Spell bounding..

That’s it right there, that’s what these meds do..

I told this board my biases so I would appreciate knowing your perspective.

Anyway, the chemical imbalance theory has been totally refuted:

http://chemicalimbalance.org/?p=6

And it is a myth that SSRIs just act on the Serotonin system as they affect many systems which can end up causing alot of side effects.

I know your post was addressed Truthman about withdrawing from drugs by yourself but I wanted to address that. Most psychiatrists and doctors advocate a way too fast tapering schedule which causes withdrawal symptoms so bad that people are forced back on the drug.

I have no doubt that I would have been one of these people if I had done it my psychiatrist’s way. But by tapering slowly, (5 to 10% of the current dose every 3 to 6 weeks), I have been very successful. The WD symptoms have still been tough but would have been alot worse under an MD’s schedule

I would be careful about making judgments about people’s situations. You have no clue as to the destructive nature of these meds.

They have destroyed my life. Even though I suffered a hearing loss and a worsening of learning disability symptoms, that wasn’t the worst thing they did. They caused apathy that destroyed many areas of my life.

The problem is that I was so spellbound that I didn’t realize what was going on until I started tapering off the meds.

Piper..

You are obviously extremely stupid, delusional or a complete and utter moron…
Or possibly all three?..
I do not “hate” psychiatry..
I just intensely dislike it..
Particularly since I have been through it, along with 4 years on Paxil, and researching it all for 6 years I think my point of view is more than valid. I have also had access to information about the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatry which would make your hair stand on end..

The “faustian pact” between the industry and biological psychiatry is destroying peoples lives everyday, I choose to speak out against it, my opinions are informed and experienced, yours are just ridiculous..

I agree with Truthman: the chemical imbalance business is completely unproveable. One may only measure brain chemistry post mortem, and, as I’m fast tiring of pointing out, even that only gives one an indication of brain chemistry at the point of death. Even assuming that we’ve looked at a lot of dead brains, and decided that we’ve seen a trend, and can claim what amounts to “normal,” in terms of chemistry, we still don’t know for sure that it is the chemistry of the brain that impacts mental illness. In fact, it’s not even worth discussing, seeing as we can only ever assess the superficial appearance - wouldn’t it make more sense to ask the person, when they were alive?

Anyway, back to the point, which is that shrinks appear to ask crap questions, give shite information (based upon preconceptions as to what is “normal”), and have crap solutions for the issues that they imagine they’ve found. The unwillingness of the “profession” to discuss its methodology is the thing that I find most worrying.

Matt

Thanks AA..

It is difficult to get through to supremacy claus about these meds..

Even when it does come from the horses mouth (so to speak) ..

http://tinyurl.com/5jecye

But the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic manual does not specifically exclude people experiencing deep but normal feelings of sadness, unless they are bereaved by the death of a loved one. And an increasing number of school districts and health clinics use simple depression checklists, which do not take context into account, the authors said.

“Larger and larger numbers of people are reporting symptoms on these checklists, and there’s no way to know whether we’re finding normal sadness responses or real depression,” said Jerome C. Wakefield, a professor of social work at New York University and the study’s lead author.

Christopher, you said:

sound, unbiased independent research and opinion regarding meds.

This is what I have found. Sorry I don’t have a link but somewhere on the NIMH site, it says that antidepressants work 50% of the time and relieve 50% of the symptoms. That isn’t a stellar record.

The Star D study came up with a 33% success rate. And no, according to a statistician I know, it is not correct to call it a 67% success rate as some people do.

If you chose to respond and I will understand if you don’t, I would appreciate respectful posts and sticking to the points.

Just so you know my biases, I am tapering off of psych meds as one of them caused a hearing loss, cognitive symptoms and a horrific apathy that has led to my condo being unsuitable to have guests over. I will spare the details.

That is not my idea of life saving medication.

Since I told you my biases, I would appreciate hearing yours so I know where you are coming from.

AA

It is none of your business how I spend my time Supremacy Claus, I’m not going to discuss my private life on pharmalot , that’s for sure. It doesn’t take any financing to read about psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. There are book shops, the library and the internet and I have had a keen interest in all this stuff over the last 6 years. I just wish I educated myself about them before I went on meds 10 years ago. I would have saved myself a lot of pain, heartache, headaches and hassle.