One of the things I feel most people forget in the modern world is that no one is intended to live on pharmaceutical medications like ongoing forever. Kudos to individuals pointing out insulin, anti-rejection medications and the like. I get it. There are conditions for which people may expect to be on medications forever. Knowing these medications exist has not stopped scientists from looking for a cure ergo no one is intended to live a healthy life on medication forever. I guess this is a better way of putting it – no medication should be considered a cure rather a momentary remedy to a potentially chronic issue spanning multiple generations. With this in mind, we all need to be willing to be accountable for the disaster that has been created within the pharmaceutical industry. We see medication provided as unknowing masks to maintain the baseline a.k.a. status quo. This has created some conflict in that those individuals within elite and other generally healthier groups who may function quite well with just one or two masks. This can be sustainable. That doesn’t mean that it should be nor is it the end all for healthy living. Unfortunately, those very same people are in the groups that hold places of power and therefore make decisions. Often this is accompanied by a skewed view and understanding of not only what is happening but what potential there is to come.
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It would be irresponsible for us to not hold ourselves accountable for what the medical industry has become. In its origin, the American Medical System was primarily interested in infectious disease control and the preventing disease onset altogether. Over time we have had brilliant discoveries which were intended to aid in this process. For the longest period advice given by doctors was to eat right and exercise. Have you ever encountered someone that heard this who became so upset? I blame the discovery of penicillin for so much consequence. Individual expectations of immediate end to suffering is absolutely one of them. This expectancy combined with the consumerist nature of business relationships in the U.S. led us to a space of dilemma. Do people with blood pressure and cholesterol conflict not realize they are intended to use a pharmaceutical as a crutch to prevent death while allowing time to implement healthy life changes which may reverse the effects and lead towards the discontinuing of medicine? In a similar manner and with regard to my own experience with mental health conflict I credit ongoing effective Rx treatment for my ADHD to allow space for my ability to sort through the disorganized thought processes which had been created by my life’s traumas. Once I arrived to a space where I could keep up with my thoughts without the need for medication, I began experiencing adverse symptoms associated with the medication I was on. Many individuals are misinterpreting that their Rx should be seen as a way to combat their symptoms while also sorting through a means to exist without the medicine or at least minimum medications. We do not possess the literature to support maintaining all these multiple medications at a time ongoing and is why we often see adverse reactions go unattended or misinterpreted by physicians and the research.
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It was election day when I sent my brother a text that went ignored as my bizarre thoughts tend to be by him. As a PICU doctor my brother is obviously highly trained in medicine. And he, like many providers, lack understanding to chronic illness or how to approach them. The question I posed on that day was “Do you think the conflict of the balance of humors in 1300s Europe could be considered comparable to the autoimmune conflict happening now?” – The irony that I read a similar point of view a week later in Gabor Mate’s The Myth of Normal, which in that moment was sitting on my bedside table. This is where I see a great gap as well as great opportunity in the medical industry currently. Specifically, as it relates to mental health – we are becoming involved in people’s experience at younger ages and with an ability to interrupt lifelong conflict which used to be assumed to accompany severe mental health crisis. For myself, I have been in a lifelong relationship with the mental health system, first beginning at age 16. After nearly 7 years of maltreatment primarily by means of overmedication, I got pregnant. I often credit the pregnancy of my son for saving my life and my marriage. At this point I went off all medication and was able to attend weekly therapy arriving to what I have called a factual level of healing. This was followed by postpartum psychosis to accompany the 6 week postpartum hormone rush leaving me in a recovery rut. A year later, I continued this factual healing through finally attending some level of higher education with an ability to complete it successfully. I ended with a four-year degree in psychology while simultaneously implementing preventative care to my firstborn through adequate testing and positive reinforcement psychology parenting class. After extensive time attempting to establish my career, I reached a point of needing additional mental health support. This came in the form of therapy which involved some EMDR, Internal Family Systems – a favorite of mine personally and professionally, and intense levels of shadow work. I credit this time period for the ability to heal on an emotional level.
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And currently, I am at the place of preparedness to heal the physical remains of what’s been revealed to be a lifetime lived in survival mode and with the discovery of a gastrointestinal condition surfacing after more than three decades of symptoms. We are at a place where there are increasing numbers in my position with an extreme limitation to the options available, particularly for anyone in less than the Elite level demographic – this is both economically and locality. One conflict I have in particular with the practice of mental health is that by it’s design it is beneficial to those with high level intellectual capabilities as well as financial stability. This does not largely describe the population of people with a current mental health need. Moreover, the field of mental health should be leaning into holistic options for releasing trauma rather than forcing the front loaded talk therapy version which is currently causing more destruction than anything. Personally, the early interventions I had with mental health largely contributed to forcing me into a place of learned helplessness when I now realize I had been so resilient before their encounter. I find it interesting that advanced level therapies such as EMDR are training people to dissociate from what surfaced through their more traditional CBT. In this regard, I think many therapists would benefit from the concept “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. And by this I mean, maybe the underlying conflict is too much to process for some individuals. This can be due to their current environment not providing enough support, lacking the intellectual ability to fully process, or their trauma being too difficult to cope with on a surface level. My physical and spiritual healing have both been aided by the phenomenal treatment of Myofascial release. This is backed by more than thirty years of research and is beginning to be utilized in medical clinics. When I tried to bring this up to my cohort of master of social work students, holistic care was scoffed at as being unattainable due to cost. In my mind, given so many providers leaning to holistic and interdisciplinary options, it seems to me the conflict that needs resolved is access to these therapies rather than scrutiny and continued pushing of the current failing biomedical model.
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How many of us with a one in a million condition must unite before you hear the damage being caused by a standardized medical system employing the least qualified at the most crucial space – entry level. I am personally in possession of the first psychiatric assessment I went through, ironically on April Fools’ day in 2003. His final prediction was that he was likely wrong in his psychiatric assessment referring that I would likely find benefit in rheumatology – twenty years later, I am. Of course when medical malpractice only covers two years back, who could believe someone in my condition could find stability in time to have any form of justice. Not that the psychiatrist was the sole to blame. I frequently think back to my PCP with a longstanding history of providing me with antibiotics without confirmed medical need who also prescribed off-label antipsychotics to address my severe headaches which are in current remission through the assistance of drinking homemade Baja Gold mineral water. A tip I became aware of when Gary Brecka started showing up on my feed last summer. I remember sitting there with my PCP as teenager, at a complete loss and in extreme pain with him retorting “pffft, you could try yoga”. I so often think back to that moment and wonder, had he taken the time and intention to really express concern for how stress can impact the body and mind, maybe I would have found that alternate reliever at an earlier time in my life. It just felt as though I was constantly cast aside. The carrying out of the current American Medical System has created a monopoly of availed care. Those of us who are suffering most require access to alternatives from what current evidenced based practices can provide. For decades we have pushed through pharmaceutical studies at inadequate rates potentially causing their efficacies to be forever questionable. We have done this out of desperation to help those in need – and from someone who has been on both the patient and professional side of this I wholeheartedly understand. I question what more longterm recovery could have been achieved had we instead created partnerships for those in highest need. This would include access to clean foods, away from the commotion of the city involving access to nature, and with job training and ability to learn about ones own condition. In terms of equity – those of us who are most tormented are deserving of this option. I can only hope for the research breakthroughs that could be made to surround healing beyond and within the biomedical model of treatment. Imagine a world where people with psychotic symptoms realized they may not need an antipsychotic and for them to be surrounded by a community that could help identify this need and to coach them through it.
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