Addiction in Society

Peter D. kramer would not be happy with you. He believes in protecting the brain from episodes first through medicine and along with therapy. The brain is continually damaged through episodes and psychotic states are always a threat.

Kramer (THE GODFATHER) might put cement shoes on you for such insensitivity.

You certainly deserve credit for openly discussing such things.

Sincerely,David

Are you trying to say that continually having nervous breakdowns is a good thing? That such episodes are natural resting periods in which a person overcomes whatever their problem was beforehand?

Does no one ever consider that, for perhaps a majority of human beings, the pressures forced on us are in themselves destructive? And that if we had a kind, compassionate, gentle and slow culture (instead of psychopathic, manic, bullying, fear-ridden) then the incidence of 'breakdowns' and/or 'episodes' would be negligible?

RD Laing was right in at least one thing: we are social animals who are greatly affected by the behaviors and attitudes of others. Labeling someone as mentally ill because one's failings as a doctor/'healer' evoke e.g. huge frustration in that patient is evil. Yet this is precisely what happens - often.

I've recently come across the work of an Hawaii'ian psychiatrist who cleared his psych wards by looking at his own poor attitudes and behavior towards his patients. That's so inspiring.

The ''great one'' has never once ''overrated'' psychiatry which shows you've never read even one of his books.
Sincerely,David

I agree, psychiatry overrates its ability to cure people.

In Letterkenny, Ireland, where I live, psychiatric staff in the hospital have been abusive to me and others and exacerbated the situation considerably. I have spoken to many young people and heard real horror stories of psychiatrists abusing patients and telling them that they are useless and cannot achieve anything. This is criminal and utterly reprehensible.

However, medication can be a lifesaver in situations of extreme depression.

I *would* like to see professional, scientific programs of treatment based on the latest research made available to patients, perhaps consisting of daily treatments of transcranial stimulation, music therapy, physical and social therapy etc. depending on studies' results on efficacy.

Intensive and prolonged treatment along these lines, if made completely accessible to sufferers, would help not just them, but the Economy, society, family and social happiness, children's development, etc. incalculably.

I remember reading that classic of American Indian literature a few years ago and being struck by his clear psychosis, and how the community treated it: they celebrated his psychotic breaks by considering them "calls to shamanism." In other words, rather than labeling the young man crazy for thinking gods and animals were speaking to him, they took this as a sign that he had special sensitivities to unseen worlds that, if protected and cultivated, could help them all. The whole community actually enacted one of his visions, so he could see it actually happening. Black Elk emerged from this "treatment" as one of the most psychologically stable people imaginable, withstanding the sorts of culture shock we could only experience if a UFO came and took us to another world.

Speaking from first hand experience having been Dx'd bipolar disorder I... (while being a layman...) There are two hypotheses if I am not mistaken, about how anti depressants work. The first and oldest and most prevalent being that a shortage of neurotransmitter chemicals is resolved. This leads to thinking that mental illness is like diabetes -- it is chronic and requires medication. The other and newer and less common hypotheses is that anti depressants allow for neurogenesis to take place. Which if, again, I'm not mistaken, is the same thing as "healing." And this leads to thinking that the brain damage that either led to the illness or was a result of it or both, is reversed slowly but surely because of the medication. That healing takes place and that, unlike diabetes, the patient improves.

I am betting both hypotheses are correct. I think some people grab onto a diagnosis and it becomes a new part of their identity, and they don't as a result believe they can heal. I've never bought into the "can't heal" thinking. I have never had a repeat full blown manic episode since my one and only one which caused the diagnosis, well the ensuing crash into depression caused the diagnosis. Once a BP I, always a BP I, yet I healed and am really not a BP I anymore, I'm probably a BP III. I have not had to take a mood stabilizer in years, since the first months after I was Dx'd. I only take a light dose of Wellbutrin XL.

So Mather healed and even without medication. Or he might have had very long mood cycles, the one lasting a year and a half. As with some other famous people, his manic moods probably was the reason for his entpreneurial drive. So it may be that the NPS tolerated his long down cycles because of how productive he was during his up cycles. There is a very good book "The Hypomanic Edge" which is an American History book written about some famous Americans who the author John Gartner, a psychiatrist, believes must have been bipolar.

At any rate, it is amazing they were able to achieve as much as they did without medication. I think mental illness patients should always be told healing is possible, not that it is impossible and that their condition is automatically chronic.

I am sure we'll know more about the second hypothesis of how anti depressants work as more research is done. It will be interesting. It will be interesting.

I've been wondering since I watched the Burns TV series and appreciate the article.

Thank you for your refreshing article regarding Stephen Mather. I just finished viewing the Ken Burns DVD and was looking around the net for more info on this quite interesting and profoundly effective individual. Having dealt with lifelong depression myself, the one constant and grounding healing technique is time alone, walking in nature. It's not just the release of endorphins but the sensoral environment of absolute balance nature provides, addressing all aspects of the human psyche. A healthy relationship with a therapist that works is of course an invaluable counterpart to helping heal oneself.