Stephen Hawking believes there are an infinite number of universes and that alien life exists. Nobel Prize winning physicist Neils Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics shows a cat can be alive and dead simultaneously until we fix it in one state through our observation of it. These are ideas that most people would struggle to see as credible science and yet recent literature reviews reveal that physicists are far more trusted than psychiatrists.
In 2009 the WPA President established a Task Force to examine available evidence about perceptions of psychiatry and psychiatrists. The survey shows that overwhelmingly, other medical professionals, patients and their families and the general public have very contemptuous views of psychiatrists and psychiatry.[1]
The studies reviewed show that psychiatrists are viewed as odd, unsure, ineffective, useless and incomprehensible and as “dangerous and manipulative abusers who exploit their patients and abuse their power.”[1]
The negative effects of psychotropic medications by the groups surveyed are perceived as severe and the use of these medications is perceived as coercive, and compromising patient autonomy. The majority of respondents said they would not be willing to take psychiatric medications.
Research into the attitudes of medical students to psychiatry found they do not view it as an intellectually challenging career choice and see it as lacking a solid, authoritative scientific foundation. Their view is that the majority of diagnostic categories are not validated by biological criteria. Their sense is that psychiatry is not “real medicine’; A perception supported by the families of medical students who consider specializing in psychiatry as being “wasted time. Those who elect to train in psychiatry don’t seem to be the cream of the crop given the fact that around 40% of trainees applying to train in the U.K. currently fail to pass the MRCPsych examination.[2]
By contrast, a similar study looking at public attitudes towards physicists found that they are seen as “patient, conscientious, creative and hard working”, with the majority of respondents believing physics makes a valuable contribution to society.
So how are scientists who believe in aliens, multiple worlds, and cats that are alive and dead simultaneously, more trusted and valued by society than doctors who treat mental illness? What has led to widespread contempt of psychiatry? I think Nietzsche held the key when he said that “The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.”
I would argue that the most effective single weapon against psychiatry is psychiatry itself, which exhibits all the hallmarks of its own definition of delusional disorder.
The DSM-5 defines delusions as “fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence.” It notes that
“The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea . . . depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity.”
Surely the following statements are fixed beliefs which represent stubborn adherence to beliefs in the face of reasonable contradictory evidence:
“Antidepressants do not cause violence.” [3]
“[Clinical depression is] an illness that can arise spontaneously due to changes in brain chemistry that are independent of life events.” [4]
“Thinking about suicide and even attempting it are very poor predictors of completed suicide. In fact they are highly accurate predictors of not suiciding.” [5]
“Depression involves changes in brain chemistry and can change the way people respond to their world. Antidepressant medicines can correct the imbalance of chemicals in the brain until such time as the natural balance is restored.” [6]
With significant evidence that the above statements are interpretation, not fact, it is hardly surprising that other medical professionals have a dim view of psychiatry and that medical students are not choosing to practice it.
The vexing question is why, if the public have such a negative view of psychiatry and psychotropic drugs, they are not rejecting them as logic would suggest they would.
I’m of the view that science is the new religion and that the doctrines of normality and happiness have become firmly entrenched in our psyches. We have assimilated messages that in this millennium, medical science can ensure we do not suffer emotional pain and suffering just as it spares us from physical pain and suffering. We believe that different is ‘abnormal’ and that abnormality can be cured. Just as in the past – and for some in the present – rejecting God and church attendance is seen as wantonly choosing to suffer eternal damnation, choosing to reject psychiatry and psychotropic drugs is seen as foolishly choosing to suffer a lifetime of misery and a lack of fulfilled potential.
Despite doubts about the existence of God and the motives and rituals of organized religion, people attend church because it is ‘the right thing to do.’ Interestingly, a significant percentage of athiests attend church.
According to the 2000-2010 cumulative General Social Survey data of those who claim to have no religious affiliation, 26% attend church at least once a year, 12% report going at least several times a year, and 2% say they go weekly.[7] A new study out of Rice University has found that almost one out of five scientists (17% ) who describe themselves as either atheists or agnostics attend church.[8]
Their reasons are interesting. They do so as a way of exposing their children to a range of knowledge to allow them to make informed choices about a religious identity. They go to church because their spouse wants them to and they attend because it gives them a sense of community.
It may be that despite people having serious doubts about psychiatry similar forces channel them down the path of mental health treatment. It is likely that just as the church used to be seen as the only path to God, psychiatry is seen as the only scientific path to mental health. There is perhaps much to be learned from those who promoted and practiced alternative religious pathways.
I think it is a particular form of cruelty to inform people of the risks of psychiatry and psychiatric drugs but fail to offer credible, acceptable, accessible alternatives. For people experiencing emotional distress and suicidal thinking and behavior themselves or in those they love, doing nothing is not an option. Advising people to stay away from mental health providers but giving them nowhere else to go heaps more distress on that that they are already suffering. Evidence of successful outcomes from alternative interventions, including watchful waiting, is critical.
It is easy to state and restate ad nauseum the harms of psychiatry. We all know people who are stuck in this mode. In my view, we need to build on people’s already high levels of suspicion and disdain for psychiatry in the context of providing alternative solutions to the challenge of living happy, fulfilled lives and promoting the notion that human existence cannot and should not be 100% free from pain. We need to tell as many good news stories as we can and let people know that just as there are many paths to God that do not involve hellfire and brimstone, there are paths to relieving suffering and preventing suicide that do not involve forced treatment, brain damaging drugs and engagement with psychiatry.
If Hawking is right, then somewhere in the multiverse, there is a world where intelligent life has rejected psychiatric theory and practice. If, as quantum physics tells us, things are fixed in a particular state by our observation of them, let’s observe the positive and create the world we dream of. And the cat? If it’s the Cheshire one that grins constantly and allows no emotion but perpetual happiness, even this crazy cat lover wishes it dead.
* * * * *
This blog is dedicated to my son Toran Henry, who loved Quantum Mechanics and taught me to love it too. Wherever you are in the multiverse this new year Toran, mum loves you and hopes Shroedinger’s cat curls up beside you and keeps you warm as you sleep at night.
References:
[1] Norman Sartorius, Wolfgang Gaebel, Helen-Rose Cleveland, Heather Stuart, Tsuyoshi Akiyama, Julio Arboleda-Flórez, Anja E. Baumann, Oye Gureje, Miguel R. Jorge, Marianne Kastrup, Yuriko Suzuki, Allan Tasman 2009 WPA Guidance on How to Combat Stigmatization of Psychiatry and Psychiatrists. World Psychiatry. October 2010; 9(3): 131–144.
[2] Strengthening Academic Psychiatry in the UK. The Academy of Medical Sciences. March 2013
[3] Antidepressant Medication – Clarification by The College of Psychiatry of Ireland 13 May 2010
[4] Sometimes Words Are Not Enough to Lift Depression. Independent IE. January 8, 2010
[5] Letter from Prof Werry to Tony Ryall, Minister of Health, NZ dated 23 March 2009 and presented in evidence at the inquest of Toran Henry. Pdf available on request.
[6] Coping with Depression New Zealand Treatment Guide for Consumers and Carers March 2005 © Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. New Zealand Treatment Guide for Consumers and Carers. March 2005.
[8] Elaine Howard Ecklund, Ph.D. Some Atheist Scientists With Children Embrace Religious Traditions. Huffington Post. December 11, 2011
Wonderful article, Maria. I love this shift in perspective which you are exploring. I especially resonate with this thought–
“…somewhere in the multiverse, there is a world where intelligent life has rejected psychiatric theory and practice…” Certainly, in my universe, this is the reality.
I believe wholeheartedly that it is within our power to create any world we want, and I believe that what you put forth, here, to “observe the positive and create the world we dream of,” is how to do it, with conscious focus on that which makes us feel good in our heart, where we feel love and joy on what we focus. Indeed, we have a network of feelings and emotions, some of them uncomfortable and painful, and this is how we know joy, when it flows into our experience. I believe this contrast is vital to creation, and a universal component to being human.
So to my mind, it all works together, that entire range of our human emotions, and from this, we create a diverse society. I believe if we have full and unequivocal respect for this diversity, both inside and out, and own it and welcome it as part of the reality which we have created, then this diversity will be harmonious. Can we do it?
I find it hard not to get stuck in the negative and within the limits of warning others about the system that led to my son’s death. The challenge I have set myself is to give equal focus to creating a world in which my son could have lived.
Warning/awakening others to such truths sounds like an act of love to me. Anger and love can co-exist, whereas fear and love cannot. You certainly show no fear, only courage and love. I so hardily believe you will succeed in meeting this challenge, and that you are well on your way.
From what I understand about Quantum Physics, consciousness is eternal, and you and your son are working together now toward this enlightened goal. He is a guide for you. At least, this is what my heart tells me, so I’m sharing with you what is in my heart at present. I say this humbly, as hope I’m not overstepping boundaries.
I have the same goal, to focus on creating a world that is safe and supportive for every individual on the planet, rather one that disregards the human heart, spirit, and life, for the purpose of controlling others, and to acquire as much cash as possible.
Very best wishes to you. I really admire your work.
correction: rather *than* one that disregards…
Thank you so much Alex. Its such a gift to me when people tell me they believe Toran’s consciousness survived his death and are not just humouring me. Thank you so much.
I wrote a blog a while back on why anger is a positive emotion and agree with you totally on that. My anger, as much as my sadness, is a measure of my love.
Oh, you hit the nail on the head in so many ways, Maria. Yes, psychiatrists are delusional by their own definitions. Unfortunately, those who believe in the psychiatric religion share those delusions. In the well-documented face of all the evidence that psychiatric interventions are almost completely worthless, many real people continue to believe in it. To me, it shows that it has become a kind of religion.
You know, I could repeat a lot of things here that I’ve written elsewhere, but I’ll just say that this article shows me how much we are on the same page on these issues. Thank you for writing it.
Thanks Ted, I feel like we are on the same page too. Before Toran died I believed dead was dead and yet when it happened I could not believe that his energy, his laughter, his love had just ceased to exist. Quantum theory, which I knew nothing about but he had mentioned to me a week before his death, helped me find hope that there is a possibility his consciousness survived death. That possibility allows me to sustain the hope that is necessary to the maintenance of life – without it, I would have ended my life. Quantum theory is one of the many gifts my son gave me and has become a very important part of my life.
“I would argue that the most effective single weapon against psychiatry is psychiatry itself, which exhibits all the hallmarks of its own definition of delusional disorder.”
OH WOW!
BEAUTIFUL!!!
Duane
And its own definition of a sociopathic disorder as well.
With its total disregard for the havoc it wreaks; the injury and death in its wake.
Duane
So true … I had never met delusional, homocidal sociopaths, prior to my dealings with the psychiatric industry. It’s so nice to find others who agree such lunacy is inappropriate, albeit sad that the totally insane and unethical behavior of my “practitioners” wasn’t atypical for the industry. Thank you, Duane and Maria for sharing my “delusions” that psychiatric maltreatment of patients is inappropriate.
Thanks Duane. When I was a child and asked questions about life and the universe my mother would respond “because that’s the way God made it.” When i ask questions of psychiatry now I get a similar response with God replaced by an academic psychiatrist, the DSM or ‘clinical experience.’ At least my mum made it clear she was trying to fob me off while psychiatrists try to make it sound like they know the answers.
Maria,
“At least my mum made it clear she was trying to fob me off …”
Mum, fob… I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessin’ you’re not from Texas.
Duane
We’ve got a few expressions of our own, here in the lone star state. An example would be saying something like this:
“Psychiatry is all hat and no cattle.”
A few more:
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/texas-sayings
Duane
Haha! No, not from Texas. I’m a Kiwi who is currently living in Ireland. I used to date a Texan who was frequently bemused by things I said (although to be fair that may not be entirely about geography). We were once cleaning out the car and I told him to biff something in the boot. He still laughs about that 8 years down the track while I have no idea what he finds funny.
I’m gonna have to Google a few words… again.
Duane
Great article !
“It is easy to state and restate ad nauseum the harms of psychiatry. We all know people who are stuck in this mode”.
Who me ????
One of these “doctors” in response to a request for something that actually works on insomnia goes into his cabinet full of samples dropped of by those lie by omission pharma reps and hands me a sample bottle of Zyprexa. When I ask about all those scary side effect medical words written in fine print on the package insert this POS sais “don’t worry it’s safe!” and I trusted him.
No it’s not safe, http://www.zyprexa-victims.com
Yes it does cause worse withdrawal reactions than heroin or clonopin , ‘non addictive’ or not.
http://www.google.com/search?q=zyprexa+withdrawal
The psychiatric pharmaceutical industry is the largest group of con artists on the planet.
“I am a doctor and you have a chemical imbalance in your brain and need these pills…”
Con-man -One who gains the trust, or “confidence”, of his victims (often called marks) in order to manipulate, steal from, or otherwise predate upon them. (U.S. slang, late 1800s)
Hi,
We are the psychiatric pharmaceutical industry.
We say every negative emotion is a mental health problem, caused by a brain chemical imbalance.
Using little information we are dual diagnosing you as permanetly “ill” Here’s a prescription for several brain-disabling drugs to go with your forever labels.
You’re now locked into a life-time diagnosis, needing life-time psychiatric “treatment”.
Now we get life-time payments: either from you or from your health insurance.
We did this to you without any lab test, brain scan or any procedure known to medical science that shows you in fact “have” the “illness” implied by our diagnostic labels.
We never get questioned by anyone. And, if the scam is found out, we have peers and attorneys to cover it up.
What’s truly criminal is the fact the mainstream medical community, the mainstream media, the mainstream religions, and our government are all still touting belief in psychiatry and their drugs. Hello, Houston, we have a problem!
Roger that.
Duane
“The vexing question is why, if the public have such a negative view of psychiatry and psychotropic drugs, they are not rejecting them as logic would suggest they would.”
I highly recommend “The trap” and especially the lonely robot episode….3 hrs well spent…
https://archive.org/details/AdamCurtis_TheTrap
“vexing question”
Answer: People like doing drugs until they get hurt real bad as most do.
This pill will get rid of my crappy feelings ? I will take it…
The very first time I was force medicated with thorazine I couldn’t believe what the drug did .I thought that someone had made a mistake. I sat in a room my head turned up and to the right my neck hurt from the force of the turning as a sensation of the contents of my brain spilling as floating particles and emptying into outer space. When I managed to walk up to the nurses station with my neck and head twisted to the right and tell them that my neck hurt they looked at me as if I was crazy and told me to go sit down. After many hospitalizations ,5 escapes,inevitable self medication attempts , electro-shock, plain torture,too rapid drug withdrawal, a major suicide attempt , meeting the right people with pieces of information I desperately needed after a 40 year harrowing struggle I became a psychiatric survivor. To me it is miraculous. I was extremely fortunate. I’m astounded how much truth and needed resources are kept from the people that need them and the horrible price so many are forced to pay.
Wonderful and important piece. Funny and fun too. An all around delightful read.
I appreciate the way you broached the issue of our relationship to suffering.
“I would argue that the most effective single weapon against psychiatry is psychiatry itself, which exhibits all the hallmarks of its own definition of delusional disorder.”
“The vexing question is why, if the public have such a negative view of psychiatry and psychotropic drugs, they are not rejecting them as logic would suggest they would.”
“I think it is a particular form of cruelty to inform people of the risks of psychiatry and psychiatric drugs but fail to offer credible, acceptable, accessible alternatives.”
“In my view, we need to build on people’s already high levels of suspicion and disdain for psychiatry in the context of providing alternative solutions to the challenge of living happy, fulfilled lives and promoting the notion that human existence cannot and should not be 100% free from pain.”
Awesome!!!
Thanks Greg 🙂
I agree, this blog post was “awesome.”
So much so that…
I’m getting verklempt.
Talk amongst yourselves.
Let me give you a topic: The medical science of psychiatry is based on neither medicine nor science.
Discuss:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXEgBh0TF0
Duane
I really REALLY enjoyed your post, but I’m still grinning….
Hi Maria, and others,
I agree that there are crappy psychiatrists out there. In fact, the doctrine in all of medicine until about 20 years ago was to care for patients in a paternalistic, dismissive fashion because “doctors know best.” I completely understand your sentiments. I believe there are “bad-seeds” in all walks of life, but I’d be hard-pressed to narrow-in on one profession who makes it their life’s work to cause suffering and anguish to the sick and vulnerable. Perhaps in ignorance, yes, but intentionally?
It’s tragic on so many levels that you and others are painting all psychiatrists with the same evil brush – “sociopaths, con-artists, abusers, non-scientists…” Whoa. Do you really believe that someone would spend 14 years of their life studying and working 80 hours a week with no pay, so that they can manipulate and control people and be “bought” by drug companies? That is faulty logic, folks. True sociopaths are exploitive and poor planners. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen; I’m just saying that it’s irrational to believe that a single profession specifically selects for delusional sociopaths, for example, who are taught to lie and mistreat sick people so that they gain what? These sentiments are similar to “police-bashing,” “doctor-bashing,” and “gay-bashing!” It’s a cruel argument to make, actually. Bully-style.
What makes it so difficult for people to believe that brain illnesses exist? Every other organ system in the body can break down; why not the brain? It’s exactly this “pull up your socks” attitude that perpetuates the stigma of mental illness, inferring that there is some weakness or “emotional distress” that one just has to change their attitude about. God forbid that they should get sucked-in to the evil vortex of psychiatrists and their wares, and, oh yeah, they should get jobs and stop sleeping on the streets, too.
Psychiatric illnesses are for the most part invisible and I think that tosses them up in the air for discussion, judgment, and assumptions. There are no laboratory tests for Alzheimer’s or other neurological conditions like Lou Gehrig’s disease either, but do we tell these people to change their attitudes and get jobs? Check out Daniel Amen’s website on the use of SPECT scans to diagnose psychiatric illnesses.
If you are truly angry about the lot of those with mental illness, and believe me, I’m one of them, lobby government to provide decent, respectful healthcare for the mentally ill, with their god-forsaken lives of misery, poverty, homelessness, and marginalization. Government relies on the fact that the mentally ill cannot advocate for themselves. They call it “autonomy.” Get angry about the suffering, anguish and tragedy that we as a society condone. Turn your anger into something rational, like accepting that mental illness exists and the way it’s treated and judged is a travesty. Stop perpetuating the “pull up your socks” myth and stop saying it doesn’t exist. Suicide is the number two cause for mortality in youth, for God’s sake. Does our society condone treating people with cancer or heart disease this way? Hell no, those are perfectly respectable illnesses that are treated by respectable doctors. Do you really think that all oncologists and cardiologists are saintly and are not influenced by the pharmaceutical industry?
Psychiatrists don’t make this stuff up. Yes there are alternative therapies, of course, but if you are talking about severe, life threatening psychiatric illnesses with very real mortality rates, psychiatrists save the lives of people every single day with medications. Just like cardiologists and oncologists do. Yes Virginia, there are nasty psychiatrists out there and God help those who are at their mercy. I understand that. Just be rational about it.
“Perhaps in ignorance, yes, but intentionally?”
You mean motives. Mmhmm, there are SOME people with less than healthy, sane, benevolent motives. Rationality itself dictates that such is true!
Human Suffering has been renamed. It’s new name is “mental illness”. Some things should NOT be medicalized and pathologized, and I think THAT is probably the central message from those of us who hurt & suffer (and who need, want and deserve PROPER help). The next central message is: THE DRUGS HURT PEOPLE, NOT HELP!
psychiatry is a DRUG delivery system. Diagnosis first, prescription second. I call that the form fitting of a psychiatric cage in one’s head. Or a brain box.
Who is Virginia?
I wonder who Virginia is as well. Was she the prior recipient of this amazing display of exuberance? Also, the whole post is full of things Maria never said.
Not that I know who Virginia is, just wondering, and how many more of her….
I thought afterwards, it could be Virgina Woolf.
“What makes it so difficult for people to believe that brain illnesses exist? Every other organ system in the body can break down; why not the brain? “
Yes, give a person a drug that disables the mind, is highly addictive, causes brain damage and you have brain illnesses. And this suppresses trauma that needs to be expressed to be exposed so it can be dealt with and heal. But psychiatry doesn’t address that THIS is where there’s proof of a brain illness, while they talk about one they can’t prove exists.
And no, the people that actual can relate to people and help them to heal aren’t the ones that just say it’s some attitude problem in contrast to whoever lecturing on attitudes.
“Psychiatrists don’t make this stuff up.”
What they “make up” is the proof that mental illness is biological, which they can’t substantiate other than saying drugs that CAUSE chemical imbalance heal it, and then start listing how these drugs interfere with natural working of the mind, and act as if this is treating a chemical imbalance?
And also the implementation of the biological method only really correlates with MORE mental illness, not less than it. Thus, this whole statement: “if you are talking about severe, life threatening psychiatric illnesses with very real mortality rates, psychiatrists save the lives of people every single day with medications.” this is not supported at all. In fact, psychiatric treatment CORRELATES with a mortality rates, disability, an increase in the disease, with CAUSING physical disease; as well as fear against normal human responses to trauma, which when disabled with “medications” CORRELATE with what I’ve had to repeat too often already.
“Psychiatric illnesses are for the most part invisible and I think that tosses them up in the air for discussion, judgment, and assumptions. “
Santa Clause also seems to be “for the most part” invisible, does that make him available for “scientific” discussion and judgment as well. And what ISN’T invisible? What turns up in EVERY test of ANYONE who is put on a psychiatric drug, and is caused by the drug INTERFERING with the mind? Making up something, because you say it’s invisible and thus is up for grabs, doesn’t push to the side that in the meantime you are CAUSING what you yourself have defined as a disease, with the “treatment.” And why is it that this OVERWHELMING evidence that psychiatric drugs cause the brain to break down isn’t seen for what science and statistics show it to be, when it involves “treatment”!?
“Misery, poverty, homelessness, and marginalization” HAVE NOT been proven to be solved with health care that disabled the mind. Neither did the opium wars fix the economy of China.
And we’re supposed to be angry that it hasn’t worked, and believe it’s because it hasn’t been implemented enough?
When whoever is finished being “angry” that I or the rest of us who have this supposed attitude problem don’t follow such guidance (and thus we are the cause), I just wonder whether they are really going to calmly consider all sides of what they are going on about and consider the illogic pointed out? Or are they going to reach for a psychiatric “medication” or another proven controlled substance because perspective causes too much stress in their lives?
And further more I’m just listing supportable facts, not “bashing” anyone. Bashing someone would be saying they have a disease which I can’t prove exists, forcing treatment on them if they don’t want to believe it after convening with my colleagues as if that constitutes proof, and when all such “healing” methods cause more of the disease try to change the laws so I can do this without having to worry about such annoyances as civil rights. Along with causing, by my own definition of said disease, the very disease I say I’m healing ( a chemical imbalance). OK, sorry, that’s not bashing, that’s one step further than that.
Bashing then would be implying that people just are unreasonable, stubborn and have a personality flaw when they don’t want to believe that this “brain disease” actually exists without proof, although the method of healing said “disease” HAS been proven to cause brain disease. Etc. !!!
I’ll support this by using myself as an example (again).
I suppose it is true: I *do* have something the matter with my brain. But wait, is it really my brain? I might not ever know!
I’m talking about a “sleep disorder” and another illness, which had me going to Boston Children’s Hospital (of all places!) nearly 30 years ago.
My “sleep disorder” wasn’t diagnosed until I was 16 years old. The condition I had in early childhood was NOT properly diagnosed at Boston Children’s Hospital (and STILL is not properly diagnosed today!).
I’ve been some sick since infancy. I ended up in psychiatry via the foster care system because of DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, ABUSE, NEGLECT & TRAUMA.
THAT got medicalized and pathologized as some sort of fundamental brain disease. I never, EVER got ANY of the right, good “care” and “treatment” that I deserved (but I invite anyone to prove otherwise).
>>> Even my cardiac condition is a nightmare and a headache <<<
The instance of my "sleep disorder" is considered to be a NEUROLOGICAL condition. psychiatry would LIKE to make it such that:
depression
anxiety
psychosis
schizophrenia
etc.
are neurological conditions (aka brain disease).
Worse yet, so-called sleep disorders are misdiagnosed for "psychiatric", "mental illness" conditions, which makes it MALPRACTICE.
Look here at "Organic Basis" in *neuropsychiatry*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuropsychiatry#Organic_basis
If my "sleep disorder" is neurological then I have to ask if it is DAMAGE since my maternal grandfather survived polio. He had narcolepsy and one of his daughters, my aunt, is legally blind. The particular sleep disorder that I have is attributed to BLIND people (although sighted people do have the RARE condition). If I am correct with my "guesses" then I was *BORN* with this particular condition.
And the condition that Boston Children's Hospital did NOT diagnose correctly? Well, I was excessively salty and I had a really bad cough. They suspected cystic fibrosis. After weeks of testing (much of it was TRAUMATIC) I was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Here's what's so interesting:
I had SEVERE bronchial asthma for as long as I was a MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENT. When I moved out of state, the bronchial asthma suddenly disappeared. I used to have between three to five bouts PER YEAR, from childhood until mid 20's. Each episode lasted between two and three weeks. EXTREMELY painful condition. For the past ten years, I have had bronchitis maybe twice. The one thing I still DO have is excessive saltiness (same as I was when I was a small child). That isn’t psychiatric.
I have these spasms and I get paralyzed and I twitch and I jolt and I have transfixed staring and my EYES have even been paralyzed and I even stop breathing. NONE OF THAT is “psychiatric”. NONE OF THAT is “mental illness” (although at one point, I did suspect catatonia).
I can’t tell the difference anymore between which is genuine disease in my body and which is “tardive dyskinesia” INJURY from god-damned psych drugs. I think it is a HORRIFIC, BRUTAL combination of these things and more, such as malnutrition. I’ve known REAL starvation in my life. The human workers of “the state” were hell-bent and determined that I was hiding a cocaine habit. I’ve never touched that vile, loathesome drug in all my life! To have been nearly witch hunted for THEIR sick obsessions, falsely accused!, ALL THE WHILE I WAS ACTUALLY STARVING, just reinforces in my mind the REALITY of ABSOLUTE evil on this planet.
Plain and simple.
They are not likely to EVER come forward, admit THEIR errors, apologize and ask for my forgiveness. Isn’t that when I’m supposed to hear the endless laughter?
I’ve been psych warded SEVEN TIMES in my life. The very last one WAS THE VERY LAST ONE. There will absolutely not ever be any other. While I was homeless, severely malnourished, skeletal and severely sleep deprived (with a life-long sleep disorder AND a cardiac condition) I was actually DYING IN THE STREET and got psych warded!!
I needed a REAL hospital. I needed REAL medical attention and REAL care.
Imagine THAT.
psychiatry is a BRAIN CAGE. It is an OBSTRUCTION to GENUINE medical attention. It is an OBSESSION. A SICK one.
And it is BRILLIANCE and EXCELLENCE to take from their own language and apply it directly right back to them. It is highly revelatory. I almost always apply things to reality and gee, when I do, it is AMAZING what is revealed, what crumbles and what is left standing!
Enough of my “soul puking” and “crazy person rambling”. For as much as I’ve said there’s SO MUCH that I haven’t.
I have reported on public perceptions of psychiatry as per a survey conducted by the WPA, not given my personal opinion of psychiatrists. I do have a very poor view of the competence of psychiatry as a profession, one I might add that surveys show is shared by their colleagues in other medical specialties, patients and the general public. I agree that psychiatrists are ignorant rather than evil but note that my son is just as dead whether his psychiatrist operated from a position of ignorance or ill intent.
Of course emotional distress is real. In my view and my work this means environments need alteration not that a person’s broken brain needs ‘fixing’ with a drug. How is my approach more stigmatising than the label and drug approach?
You exhort me to take some action but are perhaps unaware that after my son’s prescription drug induced suicide I sold my home and everything I own to devote my life to changing the way emotional distress is viewed and addressed and to prevent suicide. I currently sleep in the bottom bunk of a friends 6 year old daughter’s room, have everything I own in the world in two suitcases and work 24/7 lobbying government, supporting families with suicidal kids or kids who have died from suicide. That doesn’t make me a hero but it makes me someone who doesn’t need a lecture about taking action to prevent suicide, which in my country has reduced by 20% since my organisation started.
Here’s a link that explains who Virginia is http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/
Thanks for sharing the link Maria (been following comments by Email). It’s a lovely response to a little girl that is both hopeful and wonderful. Bye for now, Chrys
To add. I’ve started writing a blog on “biomarkers for mental illness” in an attempt to get a handle on it. Not being scientific in mind or persuasion it’s not going to be easy. But I am determined to persist. Thanks again, Chrys
Are you familiar with Sundance Diagnostics work on identifying biomarkers for suicide risk? Their trial results are fascinating.
No I haven’t Maria, thanks for the pointer.
Just googled and found stuff on it. It looks to be a more positive way of using biomarkers rather than what I’ve been hearing in Scotland when attending scientific/psychiatric conferences recently on schizophrenia/psychosis. Mice and patients, side by side on presentation slides, as if we are one and the same.
From the link :”Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there.”
I have seen fairies dancing on the the lawn, all the time; but I have as little desire to prove they exist than that Santa could (who I haven’t seen). I think each flower has a fair, if you look right. I also don’t think there’s a pill that can make you see them, or stop you from for that matter.
And isn’t that Quantum Physics, that we disrupt matter trying to pin it down? Those are two completely different worlds. The real and the unreal, only the unreal is what we think is real. And when we think we’ve pinned it down (which in the long run always ends up being we missed something and have to look further) then we think it’s real; as if creation could exist that way. That first you have to have defined what isn’t possible as if being that anything is possible wasn’t how we came up with limitations that don’t exist, as well. Even THAT is possible that we come up with limitations that don’t exist and believe it’s real.
Sorry, I just don’t believe that some guy in the North Pole with a whole factory of elves to keep children in line giving them rewards or not, because his surveillance methods know whether they’ve been good or bad (and who decides the criterion?) that this is, as the article says something that exists as certainly as what gives life: “its highest beauty and joy…
But I have seen elves although I have absolutely NO desire to EVER have to prove whether they exist or not.
All of that is symbolism. It just needs to be put in other words (translated). All that stuff REPRESENTS something. The symbolism is what something means.
Because of my insanity (a genuine disease), I see both “santa claus” and “the easter bunny” as terribly mentally retarded ways of teaching kids about sex. And even adults haven’t figured it out yet. But then, I DO admit to insanity, so go figure!
I had a terrible childhood. I’ve always, always, always HATED and loathed santa claus. I did when I was a kid and I still do today.
Yes Chris and where biomarkers are used to identify those who may be positive drug responders rather than those who are at elevated risk. Look forward to reading your blog.
You’ll likely have seen this short video on Antidepressants and Suicide with Prof Sami Timimi:
https://vimeo.com/81582387
I thought it helpful as I’d experienced suicidal impulse on venlafaxine in 2002, took an overdose without thinking, gave me a fright, had to be careful after that, especially since the psychiatrist put me on maximum doses of the venlafaxine then lithium to “augment” the anti-d, which still didn’t work. I was flat as a pancake.