Break the taboo - Mental Health Message Board

rosene · 07-28-2005, 08:06 AM

My name is Rose; I am French so I firstly apologize for my English as you may find some mistakes. Anyway I would like to share with you my last discovered.
Do you know John Breeding? He has written a book making a great critic of the actual critic of the actual psychiatric system. It is a brilliant account that tries to prove that madness is necessary in the spiritual growth of an adult person. His book is titled The Necessity of Madness. This could be an academic material for the uk mental health services!
I think without doubt that hearing these kind of people’s voices can help to stop the humiliation mental health sufferers feel. Break the taboo!

rosene · 07-28-2005, 08:07 AM

I just wrote a quick summary of the book, be pleased to read it and maybe it would give you ideas.
The purpose of John Breeding in writing this book is to educate people on psychiatric oppression. The author wants to reveal the harm done by the practice of biopsychiatry, and to show that psychiatry suppresses and punishes experiences which are completely natural. He believes these experiences are, in fact, necessary to achieve spiritual maturity. Experiences of temporary "madness" and un-productivity, while violating society's demand for continuous productivity, are essential if individuals are to grow and mature. Psychiatry enforces society's demand to keep working and be happy, no matter what. John suggests a clear alternative, a view of human nature and personal transformation that offers real hope to individuals in need. His intention is to provide a model which resonates with the truth of human transformation and has reverence for our spiritual nature. He also takes a deep dive into the question of why "good people" (mental health professionals) can do so much harm while being so convinced they are doing good. His hope is that readers will find information to help themselves and their families, that psychiatric survivors will be helped to understand their experiences and find guidance for the process of renewal, and that professionals will be stimulated to think in new ways about their work and about the system in which they play so vital a role.

GatsbyLuvr1920 · 07-28-2005, 08:11 AM

Rosene- Welcome to the boards! You think your English is bad?!

I think it's near perfect! If I'm ever able to speak Spanish that flawlessly, it will be my dream come true!

Anyway, do you have (or think you have) any particular mental illness? Feel free to come talk about it whenever you'd like. I have OCD, GAD, and panic attacks due to specific phobias, so I'm no stranger to psychiatric illness! LOL!

I totally agree with what you said, that the "taboo" about psychiatry and mental illness is still there, and that the stigma needs to be broken. Write back whenever you like!
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

Ruth6:11 · 07-28-2005, 11:59 AM

Have you ever had a mental illness?
It's difficult for people who haven't to understand that it isn't a case of some sort of political oppression.
It is madness, insanity, having your brain held down under water, losing all sense of who you are, being so depressed that you can no longer function. You are no longer aware of the world. Or you're out there being a danger to yourself and others because you are psychotic. Maybe you live on a park bench & don't bathe often.
Not some patient, or some person you'll never meet.... it's YOU. You're the one they're discussing.

I grasp that the Scientologists for example are convinced that psychiatry is evil - all the while they believe in the Thetans (extraterrestrials). That's fine - but one of their new converts who had Bipolar Disorder stopped taking their lithium (bad mecinine - not needed in their book) and committed suicide by drowning in the ocean.

What I'm getting at is anyone has a right to their theories.
But for those who actually suffer from mental illness (like me) it's very hard to have people out there saying that we should just toss our medicine out the window and create madness in our worlds and lose relationships and kill ourselves because of a theory.
There is no greater good in preventing a diabetic from getting medical help. My disorder is in my brain neurotransmitters rather than my pancreas. It sounds like I'm not supposed to get medical treatment for my disease while those with diabetes can?

Thank you for a very thought-provoking theory.

Blue102 · 07-28-2005, 02:51 PM

Wow...I can see this being a controversial topic. Thanks, Rosene, for the book suggestion.

My stance is this: What harm is there in exploring new approach to thought? Psychiatry, like everything else, is prone to trends. The big brother hospital comes up with an idea and everybody follows suit. (Example: antidepressants.) That is a good thing for the most part, of course. But what worries me is that there are so many doctors who just prescribe, prescribe, prescribe without giving it a second thought. Sometimes it's refreshing for a new idea to be thrown into the pot just to make people think.

Ruth, I also have been diagnosed with a serotonin imbalance in the past. And I don't doubt the diagnosis. But sometimes I wonder if that's a cause or an effect? Maybe, as a pre-teenager, I was so maladjusted that I developed the disease. The brain is very sensitive, and we are in charge of our actions and thoughts. I'm not saying that's a fact, or that I even believe that, but it's just an idea I'm throwing out there.

Now I have breathing problems and ADD. Who's to say that being on high doses of antidepressants since age 14 didn't cause that?

I'm no longer on the antidepressants, and I still get the depression and anxiety (to a much lesser extent, and I have to say that the drugs helped me so much. I probably owe who I am today to them.) But, I'm wondering if the root of the problem was the serotonin, or if it was a hormonal imbalance, or simply environmental stressors that caused my problem in the beginning.

Will my children be lesser equipped to deal with their mental problems naturally, because I relied on drugs? Is it a neverending cycle?

But to think that some disorders, like schizophrenia, shouldn't be medicated, is simply irresponsible and absurd.

I'm not sure if I would agree with what Mr. Breeding is trying to say in his book, but for anyone up for an exercise in perspectives, it's worth checking out.