AN ILLNESS THAT ISN'T AN ILLNESS?

AN ILLNESS THAT ISN'T AN ILLNESS? by Cathy D. Slaght

The information shared over the next few days is not meant to stir up negative emotions. But the two most important words in the English language are KNOW and NO. My hope is that, in terms of mental "illness" that once people get the first word down, they may activate the second. So here goes-

I noticed during the presidential debates that repeated promises were made to increase funding for mental illness. We have a serious problem.  (Never mind that we already fund it heavily and our country is broke.)

This got me to checking a few things out, and I'd like to share what I learned.

But first, I'd like to also share that I've had my own experience with what mental illness can do to a life/ family. My mother suffered from intense mania/depression. In these days she probably would have been diagnosed as bipolar. Whatever it was, it destroyed her life, and caused an estrangement between she and I that never was really healed during her lifetime.

By the time I got into the energy work, she had passed away. Often, as I work with the  quantum software, I've think " mother would have loved this! It might have helped!" I can visualize what she could have been without the darkness that had settled over her.

Because my mother was an amazing woman. First, she was incredibly beautiful. In fact, when she died and her obituary was published in her hometown newspaper, people went out of their way to call and tell me she would always be remembered  as one of the most beautiful girls ever to come out of Tennessee.

She would have loved that. :)

Then, when she worked- which she did all of her adult life- at Caterpillar Tractor Company, she wrote a newsletter that rivaled anything Erma Bombeck had ever published. (Interestingly enough, they died the same day.) When Mom retired from CAT she was given a retirement party bigger and more elaborate than any outgoing president.

Her wit was legendary.

I didn't go to that party. To me, it was an atrocity, because at home there had been little "wit", just hell. I'd left home as soon as possible, and visited only because I felt I had to.

But it wasn't always that way. I remember when it started. I was in the 5th grade.  She was depressed. I believe now it should have been labeled as situational depression. We all experience it. My father had a serious drinking problem. In our small town it was a source of shame. My mother, as I now understand, was really an artist, a gifted writer, sensitive to the world around her. His drinking shattered her.

But she had excellent insurance. Caterpillar always covered EVERYTHING. So, it was a solution, the doctor decided, to prescribe something called "mood lifters".  She got worse, not better. In came more meds, all covered by insurance. Over the years, the more prescriptions, the worse things became. There were suicide attempts, therapy, hospital stays, everything but electro shock therapy. It was all downhill.

This brings up an irony. If any of these drugs or therapies had worked, she would have gotten better. Take it a step further- in the world, as this is a global problem, the more psychotropic drugs there are, the more "mental illness" increases. How wacky do we need to be not to see this? No wonder they think we should ALL be on meds!

These drugs actually damage the brain. Look it up for yourself. The more psychotropic drugs we take, the worse we seem to get. I believe this damage can be corrected, but that's another post.

And, get this- there may be no such thing as mental illness-  as least not as it's presently defined. It might turn out to be nutritional deficiency. There is a field emerging that holds great promise- nutritional psychiatry.

But at this present time the general idea is that mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance or deficiency in the brain which needs to be corrected by drugs. We're told that psychiatrists can accurately diagnose mental illness and have safe and effective treatments.

But it's not true.

For one thing, there is no test for chemical imbalance. Diagnosis is based on behavior. And let's admit it: we all are crazy at times. (Ok, I'll speak for myself). And "safe and effective" treatments?

Here's where we are:

-Children are now prescribed powerful cocaine-like stimulants and antidepressants. (They sell them at school, which has led to MORE problems. And we'll talk about the violent behavior associated with these meds later.)

-50% of the unemployed take psychotropic drugs.

-A large number of people are so damaged by psychotropic drugs that they are chronically disabled and must receive disability checks  

So Mom, if you're somewhere up there in the ethers, reading this, please forgive me for not understanding.  Finally, I think I do.  It's called "follow the money".

Of course, I still want to believe that isn't really it. It's hard to fathom such evil.

But if it IS true, we'll need to gather some information and rehabilitate each other. Nobody else is going to do it, not if it hurts their bottom line.

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