Connecting the Dots: My Toxic Workplace Made Me âMentally Illâ
In 1996, I suffered my first manic episode. My mother was convinced it had been caused by chemical exposure. But I wouldnât hear it, and neither would my psychiatrists.
Our Day in Mental Health Court
For weeks I had been trying to get released from the psychiatric ward, and none of my arguments, compliance, or attempted air of normality had made an impression on the barely-visible ward psychiatrist. I had, I was told, made a very serious suicide attempt and this was a predictor of future attempts. They would let me know when they thought I was sufficiently remorseful and stabilized to be released.
The Note
Iâve helped dozens of my students through tough times and suicidal thoughts. But my own child? How do I handle THIS?
The Misery of Being Misdiagnosed and Overmedicated
From an early age, relatives and doctors alike had told me I was severely mentally ill. Naturally, I believed them.
Reclaiming My Yin and Yang
Western psychiatry has done a lot of harm to people, especially when it is forced upon people as their âonlyâ option. Peopleâs experiences are wildly diverse, and only a diversity of options can do justice to our differing needs.
A Healing Journey: Leaving Psychiatry Behind
The world calls what was "wrong" with me "bipolar." I prefer the notion that I went through a birth process to become the healer that I am today. I can't be silent because I know there are people like I was who are trapped and may not realize it yet. When they begin to see the prison bars that surround them, I want to be there for them as others were for me.
The Aggressive Suppression of Spiritual Awakening
As they handed her hospital pajamas, similar to the orange prison suits you see on TV, she suddenly understood how little these people could help.
Inhumane Medicine in Germany: A Dark Chapter Continued
Although I left UeckermĂŒnde without the ability to speak, heavily traumatized and barely able to move, I managed to reclaim life after more than a decade. Today I am one of the few witnesses who survived the Hell of UeckermĂŒnde, who can tell the story of my companions and raise awareness of the injustice committed against us as well as demand answers.
Systematic Failure
This is the story of a life in turmoil, my failings and those of the systems meant to help such persons.
A Felt Sense of Safety â From Disassociation to Embodiment
I know now that I can trust myself and listen to my intuition. Within the mental health system, I trusted everyone but myself.
Still Looking For Answers
What is happening in my body? And has being on medication caused long-term side effects or damage? Iâll forever be searching for answers; I want to feel ânormalâ again and live a life of enjoyment vs fear and anxiety.
Negatively Charged: ECT and the Truth I Could Never Forget
I live with the changes every day, even now, four years later. It often feels as though the shocks have rendered me one-handed, only ever capable of dealing with one thing at a time.
Eternal Sorrow: My Unexpected Descent into the Mental Health System
In searching for answers as to what went wrong with my treatment, my family and I discovered that there is already much scientific evidence demonstrating the dangers of antipsychotic medications and why they should not be used to treat illnesses such as Tourette Syndrome.
So Long, Psych Meds: Escaping the Medication Maze
There was a time when I could think of nothing else but pills and prescriptions, pain and panic. Psychiatry shrank my world.
Overheated, then Overtreated: My 10-Day Involuntary Hold
Had the hospital simply treated me for heatstroke, they would have made next to nothing. But 11 days in the hospital (10 on a locked ward) and a battery of tests and psych drugs? Well, Iâll let you do the math.
Invisible Trauma: The Children Left Behind When Parents Are Hospitalized
It would take decades before I recognized the trauma caused by repeatedly being separated from my mom when she was hospitalized. I grieved almost exactly the way children did who had lost a parent to death. Yet it was grief without closure because my mom was not dead, just... gone.
âMaybe You Need Medsâ: From Passive Patient to Finding My Voice
I made journaling non-negotiable. I started sitting in nature and running trails. I practiced being present and prioritized sleep. These things are often seen as what you do if your problems arenât really that bad. But to me, these are the things I do to save myself every day.
Childhood Trauma Is Not a Mental Illness
My childhood was stolen by systems focused on labeling and medicating me instead of healing the effects of abuse and neglect.
Seeds of Hope: A Journey Toward Truth about Psych Drugs
I believed I needed the drugs to keep me going, because every time I tried to get off, I couldnât function. Years later, I learned the truth: The meds had only been masking the festering sores beneath the surface of my stability.
Learning to Speak the Subtle Language of Pain
It gradually dawned on me that my back pain was another mask that depression wore. Instead of crying and feeling overwhelmed or giving up, my body was sending distress signals to help me realize that I was in a difficult spot. I began to realize some of the metaphorical aspects of the pain I experienced.
Strange Gifts and the Search for Santa Claus
It used to be that the times when Santa Claus would show up were times when I was worrying about whether or not I had the right kind of medicine. I know when I see him that he is the medicine, and that he is showing me how to live.
Psychiatry Almost Drove Me Crazy
I am a survivor of severe psychiatric abuse. There was a year or so in the early 1980âs when I was in and out...
Pieces of Shattered Memories
If the sum of my experience exists only as fractured memories that never happened, who am I? It has led me to a near-constant questioning of every aspect in my life.
Navigating the Mind: What Medication Cannot Address
I believe there's no harm in giving meds a tryâit worked for me. Just be aware that they can only do so much. The rest of the journey requires some navigation and self-direction.
That Others May Live: An Airmanâs Mental Health and Medication Hurricane
âThese things we do, so others may live.â It took a small army of my brothers and sisters in and out of uniform to drag me out of my abyss.
