You’re welcome Verra. I use the supplement combo suggested by the book “How to quit, without feeling like sh*t”. It has a lot of amino acids and other vitamins and minerals suggested to help you’re brain to rewire. I’ve been using that as well as adapting my diet to support my healing. After only three days, I have returned to a healthy level of brain clarity and I feel focused and relaxed. It costs a bundle for the supplements but my healing is worth it.
You are welcome! My name means spear maiden or strong spear and I will honor that name in poking the bear of psychiatry. Because people are worth loving.
I hear you. I only speak on my own behalf from my own experiences. I do not have the complete picture, nor the answers. And speaking up is my way of affecting small change.
I hear your pain and well deserved distrust. You’re story is truly horrifying. Well done for freeing yourself. If I still suffer daily from the effects of those drugs, how much more must you? You are a brave, brave soul indeed.
Not my of expertise but…If my diagnosis was based off of symptoms only (no objective testing) it stands to reason that other labels are just that. When I counsel a hurting soul, my training leads me to traditional boxes to try and understand. I have to fight through that to get to seeing just the person and sit with them in their pain. Just as I didn’t like being labelled, medicated and dismissed, my clients also deserve to be seen as people, no lables needed.
Hi Ginger. How special is what you’re doing! And how hard. No, I never drank. I was married to an alcoholic before and had seen and lived with the tragic consequences of his behaviour. I would be more than happy to see a world without any alcohol. And weed? Just another gateway drug. I remember reading some research years ago about a link between weed and psychosis. Scary…
Thank you for your message—and for your courage in sharing such painful and deeply personal experiences. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. It’s horrifying when those in positions of trust not only fail us but actively cause harm. No one should have their truth dismissed or be violated in such invasive ways.
I do believe that art—especially honest art—can be incredibly threatening to systems that rely on control and silence. So when your work was deemed “too truthful,” it sounds like it was doing exactly what powerful art is meant to do: speak what others try to bury.
While our experiences differ, I deeply resonate with the feeling of being discredited and shut down. That’s part of why I shared my story—because I believe these harmful dynamics need to be exposed and challenged if we’re ever going to see real change.
Thank you for your blessing. I return it with sincerity, and I hope your voice and your art continue to be sources of strength and truth..
In South Africa it is much the same. You automatically submit to the experts and people like us are marginalised for swimming upstream. I might seem brave but I am merely fed up enough to not care about the backlash. What can they do to me? Force me to buy their medications? It’s actually very simple. Once you have survived coming off the meds, you need to simply start taking care of yourself. Become well, not to prove anything, but because you are doing it for yourself. There are other people much more clever than I am with the right credentials whose voices carry more weight. But ours need to be heard as well. Even if it is just in your inner circle. It causes a ripple that can change the world.
Yes brother! Let’s do something. I’m one week fully “clean” and after months of withdrawal I still spent my morning today doing somatic exercises, breathing work, yoga stretches, singing out loud, painting and talking to loved ones. All because I was floating outside of my body and was desperate to get back in. Before I used the meds, I never had any such symptoms. My “diagnosis” is C-PTSD and Generalized anxiety disorder. I choose to discard those labels now and see myself as someone who has been traumatised and on the way to recovery. Well done, Chris. Withdrawals are brutal and 17 years? Unimaginable. Feel free to contact me.
In my experience, true. I do wonder though about people with schizophrenia and the like. I’m not qualified to speak for their suffering. But, it stands to reason that there is a possible principle that no chemical substance can be good for anyone’s brain? I dare to venture my opinion that it’s not.
I agree. I was coerced. And pressured. Maybe this way is all they know, all they have been trained to do. When I counsel people, I also have a certain mindset and methodology which I bring into that space. And I am also accountable for how I handle other people’s emotions. But, yes, there is a line and in my case it was definitely crossed.
Thank you Lynne! Body, mind and spirit is my belief. Neglect or hurt the one part, you hurt all. We have to be very wise in who we trust with our exposed selves. May God be glorified.
This is my view. The spirit is eternal. It is the part of us that is constantly searching for meaning. That asks the big questions. Why am I here? What is the meaning of pain? And we are not powerless. We can choose to reclaim and honor that voice. For those who feel helped by the drugs, that is their choice. Mine and yours are to take a different path. May you find answers to your why’s as well.
Yes, wisdom is important, but paired with a certain amount of bravery, knowing that I am swimming upstream with my views. But what can they do to me now? Criticize me, judge me, push me away? None of those responses can affect my life anymore. They are free to live their lives and so am I.
Thank you Joy! What a beautiful name. I have various practices in place that intentionally work at. Firstly my faith, talking it out with God. Then writing, art and exercise. When I do struggle, I do grounding work for immediate relief and my own, learn as i go version of neurofeedback. I am daily amazed at how my middle aged brain is still able to change old pathways! Thanks for the support.
You’re welcome Verra. I use the supplement combo suggested by the book “How to quit, without feeling like sh*t”. It has a lot of amino acids and other vitamins and minerals suggested to help you’re brain to rewire. I’ve been using that as well as adapting my diet to support my healing. After only three days, I have returned to a healthy level of brain clarity and I feel focused and relaxed. It costs a bundle for the supplements but my healing is worth it.
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You are welcome! My name means spear maiden or strong spear and I will honor that name in poking the bear of psychiatry. Because people are worth loving.
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You are welcome. I hope our experiences of being silenced will help many to speak up and be loved, rather than medicated and ignored.
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Thank you Kim. I didn’t know that I was not alone until very recently. It is so encouraging to not feel isolated and screaming into a void anymore.
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You are so welcome Sunflower. May your voice also be heard and your heart find healing.
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I hear you. I only speak on my own behalf from my own experiences. I do not have the complete picture, nor the answers. And speaking up is my way of affecting small change.
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You are so welcome! May our pain have purpose. Not in an airy fairy way, but person to person, showing real love and compassion.
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I hear your pain and well deserved distrust. You’re story is truly horrifying. Well done for freeing yourself. If I still suffer daily from the effects of those drugs, how much more must you? You are a brave, brave soul indeed.
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Not my of expertise but…If my diagnosis was based off of symptoms only (no objective testing) it stands to reason that other labels are just that. When I counsel a hurting soul, my training leads me to traditional boxes to try and understand. I have to fight through that to get to seeing just the person and sit with them in their pain. Just as I didn’t like being labelled, medicated and dismissed, my clients also deserve to be seen as people, no lables needed.
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Very, very true.
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Hi Ginger. How special is what you’re doing! And how hard. No, I never drank. I was married to an alcoholic before and had seen and lived with the tragic consequences of his behaviour. I would be more than happy to see a world without any alcohol. And weed? Just another gateway drug. I remember reading some research years ago about a link between weed and psychosis. Scary…
Report comment
Thank you for your message—and for your courage in sharing such painful and deeply personal experiences. I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. It’s horrifying when those in positions of trust not only fail us but actively cause harm. No one should have their truth dismissed or be violated in such invasive ways.
I do believe that art—especially honest art—can be incredibly threatening to systems that rely on control and silence. So when your work was deemed “too truthful,” it sounds like it was doing exactly what powerful art is meant to do: speak what others try to bury.
While our experiences differ, I deeply resonate with the feeling of being discredited and shut down. That’s part of why I shared my story—because I believe these harmful dynamics need to be exposed and challenged if we’re ever going to see real change.
Thank you for your blessing. I return it with sincerity, and I hope your voice and your art continue to be sources of strength and truth..
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Great quote! We are slowly chipping away at a system that has harmed so many people. Good job,. Birdsong. May you find peace in your purpose.
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In South Africa it is much the same. You automatically submit to the experts and people like us are marginalised for swimming upstream. I might seem brave but I am merely fed up enough to not care about the backlash. What can they do to me? Force me to buy their medications? It’s actually very simple. Once you have survived coming off the meds, you need to simply start taking care of yourself. Become well, not to prove anything, but because you are doing it for yourself. There are other people much more clever than I am with the right credentials whose voices carry more weight. But ours need to be heard as well. Even if it is just in your inner circle. It causes a ripple that can change the world.
Report comment
Yes brother! Let’s do something. I’m one week fully “clean” and after months of withdrawal I still spent my morning today doing somatic exercises, breathing work, yoga stretches, singing out loud, painting and talking to loved ones. All because I was floating outside of my body and was desperate to get back in. Before I used the meds, I never had any such symptoms. My “diagnosis” is C-PTSD and Generalized anxiety disorder. I choose to discard those labels now and see myself as someone who has been traumatised and on the way to recovery. Well done, Chris. Withdrawals are brutal and 17 years? Unimaginable. Feel free to contact me.
Report comment
In my experience, true. I do wonder though about people with schizophrenia and the like. I’m not qualified to speak for their suffering. But, it stands to reason that there is a possible principle that no chemical substance can be good for anyone’s brain? I dare to venture my opinion that it’s not.
Report comment
I agree. I was coerced. And pressured. Maybe this way is all they know, all they have been trained to do. When I counsel people, I also have a certain mindset and methodology which I bring into that space. And I am also accountable for how I handle other people’s emotions. But, yes, there is a line and in my case it was definitely crossed.
Report comment
Thank you Lynne! Body, mind and spirit is my belief. Neglect or hurt the one part, you hurt all. We have to be very wise in who we trust with our exposed selves. May God be glorified.
Report comment
This is my view. The spirit is eternal. It is the part of us that is constantly searching for meaning. That asks the big questions. Why am I here? What is the meaning of pain? And we are not powerless. We can choose to reclaim and honor that voice. For those who feel helped by the drugs, that is their choice. Mine and yours are to take a different path. May you find answers to your why’s as well.
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You bet! So precious and painful at the same time.
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Yes, wisdom is important, but paired with a certain amount of bravery, knowing that I am swimming upstream with my views. But what can they do to me now? Criticize me, judge me, push me away? None of those responses can affect my life anymore. They are free to live their lives and so am I.
Report comment
Thank you Joy! What a beautiful name. I have various practices in place that intentionally work at. Firstly my faith, talking it out with God. Then writing, art and exercise. When I do struggle, I do grounding work for immediate relief and my own, learn as i go version of neurofeedback. I am daily amazed at how my middle aged brain is still able to change old pathways! Thanks for the support.
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Plesier Jeannie. Mag my storie vir jou en almal in jou wêreld, moed gee. Dis nie maklik nie, maar dit is moontlik.
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