I have tardive dyskinesia. I’ve not written about it. I can’t find a single reference online about it that doesn’t pathologize it..and DRUG it further. This is a very brief definition taken from WebMD (and to be clear they do not know what it is)…but the description is fair enough. Tardive dyskinesia is a side… Continue Reading →
By Richard Lewis — As the benzodiazepine crisis spreads throughout the United States and other parts of the world so does the debate within the benzo victim/survivor community about important definitions of key medical terms and about safe and successful paths to healing and recovery. Does “iatrogenic benzo dependence” and “addiction” represent completely separate medical and social phenomena? If they are to have distinctly different scientific definitions, can they also (at the same time) intersect in multiple ways in people’s actual real life experience? And what is the medical and social significance of exploring these concepts and seeking unity of understanding and purpose? Before delving into the content of this debate let’s briefly review the social context from which this “Benzo Divide” has emerged.
Update: September 2016 — I felt like revisiting this post from a while back. As I re-enter my body the shock continues. The good part is I am finally able to feel and deeply process that shock. It’s taken over 6 years of being drug free to get to this point, but I am here. Entering the body in a big way. Being reborn, quite literally. (re-entering the body is part of healing from the extreme trauma that is the nervous system/brain injury from psychiatric drug iatrogenesis) I am grateful for everything now as I become more and more aware of what is happening. I’ve healed a great deal more since the writing of this post. I share it for those who are in various stages of this healing process. (basically the fight or flight response that has been in high gear for over a decade is remitting. I’m left with this body, shocked) it’s somehow as beautiful as it is difficult)
I found the below article quite thoughtful and well done. It’s in keeping with what I learned when I worked in the system as well. I’ve written about this issue quite a lot. I’m sorry the British Journal of Psychiatry denied it, but we can help pass it about this way. I like how the… Continue Reading →
The dangerousness of insomnia as associated with psychiatric drug withdrawal syndromes. This is a post about what it was like at the time in 2011 and further information to learn how to get through it and heal. Because it does get better. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
All my work is now motivated by the fact that I’ve worked with and corresponded with thousands of people who have been gravely harmed by psychiatry. The denial of the great potential for harm in psychiatry must end. The harming of so many innocent and vulnerable people must end. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
Indeed, I do not consider myself ill anymore. I consider myself HEALING which is a vibrant state of movement and change. My limitations do not mean that I am sick. Learning to make boundaries for my well-being has been one of the healthiest things I’ve learned to do. Deeply respecting the needs of this body/temple is one of the most wonderful achievements of WELLNESS. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
(a wonderful piece of music and commentary on how I use healing tones)
What gets called treatment resistant mental illness is often drug iatrogenesis…people made worse by drugs…it’s a sad loop to hell.
What happens is that the drugs make people worse. Different drugs are added to the cocktail and it spirals out of control.
People are made to believe it’s something inherently wrong with them and not the drugs causing more symptoms and exacerbating existing ones
This is a tragedy when it happens. It happens a lot. Sometimes we figure it out and get off the drug merry-go-round and find our selves. … [click on title to read and view more]
Iatrogenic injury at epidemic levels…When I got my wisdom teeth pulled at age sixteen I got very sick and actually passed out on the bathroom floor at one point because I was not tolerating the antibiotics and painkillers they gave me. I was also sick for over a week and in excruciating pain. There is good reason to question the necessity of getting those teeth pulled.
The psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome I’ve been faced with for the last several years has made me see all the medical “care” I’ve gotten throughout my lifetime in a radically different light. For example, had I not been heavily prescribed antibiotics throughout my entire childhood (I took them for months at a time) I would likely not be sick now…that was the foundation of my path to chronic illness. That is because antibiotics destroy the microbiome and we need a healthy microbiome. … [click on title to read more]
Everything matters 