Oldhead, I just want to let you know you’ve run me off the website. Congratulations. You win.
I so agree re: pharma’s control of media and funding of advocacy groups. There needs to be many, many more support groups and communities that are completely unaffiliated with pharma in any way, including donations. It really is criminal. But it all boils down to money, everything needs money to stay alive it seems. I’ve been to support groups where a large percentage of the time was spent discussing problems with medications and psychiatrists, but sometimes you keep going back because there’s nowhere else to go.
“A second study in Nature noted the fact that Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation seemed to induce impaired brain neuroplasticity in people with schizophrenia, and discovered that smoking seemed to resuscitate some of that neuroplasticity.” Smoking is good for your brain, lol!
Richard, I have no problem with you criticizing NAMI, which is almost entirely funded by pharmaceutical company donations. I would like to suggest that you consider criticizing NAMI and not specific people who work for NAMI, many of whom are good people and many whom provide an enormous amount of good work for free. I know there is at least one writer here who worked for NAMI. Would you use it to discredit her too? If you have problems with a particular form of advocacy you might want to consider that the people who are performing that form of advocacy made an educated, informed decision you don’t agree with and don’t support. Suggesting people didn’t make an educated, informed decision about how they choose to own their own activism and that they are nothing but a company’s propaganda is insulting, and yes, it’s especially insulting because they’re POC. Maybe you should talk to them about how they feel about it first. Yes, for better or worse the world has changed and what would have happened in the 60s wouldn’t happen now and a lot of people have never even heard of anti psychiatry. Do you seriously want to invalidate these people and their own advocacy work? NAMI’s fingerprints are all over the place, even here.
No it does not and I don’t see her name listed on the website as a member anyway, so one site or the other is out of date. But keep picking her apart Richard I’m sure sooner or later you’ll find a bone.
I am unable to see how the Third Wave Foundation is affiliated with NAMI. I am unable to confirm that she is in a paid position with NAMI or influenced by any agenda. Unless you are able to confirm that, I would suggest you refrain from saying it. I just keep being offended…
Replying here to Richard’s comment below. What advocacy group promoting it? The people who photographed themselves are the advocacy group! It’s hosted on the website of Dior Vargas. Are you criticizing her? Am I missing something?
“You must know that this language is a major issue of contention at MIA and among those critical of Biological Psychiatry’s disease model.” So what? Not sure what you want me to say here. Boo hoo? I guess I’ll contact the moderator (again, sorry Emmeline) to clarify that as a person who identifies as having psychiatric labels I’m “allowed” to be on MIA? I guess I will accept that your comments of “backwards” and “very sad” were not intended as ridicule.
Obviously your criticism is directed towards the young people who chose to have themselves photographed with signs they themselves created. As far as I could tell, the premise of the project was very simple. “If you’re interested in being part of this project, please submit a photo of yourself holding a sign saying “I’m [your name] and I have a mental illness (or the exact type).” Whatever you feel comfortable doing.” What is “our movement?” If “our movement” involves ridiculing, questioning the judgement of, or endlessly critically evaluating the progressive value of people who choose to identify as having psychiatric labels then I’m out, because that’s me.
I just posted this on the forums. Is it okay to share here?
I am also a highly sensitive person and have difficulty functioning in certain situations. Institutional buildings, bright florescents, irritating sounds or smells. A trip to the DMV feels like near unendurable torture. I haven’t been to a concert in years because if this music is too loud or I feel a physical dislike of it for some reason I have to leave. (Why in the world do they turn the huge speakers so incredibly loud at some concerts?) Thanks for sharing, Sera!
Oops, never mind. I found your name in the drop down box.
Emmeline, thanks for the reply. I don’t see a way of contacting you directly. Am I missing it? You are not listed on the “contact us” information. Should I contact someone else?
“… minority youth proudly holding up signs identifying their supposed “mental illnesses” and the labels that go with them, such as “I am Bi-polar” and “I am Borderline Personality Disorder …”
I have to wonder, who in the hell are you to tell other people how they should or should not choose to identify themselves? Isn’t this another form of force, anti-psychiatry taken to the extreme? What if these persons don’t want your help, don’t want you to think of them as “backwards” and “very sad?”
I get it Richard, you really don’t agree with Timothy Kelly. Seeing you speak to a fellow survivor in this manner, at great length, is not okay with me. I feel this whole conversation and even the original article went way past the point of a personal attack on Timothy Kelly. Can a moderator chime in here?
(from the Medscape article) “There are rigorous principles that govern the process of establishing a diagnosis or refining the criteria by which it is identified.” This may be true, but unfortunately doctors aren’t required to adhere to them and most of the time they simply don’t. See, giving someone a diagnosis for the purpose of obtaining insurance coverage. See, giving someone a diagnosis after talking to them for ten minutes or less. See, lump diagnosing an enormous percentage of your patients with bipolar disorder/schizoaffective disorder. Other fields of medicine absolutely are subjected to criticism, including in NYT articles. Psychiatry is not an oppressed people.
Something I see over and over in parents and relatives who are vocal forced treatment advocates is a blatant disregard of basic human respect for their diagnosed family members. They will go to any length to violate their privacy, publicly humiliate them, or blow their behavior totally out of context if they think it will advance the cause. Ie., they couldn’t care less if they rip both their family member and their relationship to shreds. I can think of a few great examples I could post links to right now, right off the top of my head, but I guess I’ll refrain in the interest of civility. Treating someone like that is unnecessary and it is not love; it is the worst sort of hatred.
I also appreciate this article and a lot of the points it made. Thank you, Mr Kelly. I don’t think I have anything to add that hasn’t already been said. This discussion is also interesting. It’s funny how some people don’t really care where you’re trying to go, they just get mad when you won’t get on their train and shovel coal. (On another note I was absolutely taken aback by your picture. The pain in your face is striking. Whoever took that picture did great work.)
I have to wonder if she even read the article about Hymes? Did she fail to comprehend that Hymes has and still is receiving an absolute ton of evidence based care, including medication and therapy? The article even pointed to Hymes’ lithium induced kidney failure and subsequent transplant as the initial cause of her current problems.
I wonder if Hymes’ nurses ever stopped yelling at her for not cleaning up after herself long enough to check if she was actually too sick or too drugged to do so? Yelling at a hospitalized woman who’s undergone a kidney transplant and is on 17 different medications for not cleaning up after herself. How in the world would she? Welcome to the world of behavioral health.
Happy Birthday! Love your cats, and I love you and all you share here, thank you for sharing your talent and vision.
I would love to see a new term and concept replace “anti-psychiatry.” Personally I have seen many people who identify as such say it means many completely different things. One of my favorite definitions was by someone who said that a) psychiatry had saved her life and she was incredibly grateful, but b) she was just so tired of all the bullshit. It does turn a whole lot of people off, people who choose to accept psychiatric treatment and find it helpful or lifesaving, and really don’t appreciate being “antied.” Really love this article, it has a lot to say about a very complex, complicated issue.
“4. “Mr. Bad Weekend.” (Alan Hanson, Matter, January 2015)
In the midst of a depressive episode and a tumultuous breakup, Alan Hanson is suicidal. To save his life, his friends coerce him into visiting a hospital. He wastes time, makes friends and receives tools to survive outside the ward’s walls.”
How odd, I read the actual story and it simply doesn’t fit this description. Excellent personal account, tho, I recommend it. Tells it like it is (in my experience) about psych wards.
Am I off base, or is this article rife with incredible bigotry? And not one outsider artist with a diagnosis of mental illness interviewed or even quoted for an article about outsider artists with diagnoses. Not a single one. Seriously?
I simply don’t believe most psychiatrists really care when their patients suicide. They might worry about being sued, or be sorry in a very detached way, but that’s probably about it. How utterly rare is it for a psychiatrist to actually go to a patient’s funeral? As a psychiatrist said to me once after I told her she obviously just didn’t care, “It’s not our job to care!” I’ve also seen psychiatrists verbally abuse patients who expressed suicidality in hospital. The article does highlight the limitations of treatment pretty well, tho. Those who need help the most are often denied it, or professionals aren’t able to help them, that’s just the reality of it.
I read the bill (quickly.) It seems like it is going to legally require an enormous amount of work from a disputed “designated mental health professional” within a very short amount of time for no payment. Meanwhile people who are waiting for their “designated mental health professional” will go without treatment. Joel Reuter had a gun and was shooting at everything in sight, including the police who killed him. Gun control, anyone? Anyone, anyone? Why not make a f**king judge to run around town and sit in on all commitment decisions in the first place, it would cost less and save time.
Wonderful story, thanks!
“Funding often comes from the military, and some neuroscientists fear their findings may soon be applied in ways that they never intended, raising moral questions that are seldom addressed.” Great…
Odd, I was able to access it from a different computer. Computer problem apparently.
I am unable to access the editorial, even by Googling. Has it been taken down from the Courant? Or am I mistaken?
RIP brave soul and survivor.
“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.
You can also improve the extent of muscle deterioration in a casted limb by exercising the other limb. Strange but true.
“Psycho Pass” in Japan. This is for entertainment purposes only to promote a movie. But how long until this is for real? It says the system operates on Microsoft “Kinetic,” but they must mean “Kinect.” I have a Kinect for Xbox in my living room. I don’t think the possibility that someone, somewhere (like the NSA) is spying on me or even monitoring my mood with it is so farfetched anymore.
“Considering the children that we were treating, I don’t think what was being tried was appropriate,” she said. “There were kids at Lincoln that if they were not on meds, I don’t even want to think about what things would have been like.” “It’s important to say that Ed Levin was a bit of an extremist,” said psychologist Lesleigh Franklin, who led the therapy team at Lincoln.
What a rotten thing to say, and what is that even supposed to mean? Would the kids have been able as opposed to unable to speak, like Yolanda, able to read and write at age 12? Able to be exponentially less aggressive? “Considering the children we were treating.” A bunch of abused foster kids who needed love and care?!?!
I would really like to see more information about the Open Dialogue method become available for everyone. Really glad to see they invested 50 million in NY and are including peers in the model.
An important study. Can you share if the deaths were natural, as opposed to due to suicide or accident for example? Two other questions I thought of: Did you track how long or how many years people had been taking neuroleptics before the study? What diagnoses were included besides schizophrenia? Thanks for reporting on your work.
Thank for this, very interesting! I was lucky enough to attend a yoga dance class recently and it was an incredible, therapeutic experience. At one point toward the end I was absolutely mortified because I started crying, but several other people did too.
My mistake, thanks for correcting me !!!
Yay!
James – Throughout the course of my life, my sexuality has been all over the map. I have beloved neighbors, friends, relatives, teachers, mechanics, ministers etc. who also identify as LGBTQ. The only thing threatening the health and well-being of us, our families, and our communities is ignorance like yours. (I have little respect for the DSM, but they did one thing right when they left homophobia in there.)
Really horrified to see comments expressing this level of hatred and homophobia on MIA. I truly hope they will not be tolerated. At the end of the day, this type of attack is targeting all of us.
“The removal of homosexuality from the psychiatric canon has undoubtedly facilitated the rights of those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.” Completely, completely agree. Something to think about for all of us. Excellent article, Dr. Datta.
This is true, but there’s the rub. Forcing someone to adhere to a treatment order unlikely to result in a positive outcome for them as a patient for the convenience of the community is a violation of their human rights.
Out of curiosity, what is your profession? You’ve spoken about caring for others professionally in several comments, but I’m not able to find that you mentioned it.
Zippy, If some people who suffer from BPD “sometimes cause harm by fabricating and inflating stores,” then so very well do those close to them who have no diagnosis. It’s becoming quite obvious that you equate your personal opinions about and experiences with your ex, one single person, with every single person in the world who has the BPD diagnosis.
Great article, Dr. Datta. It seems like a more sensible concept of the “schizophrenogenic parents” is coming back into favor. That is, that abusive or dysfunctional parenting styles exacerbate mental illnesses, or possible even lead to the development of them. It seems to me that this is a positive, common sense shift. Have you noticed this or could you comment?
Ay yi yi, that is horrible.
I also appreciated Sinead’s comment. A turning point in my life was when some people helped me realize that no matter what you’ve been through, it’s never okay to be abusive to others. (Not that I still don’t have moments I’m not proud of, but don’t most people?) The “you people” phrase was not lost on me either. I guess I just became a “you people.”
That smiley face was not a smiley face!!! Yikes, what a mistranslation of the face I typed.
“I am sure some people are wrongfully accused of making things up.” Well thanks for that at least. 😛
There is a movie available on Youtube called The Trouble with Evan. Very demonstrative of what’s truly going on in the life of a “troubled” person (in this case a child.) How I wish I had had a “Trouble with Evan” camera of my own. The camera catches the unbelievably abusive reality of his publicly-appearing sweet, loving family. And the kicker is neither his father or mother have a sliver of realization of how abusive they’re constantly being. They have just decided Evan is crazy, bad, evil. If there had been no camera, Evan’s horrific abuse would have remained his own personal mental disorder.
I also appreciated this article. In many, many powerful ways I’ve been denied my own self, and my trauma has been defined “not trauma,” or even “delusions, lies.” It makes me wonder if it’s possible to have my trauma recognized and heal from it, something I never considered before.
So “neuropsychopharmacologists” are finally catching up with pharmacists. Every time I get a prescription I get a handout from the pharmacists listing exactly those things. “4 Axis.” Idiots.
This is a great, great post! Thank you Meaghan. You are my superhero! (My delusions of grandeur want to create a comic book about you!)
Thanks very much for organizing the festival, and for writing this and letting us know how it went. Really wish I could’ve made it. (Maybe I’ll make it to the next one?) Congratulations on a job well done!
I agree with Corinna. The term “anti-psychiatry” is too widely misunderstood and it alienates people who choose to use the system. A new term for “the view that many psychiatric treatments are ultimately more damaging than helpful to patients” (definition per Wikipedia) is needed. Not sure what it should be though. (Sorry about this, but I’m not too crazy about “medical harm aware advocate,” even though I can’t come up with anything better.) I’ve seen people use the terms “pro-choice” and “iatrogenic awareness.” I do like both of these.
“I think Frances, being a psychiatrist after all, is performing the usual word magic, defining anyone who does not agree with him as beyond the pale.” Perfect, Ted, exactly.
Rep. Murphy may be a lot of things, but a paper tiger isn’t one of them. He already managed to sneak $60 million in additional force treatment through, tagged on the end of a much needed Medicare bill. In that at least, he won the war.
I signed the petition. Can’t believe this is the Harry Harlow university. (Harry Harlow is notorious for conducting cruel and torturous experiments on monkeys, including baby monkeys, and even publicly joked about the animals’ suffering repeatedly. Dude was THE ultimate sicko of animal experimentation. More things change, more they stay the same.) Sign the petition!
Yeah, dealing with this stuff would drive anyone crazy.
Whoops, I meant to add the whole thing is crazy! >8-P
I have found the concept / label of BPD to be helpful as to my problems getting along with people / getting through the day, to an extent. I was also able to get some books on DBT that were written for practitioners, which I also found somewhat helpful.
Something else to add is that I’ve seen people develop the symptoms of BPD from being mis-medicated.
“tenuous stability, adaptive inflexibility and fostering vicious cycles” Oh, so that’s what BPD is. Wait what? Lol. Seriously, how is the average person off the street supposed to know what that means? How is that a helpful summary for someone like me?
There can be similar symptoms between almost all the different diagnoses, two people with the same diagnosis can be vastly different, and it’s completely possible that someone with Asperger’s could also have BPD. It’s also completely possible someone with Asperger’s could present as having BPD, and vice versa.
I think it’s great that there’s a Borderline Personality Disorder for Dummies; not funny or sad! I just looked at it on Amazon and it looks like a great book. It’s almost impossible to get any clear, understandable information about what the disorder is, what the diagnostic criteria is, what might cause it, what the treatment is, or how to access treatment. The vast majority of the information available to the public about Borderline Personality Disorder is of the Glenn Close / Faye Dunaway variety. What’s incredibly sad is that it’s become such a throwaway, laughable term within the very institution that is supposed to be treating it, if not curing it. A personal example, a psychiatrist I saw for a very hellish, short term “treatment” in 2010 wrote “she appears to have borderline personality disorder” in my records, and that’s… it. No list of symptoms meeting diagnostic criteria, no treatment plan, and he also never said a word about it to me. Perhaps he had a good laugh with colleagues about it over drinks?
I’ve only looked at the article briefly, but I’m confused as to how an experiment in which people are burned on their arms is translatable to people receiving care (or poor “care”) in a healthcare setting? I get the whole initial positive / negative experience affects future experiences, that’s common sense. I just don’t see how such a particular experiment can claim to come to a conclusion about a healthcare environment.
(My geography was off. The above is NSW, this is for Victoria. Same difference as far as what they do.)
approve surgery on a patient detained in a mental health facility;
approve special medical treatment (sterilisation); …”
They are a “quasi-judicial body,” protecting the quasi-civil rights of quasi-people. I’ll be following this story too, but I bet we don’t hear another damn thing. The kangaroo court got its rubber stamps mixed up. Oops!
I also practice yoga. I’ve tried several kinds, I really like Kripalu. I’ve had body memory or flashbacks, but never while doing yoga. I remember hearing a Sean Corn interview and she talked about them. Very touching story, you are a great teacher.
Sure, it’s called Coromega. The company claims it has “better absorption.” It comes in a little packet like a ketchup packet. I used to take two packets a day, now I just take one.
The best therapeutic relationship I ever had was when I took mandolin lessons. I was in a horrible place mentally and emotionally, and going through appointments and checklists with professionals was nothing but an exacerbating ordeal. The lessons gave me something to focus on other than my misery and problems. I went once a week, but had something to do and focus on every day, practice. I could practice as much or as little as I liked. I could cancel whenever I liked, but rarely did out of courtesy, and never did without notice. My teacher always asked me how I was and how my week had been. Sometimes we spent ten minutes or so talking about my week or my problems, and they might mention their own. They always remembered what we had talked about the week before, and sometimes asked me about something I had mentioned the week before. The lesson was half an hour, which was not too much time for me to handle. Going to the office of a professional and sitting in the crowded chaotic waiting room for up to three hours was too much for me to handle. I think the most important thing was that my teacher was a good, affable person and also had the freedom to do as they liked and felt best for the lesson. A few lessons in they mentioned I looked nervous, and I admitted the fact that their office was tiny, up two narrow stairways and down three narrow hallways was causing me to panic. They pointed out the fire escape stairwell was right outside the door and I said, I know, I tried it and it’s locked. They checked and said, You’re right, now I’m going to panic. The funny thing was I did mention my diagnoses and it didn’t change anything. No emotion or problem I ever mentioned was diagnosed or labeled as abnormal. We just spoke about them briefly and they expressed compassion or perhaps a suggestion briefly. My completely reasonable concern about the fire escape wasn’t due to paranoia or delusions of persecution. After talking about something that was a bit off once I mentioned that they must think I was incredibly odd, and they just said, Not at all, you wouldn’t believe some of the things the people who sit in that chair have said to me, especially the teenagers. Also I just enjoyed myself, and enjoyed the practice. I took lessons for about a year, as I had planned. There was an expense involved, but I very much felt I got my money’s worth, which I can’t say for any mental health professional who treated me, ever (not that I would think good mental health care wasn’t worth the money.) I also had a good experience talking to a very kind and helpful local police officer. They gave me a lot of advice about a particular problem I was having, and because what I was doing about this problem wasn’t working I followed that advice, although my instincts were practically screaming against it. It was (so it seemed to me) miraculously helpful, and led to very positive changes in my life. If I had chosen to take it up with a mental health professional I might have spent years wallowing in misery about it. I think I spoke to the officer and a friend of his who also helped for a total of two hours. Then I arduously sucked it up and tried what they suggested. They didn’t ask for my life story (although they listened seriously as I blabbed it at them,) they didn’t pathologize, patronize or laugh at me, and they didn’t believe patching on a simple solution and getting on with my life was somehow a bad move.
Anyway this is a good article and it got me thinking. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it seems like it would be very, very difficult to make a living as a life coach. I wonder if it is impossible to work as both at once?
I don’t have any suggestions about getting more people to take nutritional treatments seriously, but as they have worked for me after extensive medical treatments failed I certainly do and I’m also very glad for the information you share here. What doesn’t work for one person could very well be the magic bullet for another. This is the nature of all types of medicine.
I cured myself of a year long bout of severe antibiotic induced clostridium difficile (CD) by drinking kefir, after doctors had extensively failed to treat it. I did the same for the CD induced interstitial cystitis (IC,) which doctors also extensively failed to treat, by drinking dandelion tea. In both cases I took “doses” daily over an extended period of time, ultimately resulting in a “cure,” where “doses” were no longer needed.
I have also extensively experimented with nutritional treatment for mood disorder (however you want to put it, altered and improved my diet in order to feel better) and find much of what people are saying here to be true; you must being with eating a healthy diet and avoiding junk food. This is more easily said than done considering the state of our food economy. I also take a particular type of omega 3 supplement every day, which I swear by. For me, there is something about this particular supplement. I have tried others with no noticeable effect.
Thanks again for sharing the intel!
I very much appreciate this article, but I’m confused about something. Isn’t the term consensus reality?
I meant to say, Suicide hotline doesn’t answer call for hours, then days. Client is left without support. Client becomes reasonably angry, …
I’m outraged at the absolute dysfunction of this scenario. Therapist tells client to call not therapist, but suicide hotline for non-suicidal support. Suicide hotline doesn’t answer call. Client becomes reasonably angry, leaves reasonably angry message. Police force client into psych ward, psych ward forces client to pay $2,000 for unneeded, forced, and traumatizing incarceration. Client is hurt, angry, unsupported, and $2,000 poorer. The most expensive path to the most harmful and least helpful form of care has been followed. The psych ward wins again. Everyone else loses. And so it goes…
In 1971, gay activist Frank Kameny stormed the American Psychiatric Association’s annual conference, held that year in a Washington ballroom. Pushing his way past shocked elderly psychiatrists, he seized the microphone and shouted: “Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you.”
Remaining “pleasant” will not facilitate change. “Below the line” comments like Pilgrim’s are what is needed.
I think we all know what happens when you “assume” something. (Oops, I guess that’s a below the line comment as well.)
Very interesting!
Love it! This may sound weird and I hope people understand, but the first time I heard of Torrey’s concept of “anosognosia” I thought, “Hmm, anosognosia, works for me.” I’m often driving around in my car reflecting upon how well it’s worked for me and just feeling so damn lucky and glad.
Another reason the big hospitals closed was that people were outraged by the horrible conditions in them. Someone who writes here (Mark Ragins?) commented that nobody cares about the horrible conditions in prisons. The money to fund an improvement in conditions is absolutely there, it’s just being sucked up and wasted by a for profit system.
It seems like policies regarding this should apply across the board to all employees. There are a hell of a lot of people who work in the system that are in treatment. If peers can’t be treated at the same facility neither can social workers or psychiatrists. I can see why it makes sense for a therapist to not be supervising her patient’s employment, but the idea that peers should be encouraged to move on to the “real world” has me stumped. If that’s a concern why not quit and move on to the “real world” yourself? In the real world a job’s a job.
Huzzah to the Bazelon Center! Great work.
I think it’s also worth googling your psychiatrist or therapist to see what they are saying online. A lot of them blog about their patients unabashedly on sites like Psychology Today, and a lot of their posts are mortifying breaches of confidentiality. One of the gravest examples I ever saw was the doctor who blogged about how his patient came into his care because he was haunted by the memory of how his aunt had sexually humiliated him in front of his entire complicit family when he was a child. Names were not given, but specific details were. Imagine reading a blog like that about yourself, by your deeply trusted doctor, on Psychology Today. I would absolutely die.
I will send a donation to RP (if they accept donations,) and to First Congregational Church for hosting their summer meeting.
Very glad to hear from David Oaks. I liked Rethinking Psychiatry, but I think it might be a bad idea for me to join UU Mental Health Justice as I am an ex UU.
I think that is great that she was able to express her opinion and get the company to make a change.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (historically accurate name) is a former mental hospital that is now a tourist attraction. It even has the stamp of approval from the state of West Virginia.
Anyone who has publicly expressed offense at The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum has been unequivocally shouted down. The state wants money to "preserve her," lol.
Honestly I am unable to decide if I find this stuff offensive.
On the other hand it would be kind of hilarious to spend hundreds of years and hundreds of millions on mapping every single cell and neuron in every single brain in real time and discovering there was absolutely nothing wrong with them.
You cannot find a way to repair the psyche by studying the brain. But hey, that’s where all the “kick in the rear” hundreds of millions of dollars and Nobel prizes lie, so you might as well keep embracing the delusion.
Hey this is ancient at this point but did this blog response ever happen?
“he wrote an average of 20,000 Medicare prescriptions annually for clozapine and a brand-name version, FazaClo” from ProPublica article
WTH? 55 Rxs a day (including weekends) ???
I know Ted this guy is a nothing but a serial killer!
Also, what were Richard Plotts’ diagnoses and how does sociopathy preclude them? Just trying to map the logic here.
Would it somehow be less accurate to say that psychiatry famously and simply sucks at treating those diagnosed as having antisocial behaviors, rather than that these patients are untreatable? (“The mental health system is just another source of disappointment for the sociopath…” Well that explains my problem! Apparently I’m a sociopath.) I cry foul on this article – and the headline. Considering the facts here, “Psychiatrist Shoots Patient” is misleading.
Very informative and timely. Thank you for sharing your “cocktail party” story. 🙂 I am also drug free and have experienced cold turkey withdrawal.
Strangely I just noticed this local news article about a judge who dismissed charges against a man who was involved in a shootout with the police, on the grounds of Unisom intoxication. Unisom is a common over the counter sleeping pill. (Or possibly it had something to do with him being a local attorney, but anyway…) http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140722/GZ01/140729759
Also, I am not seeing anything about Britian’s NHS implementing the BONDI program. The article states they are implementing something called MOTs, which are described as payments to psych service providers for doing physical health screenings (as in, questions asked only screenings, no physical exam,) and possibly providing referrals to various physical health agencies. It is never explained what MOT stands for, apparently it is some sort of financial “trust.” Can anyone explain this further? I have seen articles about US studies online that state diet and exercise programs prevent neuroleptic induced weight gain, but it’s always in INPATIENTS. I suspect that this is because their food is restricted, they are given 1,000 calorie a day diets or something. Anyway if anyone could help me out and explain further I’d appreciate it. Thanks –
How many people have received this? I am reading 60 people in Australia and 16 in Chicago. Am I reading this wrong?
This is an excellent point! I have found interest and comfort in something called Flying Star feng shui, which is based on Chinese numerology and astrology. I even rearranged my bedroom to counteract an area that read for “insanity,” lol. Who knows, maybe that was my problem…
Oh yeah! Reforming psychiatry would require so many abolitions. Abolishing drugs reps and advertising, abolishing misleading clinical trials, abolishing institutional abuse and forced drugging, abolishing profit driven practice, etc. etc. etc. There are so many things both reformers and abolitionists want to abolish.
I was going to say something, but I forgot what. Oh well! Interesting conversation.
Thanks for sharing this here! I’m interested in contributing.
I supposed I should applaud this study but it seems a lot like those done to determine that caffeine keeps you awake… “proving” what’s already obvious.
I remember watching the movie American Psycho (or perhaps reading the book,) and being genuinely (or perhaps foolishly) moved when Pat Bateman said, “But I just want to fit in.” Most of these kids are just doing what everyone else is doing, terrified of falling outside their social networks, of ending up under the steamroller instead of in the driver’s seat. It’s the modern conundrum, how to get off the steamroller without ending up underneath it. Two great articles, thanks Laura.
You can watch The Maria Bamford Show on Youtube. I recommend it, it’s really funny.
Well that explains it. Sounds like case managers wear a lot of hats! Thanks.
Hi Peter – Thank you for this interesting article. Could you explain more about what a case manager does? I guess my question is, what is a case manager, exactly? (Also, I am confused. Are you still working as a case manager?) Good luck with your studies and career.
Maybe it’s a case of throwing a little bit of oil in a pot of boiling water to calm the boil? If they show that they care about this issue (or pretend to) and admit it’s a fraction as bad as it actually is, outraged people will become less outraged?
Hey cannotsay2013 – The Tony story did make for a gripping read in Ronson’s book, however Tony did not kill the person he attacked, he beat them very badly. Also, the striking thing about Tony’s diagnosed “psychopathy” was that almost everything he told his initial diagnosing psychiatrist was copied verbatim from a popular movie (ironically I forget which one,) as reflected in his medical records.
Oldhead, I just want to let you know you’ve run me off the website. Congratulations. You win.
I so agree re: pharma’s control of media and funding of advocacy groups. There needs to be many, many more support groups and communities that are completely unaffiliated with pharma in any way, including donations. It really is criminal. But it all boils down to money, everything needs money to stay alive it seems. I’ve been to support groups where a large percentage of the time was spent discussing problems with medications and psychiatrists, but sometimes you keep going back because there’s nowhere else to go.
“A second study in Nature noted the fact that Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation seemed to induce impaired brain neuroplasticity in people with schizophrenia, and discovered that smoking seemed to resuscitate some of that neuroplasticity.” Smoking is good for your brain, lol!
Richard, I have no problem with you criticizing NAMI, which is almost entirely funded by pharmaceutical company donations. I would like to suggest that you consider criticizing NAMI and not specific people who work for NAMI, many of whom are good people and many whom provide an enormous amount of good work for free. I know there is at least one writer here who worked for NAMI. Would you use it to discredit her too? If you have problems with a particular form of advocacy you might want to consider that the people who are performing that form of advocacy made an educated, informed decision you don’t agree with and don’t support. Suggesting people didn’t make an educated, informed decision about how they choose to own their own activism and that they are nothing but a company’s propaganda is insulting, and yes, it’s especially insulting because they’re POC. Maybe you should talk to them about how they feel about it first. Yes, for better or worse the world has changed and what would have happened in the 60s wouldn’t happen now and a lot of people have never even heard of anti psychiatry. Do you seriously want to invalidate these people and their own advocacy work? NAMI’s fingerprints are all over the place, even here.
No it does not and I don’t see her name listed on the website as a member anyway, so one site or the other is out of date. But keep picking her apart Richard I’m sure sooner or later you’ll find a bone.
I am unable to see how the Third Wave Foundation is affiliated with NAMI. I am unable to confirm that she is in a paid position with NAMI or influenced by any agenda. Unless you are able to confirm that, I would suggest you refrain from saying it. I just keep being offended…
Replying here to Richard’s comment below. What advocacy group promoting it? The people who photographed themselves are the advocacy group! It’s hosted on the website of Dior Vargas. Are you criticizing her? Am I missing something?
“You must know that this language is a major issue of contention at MIA and among those critical of Biological Psychiatry’s disease model.” So what? Not sure what you want me to say here. Boo hoo? I guess I’ll contact the moderator (again, sorry Emmeline) to clarify that as a person who identifies as having psychiatric labels I’m “allowed” to be on MIA? I guess I will accept that your comments of “backwards” and “very sad” were not intended as ridicule.
Obviously your criticism is directed towards the young people who chose to have themselves photographed with signs they themselves created. As far as I could tell, the premise of the project was very simple. “If you’re interested in being part of this project, please submit a photo of yourself holding a sign saying “I’m [your name] and I have a mental illness (or the exact type).” Whatever you feel comfortable doing.” What is “our movement?” If “our movement” involves ridiculing, questioning the judgement of, or endlessly critically evaluating the progressive value of people who choose to identify as having psychiatric labels then I’m out, because that’s me.
I just posted this on the forums. Is it okay to share here?
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-set-up-your-home-and-routines-to-help-yourself-if-youre-a-highly-sensitive-person-215636
I am also a highly sensitive person and have difficulty functioning in certain situations. Institutional buildings, bright florescents, irritating sounds or smells. A trip to the DMV feels like near unendurable torture. I haven’t been to a concert in years because if this music is too loud or I feel a physical dislike of it for some reason I have to leave. (Why in the world do they turn the huge speakers so incredibly loud at some concerts?) Thanks for sharing, Sera!
Oops, never mind. I found your name in the drop down box.
Emmeline, thanks for the reply. I don’t see a way of contacting you directly. Am I missing it? You are not listed on the “contact us” information. Should I contact someone else?
“… minority youth proudly holding up signs identifying their supposed “mental illnesses” and the labels that go with them, such as “I am Bi-polar” and “I am Borderline Personality Disorder …”
I have to wonder, who in the hell are you to tell other people how they should or should not choose to identify themselves? Isn’t this another form of force, anti-psychiatry taken to the extreme? What if these persons don’t want your help, don’t want you to think of them as “backwards” and “very sad?”
I get it Richard, you really don’t agree with Timothy Kelly. Seeing you speak to a fellow survivor in this manner, at great length, is not okay with me. I feel this whole conversation and even the original article went way past the point of a personal attack on Timothy Kelly. Can a moderator chime in here?
(from the Medscape article) “There are rigorous principles that govern the process of establishing a diagnosis or refining the criteria by which it is identified.” This may be true, but unfortunately doctors aren’t required to adhere to them and most of the time they simply don’t. See, giving someone a diagnosis for the purpose of obtaining insurance coverage. See, giving someone a diagnosis after talking to them for ten minutes or less. See, lump diagnosing an enormous percentage of your patients with bipolar disorder/schizoaffective disorder. Other fields of medicine absolutely are subjected to criticism, including in NYT articles. Psychiatry is not an oppressed people.
Something I see over and over in parents and relatives who are vocal forced treatment advocates is a blatant disregard of basic human respect for their diagnosed family members. They will go to any length to violate their privacy, publicly humiliate them, or blow their behavior totally out of context if they think it will advance the cause. Ie., they couldn’t care less if they rip both their family member and their relationship to shreds. I can think of a few great examples I could post links to right now, right off the top of my head, but I guess I’ll refrain in the interest of civility. Treating someone like that is unnecessary and it is not love; it is the worst sort of hatred.
I also appreciate this article and a lot of the points it made. Thank you, Mr Kelly. I don’t think I have anything to add that hasn’t already been said. This discussion is also interesting. It’s funny how some people don’t really care where you’re trying to go, they just get mad when you won’t get on their train and shovel coal. (On another note I was absolutely taken aback by your picture. The pain in your face is striking. Whoever took that picture did great work.)
I have to wonder if she even read the article about Hymes? Did she fail to comprehend that Hymes has and still is receiving an absolute ton of evidence based care, including medication and therapy? The article even pointed to Hymes’ lithium induced kidney failure and subsequent transplant as the initial cause of her current problems.
I wonder if Hymes’ nurses ever stopped yelling at her for not cleaning up after herself long enough to check if she was actually too sick or too drugged to do so? Yelling at a hospitalized woman who’s undergone a kidney transplant and is on 17 different medications for not cleaning up after herself. How in the world would she? Welcome to the world of behavioral health.
Happy Birthday! Love your cats, and I love you and all you share here, thank you for sharing your talent and vision.
I would love to see a new term and concept replace “anti-psychiatry.” Personally I have seen many people who identify as such say it means many completely different things. One of my favorite definitions was by someone who said that a) psychiatry had saved her life and she was incredibly grateful, but b) she was just so tired of all the bullshit. It does turn a whole lot of people off, people who choose to accept psychiatric treatment and find it helpful or lifesaving, and really don’t appreciate being “antied.” Really love this article, it has a lot to say about a very complex, complicated issue.
Outsider Art Fair artists
http://www.outsiderartfair.com/artists
“4. “Mr. Bad Weekend.” (Alan Hanson, Matter, January 2015)
In the midst of a depressive episode and a tumultuous breakup, Alan Hanson is suicidal. To save his life, his friends coerce him into visiting a hospital. He wastes time, makes friends and receives tools to survive outside the ward’s walls.”
How odd, I read the actual story and it simply doesn’t fit this description. Excellent personal account, tho, I recommend it. Tells it like it is (in my experience) about psych wards.
https://medium.com/matter/mr-bad-weekend-a9f275e216ce?src=longreads
Am I off base, or is this article rife with incredible bigotry? And not one outsider artist with a diagnosis of mental illness interviewed or even quoted for an article about outsider artists with diagnoses. Not a single one. Seriously?
I simply don’t believe most psychiatrists really care when their patients suicide. They might worry about being sued, or be sorry in a very detached way, but that’s probably about it. How utterly rare is it for a psychiatrist to actually go to a patient’s funeral? As a psychiatrist said to me once after I told her she obviously just didn’t care, “It’s not our job to care!” I’ve also seen psychiatrists verbally abuse patients who expressed suicidality in hospital. The article does highlight the limitations of treatment pretty well, tho. Those who need help the most are often denied it, or professionals aren’t able to help them, that’s just the reality of it.
I read the bill (quickly.) It seems like it is going to legally require an enormous amount of work from a disputed “designated mental health professional” within a very short amount of time for no payment. Meanwhile people who are waiting for their “designated mental health professional” will go without treatment. Joel Reuter had a gun and was shooting at everything in sight, including the police who killed him. Gun control, anyone? Anyone, anyone? Why not make a f**king judge to run around town and sit in on all commitment decisions in the first place, it would cost less and save time.
Wonderful story, thanks!
“Funding often comes from the military, and some neuroscientists fear their findings may soon be applied in ways that they never intended, raising moral questions that are seldom addressed.” Great…
Odd, I was able to access it from a different computer. Computer problem apparently.
I am unable to access the editorial, even by Googling. Has it been taken down from the Courant? Or am I mistaken?
RIP brave soul and survivor.
“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.
You can also improve the extent of muscle deterioration in a casted limb by exercising the other limb. Strange but true.
“Psycho Pass” in Japan. This is for entertainment purposes only to promote a movie. But how long until this is for real? It says the system operates on Microsoft “Kinetic,” but they must mean “Kinect.” I have a Kinect for Xbox in my living room. I don’t think the possibility that someone, somewhere (like the NSA) is spying on me or even monitoring my mood with it is so farfetched anymore.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/check-your-psycho-pass-levels-at-shinjuku-station
“Considering the children that we were treating, I don’t think what was being tried was appropriate,” she said. “There were kids at Lincoln that if they were not on meds, I don’t even want to think about what things would have been like.” “It’s important to say that Ed Levin was a bit of an extremist,” said psychologist Lesleigh Franklin, who led the therapy team at Lincoln.
What a rotten thing to say, and what is that even supposed to mean? Would the kids have been able as opposed to unable to speak, like Yolanda, able to read and write at age 12? Able to be exponentially less aggressive? “Considering the children we were treating.” A bunch of abused foster kids who needed love and care?!?!
I would really like to see more information about the Open Dialogue method become available for everyone. Really glad to see they invested 50 million in NY and are including peers in the model.
An important study. Can you share if the deaths were natural, as opposed to due to suicide or accident for example? Two other questions I thought of: Did you track how long or how many years people had been taking neuroleptics before the study? What diagnoses were included besides schizophrenia? Thanks for reporting on your work.
Thank for this, very interesting! I was lucky enough to attend a yoga dance class recently and it was an incredible, therapeutic experience. At one point toward the end I was absolutely mortified because I started crying, but several other people did too.
My mistake, thanks for correcting me !!!
Yay!
James – Throughout the course of my life, my sexuality has been all over the map. I have beloved neighbors, friends, relatives, teachers, mechanics, ministers etc. who also identify as LGBTQ. The only thing threatening the health and well-being of us, our families, and our communities is ignorance like yours. (I have little respect for the DSM, but they did one thing right when they left homophobia in there.)
Really horrified to see comments expressing this level of hatred and homophobia on MIA. I truly hope they will not be tolerated. At the end of the day, this type of attack is targeting all of us.
“The removal of homosexuality from the psychiatric canon has undoubtedly facilitated the rights of those who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual.” Completely, completely agree. Something to think about for all of us. Excellent article, Dr. Datta.
This is true, but there’s the rub. Forcing someone to adhere to a treatment order unlikely to result in a positive outcome for them as a patient for the convenience of the community is a violation of their human rights.
Out of curiosity, what is your profession? You’ve spoken about caring for others professionally in several comments, but I’m not able to find that you mentioned it.
Zippy, If some people who suffer from BPD “sometimes cause harm by fabricating and inflating stores,” then so very well do those close to them who have no diagnosis. It’s becoming quite obvious that you equate your personal opinions about and experiences with your ex, one single person, with every single person in the world who has the BPD diagnosis.
Great article, Dr. Datta. It seems like a more sensible concept of the “schizophrenogenic parents” is coming back into favor. That is, that abusive or dysfunctional parenting styles exacerbate mental illnesses, or possible even lead to the development of them. It seems to me that this is a positive, common sense shift. Have you noticed this or could you comment?
Ay yi yi, that is horrible.
I also appreciated Sinead’s comment. A turning point in my life was when some people helped me realize that no matter what you’ve been through, it’s never okay to be abusive to others. (Not that I still don’t have moments I’m not proud of, but don’t most people?) The “you people” phrase was not lost on me either. I guess I just became a “you people.”
That smiley face was not a smiley face!!! Yikes, what a mistranslation of the face I typed.
“I am sure some people are wrongfully accused of making things up.” Well thanks for that at least. 😛
There is a movie available on Youtube called The Trouble with Evan. Very demonstrative of what’s truly going on in the life of a “troubled” person (in this case a child.) How I wish I had had a “Trouble with Evan” camera of my own. The camera catches the unbelievably abusive reality of his publicly-appearing sweet, loving family. And the kicker is neither his father or mother have a sliver of realization of how abusive they’re constantly being. They have just decided Evan is crazy, bad, evil. If there had been no camera, Evan’s horrific abuse would have remained his own personal mental disorder.
I also appreciated this article. In many, many powerful ways I’ve been denied my own self, and my trauma has been defined “not trauma,” or even “delusions, lies.” It makes me wonder if it’s possible to have my trauma recognized and heal from it, something I never considered before.
So “neuropsychopharmacologists” are finally catching up with pharmacists. Every time I get a prescription I get a handout from the pharmacists listing exactly those things. “4 Axis.” Idiots.
This is a great, great post! Thank you Meaghan. You are my superhero! (My delusions of grandeur want to create a comic book about you!)
Thanks very much for organizing the festival, and for writing this and letting us know how it went. Really wish I could’ve made it. (Maybe I’ll make it to the next one?) Congratulations on a job well done!
I agree with Corinna. The term “anti-psychiatry” is too widely misunderstood and it alienates people who choose to use the system. A new term for “the view that many psychiatric treatments are ultimately more damaging than helpful to patients” (definition per Wikipedia) is needed. Not sure what it should be though. (Sorry about this, but I’m not too crazy about “medical harm aware advocate,” even though I can’t come up with anything better.) I’ve seen people use the terms “pro-choice” and “iatrogenic awareness.” I do like both of these.
“I think Frances, being a psychiatrist after all, is performing the usual word magic, defining anyone who does not agree with him as beyond the pale.” Perfect, Ted, exactly.
Rep. Murphy may be a lot of things, but a paper tiger isn’t one of them. He already managed to sneak $60 million in additional force treatment through, tagged on the end of a much needed Medicare bill. In that at least, he won the war.
I signed the petition. Can’t believe this is the Harry Harlow university. (Harry Harlow is notorious for conducting cruel and torturous experiments on monkeys, including baby monkeys, and even publicly joked about the animals’ suffering repeatedly. Dude was THE ultimate sicko of animal experimentation. More things change, more they stay the same.) Sign the petition!
Yeah, dealing with this stuff would drive anyone crazy.
Whoops, I meant to add the whole thing is crazy! >8-P
I have found the concept / label of BPD to be helpful as to my problems getting along with people / getting through the day, to an extent. I was also able to get some books on DBT that were written for practitioners, which I also found somewhat helpful.
Something else to add is that I’ve seen people develop the symptoms of BPD from being mis-medicated.
“tenuous stability, adaptive inflexibility and fostering vicious cycles” Oh, so that’s what BPD is. Wait what? Lol. Seriously, how is the average person off the street supposed to know what that means? How is that a helpful summary for someone like me?
There can be similar symptoms between almost all the different diagnoses, two people with the same diagnosis can be vastly different, and it’s completely possible that someone with Asperger’s could also have BPD. It’s also completely possible someone with Asperger’s could present as having BPD, and vice versa.
I think it’s great that there’s a Borderline Personality Disorder for Dummies; not funny or sad! I just looked at it on Amazon and it looks like a great book. It’s almost impossible to get any clear, understandable information about what the disorder is, what the diagnostic criteria is, what might cause it, what the treatment is, or how to access treatment. The vast majority of the information available to the public about Borderline Personality Disorder is of the Glenn Close / Faye Dunaway variety. What’s incredibly sad is that it’s become such a throwaway, laughable term within the very institution that is supposed to be treating it, if not curing it. A personal example, a psychiatrist I saw for a very hellish, short term “treatment” in 2010 wrote “she appears to have borderline personality disorder” in my records, and that’s… it. No list of symptoms meeting diagnostic criteria, no treatment plan, and he also never said a word about it to me. Perhaps he had a good laugh with colleagues about it over drinks?
I’ve only looked at the article briefly, but I’m confused as to how an experiment in which people are burned on their arms is translatable to people receiving care (or poor “care”) in a healthcare setting? I get the whole initial positive / negative experience affects future experiences, that’s common sense. I just don’t see how such a particular experiment can claim to come to a conclusion about a healthcare environment.
(My geography was off. The above is NSW, this is for Victoria. Same difference as far as what they do.)
http://www.mht.vic.gov.au/
The Australian Mental Health Review Tribunal
http://www.mhrt.nsw.gov.au/the-tribunal/
“In its civil hearings, the Tribunal may: …
approve the use of ECT for involuntary patients;
approve surgery on a patient detained in a mental health facility;
approve special medical treatment (sterilisation); …”
They are a “quasi-judicial body,” protecting the quasi-civil rights of quasi-people. I’ll be following this story too, but I bet we don’t hear another damn thing. The kangaroo court got its rubber stamps mixed up. Oops!
I also practice yoga. I’ve tried several kinds, I really like Kripalu. I’ve had body memory or flashbacks, but never while doing yoga. I remember hearing a Sean Corn interview and she talked about them. Very touching story, you are a great teacher.
Sure, it’s called Coromega. The company claims it has “better absorption.” It comes in a little packet like a ketchup packet. I used to take two packets a day, now I just take one.
The best therapeutic relationship I ever had was when I took mandolin lessons. I was in a horrible place mentally and emotionally, and going through appointments and checklists with professionals was nothing but an exacerbating ordeal. The lessons gave me something to focus on other than my misery and problems. I went once a week, but had something to do and focus on every day, practice. I could practice as much or as little as I liked. I could cancel whenever I liked, but rarely did out of courtesy, and never did without notice. My teacher always asked me how I was and how my week had been. Sometimes we spent ten minutes or so talking about my week or my problems, and they might mention their own. They always remembered what we had talked about the week before, and sometimes asked me about something I had mentioned the week before. The lesson was half an hour, which was not too much time for me to handle. Going to the office of a professional and sitting in the crowded chaotic waiting room for up to three hours was too much for me to handle. I think the most important thing was that my teacher was a good, affable person and also had the freedom to do as they liked and felt best for the lesson. A few lessons in they mentioned I looked nervous, and I admitted the fact that their office was tiny, up two narrow stairways and down three narrow hallways was causing me to panic. They pointed out the fire escape stairwell was right outside the door and I said, I know, I tried it and it’s locked. They checked and said, You’re right, now I’m going to panic. The funny thing was I did mention my diagnoses and it didn’t change anything. No emotion or problem I ever mentioned was diagnosed or labeled as abnormal. We just spoke about them briefly and they expressed compassion or perhaps a suggestion briefly. My completely reasonable concern about the fire escape wasn’t due to paranoia or delusions of persecution. After talking about something that was a bit off once I mentioned that they must think I was incredibly odd, and they just said, Not at all, you wouldn’t believe some of the things the people who sit in that chair have said to me, especially the teenagers. Also I just enjoyed myself, and enjoyed the practice. I took lessons for about a year, as I had planned. There was an expense involved, but I very much felt I got my money’s worth, which I can’t say for any mental health professional who treated me, ever (not that I would think good mental health care wasn’t worth the money.) I also had a good experience talking to a very kind and helpful local police officer. They gave me a lot of advice about a particular problem I was having, and because what I was doing about this problem wasn’t working I followed that advice, although my instincts were practically screaming against it. It was (so it seemed to me) miraculously helpful, and led to very positive changes in my life. If I had chosen to take it up with a mental health professional I might have spent years wallowing in misery about it. I think I spoke to the officer and a friend of his who also helped for a total of two hours. Then I arduously sucked it up and tried what they suggested. They didn’t ask for my life story (although they listened seriously as I blabbed it at them,) they didn’t pathologize, patronize or laugh at me, and they didn’t believe patching on a simple solution and getting on with my life was somehow a bad move.
Anyway this is a good article and it got me thinking. I’m not sure what the answer is, but it seems like it would be very, very difficult to make a living as a life coach. I wonder if it is impossible to work as both at once?
I don’t have any suggestions about getting more people to take nutritional treatments seriously, but as they have worked for me after extensive medical treatments failed I certainly do and I’m also very glad for the information you share here. What doesn’t work for one person could very well be the magic bullet for another. This is the nature of all types of medicine.
I cured myself of a year long bout of severe antibiotic induced clostridium difficile (CD) by drinking kefir, after doctors had extensively failed to treat it. I did the same for the CD induced interstitial cystitis (IC,) which doctors also extensively failed to treat, by drinking dandelion tea. In both cases I took “doses” daily over an extended period of time, ultimately resulting in a “cure,” where “doses” were no longer needed.
I have also extensively experimented with nutritional treatment for mood disorder (however you want to put it, altered and improved my diet in order to feel better) and find much of what people are saying here to be true; you must being with eating a healthy diet and avoiding junk food. This is more easily said than done considering the state of our food economy. I also take a particular type of omega 3 supplement every day, which I swear by. For me, there is something about this particular supplement. I have tried others with no noticeable effect.
Thanks again for sharing the intel!
I very much appreciate this article, but I’m confused about something. Isn’t the term consensus reality?
I meant to say, Suicide hotline doesn’t answer call for hours, then days. Client is left without support. Client becomes reasonably angry, …
I’m outraged at the absolute dysfunction of this scenario. Therapist tells client to call not therapist, but suicide hotline for non-suicidal support. Suicide hotline doesn’t answer call. Client becomes reasonably angry, leaves reasonably angry message. Police force client into psych ward, psych ward forces client to pay $2,000 for unneeded, forced, and traumatizing incarceration. Client is hurt, angry, unsupported, and $2,000 poorer. The most expensive path to the most harmful and least helpful form of care has been followed. The psych ward wins again. Everyone else loses. And so it goes…
http://www.psychologytomorrowmagazine.com/history-tyranny-dsm/
Quoting the author Ben Peck below:
In 1971, gay activist Frank Kameny stormed the American Psychiatric Association’s annual conference, held that year in a Washington ballroom. Pushing his way past shocked elderly psychiatrists, he seized the microphone and shouted: “Psychiatry is the enemy incarnate. Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you.”
Remaining “pleasant” will not facilitate change. “Below the line” comments like Pilgrim’s are what is needed.
I think we all know what happens when you “assume” something. (Oops, I guess that’s a below the line comment as well.)
Very interesting!
Love it! This may sound weird and I hope people understand, but the first time I heard of Torrey’s concept of “anosognosia” I thought, “Hmm, anosognosia, works for me.” I’m often driving around in my car reflecting upon how well it’s worked for me and just feeling so damn lucky and glad.
Another reason the big hospitals closed was that people were outraged by the horrible conditions in them. Someone who writes here (Mark Ragins?) commented that nobody cares about the horrible conditions in prisons. The money to fund an improvement in conditions is absolutely there, it’s just being sucked up and wasted by a for profit system.
It seems like policies regarding this should apply across the board to all employees. There are a hell of a lot of people who work in the system that are in treatment. If peers can’t be treated at the same facility neither can social workers or psychiatrists. I can see why it makes sense for a therapist to not be supervising her patient’s employment, but the idea that peers should be encouraged to move on to the “real world” has me stumped. If that’s a concern why not quit and move on to the “real world” yourself? In the real world a job’s a job.
Huzzah to the Bazelon Center! Great work.
I think it’s also worth googling your psychiatrist or therapist to see what they are saying online. A lot of them blog about their patients unabashedly on sites like Psychology Today, and a lot of their posts are mortifying breaches of confidentiality. One of the gravest examples I ever saw was the doctor who blogged about how his patient came into his care because he was haunted by the memory of how his aunt had sexually humiliated him in front of his entire complicit family when he was a child. Names were not given, but specific details were. Imagine reading a blog like that about yourself, by your deeply trusted doctor, on Psychology Today. I would absolutely die.
I will send a donation to RP (if they accept donations,) and to First Congregational Church for hosting their summer meeting.
Very glad to hear from David Oaks. I liked Rethinking Psychiatry, but I think it might be a bad idea for me to join UU Mental Health Justice as I am an ex UU.
I think that is great that she was able to express her opinion and get the company to make a change.
http://www.theasylumwv.com/ <— Scary. Watch the movie. Skip to 4:30 for advertisement.
The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (historically accurate name) is a former mental hospital that is now a tourist attraction. It even has the stamp of approval from the state of West Virginia.
http://trans-alleghenylunaticasylum.com/
Anyone who has publicly expressed offense at The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum has been unequivocally shouted down. The state wants money to "preserve her," lol.
Honestly I am unable to decide if I find this stuff offensive.
On the other hand it would be kind of hilarious to spend hundreds of years and hundreds of millions on mapping every single cell and neuron in every single brain in real time and discovering there was absolutely nothing wrong with them.
You cannot find a way to repair the psyche by studying the brain. But hey, that’s where all the “kick in the rear” hundreds of millions of dollars and Nobel prizes lie, so you might as well keep embracing the delusion.
Hey this is ancient at this point but did this blog response ever happen?
“he wrote an average of 20,000 Medicare prescriptions annually for clozapine and a brand-name version, FazaClo” from ProPublica article
WTH? 55 Rxs a day (including weekends) ???
I know Ted this guy is a nothing but a serial killer!
Also, what were Richard Plotts’ diagnoses and how does sociopathy preclude them? Just trying to map the logic here.
Would it somehow be less accurate to say that psychiatry famously and simply sucks at treating those diagnosed as having antisocial behaviors, rather than that these patients are untreatable? (“The mental health system is just another source of disappointment for the sociopath…” Well that explains my problem! Apparently I’m a sociopath.) I cry foul on this article – and the headline. Considering the facts here, “Psychiatrist Shoots Patient” is misleading.
Very informative and timely. Thank you for sharing your “cocktail party” story. 🙂 I am also drug free and have experienced cold turkey withdrawal.
Strangely I just noticed this local news article about a judge who dismissed charges against a man who was involved in a shootout with the police, on the grounds of Unisom intoxication. Unisom is a common over the counter sleeping pill. (Or possibly it had something to do with him being a local attorney, but anyway…) http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140722/GZ01/140729759
Also, I am not seeing anything about Britian’s NHS implementing the BONDI program. The article states they are implementing something called MOTs, which are described as payments to psych service providers for doing physical health screenings (as in, questions asked only screenings, no physical exam,) and possibly providing referrals to various physical health agencies. It is never explained what MOT stands for, apparently it is some sort of financial “trust.” Can anyone explain this further? I have seen articles about US studies online that state diet and exercise programs prevent neuroleptic induced weight gain, but it’s always in INPATIENTS. I suspect that this is because their food is restricted, they are given 1,000 calorie a day diets or something. Anyway if anyone could help me out and explain further I’d appreciate it. Thanks –
How many people have received this? I am reading 60 people in Australia and 16 in Chicago. Am I reading this wrong?
This is an excellent point! I have found interest and comfort in something called Flying Star feng shui, which is based on Chinese numerology and astrology. I even rearranged my bedroom to counteract an area that read for “insanity,” lol. Who knows, maybe that was my problem…
Oh yeah! Reforming psychiatry would require so many abolitions. Abolishing drugs reps and advertising, abolishing misleading clinical trials, abolishing institutional abuse and forced drugging, abolishing profit driven practice, etc. etc. etc. There are so many things both reformers and abolitionists want to abolish.
I was going to say something, but I forgot what. Oh well! Interesting conversation.
Thanks for sharing this here! I’m interested in contributing.
I supposed I should applaud this study but it seems a lot like those done to determine that caffeine keeps you awake… “proving” what’s already obvious.
I remember watching the movie American Psycho (or perhaps reading the book,) and being genuinely (or perhaps foolishly) moved when Pat Bateman said, “But I just want to fit in.” Most of these kids are just doing what everyone else is doing, terrified of falling outside their social networks, of ending up under the steamroller instead of in the driver’s seat. It’s the modern conundrum, how to get off the steamroller without ending up underneath it. Two great articles, thanks Laura.
It’s also on her official webpage under videos… http://www.mariabamford.com/
You can watch The Maria Bamford Show on Youtube. I recommend it, it’s really funny.
Well that explains it. Sounds like case managers wear a lot of hats! Thanks.
Hi Peter – Thank you for this interesting article. Could you explain more about what a case manager does? I guess my question is, what is a case manager, exactly? (Also, I am confused. Are you still working as a case manager?) Good luck with your studies and career.
Maybe it’s a case of throwing a little bit of oil in a pot of boiling water to calm the boil? If they show that they care about this issue (or pretend to) and admit it’s a fraction as bad as it actually is, outraged people will become less outraged?
Hey cannotsay2013 – The Tony story did make for a gripping read in Ronson’s book, however Tony did not kill the person he attacked, he beat them very badly. Also, the striking thing about Tony’s diagnosed “psychopathy” was that almost everything he told his initial diagnosing psychiatrist was copied verbatim from a popular movie (ironically I forget which one,) as reflected in his medical records.