Hi - been lurking on your blog for awhile - VERY interesting discussion. I suffer from plain old depression - not a very sexy diagnosis and no end in sight.

I have been reading lately about psychiatric illnesses as really 20th century inventions; this week the New England Journal of Medicine published a book review of a book entitled "Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism" and the premise of the book is that different cultures deal with different people, well, differently. It just depends on the prevailing winds.

The NEJM book review notes: "According to Grinker, some cultures do not identify autism as a pathology. Autistic children in Senegal, for example, are referred to as "marvelous children." The Navajo Indians regard children with autistic symptoms as "perpetual children." In South Korea, a child with classic symptoms of autism is thought to be "more pure than others and closer to God," and beliefs about autism differ substantially between peoples in Africa and India."

Perhaps the same is true with bi-polar disorder. Maybe someone exhibiting bi-polar disorder symptoms (and I'm no expert on what those are) in this culture is branded one way while in other cultures are considered "magically gifted." Pre-20th century, my depressive symptoms would be indicative that I thought too much or felt too much about stuff. I also resist the diagnosis but mainly because I've tried all the so-called treatments, and they just don't work. If you are diagnosed with a problem and they can't treat the problem, then what good is the diagnosis in the first place, I ask you?

Thanks for your blog...

# 3 is being addressed so well here, all TAC has to do is read the "All in the Family" posts and possibly learn a thing or 2.

About autism: "Autistic children in Senegal, for example, are referred to as "marvelous children." The Navajo Indians regard children with autistic symptoms as "perpetual children." In South Korea, a child with classic symptoms of autism is thought to be "more pure than others and closer to God,"
Those statements are true, and how I describe my students and my daughter. They are gifts, most always considered brilliant, smart, loving and sometimes complex when mental illness runs co-morbid with autism. These are the children and adults who need us the most.

One more thing--TAC has their own agenda and really won't give a shit about those questions being answered. They are a one track mind, believe in forced treatment, and believe dx'd people off meds are a danger to society and will take any news article they can find to hype that theory with their twisted re-wording of headlines. On any given day they have things there such as "Meds were free, if only he was taking them, this tragedy was preventable, ..." etc. They have Pharma funding, and are pushing a Haldol under the skin disk for long term forced medication use. [outpatient]and [inpatient or in prisons]Haldol is believed to be an anti viral per Torrey himself; he believes cat shit carries the virus that causes SZ--so what better way to keep "society safe" is by implanting Haldol disks by court order in outpatient settings. Think I'm making this up? paranoid? I'm connecting the dots. Everyone should be. Francesca will never receive a response, unless it's a form letter thanking her for her "time".Because they don't believe in misdiagnoses, that's when they call a patient non-compliant and refusing to believe they have an illness, call in the family or NAMI and take it from there.

TAC: squeezes eyes shut, crams fingers in ears, shouts "LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA!"

Guess what, what if every "diagnosis" out there is "wrongful"? Assuming a need for a system is acknowledging that some diagnoses are "right". Let's get radical and say they're all wrong. Current mental health diagnostic and treatment paradigms need to be thrown out and we have to start over with some other way of addressing emotional troubles and suffering. The whole framework needs to be radically removed from any "medical model".

TAC/Psychlaws does not take big Pharma money, they are funded by the Stanley Family Foundation whose heir works for them and identifies as a consumer who benefited from forced treatment.

TAC/Psychlaws does not actually believe everyone who is off meds is a danger to society, it's worse than that. They have cynically chosen dangerousness as a tactic they believe will get them what they want. They have chosen to promote fear of us as a political strategy and they have admitted as much to me personally. In reality they think only a very small group needs forced treatment, but they are willing to have everyone lose their civil rights for that very small group.

They are a political action committee mislabeled as a non-profit. I would not expect them to answer questions any more than I would expect answers from the Swift Boat Veterans.

I wish I could answer the patients questions, for I share them.

I am a scientist who suffers from depression (as another reader put it, not very glamorous). The never ending battle of "just a mood" vs. "chemical / biological" is exhausting. And neither side is helping.

On to a new model, then?

The third question seems intersting to me: "When are we going to have some discussion about the assault suffered BY patients BY their families?" I noticed a little over a week ago (around the 16th, I think) on the TAC blog they had something that seemed to indicate "verbal abuse" and "temper tantrums" were a form of violence when directed at family members by patients.

This brings back a memory for me of having once (a long time ago) complained to a shrink about anger and verbal abuse from other members of my family. He asked me if there was any physical violence involved, and when I said "no" he didn't want to hear any more about it. Whether or not something can be classified as "violence" seems to sometimes depend on who the perpetrator is.

Anyway, here's a story that offers hope of a possible cure for some of what the TAC propogates:

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s2i22360

Best way to deal with misdiagnosis? Tough one. But I assure you that many manics and schizophrenics will not accept their dx, because the illness makes them think that nothing is wrong with them. Most personality disordered will not accept their dx either. Best way is to be really smart and know a lot about mental illness, then to find a really good diagnostician. I really do recommend a clinical psych, as my experiences with MFTs LCSWs, MSWs etc, has not been so good! Furthermore, many psychiatrists will misdiagnose you. If you want to find a great doc who will dx you correctly, I can give you a name or two. Even better is to find cases where a clinical psych and a psychiatrist work together.

Myself, I have been dx'd OCD like 30-40 times. One or two suggested bipolar or schizoaffective disorder. A few suggested psychosis. Once you understand your illness very very well, you will know what it is you have and also you will even understand why the docs are misdxing you! Join an online support group and lay out your symptoms to them. I am on an online OCD group and we can spot the OCDerrs a mile way at night in the fog. After you see the symptoms over and over, they just hit you on the head. I have bipolar in my family and I can spot mania blindfolded in my sleep.

I can even tell you why I get misdx'd. I am not a typical OCD patient - I am confident, outgoing, extroverted and do not seem shy, reserved, fearful or nervous. Some of my OCD symptoms look like psychosis unless you understand OCD really well.

The meaning of life is to know yourself. This goes for your illness. Figure out what you have and how to treat it.

I remember them answering questions like this on there blog a long time ago: http://psychlaws.blogspot.com/2005/10/reader-response.html

It is easy 2 hate them but they are the only ones who have any answers for the people who are the sickest, like my son.