RubyTuesday Introduction

[RubyTuesday]

still waking up panicked but it is subsiding more & more quickly
I lie in bed telling myself "this is just neuro-fear" that seems to help
which reminds me of another book that helped a lot...Dr. Claire Weeks, Hope & Help for your Nerves
when I was in withdrawal from Prozac but didn't know it

[Luc]

The Spiritual Gift of Madness; The Failure of Psychiatry and the Rise of the Mad Pride Movement
by Seth Farber, intro by Kate Millet

Very interesting, Ruby. If you came across some interesting info in it, please share it with us.

[RubyTuesday]

6/1
clear sailing last couple of days since last post. working,shopping, preparing to stop dose tomorrow. got some time off work.
Spiritual Gifts book: very interesting. Perhaps there is some higher evolutionary purpose in our experiences of "madness", mania, depression, panic, etc. which excessive drugging hinders rather than supports. Perhaps Psychiatry as practiced is more a method of social control than a healing modality. Perhaps it is insane to adjust to an insane society. the Human as we currently know him/her is bent on a course of self-destruction. How can adjustment to that be considered healthy? Still reading.
Google: "Mad Pride movement" "Icarus Project" anti-psychiatry movement...

[Sheila]

Good stuff, Ruby. I love Icarus Project.

[Luc]

Perhaps Psychiatry as practiced is more a method of social control than a healing modality.

Very good point. I'd even say it's *predominantly* a method of social control, and many within the system will not even realize it. Compulsory treatment, ECT, lobotomy (not that long ago), psychiatric labeling (the DSM-absurd), psychiatry and pharmaceutical industry being the two sides of the same coin, the "punitive psychiatry" ("Therapeutic State" concept = psychiatry as a tool of political control) - its most famous example was the Soviet Union, but, in fact, it is still going on in many parts of the Western world, too. It's what Thomas Szasz (The Myth of Mental Illness) and Michael Foucault talked about in their works.

Ok, I didn't mean to hijack your thread too much, Ruby - just found this particular thought from your post very interesting. :)

[RubyTuesday]

no problem, hijack it again! move it to a new thread if you want. I spent the day reading my old colleague's book: Sp. Gift of Madness etc.; a chapter on the Mind Freedom Hunger Strike and an interview with Peter Statsny M.D.
Looks like even with all my distress, I am one of the lucky ones and will make a full recovery.

[RubyTuesday]

Although I cried a lot this morning about my failed relationship with my ex, once I got moving I had a good day. went to an AA meeting, sat in the sun for a long time reading my book debunking psychopharmacology. Had a slight headache all afternoon, sore neck & shoulders, felt kind of shaky off & on, but I LOVE the emotional/mental clarity of NO REMIRON. Had good talks with my son, showed him how to double dig our garden plot, ate fish, eggs, avocado.


"there have been no empirically verifiable discoveries of biological brain disorders. If there had been such discoveries, diagnoses today would be confirmed by laboratory tests, just as they are for physical diseases. . .Szasz cogently argues that the diseases were invented to justify the "treatments" the medications." Farber, p.61

[RubyTuesday]

Day #2 morning
a peculiar phenomenon I am struggling to describe...
the initial fear that hits my CNS in that first second of awakening; that first second of realization, I am not asleep, I have to wake up now-- is actually getting worse, today accompanied by my leg jerking around, a very strong flash of fear, but somehow it is easier to talk myself out of it; I tell myself it is neuro-fear, and somehow even still half asleep I am able to drop into a witness state of mind: this is me lying in bed feeling neuro-fear but it is temporary...
this website and some other new related websites and reading the book really helps, because I feel more connected; and a huge part of the fear is that sense of total isolation.

Also my understanding of my life from February of 2011 to December of 2011 is clearing up: long story short: I was in withdrawal from Prozac the whole time. This morning contrasting that time to this one: this time I have way more understanding of what is happening to my CNS and how to cope with it.

[Sheila]

Sounds like you’re having a ton of insights.

That intense fear on waking is utterly characteristic of w/d. It probably has to do with us having a higher cortisol level at that time of day, plus we don’t handle state transitions well. So, waking up becomes OMG, I’m doomed! because of the cortisol surge. It will get better. Your mindfulness and insight and self-talk about it are all great.

[m&m]

Looks like even with all my distress, I am one of the lucky ones and will make a full recovery.

Hey, did you find something encouraging and uplifting in the books that validates a full recovery? By all means, please share :-)

Hope you are well Ruby