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talkpoliticsThe word "schizophrenia" brings to mind different ideas depending on the listener and speaker. One of my sisters is a survivor of schizophrenia, so it is of special interest to me. Society treats people like lepers when they bring up their diagnostic and treatment history. It is as if they possessed falsified birth certificates and Muslim ancestry. Such people are typically avoided like the plague. Although I have difficulty relating with a person in the midst of a psychotic break, my experience with a schizophrenic family member keeps me from fearing such individuals.
Unlike juvenile diabetes or a viral infection, there is no single set of symptoms for the variety of conditions that are called schizophrenia. The Rosenhan experiment shows how patients can be diagnosed with the schizophrenic label merely by complaining about auditory hallucinations. Such phenomena are probably more common than the statistics show. People learn to live with hallucinations without ever being labelled psychotic. When an acquaintance mentioned his experience with auditory hallucinations, I remarked that, "They have drugs for that." This prompted a long discussion of his experience with anti-convulsive drugs and with meditation. Both proved effective in curbing the hallucinations, but the latter had no degrading side effects.
Ron Coleman is a man who has experienced auditory hallucinations since early adulthood. He was incarcerated on what we call a 5150 in California. In his autobiographic account he does not mention any violence at the time of his arrest. I once interviewed a man who had been incarcerated after confessing to thoughts of suicide to a crisis counselor. It does not take much to be considered a threat.
During his period of incarceration, Mr. Coleman was administered brain damaging treatments including toxins and ECT. None of it made a dent in his auditory hallucinations. He has since learned to cope with the voices in his head. He has become a peer counselor for others with similar complaints. He serves as an example of why we should not fear psychoses such as schizophrenia. He also serves as an example of the ineffectiveness of treatments as harsh and drastic as ECT in curtailing psychotic symptoms. Others who have survived charlatan practice describe how they were treated better once they denied the hallucinations that they continued to experience. Honesty is not a good policy when dealing with uncaring "professionals." Once an individual learns to live with her condition, she must also learn how to not disturb others by discussing it.
A critic of the Rosenhan experiment, where a group of pseudo-patients complained of non-existent auditory hallucinations, compared it unfavorably to faking a stomach ulcer by spitting up blood. A major difference there is that once symptoms have abated the diagnosis was not reevaluated. In the case of someone spitting up blood, her diagnosis would have changed once it was determined that bleeding did not continue. All of the test subjects in the Rosenhan experiment were prescribed drugs despite the discontinuation of auditory hallucinations.
How do you feel about the quality of care of mental patients in Western culture?
Links: Full text description of the Rosenhan experiment. Podcast interview with Ron Coleman. Patrick Bracken's British Medical Journal article on postpsychiatry with a reference to the Hearing Voices Network. Ron Unger's blog on recovery from schizophrenia.
Unlike juvenile diabetes or a viral infection, there is no single set of symptoms for the variety of conditions that are called schizophrenia. The Rosenhan experiment shows how patients can be diagnosed with the schizophrenic label merely by complaining about auditory hallucinations. Such phenomena are probably more common than the statistics show. People learn to live with hallucinations without ever being labelled psychotic. When an acquaintance mentioned his experience with auditory hallucinations, I remarked that, "They have drugs for that." This prompted a long discussion of his experience with anti-convulsive drugs and with meditation. Both proved effective in curbing the hallucinations, but the latter had no degrading side effects.
Ron Coleman is a man who has experienced auditory hallucinations since early adulthood. He was incarcerated on what we call a 5150 in California. In his autobiographic account he does not mention any violence at the time of his arrest. I once interviewed a man who had been incarcerated after confessing to thoughts of suicide to a crisis counselor. It does not take much to be considered a threat.
During his period of incarceration, Mr. Coleman was administered brain damaging treatments including toxins and ECT. None of it made a dent in his auditory hallucinations. He has since learned to cope with the voices in his head. He has become a peer counselor for others with similar complaints. He serves as an example of why we should not fear psychoses such as schizophrenia. He also serves as an example of the ineffectiveness of treatments as harsh and drastic as ECT in curtailing psychotic symptoms. Others who have survived charlatan practice describe how they were treated better once they denied the hallucinations that they continued to experience. Honesty is not a good policy when dealing with uncaring "professionals." Once an individual learns to live with her condition, she must also learn how to not disturb others by discussing it.
A critic of the Rosenhan experiment, where a group of pseudo-patients complained of non-existent auditory hallucinations, compared it unfavorably to faking a stomach ulcer by spitting up blood. A major difference there is that once symptoms have abated the diagnosis was not reevaluated. In the case of someone spitting up blood, her diagnosis would have changed once it was determined that bleeding did not continue. All of the test subjects in the Rosenhan experiment were prescribed drugs despite the discontinuation of auditory hallucinations.
How do you feel about the quality of care of mental patients in Western culture?
Links: Full text description of the Rosenhan experiment. Podcast interview with Ron Coleman. Patrick Bracken's British Medical Journal article on postpsychiatry with a reference to the Hearing Voices Network. Ron Unger's blog on recovery from schizophrenia.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 15:45 (UTC)Easy. I think it varies pretty widely between countries, jurisdictions, hospitals and care givers, but overall it compares very favorably with the quality of care mental patients in non-Western cultures.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 15:58 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:41 (UTC)I love The Who!
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:47 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 30/5/12 18:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:38 (UTC)Even Canada dumps untreated mental patients on the streets because no one wants to pay.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:46 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:07 (UTC)Claus von Bülow: You have no idea.
I would like to hear more about how poverty can be an advantage - I'm guessing you were "rambunctious" as a youngster.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:11 (UTC)I heard an inspiring story about a guy who suffered from both obesity and mental illness. He went on a homeless hippie excursion through the country to return home fit as a fiddle. He kicked both habits of pills and bad food.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:22 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:26 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:33 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:51 (UTC)I think the health care industry ruined mental health care when they went hogwild on "evidence based treatment" which is just code for "shit we can keep track of with numbers". So you get a pill, because pills are nice and easy little scientific anecdotes packaged up and counted out for you.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:54 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 17:56 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 30/5/12 18:32 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 18:38 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 19:14 (UTC)you know what's not similar? spitting up blood and auditory hallucinations. this comparison is ridiculous.
(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 20:32 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 30/5/12 20:25 (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 30/5/12 20:43 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 13:44 (UTC)While I dont have Schizophrenia, I do have a disorder that is very stigmatized and very difficult to get treatment because most in the medical field dont want to deal with it and the funding agencies (in Canada the government) dont want to fund treatment.
Low cost therapy places wont treat either, so that leaves the private places that run 150-200/hr which is out of reach for many because well mental illness and job instability tend to go hand in hand.
Go into any major city and person after person with mental illness on the streets untreated, but the government decided keeping people in mental facilities was cruel and so they shut them down and tossed them onto the streets.
Here mental health holds by the police are section 28's. and I am a pretty regular section 28 and what they call at the ER as known to the system. I am picked up every couple of weeks by the police because somebody has called them because of my behavior and I am typically in a mental health crises as well, sometimes the hospital keeps me, most times they just release me from the ER within 1-2 hours.
I do my best to control the suicidal and self harm thoughts and behavior but sometimes its just not possible, and so the revolving door starts up again.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 20:50 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 21:07 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 21:16 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 21:27 (UTC)I do take a small dose of mirtazipine still but I am unsure if it does anything. I refuse to take anything like ativan and the like as I dont want to deal with the dependency and resort to a pill like so many do vs just trying to get through the anxiety and ride it out.
I read an article about one the regions hospitals psych ward doubled the amount of meds they were dosing over a 2 year period, in 2 years doubled, crazy.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 21:33 (UTC)Have you ever tried to use mediation as a way of dealing with anxiety? I have heard that some people have had a positive experience with it.
(no subject)
Date: 2/6/12 21:45 (UTC)I can go from depressed to anxious and anything in between all within a couple hours. Its crazy how fast things change during the day for me.