Sociopolitical Change as an Alternative to "Drug Therapy"

by Kris Yates

    When I was twenty-six years old, I traveled overseas for three years, spending a year and a half of that time in India.  At some point I was locked up in the Hospital for Mental Diseases in New Delhi after I suffered a nervous breakdown.  After three weeks of "treatment" I limped (the result of the drug injections into my hips) out of the hospital dazed from the electroshock I had received.  I'm still not sure exactly what happened to cause my hospitalization.  Nothing like that has happened to me before or since.  But that experience changed my life forever.  I was now an "ex-mental-patient," later to call myself a  "psychiatric survivor," meaning I survived psychiatric treatment.

    Never once in my life did I think of myself as "mentally ill" even through teen suicide attempts, the hospitalization in India, periods of great anxiety, sleeplessness, and depression.  I've sometimes felt like I'm riding a runaway horse, believing if I just hold on tight enough I'll arrive safely.  I always rejected any  labels or psychiatric diagnoses.  In reaction to my mother's addiction to prescription drugs I never took any drugs, legal or otherwise, except when they were forced on me in the hospital.  I held on to the notion that nothing was wrong with me and that I didn't need any drugs.

    Now that I am a Marriage and Family Therapist I have to "diagnose" my clients for insurance purposes.  I have to state what is "wrong" with my clients.  It won't so to simply state that they are responding to racism, poverty, child abuse, or homelessness.

    The DSM IV (diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) is the psychiatric book of labels.  It gets revised every few years by a group of, mostly, men who decide what symptoms determine various types of "mental illness."  Years ago homosexuality, then categorized as a mental illness, was removed from the DSM as a result of activism in the gay community.  If activism can remove an "illness" from the book, what does that say about its accuracy?

    There are no blood tests to detect "mental illness."  It is based on subjective evidence.  Many argue there is no such thing.  People labeled mental patients can be hospitalized and forced to receive "treatment" against their will.  A patient diagnosed with heart disease is not forced to receive heart surgery, but patients labeled schizophrenic can be court ordered to take medication whether or not the patient agrees to the "treatment."

    Much of what is labeled "mental health" or "mental illness" is about what someone has determined to be "normal," based on conformity to society's norms.  Isn't rage, anxiety, or depression a healthy response to living in a society where we're bombarded with messages telling us  materialism equals happiness and we see war broadcast on television as if it were the latest sensational movie?  Few of us have meaningful work where we feel connected to others and have a sense that we are doing something important in the world.  The media assaults us with violence daily and advertising messages tell us if we aren't happy we can just take a pill.  We've learned to accept a whole population of homeless people as "just how things are."

    Society's emphasis on individualism and productivity make us think there must be something wrong with us if we are feeling bad.  perhaps the problem is out there rather than inside us.  Is it realistic to expect to feel happy most of the time?  Perhaps our feelings are telling us something we need to listen to.  Feminism was originally about radically changing society - ending classism and racism and making things better for everyone.  the dream was not about women simply being able to access jobs formerly dominated by men in order to have two jobs instead of one.  Now a woman can be breadwinner in addition to the jobs of wife and mother.

    Psychology has gone from the social model to the biological model which views emotional problems as the result of faulty brain chemistry, which we are told a drug can cure.  Children as young as four years old are being given drugs to change their behavior.  Most adults take some form of mood-altering medication - whether for  anxiety, depression, or sleeplessness.  Peter Breggin, author of Toxic Psychiatry and Talking Back to Prozac, refers to the drug companies as the psycho-pharmaceutical complex.  Legal drug pushing is big business.

    How much of out drug use is a form of social control so we can adapt to oppressive conditions?  Perhaps there are good reasons we "go mad."  Often a "breakdown" is actually an attempt at a "breakthrough" when our psyche is trying to heal something terribly wrong.  Drugs can sometimes delay the healing process by simply numbing us to our feelings.

    What is everyone had medical coverage which included holistic health care such as acupuncture, nutritional counseling, homeopathy, bodywork, expressive arts and movement therapies?  Would so many women be on anti-depressants?  What if a twenty-five or thirty hour work week were the norm along with four to six weeks of vacation annually?  What if all families had access to quality affordable childcare and excellent schools with well-paid teachers?  Would so many children be given psychiatric labels and prescribed drugs?

    I would not argue with those who choose to take psychotropic drugs, and feel comfortable with knowing there is a category for their feelings and a label that describes them.  I do, however, wish we had affordable alternatives to the traditional mental health "treatments."  I think we need to take a look at the "mental health'" of our social and political policies and question that "sanity" before taking a pill to help us feel better.

    My personal path to healing has included many types of therapies including traditional talk therapy, peer counseling, bodywork, homeopathy, herbs, exercise, groups, time in nature, and most importantly, building community and intimate connections.  Learning to "parent" myself compassionately, and love and accept myself even when I am having a hard time has been challenging.  Honoring my feelings and emotional needs has helped me feel confident enough to show my real self to others and thus heal much of the old shame.  I remember a teacher in graduate school saying there is no longer stigma attached to mental health problems.  I know otherwise.

    We all want to appear "normal."  The sharing of our difficult feelings, however, is often the way through the pain.  Many social change movements started with people simply talking to each other about  their pain and rage.  Breaking out of isolation and connecting with others is a very powerful tool for mental health."

Kis Yates is a Marriage and Family Therapist living in Oakland, CA.  She is featured in the documentary film about depression, "We Don't Live Under Normal Conditions," and the book Beyond Bedlam, Women Psychiatric Survivors Speak Out.  She can be reached at 510/496-6000x555.