The Challenge of Going off Psychiatric Drugs aka Bitter Pill -- Article in New Yorker on withdrawal, mentions SA

[intothewoods]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugs

[marconyc]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/08/the-challenge-of-going-off-psychiatric-drugs

[Altostrata]

What did you think of the article? What parts were most significant to you?

[marconyc]

@AltostrataIt's a really good piece, although Delano's story is less about withdrawal and more about psychiatry's often incoherent methods of diagnosis and treatment--and the way patients have come to internalize the field's belief that they have a biochemical illness. I wish Aviv, the journalist, had written more about the prevalence and severity of withdrawal. It's like two different articles were squeezed into one, and the withdrawal part didn't get as much ink as I would have liked. BUT, Aviv does a great job showing the way that psych drugs often create their own iatrogenic "disease" and can worsen someone's long-term psychological health, to the point of robbing one of decades of life. 

 

I also like that Aviv quotes people from SA (and others) who have been harmed by psych drugs and had trouble discontinuing. It gives us even more of a voice. I bet a lot of shrinks read The New Yorker. It's certainly in a lot of waiting rooms. A publication with this kind of cultural capital will be hard to ignore.

 

I loved that Aviv discusses the way SSRIs filled a vacuum after concerns were raised about benzos. Also, that she says shrinks don't really know their patients very well. And that she cites early studies showing that patients were showing severe withdrawal, which was clearly ignored by the field. 

 

All in all, I believe it's going to get noticed and start people talking. It is unconscionable that 1 in 8 people in the US have been medicated without psychiatry having an "exit strategy." At some point, shrinks will have to admit their complicity in an epidemic that rivals the opioid crisis.

[DoxieMom]

I found the article was so relatable.  It brought me here to SA.  

[Priscilla]

I'm trying to draw inspiration from Laura Delano's story. She went off 5 major meds in 5 months and she had been on meds for 14 years. I have only been on meds for 2 months and I still have my moments of struggle. How did she do it? and she mentioned this site, Surviving Antidepressants in her article in the New Yorker, how cool!

[Cnick91]

Have you started the tapering process?

[Songbird]

On 4/2/2019 at 7:21 AM, marconyc said:

@AltostrataIt's a really good piece, although Delano's story is less about withdrawal and more about psychiatry's often incoherent methods of diagnosis and treatment--and the way patients have come to internalize the field's belief that they have a biochemical illness. I wish Aviv, the journalist, had written more about the prevalence and severity of withdrawal. It's like two different articles were squeezed into one, and the withdrawal part didn't get as much ink as I would have liked. BUT, Aviv does a great job showing the way that psych drugs often create their own iatrogenic "disease" and can worsen someone's long-term psychological health, to the point of robbing one of decades of life. 

 

I also like that Aviv quotes people from SA (and others) who have been harmed by psych drugs and had trouble discontinuing. It gives us even more of a voice. I bet a lot of shrinks read The New Yorker. It's certainly in a lot of waiting rooms. A publication with this kind of cultural capital will be hard to ignore.

 

I loved that Aviv discusses the way SSRIs filled a vacuum after concerns were raised about benzos. Also, that she says shrinks don't really know their patients very well. And that she cites early studies showing that patients were showing severe withdrawal, which was clearly ignored by the field. 

 

All in all, I believe it's going to get noticed and start people talking. It is unconscionable that 1 in 8 people in the US have been medicated without psychiatry having an "exit strategy." At some point, shrinks will have to admit their complicity in an epidemic that rivals the opioid crisis.

 

Great comments, Marconyc - I agree.  If it gets people thinking and talking about the issues, it's a good thing.

 

[Priscilla]

12 hours ago, Cnick91 said:

Have you started the tapering process?

No, I cold turkeyed unfortunately. 

[Stormstrong]

Ah, Laura is the woman I watched a video of ("Recovering from psychiatry"), about a year ago, and felt moved by her. Here she is in this article! She is a healer now, wrought in the fires of hell. This article put a light into my heart.