Great to learn about the disability justice and the social model of disability. Thank you Samantha!
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t read the whole story, but I have a response here:
“Next time Iâm reviewed for disability, I wonât have a psychiatrist to sign off because they wonât treat me anymore unless I take their prescriptions. If Iâm not actively under a psychiatristâs care, Social Security will take the only income and the only insurance I have away from me.”
== I took a class from Wildflower Alliance. It was great for me. I have learned from the instructor that one can accept a psychiatrist’s care for the purpose of Social Security and other benefits, if any, but just don’t take the pills. I thought that was a really good idea!
Joanna, you are so awesome! It makes me mad to know that the psychiatrist was trying to scare you for no reason and he could get away from it. Knowledge is power! Again it is great that you did all you can to pull yourself out of the scary place.
“Years ago a psychiatrist told me that I might develop “drug-resistant schizophrenia” and get ECT if I stopped taking the neuroleptic I had been prescribed at a psychiatric hospital (where I had been involuntarily hospitalized). Until today I find it very disturbing that he mentioned ECT in order to scare me into compliance.” == This is terrifying! I am glad that you got over it! You are doing a great service by exposing it. I will share with my family and friends. Thank you!
Joanna, great to read your uplifting story too! You are very generous!
Well said! We need to better organize ourselves to expose and resist them.
Julia, your writing is breathtaking for me. I will order your book soon!
Thank you Steve! I got it!
Thank you for your helpful clarification!
“There is no meaning to having a comment âheld in moderationâ unless itâs been more than a day, in which case folks should contact me to make sure the comment isnât lost and to discuss any concerns the comment might have raised. But this one was approved as soon as I read it.” == Steve, where can I find your contact info just in case I need to check with you?
Thank you Amy for this! I enjoy reading Celia’s vast accomplishments! I would like to know where to read about how Celia managed to discontinue/withdrawal from her psy drugs, and what her diagnosis was.
Thanks a lot Jay! We got it. My husband is half way through this article from you. I will post more of his questions if he has any.
Thank you Steve for this. I read it to my husband. He said it sounded good to him from a much more holistic philosophy.
Jay and Steve, my husband has this question for both of you:
âIt is clear that psychosis is not 100% caused by genes because not all twins are affected. Does this mean that gene and the body do not play any role in psychosis. Could it be one influence among many?â
Jay, this is a very powerful piece including the 7-step corrupted process, and how the mainstream researcher tell their stories to gain access to reputation and funding! Thank you! I will buy your new book!
I support this lawsuit!
I see. I usually ignore all images on this website and go straight to the texts.
I am curious. Why do you think the image is inappropriate? I did not think much of it.
Amy, thanks a lot for your review! I may read them soon!
Nancy, can you give out the link to your blog? I am also interested in taking a look.
Right! The system is intended to make profit out of “the mentally ill.”
I love your idea of incremental change! Thank you Bob!
Exactly!
This article is excellent, summarizing the same pattern from many personal stories I have read from Mad In America. Thank you Angie. Also I watched the documentary Medicating Normal; it was awesome!
“suicide is a social justice issue”
I agree 100%! Thank you!
Thank you Steve! Well said!
Great article! Thank you Bruce!
I like this quote too! Thank you! I am part of the resistance efforts too!
Great article! Thank you! Your prescribing doctors really did not know anything about benzo withdrawal, and they did not want to know. It is so sad. I am so glad you joined the benzo withdrawal group and took the matter into your own hands!
“âIs the wish to transform the recovery approach just a dream? The research covered here has shown that people do not give upâŠthere is an emergence of new forms of connectedness, within and between marginalized groups; new practices of community involvement even in Western countries; ”
== Thank you for the nice article! I wonder what the “new practices of community involvement even in Western countries ” are.
Thanks for this nice report! Docolonizing psychology is an important topic for sure. What I want to add here is that the different cultures in Global South have their own hierarchical power imbalance issues too. It seems to me that it is always a small group staying at the top in power to rule the masses.
I agree! Thank you Al!
Good to know! Thanks! I wonder what is the practice of life insurance policies now. Do they do the same, or similar or different?
Steve, your point here is highly convincing. Thank you!
Richard, thank you for pointing these out!
Well said! Thank you!
I agree! Thank you!
Well said! Thank you!
I agree! Thank you!
EdH, thanks for your sharing your experience! It is really helpful for me to learn!
Agree!
Thank you for your information. I read Jordana Steinberg’s story on Sacbee. It is great for me to know how her whole family has been influenced by psychiatry and psychology.
You have a good point. Being a parent, let alone being a parent for twins, is overwhelming for many, many years, for an adult with no diagnosis. I can imagine it is even more so for one with a diagnosis, in the past, or currently, or both. I trust the author of this article is not mad all the time. Having a strong support system is very important — the other parent, grandparents, in-laws, and etc..
This is a great article! I love it! Thank you Sascha!
I agree! Thank you!
Russell, I agree with you! The legal system is part of the larger mainstream neoliberal system! The only way as I see it is to continue to grow Mad In America and other alternative communities.
Kent, your comparison of CBT to ACT makes so much sense to me. Thank you!
How would you have done better if you were a parent in this story?
“The medicalization of adolescence!” I agree!
Very well said! Thank you Lila!
Good to know! Thank you Steve!
Thank you Amy for your reviews! Awesome! I just purchased “Blood Orange Night!” It is a great book! I love it!
Beautifully said! Thank you again Richard!
Carola and Russ, this is an extremely powerful story! Thank both of you so much!
Your story is profound. Thank you for your generous sharing!
Very well said! Thank you Richard!
Right. It is a system failure.
Very well said! Thank you!
Great advice from Steve! Thank you! I wish I had read this years ago when my son first developed intense emotional distress. I am saving this to share with other parents I know!
Very well said! I look forward to be part of it!
Marie, I agree it is extremely difficult to change the system any time soon. I do think we can grow our own alternative community to be bigger and bigger every year. That means the system’s power will decrease every year.
To Steve McCrea: Steve, thank you so much for your brilliant self-harm kit designed for kids consisting of noodle sticks, a feather, a sweet-tasting thing, and other gentle objects. It is actually a self-love or self-care kit. I shared and discussed it during our family meetings. All of three of us were deeply touched by this from you. The two important messages for my son were: 1) self-harm is normal response to life stress; 2) it is best handled with kindness and understanding from supporting adults.
Great article! Thank you Ann!
I wish you were in my sonâs middle school to have helped him! My son did well at school and home except that he had that incredibly motivation to get 100% right for all his schoolwork to the point of punishing himself with self-injury when he was stuck at one single problem, and having panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. The school encouraged me to give him medications. My husband told me the same. My son got a diagnosis from a psychiatrist. At that time I did not know about Robert Whitakerâs book, but I resisted giving my son any pill. I started to read on Mad in America and other alternative sites/writings too. Then I realized that both my husband and I had been perfectionists ourselves either at work or at home. The more I read, the more confident I feel about resisting the neoliberal culture extending from the adultsâ lives to the kidsâ lives. Over the course of 10 years, I eventually successfully helped my husband wean off his antidepressants of almost 20 years. 9.5 years were spent on helping him overcome the deep fear for the withdrawal symptoms, and the rest of the 0.5 years were spent on having him actually taper off really, really slowly. The un-learning and re-learning process at home also helped us figure out the root causes of my husbandâs suicidal thoughts. The neoliberal culture had put tremendous amount of weight on him in the forms of work stress and family stress. Seeing that clearly was the most difficult and time-consuming part; working together to find solutions was a lot easier. Now my son is a high school junior and has been exposed regularly about the nature of the neoliberal culture, how to keep a safe distance from it, and how to use alternative approaches to equip ourselves with. My son has learned and has been practicing skills at coping with negative emotions; we are very happy about his growth with emotional safety.
Thank you!
âYou canât criticize the medicalization of suffering and at the same time talk about your âpatients.â We are not âpatients.ââ
== If ânot patients,â how would you want to be called?
âThe goal should not be âbetterâ professionals but a system in which human support is not a âspecialtyâ and professionalism is obsolete. â
== Can you point to the theory and the practice of such a system?
I enjoy reading this interview! Kudos to Javier and Dr. Layton!
Thank you Dr. Combs for your comment! It is really good for me to learn from your narrative therapy perspective. I will take my first narrative therapy class in April!
I am sorry to hear your story. Thank you for your very generous sharing! I hope that you will get the right help through Mad in America!
Louise, thank you for this deeply moving article! It is great that you have your own website:
I have just saved it! I am sure that I will spend a lot of time following up with you there!
I just subscribed to the Woodford Folk Festivalâs website. My first question is, what is its equivalent, or whether there is one, to it in the U.S., or in California that I live.
Very well said, Steve!
I am a Chinese born in China. I have been living in California for 20 years. I studied acupuncture as an elective course in my non-medical graduate program in Beijing. I personally donât think that acupuncture has made any difference to my health, but I have lived here in Northern California where acupuncture and Chinese traditional medicine thrive. I enjoy Chinese style massages. Because of Covid, I donât use a massage therapist any more, and I use a massage tool on myself.
I also want to share about a relatively new branch of medicine called lifestyle medicine:
âLifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic interventionâincluding a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connectionâas a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat and often reverse chronic disease.â
My family and I have the good fortune of having practiced that eating pattern and lifestyle for 11 years, and plan to continue for long term or for life. My mom died of her first and last heart attack at 62. I have growing confidence in preventing heart attack for myself. My husband had many serious chronic health problems including Type 1 diabetes, asthma, alcohol dependence, and depression, and had really low quality of life 11 years ago. Now his quality of life is much, much better! With the help from Mad in America and other alternative communities, my husband finally has stopped taking his antidepressant for almost 20 years. Also he has either reversed, reduced, or minimized his other health conditions. He has minimized his medications as well.
If anyone has any questions or comments, I will respond. Thank you!
Thank you Miranda! Can Oryx and Briza give an example about how the emotional CPR works?
— âlistened, loved me anyways, asked questions, didnât yell, didnât do anything at all, let me be me, still love me.â
— being with, loving, seeing, hearing and valuing me, rather than fixing me.
These are important quick takeaways for me. Thanks a lot!
I enjoy this interview as well! I will probably read her book too!
Thank you for sharing!
You said, “I must offer this: If you had employed the appropriate mode of withdrawal for you, you would have found yourself without withdrawal symptoms on the first day post withdrawal.”
Could you please share what is the appropriate mode of withdrawal as you see it?
Thank you! I did register for this summit and plant to watch the recordings.
Thank you for sharing!
I am curious about how a typical peer respite or Soteria house specifically responds to a person of concern in the middle of big emotions or looking to be about to hurt/harm himself/herself or others, during his/her stay.
Thank you for pointing out this nice article! I am reading it!
This is really good to know. Thank you! I am discussing it with family and friends.
Very well said. Thanks, Ron!
Thank you Miranda for everything you did for Mad in the family! Welcome Amy for being the new family editor!
This is a great comment! Thanks! I have shared it with my family.
Well said Ted! Thanks!
Peter may not respond here. You can find his email address here and ask questions him directly:
https://www.scientificfreedom.dk/staff/
Great to learn about the disability justice and the social model of disability. Thank you Samantha!
Thanks for sharing! I haven’t read the whole story, but I have a response here:
“Next time Iâm reviewed for disability, I wonât have a psychiatrist to sign off because they wonât treat me anymore unless I take their prescriptions. If Iâm not actively under a psychiatristâs care, Social Security will take the only income and the only insurance I have away from me.”
== I took a class from Wildflower Alliance. It was great for me. I have learned from the instructor that one can accept a psychiatrist’s care for the purpose of Social Security and other benefits, if any, but just don’t take the pills. I thought that was a really good idea!
Joanna, you are so awesome! It makes me mad to know that the psychiatrist was trying to scare you for no reason and he could get away from it. Knowledge is power! Again it is great that you did all you can to pull yourself out of the scary place.
“Years ago a psychiatrist told me that I might develop “drug-resistant schizophrenia” and get ECT if I stopped taking the neuroleptic I had been prescribed at a psychiatric hospital (where I had been involuntarily hospitalized). Until today I find it very disturbing that he mentioned ECT in order to scare me into compliance.” == This is terrifying! I am glad that you got over it! You are doing a great service by exposing it. I will share with my family and friends. Thank you!
Joanna, great to read your uplifting story too! You are very generous!
Well said! We need to better organize ourselves to expose and resist them.
Julia, your writing is breathtaking for me. I will order your book soon!
Thank you Steve! I got it!
Thank you for your helpful clarification!
“There is no meaning to having a comment âheld in moderationâ unless itâs been more than a day, in which case folks should contact me to make sure the comment isnât lost and to discuss any concerns the comment might have raised. But this one was approved as soon as I read it.” == Steve, where can I find your contact info just in case I need to check with you?
Thank you Amy for this! I enjoy reading Celia’s vast accomplishments! I would like to know where to read about how Celia managed to discontinue/withdrawal from her psy drugs, and what her diagnosis was.
Thanks a lot Jay! We got it. My husband is half way through this article from you. I will post more of his questions if he has any.
Thank you Steve for this. I read it to my husband. He said it sounded good to him from a much more holistic philosophy.
Jay and Steve, my husband has this question for both of you:
âIt is clear that psychosis is not 100% caused by genes because not all twins are affected. Does this mean that gene and the body do not play any role in psychosis. Could it be one influence among many?â
Jay, this is a very powerful piece including the 7-step corrupted process, and how the mainstream researcher tell their stories to gain access to reputation and funding! Thank you! I will buy your new book!
I support this lawsuit!
I see. I usually ignore all images on this website and go straight to the texts.
I am curious. Why do you think the image is inappropriate? I did not think much of it.
Amy, thanks a lot for your review! I may read them soon!
Nancy, can you give out the link to your blog? I am also interested in taking a look.
Right! The system is intended to make profit out of “the mentally ill.”
I love your idea of incremental change! Thank you Bob!
Exactly!
This article is excellent, summarizing the same pattern from many personal stories I have read from Mad In America. Thank you Angie. Also I watched the documentary Medicating Normal; it was awesome!
“suicide is a social justice issue”
I agree 100%! Thank you!
Thank you Steve! Well said!
Great article! Thank you Bruce!
I like this quote too! Thank you! I am part of the resistance efforts too!
Great article! Thank you! Your prescribing doctors really did not know anything about benzo withdrawal, and they did not want to know. It is so sad. I am so glad you joined the benzo withdrawal group and took the matter into your own hands!
“âIs the wish to transform the recovery approach just a dream? The research covered here has shown that people do not give upâŠthere is an emergence of new forms of connectedness, within and between marginalized groups; new practices of community involvement even in Western countries; ”
== Thank you for the nice article! I wonder what the “new practices of community involvement even in Western countries ” are.
Thanks for this nice report! Docolonizing psychology is an important topic for sure. What I want to add here is that the different cultures in Global South have their own hierarchical power imbalance issues too. It seems to me that it is always a small group staying at the top in power to rule the masses.
I agree! Thank you Al!
Good to know! Thanks! I wonder what is the practice of life insurance policies now. Do they do the same, or similar or different?
Steve, your point here is highly convincing. Thank you!
Richard, thank you for pointing these out!
Well said! Thank you!
I agree! Thank you!
Well said! Thank you!
I agree! Thank you!
EdH, thanks for your sharing your experience! It is really helpful for me to learn!
Agree!
Thank you for your information. I read Jordana Steinberg’s story on Sacbee. It is great for me to know how her whole family has been influenced by psychiatry and psychology.
You have a good point. Being a parent, let alone being a parent for twins, is overwhelming for many, many years, for an adult with no diagnosis. I can imagine it is even more so for one with a diagnosis, in the past, or currently, or both. I trust the author of this article is not mad all the time. Having a strong support system is very important — the other parent, grandparents, in-laws, and etc..
This is a great article! I love it! Thank you Sascha!
I agree! Thank you!
Russell, I agree with you! The legal system is part of the larger mainstream neoliberal system! The only way as I see it is to continue to grow Mad In America and other alternative communities.
Kent, your comparison of CBT to ACT makes so much sense to me. Thank you!
How would you have done better if you were a parent in this story?
“The medicalization of adolescence!” I agree!
Very well said! Thank you Lila!
Good to know! Thank you Steve!
Thank you Amy for your reviews! Awesome! I just purchased “Blood Orange Night!” It is a great book! I love it!
Beautifully said! Thank you again Richard!
Carola and Russ, this is an extremely powerful story! Thank both of you so much!
Your story is profound. Thank you for your generous sharing!
Very well said! Thank you Richard!
Right. It is a system failure.
Very well said! Thank you!
Great advice from Steve! Thank you! I wish I had read this years ago when my son first developed intense emotional distress. I am saving this to share with other parents I know!
Very well said! I look forward to be part of it!
Marie, I agree it is extremely difficult to change the system any time soon. I do think we can grow our own alternative community to be bigger and bigger every year. That means the system’s power will decrease every year.
To Steve McCrea: Steve, thank you so much for your brilliant self-harm kit designed for kids consisting of noodle sticks, a feather, a sweet-tasting thing, and other gentle objects. It is actually a self-love or self-care kit. I shared and discussed it during our family meetings. All of three of us were deeply touched by this from you. The two important messages for my son were: 1) self-harm is normal response to life stress; 2) it is best handled with kindness and understanding from supporting adults.
Great article! Thank you Ann!
I wish you were in my sonâs middle school to have helped him! My son did well at school and home except that he had that incredibly motivation to get 100% right for all his schoolwork to the point of punishing himself with self-injury when he was stuck at one single problem, and having panic attacks and suicidal thoughts. The school encouraged me to give him medications. My husband told me the same. My son got a diagnosis from a psychiatrist. At that time I did not know about Robert Whitakerâs book, but I resisted giving my son any pill. I started to read on Mad in America and other alternative sites/writings too. Then I realized that both my husband and I had been perfectionists ourselves either at work or at home. The more I read, the more confident I feel about resisting the neoliberal culture extending from the adultsâ lives to the kidsâ lives. Over the course of 10 years, I eventually successfully helped my husband wean off his antidepressants of almost 20 years. 9.5 years were spent on helping him overcome the deep fear for the withdrawal symptoms, and the rest of the 0.5 years were spent on having him actually taper off really, really slowly. The un-learning and re-learning process at home also helped us figure out the root causes of my husbandâs suicidal thoughts. The neoliberal culture had put tremendous amount of weight on him in the forms of work stress and family stress. Seeing that clearly was the most difficult and time-consuming part; working together to find solutions was a lot easier. Now my son is a high school junior and has been exposed regularly about the nature of the neoliberal culture, how to keep a safe distance from it, and how to use alternative approaches to equip ourselves with. My son has learned and has been practicing skills at coping with negative emotions; we are very happy about his growth with emotional safety.
Thank you!
âYou canât criticize the medicalization of suffering and at the same time talk about your âpatients.â We are not âpatients.ââ
== If ânot patients,â how would you want to be called?
âThe goal should not be âbetterâ professionals but a system in which human support is not a âspecialtyâ and professionalism is obsolete. â
== Can you point to the theory and the practice of such a system?
I enjoy reading this interview! Kudos to Javier and Dr. Layton!
Thank you Dr. Combs for your comment! It is really good for me to learn from your narrative therapy perspective. I will take my first narrative therapy class in April!
I am sorry to hear your story. Thank you for your very generous sharing! I hope that you will get the right help through Mad in America!
Louise, thank you for this deeply moving article! It is great that you have your own website:
https://traumainformedworld.com/about-dr-louise-hansen/
I have just saved it! I am sure that I will spend a lot of time following up with you there!
I just subscribed to the Woodford Folk Festivalâs website. My first question is, what is its equivalent, or whether there is one, to it in the U.S., or in California that I live.
Very well said, Steve!
I am a Chinese born in China. I have been living in California for 20 years. I studied acupuncture as an elective course in my non-medical graduate program in Beijing. I personally donât think that acupuncture has made any difference to my health, but I have lived here in Northern California where acupuncture and Chinese traditional medicine thrive. I enjoy Chinese style massages. Because of Covid, I donât use a massage therapist any more, and I use a massage tool on myself.
I also want to share about a relatively new branch of medicine called lifestyle medicine:
https://www.lifestylemedicine.org/ACLM/About/What_is_Lifestyle_Medicine/ACLM/About/What_is_Lifestyle_Medicine_/Lifestyle_Medicine.aspx?hkey=26f3eb6b-8294-4a63-83de-35d429c3bb88
âLifestyle Medicine is the use of evidence-based lifestyle therapeutic interventionâincluding a whole-food, plant-predominant eating pattern, regular physical activity, restorative sleep, stress management, avoidance of risky substances and positive social connectionâas a primary modality, delivered by clinicians trained and certified in this specialty, to prevent, treat and often reverse chronic disease.â
My family and I have the good fortune of having practiced that eating pattern and lifestyle for 11 years, and plan to continue for long term or for life. My mom died of her first and last heart attack at 62. I have growing confidence in preventing heart attack for myself. My husband had many serious chronic health problems including Type 1 diabetes, asthma, alcohol dependence, and depression, and had really low quality of life 11 years ago. Now his quality of life is much, much better! With the help from Mad in America and other alternative communities, my husband finally has stopped taking his antidepressant for almost 20 years. Also he has either reversed, reduced, or minimized his other health conditions. He has minimized his medications as well.
Documentaries and websites I recommend are:
Forks Over Knives
https://www.forksoverknives.com/
The Game Changers
https://gamechangersmovie.com/
Code Blue
https://www.codebluedoc.com/
If anyone has any questions or comments, I will respond. Thank you!
Thank you Miranda! Can Oryx and Briza give an example about how the emotional CPR works?
— âlistened, loved me anyways, asked questions, didnât yell, didnât do anything at all, let me be me, still love me.â
— being with, loving, seeing, hearing and valuing me, rather than fixing me.
These are important quick takeaways for me. Thanks a lot!
I enjoy this interview as well! I will probably read her book too!
Thank you for sharing!
You said, “I must offer this: If you had employed the appropriate mode of withdrawal for you, you would have found yourself without withdrawal symptoms on the first day post withdrawal.”
Could you please share what is the appropriate mode of withdrawal as you see it?
Thank you! I did register for this summit and plant to watch the recordings.
Thank you for sharing!
I am curious about how a typical peer respite or Soteria house specifically responds to a person of concern in the middle of big emotions or looking to be about to hurt/harm himself/herself or others, during his/her stay.
Thank you for pointing out this nice article! I am reading it!
Very well said! Thank you!