Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Regarding DSM-5, "The Psychiatrist's Bible"

medicine: 20 mg. Aripiprazole in the mornings.
diet: three to four meals a day
exercise: walking
weight: 136 lbs.
mood: okay
sleep: 8 hours

On May 5, 2012, a meeting to publish DSM-5 meets in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USSA.

 From a wildflowers' movement blogpost regarding DSM-5, "The Psychiatrist's Bible":

"Al Galves, executive director of the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry, is among them. He wants to see DSM-5 jargon replaced with relevant terms reflecting the stresses of modern life—loss, despair, loneliness, hopelessness—words relating to 'emotional distress, spiritual emergencies, life crises, and difficult dilemmas.'  The question, he says, is 'how do you get the psychiatric establishment and the pharmaceutical industry to revamp totally' so that they move away from the language of the medical model and use ordinary words to facilitate helping people who are suffering."

From 

Could DSM-5 Be Harmful to Your Mental Health?

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

medicine: 20 mg. Aripiprazole in the mornings.
diet: three to four meals a day
exercise: walking
weight: 136 lbs.
mood: okay
sleep: 8 hours

Dreaming eases painful memories

"Most people have to deal with traumatic events at some point in their lives, and, for some, these can produce post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), leaving them emotionally disturbed long after the event itself."

In a study of PTSD volunteers, researchers found that studying dream sleep could assist in understanding PTSD patients.

"Those who had slept properly had less activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with heightened emotions, and more activity in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region linked to more rational thinking."

With no sleep the amygdala has greater activity.  There is less activity in the prefrontal cortex, with no sleep.

"Consultant clinical psychologist Dr Roderick Orner said that although sleep was believed by many to play a crucial role in the processing of traumatic memories, there were likely to be many other factors at work in PTSD patients."

I had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  For some, this is unrecognised.



Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Waking up two hours during sleep is good.

the myth of the eight-hour sleep
an eight-hour sleep is unnecessary.


"With the advent of street lighting, however, socialising at night began to filter down through the classes."


"Night became fashionable and spending hours lying in bed was considered a waste of time."


"'For most of evolution we slept a certain way, says sleep psychologist Gregg Jacobs. 'Waking up during the night is part of normal human physiology.'"


In the early nineteen-nineties, psychiatrist Thomas Wehr's study stated that people can sleep four hours, wake for one to two hours, then, sleep again.


"During this waking period people were quite active. They often got up, went to the toilet or smoked tobacco and some even visited neighbours."

I have always liked to do this, since becoming an adult.



I was stopped from doing this in March 1996.

Monday, March 5, 2012

antipsychotics death risk

From the United Kingdom, "...Rebecca Wood said the risks of antipsychotics were 'well-established' yet 'progress has been frustratingly slow' in reducing their use."

antipsychotics death risk charted

"The Department of Health said antipsychotic use was 'resulting in as many as 1,800 unnecessary deaths per year. This is simply unacceptable.'"

This is in the United Kingdom alone.

1,800 unnecessary deaths per year.  Per year, since antipsychotic use began, perhaps, only in dementia patients.



Of haloperidol, quetiapine, aripiprazole (Abilify), olanzapine (Zyprexa), and ziprasidone (Geodon, Zeldox, "quietapine was the only one of the other five to have a lesser risk of death, and the other three were 'not significantly different' than risperidone..."  -- MedPage

BBC News Health and Science Reporter James Gallagher said, "...the study...establishes a correlation between the drugs and the respective death rates."  He said the study's methodology does not show one antipsychotic results in more deaths than any other antipsychotic.

antipsychotic medication death rate



Harvard researchers "...stress the importance of prescribing such drugs in the lowest possible dose..."

"In the Harvard study, the antipsychotic drugs taken by nursing-home residents included:
  • Aripiprazole.
  • Haloperidol.
  • Olanzapine.
  • Quetiapine.
  • Risperidone.
  • Ziprasidone.
Out of the 75,445 residents, a total of 6,598 died within the six-month study from non-cancer related causes"
dementia death risk doubles on antipsychotics 



"...one in four patients with dementia are being prescribed antipsychotics in order to sedate them and control difficult behaviour."

" Antipsychotics are not used for early dementia. They won’t be thrown down the throats of people who have misplaced their door key or forgotten a dental appointment. They are prescribed for agitated disturbed patients during the last stages of this awful disease."


can a chemical cosh ever be compassionate?

Knowing the horrific side-effects of antipsychotics, as well, I think possibly, possibly, No.  Probably, No.

No.  No.