In the past decade, suicide has become an epidemic plaguing the military and veteran community, with upwards of 20 suicides a day by veterans, service members, Guard Members and Reservists. To play a role in combatting this crisis, Mad in America has launched the Veterans, Service Members & Military Families Initiative, under the editorship of Derek Blumke, to help the community become better educated and to assist service members, veterans and their families to identify alternatives to the dominant drug-based model of mental health. If you have queries about this page please get in touch with Derek.
Editor's Corner
Welcome home to every service member, veteran, family member or supporter who has ever felt not listened to. Welcome home to every person who has felt their prescriber heard only a series of symptoms, and not a person having real responses to real experiences and real challenges. This page is meant to be a place where you can learn more about yourself through the stories of others, and where you can help others, simply by sharing your story.
A person is not defined by the aggregate of their symptoms. Instead a person is a reflection of the communities they are a part of; their openness to see good in humanity; and their hope for all of us to become better through the connectedness to others. Welcome home.
Amanda Burrill: Self-Advocacy and Self-Belief – Escaping Psychiatric Drugs
An interview with Amanda Burrill, who, after a successful career as a Surface Warfare Officer and Rescue Swimmer in the US Navy, was on track to continue her career as a professional triathlete and marathon runner. Around the time of her discharge, she was prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medications that caused physical injuries, leading to an early end to her rapidly accelerating career.
Prescribing an Epidemic: A Veteran’s Story
Had I known what I know now, I never would have taken any of these drugs, and I absolutely would not have taken a role in which my outreach efforts to get veterans into mental health treatment might place thousands of lives at risk.
Lindsay Church: Military Mental Health – Journey from the Brink to Recovery
US Navy Veteran Lindsay Church describes how a surgical procedure led to her being prescribed 16 medications in 18 months and ultimately to consider taking her life. Lindsay now focuses on supporting minority veterans through social engagement and community building.
Screening + Drug Treatment = Increase in Veteran Suicides
For the past 15 years, the VA's suicide prevention efforts have focused on getting veterans screened and treated for psychiatric disorders, with antidepressants a first-line therapy. This effort has caused veteran suicide rates to steadily rise.
Abandoned in VA Purgatory — Misdiagnosed, Overprescribed & Fighting for Answers
Today I’ve recovered a semblance of my old life, and I, like millions of others, deserve answers. What have these drugs actually done to us? Everything I’ve learned thus far shows that antidepressants were poorly researched, and society, especially our military service members and veterans, were used as test subjects.
Veterans Find A Path to Healing Through Shakespeare
Veterans struggling with a diagnosis of PTSD, or depression and other difficulties find that learning to perform Shakespearean monologues, and developing their own dramatic monologues, can help them "unwire" from the traumas of war.
From the Archives
Support This Initiative
Mad in America Foundation needs your support to sustain this resource and critical psychiatry forum for veterans, military members, and their families. Please donate here, and check off the veterans box to support this initiative. — Derek Blumke
Get Involved
If you have a personal story to tell, or are involved in psychiatric care in some way, please send an inquiry to us.
On Suicide
The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion have begun to seek answers as to the role of antidepressant medications in causing suicides of service members, veterans and their families. Check back soon to learn more about what they are working on to save the lives of those within this community.
For more info on suicide and antidepressants, see MIA report on Suicide in the Age of Prozac.
Resources
There are multiple resources on Mad in America for researching the effects of psychiatric drugs, alternative non-drug therapies, and withdrawal from such medications. These various resources are listed in the menu bar under drugs and parents. Specifically:
In-depth reviews of antipsychotics and antidepressants; non-drug therapies for anxiety, depression and PTSD; and withdrawal resources, includes a directory of providers who will support people who want to taper from psychiatric medications. The Parents section provides similar reviews of treatments for children and adolescents.
In addition, you can access our archival reports of findings about psychiatric drugs that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.