Читать книгу Self-Help for Your Nerves: Learn to relax and enjoy life again by overcoming stress and fear - Dr. Weekes Claire - Страница 15

The doctor usually prescribes sedatives at this stage, and there is no doubt that the patient may need them. But with a layman’s distrust of such ‘dope’, his family is probably urging him to ‘Throw the wretched stuff down the sink,’ adding, ‘It is only helping to depress you,’ and ‘That doctor will make an addict out of you yet.’ The sufferer becomes further confused because at the back of his mind he too is afraid of that. Part of a doctor’s problem is to convince the patient – and what is just as important, the patient’s family – that such sedation is not only not harmful but, as a temporary measure, may be very necessary, and that it will not make an addict of him if carefully supervised. Usually, when cured, the last thing these people want to see is one of those wretched capsules or a dose of that pink mixture.

Life is so contrary, it can put so many unexpected obstacles in the way of recovery. In the words of one woman, ‘You would never believe the number of spanners that get thrown into the works’.

For example, it is possible that, just as the doctor is winning his battle over the taking of sedatives, someone chooses that moment to take an overdose of barbiturates and the newspapers will be vociferous on the dangers of taking such drugs. The patient, who probably hasn’t looked at a paper for weeks, somehow never fails to see the report or hear about it, and so the doctor’s battle begins again.

And yet, however sedated this person may be, fear usually finds its way through such sedation. Sedation only softens the blow, but it does do that, and so plays in important part in recovery, as will be discussed later.