No one understands the horror of standing in an emergency room with a loved one lost in a psychotic delusional world totally powerless to get them the help they need and being told that unless the sick out of their mind patient signs the consent form nothing can be done. Our streets are full of the ones who will not sign.
No one understands the horror of standing in an emergency room with a loved one lost in a psychotic delusional world totally powerless to get them the help they need and being told that unless the sick out of their mind patient signs the consent form nothing can be done. Our streets are full of the ones who will not sign.
Jim, you opened the door to some good stories from other readers. Here's mine: My brother was schizophrenic. Or maybe bipolar. Or maybe both. Six years in a submarine probably brought out his latent weirdness, present since adolescence. But try and get an accurate diagnosis, especially when the patient refuses to believe he has an issue, and is smart enough to act "normal" in front of every psychiatrist or psychologist.
He was able to live with my parents, and was quite a help to them as they aged. But he wasn't normal, and when I visited, there was lots of tension and conversation steered off into la la land--which I liked, but it irritated my father so much, that I was stiff as a board with anxiety at the unpleasantness. My brother also periodically drank, but was not an alcoholic. In the early years of visiting, I probably drank more than him, just to get through the visit!
Anyway, he died, age 52, from a brain aneurysm, predeceasing my parents. So I did not have to care for him after my parents died. (I was 2 years younger than my brother.) They had set up a trust so I could do so. He was a smart, funny man with a tender heart, but some strange ideas. I am so thankful to my parents for taking care of this sweet soul. I know many family members can't do this.
PS in the beginning, when the electrical sockets were speaking to him, he did accept Stellazine and Thorazine. But the horror of those drugs guaranteed he never took another mental-illness medication again.
What is Bari trying to accomplish with this interview? What is the point of Free Press in general?
This was excruciating to listen to. Peter Early’s book Crazy about his medical student son’s psychotic break and the horrors of the US justice/mental health system is 1000x better than this boring dumpster fire of a book and interview.
So I am guessing teletherapy is one step further down the rabbit hole. I have had clients with mental illness and I genuinely try to do right by my clients and part of that is listening so I am aware of your issue with medication. In my efforts to educate myself on the issues facing my clients I have come to realize that ascertaining the proper medication is largely a trial and error process. And I feel sure that like all doctors, psychiatrists peddle what their favorite pharmacy peddler peddles to them. I further understand that it takes at least 90 days to know whether or not a psych med is a good fit. And if it is not, then on to round two. It can take years to find the best med. So here is the important part just in case you are not aware - there are tests now which assess YOUR body's reaction to a particular med (all meds, not just psych meds). They are described as genetic tests and maybe they are but what they actually do is assess your metabolism and thus predict which meds will work well and, perhaps most importantly, which will not. The test I am familiar with is called Gene X but there are several now. I think most insurance will cover them now too. This has benefit I think for anyone required to take meds long-term, but particularly for psych meds. Also when you interview a new treatment provider ask about their pharmacological knowledge. Medical doctors are woefully untrained about the drugs they rely on. So unless your doc has taken the steps voluntarily to educate themselves regarding available psych meds they are just rubber stamping what big pharmacy says.
Lynne, I am told that the mentally ill stop taking the drugs. The reason I am told is the have the delude belief of "I don't need this drug."
It is hard for the sane to wrap their minds around not taking a drug that may help you. I am older than dirt but am fortunate to only take a baby aspirin, BP meds and a statin. I have taken them religiously for years but then I don't have voices telling to stop.
I too am dubious of drugs and do not take anything not required in the short term. I am.one of those people Covid made much more suspicious. As for the mentally ill it is true, in my experience that they will stop taking their meds, take them sporadically, and/or replace or supplement with street drugs. But that is my point. Not taking your meds is not taking care of yourself!!! If you do not take your meds that is going to lead to other aberrant behavior. If that behavior arises to neglect of self to an extre.e then loved one needs to seek a guardianship. If no one does they I'll person will end up under an overpass or in jail or a combination of both. You know that Austin is a haven of ho.elessness. Have you ever noticed how many bodies are recovered with little notice? Those are homeless people literally perishing on the street.
Absolutely. IIRC, 90% of disorders psychiatrists deal with are either bipolar or schizophrenic conditions. And the main tools at their disposal are dopamine or serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
So in this binary world, the bulk of the job appears to be dosage tweaking.
Absent a long term study of RIs, particularly in adolescents, we should be much more reluctant to prescribe these drugs- especially as bipolar in juveniles is transitory in many cases.
My experience is with clients accused of crimes and most of those have a primary diagnosis, usually either something on the schizoid spectrum or bi-polar, but complicated by insomnia, anxiety, depression, etc.. Also some of them self-medicated for years with street drugs and drug-induced psychosis is a very real thing.
And what help is truly available? I've read posts from mothers of adult children, who have Autism, who have to hide for their own safety. Mothers who get beaten by adult children, who are having meltdowns. But, there's no place to take them, aside of leaving them in an emergency room.
No one understands the horror of standing in an emergency room with a loved one lost in a psychotic delusional world totally powerless to get them the help they need and being told that unless the sick out of their mind patient signs the consent form nothing can be done. Our streets are full of the ones who will not sign.
Jim, you opened the door to some good stories from other readers. Here's mine: My brother was schizophrenic. Or maybe bipolar. Or maybe both. Six years in a submarine probably brought out his latent weirdness, present since adolescence. But try and get an accurate diagnosis, especially when the patient refuses to believe he has an issue, and is smart enough to act "normal" in front of every psychiatrist or psychologist.
He was able to live with my parents, and was quite a help to them as they aged. But he wasn't normal, and when I visited, there was lots of tension and conversation steered off into la la land--which I liked, but it irritated my father so much, that I was stiff as a board with anxiety at the unpleasantness. My brother also periodically drank, but was not an alcoholic. In the early years of visiting, I probably drank more than him, just to get through the visit!
Anyway, he died, age 52, from a brain aneurysm, predeceasing my parents. So I did not have to care for him after my parents died. (I was 2 years younger than my brother.) They had set up a trust so I could do so. He was a smart, funny man with a tender heart, but some strange ideas. I am so thankful to my parents for taking care of this sweet soul. I know many family members can't do this.
PS in the beginning, when the electrical sockets were speaking to him, he did accept Stellazine and Thorazine. But the horror of those drugs guaranteed he never took another mental-illness medication again.
Did you and your parents ever talk about this after he died?
all the time
What is Bari trying to accomplish with this interview? What is the point of Free Press in general?
This was excruciating to listen to. Peter Early’s book Crazy about his medical student son’s psychotic break and the horrors of the US justice/mental health system is 1000x better than this boring dumpster fire of a book and interview.
Bari, you are losing your raison d'être.
Ms. Cheng, Just because it doesn't adhere to what you think should be discussed, doesn't mean it's not of value to many others.
So I am guessing teletherapy is one step further down the rabbit hole. I have had clients with mental illness and I genuinely try to do right by my clients and part of that is listening so I am aware of your issue with medication. In my efforts to educate myself on the issues facing my clients I have come to realize that ascertaining the proper medication is largely a trial and error process. And I feel sure that like all doctors, psychiatrists peddle what their favorite pharmacy peddler peddles to them. I further understand that it takes at least 90 days to know whether or not a psych med is a good fit. And if it is not, then on to round two. It can take years to find the best med. So here is the important part just in case you are not aware - there are tests now which assess YOUR body's reaction to a particular med (all meds, not just psych meds). They are described as genetic tests and maybe they are but what they actually do is assess your metabolism and thus predict which meds will work well and, perhaps most importantly, which will not. The test I am familiar with is called Gene X but there are several now. I think most insurance will cover them now too. This has benefit I think for anyone required to take meds long-term, but particularly for psych meds. Also when you interview a new treatment provider ask about their pharmacological knowledge. Medical doctors are woefully untrained about the drugs they rely on. So unless your doc has taken the steps voluntarily to educate themselves regarding available psych meds they are just rubber stamping what big pharmacy says.
Lynne, I am told that the mentally ill stop taking the drugs. The reason I am told is the have the delude belief of "I don't need this drug."
It is hard for the sane to wrap their minds around not taking a drug that may help you. I am older than dirt but am fortunate to only take a baby aspirin, BP meds and a statin. I have taken them religiously for years but then I don't have voices telling to stop.
I too am dubious of drugs and do not take anything not required in the short term. I am.one of those people Covid made much more suspicious. As for the mentally ill it is true, in my experience that they will stop taking their meds, take them sporadically, and/or replace or supplement with street drugs. But that is my point. Not taking your meds is not taking care of yourself!!! If you do not take your meds that is going to lead to other aberrant behavior. If that behavior arises to neglect of self to an extre.e then loved one needs to seek a guardianship. If no one does they I'll person will end up under an overpass or in jail or a combination of both. You know that Austin is a haven of ho.elessness. Have you ever noticed how many bodies are recovered with little notice? Those are homeless people literally perishing on the street.
Austin is the San Francisco of Texas.
Absolutely. IIRC, 90% of disorders psychiatrists deal with are either bipolar or schizophrenic conditions. And the main tools at their disposal are dopamine or serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
So in this binary world, the bulk of the job appears to be dosage tweaking.
Absent a long term study of RIs, particularly in adolescents, we should be much more reluctant to prescribe these drugs- especially as bipolar in juveniles is transitory in many cases.
My experience is with clients accused of crimes and most of those have a primary diagnosis, usually either something on the schizoid spectrum or bi-polar, but complicated by insomnia, anxiety, depression, etc.. Also some of them self-medicated for years with street drugs and drug-induced psychosis is a very real thing.
And what help is truly available? I've read posts from mothers of adult children, who have Autism, who have to hide for their own safety. Mothers who get beaten by adult children, who are having meltdowns. But, there's no place to take them, aside of leaving them in an emergency room.
Or adult parents lost in dementia... But fortunately there is a bit of understanding on that end of the generational spectrum.
Involuntary institutionalization is needed in many cases.