Whether one should go to a doctor (or analyst) in the first place is an excellent point.

Analyst, you are right in your observations of many of the posts. The article was of course mainly about what happened after the Author made the decision to go to a doctor.

I feel that so often many of us do not trust our own ability anymore about making decisions about our own ,or our children's, health, mental or physical -whether that is with or without the expertise of a medical practitioner, psychologist, gym instructor, iridologist, etc. There must be an 'expert' who will know best and who is going to tell me what to do or that it is OK to feel the way I do when actually I don't want to feel like that anymore.

It was really telling that Rebekah didn't feel empowered enough to tell her doctor what she had found out and that she wanted to come off the drugs. It is good to trust your chosen practitioner, but that shouldn't be blindly or with fear of 'upsetting' the practitioner.

I think I also understood from your posts, that it can be revealing how often we think we are 'sick' when very likely we're not. That so true, but from Rebekah's story I got that she had been struggling for quite a while till she sought help. She chose a doctor rather than a psychologist, that was a decision made at the time which seemed most appropriate to her. Maybe that was wrong, but then maybe she should not have had a child, maybe she should not have given up her career.It also possible to overanalyse past decisions! To me the point remains, NEVER abrogate responsibility for your own health. Rebekah overcame immense odds precisely because she did not 'hand over' herself. Use the experts, that's really what 'consulting' is all about.

Yvonne
I think you've missed the point here.
Rebekah trusted "experts" as we all would have in her situation.Should she have known whether during/after childbearing her hormonal changes could have played havoc? Would it not have been an "expert's" job to inform her? It is known in the literature that females produce more of a certain hormone especially around childbearing time,yet they are given more of the same hormone,how wrong can one be?
Coming to my point ...when she was already in a mental state, how could she have known where to go next, until somebody caring enough to do the research for her? That should have been the "expert's" job again!
Besides- psychiatry is a made up modality based on nothing.True-chemical imbalance is very rare and would quickly show itself at birth.The rest is all hogwash.Show me one person who has been healed by a psychiatrist.
People heal themselves,drugs don't do it,doc's don't do it,experts don't do it.There is a similar case like Rebeccah's here is the url following. http://www.iahf.com/on_the_back_wards.html and
http://www.nocodexgenocide.com/page/page/3113480.htm

John has gone worldwide with his story and people like Rebeccah are joining this organisation in droves.

Rebekah, Sorry to have misspelt your name in my previous post,I appologise sincerely.May you have the health you so deserve:-)
Interesting reading for selfhelp is: http://emotional-freedom-technique.tk
Please download the free script (where it says:"you can get started for free") on how to apply this simple and natural technique you'll be pleasantly surprised.

eftfnc

Your website attributes depression and other similar physical manisfestations of ill health to the emotional baggage we carry from earlier trauma in our lives. While such past trauma, along with current stressful circumstances, undoubtedly contribute, they are not the sole cause. Why is it that some people buckle under these pressures while others facing similar if not greater stresses show no signs of mental or physical unwellness?

The answer lies largely in our genetic makeup. A large number of people are born with the propensity to fall victim to depression and related problems. Whether or not they actually do depends more on their personal fitness and their diet than the levels of stress and trauma they experience in their lives.

I fell victim to these problems and yet haven't had a particularly traumatic or stressful past. I had the genetic predisposition and menopause and work stress at the time provided the trigger. I have researched the literature thoroughly and changed my diet accordingly - and very specifically. It's much more than healthy eating. I take specifically prescribed vitamin and herbal supplements as well.

I have gone from a person who has suffered depression on and off all my life and was finally verging on total mental collapse to a person who can now handle whatever life throws at me. I'm not on medication (though I would have been if I'd listened to my doctor at the time) and I'm very sceptical of behavioural therapy though it might work for some people.

My life's circumstances haven't really changed in any way but I am feeling better than I ever have in my life, and that includes my younger years when I should have been at my prime. I have maintained this sense of well-being for three years now, though it does require daily discipline to do so. If I slip up too much I notice the difference in how I feel. I consider myself living proof that the website I mentioned in an earlier post does indeed have the answers when it comes to managing depression.

Thank you so much for sharing your story, Rebekah. It's brought me to the realisation that my own history is an example of 20+ years of possible misdiagnosis, for which I have just had shock treatment.

I think I was 19 when I first was hit with major depression. My parents think I was depressed prior to this, but this was when it first debilitated me. Coincidently, it started the day I started on the contraceptive pill. I didn't realise this until a long time afterwards though. By the time I stopped the pill a couple of years later, I was already on the anti-depressant cycle, and it made no difference. Had I realised at the time I started the pill and stopped it straight away, I may have avoided all these years of trouble. I think my original depression, as identified by my parents, was attention deficit disorder. I realised this after both my sons were diagnosed with ADHD.

I am in the process of being discharged from hospital, but I'm worse than when I went in. I had a temporary improvement, but have plunged down again. The reason I was admitted to hospital? I now believe it was efexor withdrawal.

The author's experience sounds very much like mine when I think back over the drugs I've been prescribed over the years and their doses. What annoys me is the times I've mentioned to my doctors that the meds are causing certain side-effects that my concerns have been dismissed. My dr disputed my withdrawal from Efexor, as did the doctors of other people who I know have suffered the same thing. It took me 18 months to come off efexor - I got to a quarter of my dose enduring the side effects, but couldn't get past that without really suffering. Oddly enough, I decided to get off the last 75mg at the beginning of the year. During this time I was admitted to hospital for ECT.

I'm now an invalid until this can be fixed.

Dear Rebekah,

I have just finished reading your book. It's brilliant. I really admire your courage in stepping out to tell your ordeal and to reveal to the world the "conspiracy" of the powerful drug companies.

Though i did not have quite a similar illness, but I have been in a similar situation whereby i have suffered the horrible effects of prednisolone for 3 years. I was told that i will have to take the drug for the rest of my life. And to compensate the side effects of that drug, i was given more and more drugs which led me down the road to no return. Instead of getting better, i got worse and worse.

My doctor sees me once a month for less than 10 mins. But every time i waited outside her room for an hour. She gets angry and defensive every time i questioned her about the drugs or why i am not getting better. But i was too young then to contradict her. I thought i was doomed at 20.

And the irony is i started getting better after i stop taking my medication, without her knowing. And to this day, she thinks my recovery is her good work.

I have since lost faith in western medication and has started learning natural therapy and becoming a therapist myself. I want to empower myself and all my patients to own their health and have an active role in their healing.

It is important to research on your own condition and not to rely on everything your doctor says. Make the necessary diet & lifestyle changes. We have to remember that we have a right to our own health.