The International Society for the Psychological Treatment of Schizophrenia (and other psychoses) U.S., is having their annual convention this year in Chicago. I am going to give a speech called, “The Lone Ranger is Busy and Tonto Has Split.” No matter what health plan is adopted for this country, it is going to feature large amounts of heavy-duty psychotropic drugs, given for relatively mild to moderate conditions.
This one’s for you, Nonoy Manga. Image courtesy of
http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/093/4/1/straight_jacket_x_by_aaron6199-d38tkbc.jpg
The administration of these drugs has constituted chemical straight jackets to many people, making life-long invalids out of them. The new book that describes this problem, and promotes a solution is Rethinking Madness, written by Paris Williams.
Others have come forward with the same statistics. There has been marked improvement by patients who have stopped their drug regimens, compared with those who have not. We are going to have to solve, or at least ameliorate the serious problem of mental illness on our own. The medical/psychiatric community is not ready to accept this form of treatment. There are in this country today hundreds of small, active help centers and support groups, bringing relief to their patrons.
The Hearing Voices movement that started in England now has chapters in America. There are also private and alternative clinics and peer groups that have recorded improvements on all levels for the people who attend them.
When I looked at my insurance lists, of accepted drugs, I saw that fully 1/3 of the drugs listed were heavy-duty anti-psychotics. This should set off alarm bells in people who are paying great amounts of money, for treatments whose side effects are horrific.
We know that mental illness is treatable in many different ways. Not enough good research has been done on these ways.
Related articles
- Scientists: Creativity Part of ‘Mental Illness’ (talesfromthelou.wordpress.com)
- NY Times – Doctor Speaks Candidly About Psychotropic Drug Use (edonedetc.wordpress.com)
- Documentary Film Sternly Warns of Psychotropic Drug Dangers, Suicide Risks (themilitarysuicidereport.wordpress.com)
- Six Problems with Psychiatric Diagnosis for Children (beyondmeds.com)