"Medicating Our Troops into Oblivion"

Reproduction

Oil on Canvas

2016

Someone once described today’s world as “a dystopian society where you're given pills to keep you from getting depressed. It's not science fiction; it's reality" That statement may not be surprising today, and that's the worst part - the fact that this has become normal.

The painting is a reproduction from an article with the heading, “Two Soldiers Prescribed 54 Drugs” (O’Meara, 2012), while the title is taken from another article (Reno, 2014) which investigates the correlation of these mind-altering psychiatric drugs to military suicides. Though correlation does not equate causation and it may well be the other way around, a lot of studies are still considering it.

My purpose behind painting this picture is not to take a stance on said issue, but rather because it strikes me as one of the possible accurate depictions, not just for the US troops, but for people who struggle with mental health in general. Sure, most of us can never compare this baggage to that of veterans, but depression is very real nonetheless. For a lot of us, life is a daily battle, and we only have pills to compensate for whatever need of which we might be deprived.

It may seem ironic and even outright ridiculous for the middle and upper class to be depressed, but perhaps the reason why the poor don't appear to be as depressed is that they simply can't afford to think about anything beyond survival. This only goes to show that mental health does not discriminate. Anyone may suffer from it.

The only thing a stigma does is create a taboo. And guess what? Problems only grow in the dark. With this in mind, I hope this painting serves as a reminder for us to stay informed and not be ashamed to seek help, which really is a sign of strength.

As a friend of mine once told me, just because something is normal, that doesn’t make it okay. Though this painting falls under the category of a commentary, I hope it rises above that level. Perhaps it would be a tall order to ask if we can save someone’s life, and it may very well just be the little things, but we need to discern in order to tell the difference between which kind of help a person needs--and which kind only accelerates into oblivion.

Notes:

O’Meara, K. (2012). Two Soldiers Prescribed 54 Drugs: Military Mental Health "Treatment" Becomes Frankenpharmacy | CCHR International. Retrieved from https://www.cchrint.org/2012/10/30/military-mental-health-treatment-becomes-frankenpharmacy/

Reno, J. (2018). “Medicating Our Troops Into Oblivion”: Prescription Drugs Said To Be Endangering U.S. Soldiers. Retrieved from http://www.cplchado.org/articles/Medicating-Our-Troops-Into-Oblivion.pdf

#mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #fightthestigma #medicatingourtroopsintooblivion