Recovery from psychosis: Listen to the many voices of those who have been there

It’s quiet among the scribes here at Beyond Meds. I thought I’d share a collection of work about recovery from psychosis. This is a tab that is always at the top of the home page on Beyond Meds and has many links to many recovery stories. I’ve cut and pasted it to share with daily readers today.

There is also a recovery stories page for those who have not dealt with extreme states that get labeled psychotic. For these other stories go here.

This post may be cut and pasted in it’s entirety and shared without further permission.

Whether you choose to see psychosis or other extreme states of consciousness as healing crisis of the psyche or you consider it spiritual emergency, many people find their way through them without meds or with meds only for a short time or intermittently as needed for relief. This is something that is not widely appreciated or understood. If given the right supports and a safe place most people can heal from such situations.

To see documentation of a program that gets these sorts of results in an entire area of Finland see here. They’re seeing an 85 to 90% recovery rate (with very little or NO medication) in a population that in the US is told they will never recover at all!

This is a collection of stories of people who have come through such episodes generally getting labeled either schizophrenic or bipolar. The label isn’t so important I’ve found and there is lots of crossover between anything that gets labeled psychotic.

These are the stories of people’s journey’s through their dark nights of the soul sometimes lasting months, other times lasting years, but all ending fully recovered. In addition these stories involve freedom from drugs/medications. Most everyone on these pages were told they would need drugs for the rest of their lives and proved psychiatry sorely wrong.

There are more recovery stories here that are not specific to psychosis, but to other forms of mental distress that get labeled bipolar or depressed etc.

Two more recent posts on the subject of psychosis recovery:

“Rethinking Madness: Towards a Paradigm Shift in our Understanding and Treatment of Psychosis”
“People recover from psychotic disorders all the time, all over the world.” Our mental health system’s denial of this costs lives
Schizophrenia: A drop of sunshine — full length film about a young woman in India who finds her way through the maze to heal and thrive again

This page will be continually added to as I find more information.

This list is by no means exhaustive.

UK psychologist now thrives after the damning diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia
Thirty Years Later: Still CURED of Paranoid Schizophrenia
It feels so great to be off psych meds: a recovery story by Corinna West
The most famous person who recovered from psychosis documented it too: Carl Jung, another drug-free recovery from psychosis If you read The Red Book, it’s clear that what Jung was experiencing would have been labeled psychotic by any self-respecting psychiatrist today.
Video interview with John Nash of Beautiful Mind fame — contrary to what was shown in the film John Nash spent most of his life after initial crisis drug free.
Psychosis, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Story as a Vehicle of Healing
Psychotherapy For Schizophrenia Recovery – Cathy Penney RN
David Lukoff’s story of psychosis and recovery
Paul Levy’s Story of Transformation
Another recounting from Paul Levy—visit his site and listen to the Madness Radio interview
Sean’s experience with manic psychosis and the transformation that followed
Sean’s understanding after a year of study
The Doctor who hears voices—a documentary that chronicles the healing journey of a young woman in an extreme state being cared for a man whose been there himself–Rufus May
Rufus May talking about his own story on Madness Radio–also transformed from psychotic to “ordinary” human being—that’s what we all are!!
A post with multiple links looking at the wonder that is Pat Deegan’s life
Documentary on the lives of two women who work through their psychosis
Dr. Edward Whitney’s manic psychosis that resolved itself with a spiritual understanding
Recovery through mind training —a journey of meditation in Buddhism—By Sally Clay
The Wind Never Lies — Steve Morgan’s Recovery Story
Will Hall’s Story of Recovery
The heroines journey –recovery using Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung
Pat Deegan
Buddhist meditation and schizophrenia — Ed Knight
The Red Book — Jung’s experience with extreme states
Daniel Fisher, psychiatrist who recovered from what was labeled schizophrenic: Visionary Psychiatrist Daniel Fisher — Madness Radio

Monica/Gianna’s story: the aftermath of polypsychopharmacology – this is my story to this date, recently published on Dr. David Healy’s website. I’m not physically well, but that is because the drugs harmed my body. I have no sign of mental illness. My mind has a clarity I’ve never known. So I’m including this here now.

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