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Katie_Kaboom: My input is pretty much always put down by my psychiatrist, and the last time I demanded change of meds, I still ending up taking a med that makes me feel terrible because my psychiatrist told me it is better to stand the side effects than be delusional/hallucinate/whatever.

Quite some time ago I ran across an article about a psychiatrist who questioned whether or not he should continue a patient on antipsychotic medication because it was producing such a substantial weight gain. The problem was, the patient had been (in his words) "beautiful" when she first began treatment but perhaps no longer registered on the pretty scale once she started to gain weight from the medication. In his case, he wondered if it might not be better to be psychotic than to not be beautiful. As for the patient, if I recall correctly, she felt the medication had been very helpful for her and wanted to continue. My initial digs into google have not produced the article for me but if I find it, I'll be sure to share the link.

I tried to discuss this with my therapist, trying to sound polite and sensible, but with no success. That was when my therapist first let me understand that psychosis will not stop without medication.

No, of course it won't. In fact, when people recover in countries that can't afford the costs of hospitalization and neuroleptic medication its only because they weren't really experiencing psychosis/schizophrenia, they had something else, MUST have had something else, because no one could possibly recover without drugs. See?

I suggest that you not push the point with your psychiatrist because they're letting you know very clearly that their ego stability is threatened by your perspective. If they ever had to take their blinders off, their puny little world view would come crashing down around them, their sense of self-identity would fragment and splinter and then, they'd have to ask themselves, is it better to be beautiful or psychotic?

However, since your psychiatrist is not here at the moment, I don't mind sharing this with you...

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A few years ago at a psychiatric clinic in Turku, Finland, it was decided to compare the outcome for first time psychotic patients if they got neuroleptics, with the outcome if they did not get the drugs. But first all the patients were granted three drug-free weeks.

The plan was to have about ten patients in each of the two groups. However, the study could not be carried out. After the three weeks without neuroleptics virtually all the patients had overcome the psychosis, and the drug no longer appeared justified.

The reason almost all the patients emerged from the psychosis was most likely not only that they were given three weeks without the drugs. It was certainly also important that these patients were surrounded by personnel who did not believe in neuroleptics, who regarded a psychosis as a human crisis, people with an attitude more or less like my attitude with Hebriana in her psychosis 20 years ago.

In the city of Falun in Sweden there is a psychiatric team that works according to similar principles in the care of first time psychotic patients

1. Psychosis is seen as a crisis (to be overcome).

2. Session with the whole family within 24 hours.

3. Avoid neuroleptic drugs.

4. Avoid hospitalization.

Each one of these principles is contrary to the usual routine in psychiatry. In normal psychiatry a psychotic patient is hospitalized, separated from the family, and finally, after some time, released with maintenance neuroleptic drugs. The family is "educated" to help make sure the patient takes the drugs she "needs." The psychiatry in Falun is, in short, a REVERSE PSYCHIATRY

What happens in Falun is that the people around the patient, the "family," is gathered as soon as possible for a session with the team. In this situation, everybody, not only the patient, is filled with anxiety and despair. Together with the team the family gets an increased capacity to contain and solve problems. It is often found that the patient emerges from psychosis during this first family session. The patient is almost always able to return home with the family the same day.

Source: Love, Hope & Brain Science


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I'm going to move to an another city anyway and going to have to change therapists. So maybe the new one will be more open-minded.

It seems as if the potential for finding a different kind of care is more present in Finland than just about anywhere else. Perhaps your friends on your Finnish forum could make some helpful recommendations. I also would not hesitate to try and contact professionals like Jaako Seikulla and Lars Martennson -- chances are they won't have any room on their personal roster but they may be able to recommend someone in your area who practices in a similar manner.

Thanks for your kind words Katie_Kaboom. I hope you'll continue to take very good care of yourself and to let us know what recovery looks like along the "Finnish line".