Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America — a note from Robert Whitaker

Over at Bipolar Blast ask Beyond Meds, todays post is a note from Author Robert Whitaker regarding his book The Anatomy of An Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America. The link to view this book on Amazon is here.

The question...Could our drug based paradigm of care be fueling this epidemic?

Whitiker continues: To answer that question, I fleshed out what the scientific literature has to say about the long-term effects of psychiatric medications. I think an observation made by one of the many people I interviewed for the book aptly sums up the tale told in the scientific literature. She said:

“With psychiatric medications, you solve one problem for a period of time, but the next thing you know, you end up with two problems. The treatment turns a period of crisis into a chronic mental illness.”

After this tale of science is told (and the book basically relates a history of science that has unfolded since the 1950s), I look at why our society doesn’t know about the many studies that have documented the poor long-term outcomes. These study results never get reported in the newspapers, and the book explores the financial reasons why that is so.

You can read the rest of this note here.

You can see my earlier post on this issue here "Another rant...which came first? The Chicken or the Goose?"

So what's the purpose of posting this information? Because I believe that we as consumers are not getting all of our options, we are not being fully informed. Instead we are being sold on the idea that we are somehow biologically broken and that Big Pharma has the ONLY answer to the issue of mental health and wellness.

This is a subject not widely discussed yet and carries much of the similarities of the fraud carried out on consumers of tobacco product and even the most recent financial crisis where we were presented with the idea that the banks were operating in our best interest, yet their greed and offering only one side of the story - incomplete information - leads consumers to believe that as the "professionals" we can trust what they are telling us to be "truth" and in our best interest.

Each year, Big Pharma is being called on it's misuse of America's trust as they invent new ways of pushing their drugs, telling us that this is the only answer to our heartburn (try eating less junk) our "Fibromyalgia" (women are getting over this every day by excercising and managing stress healthier) or how this magic pill will "fix" us. And they have done a grand job at pulling the wool over the eyes of consumers as we staunchly defend that we are "chemically imbalanced". I know because I've lived it. To have done otherwise was unthinkable because this was my last hope at finding a solution to the emotional distress and faulty cognitions that kept me bound in self doubt and dependance on drugs to cope each day. After all, without being "mentally ill"...who was I and what the hell was "wrong" with me?

Today, the Government has finally stepped in and penalized Big Tobacco for the lies that we ate up when we bought in that tobacco was harmless and safe. Banks that have gouged Americans for years are being brought up short and held responsible for their mismanagement of America's resources. And each year Big Pharma pays millions in settlements to those their "medicines" have harmed and fines to the Government for their fraud in misleading consumers on various drugs.

This may not be your opinion, and my goal is not to change your mind about this but to encourage you to do your own reading and research on this message that somehow we are broken and drugs (not to mention the lifetime bill for never ending therapy that goes along with this assumption) are the only answer.

So here's what Big Pharma isn't telling us; that we can learn to manage our thoughts, our emotional instability and find our way out of the muck and mire of "mental illness". We can learn to develop rational thinking and emotional expression that heals instead of incapacitates us. We can learn the life skills to help us overcome those feelings of "less than" or "different".

Drugs? They may have a place and even benefit us short term to manage crisis and keep ourselves safe - but they also inhibit our ability to learn, to think, to recall and remember both short term and long term. But when they are heralded as the "only" solution to mental health issues the result can be painfully debilitating as our hope for a better outcome is reduced to simply "managing" and surviving.

Finding light in the darkness of mental illness requires the use of and access to our thoughts and emotions - the things that medication "numbs".

So while using medication may be helpful in the short term - the long term use of it inhibits and prevents us from accessing the natural solution of learning new ways of coping and how to trust the natural emotional process that we are working so diligently to avoid.

(Note:I am not a physician. This information should not be taken as medical directions. Do not discontinue any medications without first doing your own due diligence and making the decision that is best for you.)

*****

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Unchain my heart...

What if.

What if I don't do this right?

What if you do?

What if I can't get to sleep again?

What if you do?

What if he/she doesn't call?

What if they do?

What if I don't get this job, they don't like me, I don't get this done, have another nightmare, get triggered...

Forecasting a potential outcome is something that I got really good at in "managing" my post trauma response. I mean - it's one of the main characters in this play, right? Forecasting and planning ahead to avoid trigger situations in order to avoid the possibility of initiating another flashback, starting up the nightmares once they have finally stopped. The benchmark of the post trauma response.

But while this skill of avoiding the overwhelming sense of a loss of control was helpful to avoid the immediate sense of loss, fear, rage at the injustice of what we are experiencing at the time of the trauma situation - once we are beyond the long arm of that experience it becomes our nemesis.

By continuing to focus on avoiding triggers something else was happening - I was losing my life.

No- not the physical, biological me that clearly is present, but my LIFE.

I was missing the bright sunshine warming my face, the freshness of the spring rain. The coolness of the morning dew, the magnificent vastness of the night sky lit with millions of far away stars and planets that I was not daydreaming about because I was working so hard at staying safe and free of the pain of the past and thinking I was controlling my fears of the future.

I was missing the hugs and kisses of my children when they were small. Or the wet, sloppy kisses from my new puppy who didn't know what was bothering me, but knew only that I was not with her in the now.

I was missing the laughter, the joy, the excitement, the grief, the sadness, the sorrow.

I was missing my LIFE.

I was missing the full range of emotions everyday that makes life life.

The now, this moment - the only thing that truly exists. I was missing all of it.

I was so focused on managing and controlling my environment and everyone in it, anticipating what I would say or do next, keeping a watchful eye out to avoid any thought, any trigger of my senses that could cause me to experience an emotion - that I was in the end, avoiding all emotions.

Living in that place where my focus was on anticipating and avoiding anything from the next minute, hour, day, week or month that could "trigger" any emotion or stir up that feeling of helplessness and hopelessness that too often is the hallmark of trauma was preventing me from living my life in the now.

Living in that perpetual state of victimhood where I was over focused on controlling or avoiding sensitive situations was actually drawing out my distress and preventing me from entering the natural healing process following a serious loss.

It is a natural human response to shut down our emotions and go into "survival" mode when we are faced with a life threatening situation or to survive the daily struggles of growing up in an abusive or neglectful situation.

But as long as that continued to be my sole method of coping I was not able to move beyond surviving. I was unknowingly staying inside a prison to which the door would swing open at the precise time that I stopped holding it shut.

Knowledge is empowerment; information is the truth that set me free.

By learning about the symptoms of PTS that I was experiencing I became less afraid of them.

By learning how to not be afraid I was able to start learning and practicing new healthier ways of coping.

By learning new ways of coping I began to create the life I choose for myself and finally begin to put the past to rest.

By letting go of the bars of that prison door, the nightmare of living in a constant state of avoidance, I was able to push the door of that prison open and walk out.

I was able to begin to do the "hard work" of healing from trauma.

One step at a time I was beginning to break the chains that bound me to the past and find my freedom in today.

Hear more of my story on Blog Talk Radio with Michele Rosenthal of Heal My PTSD here.

I'm glad you are here today. Please consider leaving your comments, thoughts or questions to this post below...

Next post coming up: The Keys to the Magic Kingdom...

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