� 2001-2006 by Shiloh
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Going back almost a month (I told you the next several topics wouldn't be in chronological order) to the last two new episodes of Reba, one of my favorite tv shows, they dealt with a subject I very much identify with. This is the one show I do not like missing, even if it is only reruns they're airing. It's hilarious and heartwarming and they're (the writers) not afraid to confront serious issues such as the ones they portrayed in those episodes.
The past season has focused mainly on Brock, the father and the younger daughter, Kyra. For those who aren't familiar with the show, it revolves around, obviously, Reba Hart (Reba McEntire) and the dynamics of her family in coping with the life-altering changes of a teen pregnancy and marriage, her divorce from her now ex-husband, Brock and his affair with his ditzy, blonde mistress-now-wife, Barbara Jean who gave birth to their son Henry.
Several episodes back Brock confessed to Reba he was unhappy. He didn't know why or what he was looking for, but he'd thought that once he and Barbara Jean were married or when Henry was born or when Kyra moved in with them the happiness would come. But it never did. So then he thought if he quit and sold his dentist practice and pursued his dream of professional golf (which he did) the happiness would come, but it never did.
In the second to last episode he once again confessed to Reba. This time Brock admitted he'd started seeing a therapist and been diagnosed with clinical depression. He'd also started taking anti-depressants. Reba knew how hard it was for him to admit he needed help, enough to see a therapist. She knew it took guts and courage and let him know he had her support in this. It was Barbara Jean's reaction to the news that took me by surprise, yet the scary thing was I understood her reasoning. And with someone as ditzy and possibly from another planet altogether as Barbara Jean, when you begin to make sense of their convoluted thinking processes you have cause to worry or to be very, very afraid, for these kind of people aren't normal. At all.
Instead of being relieved he wasn't having an affair, as she suspected Brock was, Barbara Jean totally went berserk and told him quite adamantly he didn't need any "happy pills" to make himself feel better. Together, they made their own happiness. She also told him to quit seeing the therapist immediately and called him a pill popper when he told her the pills helped him. She also told Reba she wasn't welcome in their home and Barbara Jean would never speak to her again if she supported Brock in this.
Brock hadn't wanted to tell Barbara Jean any of this, fearing whatever reaction she'd have and confessed falsely to having an affair. When she began panicking I thought he was such a jerk for lying to her, but then the tables turned when Reba finally got him to tell his wife the truth. Barbara Jean was so insensitive in her reaction, yet as I said above, I understand her reasoning while totally disagreeing with it stongly. She doesn't understand or believe that in some cases people can't function normally without pills medically prescribed. Then there is the stigma of being a "pill popper." She believes you make your own happiness. So what if you're depressed? Get over it! is her philosophy. You don't need any pills to make you happy. And if there's something wrong, something keeping you from being happy it's your fault. His being depressed said to her she was a bad wife.
I used to think along similar lines. I felt that if someone was depressed they'd eventually get over it--without the help of stupid pills some prescription-writing crazed doctor insisted upon. I still feel, however, that doctors love to write prescriptions way too much and insist upon medication any time they diagnose an emotional problem. Medicating a patient for every lil thing is not the answer. But at the same time I recognize that some people do have a need. They need certain pills to help them balance or overcome whatever chemical imbalance or illness they have.
I can also understand the stigma of the "pill popper" label. It's a form of drug addiction and abuse. And once you're an addict you're always an addict, even if you've been sober or clean for however many years. I hate taking pills or being reliant on them. Yet take them I must for seizures. =os When it comes to headaches, cramps and muscle aches though I suffer through...unless they are severe. I fear becoming an addict, however irrational or justified that fear is. I don't want to be or be labeled a "pill popper."
When I saw that episode of Reba I identified with Brock. He needed help, help that self-help couldn't give. For the time being pills are going to be the answer. Them and seeing a therapist. Dad once thought I could control the onslaught of seizures. Ppfftt. Guess again. But he really thought if I just had mind over matter I would be able to stop them or reduce them myself. I didn't need the medication. It took him two or three times witnessing me in the throes of a seizure before he realized those pills were and are necessary. I just wish they weren't.
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