I'm largely anti psych but what do you do?

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It's hard to say. Lots of things are possible, but possible doesn't always mean it should be attempted.

The thing is, we need to look at more than one 'possible', not just the ideal one. All the 'possibles' on the medications and all of the ones off of it, and choose a cross between the most likely and the most beneficial.

It often takes a few trials to find the best medication and the accurate dosage. It sounds like more work needs to be done to fine tune both the diagnosis and the medications.

Any serious disorder such as bipolar, any psychosis, to just name two, well, they need to be treated with medication. Medication is a blessing. A blessing. Think back to turn of the century mental instiutations. Van Gogh cutting off his ear. Even the 1950's with lobotomy. Medication is a good thing. You can help your family member by learning more. Why don't you start with NAMI. www.nami.org

It often takes a few trials to find the best medication and the accurate dosage. It sounds like more work needs to be done to fine tune both the diagnosis and the medications.

Any serious disorder such as bipolar, any psychosis, to just name two, well, they need to be treated with medication. Medication is a blessing. A blessing. Think back to turn of the century mental instiutations. Van Gogh cutting off his ear. Even the 1950's with lobotomy. Medication is a good thing. You can help your family member by learning more. Why don't you start with NAMI. http://www.nami.org

I was severely medication resitant myself for the first 1-1/2 yrs of treatment. Early in my Recovery I voluntarily sought out a therapist at an outpatient clinic to 'talk' for 50 min a week. Well, every week they tried to talk me into taking meds to which I was very much opposed, being I had quit drinking not long before seeking therapy. I simply did not want to take drugs of any kind so I refused. After 1-1/2 years and still SEVERELY depressed + anxious and thinking about ending my life I figured I had nothing left to lose by trying their God forsaken meds. To my absolte surprise within 4 hrs of taking a small dosage of Prozac my depression lifted and I started thinking positive thoughts. It had done more for me in 4 hrs than what the previous 1-1/2 yrs of talking, trying to exercise, and thinking things out could do! I was besides myself and still ambivalent about the whole thing. But I had become a beleiver of what meds could do and it was only because I experienced it myself. Now, I'm not exactly pro medication or pro-psychiatry at all, but if someone invented these drugs and it's helping me tremendously like nothing else could, then I'm taking them. It's now 19 yrs later and I'm taking 20 mg of Paxil a day and very low dosages of Klonipin and glad they are available. Don't get me wrong either because my diet and exercise has also been helping the depression + anxiety tremenously, but only after I was able to get the severe problems under control. I still have coping decfits that are part of my character that need to be worked on by me but I'm doing much better now

its completely and utterly impossible for any antidepressant to have any effect in 4 hours or even a day,it usually takes weeks to work if it does.What you felt at 4 hours was a placebo effect.Anyway Im delighted you are feeling better.

bushido wrote:its completely and utterly impossible for any antidepressant to have any effect in 4 hours or even a day,it usually takes weeks to work if it does.What you felt at 4 hours was a placebo effect.Anyway Im delighted you are feeling better.

bushido wrote:its completely and utterly impossible for any antidepressant to have any effect in 4 hours or even a day,it usually takes weeks to work if it does.What you felt at 4 hours was a placebo effect.Anyway Im delighted you are feeling better.

Believe it! It happened and perhaps the depression was that severe and that's why I felt something happening chemically within those 4 hrs. I was in an almost complete state of anedonia for many many months if not well over a year prior to that. I'm not saying I was cured and the depression remained stuborn and hard to treat but that 1st dosage put me into a hypomanic state for a couple hrs. I've never experienced hypomnaia before it or since nor mania so all I could say is that first dosage of Prozac had that effect on me for a few hours. The experience was more than enough to make me change my mind about meds too like mentioned. I'd never go back to Prozac personally though because I've since found Paxil which cured my panic attacks and is doing wonders for my depression and works much better for me.

Ok, change of topic a little bit here. As opposed to what you CAN do, what would you guys like to see available to you. I'm ot just talking meds, therapists here, but things like support groups, where you could go for an hour or so, and not necessarily talk about your issues, but just be around people? Of course, professional treatment is always going to be there, but what ELSE would you like to see?

Consider that psychiatry and psychology have not been around long. What did humans do 1000 years ago? Do that.

More talk therapy, less random prescribing, more extensive testing on psychiatric medications and not being able to diagnose and medicate children for "ADHD". What a load of crap.

Oh, by the way, the best way to be anti-psych is to be well educated in these matters, and establish a finely tuned BS meter. A copy of the DSM-4 and a book detailing prescription pill usage and side effects is a great start. I recommend "The Pill Book" 14th edition, bantam books.

Just my 2 cents,
~Robert