Jon, let me tell you a few personal experiences with SSRI's and SNRI's and other shit.
For about fifteen years, starting at age 16, I've been prescribed many different drugs. In my opinion, it did not do me any good. Two things did help me to stop. The one that convinced me was listening to Peter Breggin, God bless him.
Before Breggin, I heard the story of that German pilot who crashed a plane full of passengers. I was on an SNRI medication at the time, which was somewhat stronger than SSRI's, and I felt very emotionally numb. But one part of my consciousness was not numb. I contemplated myself wanting to feel compassion, but I was not able to. I was indifferent to the tragedy, and I felt very ashamed. It is like wanting to walk and not being able to. I decided that had to change.
I began research. It turned out that other people had experienced many adverse effects from the drugs, just like me: headaches, deep depression, tingling, digestive problems, skin problems, to name a few. Just like me, people complained for years and were told to continue. And accepted to follow exterior orders instead of following common sense.
In my view most of psychiatry is about bullying the patient into submission. Which is not difficult, because depressed people are very weak to begin with. The bullying is gentle, fraudulent, candid, well-meaning. It is "persuasion". But to persuade a person to do something that it is going to be bad for them is a bad thing to do. This is a very bad way to help people. It may be a good way to earn a living, but bullying is not medicine.
I once was given a neuroleptic, initial dose. Just one pill put me to sleep for almost two days. I had a horrendous migraine. Thirsty as hell. Angry, depressed, hopeless. I said: never a neuroleptic again. Hell no, I'm going through that again.
Years later I learned the deliberately obscured fact that every individual reacts to a drug in different ways, and Doctors cannot predict how it is going to go. This is true even for plants of all kinds, for the same person at a different age. Past experience may be a good indicator, or not. Choosing any kind of drug can be very difficult. And many doctors are lazy fucks. Which is one reason why there are so many problems: people blindly believe the doctors are professional and humane, and know what they are doing. Doctors know most patients will never protest or put them in trouble of any kind. Medicine is risky. It is better to learn to take care of oneself.
Doctor David Healy also helped. He takes a different approach to the issue. I learn from everyone, even from the worst people on earth, like those venal bastards whose job it is to keep the scam going. Those jokers always talk too much, they can't help to give themselves away. One has to learn the tricks the use, and it is a great show for those who enjoy dark humor.
Perhaps if Psychiatrist would try the drugs themselves before prescribing they would acquire a realistic view about psychopharmacology.
It is important to taper off the medication. And you need a reasonable Psychiatrist to do that. Do not be afraid to change, my brothers and sisters. At this point in time, any Psychiatrist who discourages people who want to stop the drugs is a total moron and a public health threat. That is my view after all I have learned.
I think I'm screwed up for life because of so many years on those worthless drugs. But I won't surrender yet. I have to live with the permanent problems caused by this scam. I will learn until my last day, and that is good enough.
I would prefer if people were more skeptical about MD's in general, and psychiatrists in particular, so that they do not fall in the same trap as I did. I think the main mission of any form of journalism these days is to convince the monkeys that they must listen to common sense more, and never listen to exterior authority, always misleading.
Only one way to have common sense: research.
It can't be bought. Some effort is inevitable.
Censorship kills people by impeding research. That muddles common sense, which leads people into deathtraps. Common sense will save people.
Those who discourage others from using common sense are working on the side of the problem. Fuck them!
Does anyone reading this want to really help depressed individuals, angry people, the timid, the addicts? Then feed them some good information.
99.999% of Wikipedia is disinformation, so do not go there. Perhaps some dates are somewhat correct. Perhaps.
Also, Google is in the business of destroying common sense and augmenting physiological disease and behavior disorder. Google is evil. Search elsewhere.
Wikipedia and google are worst than porn and all cults put together. If you want to help anyone, lead them away from the hellmouth.
In the beginnings of the web there was not Wikipedia or Google. People had personal pages and boards. That system, with all its defects, was preferable to the absolute garbage that the web is today.
I purchased recently your collections of material. Pending completion. I want to see more.
Here is my story...grew up in a household of dysfunctional parents. I was # 4 out of 6 kids. So I have memories of a 1 or 2 yr old (1948. -1949)and later when I was 10 yrs old and on into my teens. I remember my mother threatening me with a butcher knife accusing me of sleeping with my father. She apparently couldn’t protect me.
So I was born when my mom was already being treated with weird drugs and shock treatments and all the horrible experiments going on in state mental institutions. It is my belief that overwhelmingly women were the target subjects of these experiments.
Here is the kicker ... my father was an active
Pediphile my whole life ... myself as a victim as well as all my brothers and oldest sister. My sister was married off when she was 16yrs old. I remember a story about her being tied to a tree and having been sexually abused. I don’t know the truth of that. She marries a goofy guy and has 4 children and guess what, she gets sent to various doctors and spends the rest of her life in and out of those same mental health facilities.
I become a radical feminist and work with battered women and battered children.
It is only in later life that I connect the dots
And discover that, for example , how could one not become hysterical when she discovers her husband is sexualizing her own children. So in the 30’s 40’s 50’s and60’s and beyond ....
Women were the first targets and then of course men and children got to experience the good bad & ugly of all those drugs.
Jon, let me tell you a few personal experiences with SSRI's and SNRI's and other shit.
For about fifteen years, starting at age 16, I've been prescribed many different drugs. In my opinion, it did not do me any good. Two things did help me to stop. The one that convinced me was listening to Peter Breggin, God bless him.
Before Breggin, I heard the story of that German pilot who crashed a plane full of passengers. I was on an SNRI medication at the time, which was somewhat stronger than SSRI's, and I felt very emotionally numb. But one part of my consciousness was not numb. I contemplated myself wanting to feel compassion, but I was not able to. I was indifferent to the tragedy, and I felt very ashamed. It is like wanting to walk and not being able to. I decided that had to change.
I began research. It turned out that other people had experienced many adverse effects from the drugs, just like me: headaches, deep depression, tingling, digestive problems, skin problems, to name a few. Just like me, people complained for years and were told to continue. And accepted to follow exterior orders instead of following common sense.
In my view most of psychiatry is about bullying the patient into submission. Which is not difficult, because depressed people are very weak to begin with. The bullying is gentle, fraudulent, candid, well-meaning. It is "persuasion". But to persuade a person to do something that it is going to be bad for them is a bad thing to do. This is a very bad way to help people. It may be a good way to earn a living, but bullying is not medicine.
I once was given a neuroleptic, initial dose. Just one pill put me to sleep for almost two days. I had a horrendous migraine. Thirsty as hell. Angry, depressed, hopeless. I said: never a neuroleptic again. Hell no, I'm going through that again.
Years later I learned the deliberately obscured fact that every individual reacts to a drug in different ways, and Doctors cannot predict how it is going to go. This is true even for plants of all kinds, for the same person at a different age. Past experience may be a good indicator, or not. Choosing any kind of drug can be very difficult. And many doctors are lazy fucks. Which is one reason why there are so many problems: people blindly believe the doctors are professional and humane, and know what they are doing. Doctors know most patients will never protest or put them in trouble of any kind. Medicine is risky. It is better to learn to take care of oneself.
Doctor David Healy also helped. He takes a different approach to the issue. I learn from everyone, even from the worst people on earth, like those venal bastards whose job it is to keep the scam going. Those jokers always talk too much, they can't help to give themselves away. One has to learn the tricks the use, and it is a great show for those who enjoy dark humor.
Perhaps if Psychiatrist would try the drugs themselves before prescribing they would acquire a realistic view about psychopharmacology.
It is important to taper off the medication. And you need a reasonable Psychiatrist to do that. Do not be afraid to change, my brothers and sisters. At this point in time, any Psychiatrist who discourages people who want to stop the drugs is a total moron and a public health threat. That is my view after all I have learned.
I think I'm screwed up for life because of so many years on those worthless drugs. But I won't surrender yet. I have to live with the permanent problems caused by this scam. I will learn until my last day, and that is good enough.
I would prefer if people were more skeptical about MD's in general, and psychiatrists in particular, so that they do not fall in the same trap as I did. I think the main mission of any form of journalism these days is to convince the monkeys that they must listen to common sense more, and never listen to exterior authority, always misleading.
Only one way to have common sense: research.
It can't be bought. Some effort is inevitable.
Censorship kills people by impeding research. That muddles common sense, which leads people into deathtraps. Common sense will save people.
Those who discourage others from using common sense are working on the side of the problem. Fuck them!
Does anyone reading this want to really help depressed individuals, angry people, the timid, the addicts? Then feed them some good information.
99.999% of Wikipedia is disinformation, so do not go there. Perhaps some dates are somewhat correct. Perhaps.
Also, Google is in the business of destroying common sense and augmenting physiological disease and behavior disorder. Google is evil. Search elsewhere.
Wikipedia and google are worst than porn and all cults put together. If you want to help anyone, lead them away from the hellmouth.
In the beginnings of the web there was not Wikipedia or Google. People had personal pages and boards. That system, with all its defects, was preferable to the absolute garbage that the web is today.
I purchased recently your collections of material. Pending completion. I want to see more.
Thanks for your podcast!
Here is my story...grew up in a household of dysfunctional parents. I was # 4 out of 6 kids. So I have memories of a 1 or 2 yr old (1948. -1949)and later when I was 10 yrs old and on into my teens. I remember my mother threatening me with a butcher knife accusing me of sleeping with my father. She apparently couldn’t protect me.
So I was born when my mom was already being treated with weird drugs and shock treatments and all the horrible experiments going on in state mental institutions. It is my belief that overwhelmingly women were the target subjects of these experiments.
Here is the kicker ... my father was an active
Pediphile my whole life ... myself as a victim as well as all my brothers and oldest sister. My sister was married off when she was 16yrs old. I remember a story about her being tied to a tree and having been sexually abused. I don’t know the truth of that. She marries a goofy guy and has 4 children and guess what, she gets sent to various doctors and spends the rest of her life in and out of those same mental health facilities.
I become a radical feminist and work with battered women and battered children.
It is only in later life that I connect the dots
And discover that, for example , how could one not become hysterical when she discovers her husband is sexualizing her own children. So in the 30’s 40’s 50’s and60’s and beyond ....
Women were the first targets and then of course men and children got to experience the good bad & ugly of all those drugs.
Thanks Jon for all that you do!!!