Anti-psych thinking about seeing psych

So, I have these on-going issues with depression, trauma and alcohol. I have very strong opinions about psychiatry. In fact, I am planning to write a Ph.D. thesis in the field of anti-psychiatry: I'm truly dedicated to what I believe. BUT, I'm not sure how much longer I can keep going with all this $#%^ before I have another breakdown and if psychotropic drugs would help to prevent that, I may be converted, in part. I don't have a problem with psychotropic drugs as such, only with psychiatry and Big Pharma. I have been offered psychiatric help on numerous occasions and I have always vehemently declined. I just wonder if it might not be such a bad idea. Now, I have had counselling and psychotherapy, which have been helpful, but I never seem to be able to resolve my issues, or focus on them in depth, because I have trust issues, so by the time I've started to let the shrink in, the sessions are over. Also, right now, I have neither the time nor the cash to pursue such therapy. Does anyone here have a similar experience i.e. holds an anti-psychiatry view, but sees the merits of psychotropic drugs?! It sounds absurd, I know. Taking psychotropic drugs is acquiescence to the tyranny of psychiatry, but might it just be a smidgeon worthwhile? I don't want to admit defeat, but I'm really tired of suffering too. What should I do?

Please answer this. I need a resolution.

I think the key is finding a psych you feel comfortable with. I find the best psych are ones that listen, explain medication thoroughly and let the patient decide what is best for them when they are introspective.


I used to have the same problem, but with psychotherapy. I hated anything resembling psychiatry, and still do but I needed to talk to someone. I had a lot to say, I wanted to vent but at the same time I felt seeing any shrink would be awful.


What I found helpful was looking for the right psychiatrist. It can be time consuming, be patient, but once you find a psychiatrist who genuinely wants to make a positive difference you feel much better. Private practices tend to be better than those affiliated with institutions.


Of course I do not speak for everyone, but think one of the reasons why so many are anti-psych isn't so much that they don't want help, but rather the system has failed them in some way or another over and over. Psychiatry tends to be good at punishing the victim, and in such a case a normal human response is to defend ones self from anything even remotely close to psychiatry.

I hope you find something that works just for you

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Anyway I have seen a lot and I can relate to you, I was raised anti-psych and all homeostasis crap.
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I think you would benefit from **mod edit** possibly some form of group therapy, if you dont have access then look in to mindfulness and yoga but I can attest that your views on psych are **mod edit**.

celticcracker wrote:Does anyone here have a similar experience i.e. holds an anti-psychiatry view, but sees the merits of psychotropic drugs?! It sounds absurd, I know. Taking psychotropic drugs is acquiescence to the tyranny of psychiatry, but might it just be a smidgeon worthwhile? I don't want to admit defeat, but I'm really tired of suffering too. What should I domight it just be a smidgeon worthwhile?

To me anti-psychiatry is all about informed consent including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives, and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.

Anti psychiatry should have nothing to do with that tyranny of the anti drug "zero tolerance" make the USA a police state drug war type of thinking. Or I should say has nothing to do with it.

Anti psychiatry is about human rights not "say no to drugs".

Thanks for all your replies, guys. Really, really appreciate it.

@Riccola I suppose finding the right psychiatrist would definitely be key. For some reason I didn't even think of that. I just assumed they were all just prescription robots. I imagine having one that wouldn't treat me like I'm inferior would be lovely, hard as that is to find. Atm, however, I am unwilling to spend €200 on a consultation from a private practice, so if I do this it will have to be with the public health care system, which I might just be lucky with, but will probably have to be spoken down to, given I'll be treated as mental patient and not as a consumer customer... I will, of course, also feel better about it all if the psychiatrist informed me about treatments, which alludes to Copy_Cat's point.

@SBBro I'm not sure if it's me, or you, or the computer, or what, but I can't understand your post because many of the words are substituted with "**mod edit**"... (?)

Copy_Cat wrote:

celticcracker wrote:Does anyone here have a similar experience i.e. holds an anti-psychiatry view, but sees the merits of psychotropic drugs?! It sounds absurd, I know. Taking psychotropic drugs is acquiescence to the tyranny of psychiatry, but might it just be a smidgeon worthwhile? I don't want to admit defeat, but I'm really tired of suffering too. What should I domight it just be a smidgeon worthwhile?

To me anti-psychiatry is all about informed consent including, but not limited to, full informed consent regarding the medical legitimacy of psychiatric diagnosis, the risks of psychiatric treatments, the right to all available medical alternatives, and the right to refuse any treatment considered harmful.

Anti psychiatry should have nothing to do with that tyranny of the anti drug "zero tolerance" make the USA a police state drug war type of thinking. Or I should say has nothing to do with it.

Anti psychiatry is about human rights not "say no to drugs".

Right, I appreciate your point about consent. That's crucial, of course. In my view, though, and what I find problematic about the decision I'm faced with, is that consenting to psychiatric treatment is consenting to the unethical side of psychiatry, which I think is authoritarian in character. The fact that psychiatrists actively lie to the public (the entire profession is built on deceit) and then label them with scientifically unsound diagnoses does not help the matter*. This is where I see a tension between human rights on the one hand and a system which is fundamentally built on undermining human rights (even if it doesn't do so explicitly - by allowing people to consent) on the other. The decision I have to make, then, is whether consenting to such a system in order to get drugs (even though these drugs are sourced from an institution that I can't condone and the purpose of such drugs will always be effected by that evil) is a rational thing to do.
If it's rational for the sole reason that having access to psychotropic drugs would enable me to function through periods when I would normally be completely debilitated, then everything I stand for is sacrificed for the sake of being able to function. If, on the other hand, doing what's rational means standing by what I think is right, then suffering the consequences of my problems will have to be it.
So, what's rational?

* I'm not even sure how I would come to terms with such a diagnosis.

P.S. How does "mentioning" work here?

celticcracker wrote: Thanks for all your replies, guys. Really, really appreciate it.

@Riccola I suppose finding the right psychiatrist would definitely be key. For some reason I didn't even think of that. I just assumed they were all just prescription robots. I imagine having one that wouldn't treat me like I'm inferior would be lovely, hard as that is to find. Atm, however, I am unwilling to spend €200 on a consultation from a private practice, so if I do this it will have to be with the public health care system, which I might just be lucky with, but will probably have to be spoken down to, given I'll be treated as mental patient and not as a consumer customer... I will, of course, also feel better about it all if the psychiatrist informed me about treatments, which alludes to Copy_Cat's point.

Welcome

Some are prescription robots but some also want to do good. You may luck out with the public system tough, and I hope you do. But in the end when money is available spending it on a good doc pays for itself.