Read the recent NAMI message below. Where does it mention helping 10,000 people each day actually RECOVER from mental illness? Misery loves company is not an incentive to thrive. Let’s dump the hope and inspiration in the general sense, and raise our expectations about recovery.
NAMI.org has become a beacon of hope for more than 10,000 people each day.
Visitors to NAMI.org find information, support and the comfort of knowing that they are not alone in their experience of mental illness.
Whether through one of the site’s comprehensive education portals or personal contact through NAMI discussion groups, millions now have access to the hope and inspiration they so richly need and deserve.
NAMI needs your support to help us continue to sustain, grow and improve this valuable resource. Please donate generously.
Rossa,
NAMI doesn’t and never has promoted recovery.
I love how you point out that the message is essentially that misery loves company. never have I seen NAMI portray mental illness or those diagnosed in a positive light,or diagnosed individuals deserving of the same human rights as everyone.
Becky
Rossa,
Also from the NAMI website:
Will I become addicted to the medication? I don’t want to become addicted?
“This is a commonly asked question. Addiction involves taking more and more of a drug and craving it, despite having negative consequences from taking it. For some people who are addicted, much time is spent making sure that there is always an available supply of the drug. Common addictions are for drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. Addicted individuals may crave these drugs but sometimes taking them makes them feel paranoid and even hallucinate.”
“Most medications for severe brain disorders like schizophrenia or bipolar illness do not pose a risk of addiction. The medication alleviates symptoms and improves your health but there is no craving and the outcome of use is positive.”
This is in sharp contrast to Psychiatrist, Peter Breggin, M.D. –
“All psychiatric drugs have the potential to cause withdrawal reactions, including the antidepressants, stimulants, tranquilizers, antipsychotic drugs, and “mood stabilizers” such as lithium. When the individual’s condition grows markedly worse within days or weeks of stopping the psychiatric drug, this is almost always due to a withdrawal reaction. However, misinformed doctors and misled parents, teachers, and patients think this is evidence that the individual “needs” the drug even more when what the patient really needs is time to overcome the drug’s contrary effects on the brain and body.”
“In the long run, all psychiatric drugs tend to disrupt the normal processes of feeling and thinking, rendering the individual less able to deal effectively with personal problems and with life’s challenges. They worsen the individual’s overall mental condition and produce potentially irreversible harm to the brain.”
…. Who writes the stuff for NAMI?
God only knows, but NAMI needs to develop a conscience, before more lives are lost!
By the way Rossa, “Friends don’t let friends join NAMI.”
Duane Sherry
Duane – Thanks for hammering home the message.
Rossa,
For anyone who is new to all of this, searching for answers…
A good place to start is with Dr. Peter Breggin’s site –
http://www.breggin.com
Dr. Breggin is more interested in presenting the facts than in being politically correct…. He’s refreshing!!!
My best,
Duane Sherry
discoverandrecover.wordpress.com
Duane, I should put this link permanently on my blog and I will. I have always had problems with Breggin, though. I don’t think he’s a good person to introduce to the newly diagnosed or their parents. He’s way too strident. When I first read him I was thrown into a panic that my son was absolutely ruined by the psych drugs and it was too late for him! I couldn’t finish Breggin’s books for that reason. Men that I correspond with don’t seem to have the same problem. They tend to think he’s wonderful. So, Breggin comes with a warning label, for women more than men. I don’t like the stridency.
The title of your post was ‘Who writes this stuff?…
I pose the same question from another online source…
Who writes this stuff? –
http://davidmallenmd.blogspot.com/2010/12/child-abuse-politics.html
How sick was his humor?
Disgusting!
Duane
Duane, that’s the usual bs they tell you, that there is no addiction if there is no craving. The craving, IMO, is the least problem when it comes to addiction. All it takes is determination to not give in to it, maybe some coping strategies to divert oneself from it, or a little mindfulness. None of these will be enough to overcome the physical addiction, and the resulting withdrawal, caused by the drugs.
Marian,
A doctor by the name of Prud’homme had some great success with sobriety in Fort Worth, Texas as the Director of Schick Shadel hospital.
He defined physical addiction in this way –
1) Increased tolerance (taking more of a drug to get the same result)
2) Physical symptoms upon withdrawal (scientifically measureable).
A person does not need to be psychologically addicted to a drug to be physically addicted to a drug.
Ask anyone who has ever gotten off a psychiatric drug… They are addictive!
NAMI needs to clean up its act, and help people get OFF psychiatric drugs…. slowly and safely!
Duane Sherry