Coming Off Meds

Why did the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual become so controversial? Is it possible to alleviate human suffering without classifying it as a mental disorder?

Gary Greenberg, psychotherapist, author of Manufacturing Depression and The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry, and journalist for Harper’s, the New Yorker, and Rolling Stone, discusses the politics behind psychiatry’s new Bible.

http://www.garygreenbergonline.com

Is trauma also a source of creative inspiration? Can sexual passion be a force for healing? And do we have to live in either/or boxes — or is there somewhere else?

Artist and activist Jacks McNamara, co-founder of the Icarus Project radical support community, discusses their recently-published anthology Inbetweenland, including poetry about being a genderqueer person, surviving with a broken heart, and how to travel the path from madness to the wounded healer.

http://www.ashley-mcnamara.net
http://www.theicarusproject.net
http://www.crookedbeauty.com

Why does the same psychiatric drug help one person – but harm another? Do psychiatric medications “work” by chemistry alone – or through expectation, placebo, and social factors? What is the difference between prescribed medications and mind altering substances like alcohol?

David Cohen, social work professor at Florida International University and co-author of Your Drug May Be Your Problem, discusses the role of social context in constructing how we experience psychiatric medications.

http://www.criticalthinkrx.org
http://bit.ly/15tSAXH
http://rscphsw.fiu.edu/social_work/faculty_cohen.html

What do you do when medications for your emotional problems become worse than the problems themselves? Laura Delano went to a psychiatrist at age 18, and for the next decade was prescribed nineteen different psychiatric drugs. After devastating physical and emotional effects, she began a journey to become medication free — and re-discover who she is. What lessons did she learn?

Laura blogs regularly about her experiences at Mad in America, works for a mental health agency in Massachusetts, and is an advocate for drug alternatives and safe withdrawal.

http://www.madinamerica.com/author/ldelano/
(Link to coming off meds guide: http://willhall.net/comingoffmeds/)

Can psychotherapy be a replacement for medication for psychosis and extreme states? Should therapists hospitalize suicidal clients against their will — even when they could be traumatized by the very care intended to protect them?

Dr. Toby Watson, clinical psychologist, discusses how to be an ethical therapist in an era of medications, diagnostic labels, and forced treatment.

http://www.abcmedsfree.com/

Can therapy reach people in extreme states of “psychosis” — without using medications? Do we need to give a diagnosis to help someone? Why are counselors afraid to listen to their “mad” clients?

New York psychotherapist and filmmaker Daniel Mackler discusses how be defied social work training in his work with people labeled with schizophrenia and bipolar, and what he learned from recent visits to successful treatment alternatives in Northern Europe. Daniel is the filmmaker of Take These Broken Wings and co-author with Matthew Morrissey of A Way Out of Madness.

http://www.iraresoul.com

Is bipolar disorder a disease? Can medications like lithium correct chemical imbalances and stabilize mood? Do psychiatric drugs act completely differently on the brain than recreational drugs?

UK psychiatrist Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, author of The Myth Of The Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment, discusses how seeing psychiatric medications as treatments for disease misleads the public about how they actually work, and obscures their potential for abuse as tools of social control.

http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com
http://www.academyanalyticarts.org/moncrieff.htm
http://www.mentalhealth.freeuk.com/howwork.pdf

Blogger and former social worker Gianna Kali discusses her experience going into the mental health system after taking psychedelic drugs, spiritual emergence, decades of treatment with more than 30 different psychiatric medications, and the difficult process of coming off meds, drug withdrawal, and regaining her life.

Gianna is the creator of the Beyond Meds blog about mental health and coming off medications.

http://www.beyondmeds.com

UK clinical psychologist Rufus May descended into madness — convinced he was on a spy mission and that animals were robots, he even walked into a family gathering naked.

How did Rufus find meaning in these experiences, learn to live without medication, and become a successful psychologist and mental health advocate? Rufus was recently featured in the Channel 4 feature film The Doctor Who Hears Voices.

http://www.rufusmay.com

Grace Guyol, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and author of Healing Depression and Bipolar Disorder Without Drugs: Inspiring Stories of Restoring Mental Health Through Natural Therapies, discusses nutrition, supplements, and holistic health care for helping people diagnosed with severe mental illnesses.

GGuyol (at) aol.com

Mina, a main organizer with the Portand Icarus Project, discusses her experiences diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder schizophrenia – bipolar type, coming off meds, homelessness, mysticism, and helping people through psychotic crisis, as well as reading from her ‘zine.

Oryx Cohen and Will Hall of the Freedom Center discuss how to reduce and go off psychiatric drugs safely. Oryx is diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Will with schizophrenia, and both are medication-free.

They talk about their own experiences as well as general principles and things to keep in mind for anyone working to reduce or go off psychiatric drugs, lessons learned from 5 years of working with the Freedom Center support group and helping people reduce and go off drugs successfully.