Columns

When I lived in a halfway house at a wizened age of nineteen, I was immersed in the mental health treatment system as it existed then. I learned about a pattern of young adult chronic psychiatric patients, a pattern of repeat hospitalizations. Going to the hospital involuntarily, getting stabilized on medication, being released, then going off medication--to have the cycle repeat--was called the "Revolving Door" by mental health professionals. 

In modern times, there is not as much liberty to do this as there was back in the 1980's. People who do not cooperate with treatment often become incarcerated. Incarceration doesn't stop the revolving door. It adds additional, horrific trauma to the lives of vulnerable people, yet it does not prevent the same mistake from being repeated. 

A contributing factor to Revolving Door Syndrome is youth, and the belief that whatever happens is reversible. Young people have that illusion of invincibility, and it makes them brave. In many cases this bravery is folly. Mental illnesses are serious. If you fail to treat the illness adequately, you will face dire consequences. 

After numerous relapses over time, the patient's brain becomes increasingly damaged. Going on and off medication is a shock to the brain tissue. After enough of these cycles, the patient's functionality in life is mostly gone, and they may only be fit for living in institutionalized situations. 

If you have a psychiatric diagnosis and are medicated and then released, you might have one chance to do a trial off medication. This must be done under psychiatric supervision. If your psychiatrist is unwilling to try this, maybe you should go along with that. The consequences of stopping meds AMA (against medical advice) are serious and can include death. 

I have had three relapses, the most recent being in the mid 1990's. I was in my early thirties, and after that relapse, I finally had the insight that was needed to make a lifelong commitment to cooperating with treatment. Had I relapsed more times, I probably would not have survived this long.  

Mental illnesses cause death. This is an indirect, yet very real outcome for a number of psychiatric consumers. Although psych medications are often harmful to the body and have side effects that affect overall health, the alternative to treatment is not acceptable. This is where the mind and other functions of the brain are in a state of malfunction. When a psychiatric consumer goes without treatment, the result, some of the time, is suicide. In other instances, through misinterpretation of reality, a deadly decision is made that causes the patient to lose her or his life; or by accident, an innocent bystander is killed. 

Therefore, if you have a psychiatric illness, it is negligence to fail to take the condition seriously. 

Despite having a psychiatric condition and despite the need to address it with treatment, we do not need to believe everything mental health professionals tell us. A PhD psychologist told me that my writing aspirations were "a pipe dream." He is one to talk. He has one or more books available on CreateSpace, a self-publishing platform which is part of Amazon. The assumption that he can do it and I can't--is bogus. 

When those in the treatment system assume that their "clients" can't do anything intelligent, we are denied the opportunities to try to do something, opportunities that we rightly deserve. 

You do not have to believe the assertions of treatment professionals except within their specialties, which include the diagnosis and treatment of a condition. The condition does not exclude an otherwise good mind, or an otherwise capable person. I'll leave you with that thought for this week.