SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT IN REGARDS TO PURE STUPIDITY

I recently received an anonymous comment that stated that persons 'need stimulants' to live a 'normal life'. First- what does this 'normal' possibly mean? To conform means we need a highly addictive narcotic? A few shots of whiskey at the end of the day may make me feel a bit more mellow, do I need this for a 'normal' life? The comment goes on to say that if we do not give stimulants to a person with this 'admitted;y vague disease' (at least they recognize that), that the person will become a future drug addict and all other assorted grim things. Has this person read the recent study from University of Buffalo that shows in the long term NO difference between drugged or non drugged kids other than the fact that the drugged kids had growth suppression and other adverse events or Lambert's study stating that stimulants themselves actually lead to a rise in addictive behavior, not to mention the addictive nature of stimulants in themselves? Then this person continues on that I need to have 'compassion'. This has been the entire theme of my work, to offer a more compassionate mental health system. Lastly, this person suggests that I hang out with unmedicated "ADD' people as if this is some dreadful thing. Well, I do. Everyday. Is there a problem with this? Whose problem is it?

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

A JOURNEY WITH

I had the experience of encountering a young man who had been given the diagnosis of 'schizophrenia'. He had been through years of therapy and had been through multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. Mental health professionals spoke of him only in clinical terms and I found this disturbing. His chart was reams and reams of paper painting the picture of an immensely helpless and hopeless character. The scholl system sought to exile him as well. I tossed aside all the clinical records, they only reported on his behavior, not his experience. It is the experience that is the 'soul' of the person. Psychiatrists never really spoke to the young man, they deffred to his parents, or spoke at him, judging his behavior and assign their labels. I embarked on becoming his therapist and in this did not want to judge his behavior, I wanted to know the person. So our sessions involved a process of my merely listening, of connecting. I did not seek to judge him, label him, or dismiss his experience. I only sought to join him where he was at. He began to relate to me his pain, his feelings of isolation and aloneness. He shared with me about the voices he heard and the beings he saw. I would converse with him about these beings, treating them as real as he was before me. Over time, I saw that these things were fragments of himself, they were dreams he had, hopes he envisioned, people he wanted to meet who never arrived. He had immense fear, and I journeyed with him in understanding the roots of this fear. I stood by him as he sought out new ways of living and coping. I understood the circumstances which led to his 'madness' and set forth some new possibilities, but at his pace, at his comfort level.
He has overcome a lot, and we continue to have periods of conversation though we do not see each other as frequently. We forged a bond as two persons with very different experiences, but each seeking to understand the human condition, each seeking to know about this thing we call life.


-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

THE HUMAN CONDITION

When we look at those who are labeled delusional, we must realize and understand that society itself is delusional. The difference is that in one situation the majority has accepted the delusion whereas with the one labeled so, it is the delusion of one.
It is often when one faces the sense of feeling alone or being alone in this world, of seeking to define a sense of self before realizing their existence itself, that angst arises. Mental distress arises from not finding any point or purpose to existence and then feeling that in this, the person stands alone. The person then must seek to define or be defined. Being defined means to be labeled.
What ultimately is the human condition? Has psychiatry and psychology truly answered the questions about it? Has it really offered solutions? People remain troubled and in spite of research and studies and psychiatric inquiry, little has changed, in fact, it has become worse. Because we have not really looked at the human condition, we have not faced the things that would lead persons to a better existence, instead we have developed systems based on self-interest, seeking not to understand the human condition and do something about, but to create a sense of 'groupthink', to solely make persons more amenable to the oppressive environments they encounter. We see it in schools, where children are stifled and drugged if they dare not comply with the demands of a system that has become less and less about learning and more about how to think. We see it in the divisions between class. It is all around us.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
International Center for Humane Psychiatry
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

HOW OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM DRIVE OUR CHILDREN 'MAD'

Sitting in a meeting for a child, the first topic of the special education director was 'well, we need to get this child back on medication". After an explanation of the flaws of the MTA study and the recent study of University of Buffalo showing no difference in the long term between drugged kids and those not subjected to drugs as well as growth suppression and adverse events amongst the drugged, this did not sway any opinion. Rather, this person stated he had 'connections' to the psychiatrist and would see to it that this was accomplished. Of course, when the topic of the child's behavior being communication and my awareness of what his current distress is about, this conversation was basically ended. Instead, it became a conversation on how to force the child into compliance to a situation that he finds uncomofrtable and distressing. But in this, the special education director found that if he could shirk repsonsibility and out it upon another to create a behavioral assessment that this would also be positive. Once again, blame the brain, blame the child, but exonerate yourself from examining the situations which have led the child to distress. And if that does not work, warehouse the child somewhere where he will not be a bother to anyone. This is the sad state of affairs under which we operate. As Laing had noted once that children in the UK had a higher chance of entering a mental institution than college and that it could be the way we educate children that is driving them mad.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.