I want a clean, drug-free life for myself. If I destroy those who say otherwise that's 2 birds 1 stone.
Is this the last time offbeats like me can live free in nooks and crannies of the huge, rigid structure of an increasingly codified society? 50 years from now I'd be hunted down in the street. They'd drill holes in my head and make me sensible, reliable and adjusted. Travis McGee, John D MacDonald's alter ego ...
Manic depression - "How would you diagnose a patient pacing and screaming one minute and sitting in a chair weeping uncontrollably the next?" A basketball coach? "Even Jesus Christ can't guard me, and that feels good." - Larry Bird
Help Wanted: Director for National Advocacy Organization for people with or diagnosed with or labeled with mental illness. Draft policy, educate legislators on recommended policy (if we agree on one) Type 40 WPM average between manic and depressed days. For persons with multiple personalities, at least one personality must meet each criteria. Please contact NO chairman at 555-1212.
FACILITIES MANAGER. No programming, calendars or education. Check doors and locks, close windows, make sure no one is hiding in rest rooms, turn down the heat, make sure gas is not coming from the stove, check premises outside for problems (crow bars and screw drivers buried in dirt near entrances), liquor bottles, etc. Set up and neaten the peer counseling/ meeting room, make sure its coffee pot works, there's coffee and cups. Spring fire drills PRN by pushing smoke detector alarm buttons.
"Senior moments" are not usually signs of Alzheimer's disease. Experts in aging say those kinds of memory lapses - the where-did-I-put-my-car-keys moments - are universal by late middle age. They arise from a different part of the brain than the region involved in forgetfulness symptomatic of Alzheimer's. People with Alzheimer's usually can't recall ordinary nouns like fork or radio and they're less aware of their forgetfulness One test of what type of forgetfulness you experience involves your reaction when you finally remember where you put the keys. If you have a sense of recollection - "The phone rang and I put them on the table" - chances are about 95% you're normal. People in the early stages of Alzheimer's tend not to have that sense of recollection even when reminded. Another good test is what's 100 - 7? repeat and so on, down to 0 and maybe farther.
Drugs are like smoking, a burden I won't carry even for decent people let alone the other kind. I want a clean, drug-free life for myself. If I destroy those who want me to take these drugs it's 2 birds one stone.
THIS JUST IN: Horrification Hall of Fame entrant - CSX selfhelp space replaced with an "injection clinic" or lose funding.
Dark Ages are still on ghostbusters NOT taking drugs! DEMAND A CHAMPION! Attorneys successfully defending us save money as well.
Drugs mimic natural brain processes in ways not occurring naturally. Without niacin we'd all go insane.
Mental health facilities are filled with people they can't pin Murder 1 on like they did Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Psychiatric drugs Development and effects Clozapine Strong adverse side effects Ritalin Cultural construct to sell dope Valium Mother's Little Helper Zyprexa and other atypicals
CALIFORNIA mental health advocates Warning: Some of these may be bogus, only there for the state, not the patient. I'll find out and let you know here.
CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUES Introduction and focus group. Antipsychiatry Movement - Why waste treatment on those who don't want or need it?
Survivors links antipsychiatry links and books
Christmas Carols for the Psychiatrically Challenged
Manic - Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and Fire Hydrants and......
Schizophrenia - Do You Hear What I Hear?
Multiple Personality Disorder - We Three Queens Disoriented Are
Dementia - I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
Narcissistic - Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
Paranoid - Santa Claus is Coming to Get Me
Borderline Personality Disorder - Thoughts of Roasting You on an Open Fire
Personality Disorder - You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll tell You Why
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder - Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
A person is excited, a patient is manic. A person has concerns, a patient has panic. A person is expressive, a patient is histrionic. A person gets better, a patient is chronic. A person gets angry, a patient gets agitated. A person is a creative thinker, a patient's thoughts are unrelated. A person is sad, a patient is depressed. A person is childlike, a patient is regressed. A person is cautious, a patient is guarded. A person changes her mind, a patient can't finish what she started. A person tries to influence, a patient manipulates. A person gets a second opinion, a patient triangulates. A person is an activist, a patient is antisocial. A person is a visionary, a patient is delusional. A person lives in a home, a patient lives in a facility. A person has strengths, a patient has a disability.
Divorced, successful book publisher has custody of her son, 11. Despite determination to provide him with every material and emotional advantage he clearly has a hard time growing up as a lone child of a single parent. He's long had behavioral problems at school, is truant and is truculent when challenged about this at home. He never showed much affection for his caregiver, highly trained, who does all she can to win his trust and regard. The mother deemed the situation serious enough to tackle more systematically. She has the caregiver keep a list of his misdemeanors, asking his teacher each day how he behaved when she picks him up from school. "He has to learn," says the mother. "I'll go through the list with him every evening quietly, methodically, thoroughly, explaining why what he did is wrong or unacceptable. We'll soon see a big improvement. He's bright enough. He needs things pointed out to him consistently. Once he sees we're on to him, he'll change...." The son's behavior is no better. In some important respects it's worse since this list-and-tell regime started.
Lakota Indians' delinquent youngster damages cars and trucks parked outside the store. When challenged, he's rude and dismissive of elders' authority. One evening the clan forms a large circle. The young man's father escorts him into the middle of the circle, joins the other adults on the perimeter, and speaks first. "You are our first born, our most precious one. Your mother and I rejoiced the first time we felt you kick in her stomach. We ran from house to house, telling everyone you were alive and well and strong. And so you were. You were born crying so loud they heard it 300 yards away above the radio. How proud we were! How happy! You have always made us happy. Your first steps, how you fell into a puddle. The look on your face! How we laughed." On and on the father recounts the happiest memories of his son's life, without criticism, to remind the young man of all he means to the family, the clan, the people; of all the joy and happiness he brought, the delight his wider family has in him. His uncle speaks next, then the two grandfathers. The sky darkens, stars plainly visible. It will be long past midnight before they finish. The women speak of labor pains and saving enough for schoolbooks. Finally the clan chief summarizes what was said. His theme is of pride and pleasure this young man brought the Lakota people: the living, the departed and those not yet born. Like earlier speakers he never mentions the malicious damage and vandalism, the shame, anger, futility, mindlessness. The sole refrain is that this young man is a beautiful gift of inexpressible value to the whole people. The chief made a small sign. The ring of people stood almost at attention, looking ahead of them at the young man in the center of the circle, then melted wordlessly into the night.
Which youngster has the better chance of transformation: the one whose faults are catalogued and reviewed each day? Or the one ritually assured of his place in the hearts of his people?
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