Wow Julia!! This was some eye opening stuff just when I need it. I have been on all kinds of psychological meds, most recently 5 different one at the same time. Also, talk therapy twice a month. My mental issues seemed to coincide with getting Lupus, but there is some trauma as a child.
The last year has been a complete downward spiral for me. I haven't left my apartment in at least 3 months, and I have no desire to be out and around people. I used to be a pretty outgoing Gemini and social butterfly. Not anymore. I think all of these meds have really messed with my brain. I'm a total disaster at the moment!
You're writing is amazing and I think you got it right about the state of Psychiatry.
Thank you for these kind words, Shari! Have you heard of IFS therapy? That‘s the talk therapy I got the most out of, it‘s incredibly powerful even without psychedelics. It‘s not really talk therapy but a blend of somatic therapy, meditation, and hypnosis.
I trist you will find your way back to your butterfly nature soon 🦋
I recently quit the antidepressants I'd been on for 3 1/2 years, because I've done a lot of trauma healing, and boy did my body fight that one. My mental health has been fine, but the physical withdrawal symptoms are not fun. I'm grateful that the drugs were able to help me get through a rough time, and I'm glad I can be off them now and feel more in tune with all of me.
I'm sorry to hear that the withdrawal has been rough (but glad that your mental health is fine, which is not always the case!). Your approach is a good template for sustainable use - as a short-term intervention, a support structure while doing the healing work that will make the medication redundant. How are you feeling now?
PS. Laura Delano, the woman from The New Yorker article I mention in the article, founded a non-profit to support people in the withdrawal process - it might have some helpful resources: https://withdrawal.theinnercompass.org/
I agree that it's a good model for how psychiatric drugs ought to be used. I very quickly realized I didn't want to be on men's my whole life and the side effects were becoming unsustainable. I feel really fortunate in my experiences. I'm feeling better, emotionally stable and my body is calming down. It doesn't help that my tapering off coincided with a cold and major family crisis, but things are calming down. I also started acupuncture recently, which is helping immensely.
This is a late response as I realize this was published in May. I know of Laura Delano’s work. She’s a good resource as is Will Hall who offers free guide to discontinuing psychiatric medications that i gave to my psychotherapist and psychiatrist at the time, “Harm Reduction Guide to Getting Off of Psychiatric Medications” https://willhall.net/files/ComingOffPsychDrugsHarmReductGuide2EdZinePrint-EuroA4Paper.pdf
I feel like Will Hall provides a sensible approach while showing sensitivity to the needs to survivors.
And also Monica at Everything Matters: Beyond Meds — especially Lamictal.
I would not have been able to discontinue psychiatric medication without their online support. It wasn’t something psychiatrists supported at the time.
What about people who can't afford psychedelic therapy? Worst of all, what about folks like me who are harmed by a therapist while on psychedelics and then abandoned to recover on their own but don't have enough money to pay for necessary treatments to get their life back together? This is real and something that needs to be addressed more often when praising the benefits of psychedelic therapy.
Beau, I'm so sorry to hear that you've been subject to this. Here is an organization that provides pro-bono integration support for those situations: https://www.iceers.org/support-center-2/. Jules Evans here on Substack is doing the important work of shedding light on some of the harm in the industry: https://www.ecstaticintegration.org/
Re accessibility - this is what I work towards in my day job through philanthropy. In the beginning, access will be costly and limited but over time, as new peer-based community models emerge, it will become more accessible. It is top of mind for many key actors in the field (of course, not all), it's something we're actively trying to solve for. But it will take some time. Thank You Life is another org working to eliminate financial barriers: https://thankyoulife.org/
The way we treat people with severe emotional pain, in this country, is gettiing hideously worse. It is barbaric. Nowdays vast numbers of psychotic people are being put in prisons where they are brutalized and their psyches are butchered https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/the-new-moral-turpitude-prison-for
Thank for this Julia. It’s courageous of you to share this information- I can imagine you receive some pushback for sharing things like this? I am from the UK and so I’m not sure the Big Pharma model is the same - the over prescription of anti depressants by GPs is more because there is so little other support for people - especially if you don’t have the money to pay for private support. You can be on waitlists for months or even years just to get 6 sessions of CBT on the NHS.
Also it’s scary how often people are prescribed anti depressants due to grief or stressful life experiences. People I know often report it made them feel better but then I dig deeper and it turns out the life situation changed, or perhaps the intense pain of grief diminished over time i.e. perhaps the anti depressant was a placebo that helped because they felt listened to and that they were doing something, but as it allegedly takes months for these pills to work, maybe in that time other things changed too.
People need holding and support from their community - but we no longer know how to do this in western culture. So we pathologise ourselves, believing our normal human responses to trauma or loss to mean there is something wrong with us. I have personal experience with this, having been prescribed anti depressants when I was struggling to cope with the death of my mother when I was a child.
I have never tried psychedelics but am interested to learn more and look forward to reading more of your experience with them.
Thanks, Ellie! I was expecting pushback, but to my surprise - nothing, yet. My list is biased, it might have just not reached those ready to jump up and down in protest.
It is certainly a different situation in Europe, thank you for shedding light on it, I have barely any experience with mental health care in Europe (although I am German). I couldn't agree more that prescription in response to traumatic events are harmful. I was shocked to learn that the DSM-5 even has a 'Prolonged Grief Disorder'.
I'm glad you bring up the community aspect, it is not really covered in my article but it played a huge role in my healing. For me it was the community from ayahuasca circles etc., but of course it doesn't have to be that. Healing relational trauma (which was the root of my problems and is the case for many suffering from addiction I believe) in isolation is virtually impossible.
Excited to check out your work, getting sober (fairly spontaneously and unintended after a big psychedelic experience) was a key step for me in healing the roots!
I'm glad to hear that you've found relief from medication. That's a beautiful way to utilize it, as a tool to stabilize so one can do the trauma healing work 🙏
Wow Julia!! This was some eye opening stuff just when I need it. I have been on all kinds of psychological meds, most recently 5 different one at the same time. Also, talk therapy twice a month. My mental issues seemed to coincide with getting Lupus, but there is some trauma as a child.
The last year has been a complete downward spiral for me. I haven't left my apartment in at least 3 months, and I have no desire to be out and around people. I used to be a pretty outgoing Gemini and social butterfly. Not anymore. I think all of these meds have really messed with my brain. I'm a total disaster at the moment!
You're writing is amazing and I think you got it right about the state of Psychiatry.
Thank you for these kind words, Shari! Have you heard of IFS therapy? That‘s the talk therapy I got the most out of, it‘s incredibly powerful even without psychedelics. It‘s not really talk therapy but a blend of somatic therapy, meditation, and hypnosis.
I trist you will find your way back to your butterfly nature soon 🦋
I recently quit the antidepressants I'd been on for 3 1/2 years, because I've done a lot of trauma healing, and boy did my body fight that one. My mental health has been fine, but the physical withdrawal symptoms are not fun. I'm grateful that the drugs were able to help me get through a rough time, and I'm glad I can be off them now and feel more in tune with all of me.
I'm sorry to hear that the withdrawal has been rough (but glad that your mental health is fine, which is not always the case!). Your approach is a good template for sustainable use - as a short-term intervention, a support structure while doing the healing work that will make the medication redundant. How are you feeling now?
PS. Laura Delano, the woman from The New Yorker article I mention in the article, founded a non-profit to support people in the withdrawal process - it might have some helpful resources: https://withdrawal.theinnercompass.org/
I agree that it's a good model for how psychiatric drugs ought to be used. I very quickly realized I didn't want to be on men's my whole life and the side effects were becoming unsustainable. I feel really fortunate in my experiences. I'm feeling better, emotionally stable and my body is calming down. It doesn't help that my tapering off coincided with a cold and major family crisis, but things are calming down. I also started acupuncture recently, which is helping immensely.
Ooh thank you! I'll check it out.
This is a late response as I realize this was published in May. I know of Laura Delano’s work. She’s a good resource as is Will Hall who offers free guide to discontinuing psychiatric medications that i gave to my psychotherapist and psychiatrist at the time, “Harm Reduction Guide to Getting Off of Psychiatric Medications” https://willhall.net/files/ComingOffPsychDrugsHarmReductGuide2EdZinePrint-EuroA4Paper.pdf
I feel like Will Hall provides a sensible approach while showing sensitivity to the needs to survivors.
And also Monica at Everything Matters: Beyond Meds — especially Lamictal.
I would not have been able to discontinue psychiatric medication without their online support. It wasn’t something psychiatrists supported at the time.
What about people who can't afford psychedelic therapy? Worst of all, what about folks like me who are harmed by a therapist while on psychedelics and then abandoned to recover on their own but don't have enough money to pay for necessary treatments to get their life back together? This is real and something that needs to be addressed more often when praising the benefits of psychedelic therapy.
Beau, I'm so sorry to hear that you've been subject to this. Here is an organization that provides pro-bono integration support for those situations: https://www.iceers.org/support-center-2/. Jules Evans here on Substack is doing the important work of shedding light on some of the harm in the industry: https://www.ecstaticintegration.org/
Re accessibility - this is what I work towards in my day job through philanthropy. In the beginning, access will be costly and limited but over time, as new peer-based community models emerge, it will become more accessible. It is top of mind for many key actors in the field (of course, not all), it's something we're actively trying to solve for. But it will take some time. Thank You Life is another org working to eliminate financial barriers: https://thankyoulife.org/
The way we treat people with severe emotional pain, in this country, is gettiing hideously worse. It is barbaric. Nowdays vast numbers of psychotic people are being put in prisons where they are brutalized and their psyches are butchered https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/the-new-moral-turpitude-prison-for
Thank for this Julia. It’s courageous of you to share this information- I can imagine you receive some pushback for sharing things like this? I am from the UK and so I’m not sure the Big Pharma model is the same - the over prescription of anti depressants by GPs is more because there is so little other support for people - especially if you don’t have the money to pay for private support. You can be on waitlists for months or even years just to get 6 sessions of CBT on the NHS.
Also it’s scary how often people are prescribed anti depressants due to grief or stressful life experiences. People I know often report it made them feel better but then I dig deeper and it turns out the life situation changed, or perhaps the intense pain of grief diminished over time i.e. perhaps the anti depressant was a placebo that helped because they felt listened to and that they were doing something, but as it allegedly takes months for these pills to work, maybe in that time other things changed too.
People need holding and support from their community - but we no longer know how to do this in western culture. So we pathologise ourselves, believing our normal human responses to trauma or loss to mean there is something wrong with us. I have personal experience with this, having been prescribed anti depressants when I was struggling to cope with the death of my mother when I was a child.
I have never tried psychedelics but am interested to learn more and look forward to reading more of your experience with them.
Thanks, Ellie! I was expecting pushback, but to my surprise - nothing, yet. My list is biased, it might have just not reached those ready to jump up and down in protest.
It is certainly a different situation in Europe, thank you for shedding light on it, I have barely any experience with mental health care in Europe (although I am German). I couldn't agree more that prescription in response to traumatic events are harmful. I was shocked to learn that the DSM-5 even has a 'Prolonged Grief Disorder'.
I'm glad you bring up the community aspect, it is not really covered in my article but it played a huge role in my healing. For me it was the community from ayahuasca circles etc., but of course it doesn't have to be that. Healing relational trauma (which was the root of my problems and is the case for many suffering from addiction I believe) in isolation is virtually impossible.
Excited to check out your work, getting sober (fairly spontaneously and unintended after a big psychedelic experience) was a key step for me in healing the roots!
Medicine helps me enormously. Trauma work with a therapist as well. To each their own. I neither endorse nor oppose one's path.
I'm glad to hear that you've found relief from medication. That's a beautiful way to utilize it, as a tool to stabilize so one can do the trauma healing work 🙏
Amazing read. I’m sharing it with a few folks and thank you so much for taking the time to write words that heal.
Thank you for the support and the kind words Christin 🙏
You hit the ball out of the park on this one!
Thanks you!!
Thanks so much for the encouraging words, Dee!