Anti meds/psychiatry types

IIs it me or do we have quite a few anti meds/anti psychiatry types crawling out of the woodwork lately ? I think it’s one thing to be critical(meds and psychiatry are far from perfect) but quite another to be anti or to push that mental illnesses don’t exist,as some anti psychiatry types do.

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It’s not just you, I noticed it too. What bugs me is you never hear from them when they crash and burn and have to go on meds.

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i have come across a few and in my experience they focus more on the issues involving mental illness . they are very against forced medication for any length of time beyond what is absolutely necessary beyond a violent person who is in deep psychosis , court ordered medicating they are definately against , and human rights for inpatients , laws that affect human rights for the mentally ill exc. ive never experienced any of them pushing an idea about mental illness such as it doesnt exist i would say the major thing they are aggressively against or ‘pushy’ regarding is forcing medication on people who do not want to take it .

Scientology and the citizens commission on human rights springs to mind!

I think if someone is somehow able to function without meds good for them. But they are few and far between and fair weather friends. And they definitely shouldn’t push that ■■■■ around a forum of folk with serious illness.

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I have noticed it too. It’s silly business.

When Mum and I were first looking up schizophrenia on the web together, we came across an Australian site called schizophrenia.org or something like that (I have forgotten now). But it sounded like an official site.

A little way into reading it and alarm bells started ringing. It was a scientology website!

You must be very cautious on the internet.

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Don’t get me wrong . I think there are some people who may only need meds short term but IMO they are in the minority. The difficult is working out who those types are likely to be and the potentially dire consequences of getting it wrong.
I get the impression that those pushing an anti meds/psychiatry postion are a mix of those lacking genuine insight, those who who have had bad side effects, and those who are more prone to be nearer the worried well end of the spectrum and have little in the way of cognitive and negative symptoms. They seem to focus a lot on hallucinations, and the fact for some they can be benign, to the exclusion of more disabling factors .

This sums up my feelings too, @Jimbob. I have utmost respect for those who have made a life for themselves without meds that has worked for them long-term.

But there are very few of those people around, and they never show up and suggest people reduce or stop their meds, because they know how difficult it is and what sacrifices they’ve had to make along the way. I consider the ones who push med-free/anti-psychiatry to be toxic.

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Im not anti meds or anti psychiatry, but I do feel that there is room for safer Antipsychotics and Im all for having competent psychiatrists practicing psychiatry.

I am now on board - I realize that I need to be on an Antipsychotic, but for health reasons im trying to keep the dose as low as possible.

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That’s the right attitude, @Wave, and it should be your doctor’s attitude as well. The safest effective med at the lowest effective dose.

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i think its ridiculous for some people to say that mental illness doesnt exist after my experiences but i do think psychiatrsts need more empathy sometimes i want to go off my meds but im to scared of having an episode and my life is really stable now and i dont want to ruin it i see my gp now and havent seen a psychiatrist in 3 years getting locked up in hospital can be frustrating but usually its beacause you need to be there my treatment saved my life but i dream of being med free