Peer support? This is the real thing. Free of institutionalization. http://wp.me/p5nnb-as9

[GiaK]

THIS IS ABOUT WHAT WE DO RIGHT HERE ON THIS SITE!

 

I’m posting a correspondence between myself and a long-time reader and friend who has dealt with severe protracted withdrawal issues much like my own.

 

We who choose to come off psych meds and then especially those of us who end up with serious long term protracted issues from the drugs have only one another to help us through the grave illness. Doctors, in general, have no idea what to do with us and often cause further harm if they attempt to treat us since they don’t know what they’re dealing with.  And then worse, many MDs actually deny that what is happening to us has anything to do with iatrogenic harm. It’s too hard for them to face up to the reality of their own responsibility in this epidemic of medical injury.

 

So, we turn to one another to find a way through the darkest times of our lives. I’ve had many mentors that helped me get through the toughest times…men and women both who went before me. And now, through this blog, and also in some long-standing relationships I developed in the trenches, I give back to those still in the hardest phases.

 

We see those ahead of us heal, we start healing and in turn we offer hope to those still fighting to survive. Peer support never meant so much to me. And this is seriously grassroots stuff…no institutionalization…it’s grassroots and it’s organic…it arose out of a vacuum of need. There was nothing there and we simply together created it and it is sustained in that way too. It’s really quite a wondrous thing. And of course the internet made it possible. I’m so glad to know that the younger generations can now find this information if they’re inclined to question the status quo. I looked for other options when I was young, but didn’t have the means to find out that there were people doing different things. Not like we have now.

 

I got this person’s permission to post the below email exchange. There have been some links added and it’s been slightly edited for the purposes of this blog. I thought others might find the correspondence helpful and perhaps be inspired to create their own connections of this sort.

✶✶✶

 

(FOR THE CONVERSATION YOU NEED TO GO TO THE BLOG...I tried posting it here several times but it kept telling me I was using too many block quotes    original post http://wp.me/p5nnb-as9  )

✶✶✶

 

 

 

And so this person helps me too…as we find our way together through the maze of protracted withdrawal syndromes.

 

This person called the process we go through to heal and make sense of our experience recontextualization. I generally call it reframing…it’s the same idea. For more on that idea see:  About reframing: embrace your experience 

 

It’s very important to find others to talk to about our fringe experiences. There are so many people who can relate we just have to reach out and find them. The internet makes this very possible. I suggest creating community in any way that you can.

 

And still: There is nothing unique about our suffering. Coming to appreciate this fact, is also liberating and in finding our story in multiple places in diverse communities of human beings all over the planet this profound truth is also healing.

 

If you are still withdrawing from psychiatric drugs here is a page on getting online support: Support in withdrawal

 

*note: I am not able to strike up new correspondences at this time. I’m sorry.

 

**original post http://wp.me/p5nnb-as9