Posted by med_empowered on September 25, 2008, at 15:18:16
In reply to i think psychiatry destroyed my life ..., posted by Jeroen on September 25, 2008, at 11:23:05
I started seeing a shrink at 18. I was anxious, lonely, and confused. By age 20, I had dropped out of school and had developed addictions to stimulants and tranquilizers. At 21 I decided to stop taking all psych meds and I stopped seeing "mental health professionals." I spent the next couple years living with mental pain more severe than anything I had experienced before; I didn't even know all-consuming misery of that magnitude was possible.
At 23, still feeling miserable, I decided to go back to school. I had one action-packed semester filled with agitation, anxiety, and suffering. I also found God (yes, I know--it sounds crazy, but finding God/being found by God has made all the difference in my life). Of course, these days spiritual experiences are pretty much seen as signs of craziness, so I was put into a mental hospital.
After I was out of the mental hospital, I actually tried to be a good mental patient. I took my meds as-prescribed for...a couple months. Then I stopped, except for an occasional sleeping pill or tranquilizer. Now my shrink is moving to another practice, and I'm not following, nor do I think I'm going to find myself a new psychiatrist. Once again, I think I'm done with mental health--this time, though, I think the split is going to be permanent.
I want you to know that I know--and lots of people on Babble know--how psychiatry can f*ck you up. I don't know if this is intentional, or if shrinks just view us as collateral damage in the "war on mental illness," but patients and docs both know that often times the cure is worse than the disease; its just too bad that this insight doesn't stop shrinks from "treating" more and more people for an ever-expanding assortment of "disorders."
Just have hope. I made it, and no one thought I would. People thought I'd be crazy and/or drug-addled for the rest of my life (and they also thought my life would be short, given my lifestyle). I proved them wrong, and I also proved to myself (and I guess to anyone who cares to listen) that even the "crazy" or "personality disordered" (I had a bunch of diagnoses) can create lives worth living...without the "help" of the mental health establishment.
These days, when I think of psychiatrists and psychologists, I'm reminded of the words to a song I used to like as a kid: "the hand you hold is the hand that holds you down."
Think about it....and good luck.
poster:med_empowered
thread:853995
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080915/msgs/854045.html