Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
USATODAY.com - Mind drugs may hinder recovery
USATODAY.com - Mind drugs may hinder recovery: "Most Americans are unaware that the World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly found that long-term schizophrenia outcomes are much worse in the USA and other 'developed' countries than in poor ones such as India and Nigeria, where relatively few patients are on anti-psychotic medications. In 'undeveloped' countries, nearly two-thirds of schizophrenia patients are doing fairly well five years after initial diagnosis; about 40% have basically recovered. But in the USA and other developed countries, most patients become chronically ill. The outcome differences are so marked that WHO concluded that living in a developed country is a 'strong predictor' that a patient never will fully recover"
Monday, March 2, 2009
AvoidantSanctuary : Post Message
AvoidantSanctuary : Post Message: "Another newbie bites the bullet"
First of all I'm almost sixty, so let's face it, I'm not going to be undergoing any big life changing experiences here. I am what I am. I have the same problems today that I had forty years ago whatever they are. I'm locked inside my head in a way that's not going to end. It's depressing to say that, but in a way it is also liberating.
Sure I can work on new things, things that might make a real difference in my life. I can try to come out from behind that curtain that seems to have been given to me at birth. I can fight the good fight. It seems like it is all that I have done my entire life. As a disabled vietnam veteran I know a little about redefining victory.
Maybe I've come to a point in my life where I can deal with some of the things that haven't been the most blantant but might have been feeding the conflicts that seem to rule me. I should add that I am also manic depressive. Fighting depression and mania and their concomitant problems are priority number one. How the whole thing fits together is really beyond me. I don't know if I'd believe anybody if they did have an explanation.
One thing I do know is that I always bite off more than I can chew. I get grandiose in an instant. My mind has a mind of its own. There's nothing I can't fantasize about. No matter where this leads me I'll have wanted to go further. It has been my experience that I see things the clearest the first time I look at them. After that it is all about dealing with reality. I know I haven't said a lot here. It's the first cut that is the deepest, though. Thanks for listening.
First of all I'm almost sixty, so let's face it, I'm not going to be undergoing any big life changing experiences here. I am what I am. I have the same problems today that I had forty years ago whatever they are. I'm locked inside my head in a way that's not going to end. It's depressing to say that, but in a way it is also liberating.
Sure I can work on new things, things that might make a real difference in my life. I can try to come out from behind that curtain that seems to have been given to me at birth. I can fight the good fight. It seems like it is all that I have done my entire life. As a disabled vietnam veteran I know a little about redefining victory.
Maybe I've come to a point in my life where I can deal with some of the things that haven't been the most blantant but might have been feeding the conflicts that seem to rule me. I should add that I am also manic depressive. Fighting depression and mania and their concomitant problems are priority number one. How the whole thing fits together is really beyond me. I don't know if I'd believe anybody if they did have an explanation.
One thing I do know is that I always bite off more than I can chew. I get grandiose in an instant. My mind has a mind of its own. There's nothing I can't fantasize about. No matter where this leads me I'll have wanted to go further. It has been my experience that I see things the clearest the first time I look at them. After that it is all about dealing with reality. I know I haven't said a lot here. It's the first cut that is the deepest, though. Thanks for listening.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Friday, December 19, 2008
Book Review - 'American Therapy - The Rise of Psychotherapy in the United States,' by Jonathan Engel - Review - NYTimes.com
Book Review - 'American Therapy - The Rise of Psychotherapy in the United States,' by Jonathan Engel - Review - NYTimes.com: "Engel describes an experiment that seems to have been animated by these very questions. In 1979, a Vanderbilt University researcher named Hans Krupp divided 30 patients with psychological problems into two groups, one to be treated by trained psychotherapists, the other by humanities professors with no psychological expertise. The result? The two groups reported improvement at the same rates. “Effective psychotherapy,” Engel writes, “seemed to require little more than a willing patient and an intelligent and understanding counselor who met and spoke regularly and in confidence"
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Psychiatrists Revising the Book of Human Troubles - Readers' Comments - NYTimes.com#postComment#postComment
Psychiatrists Revising the Book of Human Troubles - Readers' Comments - NYTimes.com#postComment#postComment: "The largest mental health facility is Rikers Island. The second is the Los Angeles County Jail. Remember Erhard Seminar Training, EST? It wasn't that long ago that psychology was regarded on the right as junk science. The only thing that puts mental illness on the political agenda is the money the drug companies can make with all their new pills. They really are following the exact model of the tobacco companies. Which would you consider a war on mental illness to be closer to, the war on cancer or the war on crime? Patients may well be crazy, but they are far more honest than the doctors that treat them"
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
PatientsLikeMe : Forum : Inner Chatter
PatientsLikeMe : Forum : Inner Chatter: "I've been having these never ending conversations in my head with my doctor, and it is driving me nuts! I just started back on topomax which is notorious for brain fog. I've got a few things I'm feeling guiltiy about, and I'm having some mixed states. He didn't want to give me topomax because he said it wouldn't control my mania, and we all know how much bipolars love to get high. All in all I'm just a mess. You can say it was a mistake to go back. Maybe it was, but what were my options? I've been on three different meds in the past few months and I'm afraid my doc was about to withdraw treatment. He is fed up with me. I don't blame him. I would be too. I'm at the end of my rope with no place to go. So topomax is it. I'm manic, and I'm going to try to hide it from him. Of course I'll be down by the time I see him. I just have live with the guilt and the shame and the bewilderment as to what to do. Basically there are medications that make me feel like crap that do control my mania. I have refused to take them. Now the chickens have come home to roost. Now I have to pay the piper. Pay me now or pay me later. And after this I get to look forward to a nice bout of depression. Isn't that special? Still, I can't go back to the crap. I've used up all my free trials so it's the topomax or nothing.
I just figured something out! I knew it would help my thinking to write something down. I know this is unbelieveably simple, but this shows what a fog I'm in. Duh! I need to try a little extra. I was reading what others were saying about topomax. I'm taking 100 a day. Some are taking as much as 400 a day. Just thinking about it seems to clear my head. Is that the placebo effect or what? I'm so strange. I'm just a strange old man with nothing to do except complain. I still feel guilty about my doc. He's not really a doc. He's a nurse practioner. Doctors don't do anything for me. They think they deserve a lot of money, and they try to keep other people from doing things that they think only they should do. They're stuck up pricks that you have to suck up to. Is that a little negative? I have problems with authority, doctors and policeman. Try me. Don't treat me. Really doctors are the biggest reason we don't have universal health care. They were the biggest impediment to medicare. They get away with murder. Armys cause wars. Police cause crime, and doctors'll kill ya. Well, you've been a great audience. Remember to tip your bartenders and waitresses. This has been really good for my mental health. Thankyou and good night.
I just figured something out! I knew it would help my thinking to write something down. I know this is unbelieveably simple, but this shows what a fog I'm in. Duh! I need to try a little extra. I was reading what others were saying about topomax. I'm taking 100 a day. Some are taking as much as 400 a day. Just thinking about it seems to clear my head. Is that the placebo effect or what? I'm so strange. I'm just a strange old man with nothing to do except complain. I still feel guilty about my doc. He's not really a doc. He's a nurse practioner. Doctors don't do anything for me. They think they deserve a lot of money, and they try to keep other people from doing things that they think only they should do. They're stuck up pricks that you have to suck up to. Is that a little negative? I have problems with authority, doctors and policeman. Try me. Don't treat me. Really doctors are the biggest reason we don't have universal health care. They were the biggest impediment to medicare. They get away with murder. Armys cause wars. Police cause crime, and doctors'll kill ya. Well, you've been a great audience. Remember to tip your bartenders and waitresses. This has been really good for my mental health. Thankyou and good night.
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