Can People Who Have Been on Medication Understand Those Who Chose Not Too?
I stumbled across this post on my Twitter feed (@TheMadvocates) and was curious!
The Psych Meds Divide: Can People Who’ve Never Taken Them Understand Those Who Have
It got me thinking a few things about my experience with psych meds and about psych meds in general.
I agree with this article when it says that those who have never experienced a psychiatric condition will never understand those who have. This has been proven to me time and time again. It’s not a bad thing to not understand in the sense of never having lived it. I will never understand what it is like to be LGBT because that is not my experience but I can be aware of the issues, be empathetic, not contribute to homophobia, spread awareness and support to the community and my friends who are LGBT.
Face it! We can’t know about everything even though we want to. There are some things we just can’t understand.
I have blogged about my shit-tastic experience with psych meds (http://prideinmadness.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/antidepressant-suicide-ironic/) but this does not mean that my battle is over. Psych meds still affect my life even though I don’t take a pill or multiple pills a day anymore. I still face a stigma. I am the Unmedicated Mad!!! BOO!!!!!!! Did I scare you?
I feel there is an “understanding” so to speak of the people who take psych meds by those who do not. Because mental illness is considered an illness it does not surprise anyone to hear that someone is on an antidepressant, anti-psychotic or anti-anxiety medication. It is expected to be the first course of action. We understand in general the idea that if you are sick you take medication. That’s not hard to understand. It is almost that medication that confirms to the world that you are sick.
I know it's a dog but the point is still there.
So what about the people who chose not to be on medication? There is a stigma that I have felt has brought me more of a laugh than a cry. As I said before I am the unmedicated mad. This scares people. There is a horrible belief that people with mental health issues will go off their meds and become COMPLETELY CRAZY!!!!! (this stereotype is especially used to describe those with bipolar)
“You’re sick?! Why would you go off your medication? A diabetic wouldn’t stop taking their insulin!?!?”
Why would I go off? Because I want to! I have the right as a human being to decide what I want and do not want to put into my body.
The other issue I’ve come up against is the idea that since I am not on medication that there is nothing wrong with me. I ascribe to this belief myself but others then believe that this discredits many of my opinions and thoughts on issues about mental health which it in no way does.
I feel like I have been pushed to the fringes because I have decided to not take psych meds. This does not 
mean that I’m better or worse than those who take medication. It means that I made a decision that I felt would work for me. Everyone else can decide for themselves.
Overall we should not discriminate against those who are and are not on medication. We have the right to decide what course of action we would like to take for our recovery and we need the support or our community to help do that.
Psych meds are a double-edged sword. You take it you’re fucked and if you don’t you’re fucked. But we can’t be judging within our own community. Those with mental health issues need to be supporting one another. Just because I chose no medication and you chose medication doesn’t mean that we won’t both have our bad days and need each other. We will. And as we’ve already talked about those who have lived it get it best and that is where the best support will come from.
Posted on March 3, 2012, in Articles/Video/Campaigns/Photos, Madness, Mental Health, Stigma/Discrimination and tagged choice, discrimination, LGBT, medication, psych meds, psychiatric medication, stereotype, stimga, understanding. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments.
Since Ive decided to stop taking meds, Ive found that most people on them try to talk me into trying the medication that theyre taking.
Yeah I’ve experienced some of that also. I try hard to not even give me own recommendations because I’m learning that we all experience these drugs differently. I wont try them again that’s all I know and hopefully can everyone can understand that.
Thank you. I decided straight out not to take meds, because I have done previous research and was determined it is not a good trade off for me… I am doing so-so with my bipolar (I mean, some things take me longer and sometimes I am too awkward in perfectly normal life situations, but who knows if it’s my mood disorder or series of little and not so little things that happened to me in a lifetime. Nothing that I would classify as major trauma, but still things that shape person).
I find it sad how the “MH community” self-stigmatizes towards people who chose the non-standard route to wellness. I have been told that I don’t need meds because I don’t go around whining about my horrible life and how it is not fair, therefore I must be superstable, not even bipolar, because I would need to be on meds otherwise. And when I do complain, good intentioned people recommend meds. (I also find it sad and strange how most peer support groups are oriented on illness. It’s all about meds and therapy… but not about getting your sense of life back. Don’t know. It seems too narrow of a concept… It gets ridiculous within some groups when somebody complains about divorce and trouble with friends and somebody chips in and mentions MEDS… really?).
I have been told I should not speak about possibility of getting better without meds as it deters people from getting treatment (as somebody who was born into communist country, when a lot could not be said aloud – of course for the good of us all – this makes my blood boil always). So it is always great to see a person from this side of the fence (btw, are you familiar with the Icarus Project? It is pretty cool alternative MH project).
¨I am the Unmedicated Mad!!! BOO!!!!!!! Did I scare you?”
Last year I was debating Libya with somebody and they told me that Gaddafi is a bipolar and probably of his meds and “you know how bad we can get”. I told them I was unmedicated bipolar (but never bombed, killed, abducted or tortured anybody). I think this was the worst example I ever had (and it came from person who had few mental quirks herself…).
““You’re sick?! Why would you go off your medication? A diabetic wouldn’t stop taking their insulin!?!?””
The diabetic comparision is so flawed. And I never heard that insulin would raise blood sugar in some patients (like ADs can make you more depressed and suicidal).
I don’t understand why people insist on “chemical imbalance” and “brain disorder” labels because it makes our struggles more valid. I think it just divides the population into “us” and “them”. It also feels that I am told, I should take pills to correct those imbalances and STFU, because it’s not like the society is a problem and all my bad feelings, feeling effing sad and detached, feeling bitter and jaded… they are because my brain is broken.
Why should emotional struggles need a physical underlaying to be real? I don’t care for brainscans and dopamine and serotonine and whatnot. Don’t all that struggle for whatever reason deserve help, compassion, good advice and guidance?
Thank you so much for sharing all this!
We don’t all need to experience a trauma to develop something that could be classified as a mental illness. Trauma is a very broad term anyways because what hurts one person won’t hurt the other. But it’s that trauma that for some create the legitimacy of a mental illness. You do what you gotta do to get through the day!
The choices in mental health treatment are narrow, I totally agree. I have also been told not to talk about my experience because it may deter those who need medication to from seeking it. I say, “why not?” Just because you’ve been unmedicated up to this point doesn’t mean that you can’t continue to do so but learn coping skills and what not. That’s up to the person though but yeah, we shouldn’t be silenced because we chose a different option. I did have someone tell me I was borderline because I guess I wasn’t sad and all that. I have worked very hard to keep certain emotions in check so for someone to say something like that too me really belittled my accomplishments. How dare you not act like your stereotypical person with bipolar and complain!
Yes, I have heard about the Icarus Project. I haven’t really looked into it but one of the founders was in a documentary called Crooked Beauty in saw at a mental health conference in New York summer 2011. I’ll have to check out the project!
It’s also great for me to meet more people who identify as having a mental health issue and have chosen to not pursue medication. It’s making me feel less isolated
WOW!!! I can’t believe someone said that about Gaddafi and bipolar!!!! No one understands any of this….In 2008 a friend of mine was murdered and the girl who planned it, her lawyers tried to tell the courts she had borderline personality disorder. I was furious and hurt because that’s my diagnosis and I would never kill someone! But that is now the image for people who already know basically nothing about this personality disorder!
We are totally on the same page on this topic! I do hate that we need to bend over backwards to be taken seriously. Comparing it to diabetes or having to label it as an illness. I like to think that we’re just all chemically different in our brains to begin with.
Thanks so much for commenting!
You are so right. And like you, many of us have decided at different times to take or NOT take medications, and often those have been the right choices (and sometimes the wrong ones…). It isn’t about judging others, it is about individuals making the right choices for themselves.