I thought so too, 30 years ago, when a female psychiatrist started me on a guinea-pig season of psychotropic meds. that caused me to have 12 auto accidents, totaled 1 car in broad daylight, and messed with my blood pressure and overall equanimity. A pioneer physician in AA had warned me to watch out for medically prescribed anti-depressant/anti-anxiety dependency over time, for he himself prescribed those meds. for himself, when alcohol stopped working. 25 years later, a brilliant but compassionate therapist suggested that prolonged usage of these drugs, with which he was familiar as a retired psychopharmacology professor at med. school, could build a level of tolerance in the brain that was the same as chemical dependency (AKA addiction). He was also a mindfulness practitioner who supported me in being weaned off Effexor (venlafaxine) after 30 years. Thank Heaven, Ha Shem, or Bodhisattva for this therapist! As a result, at age 76 I have more energy, self-esteem, & passion for life than when I was 46! Lest we forget, Michael Jackson & so many other Hollywood celebrities & White House occupants like Betty Ford trusted their physicians to prescribe responsibly. You know that Michael Jackson od'd on a horse drug prescribed by his live-in physician. Thank God, Betty Ford woke up to her chemical dependency & founded the Betty Ford Center. I was not ready to heed Dr. Paul O.'s warning in 1993. Suicidal depression, 10 days in a loony bin, & 12-15 auto accidents later convinced me to be weaned off anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, & mood stabilizer meds. slowky over a 5-year period. A word to the wise is sufficient.

in reply to @tglapin1974 Thank you for that comment. Whatever they want to call us who take pain medication on a regular basis, all I know is that without it, I would not be able to function. Besides that, I am looking death in the face sometimes, so what does it matter?