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pachyderm: Did you relate your concerns to the piece's author? I have found it difficult to find ways of communicating with the authors of various pieces that have interested me. Maybe they feel overwhelmed with queries from "nuts" (like us).

For the sake of clarification, I'm not the author. If you follow the source link it leads to the blog of Furious Seasons, authored by a fellow named Philip Dawdy. However, I have contacted various authors whose online work I have admired -- Maureen Roberts, Anne Baring, David Lukoff and Michael O'Callaghan are a few that come to mind. Mind you, I wrote those individuals to express my gratitude for what they had written, done or created, and let them know that it was helpful to me. Each of those individuals was kind enough to write back although that usually entailed the extent of our correspondence. I imagine it might have been briefer yet if I'd been critical.

II know someone now who has been diagnosed as schizophrenic (he says he hears voices) and has accepted that his case is "hopeless" and that he will have to take medications for the rest of his life. He is sometimes angry about it but believes nothing can be done. Any hint to the contrary naturally makes him anxious because it shakes the acceptance that he has won with such difficulty.

I've encountered a lot of anger myself when I attempt to tell others that many people recover fully and completely from schizophrenia. As you note, it shakes up one's belief structure and that can be perceived as deeply threatening, whether you're a "professional" or a "patient". Like you, I have also met some individuals who insist that they will never get better and they must take medication for the rest of their life. This is what they have been told, this is what they have come to accept, and this is what they have come to believe. I've met others however, who were eager for knowledge and to explore their own potential for healing.

Ultimately, although those outside of one's personal experience can come up with a number of definitions of what recovery is, real recovery must be both self-defined and self-initiated. It is unfortunate that so many individuals in this culture have received and internalized the message of hopelessness that is often passed to them. I suppose this is why I keep pushing the message that recovery is possible for many. I respect that others have the right to reject that message, but there are also many people out there who have never had the option of hearing it.

I certainly do agree with Philip Dawdy in his assessment that we're doing something wrong in this culture but I'm not holding my breath waiting for psychiatry to fix what's wrong with it. I think if people want to get well in this culture they're going to have to educate themselves and create for themselves what has worked for others. That means learning from those who can actually produce recovery, not chronicity.

See also: Voices of Recovery