A Special Message for Families and Friends of Someone Diagnosed as Having Schizophrenia
by Al Siebert, PhD
This website has no information on how to
treat or cure anyone diagnosed as having so-called schizophrenia. It has no
information about effective medications to take. It is not a referral service.
Useful Facts
The website was created to provide helpful
facts and information you probably haven't been told.
•
After
100 years of research since so-called "schizophrenia" was first
observed, the leading psychiatric researchers confess to each other that they
still don't know what causes
"schizophrenia", who will get it, how to cure it, or why some people
recover from it.
•
Most
cases of so-called "schizophrenia" occur in physically healthy young
adults (ages 16 to 25) who usually have a life history of being bright and
capable. That is why it was originally called
"dementia praecox
-- the loss of mental capacities in youths." The older they are when first
diagnosed, the better the chances of recovery because they have memories of how
well life can be for them.
•
Psychiatrists
who say that so-called schizophrenia is a brain disease like Parkinson's,
Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis, are distorting medical facts. They are making the so-called "schizophrenic" condition
seem much worse than it is. What these psychiatrists do not tell the public is
that while neurologists can determine with laboratory testing who has
Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis, no neurologist can determine
with laboratory tests who has schizophrenia and who does not . No one dies from
schizophrenia, even when untreated, and people diagnosed with
"schizophrenia" can recover on their own without treatment-something
no person with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis has ever done.
•
"Schizophrenia"
is not a condition of slow, progressive deterioration. In general, the condition does not progress more after five years
from its outbreak, but rather, improves. A small percentage of people fully
recover and go on to become even better than before the episode. Many long-term
research studies show that over one-third of the people who have an episode
fully recover without medications (as did John Forbes Nash, Jr., subject of the
motion picture and book, A Beautiful Mind) and another third
achieve very good social recovery. Poor outcomes are usually attributed to the
effects of hospitalization and medications.
•
Some
people are helped by medications. If medications
are helping, then continue with what is working. Many people, however,
experience the neuroleptic and psychotropic medications given to them as more
harmful than helpful. They put on weight, become heavy smokers, feel lethargic,
and have difficulty doing detailed work. Listen to them. Insist that
psychiatrists provide you with written evidence that the medications being
prescribed are safe and will be effective. Emphasize that you "want proof
that the medications are safe, will be effective, and will not cause
harm."
•
Many
psychiatrists try to frighten families into keeping the person on medications
by saying 10% of people with schizophrenia commit suicide. If you are told that, ask to see evidence proving that the
statistic is accurate. The truth is, national statistics on suicide disprove
that statement. There is no documented evidence supporting the assertion that
10% of people with schizophrenia commit suicide. If that was true, there would
be over 250,000 suicides recorded in the United States every year instead of
the 32,000 reported for all causes (NIMH stats).
If any mental health professional says that a person with schizophrenia is a
suicide risk, ask to see published evidence that their statement is accurate.
•
Many
psychiatrists try to frighten families into keeping the person on medications
by saying a person with schizophrenia might harm children or become violent. If you are told that, ask to see evidence proving the assertion is
accurate. The truth is that people said to have schizophrenia are not more
violent or physically harmful than is found in the general population. If any
mental health professional says that a person with schizophrenia is likely to
cause harm to others, ask to see published evidence that their statement is
accurate.
Don't think of anyone as being "a
schizophrenic."
Be cautious if any mental health
professional says your loved one is "a schizophrenic," and do not
allow yourself to use that phrase or even think it. It is a form of labeling
that is demeaning, abusive, and stigmatizing to the person. A mental health
professional who calls someone "a schizophrenic" is not
professionally competent. Here's why...
1.
In
1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially declared in the preface
to their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Edition III,
that no one is to be called "a schizophrenic," that persons so diagnosed should be referred to as "a person
with schizophrenia." Any mental health professional who talks about
"schizophrenics" is badly out-of-date with current professional
practices. Try to get away from them. Find someone else.
2.
Schizophrenia
is not "a disease" (singular.)
Starting with the original descriptions nearly 100 years ago, all professional
references describe "the schizophrenias" (plural) as a group of
conditions. A major problem in the study of schizophrenia is that the symptoms
vary widely between people. Ten people diagnosed as having schizophrenia may
all have different symptoms. There is no universal symptom found in all people
diagnosed with schizophrenia. Any mental health professional who talks about
"schizophrenia" as being a disease (singular) is badly out-of-date
with current professional practices. Try to get away from them. Find someone
else.
3.
Very
few psychiatrists are able distinguish between someone having a mental
breakdown and someone having a transformational, spiritual breakthrough. The perception of mental illness in someone is mostly a stress
reaction in the mind of the beholder. In our society at this time in history
the thoughts, feelings, and actions of some people may be declared
"schizophrenic" by people who can't handle what they are being
exposed to. This is why some people with so-called schizophrenia can completely
recover with a therapist who relates to the person, not the
"symptoms." The psychiatric profession has not listened well to
successful therapists such as Carl Jung and Harry Stack Sullivan who said that
their successes came from never seeing "schizophrenia" in anyone.
4.
Psychiatrist
John Weir Perry achieved 85 percent recovery with persons declared to be extremely
psychotic in his Diabases House program without any use of medications. Psychiatrist Loren Mosher achieved higher rates of recovery than
traditional hospital programs using a supportive social environment instead of
medications. Both of their programs had to shut down because of loss of
funding, but new programs of a similar nature may exist in your area if you
look.
There is Nothing to Cure
A useful perspective is to shift your
thinking from believing the person "has a dreadful disease" to seeing
that there is nothing in the person to be removed or cured. The reason why the
person is said to have "a disease" is because at this time in history
people who say and feel things that upset others are turned over to
"doctors." Anyone seen by "a doctor" automatically becomes
"a patient" with "a disease" or "illness." These
medical definitions work for psychiatrists, but may be inappropriate for a
person who just wants to figure out what is happening in his or her mind. It is
counter-productive in many instances, to insist to the person that they must
believe they are mentally ill. See the interview of a young woman said to be
"a paranoid schizophrenic" by psychiatrists.
The person you care about is going through
a period of inner turmoil made worse by the ways that others react. People said
to have schizophrenia are usually ultra-sensitive to what others think and
feel. It may be useful for them to think of them as going through a
transforming heroic journey that they will be able to survive and that they can
emerge from with more wisdom, strength, and ability. It's a difficult inner
journey where they have to make sense of the confusing things said and done to
them.
A wierd reality for many people said to be
mentally ill is that they are declared crazy by people who cannot handle being
confronted with inconsistencies between their actions and words.
The person you care about has to find ways
to relate to other people. They need you to be a friend, not an enforcer of
psychiatry's ineffective treatments. Keep in mind it is your journey also, so
keep learning. The thought that someone is insane, crazy, or "sick" is
your mind's way of handling your feelings of distress. Ask the person what they
need. Express your feelings honestly. Ask what they want you and others to
understand. Ask them for help. Continue learning together with the person said
have a mysterious madness.
Resources:
Trials of the Visionary Mind, by John
Weir Perry. SUNY Press, 1998.
"Treating Madness Without
Hospitals" by Loren Mosher, in The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology,
edited by Kirk Schneider, et al., 2002
To become more fully informed about the
negative effects of psychiatric medications, read:
•
Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop
Taking Psychiatric Medications, by Peter Breggin, M.D. and David
Cohen, Ph.D., and
•
Mad in America, by Robert Whitaker.
These and many other useful books can be
found at the on-line
bookstore at http://www.successfulschizophrenia.org/resource.html
With best wishes,
Al Siebert, PhD
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