Heaven Can Wait

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Should Charlotte Take Medication to Get Over the Emotional Scars of Her Rape?
By Moira McMahon, Researcher

In Episode 412, "Heaven Can Wait," Charlotte finally goes to see a therapist to talk about the continuing pain of her rape. She wants to heal, but the therapist, Dr. Larry Cannon, doesn't want to hear her out. He tells Charlotte that blabbing on about what happened isn't going to help her but prescription drugs will—lots of them. He prescribes pills to make her feel relaxed, happy, go to sleep, wake up—whatever she wants.

Charlotte is not impressed. She went for therapy and she walked out with a drugstore. Amelia points out that depression and PTSD actually change the chemical balance of the brain. We treat other physical problems with drugs, why not mental conditions?

Charlotte's not interested in taking pills and now, after being dismissed by Dr. Cannon, she's not interested in going to therapy.

For now, most doctors recommend both drugs AND therapy to treat mental conditions, including PTSD. But maybe one day, every kind of mental problem will be treated with medication alone. Or perhaps therapy will become even more effective as new methods develop that improve outcomes for patients.

But for now, are people wasting their time talking to a doctor when they could be feeling better with medication?

What's the point of examining why you feel bad when you could just feel better?

Did Dr. Cannon do the right thing by telling Charlotte to just take pills?

What do YOU think?