Fell for the medical model and its message of broken brains

I fell for it, my brain is broken that's why I feel this way. After joining the fight for human rights and honesty in the field of mental health and reading all the links I often post, sometimes I ask myself how I could have fell for it ? Answer: I trusted them , oh well I did , psychiatry is the greatest fraud of all time so I an not the first or unique. I was an "expert" I thought in brain chemicals my anxiety was gaba , sad over low serotonin but that's about all I "knew" and thought it was proven science, fact. The insert from the bottle of Zyprexa for example said anti psychotic, I remember pondering "what does psychotic mean ?" May cause drowsiness, O.k that will work. Bipolar mania, WTF is that ?

I knew nothing, I thought feelings I didn't like such as anxiety, depression and that insomnia was just a simple malfunction in my brain that could be easily treated . Even Tony Soprano took Prozac right ? so why not. These people are doctors who went to medical school. I never read anything like this http://chriskresser.com/the-chemical-imbalance-myth that's for sure. I never thought to even question something 'everybody knows'.

Anyone else get started this way ?

Please excuse my ignorance on this one but I would like to ask a couple of questions of you, Copy Cat, as you seem quite knowledgeable.

In terms of experiencing 'typical' symptoms of schizophrenia, if a doctor were to rule out medical causes eg. MS, B12 deficiency and the like, does there exist a medical test which 'proves' schizophrenia or other mental illnesses? (I'm assuming there isn't)...

What do doctors do when you start telling them you have these symptoms? Does it depend on the doctor and maybe even the country you live in in terms of the diagnosis (and subsequent treatment) of mental illness?

I would be grateful for your insight/experience.

lol Tony Soprano

Seriously Copy, this I agree with you on, when I was first put on neuroleptics I was a dumb idiot in my 20s. If I would have done my research back then I would have never took them

travelli wrote:Please excuse my ignorance on this one but I would like to ask a couple of questions of you, Copy Cat, as you seem quite knowledgeable.

In terms of experiencing 'typical' symptoms of schizophrenia, if a doctor were to rule out medical causes eg. MS, B12 deficiency and the like, does there exist a medical test which 'proves' schizophrenia or other mental illnesses? (I'm assuming there isn't)...

What do doctors do when you start telling them you have these symptoms? Does it depend on the doctor and maybe even the country you live in in terms of the diagnosis (and subsequent treatment) of mental illness?

I would be grateful for your insight/experience.

I think it really depends on the doctor, mine was reckless and I didn't have a clue. He was "highly educated" and had a office in a very nice area.

No there is not test, http://youtu.be/YSJOfxOlu_U?t=1m20s I will never forget when I was about a year and half into taking psychiatric drugs my wife (now ex) who was fed up with my pill taking and threw them out. She went with me and confronted my doctor with the question "what exactly is wrong with him" looking for a medical explanation. I was on the edge of my seat, I also wanted to hear the answer to that. He grabbed a book opened it as if he was going to open it to a page and explain and then just said that I have some neurons that misfire (in my brain) . This was over a decade ago but it's still no fun to write about.

She knew it was all a fraud but I was so twisted by these drugs and just wanted my pills for anxiety and ADD and insomnia (I was labeled bipolar as well) I was fine before them but it was like I had rear view blindness and forgot that. Those pills cost me my marriage and then gave me years of misery, Zyprexa for insomnia and stimulants for ADD , Remeron "its an anti depressant that also helps you sleep" ya right. Then there was Clonopin too , I went to this SOB taking 1mg of Xanax to sleep from a general practitioner and it worked, also this now discontinued antidepressant called Serzone. Discontinued over the liver damage it was causing people.

Anyway my first visit with this reckless quack I was engaged to be married, I went from a 1mg Xanax for sleep to 4mg Clonopin 3 all day and for 1 for sleep, 4mg = welcome to benzodiazepine dependence - I had no idea. Doc I am not sleeping Clonopin sucks well along comes Remeron that didn't work so well some time after that came the Zyprexa for sleep and then my diagnosis of ADD, hello amphetamines ! How does that work , are you focusing ? Yes I am. A year and a half later I am divorced and unemployed. This doctor just made me sicker and sicker for the next several years of hell miserable in and out of hospitals from running out of meds and having panic attacks ect ect.

I rag on Zyprexa alot, There is a reason, finally at one point I got detoxed from my 8 mg a day benzo dependence and was off Remeron and the Adderal/ Dexedrine but the doctor at that place started my back on the Zyprexa "for sleep" I am sure my records say Schizoaffective disorder or something cause during my detox I completely bugged out and thought I was dead and in Purgatory (cotard syndrome) and told people this. I was trippin. I went home and was a total zombie on this Zyprexa dose and lived as a zombie for about 5 months till all the refills ran out, then I got withdrawal sick, insomnia from hell, nausea vomiting panic attacks a feeling from hell just pace back and forth total malfunction BUT at the same time the Zombie anhedonia lifted a tiny bit and I decided I would rather die of withdrawal than live with that anhedonia . I went back on Adderal cause I wanted to feel be motivated and had to take benzodiazepines again cause the panic attacks were to much. I feared other anti psychotics cause of Zyprexa, Seroquel might have combated that insomnia from hell, I was offered Geodon and declined.

I was dependent on pills for several more years and got some more misery. I got off them, its over.

The story is so much longer, tons left out, but I did good. I wrote alot and didn't feel angry. That decade on meds was like a decade in prison. I lost 10 years and more.

The thing is no doctor I ever went to after the first one ever asked "what were you like before psychiatry?" or ever suggested getting off all medications. Its always what drugs have you taken ? (to determine what the last doctor thought the labels were) and then new medications. There was no way out presented or suggested.

What do doctors do when you start telling them symptoms ? I am not exactly sure what they are trained to do but it seems they just pick one of there labels based on reported symptoms and observations and then chose a drug that is used for the labelled condition. Symptom x = treatment y , monitor for side effects (if your lucky). Pay the receptionist make an appointment in 30 days.

Copy_Cat wrote:

travelli wrote:Please excuse my ignorance on this one but I would like to ask a couple of questions of you, Copy Cat, as you seem quite knowledgeable.

In terms of experiencing 'typical' symptoms of schizophrenia, if a doctor were to rule out medical causes eg. MS, B12 deficiency and the like, does there exist a medical test which 'proves' schizophrenia or other mental illnesses? (I'm assuming there isn't)...

What do doctors do when you start telling them you have these symptoms? Does it depend on the doctor and maybe even the country you live in in terms of the diagnosis (and subsequent treatment) of mental illness?

I would be grateful for your insight/experience.

I think it really depends on the doctor, mine was reckless and I didn't have a clue. He was "highly educated" and had a office in a very nice area.

No there is not test, http://youtu.be/YSJOfxOlu_U?t=1m20s I will never forget when I was about a year and half into taking psychiatric drugs my wife (now ex) who was fed up with my pill taking and threw them out. She went with me and confronted my doctor with the question "what exactly is wrong with him" looking for a medical explanation. I was on the edge of my seat, I also wanted to hear the answer to that. He grabbed a book opened it as if he was going to open it to a page and explain and then just said that I have some neurons that misfire (in my brain) . This was over a decade ago but it's still no fun to write about.

She knew it was all a fraud but I was so twisted by these drugs and just wanted my pills for anxiety and ADD and insomnia (I was labeled bipolar as well) I was fine before them but it was like I had rear view blindness and forgot that. Those pills cost me my marriage and then gave me years of misery, Zyprexa for insomnia and stimulants for ADD , Remeron "its an anti depressant that also helps you sleep" ya right. Then there was Clonopin too , I went to this SOB taking 1mg of Xanax to sleep from a general practitioner and it worked, also this now discontinued antidepressant called Serzone. Discontinued over the liver damage it was causing people.

Anyway my first visit with this reckless quack I was engaged to be married, I went from a 1mg Xanax for sleep to 4mg Clonopin 3 all day and for 1 for sleep, 4mg = welcome to benzodiazepine dependence - I had no idea. Doc I am not sleeping Clonopin sucks well along comes Remeron that didn't work so well some time after that came the Zyprexa for sleep and then my diagnosis of ADD, hello amphetamines ! How does that work , are you focusing ? Yes I am. A year and a half later I am divorced and unemployed. This doctor just made me sicker and sicker for the next several years of hell miserable in and out of hospitals from running out of meds and having panic attacks ect ect.

I rag on Zyprexa alot, There is a reason, finally at one point I got detoxed from my 8 mg a day benzo dependence and was off Remeron and the Adderal/ Dexedrine but the doctor at that place started my back on the Zyprexa "for sleep" I am sure my records say Schizoaffective disorder or something cause during my detox I completely bugged out and thought I was dead and in Purgatory (cotard syndrome) and told people this. I was trippin. I went home and was a total zombie on this Zyprexa dose and lived as a zombie for about 5 months till all the refills ran out, then I got withdrawal sick, insomnia from hell, nausea vomiting panic attacks a feeling from hell just pace back and forth total malfunction BUT at the same time the Zombie anhedonia lifted a tiny bit and I decided I would rather die of withdrawal than live with that anhedonia . I went back on Adderal cause I wanted to feel be motivated and had to take benzodiazepines again cause the panic attacks were to much. I feared other anti psychotics cause of Zyprexa, Seroquel might have combated that insomnia from hell, I was offered Geodon and declined.

I was dependent on pills for several more years and got some more misery. I got off them, its over.

The story is so much longer, tons left out, but I did good. I wrote alot and didn't feel angry. That decade on meds was like a decade in prison. I lost 10 years and more.

The thing is no doctor I ever went to after the first one ever asked "what were you like before psychiatry?" or ever suggested getting off all medications. Its always what drugs have you taken ? (to determine what the last doctor thought the labels were) and then new medications. There was no way out presented or suggested.

What do doctors do when you start telling them symptoms ? I am not exactly sure what they are trained to do but it seems they just pick one of there labels based on reported symptoms and observations and then chose a drug that is used for the labelled condition. Symptom x = treatment y , monitor for side effects (if your lucky). Pay the receptionist make an appointment in 30 days.

Which is why I probably wont be going to another "doctor" again.

Thank you Copy Cat for your reply. It’s shocking that your experience of treatment and prescribed medication was such a negative one, or as you put it “That decade on meds was like a decade in prison. I lost 10 years and more.” I am assuming that prior to diagnosis you had already experienced ‘lost years’ due to mental illness or other factors?

Obviously doctors and their personal biases, current thinking, societal attitudes and what’s in fashion can make a huge difference to your experience and recovery.

I would like to know what people’s thoughts/experiences on a few questions (with the hindsight they now have):

1) What do you think your life would have been like if you had not gone to a doctor and received subsequent treatment/medication? Was this even an option in your case?

2) Has anyone tried alternatives to psychiatry/medication – either after rejecting it or never having gone down that path in the first place? What was it and how effective was it in your recovery and/or current treatment?

3) Who (or what) decides when someone is “better” and how is this defined?

4) Who or what has helped you the most? What made things worse?

I’m interested in people’s thoughts on any or all of these questions. There is a lot of conflicting messages/information regarding mental illness and its outcomes (and some conditions seem to have a much worse public image than others!!!)

travelli wrote:1) What do you think your life would have been like if you had not gone to a doctor and received subsequent treatment/medication? Was this even an option in your case?

I would still be married and would have accomplished something in those years. I never needed any of that "treatment" didn't know psychiatry is not "medical" dangerous fraudulent and harmful to so many .

ABSTRACT: Why do so many individuals persist in taking psychoactive substances, including psychiatric drugs, after adverse mental and behavioral effects have become severe and even disabling? The author has previously proposed the brain-disabling principle of psychiatric treatment that all somatic psychiatric treatments impair the function of the brain and mind. Intoxication anosognosia (medication spellbinding) is an expression of this druginduced mental disability. Intoxication anosognosia causes the victim to underestimate the degree of drug-induced mental impairment, to deny the harmful role that the drug plays in the person’s altered state, and in many cases compel the individual to mistakenly believe that he or she is functioning better. In the extreme, the individual displays out-of-character compulsively destructive behaviors, including violence toward self and others.

"Intoxication Anosognosia: The Spellbinding Effect of Psychiatric Drugs", Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 201-215, 2006.

That's what happened to me.

Sad that it ruined your life and many others. Since they can't prove anything they should not be forcing things on people. We also have to continue to spread the word to anyone who may ask us about the mental health field. We should let them know the truth which is the mental health field is a bunch of unprofessional people lying and exaggerating there knowledge of the next persons mental state.

1013 victim wrote:Sad that it ruined your life and many others. Since they can't prove anything they should not be forcing things on people. We also have to continue to spread the word to anyone who may ask us about the mental health field. We should let them know the truth which is the mental health field is a bunch of unprofessional people lying and exaggerating there knowledge of the next persons mental state.

You don't get it do you? These people are devils, one of the first things they will say is that part of the "illness" is believing nothing is wrong with you.

They play very dirty but smart tactics, they may be able to fool the innocent, gullable and insipid idiots on this planet, but those of us in the know already know they are a deception

1013 victim wrote:We also have to continue to spread the word

Today I met a girl who was told her emotional problems were the result of low lithium and that's why she takes it.

I explained that is a lie to get you to take the stuff, the human body does not have a "normal lithium level" and it can cause long term health problems. The effects of the lithium on this girl who I have known for a wile I think is whats causing her to appear lacking in the smarts dept, apathetic and spaced out.

The word needs to be spread, everyone should know the truth about psychiatry not being medical.

Any thoughts on how to do this better both online and offline ?