some thoughts about responsibility vs. blame

[Guest guest]

Dear Everyone,

As writes, taking responsibility is important to recovery. She also

says we should love and take care of ourselves. I agree.

I was thinking, however, that for some of us those three activities haven't

traditionally gone together. Maybe we grew up seeing " responsibility " as

" blame, " rhyming with " shame " --no relation to self-love and self-care.

When we realize we need to get off our " meds " in order to recover, we're left

with the idea that we weren't " mentally ill " in the first place, and

therefore...what? We blame ourselves for our problems? We feel ashamed of

trusting our doctors?

I suggest that anyone who's come to this forum deserves congratulations for

taking an important step toward recovery on her/his own. I also suggest that

there's a difference between taking responsibility for one's recovery and

wallowing in self-blame (or blaming others). We did what we could before, and

now we're taking control of our lives again.

I'm a compulsive researcher. When I was given an antidepressant and sleeping

pill over 2 1/2 years ago, I went straight to the internet. There's a lot of

info put out by the drug companies online! And I trusted the doctors, who either

lied to me or were ignorant. So I didn't immediately conclude the drugs were

making me worse.

Most of all, my low self-esteem and emotional distress distorted my

decision-making abilities. I've had to forgive myself for that.

Thinking for myself meant leaving my psychiatrist (who refused my repeated

requests to tell me how to get off the drugs) and stepping outside the paradigm

of " mental illness " and my so-called diagnoses (which fit only when I was on the

drugs!) That was scary, but less scary than the prospect of becoming permanently

disabled, as I saw other patients had become.

I found it very helpful to read anti-psychiatric stuff online. There's plenty of

that. If right now you're doubtful about what " psychiatric survivors " write, I

suggest the following:

" The Epidemic of Mental Illness, " by Marcia Angell, MD, in The New York Review

of Books, 2011. This can easily be googled online and printed out. A

distinguished doctor's take on psychiatry and its reliance on prescription drugs

to boost the prestige and earning powers of psychiatrists.

" Mad in America, " by Whitaker. This can be bought from Amazon in hard

copy or Kindle edition. Whitaker is a superb investigative reporter who might

just change the way you see so-called " mental illness. "

" Anatomy of an Epidemic, " by Whitaker. (Amazon, hard copy or Kindle).

Whitaker dissects the bad science and outright lies and greed of the

pharmaceutical industry and the psychiatrists who prescribe drugs.

" Doctors of Deception, " by Andre. A masterpiece of scientific writing by a

survivor of shock therapy. Andre is clearly a wonderful woman, brave, funny,

compassionate, and very sane.