Cloudedmind,
i was diagnose with schizophrenia a year ago. I took geodon for almost six months, seroquel for a month, and risperdal for about three months. Now, I am completely off antipsychotics. It's been two months and I have no problems except for one side effect i'm still experiencing due to withdrawal. I'm experiencing brain cramps. I spent a month researching why this is happening. Science has proven that antipsychotics shrinks the frontal lobe of the brain and at the same time increases another area of the brain. I believe the antipsychotics rewire the brain and at the same time damages it. The brain cramps i'm feeling can be cause by blood circulation problem. It is because of this that the frontal lobe can shrink. Blood circulation is vital for health of the nervous system. Antipsychotics action is to block. What else does it block? With risperdal, one of the side effects is blood circulation problems. I am very angry.
I found out a few months ago, there was an alternative treatment to mental illness, if the illness is really an illness. Loren mosher, one of few psychiatrist, believes you can treat it without medication. So he begun the soteria project, treated first time people with schizophrenia. The results was very successful. Also, developing countries who cannot afford medication also did very good. If it is a brain desease, why then does the symptoms go away. Using medication will prolong the recovery and too long, you will never recover. It is the medication that causes the chemical imbalance.
There are a lot of books out that shows the dangers of psychiatric drugs. You just have to look for it. It is there. There are also books on people recovering from schizophrenia without dangerous medication. Soteria and dante's cure are good examples. Recovery is possible. Psychiatry will deny that but look at all the evidence. The illness could actually be only psychological, solved through psychotherapy alone. There is another option to medication. It probably is not fast acting like medication but it is a cure. Medication only mask the problem and damages the brain.