I was recently contacted by a very distraught mother (through my practice as a holistic psychiatrist). She told me the story of how her son (letās call him Jason) had started having problems with attention and focus. Like mothers are encouraged to do in our culture, she took Jason to a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with ADHD and started him on a stimulant medication.
The medication seemed to help at first, but then Jasonās mother noticed that he was actually doing worse than before he had started the medication. Eventually her son started having severe insomnia, became constantly irritable, and then started acting very bizarrely and saying that he was the son of God. Jasonās mother did what she was encouraged to do and brought her son to the local emergency room. There, Jason was thought to be manic, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was started on a mood stabilizer and an atypical antipsychotic medication.
When Jason was discharged from the hospital several weeks later, he was no longer recognizable. He had gained 30 pounds and could barely speak. He appeared zombie-like and frequently talked about suicide. Jasonās mother contacted me because she had read about holistic psychiatry and wanted to know if I would be able to help.
I have heard variations of this story countless times. Sometimes the diagnosis is different, and the medications are different, but the course is the same. Another common version of this story involves someone who had experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression and had been prescribed an antidepressant medication, which subsequently induced manic symptoms and then led to a bipolar disorder diagnosis.
Despite the details, the general theme is the same: someone starts having āpsychiatric symptoms,ā they are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder and prescribed medication. Due to the medication, they experience even more severe psychiatric symptoms and then they are diagnosed with another, and usually more severe, psychiatric disorder. The story continues with more and more medications and diagnoses being added over time. In addition, patients also begin experiencing side effects to the medications, which are often labeled as new symptoms, leading to even more diagnoses and of course even more medications. Once the vicious cycle of medications, symptoms, and diagnoses is started, itās like a runaway train.
If I were a conventional psychiatrist, I would say that the case described above illustrated that ADHD and bipolar disorder are ācomorbid conditions,ā meaning that they frequently occur together in the same person. Conventional psychiatrists use the DSM-5 (āpsychiatric bibleā) to diagnose psychiatric conditions based on a checklist system. If you have x, y, and z symptoms, then you have that disorder.
It is extremely common that one person will meet the criteria for and be diagnosed with multiple psychiatric disorders. In fact, I may have only seen a handful of patients in my entire career who had only been diagnosed with one psychiatric disorder.
Once a diagnosis is made from the checklist, medications are then prescribed to treat the so-called disorder and symptoms. This is regarded as a rational approach by most conventional psychiatrists.
I will now tell the same story above, but from my (holistic) perspective. Jason grew up in a loving home. However, when Jason was 5, he was molested by his uncle and his family was not aware. This impacted Jason deeply, and in fact it affected him on a mental, physical, and spiritual level. The trauma was never processed and hence it continued to re-appear in Jasonās life on all three levels.
Jason blamed himself for the molestation and subconsciously carried around the belief that he was a bad person who didnāt deserve love. This subconscious belief was expressed in multiple ways, including in relationships with others and even in the unhealthy food choices that Jason made. Eventually, the physical impact became so severe that Jasonās body began giving him signs that things were not okay. His brain stopped functioning smoothly and he had problems focusing and maintaining attention.
These bodily messages are usually called āsymptomsā by psychiatrists, but they are actually the bodyās way of communicating information about being in distress. So-called symptoms are opportunities and invitations from the body to change, learn, and grow.
Unfortunately, these messages were interpreted as symptoms of ADHD by Jasonās psychiatrist, who assumed the cause was purely biological, and Jason took the prescribed stimulant medication. Since psychiatric medications are only intended to treat symptoms and do not address the underlying causes, they only temporarily mask the symptoms, at best. In Jasonās case, not only did the stimulant medication not actually treat the underlying problem, but it caused many side effects.
Chronically consuming a stimulant medication can cause numerous health problems as the body attempts to maintain homeostasis. In this case, the stimulant ultimately caused the exact symptoms associated with bipolar disorder (insomnia, irritability, and psychosis). Jasonās presentation to the emergency room was likely due to a combination of medication side effects and the untreated original issues. When the initial messages from someoneās body are ignored, the symptoms tend to progress in severity, and that is what happened in Jasonās case.
After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Jason was started on a mood stabilizer and an atypical antipsychotic medication, which is the standard protocol in conventional psychiatry. Unfortunately, the first mistake was replicated again, and hence not only did Jason not feel better, but he felt significantly worse. Mood stabilizers and antipsychotics do not actually treat the underlying issues and come with tremendous side effects. Again, Jasonās bodyās pleas for help were ignored and powerful medications were loaded into his body, causing his obese, zombie-like state.
Feeling horrible and desperate, many patients in Jasonās shoes beg and plead to stop taking their medications. However, these pleas are usually labeled as ānon-complianceā by their psychiatrists and family. In addition, if Jason were to try to stop his psychiatric medications, he would likely experience severe withdrawal that could look like worsening psychosis or even suicidal thoughts. However, his withdrawal symptoms would be labeled by conventional psychiatrists as a ārelapseā and proof that Jason needed to continue taking these medications for the rest of his life.
In Jasonās case, he was lucky that his mother found another option. However, the sad reality is that most patients arenāt so lucky.
When Jasonās story is viewed from a holistic perspective, itās clear that being molested at the age of five and not sharing this with anyone impacted him profoundly. We know that unhealed and unprocessed trauma can lead to psychological, medical and spiritual problems until itās appropriately addressed.
A holistic treatment approach to Jasonās symptoms would look quite different from a conventional, medication-focused approach. As a holistic psychiatrist, I would prioritize healing Jasonās trauma. In addition to implementing psychotherapy, I would recommend making dietary changes to nourish Jasonās brain and body and promote healing. I would also work with Jason to re-connect to his own body, his family, his friends, his community, and his spirit.
I have worked with many patients with very similar stories to Jason, and I have found that using a holistic approach allows me to partner with them on their healing journeys. Instead of simply prescribing medications to treat symptoms, we take a deep dive into their issues to understand what is happening inside their bodies, minds, and spirits. By helping patients to re-connect with their authentic selves, I am able to walk with them to heal dis-ease and distress. Through a holistic approach, we are able to completely avoid medications altogether or stop the medications started by conventional psychiatrists.
In Jasonās case, his initial problems with attention and focus can be traced back to unresolved early childhood trauma. I have found that trauma and other stressors are frequently at the root of many eventual psychological and medical issues. Looking at Jason from this perspective, one can easily see why medications would never be the solution. Medications are not only ineffective at treating trauma, but they can often further worsen the disconnection caused by the initial trauma.
This story highlights a powerful departure from conventional psychiatric thinking. Psychiatry sells us the story that people have biologically-caused psychiatric conditions which should be treated with psychiatric medications. They perpetuate a myth about the prevalence of severe mental disorders and the need for more and more medications to treat them.
However, this is the exact opposite of the truth. I believe that psychiatric disorders are actually collections of messages that something on a deeper level needs to be addressed. They are a call to arms by the body to help heal an unresolved conflict. In addition, not only do psychiatric medications fail to treat the unresolved issue, but they only further perpetuate ignoring and repressing the issue, which means the body has to send louder and louder messages to be heard. On top of that, they cause side effects which are then interpreted to be even more severe psychiatric disorders, requiring even stronger medications.
When viewed through the holistic lens, one can see with clarity that conventional psychiatry will never actually be effective. Instead, it only perpetuates the very problems that it purports to treat.
A wonderful synopsis of the systemic malpractice / crimes regularly being committed by DSM deluded psychiatrists and “holistic Christian talk therapists”/psychologists, Kendra.
“… itās like a runaway train.” No doubt, and this song was playing on the radio when I suffered from my Risperdal induced “first psychotic break” / struggle with God.
” … It seems no one can help me now
I’m in too deep
There’s no way out
This time I have really lead myself astray
Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track …”
Most definitely I knew I’d been railroaded. I am one of the millions of innocent people who had the common withdrawal symptoms of an antidepressant, misdiagnosed as “bipolar.” So my “holist Christian talk therapist” could cover up the abuse of my child for her pastor and his pedophile “soul mate,” prior to my even knowing my child had been sexually assaulted (the medical evidence was eventually handed over).
I totally agree, “conventional psychiatry will never actually be effective. Instead, it only perpetuates the very problems that it purports to treat.”
Yes, those antipsychotics can create “psychosis,” via anticholinergic toxidrome; and they can create the negative symptoms of “schizophrenia,” via neuroleptic induced deficit syndrome, too.
And it is very true that the psychological and psychiatric industries are systemic child abuse cover uppers.
https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2019/01/23/18820633.php?fbclid=IwAR2-cgZPcEvbz7yFqMuUwneIuaqGleGiOzackY4N2sPeVXolwmEga5iKxdo
https://www.madinamerica.com/2016/04/heal-for-life/
And their “partnership” with my childhood religion has turned the leaders of my former religion into systemic child abuse cover uppers, too.
https://books.google.com/books?id=xI01AlxH1uAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
And we all now live in a “pedophile empire,” many thanks to the pedophile aiding, abetting, and empowering “mental health” industries.
https://www.amazon.com/Pedophilia-Empire-Chapter-Introduction-Disorder-ebook/dp/B0773QHGPT
It now seems it’s our entire world which is on a “Runaway train never going back
Wrong way on a one-way track …”
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If the holistic approach works and can get people permanently well, then unless “the Country” wants to service lots of “Mentally Sick People”, then the Holistic Model is what should be used.
But even though theres a lot of destruction, early death, and human wastage in the Pharmaceutical model, maybe this is what “Governments” Want.
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It cuts into profits if you start making people better!
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It’s also only an option for people who are extremely wealthy and can pay out of pocket or for people who have exceptional insurance plans. I’ve been on Medicare for about 15 years ever since electroshock treatments disabled me. There is no way any practitioner with the word holistic in their name is going to accept my insurance and there is no way Medicare is going to pay for any practitioner with the word holistic in their name. So people like me are done for. It’s figure it out yourself or risk more abuse. Those are my options after having lost everything to this system.
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And even when I was willing to pay out of pocket, something like $400 for a single appointment with a holistic psychiatrist, the borderline label/insult was once again used against me. People have said to me, “oh just go to a new doctor and don’t tell them you have that diagnosis, they don’t need to know. Don’t tell them you’re borderline.”
Unfortunately there is no way for me to describe the extreme levels of abuse I experienced while omitting the label that they put on me that seemed to give any one working in the system a free pass to say and do whatever they want to me. So a doctor or any kind of helping person cannot help me without knowing my story but when I tell my story they use it against me even the holistic ones. They use it as more proof that I am defective and deserve nothing.
A caseworker I just fired told me that I should feel grateful and be optimistic because this is a young field. I asked what do you mean? Do you mean Psychiatry is a young field because Psychiatry has been around for ages? He said “no, the mental health field is very young and they used to put people in sanatoriums.”. Oh right and I should be so grateful that they only put me through decades of abuse and humiliation and trauma outside of a sanatorium. And left me in a situation where I can’t even see a doctor of any kind. Unbelievable hubris.
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Katel,
You are legally being abused. In a way, perhaps you are lucky because you can see it.
Imagine being part of that human design where you are too ignorant to see.
Each time someone treats you like you are the something they said you were/are, they revert back to their childhood days.
It is cemented in and nothing can change their mind unless they get educated by experience.
Honestly people have to have been there to have insight.
Now that I am older I am floored by what nonsense we engage in for the measly 100 years we live here.
Then poof, we are NEVER to return.
You were obviously NOT speaking to anyone holistically minded lol.
You were speaking to a regular shrink disguised as something new and novel but who was loaded with the prejudices he grew up with.
And I DO think they grew up with them, and the field of psychiatry is simply what they were drawn to to excercise and hone that attitude more.
It’s not even done purposefully. It is a nature thing.
As far as real medical doctors, they have become control freaks, mean and nasty. They have zero patience and each person has to not speak their mind, but rather just you better co-operate with the doc.
They now take it for granted that they are in power.
Talk about “personality disorders”.
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No, Kate, it’s find like-minded folks, and self-recover together. You’re only as alone as you want to be. Yeah, I know, easier said than done. But please don’t be self-defeating. I believe that you CAN HEAL, CAN RECOVER, and can live a WHOLE, HEALTHY, HAPPY LIFE. It’s never too late to begin to become who you could have been, if not for the evil lies & neuro-toxins of psychiatry. I have done it. So can you. You’re in the right place, here at MiA, to start. Try Dr. Thomas Szasz’s “Myth of Mental Illness”. It’s a bit college-textbook level, but still readable & relevant. And there are MANY online healing groups & communities. MindFreedom.org is only 1 of many…. I’m glad you’re here. Keep posting & writing. Tell YOUR TRUTH.
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Unfortunately, that is the bottom line, Steve. A pediatrician actually told me she couldn’t stop defaming children with the “invalid” DSM disorders, and creating “mental illnesses” in children with the psych drugs, because “it’s too profitable.”
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I think the author’s description of basically how innocent people get hooked on these evil damaging psych drugs is “spot on.” Her alternative idea of how Jason should really be “treated” is illuminating and definitely better than the conventional drug way, traditional psychiatrists and their associates use. However, and this may be more tragic, is that usually the inception of the road to ruin by being on these psych pills begins with something usually less dramatic. Much of this really starts from work mismatch or simple relationship issues or even just plain boredom. A person is usually just looking for answers to their problems, which are very practical problems or maybe they are just dealing with the loss of a loved one, a job or other normal life-changing experiences. I think the author’s idea of working with this “imaginary client” is far superior to the ways of traditional psychiatry, but, I think we must really be careful to make sure the person’s issues are from trauma or just normal life’s questions that need answer unique to that person. Either way, psych drugs and the concurrent psychotherapy only harms, maims and damages and on top of whatever maybe bothering the individual, there is now either added trauma or trauma that should never have been there in the very first place. Thank you.
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I soooo love that you responded in this way. No, not everything can be linked back to childhood trauma. And what one person perceives as traumatic may not be the case for another person. Thank you.
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Or even, if it’s a so called “big problem” it can still be dealt with through straightforward means.
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I tried to see a holistic psychiatrist after decades of abuse from the not holistic kind. Drugs drugs drugs ECT more drugs TMS more drugs verbal abuse and humiliation the whole way along violation of my human rights restraints isolation the whole deal.
I was prepared to pay out of pocket for this so-called holistic psychiatrist. His office sent me some forms I filled them out truthfully emailed them back to him and got a call from his assistant the day before the appointment canceling the appointment because and this is a direct quote “he’s not taking any more borderline”.
So much for holistic psychiatrists. There is no such thing.
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Yes, KateL, the psychologists who were calling themselves “holistic” decades ago, also behaved in the opposite manner. So if there is such a thing as a “holistic” psychologist or psychiatrist, they need to call themselves something else. Since the unethical within the “mental health” industries, long ago, destroyed the term “holistic,” when it comes to “mental health” workers.
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I didn’t realize it went back that far. It reminds me a bit of other words that come up a lot — like person-centered, or trauma-informed.
Like, is it really…or does that just sound good?
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Dr. Kelly Brogan. Know her?….She has books & website. Highly recommended.
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I’ve been called self-defeating twice this week (both by people online as I have no actual human contact). Maybe I have self-defeating personality disorder as well as borderline.
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The efforts to find like minded people by moving to a new state that had a peer recovery Network also failed. It took all the energy I had left in me to move alone to a place where I didn’t know anyone during covid barely managed to get an apartment because 70% of my disability goes to rent. All to feel like a failure and an outcast once again. A cautionary tale. The middle-aged angry crying woman with the son who hates her. The one who sits at the drop-in center every minute that they’re open because she has nothing else. Maybe self-defeating or maybe just realizing it’s time to admit defeat rather than continue to bang my head against the wall like I’ve done all my life.
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KateL:
603-762-2199
[email protected]
P.O.Box 1860
Keene, NH, 03431
Please feel free to contact me….
Here in downtown Keene, we have Monadnock Peer Support….
And yes, I think I can help you see just how close to success you really are…. I think so, anyway….
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Here is another description of the course of events.
Jason is molested.
Jason feels the molestation was his fault, feels shame and believes there is something wrong with him.
The āexpertā psychiatrist then informs Jason that there is something wrong with him and his brain is āillā and āimbalancedā.
Everyone begins treating him as āillā and he feels more shame, and gets more confirmation that the trauma in his life is his fault (specifically his brains fault).
The effect of a psychiatric diagnosis is that it tells people it is their fault. Jason blamed himself for the abuse and the psychiatrist essentially told Jason his brain was at fault.
Considering all the reasons people donāt talk about being abused, a psychiatry label compounds those and makes it less likely they will tell people. Being defined as mentally ill reduces self esteem, self confidence, and credibility. Children get abused in part because they lack those three qualities and present less risk to the abuse of being jailed compared to adults. Labeling someone as mentally ill particularly a child as psychotic is putting a target on them for abusers.
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A very interesting analysis of history. I completely agree with the author’s opinion on the importance of identifying the root cause.
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Kendra wrote in the article “He had gained 30 pounds and could barely speak.” on the drugs.
With little ability to behave psychotic, the patient isn’t psychotic, thinks the quack doctor.
Frog goes deaf story
A scientist is working in the lab with a frog. He has trained it to respond to simple verbal commands and wants to observe its ability to jump after it has lost one or more of its limbs. He starts by saying, “ok frog, jump.” The frog quickly does a small hop. The scientist notes, “frog jumps easily.”
The scientist then cuts off one of its legs and says “ok frog, jump.” The frog again hops, but with a bit of difficulty. The scientist notes, “frog with 3 legs still able to jump.”
The scientist cuts off another leg and says “ok frog, jump.” The frog stumbles awkwardly but is still able to do a small hop. The scientist notes, “frog with 2 legs able to hop a bit.”
Then he cuts off the third leg and repeats the command. The frog pushes with its remaining leg, trying to hop, and finally propels itself forward a bit. The scientist notes, “frog with one leg unable to jump fully, but can move forward.”
The scientist then cuts off its last leg and says “ok frog, jump.” The frog does nothing. The scientist repeats his command but the frog still does nothing. “Jump frog, jump!” But the frog doesn’t move.
The scientist notes, “frog with no legs goes deaf.”
Patient on anti-psychotics , without symptoms has been successfully treated.
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Thank you Kendra,
You describe my experience of Psychiatry very accurately.
The article (below) from Psychology Today represents one of the methods I used to repair myself.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/understanding-the-anxious-mind/202108/anxiety-and-the-art-doing-nothing
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The truly horrible thing is that that way of thinking, of being, like cruel little boys doing awful experiments in the name of ‘science’, isn’t so very far removed from reality, not when you constantly read and hear stories of people being horrendously damaged by both the system and also by individuals. And yet, each and every one of us know that it continues to happen regardless of… pretty much anything.
(Replying to the comment above this one, seeing as I can’t figure out a way to delete this.)
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markps2,
Great analogy, Mark. I’m quite certain that story should be rewritten as a ‘Psychiatrist goes deaf’ story, especially given how many “mental health” workers I had to ask if they speak English. Those words, “your drug make me sick,” truly are beyond the realm of comprehension of most “mental health” workers, at least in my experience.
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Psychiatry is the cause … of indescribable suffering. The drugs I was prescribed caused permanent, damaging effects that have not lessened years after stopping. When I complained of the ill effects of the drugs, I was told I had worsening symptoms of x, y, z – new mental illness labels, as you describe in your article …polydrugged to deal with all the new symptoms I never had before starting the drugs. It has been a Kafkaesque nightmare where the only way to get help is to be thrown back into the arms of those who nearly killed you. If you complain, you are considered more mentally ill. I was told repeatedly that the drugs were not addictive and that it was better to take multiple drugs rather than one.
How is what I and many others have gone through legal and importantly ethical? In reading about the opioid settlement, I wonder are we not also victims of grotesque marketing of addictive and dangerous pills? Who is keeping track of how many lives have been lost to psychiatric drugs? How many families destroyed? How many lives ruined? How can we possibly have “psychiatry” exist to destroy someone’s life in this way, in the name of mental health care?
Dr. Campbell, please keep writing, advocating, educating. Thank you.
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Psychiatry introduced the DSM, which must be used to in order to secure payment from insurance companies for āmental healthā services. Even if someone goes to see a counselor of any type – not a psychiatrist – and no drugs are prescribed or taken, a ādiagnosisā must be given, if insurance is used. No matter the issue or problem, a person is pathologized as āmentally illā per the DSM, simply by walking into a clinic or office. This is another way psychiatry has harmed society. We have a psychiatrized society, the result of which is the covering up of the real reasons for personal difficulties and the inability to see a counselor without being pathologized, per the DSM (unless of course, one can pay cash).
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Indeed there is an “inability to see a counselor without being pathologized, per the DSM,” including when one pays cash.
But I will say, paying cash does prevent one’s health insurance company from knowing about such maltreatment. Thus one’s unknowing health insurance company will help one escape later on, when one is subjected to the downright criminal psychiatrists.
What’s sad is, I’m now to the point of contemplating seeing a primary care physician, who only takes cash, too.
I was able to get a well respected mainstream doctor into taking the psychiatric misdiagnosis off my medical records. He even had me teach his students about my medical research findings, and called me a “one in a million” medical researcher.
But I did end up going to the emergency room, a couple years back, at his well respected hospital, with chest pains. I was right, it was just a pulled muscle, thankfully. But I was not able to walk out of that hospital, without a moronic “Dr. Paine” asking me “Are you depressed?”
What’s good is if you tell such a Paine, “No, and I’m allergic to the anticholinergic drugs.” That Paine will walk away quickly, embarrassed.
But we do seem to have a societal problem of a lack of medical privacy, if you utilize insurance. And especially now that the vaccinated supposedly don’t need to wear masks, but the unvaccinated do. I’m pretty certain such mandates are illegal, according to the Nuremberg codes.
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Kendra thanks for having the mind to see through the BS.
People are very complex, their environments are complicated.
Psychiatry has it ALL wrong and much evidence to illuminate
their damages.
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Katel, that caseworker who said that this (mental health) is a “young field” must have slept through his classes, so it is a very good thing you fired him. I am not sure what is worse; your experience where they have already labeled you or an experience like I had where they gave me a diagnosis with just one initial interview. And the tragic part about that allleged diagnosis was that they gave it to me while I was still on a few drugs and even before they received any “psychiatric history.” from previous clinics. This interviewer also tried to have me go to the “medical side” where they could take a “urine test” to see if I was taking my medicine; my lithium at that time. Luckily, I walked away from this evil before they could take that “test.” We are all better off with psychiatrists of any sort; holistic or traditional or whatever they make up. Thank you.
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Thanks, rebel. I’m glad that you walked away also.
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take a āurine testā.
Numerous people have lost their kidney, as in the kidney dies, from the lithium “medicine”. If a real doctor wants to see if your kidneys are functioning properly, you should let them and give them a urine sample if they request it.
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MIA your the bogus, complain about classical psychiatry as the cause and something holisticaly as the solution but not 1 time you mention the medication being toxic substances who should not be on the market anyway. So look at it again, google for PUBCHEM and it will show you the result of lethality tests done on these chemical substances, e.g zyprexa (olanzapine) is here https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Olanzapine I suspect you might be called complicit in the torture crimes done with these medicine and the “classical psychiatry” as you call it. Better lifestyle, digging into the root of the problem, bla bla bla. Still hope you tune up the act, MIA was a great site in the begin days.
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Psychiatry is a very effective ‘Neoliberism’ tool alongside ‘commercial’ control of the media and attitudes.
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I commend Dr. Campbell for this approach in her psychiatry practice. That said, its pretty pathetic that I feel the need to do so. I mean… what is so commendable about acknowledging the molestation of a five year old, at least long enough to glean a “holistic” view of the Childs life, including that for which he/she cannot speak to or for? Why is this fundamental moral, ethical, and epistemological step so impossible for legacy psychiatry? (its a rhetorical question…)
But the truth is Dr. Campbells work is considerably more challenging than her institutional predecessor; she has to clean up their damage before her work can begin, work rooted in reality. I suppose its good work as time and money go, with an ever increasing supply of prospective “clients” coming down the pike.
Lastly, what of all the children who haven’t had the “privilege” of the kind of care Dr. Campbell provides? Not only is their molestation (or whatever the unrepresented repressed violence or betrayal) drugged and labeled, all future behavior will be viewed through the psychiatric lens. If there’s also additional violence, be it neglect or betrayal, etc. it will, like Jason’s story, be forever silenced along with the molestation; “the violence of organized forgetting” (Giroux); no more molestation, only the outline of a psychiatric subject.
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Very good analysis. I completely agree with the author about the need to determine the root cause of the disease
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I was diagnosed with ADHD at age 9. Put on Ritalin and an antidepressant. By age 10 my behavior became worse and I developed Bi Polar with psychosis and a Seizure disorder. I was in and out of psychiatric institutions over a dozen times over the next decade. By age 25 I was taking 7 medications at once. A variety of 4 antipsychotics, 2 seizure meds, and Adderall. A year ago the most incredible thing happened. My body gave in. I had a massive bowel obstruction and was taken off all meds for 7 days cold turkey while in the hospital. No evidence of psychosis, Bi Polar, or seizures while off meds. When I left the hospital they put me only on Vraylar 6mg and I have never been this stable the last year.
Now my psychiatrist insists the Bi Polar is in remission but my family and I believe I could have been misdiagnosed. I am working full time now and in the process of getting off disability I have been on since turning 18. I am now almost 38 years old. I am now seeing a holistic therapist who is working with me to see if I can get off the Vraylar long term. I am tapering down from 6mg to 1.5mg since May. I hope to stop taking the Vraylar in another month. He also believes I may have Aspergerās Syndrome not Bi Polar. Even that may be inaccurate?
My family and I are mystified and frustrated why I had to take excessive amounts of medication for 20+ years. I hope to go public with my story to help others in the same boat.
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“Could have been misdiagnosed?” What a ridiculous argument they make! If you STOP the drugs and you GET INSTANTLY BETTER, they OBIVOUSLY “misdiagnosed” you, because the DRUGS WERE CAUSING THE PROBLEMS! It is well known (and is on the consumer handout) that stimulants can cause mania and/or psychosis at typical, prescribed doses in children. What’s even more stupid is that anyone with the slightest background in brain biochemistry knows that stimulants increase levels of dopamine. Psychiatry’s own self-appointed gurus have long claimed that psychosis is a result of high levels of dopamine in the brain. So they “antipsychotics,” which you were no doubt prescribed, LOWER the amount of dopamine. So you were given one drug to RAISE dopamine levels, then another to REDUCE the artificially high levels caused by the stimulants. And they say you are “in remission?” The lack of responsibility is staggering! But unfortunately, not at all rare.
m
This is what happens when you “diagnose” people with purely subjective criteria. Someone’s opinion becomes “your diagnosis,” and you have nothing to argue against them except for common sense. Yet, as we see here, common sense is NOT particularly common amongst the supposed “experts” in the “mental health” system. The most obvious things in the world, such as the induction of psychotic behavior by a drug that is known to induce psychotic behavior, can be completely denied despite an again obvious “recovery” immediately following withdrawal of the offending drug.
I’m so sorry you’ve been through this. I hope you and your family have drawn the proper conclusion that these people can’t be trusted to have your best interests or even basic logic at heart, and will stay as far away from anyone who tells you “you have X disorder” as you can possibly get.
Humans survived for hundreds of thousands of years without brain drugs. You can, too.
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I’m so sorry this happened to you. Glad you are doing better. As Steve said, the lack or responsibility or even basic reasoning skills is sorely lacking in a profession that has the power to up-end a person’s entire life. It seems like your body had its own wisdom. Too bad the same can’t be said for the so-called professionals pushing these drugs.
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I, too, am sorry for all your experiences. My body and brain too eventually broke down from all these horrific psych drugs when I became comatose, could not be awaken, and ended up in the hospital. However, unfortunately, it took me another two years until I finally got off all the drugs and walked away from psychiatry. In those intervening years, they still kept trying different drugs on me. What seems to be so tragically common is how they start you on one drug or maybe two; stating that you have an alleged diagnosis; then those drugs cause symptoms; you get more drugs and more diagnoses. I am now under the opinion and I think others would agree with me that if the drugs cause trouble, you were never “sick” in the first place. Isn’t odd how may people do have troubles with these drugs? However, they are brainwashed to be in denial and force-fed fear that if they gave up the drugs, they would be sicker. Of course, then withdrawal does set in and that is used against them. So many do get back on the drugs, much to their unknowing peril. I am so glad that you and your family have the sense to not trust the doctors and not get back on the drugs. You are still young and now also very wise, so, I think you have a bright future ahead of you. Actually, when anyone says no these psych drugs and walks away from psychiatry, the future gets so much brighter and the sun really shines again for them. Thank you.
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Such a great relief and a delight to read your story of escaping both your diagnosis and the mental health system. A truly great gift to have your life back and to continue with a very different life than you had under that phenomenally stupid and irresponsible system. Well done, I wish you health and happiness.
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I’m just gonna AGREE with everybody else here. Except that 1 unhappy customer above! ….
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The only way to feel good about oneself and have hope to absolutely not accept their lies that you have some sort of mental disorder. To be free of this evil, you must extricate yourself from psychiatry and never, never ever again consider that their diagnosis of you is correct. It is all lies. The only possible issue one may have is that one may have “brain damage” from the drugs and therapy, etc. But time and prayer work to help and heal the situation. Always remember psychiatrists are not gods and not one of us has to take their alleged diagnosis of us as if it were. All of it is lies. As they say, never give up and never give in to their evil way of thinking again. One more point, no matter how bad the day, try your best to have an attitude of gratitude that you have survived this horrific evil. Thank you.
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