Posted by URCONFUSED on September 21, 2002, at 16:28:46
In reply to Re: confused thinkingsquiggles » URCONFUSED, posted by Squiggles on September 21, 2002, at 12:30:10
> I think the problem is semantics (again);
> by "recovery", I understood the meaning
> to be *recovery* from mental illness.
> The meaning of the word recovery here,
> would be analogous to recovery from measles,
> or recovery the flu.
>
> Clearly, the word is not being used in this
> way here. If you mean something else, then
> say so.
>
> URILLITERATE
>
> SquigglesI dont think so Squiggles. When you say that the pro-meds claim recovery is not possible or not the goal as you said in your first post, you sound ignorant. Its more the opposite with the pro-meds. In fact, the goal of the pro-meds is something called "full remission" from symptoms which basically means you are out of your illness 100%. Obviously this is not always possible, even with the correct meds. But that is the goal of most psychiatrists, if they can achieve it, which is actually kind of rare.
The goal of the pro-meds is full restoration of whatever you were like before you developed mental illness. Obviously this can only be done with medications or possibly ECT.The anti-psychiatry people you mentioned first of all refuse to even acknowledge the existence of biologically based mental illness, such as schizophrenia. This is their fundamental tenet, that biologically based mental illness is a farce, a lie. That its something that was made up. Therefore psychiatry should be abolished. This is, to put it bluntly, completely stupid. Anyone who reads "anti-psychiatry" literature is a sucker, particularly if they believe the stuff.
"Recovery" can mean many things to many people. To the typical pro-med, recovery means achieving full remission, thru meds or ECT. It means being fully restored to the person they were prior to developing mental illness, thru meds. To the typical anti-psychiatry type, recovery might mean being able to get off of meds, getting away from the psychiatric establishment completely or near completely, to psychologically come to terms with the fact that they are the way they are and might never be what they were at one time before mental illness.
As I said, most anti-psychiatry persons are people in denial of their own illness, which all too often tends to either be schizophrenia or manic depression. You dont tend to see this denial as often with depression. Denial is most often seen in those with psychosis and mania, unfortunately. This is largely why we have the anti-psychiatry movement. Denial.
Just trying to clarify a few things for ya.
URCONFUSED
poster:URCONFUSED
thread:120456
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020914/msgs/120626.html