Questioning after all these years

Hey @perspective @jay2

I take labels with a hefty grain ... of salt ..

these days its a rock of pink Himalayan salt.

but I dont throw it all out like the baby and the bath water ...

Gotta use what makes sense and help us live with meaning.

I think the treatment ie the lack of treatment- the isolation, boredom and lack of opportunities creates the symptoms. I recently saw an episode of insight wherein a schizophrenic had held down a cleaning job for some years. Poor guy seemed quite bright. A lot of back slapping for getting a guy a job the normal population would go crazy doing. Kind of like the same stuff they put on YouTube some woman is in a mental asylum and the doctor asks her her hopes for the future. When she seems perplexed and disinterested in the question the doctors notes her blunt affect and lack of motivation. Oh my god

Hi @perspective,

Welcome to the forums. Thank you for sharing this. I think you're raising some really interesting points and questions. I can understand feeling disillussioned and disheartened by what the MH system and MH practiciones have to offer.

I'm curious as to wether other members have recieved diagnosis that feel/felt more like a cage than a gateway to getting the right treatment - and if you are out there, what did you do? How did you cope?

Also interested to hear from people who might have found that recieving thier diagnosis was helpful. How did it help you?

Its an important topic @perspective. Thanks for bring it up.

Hi @perspective, I get your feelings of frustration and doubt. At the same time, there are many physical health issues that have no cure, but are chronic conditions for life. I have some of them, Crohns Disease being the one that has the most major impact on me, aside from my mental health diagnosis of Bipolar 1.

It is frustrating that there is effectively only symptomatic treatment for mental illness. But I have experienced the same frustration in relation to my Crohns (which I've had since I was 18, now aged 56).

But I am grateful that significant relief of symptoms is available for both my physical and mental illnesses. Without that symptomatic treatment, I would be much more extremely distressed with my mental health, and in real life strife (possibly even homeless the way I was going). Without the symptomatic treatment of my Crohns, I would likely be dead. None of this takes the condition away, but has improved my life enormously.

I guess what makes me more positive about being treated in this symptomatic way for my mental health is that I feel I now have a reasonably appropriate diagnosis (though it took a long time getting there). It has made more sense of many things that have happened in my life, extreme behaviours, extreme distress, and the like.

I take a multi-pronged approach to my mental health these days, seeing the same GP for many years, who has come to understand my mental health issues a lot better over time. I also regularly see a psychiatrist (focussing on medications) and a psychologist (talk therapy). Semi-regular attendance at activities put on by a local community mental health organisation also helps. And the help of this forum is invaluable.

If you get the chance, it would be interesting to read more about your diagnosis, feelings about it, and your journey in life to get to this point.

Wishing you well, Maz.

Thinking people question,it is only by questioning things get investigated and changed. The people (Australian) questioned our politicians for years re our banks behaviour. Our politicians did not want to face up to what they knew deep down was a problem. They had to be pushed into an investigation and look at the shocking revalations that came forth. Things will change now. Every one is entitled to their own opinion,which is based mainly on their own expieriences. On our mental health journey most of us over the years would have received several difference diagnosis. You can go to 4 different psychiatrists and get 4 different diagnosis. Most of us would have struggled to accept the conflict in diagnosis, coming to terms with it can take years. The diagnosis is based on your feelings and history, there is no tests to back up the Psychiatrist opinion. The majority of their patients would have been put on psychotropic drugs. Psychotropic drugs are mind benders. 2/3rds of women are put on this type of drug. We are told we have a brain chemical imbalance. A brain chemical balance can not be proved as there is no tests to confirm it. The main side effect of these drugs is to flaten feelings,so you are blocking out what it means to be a feeling human being. You have blocked out having to deal with the problems in your life that caused your discomfort in the first place,unless you deal with it ,it will still be there. In the mean time you have to cope with the side effects of the drug which can be astronomical. Psychotropic drugs destroy brain tissue, they are toxic to the human body. I could go on for page after page on the woes of psychotropic drugs but the powers to be would delete this reply. I have been there and done that, I had an adult child die from the side effects of these drugs. I refuse to take them, I manage to get along with natural methods. For more infomation look up Orthomolecular medicine...Soteria project....About.com Question.Question.Question never stop Questioning

I believe that psychiatry like psychology are ideologies. If you go to a psychiatrist you are referred by a doctor - you will be prescribed pills. There will be little need for therapy because henceforth you are , for the most part untreatable. It is a Freudian bias that has been in place for decades. Psychosis cannot be treated but neurosis can , hence cognitive behaviour therapy. I have been seeing my psychiatrist for decades I notice that she takes copious notes but she offers no solutions. We talk but it’s like a conversation with a girlfriend. When she takes notes I believe she’s writing in order to prove the diagnosis. She’s interested in the difficulties I have in human interaction. I recently had some trouble with some women whom I found quite bitchy. My psychiatrist told me she had been worried about me. I was eventually accepted into this group. I still don’t like them and have discontinued contact. This is the problem ...we are stripped of our confidence and our interactions sociallly can occasionally be difficult. This is called paranoia by our caring experts. I’ve been recently seeing a psychologist who has offered me strategies and the problem has eased significantly. I’m middle aged and I’ve come to the conclusion that psychiatry should have sunk with the ark.