What does the research say about the effects of long-term use of psychiatric drugs?  

What does the research show about the effects of long-term use of psychiatric drugs?

Prof. Sami Timimi
child psychiatrist and visiting professor
University of Lincoln

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hat tip and thanks to CEP (Council for Evidenced Base Psychiatry) for the video.

I’m reposting an article that was first published on Mad in America six months ago below as it’s appropriate to the topic of the video. I was on these drugs for over 2 decades. I am glad to be free of them now. I have more clarity of mind than I’ve ever known. I’m happy to be alive for the first time as well.

If I Had Remained Med Compliant…

. . . I would still be on a cocktail similar to the one I began to withdraw from 10 years ago now. I’ve withdrawn from:

84 mg of Concerta
50 mg of Seroquel
200 mg of Zoloft
400 mg of Lamictal
11 mg of Risperdal
3 mg of Klonopin

Take note; I am speaking about my experience of having been gravely over-medicated. This is my experience. Not everyone has heinous experiences on psychiatric drugs. Because of my work first as a social worker serving many who took these pharmaceuticals and now this blog I do know that far too many people do have seriously negative and destructive experiences on psychoactive drugs and that is why I share my own experience that people might learn that there are alternatives that most of us have never been told about. I share my experience so that people might be alerted to the fact that they can make meaningful informed choices even if their psychiatrists and other mental health providers are not sharing such information. I share my experience so that these drugs might only be used in targeted fashion in crisis so that not so many people will be so gravely harmed.

If I had remained med compliant…

I would still have serious metabolic issues including high cholesterol and blood sugar levels. I would likely be diabetic by now, as I was pre-diabetic when I began to withdraw the medications. I was extremely high risk for heart disease and diabetes both. Instead now I have excellent blood lipid and glucose levels both. I was very heavy and found it very difficult to exercise, not because I didn’t want to but because the drugs exhausted me so profoundly.

If I had remained med compliant…

I might have continued to drive while under the influence of drugs that rendered me unsafe on the road: Driving while medicated increases driving risk. I’m glad to be clear headed when I get in the car these days. I never liked or felt comfortable driving while medicated but didn’t feel I could stop doing it. No one wants to give up such a liberty, but I was a danger on the road. I’m grateful to no longer put others in danger because I wasn’t clear headed enough to do the right thing.

If I had remained med compliant…

I would not have been able to tune into my body in order to learn how to eat so that I might heal many health conditions including my endometriosis: (Endometriosis? Mine responded to natural care. Here I email the MD who mocked me when I refused her “care”) and severe Irritable Bowel Syndrome: (How I cured my IBS – healthy gut is needed for healthy body and mind).

Learning to eat right might have saved me from ever being drugged so heavily in the first place had that sort of education been on offer when I was in crisis and the years following. It was not. Diet and nutrition can be deeply and profoundly healing and is important as a foundational factor to all well-being. The drugs mask so many issues that I would not have been able to find the multiple sensitivities I had to foods had I remained on the drugs. Drugs obfuscate many things, not just food issues.

If I had remained med compliant…

I would not have had the capacity to meditate deeply. I would not have discovered how everything matters. I would not have found my voice and passion. I now live knowing that I am alive. I felt like the walking dead for many years in comparison. Even with debilitating chronic illness caused by the drug iatrogenesis I appreciate my life in ways I simply could not when I was chemically subdued. I wish I had known the drugs could harm me like this. Again, this is why I share my story, that others might not ever become ill like this. Even if one chooses to use meds it’s possible to use them much more judiciously and perhaps only during crisis.

If I had remained med compliant:

I wouldn’t understand the simple joys of caring about my hygiene and my surroundings. Psych drugs, especially neuroleptics (anti-psychotics) seem to create apathy in many people. An apathy that made no sense to me and clearly doesn’t make sense to others who experience it either, which makes it all the harder to bear and understand. The only reason I bothered tending to home and self at all was so that I might be socially acceptable. I didn’t do it for myself and it was very difficult to manage even doing it for the sake of others when I was so exhausted and apathetic from all the drugs. It was difficult to muster any energy for all the things I had to do to survive, really. Living was a drag. Plain and simple.

Now I love a clean house and I take meticulous care of my body. I enjoy chores when I’m healthy enough to do them as well. My house is not as clean as I’d like it, but it’s because I’m not well physically, not because I deeply don’t care in some sort of strange unclear guilt-ridden way. I was bedridden for so long it’s now a joy to be able to use my body for what it was intended. I love doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, gardening and doing the laundry along with pretty much anything that involves moving. I mindfully do everything I do as a moving meditation. Life is a meditation. I will never take such things for granted again. I hope some day to be able to do all these things regularly because I am healthy enough to do them again.

I want to say more about the hygiene and care of home and surroundings issue. I’ve wanted to write about this for a long time but I’ve not done it and I think it’s because I still have shame around how slovenly I became. I hid it from others fairly well most of the time, but I couldn’t hide it from myself. The fact is the drugs stripped me of some very basic elements of human care. When one doesn’t care about their immediate environment and their bodies, they really just don’t care about themselves. It’s a very painful place to be and yet when it’s caused by drugs it’s all muted and weird and not really who we are at all and so really all that is left is horrible shame because it’s really not congruent with who we are. I felt a searing shame about it all the time. And I’ve often seen the shame in the faces of the clients I worked with at that time. It’s clear that this happens to a lot of folks on these drugs. I visited clients in their homes quite frequently. They would often open their doors with the shame on their faces glaringly apparent. It was painful to see because I truly understood. But not enough to tell them it wasn’t their fault. It was not who they were. It was the drugs stripping them of who they were. At that time I didn’t understand that about myself and so I could not ease that burden for my clients either.

If I had remained med compliant…

I would still look like this:

Instead of this:

This is important more because of how I feel than the weight per se. I can do many things once again that I simply could not do when I was heavy on the medications. My body simply feels better at this weight and drug free. Again, I don’t speak for everyone and I don’t believe that all fat people are unhealthy. I was. See: Psych meds and fat

I had been an athlete prior to the use of psych meds. That was stripped away from me. Now as I slowly get better I use my body in gentle exercise. I do yoga and I hike when I’m able. I simply couldn’t sustain physical activity when I was drugged.

So yes, many improvements, but the cost was high too. I remained compliant far too long for the well-being of my body/mind/spirit. Iatrogenic drug damage can be very serious. See: My story, the aftermath of polypsychopharmacology

I continue to get better physically. It’s slow going, but I enjoy being alive because it’s just a damned amazing thing to behold. This life. On this planet. I’m grateful to be able to deeply appreciate and observe it now in ways I could not prior.

I share my story, too, because had I been given meaningful options when I was 19 years old rather than silenced with numerous neurotoxic drugs and dismissed, I could have been spared these decades of chronic illness. I will call the years I was deadened on drugs chronic illness too, because I certainly was not well. I want to give the option for choice and the human right of choice to young people today. I want people to know that it’s possible to heal and be free of psychiatric drugs both. On this blog there are many stories about people who were told they’d need to be on psych drugs for the rest of their lives, but proved psychiatry sorely wrong.

A few things I’ve learned as a result of having a clear head now that I’m drug free:

For a list of my posts distinctly about my personal journey go here.

Celebrating non-compliance:

Please do not attempt to discontinue psych drugs without first very carefully educating yourself on the risks involved so that you might minimize the chances of developing grave iatrogenic illness if you decide to withdraw: Psychiatric drug withdrawal and protracted withdrawal syndrome round-up

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GENERAL DISCLAIMER: I often publish authors whose articles I appreciate while maybe not agreeing with everything. My pieces, also, cannot stand alone. Some of my work contains ideas that may sometimes seem to contradict other pieces because all cannot be said in short essays. It's wise to avoid assumptions based on a few posts. Attitudes have also not remained stagnant over time and the archives reflect the passage of of many years. Some articles contain links to other resources on the Internet. Links are provided as citations to help identify more information and are not intended to state or imply that this site recommends, endorses, supports, sponsors, or is in any way affiliated or associated with any person or entity associated with the linked material. Use your judgment in all things. Nothing on these pages should be construed as medical advice.

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