Tag: bipolar disorder

Lithium Carbonate (the pharmaceutical) is a dangerous drug

Granted, everyone should already know this, but these are serious and disturbing statistics that bear repeating since Lithium is still touted to be the gold standard in the treatment of those labeled with bipolar disorder within the psychiatric establishment. There is something seriously wrong with this picture. A third of patients who have taken the common psychiatric medication lithium for over ten years have developed "chronic renal failure" from the drug, according to a study in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. … [click on title to view more]

We all have stories and context — diagnosis try to strip that away from us

Everything that happens in our lives (and all our encounters with psychiatry) are SITUATIONAL. Always. There is no such thing as a clinical depression without a "situation." That is a ludicrous and destructive fantasy. The same is true for anyone with any diagnosis. Schizophrenia, bipolar, anxiety, OCD. We all have stories and context. Diagnosis try to strip that away from us. The fact is EVERY single person with a diagnosis has an individual, unique story and context. Everything matters. Diagnosis (as currently most frequently used) are reductionistic lies that try to remove us from the fabric of our lives. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Rethinking bipolar disorder

A collection of links to other posts from the Beyond Meds archives that look at that which gets labeled "bipolar disorder" from different perspectives so that we might be challenged to think outside the psychiatric box.

Children — ADHD & bipolar (history etc) Robert Whitaker – Psychiatric Epidemic

Here, Robert Whitaker looks at the research that specifically deals with Children -- especially ADHD but also so-called Bipolar Disorder. The evidence is clear: the ethics behind the use of these toxic medications on children is highly questionable. He repeats the information about the studies that have shown that ritalin is essentially long acting speed. The research comes from a very mainstream source. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Bipolar (being grossly over-treated) everywhere

The "bipolar" diagnosis did me nothing but harm and it tragically results in similar iatrogenic injury for far too many others. There are other ways to view whatever phenomena is getting labeled bipolar and likewise much safer ways of healing. Indeed within the psychiatric model people are told to expect to manage being ill until they die. Many of us have discovered this is simply not necessarily true. It's possible to get well and it seems the psych drugs can seriously impede that process if used for long-term maintenance. Also, it's clear that the collection of phenomena that is labeled bipolar varies from individual to individual and they have many different etiologies. Labeling them as if they are all the same monolithic thing only serves to muddy the waters and often serves to trap the individual in a toxic prison of confusion. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

Trauma as a foundational factor in that which is labeled mental illness

This post is not just about children even though the article that is excerpted below is. It's about just about anyone who has been labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis. Children grow up and become adults. When they acquire a psychiatric label it's often for the same reason children get them: trauma. Without appropriate care and integration trauma changes both our bodies and minds for many years and sometimes for our entire lives. Right now the mental health system knows virtually nothing about how to care for people who have been traumatized and in fact often traumatizes them further. It's changing now however. Slowly it's becoming more widely recognized and embraced. … [click on title for the rest of the post]

The human right to be psychiatrized?

This frame story presents undiagnosed/untreated mental illness almost as a human rights issue. From this point of view, it is a basic human right to a. be informed that you are suffering from a mental illness [this fact being objectively determined, of course] and b. be medicated, therapized, or in some other way treated for that disease [the treatments being scientifically proven to address those aforementioned objective diagnoses]....

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