I'm totally anti-drugs (but not anti-psychotherapy)

I truely believe from experience of people around me that drugs dont solve actual root of the problems that makes someone ill in the first place.

Then people are kept on drugs for years, and they get so dependent on the drugs that they start to think its the drugs thats keeping them well, when its not, it could just be them getting themselves better.

I really think that drugs are given out too easily, and only serve to line the pockets of the pharmacutical companies.

The drugs propoganda and free pens and things that get send to doctors advertising their drugs are a disgrace too.

opinions?

I agree with you, I am also completely against psych meds but I believe therapy can be helpful. There comes a point when it is not helpful and you either need a new therapist or your own self-searching. Sometimes a therapist can help you get through a crisis but when things die down and your problems are more tolerable it can start to cause more problems, for example marriage therapy can start a lot of fights sometimes when you might have been better off just stopping once the crisis was over.

It's absurd that psychiatrist's can prescribe drugs when they don't know the cause of a single one of their proclaimed disorders.

A lot of evidence is coming out demonstrating these drugs damage the brain to such a point, that the brain damage caused by the drugs has to be treated for the rest of that persons life, usually with higher doses of the same drug that caused it.

As far as therapists go, I don't need them either. Mother nature is the best therapist, I just go bush if I need to get my head together. When I look into the eye of a wild animal and see the confidence and attunement that animal has with it's environment, then look in the eye of stressed out miserable human, it's easy to see that the artifical environment humans have invented for ourselves is destroying us.

So in some terms I agree but it's how you define therapy. I just get away from the cities and society for my equanimity.

El Scotto,
I basically agree with everything you said. However, it seems that for some people drugs are necessary. For many people, they do not have the time or energy to work on themselves with anything but taking pills. Exercise helps most people, but few have the time or ambition. I use a variety of means to control my mental illness. They work, but take a lot of time and energy. I'm one of the people who do not have much of an option. The amount of drugs I need to take to control my bipolar condition causes serious side effects. I gained over 100 pounds with my meds. That is not too healthy. At 300 pounds many activities in life are not possible. How many mountain clumbers weigh 300 pounds? Even fewer hang gliders weigh 300 pounds. What good is being calm if it kills you.
James

James,

I was diagnosed a chronic SZ and was told I'd never recover. When I was on meds I became obese. When I gave up shrinks and meds the weight fell off and I recovered. It was the psych drugs that were keeping me schizophrenic, when I stopped then, I recovered naturally over 2-3 years. Don't rely on meds to fix you. they actually keep you sick and give you a chronic illness via brain damage that you'll never recover from.

Please read the pdf article on the thread "50 year syudy of anti-psychotics show they do more harm than good".

I have to agree. I was diagnosed bipolar and I admit that all of the symptoms pointed to it --- while on the medications. I fell into the belief that they promote for those with bipolar that I would need meds for the rest of my life or risk a lifetime of manic depressive episodes. That I couldn't live a 'normal' life again without these meds. They did become my crutch as I was told I must take them, but I constantly wondered why I still felt so bad and the manic depressive episodes still continued and I was in the psych hospital on a regular basis as a result. It is pretty bad when the nurses and doctors in a psych hospital become as familiar as family members. I trusted them to know what they were doing, but somewhere down deep I was constantly questioning what was happening to me. It is just that the part of me doing the questioning was being suppressed by the part of me that was manic and invincible. It was like watching a horror movie from behind a glass window. I constantly told the doctors I felt like I was watching myself in that way, but they ignored it. Anyway, my point it that even though they led me to 'find' parts of my life prior to meds and hospitalization that would lead me to think that I had been leading up to manic episodes all along...that it was a condition that was only 'brought out' by the meds and that it was something that I would now have to learn to deal with and manage similar to diabetes or high cholesterol. PLEASE! It is not the same at all and I can't even believe that they constantly use this comparison even to this day! I think they are trying to suppress the stigma of mental illness, but please don't compare this to diabetes or high blood pressure. A stay in the psych hospital is far from that in a regular hospital and anyone who has been there knows what I am talking about. But, I digress once again...I just want to point out that there is another way and the meds just might not be necessary. I stopped taking meds completely in the spring of 2004 (after my last med induced overdose) and am now still picking up the pieces of the disaster that the meds left, but I can say in all honesty and certainty that I sit here a person without manic depressive episodes and haven't experienced anything even faintly close to what I went through on meds. Not saying that I don't have down days or anything...yes, I do...but that is part of being human isn't it? The drug companies would like for us to believe that it is a part of life that can be eliminated or made 'better', but it is just a cover up solution and not a real way to deal with life at all. Sorry for the soap box speech, but I feel that my experience speaks directly to the manipulation of everyone on these meds and I will continue to tell it to anyone who will listen for as long as I am able. Meds are not necessary for healing and maintenance of quality of life, they are actually detrimental to this process.

P.S. I also gained about 100 lbs. on these meds in 3 1/2 yrs...that is an average of 30+ lbs. a year! Even though I have always had a weight issue this escalated it and the fact that I could barely get off the couch for anything during most of this time contributed even further. I didn't eat any more and most often ate less so I know it was the meds. Now that I have been off of them for over a year...I would like to say that I have lost massive amounts of weight, but that isn't true and not due to lack of trying. The thing that I am thankful for though and another reason that I know it was the meds is that I haven't gained anymore weight since stopping the meds in June 2004 when I was previously packing it on at a rate of 30+ lbs. a year. I have lost some, but not as much as I would like...I know it will take time and that is a better way to go, but I do have to question the studies pointing to metabolic problems associated with the use of some of these meds as well. Not making excuses for myself ....just pointing out the long-term effects of these meds don't just end the minute you stop taking them. Memory is an issue too, but better than while on the meds and doing ECT treatments ...

Stopthemadness,
I was wondering if you have any references to those studies that discuss the effect on metabolism. I have had thyroid problems for about four years and when I went on Zoloft I gained weight despite the fact that I had just delivered a baby and lost about 30 pounds in one week before starting Zoloft, was nursing and going through extreme hyperthyroidism. Nobody warned me about this! Well, actually they didn't warn me about anything, but I still just wish if thyroid problems were contraindicated for SSRIs (and what isn't?- I suppose being dead would be the only time when an SSRI would be safe for you) they would come out and admit it, or state that they know their drugs cause thyroid problems!
Now I have read the label and I have read in Breggin's books that SSRIS induce hypothryoidism. I asked my endocrinologist and he acted dumbfounded. He said, I don't think so, but I'll check.
I gained about 10 or more pounds on Zoloft over the course of less than 3 months, and once I stopped I lost a little, but then gained it back. Now I have had to go up on my dose of synthroid when it had been at the same dose for 3 years even through my pregnancy.
Anyway, the label says that people with "disorders that affect metabolism" might want to use caution in using the drug. But it doesn't say why.
Honestly weight is the least of my worries about these drugs, but I still would like to know whether there is solid information out there on this topic. I think that stupid warning on the label is about equal to the statement that SSRIs bring out a preexisting bipolar disorder or make it worse, rather than causing it!

I aggree with most that has been said here but i am a firm believer that some not all illegal drugs can be just as good if not better than prescription drugs. Take marijuana for example. This drug has been know to help the pain and suffering of lots of conditions which are currently being treated by script drugs. Im no expert of phychology but i think it would be safe to assume that some of these drugs takin in the right doses could help people more than script drugs. Im talking cocaine, marijuana, psyloibin etc.

badtrip,
I think that I have seen some stuff on the link between these meds and hypothyroidism, but can't remember where exactly (maybe someone could help here?). When I mentioned the metabolic link I was talking more about the info coming out about the antipsychotics linking to metabolic syndrome as related to and leading to prediabetes or full blown diabetes. I can't tell you how many times over the years I have had to beg to have my thyroid checked. While on the meds it came back as borderline (or so my mother keeps telling me since I can't remember so much of what happened with details like that) and my psychiatrist said that we had to keep monitoring it. I don't remember it being checked after that though. Since going off the meds I have had to ask for a test 2 more times and they claim that there is no problem, but I do still question it at times. When I asked my current dr. about the diabetes link with the antipsychotics she told me that it was only an issue while on the meds. I am not sure that I believe her, but haven't done much research to prove otherwise at this point. She did admit that studies have shown that the antipsychotics can cause joint pain as related to arthritis that can continue and develop after discontinuing the meds. Anyone else with more info out there?