re"It's not clear how much this mortality is driven by injuries caused by meds or by the way schizophrenics take care of themselves"

Just have to point out that the "diagnosis" of schizophrenia can ruin a persons life. Once stigmatized by doctor,family and friends what is there to live for? So to say the (bad)way schizos take care of themselves has no reason/reference is somewhat shortsighted - not looking at the big picture.

And remember that the atypicals are supposed to lower suicide rates, but if you look at clinical trial data -- guess what -- there is an increased risk of suicide in comparison to placebo. If suicide risk is increased in schizophrenia, then shouldn't we be providing treatments that DON'T increase the risk of suicide to an even greater extent?

Great NAMI quote, Philip!

You know, for all of the antipsychotics given to my daughter [at especially high doses inside psych wards] not one of those psychiatrists has ever given her the dx of schizophrenia.[not even today! after 8 years] I find that alarming in itself considering her first dx at age 11 was OCD in 1999.I would like to say I call bullshit. NAMI should be ashamed of themselves. This is why I don't go get "parental support" from them. Good luck to anyone who buys the new Abilify bunk. Have a nice life. For all of the people that read my words who these drugs have helped--great, glad to hear it. For those that these drugs [antipsychotics] did not help--I'd like to hear that too.

Thanks Phillip...the really scary thing is that what NAMI, law enforcement and psychiatry like about these drugs is that they are so much more debilitating to the person taking them than earlier drgus that the person taking them is easier to deal with if significantly less functional which is why people taking them grow to hate them. They are not miracle drugs, just stronger drugs, stronger neurological tranquilizers.

Also, the dehumanization of people labeled mentally ill, as the judge in the zyprexa papers case implied somewhere, the fact that these people die early is early is really a blessing, being diabetic, and such not being nearly as bad as being an untreated mental defective (schizophrenic or bipolar).

As Mark pointed out, having the label of schizophrenic is what causes the harm. And it's hard to know what to do about it. Are we part of the beginning of a backlash against the biopsychiatric holocaust that has been going on? (sorry here's my obligatory I'm not a scientologist) It's terrible that with this information widely known at least in the "mental health professional community" people are still being legally forced to take these drugs and are being legally forced in more places and more numbers.

The day my mother found out not only was I bipolar, but I was also schizoaffective she cried, my father cried and my sister looked at me and said words to the effect she no longer had a sister. It was the second time I ever saw my father cry in my life.

Then my parents ripped their clothes and sat shiva.

Maybe this is why schizophrenics die in such high numbers. It isn't from their illness. It is from their families and friends shunning them and breaking their hearts. "T"o this day I do not tell anyone I know in real life I am schizoaffective and wouldn't even on my deathbed.

Anon, your story is both absurd and heartbreaking. If you can "get by" without telling people you are "schizoaffective," then, for crying out loud, DON'T TELL THEM!!! Your parents "ripped their clothes"? What the hell does that mean?!? Sat shiva? Okee-dokee, is that helpful for schizos?

I only tell people that I'm "bipolar" when I've had too much to drink at parties and, even then, they're like "What?" And I say "Yeah, really. Really bipolar. Just got released from a mental institution." And they're like "What?"

If you're able to keep your "schizoaffective disorder" a secret, then in what language would you term it a "disorder"? Think of other disorders ... (can't think of any, right off the top of my head) ... are they hideable? Can they be kept secret? In what sense is it a disorder? (Gee, I secretly like that Gloria Whats-Her-Name's song, "I Will Survive." If I never tell anyone, is it really a "disorder"?)

Get a grip, people!!! The only thing a psych label is good for is a pension cheque.

I am unfortunately one of the guinea pigs in this experiment with the atypicals and antidepressants in women and teenagers. Though I am twenty now, I was given antidepressants at age fifteen I was on them for three months.I was prescribed the medication for the run-of-the-mill blues. I somehow thought needing to take medication for my sadness legitimized it as real, and romanticized the process of taking meds in the process (hooray advertising!). I do not feel I was made aware of any risks in any sense.

I had some kind of psychotic reaction. I wanted to kill myself, had really strong dissociation symptoms, and suffered delusions. I still get flashbacks. I have posttraumatic stress disorder from taking the medication. (Paxil)

Of course at the end of the time on this medication, I was put on an atypical antipsychotic (risperdal). I started lactating. Yes, as a sixteen year old (at that time), I was lactating. I had to wear breast pads for pregnant mothers. I have very few memories of that time because I wasn't quite sure if I existed. (Take that statement for what you will).

I spent about four years trying to find the right medication after that, and I am still wondering if it was the medication that caused the problem in the beginning. I am currently on lamictal and doing great, for the first time since fifteen. Not sure how I feel about the whole mess, while doctors refuse to admit it was the medication that sent me on such a precipitous decline. I never had any symptoms like that before the medication, and they set in very suddenly.

Francesca, tearing one's clothes and shiva is traditional Jewish mourning.

What I was trying to say- I run a support group, and I see people come in and say "I am so and so and I am bipolar and schizoaffective'.

I usually say when I give talks and go around to people I am just me. If the subject comes up for bipolar I talk about it and have written about it and am working on a book on it. But I never ever tell people I am schizoaffective.

I am truly sorry for any confusion I may have caused you.

Very interesting. Flynn, formerly of NAMI is now the head honcho at TeenScreen!
She pushed the antipsychotics with NAMI and is now pushing suicide screening of kids that will benefit pharmaceuticals.

There is a psychiatric / pharmaceutical plan to "suicide screen" every
child in the United States before they graduate from high school.
Evidence exists that shows massive pharmaceutical backing that will
result in even more overdrugging of kids with psychiatric drugs .

Can you take a moment to view this very short video? Click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfU9puZQKBY

And then sign and forward this petition
http://www.petitiononline.com/TScreen/petition.html to your associates
and everyone you know? It already has over 23,000 signatures.

It's simply a race to inform enough parents so something can be done
about this.

Federal Bill to ban funding for screening here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc110/h2387_ih.xml

Exactly what would you prescribe for schizophrenics? The older drugs had a host of side effects and long term problems that were horrific. Are you suggesting that there are no treatment options that are acceptable for people with schizophrenia? You are at war with the entire class of atypicals but what is your answer? There are people who have been helped by these drugs. I have been.