Downing pills, or downing yourself?
Yesterday, I attended 'Your Drug May Be Your Problem.' This excellent and much-needed talk on psychiatric medications' role in both suicide and suicide attempts was presented by Angela Bischoff of Greenspiration.org, in collaboration with anti-psychiatry activist Don Weitz, and with visual media support by Kelly Reinhardt of BoilingFrog.ca. The session was both highly informative and uplifting.
As someone who's been through various psychiatric meds, and did experience some suicidal impulses, plus having one institution and various practitioners determined to label me delusional, I could relate to the material being presented.
Angela Bischoff's thoroughness and deep courage in exploring such a difficult topic is commendable: it was exactly what I've come to expect from this unique individual. Having lost her long-time partner, Tooker Gomberg (mirror site), to apparent suicide through psychiatric meds and seemingly outright negligence and irresponsible dosaging by the doctor, she has not sat back and allowed this unnecessary tragedy to go unquestioned. Being a truly committed activist, Angela is launching a national campaign to raise public awareness about the misinformation, over-medicating, and cover-ups being propagated by pharmaceutical companies.
RIGHT ON to Angela Bischoff for educating people about this little-known problem of suicide and suicidal reactions caused by anti-depressants (currently used by 40 to 50 million people worldwide), and also to Don Weitz and others for their similarly brave work. (See Weitz's tell-it-like-it-is book review on The Last Taboo: A Survival Guide to Mental Health in Canada, written by Scott Simmie.)
People: We need to be appreciating and supporting Canada's hard-working activists. If you don't have time to do much yourself, then for godsakes, make a donation or otherwise help promote the work of those, who are striving hard to do something for both people and this precious planet we live on. Too many bloated charities are pumping your 'feel-good' contributions into bureaucratic administration costs and self-promotion - not ACTION.
If you love Canada and believe in what Tooker Gomberg and Angela Bischoff have both stood for, and strived so hard to help realize, I strongly encourage you to send a donation to Greenspiration.org today.
More about Tooker Gomberg:
Tooker Gomberg was runner-up mayoral candidate in the 2000 Toronto Election (VoteToronto.ca). This, alone, is a testament to his integrity and high esteem within socio-environmental circles (see slideshow). While the incumbent Mayor Mel Lastman was already a household name, Tooker Gomberg was virtually unknown in the wider city, and he was somewhat lampooned by mainstream media - yet through the strength of his personal reputation, he managed to outpace 24 other candidates. Amazing.
Tooker Gomberg's profound commitment to the environment, people, and infinite causes and issues is without compare. Bottom-up, top-down, and inside-out, Tooker knew his stuff, and he always seemed to be putting himself on the line, for both this planet and its inhabitants. I doubt we will ever see another like him.
A sensitive environmentalist, with much creativity, humour, and heart, Tooker Gomberg was truly a cross-Canada activist, and a profound visionary. His passion and ideas seemed to transform the very people and places he connected with. May his spirit live on, and continue to inspire us all.
More about delusions:
Bipolar World's definition of delusions. And I just had to post this excerpt:
As someone who's been through various psychiatric meds, and did experience some suicidal impulses, plus having one institution and various practitioners determined to label me delusional, I could relate to the material being presented.
Angela Bischoff's thoroughness and deep courage in exploring such a difficult topic is commendable: it was exactly what I've come to expect from this unique individual. Having lost her long-time partner, Tooker Gomberg (mirror site), to apparent suicide through psychiatric meds and seemingly outright negligence and irresponsible dosaging by the doctor, she has not sat back and allowed this unnecessary tragedy to go unquestioned. Being a truly committed activist, Angela is launching a national campaign to raise public awareness about the misinformation, over-medicating, and cover-ups being propagated by pharmaceutical companies.
RIGHT ON to Angela Bischoff for educating people about this little-known problem of suicide and suicidal reactions caused by anti-depressants (currently used by 40 to 50 million people worldwide), and also to Don Weitz and others for their similarly brave work. (See Weitz's tell-it-like-it-is book review on The Last Taboo: A Survival Guide to Mental Health in Canada, written by Scott Simmie.)
People: We need to be appreciating and supporting Canada's hard-working activists. If you don't have time to do much yourself, then for godsakes, make a donation or otherwise help promote the work of those, who are striving hard to do something for both people and this precious planet we live on. Too many bloated charities are pumping your 'feel-good' contributions into bureaucratic administration costs and self-promotion - not ACTION.
If you love Canada and believe in what Tooker Gomberg and Angela Bischoff have both stood for, and strived so hard to help realize, I strongly encourage you to send a donation to Greenspiration.org today.
More about Tooker Gomberg:
Tooker Gomberg was runner-up mayoral candidate in the 2000 Toronto Election (VoteToronto.ca). This, alone, is a testament to his integrity and high esteem within socio-environmental circles (see slideshow). While the incumbent Mayor Mel Lastman was already a household name, Tooker Gomberg was virtually unknown in the wider city, and he was somewhat lampooned by mainstream media - yet through the strength of his personal reputation, he managed to outpace 24 other candidates. Amazing.
Tooker Gomberg's profound commitment to the environment, people, and infinite causes and issues is without compare. Bottom-up, top-down, and inside-out, Tooker knew his stuff, and he always seemed to be putting himself on the line, for both this planet and its inhabitants. I doubt we will ever see another like him.
A sensitive environmentalist, with much creativity, humour, and heart, Tooker Gomberg was truly a cross-Canada activist, and a profound visionary. His passion and ideas seemed to transform the very people and places he connected with. May his spirit live on, and continue to inspire us all.
- Globalization Studies' tribute to Tooker Gomberg at University of Lethbridge.
- 'An Activist’s Life: Honouring the Legacy of Tooker Gomberg' by James Kosawan
- Activist Tooker Gomberg Dies
- Letter to CRTC in support of Star Ray TV (Star Ray TV news article).
More about delusions:
Bipolar World's definition of delusions. And I just had to post this excerpt:
In other cases, the delusion may be assumed to be false by doctor or psychiatrist assessing the belief, because it seems to be unlikely, bizarre or held with excessive conviction. Psychiatrists rarely have the time or resources to check the validity of a person’s claims leading to some true beliefs to be erroneously classified as delusional.[5] This is known as the Martha Mitchell effect, after the wife of the attorney general who alleged that illegal activity was taking place in the White House. At the time her claims were thought to be signs of mental illness, and only after the Watergate scandal broke was she proved right (and hence sane).(I have removed this postscript to discuss, as one may wish. Took guts on my part.)
[Book reference from original webpage:
[5] Maher, B.A. (1988) Anomalous experience and delusional thinking: The logic of explanations. In T. Oltmanns and B. Maher (eds) Delusional Beliefs. New York: Wiley Interscience. ISBN 0471836354]
posted by outside the box... at
11:29 PM
1 Comments:
Clearly what we need is a saner more humane society.
I am always reminded of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations that is controversial for having repeatedly sold out tenants to the interests of the governments that fund that group.
What I find most disturbing about them is that whenever anybody questions their honesty they call the person a "mental patient" or claim they have "mental problems" but they have no problems soliciting psyche survivors to flyer for them when they what to solicit for new members!
By
Anonymous, at 2:21 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home