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Why psychiatry may be in denial


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I thought this article featuring a psychiatrist who blogs on the Mad In America might provide an insight as to why psychiatry is in denial. It talks about Dr. Steingard finding getting trained in the Open Dialogue Program that Bob Whitaker wrote about in his book that substantially reduced schizophrenia in Finland.

 

I was struck by this particular exert:

 

""Steingard also saw firsthand that many of the antipsychotic drugs she was prescribing have serious side effects — treated by still more medications — including weight gain, seizures, diabetes, depression and sexual dysfunction. As a result, a certain percentage of HowardCenter clients simply refused to take them.

 

“I thought they were effective for a good chunk of people, and I knew they weren’t effective for other people,” Steingard says of the drugs she prescribed for hundreds of patients. “But I didn’t really know what else to do. I didn’t see any other path.”

 

Steingard’s breakthrough came in May 2011 when she read Anatomy of an Epidemic, a book by journalist Robert Whitaker that attempts to answer an alarming mystery in American public health: Why has the number of adults and children diagnosed with mental illness and put on government disability skyrocketed in the last 50 years?

 

Whitaker begins his book by looking at several studies of the long-term risks and benefits of keeping people on antipsychotic drugs. As Steingard explains, researchers have known for years that schizophrenia is associated with a loss of brain tissue, which was long believed to be a result of the disease. Whitaker uses the studies to suggest the brain atrophy may be due not to the illness itself but to extended exposure to antipsychotic meds.

 

Reading Whitaker’s findings, Steingard says she felt like she’d been “kicked in the belly.”

 

“If you’ve just spent your entire career giving people these drugs, and in many cases convincing people why this is what they really need to do, that’s a pretty horrible thing,” she says. “I wasn’t sure I would come to work the next day. That’s how profound it was.”

 

I guess essentially, it is easier for most psychiatrists to stay in denial vs face the very uncomfortable feelings that Dr. Steingard went through.

 

More at this link:

 

http://www.7dvt.com/2013burlingtons-howardcenter-tries-new-approach-treating-mental-illness-more-talking-fewer-meds

Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010
Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006
Finished taper on June 10, 2010

Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016

Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week

April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia

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That is disturbing to say the least..It makes me more determined.

C/T Celexa and Trazadone on Jan.29th 2014
Prescribed 1mg of Klonopin every 6 hours on Jan.29th
Began tapering Klonopin April 18th..stretching time between doses...at first one hour for 2 weeks then a half hour for app.10 days then another half hour 10days later.
Presently at .25 three times a day..6 2 and 10pm. Trying to stabilize.
Also still taking gabapentin 300mgs 2xs a day..

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  • Administrator

Wow! Sandy Steingard might change the treatment of psychosis in this country.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

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It only takes a few to start influencing things to change. It seems like more people are coming forward. We need both doctors and people who have been on these meds to say they did no good and there is no longer term benefit but rather only long term damage being caused by them. Until then, society will continue to be indoctrinated to believe that drugging people is best. Ironically, it's only certain drugs. Those illegal ones that don't make the government and large corporations billions are on the bad drug list. I find that comical.

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Wow! Sandy Steingard might change the treatment of psychosis in this country.

 

I sure hope so Alto.

 

CS

Drug cocktail 1995 - 2010
Started taper of Adderall, Wellbutrin XL, Remeron, and Doxepin in 2006
Finished taper on June 10, 2010

Temazepam on a PRN basis approximately twice a month - 2014 to 2016

Beginning in 2017 - Consumption increased to about two times per week

April 2017 - Increased to taking it full time for insomnia

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My doctor, when she realized I'd been critically harmed by Lipitor (clinical depression and muscle damage) nearly ran out of the examining room when the reality of it struck her. I think she felt ashamed and fearful that she had caused my problems. I'm hoping that the few really moral physicians on this planet will come forth and speak out against the horror of antidepressants.

Psychotropic drug history: Pristiq 50 mg. (mid-September 2010 through February 2011), Remeron (mid-September 2010 through January 2011), Lexapro 10 mg. (mid-February 2011 through mid-December 2011), Lorazepam (Ativan) 1 mg. as needed mid-September 2010 through early March 2012

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." -Hanlon's Razor


Introduction: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1588-introducing-jemima/

 

Success Story: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6263-success-jemima-survives-lexapro-and-dr-dickhead-too/

Please note that I am not a medical professional and my advice is based on personal experience, reading, and anecdotal information posted by other sufferers.

 

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