“My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward”

8
518

“We met at 18. We wed at 24. At 27, I checked my wife into a psych ward — for the first time,” begins Mark Lukach’s intimate personal story in Pacific Standard. “Looking through the glass window into Giulia’s new, horrifying home, I asked myself, What the hell have I done?”

The story explores years of conflicts with each other and of learning together as husband and wife remain committed, have a child, and try to find their way through hospitals, antipsychotic medications and antipsychiatry.

My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward (Pacific Standard, January 12, 2015)

8 COMMENTS

  1. I agree, dealing with the psychiatric industry is extraordinarily taxing on a marriage. I had numerous doctors defaming me to my husband, claiming that the effects of a drug then being marketed to doctors as the “happy, horny, skinny drug” (Wellbutrin) were the “life long incurable, genetic mental illnesses” of “hyper sexual behavior” and “bipolar.”

    I’m not certain why doctors believe that it’s acceptable to claim the known effects of a drug are a “life long, incurable, genetic mental illness.” And it’s deplorable for MDs to destroy people’s marriages by defaming women to their husbands with scientifically invalid “mental illnesses.”

    My husband was very embarrassed he’d trusted doctors, over his own wife, once I’d researched medicine enough to medically explain the malpractice. He died of a broken heart shortly after. He stopped taking his heart medicine, I guess, because he’d lost all respect and trust in the medical community. Shame on the medical community.

    Report comment

    • That’s very true. People can and do drive their each other mad. This madness is designed to protect these “identified patients” from being annihilated by their aggressors. Before we attempt to seek “cures” for our madness, we really should ask ourselves what purpose it serves in our lives. I guess the truth hurts, but abusers must be held accountable for their cruelty. Laing was among the first psychiatrists to do that. The millions of psychiatric consumers and survivors who have used Laing’s work to heal themselves and each other are living proof that he was correct.

      Report comment

    • Psychiatry is oppressive and it does the worst thing one can do to someone in a crisis: destroys relationships. It almost did it to my friendship and my relationship to my family – luckily I knew better than to trust them.

      Report comment

  3. I am so very sorry about all of this, you and your beautiful wife have your hands full. my mom is Schizophrenic, from before I was born. It grew worse over many years, she was gone a good bit of the time for my upbringing. (She was in the hospital). She was (and still is) on meds, if she was not, she probably would have taken her own life, or the life of another a long time ago. She is 81, and lives in an assisted living facility. You would assume she is a “little old lady”- not true!! She can be a real handful, even now. I also have two beautiful daughters, one of whom had a major depressive episode at age 14. She was in the hosp for around 7 weeks, she was able to finish her freshman year in high school, and has done well since then, but she does take meds regularly, and we basically just enveloped her , and did whatever we could (just like you have done at home) to help her- we did and still do encourage her to eat well, excersise, and YES- GET ADEQUATE SLEEP! That is really important- my daughter uses an acronym- HALT – Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. She has gotten to know herself pretty well, PLEASE DO NOT BEAT YOURSELF UP FOR LOVING YOUR WIFE AND TRYING TO DO THE BEST YOU CAN FOR HER. My main worry now is that I would rather my daughter not have biological children, as it can be a kind of “trigger” for episodes of psychiatric breaks, the change in hormones after childbirth can even bring about this even in women who have no psychiatric history. I hope for the very best for you, your wife, and your dear son. I am not real impressed with Mr. Laing’s theory, I would hate to think of either my daughter or mom as depressed and/or delusional as has happened. I see no sense in suffering. My daughter is almost 21, she takes charge of her meds, appointments, etc. my mom has never been happy to take her meds, but she complies most of the time. I will keep you and your family in my prayers, God Bless all of you.

    Report comment

  4. “No sleep for one night, pills at maximum dosage.” What the heck, that is dangerous! He says he worked out their plan with the help of a psychiatrist, but it doesn’t say what it is. I hope it doesn’t include giving someone who isn’t taking antipsychotics regularly an unsafe initial dose! I overdosed this way, and my in-hospital psychiatrists were responsible.

    Report comment

    • It sounds like a road to disaster – a “life-long incurable mental illness”. I don’t believe that the doctors have found “the right combination” – my guess is that the episode was just what the name suggests – an episode which lasted for a while and ended and it would likely do so without the drugs. There is no reason to think that one anti-psychotic is better than the other, they mostly do the exact same thing and seem to hinder rather than promote recovery. I have no idea how they explain the days and weeks it takes to get someone out of psychosis with meds since there is no pharmacological explanations – if tehy are indeed receptor inhibitors they should act as soon as they cross the blood-brain barrier and stop working when they are metabolized. It just makes no sense whatsoever.

      Report comment

  5. I’ve been through this type of experience . Having read the entire article and seeing the wife’s eyes in the first color photo of just husband and wife next to each other in a frontal view where both the wife’s eyes are open I had an instant of pattern recognition. The two eyes look different from each other in a similar way to what I had seen in my own in years past. Combined with the narrative , these two factors tell me the wife has mercury poisoning probably from mercury amalgams which is what I had.

    If she is receptive I would advise her to go see a Hal Huggins trained dentist to have her silver amalgam fillings ( which are around 53% mercury) removed and whatever else the advanced dentist may recommend ( like removing root canals and checking for cavitations )This type of dentist has two more years training then a conventional ADA (American Dental Association Dentist). Absolutely do not go to a dentist who has not had this advanced training even if he or she is a family member. Mark and his wife can contact DAMS (Dental Amalgam Mercury Solutions) for info and how to find a qualified dentist trained in advanced Hal Huggins protocols. Also the Paracelsus Klinic in Switzerland can also be contacted and explored on the internet.

    I’ve never heard of any one else making this type of diagnosis from an article and a photograph but I have done it once before for a couple I met just one time in person . I explained what I knew to them they followed through and a couple months later a sister of the wife verified I was right and thanked me.

    I would expect a dramatic return to vibrant health for Mark’s wife and their family . I have done this for myself and experienced the amazing results.
    Best Wishes, Fred
    feel free to contact me , I am not doing or writing this for money only in the name of truth and solidarity as a psychiatric survivor with lived experience . [email protected]

    Report comment

LEAVE A REPLY