I just read an article about a group of mentally ill people who are avoiding using medication and prefer to cope with their conditions on their own.

What do you think of this article? The Growing Push for "Mad Pride" | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

There are two pages, so please do read both.

I'll speak more on this when I have time.

Peace be with you.

I find it curiuos that one would rather suffer through manic/depressive, psychotic episodes, and contend with schizophrenic hillucinations. I can hardly handle life as it is let alone the rest on top of it.

I can see where these people are coming from, but I have conserns for those who may try to take their path and scrap the meds. Yes, medications have sideffects, just like any thing else we consume. IF you eat too much or not enough of some foods you can become very ill, or even die. Even vitamines and minerals can harm us if we are not careful how much we consume. Food, vitamins, meds, they are all things that give our bodies something that they need to function "properly", question is who knows what properly really is?

The social norm is not true for all cultures even, so how do we define what is acceptable and what is too far? These people are toying with very dangerous things, yet if they manage to pull through with a relatively decent life, will that bring hope for others who "hate" their meds? Or will it bring fear and doubt to those who are only mildely affected by mental illness.

Then there is the question, why are so many people choosing to "drink, do drugs" illeagaly? As for the alcohol spectrum, why is the government not only alloing this drug to be consumed, it's distributing, and selling it. Mind altering substances that make us quite literally mentally stupid, if not retarded. Because the effects wear off the next day if we stop consuming alcohol? So what of Salvia, it's like LSD, only it's effects last 15-20minutes or so. People who smoke this "leagal" (it's illeagal to smoke it I think, but I'm not too sure on that, was hoping some one may shine some light on that subject.) substance, go into fits of hystarical laughter. They hallucinate and feel as though they are not in their body, also they tend not to precive things that are not in their view as though anything behind them is non-exsistent.

I know there are like 10 ideas in there I'll break them up later, they do all pertain to the origianl idea but I'll have to get back to that.

Peace be with you.

Hi nestorian,

I have just read the article you speak of, which has left me with mixed feelings.

On the one hand I can see where these people are coming from, purely because it is extremely difficult to diagnose a mental illness, especially a specific one.

Very often people are given a wrong diagnoses, because they do not have the knowledge to argue the point.

Consequently meds are prescribed,which may not be the right meds for the specific condition of the patient.

There are many meds for mental health conditions, which have to be tried and tested over a period of weeks to decide whether or not it is the correct med for that individual.

These usually come under the heading of either; SSRI's or Tricyclets, both groups of meds can have very nasty side effects if there not for you.

Sadly by the time a correct med is decided, the patient is already dependent on these meds, so continues to take them.

I am not convinced that the phyciatrists of this world always know what they are talking about... there are the good ones but a large proportion of the bad, who will perscribe just to keep you happy and so the circle continues.

In my experience they appear to do everything by the book, if an individual does not fit anything in their book, then your diagnosed mentally to the nearest condition.

This of coarse is a huge problem, you then get tagged with the wrong label, you are then treated accordingly.

No one listens closely to the patient, after all there mental and don't know what they are saying.

So you see... I can see totally where these people are coming from.


However there are specific cases, that maybe have been inherited, or perhaps the person has had brain disease or even been involved in some sort of accident that has resulted in brain damage, all of which can be diagnose conclusively.

Obviously these people will have a history and would need to take medication for everyday living.

Usually a brain scan.. CT... would show the damage up, therefore there could be no mis-diagnoses.

The meds for these people are a necessity, they have no conscious choice.

Again a person who may harm themselves or another whilst experiencing some sort of mental event, also would have no choice but to take medication to control the problem.

I do believe that you can train the mind with C.B.T which if maintained for a period and the correct procedure carried out, could be an alternative to many mental health conditions,in time cancelling out the need for meds, which change all kinds of things in the patient ,including their personality.

Finally it leaves only one thing to end on and that is...

On no account must any persons reading this post consider it will be fine to discontinue using their medication... YOU MUST CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR FIRST

It is one thing to decide to not medicate but to continue 'as is' isn't doing you any good either.

To me the way to go is to study what is best naturally first and try that.

For schizophrenia

Schizophrenia Herbal Supplements - Buy Schizophrenia Products

First eliminate foods that are bad for your condition and eat healthier.

B 6 and 12 is essential.

I read that in print form when it first came out, and liked the quote, "After all, aren't we all more odd than we are normal?"

A bipolar friend writes beautiful poetry when she is in full manic flower with her bipolar illness, but cannot write a word when she takes her meds. "The world is very boring, even hazy, when I take my meds," she says.

Mike Savage and Elton John say, and I have always believed this myself, that medications for moods do suppress creativity. Edgar Alan Poe and many famous people most likely would never have been known if they had turned to meds.

Of course if you are prone to violence or lashing out then it is important to take meds if there is no other answer.

I find that people have too much faith in stigmas. Most look at meds as being evil, or bad. Yes it's true you can have some very painful side effects, feel spaced out or lethargic. But that's not to say you can't ask to change your meds, there are different kinds of medications and some work for people others don't. No one really knows why these meds do what they do, they really only know that when given a specific med, like lithium, our brains react to the lithium and for most it balances us out.

My suggestion is not to let some one else's assessment of a med push your veiw of that med one way or the other, as your brain is yours and theirs is theirs. The results can be very differnce from one person to the other, even if they suffer from the same mental illness. I see this as a Trial and error kind of process, since we can't tell 100 or even 89% certainty whay is going on in the brain and how verious things affect it.

I do see the greed of pharmasudical companies as a kind of driving force behind the over medicating of people. The patients with mental illness would be wise to do their research on their illness and their meds. I realize some are incapable and those I hope have some one there to care for them and do this research. Learn about your illness, you meds and try to decide what you feel is healthy for you.

Personally, I see no difference between the "natural" way, taking vitamins supplements and such, as being any different form Meds. Both are concentrated forms of the things we need to be balanced, and both require some kind of perservative to keep it from going bad, don't they? (IF some one knows this please tel me, I've not had time to research this myself and would like to know.) It does make sense to me that they'd need to put something in the pills to keep them good for as long as they are.

Peace be with you.

Most everybody I know that take psychotropic drugs are so spaced out they don't even realize their own brain fog. Many of them also do illegal drugs and drink.
In 1991 Phil Donahue had a program on Prozac where people were saying that many of the stories of people that were getting on the highway in the wrong direction were on Prozac. One girl said that she kept hearing something telling her to get on the highway in the wrong direction but she kept repeating, 'Its my mothers car'.

I see a big difference in the natural way and the synthetic medicines the doctors give you, especially when it comes to the psychotropic drugs.

Natural does not alter your cellular structure
Man made does alter your cellular structure.
Natural things have a right spin
Mans has a left spin.
Even with natural supplements that man has altered become tainted. Many vitamin supplements are synthetic. Even the foods we eat that say fortified or added vitamin D or calcium you can be pretty sure they are synthetic.
Table salt and Crisco/Wesson oil are even not natural. I switched to sea salt and olive oil about a year ago and I can tell a big difference.

Unfortunately, the chemistry of the brain is still a mystery. It currently appears that everyone has the same chemicals, just in a different amount. There is no blood test, no MRI, or CT scan, etc that can tell us what our specific brain chemistry is.

Finding the right medication is like finding a needle in a haystack for some individuals. The side effects can be devastating, even permanent.

A schizophrenic patient I once interviewed in the forensic unit of the local state psychiatric hospital told me that the meds left him feeling dead. He could not think, his life was in a fog. He gained over 150 pounds and developed Type II Diabetes.

To him it was easier to learn that the delusions and hallucinations were not real. He was learning how to ignore them and live a life more normal without meds. He never will, however due to his crimes, be released to the general public again, therefore he is in a trial behavioral study.

There are many drugs, like lithuim, that are poisonous to the body and must be strictly controlled with blood levels checked frequently. This is costly and takes away freedom from the individual that takes it, thus noncompliance occurs. Lithium does not balance everyone out, as a matter of fact, it can adversely affect some people, as can other meds.

Some meds that are prescribed for depression actually CAUSE depression and suicidal ideations in some people.

Many people are in denial of their illness, yet others are not capable of even fathoming that they are ill. To them they are normal and we are not. These people are incapable of learning about their illness since they don't even believe they have one.

You may take interest in this movie... A Beautiful Mind, to learn more about mental illness. A Beautiful Mind

It's not just one medication that many people have to take to live a normal life, but a cocktail of meds. As there are hundreds of meds on the market, finding the right cocktail can take years. Even after the right cocktail is found, dosages may have to be adjusted from time to time, meds may have to be changed, and so on.

Mental illness is a topic that is near and dear to my heart, as my father suffered with it until the day he died. I grew up around it and I witnessed the devastating affects when the wrong meds were prescribed and the highs and lows when the right meds were found, but had to be adjusted and/or changed.

This is my special interest and I would work in a psychiatric hospital if there was one near enough to me.

I've dealt with something kind of like this and I think it's their choice, I choose not to take medication and have been doing much better then I was. I choose to avoid meds because some of them out there depending on your problem can pretty much turn you in to a zombie and I would prefer not being mindless. I came to a realization that fear causes allot of confusion and in that confusion you create delusions and these delusions cause more fear. The way to stop this is to stop running away and confront your fears and be brave and strong and know that its just an illusion.