Recovery for Mental Illness Redefined

risk assessment
diagnosis
short term drug treatment send them to sleep -sedate them...
keep the patient safe
keep the public safe
Its not an easy job...

I was that patient who was never going to do anything good with his life again - but here I am. no fear facing the past.. psychiatric treatment was only neccessary for me because i missed drug counselling and broke down and got swept up.. the treatment in some cases made me worse and ultimately i through it all i found the correct path. no treatment. i actually begged them to stop my brain from working at one point..they presvribed acourse of drugs tah did all of that and more...it was a horrific time. I dont possess the full story but i can remember the challenge and soometimes paing of returning to life and work!!!

I am so lucky because some of the people less worse than i are doing the "shuffle" as we speak. some people are locked in forensic care for ever... complex care they call it here... It's sad that people like me who have made a reovery are not really known about as mcuh as the guy who broke his leg... Mental illness can be character building the stigma has to go..!

To be honest i recovered by being too scared and selflfess to do myself in and too scared to go out the house -- abstinence of use was the cure for me and time - familly support---
I was as petrified of the doctors as taking more drugs- they made it worse... There is a stigma around psychiatry some of it is deserved some of it not...

I was prescribed Actifed for asthma control or something at night as a baby - I would take the medecine and go to bed --- i saw flying dragons going in and aorund the walls and into my brain at the age of 3-4years old.. I remembered thinking it was fine at the time and finding it amazinig and even comforting/ exciting - that was until i mentioned it to my mother and she told me never to tell anyone about it and that it was all a dream.. It escalated - I would experience a recurring set of dreams sometimes of loosing my mother to getting trapped on a mouse trap board - trafic lights and signs would come throught the walls - an LSD like trip would ensue inevetibally ending in my screamin deliruim and thrashing about trying to do what my mother was saying to me as she cradled her love into me while i went through it- tihnk of nice things! santa - apple trees - the hallucinations and nightmares would eventually abate. At the suggestion of the GP they bribed me not to scream the house down every night with money by the bedside - called it night frights ---This was halluncations, flying tea cups, spiders, boaring into me - squeezing walls and esoteirc expoeriences uncommunicable by writing or speech. Evetnually the doctors twigged they were causing it with ther evil broth - a hallucogenic acrifed ...it was removed from the market and rebranded with a non lethal content... ok so they take me off it and bingo back to a normal kid with no issues... not until much later... when expierencing an LSD trip --- a high dosage gave me my firt taste of fear - the bad trip - a drug induece psychotic episode -- i was transported into a different world and subsequently in reality was banging off the walls - unbeknowst to me - as i fought by not fighting the horrendous catch 21 feelings you get when you experience such an episode...permanent brain damage and pyschosis- infinate fear... i cant explain it - thankfully. in short i was experimeting with ecstasy, lsd, marijuana, solvetns, amphetimines - none of them unitl that time had given me a bad experience - subconsciously i was acting out a self fullfilling prophecy - go to the limits and try and get back -- for recognition and for the ride.. bare with me...
so i thought i better do it again 0- dot ask why -- this time ist was even worse...i was pretty much permantly scarred by it -- i even had to stop smoking marijuan to stop repated psychosis - i ended jumping out of a window head first during an episode after a period of recovery whereby visting my firend i was encouraged to join in and became pyschtioc again - i got delivered back home and causeda secen- i thought my parents were dead and replaced by very clear machines to impersonate them - but they weere still alive and trapped, when i wacthed TV i woud see footage from hideen cameras which showed me and my friends it- got worse and worse until - i cam eot the conclusiogn somehow during a trip where i had ultimate knowledge or the delusion that iw as kind of a messiah os some sort - or similar - anyway it all ended very badly- i had amotbik crash and almost killed myself - saw myslef dead on teh ground and tried to help oinly to realise it was me -- anothe sotry - i came too and spent 3 months on bed at home - smoking bongs with a broken femour for compnay... slowing going mad...1 -2 years later of a slwo death ---ad after the beark up opf my band (im a guiatrist - isaw drugs as a way to further my career)i was hiding my illness or delusons for fear of being dicoverd tha i had twigged i was in some sort matrix like world - i tried to coummincate this to people -who thought i was hiding something, all they could think of when i failed to to tell them i had something to say but could get not get the words out was to do with hidden sexuality not a hidden illness - they all and tried to treat me for being coy about being gay - but i was actually not gay i actually sufering a psychois and scared of admiting it scared of psychiatry ... i was unable to tell them i had lost my mind... so i got worse adn worse specially as peopl kept telling me it was fine that tehy knew adn i coulde be anything i wanted - i thought they meant they knew i was the chosen one or something tehy made me worse--- so when i was treated it was all wrong -- i was a drug F**k up not a homsexual - it gave me a huge complex i can tell you.. but in the end i ealsied so what i was...I was scared of admiting my drug pshychoiss it to my father --my mother was too slow to take note -the illnes spiralled and gathered pace- iwas conifed to my ropom for months betwenn brioef forasy into pubs to get drunk alone --friends all gone as i had gone-- a i was a deserted ghost ship for a few years between 1992 and 1996--- it came to a head in 1994 i was scared of admiting i was ill to my father because i could not admit the drug abuse in doing so... and i was scared i woudl half my brain cut out like one flew over the cuckoos nest... I watched televison with films of me on it with my familly who only saw the news...vanity no psychosis... people converasations were about me.. trains had voices in tunnels whioch woudl call me a "C**t " --- crowds would murmoutr my name... i was unable to read a book, watch a film, have anormal conversation, and on top of that i was being shouted for not having a job, society was cruel- mishapen and uncaring - people were unkind and alien- in short the world sucked... i was unable to work -- factory work lasted minutes not days - i was wrecked..unable to perfomr even the most simple task like assembling a window frame or perfomr a repetivite task...it was torture...
-- to cut it short -- one day i had to make a decision bewteen fight or flight with my old man one night after rowing with my mother and brother whom i thought were robot replacemetns and not the real ones whom, i had forgotten about at some point, and jumped head first to end it - out of my bedroom window 2 foot up-the idea was to break my neck and smash my head on the concrete below - it was fine as i would wake up in a Virtual raeality simulator and get some recognition for bravey and loyality of some faith -- gp ahead do it -- ok i will---my delusion was telling me- half way down the building - i had a moment which although in reality lasted maybe a second it lasterd a fair while- i was elecrocuted in the mind by a bolt of lighting half way down the world exploede dblue lighting and i saw myself falling headfirst out the window falling down the building - not time not the way... so i reached out i got a hand to a ledge and swung myself around and fell like a cat feet first -- through a rotary washing line- getting struck ny lighting (imaginery) againg as the concrete landing smashed my heals of my feet and cracked paveing stones.. They headr the bang in the house and the family panicked adn came for me -- i ran for my life i didnt feel it. all hell let loose at the moment. Effectively i was like the Harry Truman show cahracter - gone off set.. i felt this very storngly and also gel there was a gateway or someting back and i had to reach before my pursuers woudl get me -as they would undoutledly givbe me that labotomy i was recently getting worried abouit.. so i ran. ran like a deer on broken feet. Ran down a long green with lights and cars comgin after me and the dog.... i peeled my clothes off and threw em away as i felt they werr acting liek an aerial man made -- i ran naked on broken feet the wind whistling past my ears, faster than lynford christe ever dreamed of- the devil and his gang in pursuit...therr game laid bare... i ran for my soul 0 and found a caravan parke in a parking lot. I got under neath and hung like speid man to the bottom around the axles -- the search party could nto find me- even wehn they were 2 fgoot away. i was convin ced i was invisble as i was off ground. so i begunu several hours of mouse and cat chasing from the police, familly and friends around a posh subruban neighbour hood. i worked out that if i ran along hedge rows and walls adn roofs i coudl stay off the radar of these dumb poeple. I had strength of a mad man. i was mad after all. I almos got caught by two policeman as i hid in agarden - by stadning on one leg starked bollck naked as tehy walked by 10 yards away. i was convenice this was furthe eviden that the eart awas a computer program and that 2 legs would conduct and give me away. My bike crash has left a large chuk of metla in my fermur a flute and nail. i tried to pull it out at somepoint as i thought this was the devie put in me to keep track of me...luyckily i was too busy trying to eascpe the search party to loate a suitable tool... i had craled through hedges ofblackthorn and jumped headfirst backwrads over walls and hedges. my whole body was lacertead and bleeding from the hedgerows...Believe it or not i had followed some lasers in the night sky which led to a house on a hill away from the searhc party - who had gone off in the direciotn of the cliffs at the sea - beachy head to search for me... i was still running liek spider man around this posh estate. There were some sealed off water tunnesl adn bore holes under gournd i tried to get and reapeatedly hurt my hands trying to get throught the solid metal doors.. looking for my exit to the real world i had surely come from...I touched garden gate and the gate comfirmed in a voice my name and let me in. holy F**k this it - home again... all this stuff in my head will go in just a minute... i went to the back door - this was the place - i would find the door to me real reality.. i tried the back door - it too greated me as i touched the handle - aboe the house lasers pointed down to the spot i was.. it opened i was in a house..a conseravtory - i crossed the floor and trie the back door...i opend into a lounge - not portal no wakey up in a vr machine somewhere( this was before the matrix was made incidentally) i must hav beenn too late. There was a wall of videos and a mahcine... Ok so i had to find a video with instructions of where my safe house was... the owners of the house cam downstairs to find a young man, maked and bleeding all over, trying to slot a video in the machine.. What do you want? I ahve jsut come in from the cold i answered... They gave me a dressing gown and told me i had to call the police... i asked thejm if i coudl call my attorney-- i thouhgt me best friend at that time lookintg around the cliffs for my body was some kind of special agent between this world and my real world. I calle dhis house adn spome to his mum whoc told i was in S**t The popel were really nie and made me a cup of tea, i knew then that it was all over- i had failed to escape and would let fate take its course. The police were called and arrived with mother suspiscoulsly wrapped in a blaken in the back seat - looking traumatised - i got taken to hospital wathhing it all unfiole like a film, i had finalyl flipped... anyway the point is i mnade a full recovery as much as you can afterall that hunter s thompson kind of living i had.. i was treated --- congnitive process restructuring they called... It was F**king hell for several years - i was at some point treated with chlorpprmazine - which made me unable to orgasm, slightly incontinetn, i trie dtaxi driveing years later before getting brielfy hooked on smak and crack amnwa was unable to cope with work - unable to function.... evenutally by the removal of temptation, a complete chagne of friends (desertesrs), parental help - Dr Yay of the marsden - i returned to work in 1997 --- i was told i weould neve r be any good again. At one point after the meduication i was uinable to read a sentence or speak - i had to relaer how to be a person..how to talk about normal things-- i workd in an office now -- i dont particualrly like- getting there was the toohghset thing i had to do... my illness never left toally - when hungry iot comes back and bites...I find ways of dealinig with it -- it is ok to have thoughts of an unuseful nature and irrelevant topic --you can put them in a box and shut the lid-- NLP can help you do this.... Cognitive process with the correct sleep pattern and the correct feeding pattern. i recommend trying shredde wheet. i have been left with a permanent spasmodic gut, OSA / disturbed sleep, auditotry hallucinations with background noises. extreme paranoia on and off. i find that eating carbohydrates and keeping active doing a job is a good key... it has been a long road... Especially when you are in a meeting at work and your barin siwthces off - the walls become liquid --you slod down adn catn tell how loud you are talking or even whether you are making sense and it happens evey day -- well it doesnt matter- peopl are so busy woth their ownb thought processes - very few even realise you are strugguling for words. When this happens i east an apple - it give muy brain food.... Overall what i will say is that if it was not for psychiatric treatment adn believ me some of what they did to me was not for my good but mayeb the greater good i might well have gone completely postal....and ended up in permanent forensic care.. as it happens i am pretty mich recovered to the point where i am not scared, i can work and have a realtionship, i can experience and empathise...where by in the past i couldnt... you know the hope that something maybe tending the light at the end of the tunnel got me through that and support from my long suffering parents... Thorazine or something did knock me for 6 yep... i was a wreck for a while and ever now sometimes i feel quite horrific and sometimes i feell astomisingly good and can see so far in human nature and the workings of society and life that maybe it has been all worth while... i chose to learn how to promgram computers adn did it with half the brain i have know- it was a marathon on one leg...if the will is there you will recover...i did! i did fall back into the trap again and crwaled out 3 years ago - changed my friends again - now i am saving for a home -yes i have scars from the ailment, treatment and recovery.. but without the process i went through I cannot see how i would have come this far?

Typical Media.
They are sponsored by numerous drug companies, that will shrug off anything that threatens their profits.

Exactly.
After 2 failed attempts, I was prescribed 3 different 'medications'.
But only when I stopped taking them did I feel more balanced.

I still feel as bad as ever now, but at least I know that medication doesn't help me.
I was more suicidal on it than off.

People think that because you don't fit in their little box of ideas, that you are mentally ill.

Good job psychetruth. Several of my friends have signed onto recovery in response to a Pat Deegan conference in Toronto several years ago. We support each other in our interests and activity. I believe it is important to follow your dreams. Occupation in the sense of interests and activity can help to boost self esteem. Nothing helps like a positive attitude. Well done!

Definitly no hope in psychiatry.

Oh I agree. The evidence out there actually points to the fact that even extreme states of mind such as schizophrenia, psychosis or bipolar episodes are nothing more than temporary mental states brought about by a reaction to extreme stress and/or trauma or drugs and that given a sufficiently safe environment and gentle enough support, the person eventually returns to full cognitive functioning and recovers.

Jane Elliot did the Brown Eye/Blue Eye thing...that's mainly what I think of about mental illness, it's a label...I think persons with mental illness do recover from this Brown Eye/Blue Eye syndrome, and the personal problems that they have are no different than the problems people without mental illnesses. I think the "recovery" is more about learning to deal with social problems.

The truth is people can fully recovery from mental disorders but since psychiatry is really powerless to cure their patients they had to redefine recovery.

Still I agree even a consumer learning to live a fulfilling life despite their disability is an improvement from simply sedating the patient.

The recovery concept was originally consumer based. It was a protest against the assumption in psychiatry that people can't become cured because the truth is people do really recover. Psychiatry for some reason can't grasp the idea that people can fully recover so they have perverted the concept into "living a fulfilling life despite your disability."

There is a video clip on here from a mental health conference where the guy says that the "recovery" concept is the best thing he has seen come along in mental health...to which I say "Huh?"...How did they justify their paychecks with out it? To me that is just common sense; but then again I am just a consumer.

Logic Fallacy: Ad Hominem and False Generalization

You indicate a belief that cures would be suppressed by a corporation without providing proof that such would occur. The attack is on the character and not on the proven history of the business itself. This is then used to generalized that all companies would act this way when you have no evidence, again, that this is the case.

That is one of the main philosphical problems with the current method of "diagnose" DSM criteria is based on deviation from some theoretical concept of normal.

The DSM doesn't even define what mental health is.

The system doesn't try to make mentally healthy individuals, just people that learn to live a successful life despite their disabilities.

For that matter things listed as "Medication Side effects" should be regarded as other illnesses and disorders needing cure and-or recovery.

Could it be that Recovery does not mean cure; because there is no Diagnostic Statistic Manual of Recovery or Diagnostic Statistic Manual of Possible Cures?

psychiatrists make a living of out of not curing, and not helping people and from no interest in whollistically curing the person at all..they are vultures on the debilitated..

the scary thing is that is a 'cure' was discovered for such illnesses the drug companies would murder/blackmail/threaten the inventors to suppress..a multi-billion industry is based on ineffective cures which non-responsive desperated people are reliant on forever!

no no no if your serious about curing mental illness look into neurofeedback.

I can't believe that statement on such an official webpage! I really hope psychiatry cleans up their act. Complete recovery is absolutely possible. One thing people might NOT be able to recover from are the long-term effects of taking serious drugs perscibed by psychiatrists.

very right
tnx

Meditation and cognitive behavior therapy can cure Post Traumatic Stress Disorder permanently. In time the anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, paranoia, hypervigilance all gone as though they were never there. As though I had never suffered 10 years of child abuse. Meditation worked where Perphenazine failed

Mike, thank you for sharing this recovery concept with us.
I have added you on my favorites.
Thanks again.

Nice one. I suffer from PTSD and receive Motival. Day in , Day out. It helps. Kevin. Belfast , N.Ireland.

Awesome video Mike 5**** thanks again. As a former bipolar disorder sufferer, all I can say is, they are wrong. It is possible to beat mental illness on your own terms and be both medication and symptom free.

search YOUTUBE at "What Is Neurofeedback ? - EEG INFO Videos" and watch this new era of mind recovery. this stuff is incredible for mental illness and will reclaim your life.

neurofeedback is using computers to restore the brain back to orignal condition

use neurofeedback to rid any left over mental illness.