@LucyG: I'm sincerely thankful that you were able to finally find something that worked for you. It honestly sounds like those 13 years you went through on meds not only made things worse, but probably made you feel like you couldn't get any help at all, when the "help" you were supposed to be receiving did nothing to alleviate your symptoms. It's a miracle that you were able to find the strength in yourself to break free from something that didn't work, and move forward to something that did.

That being said I wonder if the advocacy for alternative medicine is warrented here. Aside from sharing your story that is. The links you provided label psychiatric medication as something of an archaic idea, that ends up hurting more people than it helps. The first one also suggests that mental illness, as we understand it, isn't even real, and everyone from depressives to schizophrenics could be cured using nutritional therapy, blood tests, herbs and yoga.

While it's true that people have to work to take care of themselves, I take issue with demonizing medication as a whole. It doesn't work for some people. That's okay! I believe whole heartedly that if I started taking magnesium and amino acids I would feel better.

What I don't believe is that the "recovery" would last very long. At least not for ME personally. Because I know my body better than anyone. I know what I should do for it and don't. And I know my issues go way past nutrition.

TLDR; Telling a person who's already struggling with wondering if their mental illness is just part of them that they aren't trying hard enough to change, that it's just a part of them they aren't trying hard enough to change, doesn't help. It just reinforces the idea that there's something fundamentally wrong with them that they've just been too lazy or stupid to fix.