Flight

   Have you seen the movie Flight? The airplane movie with Denzel Washington? Well if you haven't, 1) I highly recommend it and 2) Here's a spoiler alert. This movie came out I think over a year ago, but I had a patient just recently watch it and it came up during one of his visits. Denzel's character is a commercial pilot who, long story short, crash lands a plane that otherwise would have killed everyone on board and saves a bunch of lives. He's a hero, but with only one problem, he was drunk and high on cocaine when he did it. 
   That might sound unthinkable to most of you. How irresponsible, how dangerous, how selfish. And i would agree with all of these statements. But I'm going to tell you the same thing I told this patient. Millions of people are putting people at risk just like this everyday on drugs. The only difference is, they have a prescription for it. 
    Think about it, millions of people are on anti depressants, pain killers, sedatives, tranquilizers, just to name a few. Prescription drugs that have mind altering effects. Drugs that have been shown to produce suicidal tendencies. Drugs that have been shown to produce homicidal tendencies. These people are flying air planes, they are driving your children's school bus, they are teaching your children, building and designing structures, I could go on forever. I recently had a patient that took himself, which is dangerous to do, off of his anti depressant because he was driving his car over an overpass and thought to himself I dont care if I just drive right off this right now. What if that person was driving a school bus! 
   Millions of people are on mind altering drugs that are in roles or positions that could have devastating consequences to peoples lives. There was a story about a month ago about a pilot in Minnesota not being able to fly because he had alcohol still in his system. We can test for alcohol, we don't test for prescriptions! When you start to think about the impact this could have to your life it can get extremely scary. Did you know every school shooter in the last 15 years has been on either an antidepressant, anti psychotic, or both? 
   I'm going to leave you with a quote from Dr. BJ Palmer; 
"We never know how far reaching something we may think, say or do today will effect the lives of millions tomorrow."

   So if you know someone who is struggling, or if you are struggling with pain, depression, or anxiety call us and schedule a free consultation. You never know who you may be effecting. Millions of people never reach their full potential because of these limitations. You can also listen to my past radio shows, here http://www.adjustdallas.com/media.html where I have one specifically on this topic.

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