I lost my kidneys to psychiatrists. Still, I don't call myself anti-psychiatry. I hold on to a probably self-deluding hope that psychiatry can be reformed. I have lost years off my life expectancy to psychiatry and been unable to work for medical reasons for years and when I get a transplant (soon they say) will have to take drugs for life with their own dangerous side effects. Am I angry about it? You bet. Do I think it is helpful to pretend psychiatry is going to go away if we yell loud enough? No.

Wow. Alison, big fan of your website, but I had no idea about what is going on in your personal life. Thank you for sharing and your optimism.

There are some good things about modern meds. They've invented things like Penicillin. My mom knew a girl who spent her life in an iron lung. I had to ask her what one was, they didn't exist in my generation.

I could be really bitter about the last 3 months of my life. I've met bad doctors who should have found another calling in life, and I found real compassionate doctors (and nurses) who did everything they could to try to make me better, and even held my hand when I felt I was at the end of my rope, on six different pain pills and fentanyl patches over almost every area of my skin on top of that. But I am not. Somehow the experince humbled me and helped me find the path I need to take in life.

Philip, please don't take the comments away. I agree with some of them, and some of them make me shake my head in anger, but I will fight to the death for people to say what they want/need to say.

To the tune of "You are my sunshine"- Please don't take the comments away.

Peace.

The work to read and moderate comments on a web page such as this one, I expect to be a full time job in itself. Seriously.

As many of you may or may not know, I lost my career due to a very unethical police department and psychiatrist. Philip kindly wrote an award winning article about my battle entitled, Good Cop, Sad Cop which is all over the Internet. As Philip also realized through his extensive personal and professional knowledge, I was not receiving proper care from my own psychiatrist and referred me to his own psychiatrist who placed me on minimal and proper meds. As I continue to rebuild my life nearly 4 years later, I am currently finishing my degree in the field of Forensic Psychology with the hopes of obtaining my M.S.W. We can complain about the system all we want but if we really want change, we can act appropriately through proper activism, education, and properly getting our stories of stability. When I was a police officer, I was constantly mistreated by mainstream society due to the inappropriate actions of my co-workers though I had never filed a use of force report (because I never used force) nor had a citizen complaint of any type in my nearly 10 years of working as a law enforcement officer. Of those 10 years, I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder and either not medicated or inappropriately medicated. When those of you who assign a stereotype to TherapyFirst, you are doing the same thing as when society cast all mentally ill people as crazy, unstable and all the other stereotypes that come with such a diagnosis. It is wild rants that only perpetuate an already horrendous stigma towards those with a mental illness diagnosis. Is that really helping our cause?

I don't think TherapyFirst is getting such a strong response because he's a psychiatrist. It's not unusual for mhp's to post here. Grohol posted last week or the week before I believe. The tone of TF's comments and their extremely personal level is what I find inappropriate and offensive. I would imagine that s/he'd have these same sorts of problems on sites unrelated to psychiatry.

I have to say that if I had a blog I don't think I would allow comments or share my email because of how stressful it could end up being. Maybe I would just not read the comments and post that there is no moderation of them... though I'd still be tempted to. It's gotta be tough to deal with personal attacks or readers fighting with each other.

Hey Philip,

I hate to hear people being so cruel to you. Your work really means a lot to me; I read your site every day. I think you provideone of the most moderate and balanced positions out there, and as a result, people in both camps probably hate you.

Thank you for continuing to do this

Natalie

Great post....said with such grace, mercy and (shall I say)...restraint! :)

"I'll limit my sharp words for psychiatry to ..."




I don't think a blogger should feel restricted in their own blog, it sort of poisons the same style and commitment to subject that attracts readers in the first place. If other people need to chill and learn to play nicely with others, that should have no bearing on your freedom to write as you choose.

Hey Philip
What you do is greatly appreciated by many many people, try not to let this affect your work her eon this great blog, which is one of the best in my opinion...

:)

On the subject of psychiatrists , I will proudly admit, I hold more than a little contempt for the profession itself..
But psychiatrists are human too ..
(although some may often behave otherwise)

Personally I don't hate the psychiatrists themselves..
But I do think that they are in fact the ones with the mental problems..(delusional in a lot of ways)
A lot of them are misguided into it..
Some of them are sadistic and twisted in nature yes, and it is the type of profession which attracts that kind of individual , all positions of power tend do, like the police and the army etc..
It is very easy to demonize psychiatry , and in sometimes this is entirely justified given its history of harm, but by dividing debate between patients and psychiatrists , anti-psychiatry and pro-psychiatry we will never progress and learn ..
We all need to voice our opinions..
But this can be done in a reasoned and logical manner without causing harm and promoting hatred..

Angie, I am so inspired by what you are doing!

What an excellent example of taking a awful situation (discrimination and wrongful termination in my opinion!)and turning it into a positive! I am very impressed, and wish you all the success in the world!:)
Stephany

Hi all of you.
I have to be out of computer because of my health.
Please, respect is important.
My 5 minutes are over.
:(

Stephany-
Your words mean a lot to me as you have always been a source of inspiration. My frustration still looms and I still complain and suffer from the same sort of subpar medical care that the rest of us do but you summed it up perfectly the other day. We choose the doctors we see, and some of them are not great, though we have choices. I am choosing to follow in your footsteps and instead of just complaining about the situation, I would like to use my situation to be a part of the solution, even if it is just in a small way.
Thanks again,
Angie

I tripped over your blog recently and think you and it are both amazing. I know people who have completely recovered from dx bipolar without the use of prescription drugs, and I also know people who would not be able to have anything like a life without them.

I know people who quit Paxil cold turkey and nearly died. I personally had a horrific experience with Prozac, but I have friends who love it. I just watched a loved one come off of 7 years of Prozac, and I boil with rage that informed consent about the 'discontinuation syndrome' isn't legally required by prescribers. But that's just me, and I represent for no one but me.

The issue is respect for individuals. If anybody gives you a hard time about authentically representing yourself, they've missed the essence of what your blog is all about, in my view; that you respect yourself enough to be able to deliver your opinion without demeaning others. I don't think it's too much to want the same. To demand civility in your own space!

There is no one size fits all answer. Drugs are almost always a temporary fix, and when they aren't we as a culture need to quit blaming people for their brain chemistry.

Ignore the haters, and reserve your wit, your scorn, your research, your advocacy and your passion for the people and issues that count.

You rock, dude!

I've respectfully added a link to Furious Seasons on my site. That's all the comment I have; if you'd care to delete this comment, no worries. Good job you are doing here. I found this site through Google Blog Search. Posts from here came up frequently when I did a search for depressants and have found many interesting posts. Unless I'm lazy, then I've just found interesting headlines. Informative either way. Thank you.

Angie,

You need to know that as a result of what you endured is the reason I am a public mental health advocate now.

Walk on and stand tall!!

Stephany

I try to be respectful even though I goofed and accused you of editing me out when in fact you did no such thing, I had just looked in the wrong place because I have many memory problems. It must be hard work to have to deal with some of us, apparently myself included. It's impossible for me to imagine doing all the research you're doing and posting it so articulately, on a non-profit basis, and having a challenging career to be responsible for besides. Thanks, it has been helpful to me.