If you’re a member of Facebook

Hi,

I’ve been looking for a support group on Facebook that’s basically the topic of your blog — detoxing and then dealing with a DSM disorder without meds. Do you happen to know of one? I’ve done a couple of searches but couldn’t find anything.

From personal experience I have to say the meds just don’t work. And if people simply stopped believing in them, chances are they wouldn’t work for them either. And there certainly aren’t any meds that treat the cause of the disorder — as no scientist knows the cause. And the entire industry is based on self reporting from patients who supposedly have a distorted outlook on reality. So…no thanks. I’m happy to read books and whatever, but forget about paying $250 an hour for a shrink. And with all their side effects, the meds just aren’t worth it. I DO wish that someday someone would discover the actual causes of the disorders so that they could start treating them instead of masking their symptoms.

Anyway, I’ve been detoxing for 6 months now…and it’s been rough on a number of fronts. Mostly physical side effects, constant nausea, inability to read and so on. My friends and family are very supportive…but they don’t get what it’s like to be a very capable person and to simply be UNABLE to do certain things right now. Or how muddled my brain is at the moment. They also seem to think the absence of meds means I’ve been “cured” whereas in fact it represents lost hope and all the anger that goes along with being given what I now consider to be false hope. By now the shrink industry should really know better. The meds don’t work for long term garden variety mood disorders — especially for high functioning people.

It would be great to have other people who might be able to relate to my situation. My docs have been useless on this front as well — as their focus is putting people on the “right” meds not getting them off of meds altogether. In fact, they refused to help me detox. It’s really pathetic.

I do have some alternative docs to see in the New Year that may be able to help me through the transition…but an FB group would be great! Sometimes I think their should be some sort of AA thing for people with mood disorders — not so much for the withdrawal from meds (although that would be helpful) but just for the basic principles of AA — knowing what you have control over vs what you don’t, becoming healthy so that you can help others, having sponsors, being a sponsor, and so on…I’ve had a number of friends turn out to be addicts in the last few years, so I have a pretty good idea of what the _ _A groups (NA, CMA, AA, OA) are about. And having a mood disorder or mental health issue is just about as stigmatized as being a drug addict.

Judith