.93%) chose the cash option.   A total of 3
> patients (0.07%) elected to continue receiving medications in lieu of
> cash.   All three of these patients appeared to be truly sick, and in
> each case the illness was iatrogenic (i.e., resulting from treatment).
>



-- 
"Less than any man have I  excuse for prejudice; and I feel for all
creeds the warm sympathy of one who has come to learn that even the
trust in reason is a precarious faith, and that we are all fragments
of darkness groping for the sun. I know no more about the ultimates
than the simplest urchin in the streets." -- Will Durant