I enjoyed reading about your experiences, having gone through withdrawal as well. My withdrawal from nicotine and cocaine were a cake walk compared to this poison. I will never consent to taking any psychiatric med ever again. They debilitated me for decades and then years after as I weened myself from them.
It also makes no sense that these drugs would not cause dependence and lasting changes after they are stopped. Basic human biology refutes what the “professionals” dismiss in their arguments. But then, their is no chemical imbalance that could ever be quantified by lab work so it’s all smoke and mirrors. I do have to wonder what is going to happen when the pedestals fall and this group of “experts” have to eat their own words.
The added benefit, here, is that the charlatans are never held accountable for the misery they cause.
The same way they pared down yoga to a useless, commercial proposition.
The last research I read indicated that the “positive outcomes” were short lived (effects began to fade in months after the DBT stopped) and the coping mechanisms, that never really left, regained their place in the tool box over time. “Borderline Personality” itself has come under criticism as a gendered diagnosis (as has anti-social personality disorder) which further weakens it’s credibility. And though there is one accepted way to treat using DBT, it’s unlikely that many populations would be capable of affording, either financially or from a time perspective, the demands. This is not news nor is it significant. It’s a spin on the same old “let’s focus on you and ignore how messed up your environment is” mentality. Any “therapy”or “profession” that fails to improve the environment people have to struggle in with no chance of escape (current society and no upward mobility for those who are at or near the bottom, for example) is doing absolutely nothing for mental health except making sure it continues to be an income stream.
I have to agree that the “diagnosis” are meant to stick a lifetime. I am about to challenge mine again and have them removed from my medical records because I have been without “symptoms” and without their drugs for just over 4 years. Consequently, I am working again, and going to college after the shit show of mental health held me fast for 32 years. In my teens I was taking street drugs that did far less damage then these things did with one dose, not to mention decades of dosing. I feel fortunate that I have escaped, but I always feel that I am vulnerable because I already have the labels that sell the products that lead to drug industry and mental hell care profits. This is the after effect of being beaten in that system for so long.
I love this! Finally a hands on, first person approach that makes more sense than anything the mental illness machine has been plugging. Thank you for this logical and factual presentation to give me permission to see my reactions as defense and not “mental illness”.
In my research, I have found NAMI in my state to be one of the most exploitative organizations of all times. There is one big wig at the top, Sue Abderholden (she earns 6 figure salary I believe), who is the paid mouthpiece, her board of directors and then the legions of “volunteers” who work for nothing. Family members and those with lived experience are being used to push NAMI’s pro “treatment” sales pitch like a legion of lemmings pushing their way to the water. The worst part is that these people are vulnerable and taken advantage of. That and the families having the “support” to abuse the identified “ill” person with NAMI’s blessing.
I also notice that though NAMI is trying to steer itself away from their dependable pharmaceutical money, they are simply supplementing it with ties to “healthcare” facilities.
It seems, in such a conversation, we must not forget the open institutions where drugging kids is encouraged: the education system. Here, it is complete behavioral control and if there is parental involvement, the parents are usually giving permission under duress and with all the wrong information. We’ve ignored this issue for decades and it simply get worse. I now know 6 year old who have been labeled since they were 2 and are now on a slew of pills daily. These kids have horrible home lives or have been abused (because bullying is abuse) in school situations for years. These are reactive and vulnerable kids who are drugged to make things easier for the adults around them.
There should be no shock in what happens to immigrants when we treat our own cities so poorly.
Social shaming for power and profit.
Public education has derailed because it is far too concerned about being a social policing force and creating the very problems it then seeks to “help” with (anxiety, bullying, etc). Quit labeling kids with DSM terms, feed them, let them play, let them create, protect them from bullies (both students and faculty) and quit with the high stakes testing. Then you can begin to look at solutions for problems that will be dramatically reduced.
Maybe even more importantly is to address the glaring point that “diagnosis” hasn’t science behind it but much bias and complete subjectivity. I had received the schizophrenic/schizoaffective tag decades ago while experiencing severe flashbacks. The label, as all others in “mental health” are peer accepted after all, so to base any conversation around them is to lend them credibility they do no necessarily deserve.
Thanks for this article Eric! It made me giggle and I could actually recall each type of reaction you described. I was the passive kind (lots of trauma here early in life) and I slept continuously the first few days of a stay and then paced, colored and drew away the rest of my imprisonment. I was actually assaulted in state asylums by both fellow inmates (one actually began choking me in a hallway) and staff (trip to the “quiet room” and a 4 man escort down the Haldol hallway) and talk about setting off some triggers and flashbacks! I initially complied to escape. It was literally, to me, survival. Yet, after a while it became “normal” to subject myself to this deprivation of freedom and accept whatever label they threw at me to get some type of shelter and a meal or two a day. It became a breeze to cry wolf and end up inside. They thought they were in charge, but who really was?
I do agree. A reaction with a known biological mechanism shouldn’t be confused with p$ychiatry.
So psychiatry continues their superiority complex. The same one they play out with those who are entrusted to their care and have been for decades. “We aren’t wrong. It’s the people we “help” that cant seem to comprehend how much this “treatment” is making them better. These people are ill and aren’t able to accurately judge how their bodies are responding. They are probably just in need of a “medication” adjustment.” How many of us haven’t faced this arrogant attitude, regardless of geographical location (though it may have been worded a bit differently)? There isn’t much one can do with people who believe the lies they tell themselves are true. This isn’t terrifying until you understand that these are the self-proclaimed social warriors who can “help” make “mental illness” (which they exclusively define) non-existent with enough “treatment”.
This article is lacking in any meaningful content unless one wishes to imagine the implications of “referral” and increased surveillance in a system which has no intention of improving outcomes. The gist of it is that we’re going to keep trying the same things knowing they don’t work?
Logan, the interesting argument that you might want to answer is why, in an age where anti-depressants are prescribed at record levels, do we have a concurrent record level suicide rate? You really are comparing apples to agent orange if you believe anything you’re saying. The vast majority of people prescribed anti-depressants are not the short term (6, 8 or 12 week) research models. Most are on these drugs for at least 6 months and far too many for decades. You might also want to look at black box warning and the research that initiated it, and the current implications that long term use of anti-depressants are being rapidly tied to fatal cardio vascular events and dementia. If you going to attempt to thump on science, at least get up to speed with what is becoming understood about these drugs instead of harping on past, unreliable conclusions. Also understand that the long tern manipulation or serotonin leads to added prescribing for GI tract irregularities which leads to further prescribing of things like proton pump inhibitors which long term use of causes more medical issues (like reduced bone density and the inability of the GI tract to fight off infection). These are not difficult things to find and if you are half as adept at scientific research as you attempt to appear to be, it should be quite easy. You may want to cross reference and critically analyze your data for credibility, and review psychiatry’s colorful history and it’s continuing fight to legitimize itself. A good foundation of knowledge is usually enough to form an argument that is not circular.
Learning the difference between statistical significance and clinical significance really casts a whole new light on the lot of it.
“Mentally ill” people are assumed to be cognitively incapable of rational, critical thinking and treated as if their intelligence is lacking. This is yet another impact of “diagnosing” distress and implying that it is a life long issue. It easier to oppress someone when they have no voice.
Thanks for exposing the darkened world of academia, who still pushes the same non-sense they always have. They have a flock now who was weened on the chemical imbalance nonsense and questions nothing.
All this does is promote the idea that there is a biological mechanism that can be medicated to “treat” distress reactions. No go for me.
Oh… the simpletons view of health. “Just eat better” is that same as saying “you just need to think about your situation differently”. We can’t address corruption and oppression so we turn to regulating food instead? Quit handing our prescriptions for social problems, putting poison in water, causing people distress through poverty and quit being glib with you solutions that don’t account for the reality of the 99% and don’t include nearly 50% who struggle to put food on the table on a daily basis. This is the affluent’s assessment of the road to “recovery”.
Madmom-It is amazing but I know that I can never return to a point in time when I don’t have the knowledge I do now about this corrupt system. I can’t pretend and I can’t ignore so I am always preparing. Reading, waiting for moments that present themselves to interject the truth as gently as possible. I may be forced into the nightmare that is the system again, but I can’t forget what I’ve learned while free of it. I hope to never be victimized by it again and hope to keep forging a new path so that my kids/grandskids are not assimilated and held hostage in a system that has no concern for their well being. People are beginning to see that “mental health” is a parasite feeding on their weakness or that of someone they love. Many people are becoming leery of this system that has promised more than it can deliver for decades. I applaud, inform and support everyone who is waking up and those who haven’t yet. We keep each other moving forward to the goal of a more humane world.
Perfect! It isn’t the survivors but how they can discredit the “professionals”, eliminate costly degree programs and disrupt the nonsense of “best practices” that government buys in to. Then the research dries up, the demand for drug company toxins decreases, the economy takes a dip because the herd has moved on to other pastures, etc. It gets very complicated when one thinks about the actual hierarchy that exists and that the disruption of it would cause a domino effect.
After decades of medications, it does begin to feel like the lie is real. But it really isn’t. Medications seem to cause the very problems they are supposed to eliminate, don’t they. But we were never warned that lifetime adherence is not beneficial to us in any way.
This was a very obvious thing in the 80’s. The predominant way that alcoholics recovered in the 40’s-70’s was by involvement in a 12 step group consisting of only peers that met in a public building. They shared their experiences and supported each other through thick and thin. There were no cops, no social workers, no professionals. Everyone was equal or peer supported. Then someone had the brilliant idea that AA’s twelve steps weren’t good enough because they had no professional overseer’s (bureaucracy). Thus, the “chemical dependency” co-optation was born and only those holding degrees were seen as a source capable of overcoming the struggles that alcoholics and addicts faced. Ironically, AA was actually created because the medical profession had little to no success. The same thing is happening now throughout the mental illness maintenance industry. The same one that teaches everyone that they are victims of “illness” that require “professional” help.
We’re already seeing the effects of inter generational psychiatric drugging. We already know the corruption exists and is supported and protected by government. But, it’s nothing that a severe economic downturn couldn’t eliminate.
It is just the continuation or “creep” that programs like NAMI started in exploiting those with lived experience. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if their hands were dirty. But then I can’t imagine as identifying as “mentally ill” and then becoming re-entrenched in the system that did nothing but harm to me. I think the people who become involved with this actually think they will create change but, soon find out that they won’t. I also think there are many self-proclaimed “survivors”, as you mentioned, that have lived experience consisting of drug compliance and a subservience to out-patient programs and self-help groups. Those devastated by this horrible industry that I know are too debilitated by decades of drugging or have escaped and would never return.
Spot on!
And it is truly sad that so few people take the time t understand that the DSM is a book of lies in itself.
But we never hear about how the “mental health” industry grooms people for future addictions or debilitates otherwise healthy people with periods of extended use of drugs that have never been studied long term. Nor do we bring up the fact that 2 generation have now been conceived in mothers who were told that anti-depressants and benzos are “safe”. This is an entrenched and government supported criminal enterprise that has rewritten human history for at least the short term.
Spending money to address poverty, the wage gap, the class war, sexism, ageism, and all other forms of causation to “mental health” problems won’t happen in the US because these problems create a vast, unending well of weath and job security for those at the top of the food chain (providers, judicial system, “social service” programs, nursing homes, etc). This is those in power preying on the weak and vulnerable from cradle to grave and creating more illness in the process. It’s really sickening what this greedy country has devolved into. Talking about and educating about issues is great work but we are way beyond a point where that is effective and it has now become not education/awareness but grooming.
Because the welfare and the health of our society is at the bottom because it discourages consumerism and profit margins. The illness maintenance system does not stay in business by keeping people “healthy” nor does “mental health” which also creates an endless stream of unwell individuals to ensure it remains profitable in the future (primarily through the use of neurotoxins; aka “medication”). It is the only explanation that makes sense in light of what we are beginning to understand about psychiatric drugs and any number of screenings pushed by the local GP/provider.
This is becoming a political issue because health insurance wants to dictate the medical industry. There is so much momentum now to blame everything for “dementia” and Alzheimer’s” because the insurance and health industry doesn’t want to continue to lose money. Yet there isn’t scrap of solid evidence which points to any element as a causative factor in this debate.
I find it rather amazing that hyper arousal was listed as a cause yet the author does nothing to address the causes of hyper arousal (CPTSD, current domestic/environmental violence, etc). These are issues that will not be resolved by “improving nutrition”. I am bored with people who are living in secure, stable environments preaching to the rest about how we should just do what they did. How about we have the right to do what works for us, in our situation? Medication may not be the best choice, but there are people who could not function and be productive without it.
This is another great example of the “medical community” handing out addictive chemicals and having to answer to no one when it backfires and ruins people lives. Just lends more credence to the idea the “health care” is simply an “illness maintenance system”. What will they do when the masses pay them no concern anymore?
The industrial revolution has created much of the insomnia that we have now. Historically, people sleep in increments: going to bed, waking in the middle of the night to stoke the fire and check on livestock, then back to sleep for a few hours, work, nap, etc. It is the regimenting of sleep that is the issue.
“Mental health”” interventions” and another “phobia.” Then there are the assertions based on crowd sourced video. I guess research in the modern era is defined as such because someone was paid to do something ignorant and unreliable.
Since the diagnosis itself is unreliable, how can we expect the “treatment” to be effective? So many people are suffering unbearable loss and strain and are given the “depression” label which prevents them from being effective in resolving their misery. Anti depressants are a “feel good” quick fix for a “profession” that can’t be bothered with actually killing their cash cow by resolving something.
The ultimate vicious cycle for profit.
When people begin to stop paying for psychiatrist/mental health visits and “medications” because the truth becomes known, the revolution will gain momentum. No one ever gives weight to the consumer law of supply and demand in this.
Brilliant response.
You forgot to mention the absurd profit the drug companies are making to produce neurotoxins who’s only benefit is to create lifelong cash flow.
This centuries golden calf. Agree completely.
Fantastic! Like your practical ideas.
The disturbing thing is that they are still prescribed all the time, and for things they were never approved for (off-label use). I was recently offered trazadone for insomnia which is wasn’t approved for. It was prescribed by the same doctor for broken toes I had. Seems to have a lot more to do with my history than any actual benefit. Now insurance companies are pushing it as an alternative (cheaper for them, more politically accepted?). Makes me so mad.
Spot on!
While ignoring the socioeconomic factors that are all around us that create it? Yes. Ignoring the cause does not create a solution.
Great article. There isn’t much I would argue with. It’s amazing how this scientism slowly encroaches on the medical community. But, the lack of available providers has shifted the “treatment” to general practitioners and nurse clinicians who are basically clueless for the most part. I had a great CPN who was daring enough to say, these medications (anti-depressants and anti-psychotics though I had no history of psychosis) don’t work for you at all and then helped me to taper off of them.She was a rare find! When my son refused med I applauded him and refused to participate in the craposphere (BS) that is “mental health” . Thank the stars for the resisters! One life can influence so many.
Every article I read now is full of the same crap that psychiatry has operated by for decades: “we think this is the problem but have no proof to back it up. But, take our word for it because we do science.” Even more disturbing is that medicine is actually buying into this because insurance companies want to cut any possibility of future problems with anything. Research has become an adulterated and overused word because people see it and automatically think “truth”. So not the case. But, take heart. I see many people questioning the value of “mental health” and the ineffective products they supply. We have a few generations now that are seeing that they haven’t delivered on any promise to help with anything. We are seeing first light.
This is the lowest, most unreliable form of “research” that there is. Sounds like a case control study which is cheap and fast and has terrible results that are not reliable in the least. There are others that are being done that are carbon copies that also produce junk results. My intuition says this is a political issue like opiates have become. Some one trying to cover their backside because their “professionals” got carries away with the prescription pad.
If the medical profession would quit learning about drugs from those who produce and profit from them, we may not see this problem over and over and over again.
Unfortunately, prohibition also is not an answer. Not after the fact. I know it’s hard to digest but there are people who actually benefit greatly from these drugs (chronic pain sufferers, CPTSD military vets/civilians who will not recover for example) just as there are those who benefit from opiates. Why is it so difficult to pull away from the all or nothing approach? Because it’s a political issue.
It’s the all important component of leaving out context to make something seem like a positive result. What are the socioeconomic situations of the Mediterraneans? How does their social hierarchy function? Do any of these people even understand the complexity of what we call “Mediterranean” people and their vast variances in diet over their large region? The diet basis picks Greece, southern Italy and Spain and disregards the other ethnic food traditions in the area. This area has the climate to produce much of it’s own fruits and vegetables and doesn’t depend on grocers to feed them highly genetically modified produce that will germinate before it rots. But, you forgot to mention the impact of Fukishima’s nuclear waste on the aquatic life of the western coast of the US, the lasting impact on the Gulf Coast from the BP oil spill and the results of fracking on water supplies. Raising the fish you eat in the US in the toilet would be healthier. And. I know it comes as a shock, but too many people in the US don’t have access to “good” food or the time to prepare it.
You don’t have a “healthy” diet in a toxic environment.
The staggering use of anti-depressants began in the early 1980’s. They were in use previously, since the 1950’s, but in the 80’s the drug companies aligned with the “mental health” industry to push them through marketing. Prozac came along in 1987 and was marketed as a “miracle cure” for depression which didn’t work out that way. Yet, the FDA has turned over every time a new psychiatric med has hit the market though decades have shown no efficacy and a host of concerns.
Unfortunately, the diabetes guidelines have recently been manipulated and not because there is concern for the health of people. Again, it seems to be a function of the illness maintenance system to shore up profits since their cholesterol schemes have been disproven. It isn’t a coincidence that blood pressure guidelines have likewise been lowered to accomplish the same thing. It’s also ignored that anti psychotics increase the risk of diabetics, yet nothing is done to address this issue and the prescribing of them long term, even to young children, isn’t stopped. So, the CDC says we have a problem, which makes money for those entities involved and never does anything to truly prevent the problem. Quit allowing medicating with psyche meds and maybe, in two or three generations we’ll see some change.
Psychiatry has problems with denial. But, don’t tell them that or they’ll brand you.
I have been thinking this for quite some time. When millions get kicked off of government subsidized healthcare, who will the “mental health” industry seek as it’s new victims?
Unlike most now days, Nash stopped taking the medication within a relatively short period of time. After shock treatment and psychiatric abuse, he learned quickly that the quackery had no benefit for him. His functioning was die to himself and figuring out what worked for him without the consequences of psychiatry.
Maybe. But you have to remember that “depression” is a diagnosis made on subjective criteria that are usually based on self-reports. These criteria are ever widening with criteria that could apply to every person at some point in their lives. We do know, as well, that anti-depressants make people more ill (disrupt serotonin, metabolic instability, cause agitation and increase suicidal thoughts, etc). The long term use of these drugs may be what maintains the depression (especially the social isolation factor) first reported along with the dis empowering idea that one is “ill”.
Oh yes, another well meaning “prevention” program that is actually another way to funnel people into the system for no benefit to them. I am sorry you had to be the beta version suspect.
I do agree… they can’t find your house if it’s on fire and the residence listed, but they can find you no matter what to take your civil rights from you.
Suicide prevention? Not hardly. Allowing people to talk about this would be far more preventative than making them feel ashamed, “crazy” and isolated because they are struggling. What drug company or member(s) of the illness maintenance system put up money to “fund” this? Who monitors it? And, if they can monitor this, what else have they been monitoring and for whom?
Brilliant. I love the more direct, “mince no words” approach. That being said, careers have been ended with such brutal honesty by the opposition. I know a psychologist who challenged a shrink on his prescribing practices of a 7 year old (who was already on 4 medications) and was threatened, in writing, by the shrink himself. Those in power are ruthless in defending their man made divinity. But, the tide is about to turn and I’ll be so happy to have a ring side view of their demise.
My heart aches for you and your family. That the medical profession caused this and continues to cause it is simply criminal. Yet, the marriage between the health maintenance industry and legal drug dealers makes so much money that it will go on and on until the profits end. We see glimmers of hope here and there, but the power of the corrupt is far stronger, at this time, than our ability to end it.
I too feel guild about trusting these people with my precious children. Please find peace in how much you did to try and make the best life for her. They exploited your fear and your pain. Shame on them!
Crimes against humanity. It really is that simple.
We know this now. However, 20 years ago, when I was pregnant, I was assured by the medical profession that this was a safe option. I have tremendous guilt over this and daily wonder if my child is suffering because of that use. Risks of anti-depressant use then were not talked about and still aren’t. As a society, we have been had by the drug industry who cares only about it’s profit and stakeholders.
Parents treat the issue as if it weren’t a problem because they are told it isn’t and they trust medical professionals in an old school way. The trust in medicine has ended for me. I take nothing they say at face value and I hope that my son is able to prove my concerns wrong.
Fantastic! I couldn’t agree more. Psychiatry’s mascot is apparently a unicorn. The DSM should be required to stamp one on each of it’s fairy tale encyclopedias.
I remember contending with this. Pain so severe once a month that I prayed to die. It was a 2-3 day loss of all functioning lying in bed waiting for the agony to pass every month. Try explaining it to an employer and you get brushed off, written up, and eventually fired. It’s not just the endometriosis but also how it complicates functioning that is far more likely the cause of “mental health issues”. This “research” as most of the rest now days, falls a bit short of taking all factors into account on top of the flaw of small, unrepresentative sample size. It also makes women victims of their biology when that just isn’t the case. The economic factors are at least as devestating devastating.
We already know this information. Maslow knew it decades ago, but industry doesn’t profit from well cared for people who have the basics (food clothing, shelter) and some sense of security. I think it’s time to quit discussing what we’ve known for many years and move onto why social mobility is impossible and how we live in denial that it is. We need changes bigger that anything the “mental health” industry and government can provide.
I think this demonstrates the impact of violating a person very clearly. It can also be used to convey, in some small way, the sexual abuse of children who cannot place words to the things that happen to them or defend themselves intellectually.
Any profession that aims to improve health and ignores the sheer magnitude of sexual abuse is unethical and dishonest. That would sum up psychiatry in a few words. They are not about helping anyone but rather demonstrating their power and authority regardless of the impact on the people they come in contact with. I remain unhopeful about the current conversation actually translating into resolve to reduce the sexual abuse. We have become a nation known first and foremost for our lip service to all issues.
Thanks for your courage and determination to make waves and make change!!!
The 450,000 thousand is an optimistic guess. The profession trust that is embedded in the US culture prevents any actual hard numbers from being generated. Also, this figure applies only to death and not the millions of other injuries caused by poorly performed procedures, unnecessary procedures (many cases of biopsy, radiation, chemo and removal of benign “tumors”/epithelial lesions) and drugging people without a therapeutic component in doing so (psychiatric drugs but also statins because it has been known for decades that dietary cholesterol does not influence blood level cholesterol in people with good liver function). It is little wonder to me that we spend more on “health care” now than we ever have and we are a far sicker society. Overall cost is not an accurate way to measure positive outcomes.
Representative Zerwas had a relative that was suspected of covering up a murder back in 1965. The family, as I knew them as neighbors in the 70’s, were rather unusual people. Terrifying that this type keep finding their way into power. Ironic he should be expressing an opinion on “mental health” when a relative was suspected of covering up the murder of a 3 year old child of a sister. (http://www.presspubs.com/white_bear/news/article_1dca2e0e-e2fe-11e4-a17d-6311e99b067e.html)
“Another principal character in the book, Lois Jurgens’ brother, Jerome Zerwas, was a White Bear Lake cop who was suspected of covering up the case in 1965. He left the force on permanent disability in 1975 and moved to Elk River, claiming to the end he did not interfere despite testimony to the contrary. Zerwas died in 1997.”
Sue Abderholden… the high buck NAMI executive director who exploits “volunteers” and is a call girl to the medical/pharmaceutical industry that pay her salary. I’m sure she’ll be right on resolving this problem as soon as she gets done paying lip service to how much she’s going to do (which never seems to end). Representative Lorey , who “represents” some of the poorest areas of the state, thinks that throwing more money at “mental health treatment/prevention” will make everything better without ever understanding the socioeconomic problems that drive human distress. I have yet to recall one significant move forward for the economies of his constituents initiated by him. With all of this, how could anything go wrong?
The “gold standard” for measuring depression that was used (the PHQ9) is the property of Pfizer pharmaceuticals. It’s as invalid and unreliable as it comes over and above the glaring conflict of interest. This, combined with a completely restricted population makes the finding all about how a university was paid to do more research which is worthless. It’s almost guaranteed that the results wont apply to most people.
Reading this helped me to understand that I was a “frequent flyer” because I found companionship in these horrible institutions. Not with any of the cold, distant paternalistic staff, but with my fellow inmates.
I remember the forced injection and restraints, the “quiet rooms”, the endlessly repetitive groups of nearly fatally boring content (meant to be a “treatment component”), the smell of disinfectant, the herding of inmates through a tunnel system (because I was indoctrinated when state hospitals were still a thing)…
I am so very, very glad that you found a way to keep your identity intact through this and teach me and allow me to remember how awful it all was and, thereby, to appreciate how good my life is now. Thank you!
I agree with every word. However, there is something you missed or didn’t include here.
In the area where I reside, the cost is incredible. The average “group home” charges between 300 and 400 dollars a day just for room and board. Add into that waivers for “supportive employment (which are paid by the state), the cost of transportation and oversight of these people (which resembles a work release program) and the costs likely double. “Supportive employment” is yet another way these people are exploited as those they are providing work for are granted a sub minimum wage pay scale. In every single respect, these people are enslaved and no one bats an eye because it has been framed as “treatment” or “therapeutic” and something that will lead to an improved life for the individual. Of course we haven’t included the “social workers” who are always involved and we know they don’t work on the cheap.
The system is so profoundly disturbed and there is no one to come up along side these folk and lend them a hand up. Economic collapse would have the benefit of ending this abuse. Short of that, however, I don’t see much hope.
It is just another way to call someone names. In short, to bully them. The “diagnosis” are based on a fictional account of what constitutes “normal” behavior. There is no science to this. There is, however, many people and organizations profiting off of this. It’s creating a society where common people are now expected to police those who they simply observe and “report” the circumstantial evidence use to determine, from the individuals bias, what constitute abnormality. Teachers have been in this position for a long while. And, at a time when they are consistently losing their autonomy. It’s not likely that they will become allies in stemming the tide of over “diagnosis.”
But, this problem will eventually self-correct. The cost of special education is beginning to strain schools and, as educational funding continues to shrink, many smaller districts aren’t able to absorb the costs. “Mental health” will eventually drain this profit resource and move onto another victim, if there are any new ones left for it to consume by then.
Oh look! The next false messiah of psychiatry is on the horizon!
There is some hope.
NAMI and company is about to invade out work establishment to spread the lies about how “we” can all prevent suicide and promote “mental health”. Corporate is promoting this, all the while, forgetting that the wage slaves that work for them are not going to spend a minute more at work than they are required to. But even more inspiring is the conversation my immediate supervisor started by saying, “Instead of looking at these people and labeling them, maybe we need to go up to them and say ‘I’m sorry you’re going through this and life really sucks sometimes. Let’s talk about it.” Human kindness as a “treatment” strategy? How radical! I love her train of thought. It restored a small piece of my hope for humanity!
Thinking a lot these recent day about those who have been bullied by the “mental health” system and broken. Their hand forced to end the suffering they never deserved. Suffering compounded by the “helping” profession. But, if we begin to think of every other person as a fellow traveler, we open the door to a kinder more connected world. Stop the “othering” whenever you feel you can. It will make a difference.
But all I hear still is “We need more money for mental health care”. No, we need that money and more to go toward giving people a step up vs the fall downward that “mental health” gives.
It’s really not that complicated. It’s a coping mechanism that “professionals” use to pull you into the system and keep you there. In my own experience, medication increase the need to self injure to soothe the restlessness and numbing they induce.
Also, who is defining self-injury? I see tattoos and body piercings as socially acceptable ways of self-injuring that few people question. This shows the subjective nature of such a term. One that is used to exert control over a persons life because we don’t understand the reaction.
I was horrified when I saw this. And, sickened by it. What a power play!!! They could care less about the homeless but the event gave them the window needed to exert complete control over these people in this situation. People who’s quality of life is poor and made and kept that way by organizations like this. How many of them were thrown back out on the street when the crisis passed? How many will be forced to endure “mental health treatment” indefinitely because society failed them. The true intentions of these people is clear and thinly veiled. What does the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust do all the other days in all the other years? Obviously they aren’t accomplishing their implied task of reducing homelessness.
Not psychosis going away. Learning to not let it rule your life? Yes, that has been done as well. Not within the context of “the system”, but it has been done outside of it. Beyond the “help” that is seen as acceptable (primarily medications) even when it isn’t truly helpful. There are research studies that demonstrate the use of anti-psychotics actually increase the likely hood of contending with further bouts of disabling “symptoms”. I have known many first hand that have actually experience hallucination induced by the anti-psychotic they were prescribed never having previously experienced them. This would lend credence to that idea.
Because the diagnostic process is wrought with subjective criteria, it is likely that in a significant number of cases the diagnosis wasn’t correct to begin with. Flashbacks are often misdiagnosed as psychosis, even though they truly aren’t in any lasting sense. They certainly aren’t schizophrenia. This confuses the issue but there are points worth thinking about.
I’m glad you stated they you have a mental health challenge. Challenge eludes to struggling with something for the sake of resolution. It is much different than stating “I am mentally ill”. It leaves room to redefine yourself at any time. My best to you.
There are, apparently, 35 billion reasons why the system refuses to change one iota. The people distributing the wealth from “mentally ill” people aren’t willing to let go of a dime and actually seek to increase that 35b by any means that they can. Their greed and lack of concern for the human species is appalling. If that 35 billion were used to feed, clothe and house people, strengthen communities, etc., those atop of the current “pot o’gold) would lose not only their wealth but the power that comes with it. The system operates from a twisted base where truly preventing outcomes is seen as something to be avoided. The only way to fight this is to quit being good consumers. Quit literally buying into a system that is already too powerful and uses their control to kill people. Help the people in your community however you can. Let people know that “seeking professional help” has hidden consequences. Change yourself and educate yourself so when the moment presents itself (and it will) you can tell people you opinion and back it with facts (Psyche drugs kill and this is why/how). People will get tired of being sick and tired. The facade of “mental health” complex is beginning to face some challenges. Keep the pressure up! Don’t give up!
“If we are to stem the increase in mental ill health problems in young people we need to find ways to make them feel safe. They need prompt access to effective interventions delivered by qualified clinicians and mental health professionals that can alleviate their internal turbulence.”
No. They need someone who has enough courage and wisdom to admit to them that their perceptions are accurate (which doesn’t require a college degree/proof of indoctrination) Then those same brave souls need to help them start changing the world. All this suggestion does is bloat a system (financially) which has very poor outcomes. Another spin on blaming the victims. Appalling!
“[T]his review provides evidence that large-scale, school-based programs can be implemented in a variety of diverse cultures and educational models as well as preliminary evidence that such programs have significant, measurable positive effects on students’ emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes.”
I beg to differ. I think these programs pigeon hole kids who are already vulnerable, fail to take their situations into perspective and cheat them out of an education (more so than non-special ed kids) by focusing so heavily on monitoring everything that might look like a “mental health” issue. The people who benefit here are the staff and administration, not the kids. I have yet to see a “preventative program prevent anything in any area of this field in particular. But that always the hook used; that we will make things better in the future. Haven’t seen this yet.
Our state DHS has “peer specialist” who receive the best training from the state that can be had. The fault in that is so glaring even a blind person could see it (no offense).
I am curious about your reaction to someone who is expressing thoughts of suicide or refusing medications even when it is what “everyone” wants.
On point!
I agree with your outrage and the continued lack of consequences for the mental health industrial complex and all of it’s cohorts. I hope our species survives long enough to look back on this debauchery in ten years time and call it the dark ages II.
It seems remiss not to include all psychiatric drugs in this because they all teach the same thing: 1.) pills will fix what’s wrong with you (because your brain is broken) and, 2.) psychiatry is your “God” so be compliant and submissive because they’re always right. You have no internal ability to judge for yourself. And these are just a few of the lessons.
This systemic involvement in all areas of life has a paper and money trail. The corruption has to be largely supported by the powers that be to reach the extent it has. And all I hear these days is more money for “mental health” which is more money for a profession who can lay claim to nothing scientific but now tries to pull genetics and neurology into proving it’s legitimacy.
If one looks at the recent suggestion of using MDMA for depression and other “mental illnesses” we see a new and bolder move to publicly proclaim that known addictive substances can be administered by psychiatry and produce miraculous results (like Prozac did). Are people not paying attention or are they so brainwashed that they can’t see what’s happening?
Oh how this smack of victim blaming. It can possibly be that public education isn’t suitable for kids? They just need help with their anxiety. Maybe professional help (medication) and counseling and yoga.
I do agree. I have a son that was bullied endlessly for the first six years he attended school. The school did nothing even though it was reported by me again and again. Yet, when he had had enough and reacted, there was something wrong with him. I, like an idiot, believed it but after about a year and a half of watching those with “expertise” fumble through IEP after IEP, I pulled him out and home schooled (unschooled). He has trust now, has held a job over a year at the same place and is mature and extremely intelligent. He wants to return to an alternative program but does not want anything to do with special education. I am with him on that yet I’m not sure they will be able to 1.) leave the past in the past and want to stick with a group of DSM diagnosis that don’t even fit or 2.) admit that they ever approached anything wrong or failed him in any way or 3) use common sense to understand that people are capable or change. I’ll be damned if they will pigeon hole him as “mentally ill” and offer him a sub par education that will not allow him to peruse the career he wants. Taking the time to read the cues your kids are giving you is huge and can change their lives for the better and allow you to be their best advocate. As a whole, public education is not good and we need to face that truth before anything changes.
Though it is a point, it compares apple and oranges. The current state of societies has never been known to humans before so we can’t measure it by historical markers. If we did we could draw general conclusions that we have increasingly become less family/extended family oriented, that the increase in environmental toxicity in the last 150 years is profound, the human tribe has become dependent on a few to sustain their basic needs (the wage slave -vs- the family farm), that corporate greed has replaced the need for thriving people, etc. Certainly we change the genetic long shots by losing so many people, but we have induced that by administering toxic medications to all ages of people and calling it “normal”. The outcome is the same and possibly worse. I think we need to be more concerned about taking action than placing the current situation in it’s proper historical human context. Maybe the time to do this will be after effective changes have been made to reduce the incidence. It’s hard for people to value themselves in societies where there are viewed as nothing more than a commodity.
The title of the article should read “The drug industry purchased our “research” and politics guided out proclamation of “hope”. But the blind that are following the money hounds (mental health industry) and looking for a quick, easy way of addressing problems. Never mind that these approaches don’t work and aren’t even based in reality.
It is nothing short of amazing to watch the loyalty to lies and abuse by a “profession” keep building momentum. One can understand how the Reich gained it’s inroads. Terrifying.
I do agree. Self-incrimination leading to revocation of due process, indefinite restriction of freedom based on a subjective set of symptoms. It usually is character assassination as soon as the label is attached.
The industry (“mental health”) is banking on the fact that we will react normally so they can bring more victims into the fold to be victimized by their hands. We know when that happens they have ensured a future “consumer” who will likely have little hope of escaping their biological frailties and be tethered to their profession for many, many years. Terrorism and war are good for business. How sad.
I knew this information and still find it alarming that we regularly chastise the actions of Hitler without even a hint that what he achieved had it’s roots in American Eugenics. The old saying “Those who fail to learn from the past…”
But then most people don’t understand that the idea for ECT came from watching pigs being given the same treatment prior to slaughtering to make that task easier. Psychiatry should be held for crimes against humanity yet have spun themselves so well they are literally worshiped. Only ignorance can turn a villain into a hero.
What a perfectly accurate reflection. I find so much social science theory woven through the threads and it’s how I remind myself and others that it’s all a set-up. It’s all an illusion and if people are to prosper, the current system must be eliminated. At this juncture, there is no way around that as mental health has it’s tendrils in every aspect of society from the delivery room to the funeral home. It has been built up and worshiped as some type of God that will save us all and nothing could be further from the truth. Only we can save us and it will require lots of work, sweat and tears.
“Consumer” conjures up thoughts of instant gratification which is part of the problem. We want to believe there is a way over, under or around social and personal demons and there isn’t. And those who “help” have no interest in teaching the truth. It cuts into profit margins and threatens the pedestal from which they issue their demands, or as they call it, “treatment”.
Thanks for reaffirming what so many of us already know about the system. I stay away from the word courageous as those in the field employ that often now in a belittling manner. I thank you instead for sharing your hard won knowledge that we may benefit from it. Take good care.
“The researchers report, “the clear temporal relationships between mental disorders and physical diseases for specific comorbidity patterns suggest that certain mental disorders may be risk factors of certain physical diseases at early life stages, and vice versa.”
I’m thinking this outcome is a result of “treatment” (which is almost always prescribed drugs) and “prevention” efforts will likely funnel more kids into the system for future drugging.
I think the best approach to overcome the current MO is to direct educational efforts toward parents who don’t understand that there is a price their child will pay for the quick fix.
Wonderful article Jarett. I never had the benzo issue but certainly had every anti-depressant thrown at me and plenty of anti=psychotics. I actually found, for myself, that those “medications” increased my impulsiveness, never decreased my “depression” and gave me a host of other physical problems. I also got the wrong diagnosis and my complex PTSD was ignored entirely by the prescription profiteers (for over 3 decades). I am off all of the garbage two years now, except for a sleeping pill that I have accepted I may never be able to break it off with, and my life and overall health have improved so much I am astonished. Could it be the medications actually make one sicker than they ever imagined they could be? Psychiatry isn’t even symptom management anymore as much as it is illness maintenance! By sharing your story you help shed light on the long term consequences of pill pushing.
I found your story so inspirational and your courage and strength inspiring! I am glad you are still among us.
And, as I am planning on Moving to NS, what’s it like there? lol
I agree with you. Placing yourself in the “mental health” system is still a form of accepting the “there’s something wrong with you” idea that the entire system pushes. When you remove yourself from that seriously perverted notion and begin to appreciate yourself, the changes seem to follow naturally. The “system” reinforces “victimhood” not “personhood”. And it does so to perpetuate the cycle knowing that “health” is not a financially sound business model. There may be a few people who actually have the right intention and spirit but wading through the majority who don’t is damaging.
I think it’s good that the non-drug alternatives are offered. However, that being said, it is still a turn to a dependence on a “health care” system which sells a product. Much of it still seems like a quick fix because it avoids the social issues that create the outcome. It’s like looking at a drowning person and not taking water into consideration of the current situation. Much of the distress and “dis ease” we see has roots in out very sick, disconnected, consumer driven, things before people, easy answers/little work mentality. This seems to be more of that though requiring a little more work than popping pills.
The same old “health care” system dressed up in new clothing to sustain a profit margin.
I applaud your courage and facing this issue head on now that you have some new information. Be sure that between now and then you read as much as you can about benzos and arm yourself with information. If you can’t remember it there is always printing it out or taking notes. 🙂 I have had to do this in all aspects of “health care” as I choose to be a good consumer and informed advocate for myself.
I wish there was a way to know how this goes for you. Wishing you well on your journey!
I enjoyed reading about your experiences, having gone through withdrawal as well. My withdrawal from nicotine and cocaine were a cake walk compared to this poison. I will never consent to taking any psychiatric med ever again. They debilitated me for decades and then years after as I weened myself from them.
It also makes no sense that these drugs would not cause dependence and lasting changes after they are stopped. Basic human biology refutes what the “professionals” dismiss in their arguments. But then, their is no chemical imbalance that could ever be quantified by lab work so it’s all smoke and mirrors. I do have to wonder what is going to happen when the pedestals fall and this group of “experts” have to eat their own words.
The added benefit, here, is that the charlatans are never held accountable for the misery they cause.
The same way they pared down yoga to a useless, commercial proposition.
The last research I read indicated that the “positive outcomes” were short lived (effects began to fade in months after the DBT stopped) and the coping mechanisms, that never really left, regained their place in the tool box over time. “Borderline Personality” itself has come under criticism as a gendered diagnosis (as has anti-social personality disorder) which further weakens it’s credibility. And though there is one accepted way to treat using DBT, it’s unlikely that many populations would be capable of affording, either financially or from a time perspective, the demands. This is not news nor is it significant. It’s a spin on the same old “let’s focus on you and ignore how messed up your environment is” mentality. Any “therapy”or “profession” that fails to improve the environment people have to struggle in with no chance of escape (current society and no upward mobility for those who are at or near the bottom, for example) is doing absolutely nothing for mental health except making sure it continues to be an income stream.
I have to agree that the “diagnosis” are meant to stick a lifetime. I am about to challenge mine again and have them removed from my medical records because I have been without “symptoms” and without their drugs for just over 4 years. Consequently, I am working again, and going to college after the shit show of mental health held me fast for 32 years. In my teens I was taking street drugs that did far less damage then these things did with one dose, not to mention decades of dosing. I feel fortunate that I have escaped, but I always feel that I am vulnerable because I already have the labels that sell the products that lead to drug industry and mental hell care profits. This is the after effect of being beaten in that system for so long.
I love this! Finally a hands on, first person approach that makes more sense than anything the mental illness machine has been plugging. Thank you for this logical and factual presentation to give me permission to see my reactions as defense and not “mental illness”.
In my research, I have found NAMI in my state to be one of the most exploitative organizations of all times. There is one big wig at the top, Sue Abderholden (she earns 6 figure salary I believe), who is the paid mouthpiece, her board of directors and then the legions of “volunteers” who work for nothing. Family members and those with lived experience are being used to push NAMI’s pro “treatment” sales pitch like a legion of lemmings pushing their way to the water. The worst part is that these people are vulnerable and taken advantage of. That and the families having the “support” to abuse the identified “ill” person with NAMI’s blessing.
I also notice that though NAMI is trying to steer itself away from their dependable pharmaceutical money, they are simply supplementing it with ties to “healthcare” facilities.
It seems, in such a conversation, we must not forget the open institutions where drugging kids is encouraged: the education system. Here, it is complete behavioral control and if there is parental involvement, the parents are usually giving permission under duress and with all the wrong information. We’ve ignored this issue for decades and it simply get worse. I now know 6 year old who have been labeled since they were 2 and are now on a slew of pills daily. These kids have horrible home lives or have been abused (because bullying is abuse) in school situations for years. These are reactive and vulnerable kids who are drugged to make things easier for the adults around them.
There should be no shock in what happens to immigrants when we treat our own cities so poorly.
Social shaming for power and profit.
Public education has derailed because it is far too concerned about being a social policing force and creating the very problems it then seeks to “help” with (anxiety, bullying, etc). Quit labeling kids with DSM terms, feed them, let them play, let them create, protect them from bullies (both students and faculty) and quit with the high stakes testing. Then you can begin to look at solutions for problems that will be dramatically reduced.
Maybe even more importantly is to address the glaring point that “diagnosis” hasn’t science behind it but much bias and complete subjectivity. I had received the schizophrenic/schizoaffective tag decades ago while experiencing severe flashbacks. The label, as all others in “mental health” are peer accepted after all, so to base any conversation around them is to lend them credibility they do no necessarily deserve.
Thanks for this article Eric! It made me giggle and I could actually recall each type of reaction you described. I was the passive kind (lots of trauma here early in life) and I slept continuously the first few days of a stay and then paced, colored and drew away the rest of my imprisonment. I was actually assaulted in state asylums by both fellow inmates (one actually began choking me in a hallway) and staff (trip to the “quiet room” and a 4 man escort down the Haldol hallway) and talk about setting off some triggers and flashbacks! I initially complied to escape. It was literally, to me, survival. Yet, after a while it became “normal” to subject myself to this deprivation of freedom and accept whatever label they threw at me to get some type of shelter and a meal or two a day. It became a breeze to cry wolf and end up inside. They thought they were in charge, but who really was?
I do agree. A reaction with a known biological mechanism shouldn’t be confused with p$ychiatry.
So psychiatry continues their superiority complex. The same one they play out with those who are entrusted to their care and have been for decades. “We aren’t wrong. It’s the people we “help” that cant seem to comprehend how much this “treatment” is making them better. These people are ill and aren’t able to accurately judge how their bodies are responding. They are probably just in need of a “medication” adjustment.” How many of us haven’t faced this arrogant attitude, regardless of geographical location (though it may have been worded a bit differently)? There isn’t much one can do with people who believe the lies they tell themselves are true. This isn’t terrifying until you understand that these are the self-proclaimed social warriors who can “help” make “mental illness” (which they exclusively define) non-existent with enough “treatment”.
This article is lacking in any meaningful content unless one wishes to imagine the implications of “referral” and increased surveillance in a system which has no intention of improving outcomes. The gist of it is that we’re going to keep trying the same things knowing they don’t work?
Logan, the interesting argument that you might want to answer is why, in an age where anti-depressants are prescribed at record levels, do we have a concurrent record level suicide rate? You really are comparing apples to agent orange if you believe anything you’re saying. The vast majority of people prescribed anti-depressants are not the short term (6, 8 or 12 week) research models. Most are on these drugs for at least 6 months and far too many for decades. You might also want to look at black box warning and the research that initiated it, and the current implications that long term use of anti-depressants are being rapidly tied to fatal cardio vascular events and dementia. If you going to attempt to thump on science, at least get up to speed with what is becoming understood about these drugs instead of harping on past, unreliable conclusions. Also understand that the long tern manipulation or serotonin leads to added prescribing for GI tract irregularities which leads to further prescribing of things like proton pump inhibitors which long term use of causes more medical issues (like reduced bone density and the inability of the GI tract to fight off infection). These are not difficult things to find and if you are half as adept at scientific research as you attempt to appear to be, it should be quite easy. You may want to cross reference and critically analyze your data for credibility, and review psychiatry’s colorful history and it’s continuing fight to legitimize itself. A good foundation of knowledge is usually enough to form an argument that is not circular.
Learning the difference between statistical significance and clinical significance really casts a whole new light on the lot of it.
“Mentally ill” people are assumed to be cognitively incapable of rational, critical thinking and treated as if their intelligence is lacking. This is yet another impact of “diagnosing” distress and implying that it is a life long issue. It easier to oppress someone when they have no voice.
Thanks for exposing the darkened world of academia, who still pushes the same non-sense they always have. They have a flock now who was weened on the chemical imbalance nonsense and questions nothing.
All this does is promote the idea that there is a biological mechanism that can be medicated to “treat” distress reactions. No go for me.
Oh… the simpletons view of health. “Just eat better” is that same as saying “you just need to think about your situation differently”. We can’t address corruption and oppression so we turn to regulating food instead? Quit handing our prescriptions for social problems, putting poison in water, causing people distress through poverty and quit being glib with you solutions that don’t account for the reality of the 99% and don’t include nearly 50% who struggle to put food on the table on a daily basis. This is the affluent’s assessment of the road to “recovery”.
Madmom-It is amazing but I know that I can never return to a point in time when I don’t have the knowledge I do now about this corrupt system. I can’t pretend and I can’t ignore so I am always preparing. Reading, waiting for moments that present themselves to interject the truth as gently as possible. I may be forced into the nightmare that is the system again, but I can’t forget what I’ve learned while free of it. I hope to never be victimized by it again and hope to keep forging a new path so that my kids/grandskids are not assimilated and held hostage in a system that has no concern for their well being. People are beginning to see that “mental health” is a parasite feeding on their weakness or that of someone they love. Many people are becoming leery of this system that has promised more than it can deliver for decades. I applaud, inform and support everyone who is waking up and those who haven’t yet. We keep each other moving forward to the goal of a more humane world.
Perfect! It isn’t the survivors but how they can discredit the “professionals”, eliminate costly degree programs and disrupt the nonsense of “best practices” that government buys in to. Then the research dries up, the demand for drug company toxins decreases, the economy takes a dip because the herd has moved on to other pastures, etc. It gets very complicated when one thinks about the actual hierarchy that exists and that the disruption of it would cause a domino effect.
After decades of medications, it does begin to feel like the lie is real. But it really isn’t. Medications seem to cause the very problems they are supposed to eliminate, don’t they. But we were never warned that lifetime adherence is not beneficial to us in any way.
This was a very obvious thing in the 80’s. The predominant way that alcoholics recovered in the 40’s-70’s was by involvement in a 12 step group consisting of only peers that met in a public building. They shared their experiences and supported each other through thick and thin. There were no cops, no social workers, no professionals. Everyone was equal or peer supported. Then someone had the brilliant idea that AA’s twelve steps weren’t good enough because they had no professional overseer’s (bureaucracy). Thus, the “chemical dependency” co-optation was born and only those holding degrees were seen as a source capable of overcoming the struggles that alcoholics and addicts faced. Ironically, AA was actually created because the medical profession had little to no success. The same thing is happening now throughout the mental illness maintenance industry. The same one that teaches everyone that they are victims of “illness” that require “professional” help.
We’re already seeing the effects of inter generational psychiatric drugging. We already know the corruption exists and is supported and protected by government. But, it’s nothing that a severe economic downturn couldn’t eliminate.
It is just the continuation or “creep” that programs like NAMI started in exploiting those with lived experience. I wouldn’t be at all shocked if their hands were dirty. But then I can’t imagine as identifying as “mentally ill” and then becoming re-entrenched in the system that did nothing but harm to me. I think the people who become involved with this actually think they will create change but, soon find out that they won’t. I also think there are many self-proclaimed “survivors”, as you mentioned, that have lived experience consisting of drug compliance and a subservience to out-patient programs and self-help groups. Those devastated by this horrible industry that I know are too debilitated by decades of drugging or have escaped and would never return.
Spot on!
And it is truly sad that so few people take the time t understand that the DSM is a book of lies in itself.
But we never hear about how the “mental health” industry grooms people for future addictions or debilitates otherwise healthy people with periods of extended use of drugs that have never been studied long term. Nor do we bring up the fact that 2 generation have now been conceived in mothers who were told that anti-depressants and benzos are “safe”. This is an entrenched and government supported criminal enterprise that has rewritten human history for at least the short term.
Spending money to address poverty, the wage gap, the class war, sexism, ageism, and all other forms of causation to “mental health” problems won’t happen in the US because these problems create a vast, unending well of weath and job security for those at the top of the food chain (providers, judicial system, “social service” programs, nursing homes, etc). This is those in power preying on the weak and vulnerable from cradle to grave and creating more illness in the process. It’s really sickening what this greedy country has devolved into. Talking about and educating about issues is great work but we are way beyond a point where that is effective and it has now become not education/awareness but grooming.
Because the welfare and the health of our society is at the bottom because it discourages consumerism and profit margins. The illness maintenance system does not stay in business by keeping people “healthy” nor does “mental health” which also creates an endless stream of unwell individuals to ensure it remains profitable in the future (primarily through the use of neurotoxins; aka “medication”). It is the only explanation that makes sense in light of what we are beginning to understand about psychiatric drugs and any number of screenings pushed by the local GP/provider.
This is becoming a political issue because health insurance wants to dictate the medical industry. There is so much momentum now to blame everything for “dementia” and Alzheimer’s” because the insurance and health industry doesn’t want to continue to lose money. Yet there isn’t scrap of solid evidence which points to any element as a causative factor in this debate.
I find it rather amazing that hyper arousal was listed as a cause yet the author does nothing to address the causes of hyper arousal (CPTSD, current domestic/environmental violence, etc). These are issues that will not be resolved by “improving nutrition”. I am bored with people who are living in secure, stable environments preaching to the rest about how we should just do what they did. How about we have the right to do what works for us, in our situation? Medication may not be the best choice, but there are people who could not function and be productive without it.
This is another great example of the “medical community” handing out addictive chemicals and having to answer to no one when it backfires and ruins people lives. Just lends more credence to the idea the “health care” is simply an “illness maintenance system”. What will they do when the masses pay them no concern anymore?
The industrial revolution has created much of the insomnia that we have now. Historically, people sleep in increments: going to bed, waking in the middle of the night to stoke the fire and check on livestock, then back to sleep for a few hours, work, nap, etc. It is the regimenting of sleep that is the issue.
“Mental health”” interventions” and another “phobia.” Then there are the assertions based on crowd sourced video. I guess research in the modern era is defined as such because someone was paid to do something ignorant and unreliable.
Since the diagnosis itself is unreliable, how can we expect the “treatment” to be effective? So many people are suffering unbearable loss and strain and are given the “depression” label which prevents them from being effective in resolving their misery. Anti depressants are a “feel good” quick fix for a “profession” that can’t be bothered with actually killing their cash cow by resolving something.
The ultimate vicious cycle for profit.
When people begin to stop paying for psychiatrist/mental health visits and “medications” because the truth becomes known, the revolution will gain momentum. No one ever gives weight to the consumer law of supply and demand in this.
Brilliant response.
You forgot to mention the absurd profit the drug companies are making to produce neurotoxins who’s only benefit is to create lifelong cash flow.
This centuries golden calf. Agree completely.
Fantastic! Like your practical ideas.
The disturbing thing is that they are still prescribed all the time, and for things they were never approved for (off-label use). I was recently offered trazadone for insomnia which is wasn’t approved for. It was prescribed by the same doctor for broken toes I had. Seems to have a lot more to do with my history than any actual benefit. Now insurance companies are pushing it as an alternative (cheaper for them, more politically accepted?). Makes me so mad.
Spot on!
While ignoring the socioeconomic factors that are all around us that create it? Yes. Ignoring the cause does not create a solution.
Great article. There isn’t much I would argue with. It’s amazing how this scientism slowly encroaches on the medical community. But, the lack of available providers has shifted the “treatment” to general practitioners and nurse clinicians who are basically clueless for the most part. I had a great CPN who was daring enough to say, these medications (anti-depressants and anti-psychotics though I had no history of psychosis) don’t work for you at all and then helped me to taper off of them.She was a rare find! When my son refused med I applauded him and refused to participate in the craposphere (BS) that is “mental health” . Thank the stars for the resisters! One life can influence so many.
Every article I read now is full of the same crap that psychiatry has operated by for decades: “we think this is the problem but have no proof to back it up. But, take our word for it because we do science.” Even more disturbing is that medicine is actually buying into this because insurance companies want to cut any possibility of future problems with anything. Research has become an adulterated and overused word because people see it and automatically think “truth”. So not the case. But, take heart. I see many people questioning the value of “mental health” and the ineffective products they supply. We have a few generations now that are seeing that they haven’t delivered on any promise to help with anything. We are seeing first light.
This is the lowest, most unreliable form of “research” that there is. Sounds like a case control study which is cheap and fast and has terrible results that are not reliable in the least. There are others that are being done that are carbon copies that also produce junk results. My intuition says this is a political issue like opiates have become. Some one trying to cover their backside because their “professionals” got carries away with the prescription pad.
If the medical profession would quit learning about drugs from those who produce and profit from them, we may not see this problem over and over and over again.
Unfortunately, prohibition also is not an answer. Not after the fact. I know it’s hard to digest but there are people who actually benefit greatly from these drugs (chronic pain sufferers, CPTSD military vets/civilians who will not recover for example) just as there are those who benefit from opiates. Why is it so difficult to pull away from the all or nothing approach? Because it’s a political issue.
It’s the all important component of leaving out context to make something seem like a positive result. What are the socioeconomic situations of the Mediterraneans? How does their social hierarchy function? Do any of these people even understand the complexity of what we call “Mediterranean” people and their vast variances in diet over their large region? The diet basis picks Greece, southern Italy and Spain and disregards the other ethnic food traditions in the area. This area has the climate to produce much of it’s own fruits and vegetables and doesn’t depend on grocers to feed them highly genetically modified produce that will germinate before it rots. But, you forgot to mention the impact of Fukishima’s nuclear waste on the aquatic life of the western coast of the US, the lasting impact on the Gulf Coast from the BP oil spill and the results of fracking on water supplies. Raising the fish you eat in the US in the toilet would be healthier. And. I know it comes as a shock, but too many people in the US don’t have access to “good” food or the time to prepare it.
You don’t have a “healthy” diet in a toxic environment.
The staggering use of anti-depressants began in the early 1980’s. They were in use previously, since the 1950’s, but in the 80’s the drug companies aligned with the “mental health” industry to push them through marketing. Prozac came along in 1987 and was marketed as a “miracle cure” for depression which didn’t work out that way. Yet, the FDA has turned over every time a new psychiatric med has hit the market though decades have shown no efficacy and a host of concerns.
Unfortunately, the diabetes guidelines have recently been manipulated and not because there is concern for the health of people. Again, it seems to be a function of the illness maintenance system to shore up profits since their cholesterol schemes have been disproven. It isn’t a coincidence that blood pressure guidelines have likewise been lowered to accomplish the same thing. It’s also ignored that anti psychotics increase the risk of diabetics, yet nothing is done to address this issue and the prescribing of them long term, even to young children, isn’t stopped. So, the CDC says we have a problem, which makes money for those entities involved and never does anything to truly prevent the problem. Quit allowing medicating with psyche meds and maybe, in two or three generations we’ll see some change.
Psychiatry has problems with denial. But, don’t tell them that or they’ll brand you.
I have been thinking this for quite some time. When millions get kicked off of government subsidized healthcare, who will the “mental health” industry seek as it’s new victims?
Unlike most now days, Nash stopped taking the medication within a relatively short period of time. After shock treatment and psychiatric abuse, he learned quickly that the quackery had no benefit for him. His functioning was die to himself and figuring out what worked for him without the consequences of psychiatry.
Maybe. But you have to remember that “depression” is a diagnosis made on subjective criteria that are usually based on self-reports. These criteria are ever widening with criteria that could apply to every person at some point in their lives. We do know, as well, that anti-depressants make people more ill (disrupt serotonin, metabolic instability, cause agitation and increase suicidal thoughts, etc). The long term use of these drugs may be what maintains the depression (especially the social isolation factor) first reported along with the dis empowering idea that one is “ill”.
Oh yes, another well meaning “prevention” program that is actually another way to funnel people into the system for no benefit to them. I am sorry you had to be the beta version suspect.
I do agree… they can’t find your house if it’s on fire and the residence listed, but they can find you no matter what to take your civil rights from you.
Suicide prevention? Not hardly. Allowing people to talk about this would be far more preventative than making them feel ashamed, “crazy” and isolated because they are struggling. What drug company or member(s) of the illness maintenance system put up money to “fund” this? Who monitors it? And, if they can monitor this, what else have they been monitoring and for whom?
Brilliant. I love the more direct, “mince no words” approach. That being said, careers have been ended with such brutal honesty by the opposition. I know a psychologist who challenged a shrink on his prescribing practices of a 7 year old (who was already on 4 medications) and was threatened, in writing, by the shrink himself. Those in power are ruthless in defending their man made divinity. But, the tide is about to turn and I’ll be so happy to have a ring side view of their demise.
My heart aches for you and your family. That the medical profession caused this and continues to cause it is simply criminal. Yet, the marriage between the health maintenance industry and legal drug dealers makes so much money that it will go on and on until the profits end. We see glimmers of hope here and there, but the power of the corrupt is far stronger, at this time, than our ability to end it.
I too feel guild about trusting these people with my precious children. Please find peace in how much you did to try and make the best life for her. They exploited your fear and your pain. Shame on them!
Crimes against humanity. It really is that simple.
We know this now. However, 20 years ago, when I was pregnant, I was assured by the medical profession that this was a safe option. I have tremendous guilt over this and daily wonder if my child is suffering because of that use. Risks of anti-depressant use then were not talked about and still aren’t. As a society, we have been had by the drug industry who cares only about it’s profit and stakeholders.
Parents treat the issue as if it weren’t a problem because they are told it isn’t and they trust medical professionals in an old school way. The trust in medicine has ended for me. I take nothing they say at face value and I hope that my son is able to prove my concerns wrong.
Note that this is not a recent issue. Also, wasn’t this horrible toxin just approved for compliance tracking with a microchip?
http://www.cchrflorida.org/abilify-side-effects-lead-to-law-suits/
Fantastic! I couldn’t agree more. Psychiatry’s mascot is apparently a unicorn. The DSM should be required to stamp one on each of it’s fairy tale encyclopedias.
I remember contending with this. Pain so severe once a month that I prayed to die. It was a 2-3 day loss of all functioning lying in bed waiting for the agony to pass every month. Try explaining it to an employer and you get brushed off, written up, and eventually fired. It’s not just the endometriosis but also how it complicates functioning that is far more likely the cause of “mental health issues”. This “research” as most of the rest now days, falls a bit short of taking all factors into account on top of the flaw of small, unrepresentative sample size. It also makes women victims of their biology when that just isn’t the case. The economic factors are at least as devestating devastating.
We already know this information. Maslow knew it decades ago, but industry doesn’t profit from well cared for people who have the basics (food clothing, shelter) and some sense of security. I think it’s time to quit discussing what we’ve known for many years and move onto why social mobility is impossible and how we live in denial that it is. We need changes bigger that anything the “mental health” industry and government can provide.
I think this demonstrates the impact of violating a person very clearly. It can also be used to convey, in some small way, the sexual abuse of children who cannot place words to the things that happen to them or defend themselves intellectually.
Any profession that aims to improve health and ignores the sheer magnitude of sexual abuse is unethical and dishonest. That would sum up psychiatry in a few words. They are not about helping anyone but rather demonstrating their power and authority regardless of the impact on the people they come in contact with. I remain unhopeful about the current conversation actually translating into resolve to reduce the sexual abuse. We have become a nation known first and foremost for our lip service to all issues.
Thanks for your courage and determination to make waves and make change!!!
The 450,000 thousand is an optimistic guess. The profession trust that is embedded in the US culture prevents any actual hard numbers from being generated. Also, this figure applies only to death and not the millions of other injuries caused by poorly performed procedures, unnecessary procedures (many cases of biopsy, radiation, chemo and removal of benign “tumors”/epithelial lesions) and drugging people without a therapeutic component in doing so (psychiatric drugs but also statins because it has been known for decades that dietary cholesterol does not influence blood level cholesterol in people with good liver function). It is little wonder to me that we spend more on “health care” now than we ever have and we are a far sicker society. Overall cost is not an accurate way to measure positive outcomes.
Representative Zerwas had a relative that was suspected of covering up a murder back in 1965. The family, as I knew them as neighbors in the 70’s, were rather unusual people. Terrifying that this type keep finding their way into power. Ironic he should be expressing an opinion on “mental health” when a relative was suspected of covering up the murder of a 3 year old child of a sister. (http://www.presspubs.com/white_bear/news/article_1dca2e0e-e2fe-11e4-a17d-6311e99b067e.html)
“Another principal character in the book, Lois Jurgens’ brother, Jerome Zerwas, was a White Bear Lake cop who was suspected of covering up the case in 1965. He left the force on permanent disability in 1975 and moved to Elk River, claiming to the end he did not interfere despite testimony to the contrary. Zerwas died in 1997.”
Sue Abderholden… the high buck NAMI executive director who exploits “volunteers” and is a call girl to the medical/pharmaceutical industry that pay her salary. I’m sure she’ll be right on resolving this problem as soon as she gets done paying lip service to how much she’s going to do (which never seems to end). Representative Lorey , who “represents” some of the poorest areas of the state, thinks that throwing more money at “mental health treatment/prevention” will make everything better without ever understanding the socioeconomic problems that drive human distress. I have yet to recall one significant move forward for the economies of his constituents initiated by him. With all of this, how could anything go wrong?
The “gold standard” for measuring depression that was used (the PHQ9) is the property of Pfizer pharmaceuticals. It’s as invalid and unreliable as it comes over and above the glaring conflict of interest. This, combined with a completely restricted population makes the finding all about how a university was paid to do more research which is worthless. It’s almost guaranteed that the results wont apply to most people.
Reading this helped me to understand that I was a “frequent flyer” because I found companionship in these horrible institutions. Not with any of the cold, distant paternalistic staff, but with my fellow inmates.
I remember the forced injection and restraints, the “quiet rooms”, the endlessly repetitive groups of nearly fatally boring content (meant to be a “treatment component”), the smell of disinfectant, the herding of inmates through a tunnel system (because I was indoctrinated when state hospitals were still a thing)…
I am so very, very glad that you found a way to keep your identity intact through this and teach me and allow me to remember how awful it all was and, thereby, to appreciate how good my life is now. Thank you!
I agree with every word. However, there is something you missed or didn’t include here.
In the area where I reside, the cost is incredible. The average “group home” charges between 300 and 400 dollars a day just for room and board. Add into that waivers for “supportive employment (which are paid by the state), the cost of transportation and oversight of these people (which resembles a work release program) and the costs likely double. “Supportive employment” is yet another way these people are exploited as those they are providing work for are granted a sub minimum wage pay scale. In every single respect, these people are enslaved and no one bats an eye because it has been framed as “treatment” or “therapeutic” and something that will lead to an improved life for the individual. Of course we haven’t included the “social workers” who are always involved and we know they don’t work on the cheap.
The system is so profoundly disturbed and there is no one to come up along side these folk and lend them a hand up. Economic collapse would have the benefit of ending this abuse. Short of that, however, I don’t see much hope.
It is just another way to call someone names. In short, to bully them. The “diagnosis” are based on a fictional account of what constitutes “normal” behavior. There is no science to this. There is, however, many people and organizations profiting off of this. It’s creating a society where common people are now expected to police those who they simply observe and “report” the circumstantial evidence use to determine, from the individuals bias, what constitute abnormality. Teachers have been in this position for a long while. And, at a time when they are consistently losing their autonomy. It’s not likely that they will become allies in stemming the tide of over “diagnosis.”
But, this problem will eventually self-correct. The cost of special education is beginning to strain schools and, as educational funding continues to shrink, many smaller districts aren’t able to absorb the costs. “Mental health” will eventually drain this profit resource and move onto another victim, if there are any new ones left for it to consume by then.
Oh look! The next false messiah of psychiatry is on the horizon!
There is some hope.
NAMI and company is about to invade out work establishment to spread the lies about how “we” can all prevent suicide and promote “mental health”. Corporate is promoting this, all the while, forgetting that the wage slaves that work for them are not going to spend a minute more at work than they are required to. But even more inspiring is the conversation my immediate supervisor started by saying, “Instead of looking at these people and labeling them, maybe we need to go up to them and say ‘I’m sorry you’re going through this and life really sucks sometimes. Let’s talk about it.” Human kindness as a “treatment” strategy? How radical! I love her train of thought. It restored a small piece of my hope for humanity!
Thinking a lot these recent day about those who have been bullied by the “mental health” system and broken. Their hand forced to end the suffering they never deserved. Suffering compounded by the “helping” profession. But, if we begin to think of every other person as a fellow traveler, we open the door to a kinder more connected world. Stop the “othering” whenever you feel you can. It will make a difference.
But all I hear still is “We need more money for mental health care”. No, we need that money and more to go toward giving people a step up vs the fall downward that “mental health” gives.
It’s really not that complicated. It’s a coping mechanism that “professionals” use to pull you into the system and keep you there. In my own experience, medication increase the need to self injure to soothe the restlessness and numbing they induce.
Also, who is defining self-injury? I see tattoos and body piercings as socially acceptable ways of self-injuring that few people question. This shows the subjective nature of such a term. One that is used to exert control over a persons life because we don’t understand the reaction.
I was horrified when I saw this. And, sickened by it. What a power play!!! They could care less about the homeless but the event gave them the window needed to exert complete control over these people in this situation. People who’s quality of life is poor and made and kept that way by organizations like this. How many of them were thrown back out on the street when the crisis passed? How many will be forced to endure “mental health treatment” indefinitely because society failed them. The true intentions of these people is clear and thinly veiled. What does the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust do all the other days in all the other years? Obviously they aren’t accomplishing their implied task of reducing homelessness.
Not psychosis going away. Learning to not let it rule your life? Yes, that has been done as well. Not within the context of “the system”, but it has been done outside of it. Beyond the “help” that is seen as acceptable (primarily medications) even when it isn’t truly helpful. There are research studies that demonstrate the use of anti-psychotics actually increase the likely hood of contending with further bouts of disabling “symptoms”. I have known many first hand that have actually experience hallucination induced by the anti-psychotic they were prescribed never having previously experienced them. This would lend credence to that idea.
Because the diagnostic process is wrought with subjective criteria, it is likely that in a significant number of cases the diagnosis wasn’t correct to begin with. Flashbacks are often misdiagnosed as psychosis, even though they truly aren’t in any lasting sense. They certainly aren’t schizophrenia. This confuses the issue but there are points worth thinking about.
I’m glad you stated they you have a mental health challenge. Challenge eludes to struggling with something for the sake of resolution. It is much different than stating “I am mentally ill”. It leaves room to redefine yourself at any time. My best to you.
There are, apparently, 35 billion reasons why the system refuses to change one iota. The people distributing the wealth from “mentally ill” people aren’t willing to let go of a dime and actually seek to increase that 35b by any means that they can. Their greed and lack of concern for the human species is appalling. If that 35 billion were used to feed, clothe and house people, strengthen communities, etc., those atop of the current “pot o’gold) would lose not only their wealth but the power that comes with it. The system operates from a twisted base where truly preventing outcomes is seen as something to be avoided. The only way to fight this is to quit being good consumers. Quit literally buying into a system that is already too powerful and uses their control to kill people. Help the people in your community however you can. Let people know that “seeking professional help” has hidden consequences. Change yourself and educate yourself so when the moment presents itself (and it will) you can tell people you opinion and back it with facts (Psyche drugs kill and this is why/how). People will get tired of being sick and tired. The facade of “mental health” complex is beginning to face some challenges. Keep the pressure up! Don’t give up!
“If we are to stem the increase in mental ill health problems in young people we need to find ways to make them feel safe. They need prompt access to effective interventions delivered by qualified clinicians and mental health professionals that can alleviate their internal turbulence.”
No. They need someone who has enough courage and wisdom to admit to them that their perceptions are accurate (which doesn’t require a college degree/proof of indoctrination) Then those same brave souls need to help them start changing the world. All this suggestion does is bloat a system (financially) which has very poor outcomes. Another spin on blaming the victims. Appalling!
“[T]his review provides evidence that large-scale, school-based programs can be implemented in a variety of diverse cultures and educational models as well as preliminary evidence that such programs have significant, measurable positive effects on students’ emotional, behavioral, and academic outcomes.”
I beg to differ. I think these programs pigeon hole kids who are already vulnerable, fail to take their situations into perspective and cheat them out of an education (more so than non-special ed kids) by focusing so heavily on monitoring everything that might look like a “mental health” issue. The people who benefit here are the staff and administration, not the kids. I have yet to see a “preventative program prevent anything in any area of this field in particular. But that always the hook used; that we will make things better in the future. Haven’t seen this yet.
Our state DHS has “peer specialist” who receive the best training from the state that can be had. The fault in that is so glaring even a blind person could see it (no offense).
I am curious about your reaction to someone who is expressing thoughts of suicide or refusing medications even when it is what “everyone” wants.
On point!
I agree with your outrage and the continued lack of consequences for the mental health industrial complex and all of it’s cohorts. I hope our species survives long enough to look back on this debauchery in ten years time and call it the dark ages II.
It seems remiss not to include all psychiatric drugs in this because they all teach the same thing: 1.) pills will fix what’s wrong with you (because your brain is broken) and, 2.) psychiatry is your “God” so be compliant and submissive because they’re always right. You have no internal ability to judge for yourself. And these are just a few of the lessons.
This systemic involvement in all areas of life has a paper and money trail. The corruption has to be largely supported by the powers that be to reach the extent it has. And all I hear these days is more money for “mental health” which is more money for a profession who can lay claim to nothing scientific but now tries to pull genetics and neurology into proving it’s legitimacy.
If one looks at the recent suggestion of using MDMA for depression and other “mental illnesses” we see a new and bolder move to publicly proclaim that known addictive substances can be administered by psychiatry and produce miraculous results (like Prozac did). Are people not paying attention or are they so brainwashed that they can’t see what’s happening?
Oh how this smack of victim blaming. It can possibly be that public education isn’t suitable for kids? They just need help with their anxiety. Maybe professional help (medication) and counseling and yoga.
I do agree. I have a son that was bullied endlessly for the first six years he attended school. The school did nothing even though it was reported by me again and again. Yet, when he had had enough and reacted, there was something wrong with him. I, like an idiot, believed it but after about a year and a half of watching those with “expertise” fumble through IEP after IEP, I pulled him out and home schooled (unschooled). He has trust now, has held a job over a year at the same place and is mature and extremely intelligent. He wants to return to an alternative program but does not want anything to do with special education. I am with him on that yet I’m not sure they will be able to 1.) leave the past in the past and want to stick with a group of DSM diagnosis that don’t even fit or 2.) admit that they ever approached anything wrong or failed him in any way or 3) use common sense to understand that people are capable or change. I’ll be damned if they will pigeon hole him as “mentally ill” and offer him a sub par education that will not allow him to peruse the career he wants. Taking the time to read the cues your kids are giving you is huge and can change their lives for the better and allow you to be their best advocate. As a whole, public education is not good and we need to face that truth before anything changes.
Though it is a point, it compares apple and oranges. The current state of societies has never been known to humans before so we can’t measure it by historical markers. If we did we could draw general conclusions that we have increasingly become less family/extended family oriented, that the increase in environmental toxicity in the last 150 years is profound, the human tribe has become dependent on a few to sustain their basic needs (the wage slave -vs- the family farm), that corporate greed has replaced the need for thriving people, etc. Certainly we change the genetic long shots by losing so many people, but we have induced that by administering toxic medications to all ages of people and calling it “normal”. The outcome is the same and possibly worse. I think we need to be more concerned about taking action than placing the current situation in it’s proper historical human context. Maybe the time to do this will be after effective changes have been made to reduce the incidence. It’s hard for people to value themselves in societies where there are viewed as nothing more than a commodity.
The title of the article should read “The drug industry purchased our “research” and politics guided out proclamation of “hope”. But the blind that are following the money hounds (mental health industry) and looking for a quick, easy way of addressing problems. Never mind that these approaches don’t work and aren’t even based in reality.
It is nothing short of amazing to watch the loyalty to lies and abuse by a “profession” keep building momentum. One can understand how the Reich gained it’s inroads. Terrifying.
I do agree. Self-incrimination leading to revocation of due process, indefinite restriction of freedom based on a subjective set of symptoms. It usually is character assassination as soon as the label is attached.
The industry (“mental health”) is banking on the fact that we will react normally so they can bring more victims into the fold to be victimized by their hands. We know when that happens they have ensured a future “consumer” who will likely have little hope of escaping their biological frailties and be tethered to their profession for many, many years. Terrorism and war are good for business. How sad.
I knew this information and still find it alarming that we regularly chastise the actions of Hitler without even a hint that what he achieved had it’s roots in American Eugenics. The old saying “Those who fail to learn from the past…”
But then most people don’t understand that the idea for ECT came from watching pigs being given the same treatment prior to slaughtering to make that task easier. Psychiatry should be held for crimes against humanity yet have spun themselves so well they are literally worshiped. Only ignorance can turn a villain into a hero.
What a perfectly accurate reflection. I find so much social science theory woven through the threads and it’s how I remind myself and others that it’s all a set-up. It’s all an illusion and if people are to prosper, the current system must be eliminated. At this juncture, there is no way around that as mental health has it’s tendrils in every aspect of society from the delivery room to the funeral home. It has been built up and worshiped as some type of God that will save us all and nothing could be further from the truth. Only we can save us and it will require lots of work, sweat and tears.
“Consumer” conjures up thoughts of instant gratification which is part of the problem. We want to believe there is a way over, under or around social and personal demons and there isn’t. And those who “help” have no interest in teaching the truth. It cuts into profit margins and threatens the pedestal from which they issue their demands, or as they call it, “treatment”.
Thanks for reaffirming what so many of us already know about the system. I stay away from the word courageous as those in the field employ that often now in a belittling manner. I thank you instead for sharing your hard won knowledge that we may benefit from it. Take good care.
“The researchers report, “the clear temporal relationships between mental disorders and physical diseases for specific comorbidity patterns suggest that certain mental disorders may be risk factors of certain physical diseases at early life stages, and vice versa.”
I’m thinking this outcome is a result of “treatment” (which is almost always prescribed drugs) and “prevention” efforts will likely funnel more kids into the system for future drugging.
I think the best approach to overcome the current MO is to direct educational efforts toward parents who don’t understand that there is a price their child will pay for the quick fix.
Wonderful article Jarett. I never had the benzo issue but certainly had every anti-depressant thrown at me and plenty of anti=psychotics. I actually found, for myself, that those “medications” increased my impulsiveness, never decreased my “depression” and gave me a host of other physical problems. I also got the wrong diagnosis and my complex PTSD was ignored entirely by the prescription profiteers (for over 3 decades). I am off all of the garbage two years now, except for a sleeping pill that I have accepted I may never be able to break it off with, and my life and overall health have improved so much I am astonished. Could it be the medications actually make one sicker than they ever imagined they could be? Psychiatry isn’t even symptom management anymore as much as it is illness maintenance! By sharing your story you help shed light on the long term consequences of pill pushing.
I found your story so inspirational and your courage and strength inspiring! I am glad you are still among us.
And, as I am planning on Moving to NS, what’s it like there? lol
I agree with you. Placing yourself in the “mental health” system is still a form of accepting the “there’s something wrong with you” idea that the entire system pushes. When you remove yourself from that seriously perverted notion and begin to appreciate yourself, the changes seem to follow naturally. The “system” reinforces “victimhood” not “personhood”. And it does so to perpetuate the cycle knowing that “health” is not a financially sound business model. There may be a few people who actually have the right intention and spirit but wading through the majority who don’t is damaging.
I think it’s good that the non-drug alternatives are offered. However, that being said, it is still a turn to a dependence on a “health care” system which sells a product. Much of it still seems like a quick fix because it avoids the social issues that create the outcome. It’s like looking at a drowning person and not taking water into consideration of the current situation. Much of the distress and “dis ease” we see has roots in out very sick, disconnected, consumer driven, things before people, easy answers/little work mentality. This seems to be more of that though requiring a little more work than popping pills.
The same old “health care” system dressed up in new clothing to sustain a profit margin.
I applaud your courage and facing this issue head on now that you have some new information. Be sure that between now and then you read as much as you can about benzos and arm yourself with information. If you can’t remember it there is always printing it out or taking notes. 🙂 I have had to do this in all aspects of “health care” as I choose to be a good consumer and informed advocate for myself.
I wish there was a way to know how this goes for you. Wishing you well on your journey!
The “good”, compliant patient bit.