The day I was invited to write regularly for Robert Whitaker’s website, Madinamerica.com, alongside the best mental health writers in the country, I felt like I’d been called up to the Major Leagues.
But my first thought was to make sure I did not confuse happiness and mania.
I felt honored, recognized, and very proud. But 30 years after my last manic attack, I still worry that sudden flattering happiness might lead to exhilaration, then mania.
So before I raced to the laptop to start my first blog for him, or tell my friends the wonderful
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice, it’s a personal story. Medications help some people, but not everyone.
The hardest part of reducing medication, for me, is feeling more feelings. It’s like taking a layer of bubble wrap off my emotions. In fact, I had to reverse my second dose reduction because I was losing my temper and screaming at people too often, for no reason. So I’m taking one-third less, instead of two-thirds.
At this level, I fall asleep better, and wake up earlier and brighter. I’m more focused, happy, creative, and productive on two pills than on one, or
Many mental health advocates are for careful and judicious use of medications, not the anti medication critics we are assumed to be.
Many times when people in the recovery movement criticize medications, people accuse us of being anti-medication. Recently, our UnDiagnosing Emotional Distress Facebook discussion group decided to recreate our mission. We now focus on social messaging around sharing complete recovery based on knowing that emotional suffering is a normal response to abnormal events. This is part of our move to solution based advocacy, where instead of critcizing the current paradigm, we are creating a new conceptualization of emotional distress with completely differnet treatment options.
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