To me, psychiatric drugs should only be used short term (except in exceptional conditions where a proven medical condition exists and the drugs are to offset that, and nutrition has failed). A proper use of an antidepressant would be to get an apathetic person to care long enough so that something good can get through, and the drug would possibly only be used for a few hours at a time. A proper use of tranquilizers is to get through anxiety that is creating an impasse, preventing the person from doing what is necessary (like taking a pill before getting in a social situation that is going to create unwarranted apprehension). The goal is to lower the barrier just enough to clear it, not to rely on these pills long term.
Yes, properly used, alcohol is the safest of these drugs. A small dose of alcohol could, if properly timed, help a person when things are getting so stressful that they would otherwise wuss out or choke. The goal is merely to get past that impasse, not to totally eliminate the anxiety. As the person gets better at navigating the situation, the drugs become of less and less use until they are no longer needed at all. This could be useful, for instance, if a person is deathly afraid of spiders--a small dose of a tranquilizer just before seeing the spider might allow the patient to tolerate it instead of wussing out or freaking out totally.
The witlesses, on the other hand, are continually exposed to rules that create these problems. They never have any fun. There is nothing to celebrate or to set one day off from another. There is continual pressure to go out in field circus, and then the hounders are critical of everything they do at the doors. Under those conditions, it is more important to remove the religion than to take medication--though a small dose of a short-acting tranquilizer might give a person just enough help to get the nerve to miss a boasting session, skip field circus, or join that apostate board instead of "thinking about it" or dreading it.
