TTWS does not endorse or condone the blah blah blah blah etc. etc. etc.
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I just got this email from Will Hall, of the Icarus Project. Sounds intriguing:
*Harm Reduction Guide To Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs*
This 40-page guide gathers the best information we’ve come across and the most valuable lessons we’ve learned about reducing and coming off psychiatric medication. Includes information on mood stabilizers, anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs, risks, benefits, wellness tools, withdrawal, support for people staying on their
medications, a detailed Resource section, and much more.The guide was written by Freedom Center co-founder and Icarus Project staff Will Hall, with a 14-member health professional Advisory Board comprised of medical doctors, nurses, psychologists and acupuncturists
providing research guidance. More than 20 other collaborators from the survivor movement were involved in developing and editing. The guide has photographs and art throughout, and a beautiful original cover painting
by Ashley McNamara.Based in “harm reduction” philosophy, the guide emphasizes personal choice and weighing risks and benefits for each individual. It offers non-judgmental support to people continuing to take medication or lowering their dosage, as well as people exploring coming off. The risks associated with psychiatric medication are discussed along with risks of emotional distress and mental health crisis. Years of advocacy at the Freedom Center and Icarus Project have proven the effectiveness of this approach, which is neither pro-medication nor anti-medication, but
instead provides accurate information and offers choices and alternatives.TO READ THE GUIDE AND / OR DOWNLOAD AND PRINT A COPY
You can read a .pdf copy of the guide online, download and share the pdf file, link to it from your site, and print it out here:http://theicarusproject.net/HarmReductionGuideComingOffPsychDrugs
GO AHEAD AND SHARE THE GUIDE FREELY!
Please note that the guide is copyright Creative Commons, and you are *free to copy and distribute it* without alteration, for non-commercial purposes, and with credit to the source.TO ORDER PUBLISHED COPIES WITH COLOR COVERS
We are selling beautiful offset printer versions of the guide with a color cover at low cost. Please contact orders@theicarusproject.net.FEEDBACK + ADDITIONS FOR FUTURE VERSIONS
We are actively planning a Second Edition of the guide that will incorporate even more feedback, suggestions, and ideas from our readers. If you have anything you think we should include, contact will@theicarusproject.netDISCUSS THE GUIDE AND COMING OFF MEDS WITH OTHERS
You can register at the Icarus website and discuss the guide and medication at our discussion forum:http://snipurl.com/comingoffmedsforum
HEALTH PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS
While not co-authors, these health care professionals advised the development of this guide and reviewed it for its usefulness:Alexander Bingham, PsyD Full Spectrum
Patrick Bracken, MD University of Central Lancashire
David Cohen, PhD
Daniel Fisher, MD National Empowerment Center
Peter Lehmann
Bruce Levine, PhD
Bradley Lewis, MD New York University
Rufus May, PhD Bradford, UK
Renee Mendez, RN Windhorse Associates
Joanna Moncrieff, MD University College London
Matthew Morrissey, MA Full Spectrum
Catherine Penney, RN
Maxine Radcliffe, RN Action Medics
Judith Schreiber, LCSW Soteria Associates
Claudia Sperber Licensed Acupuncturist
Peter Stastny, MD INTAR
Philip Thomas, MD University of Bradford
Barbara Weinberg Licensed AcupuncturistCREDITS
Thanks again to everyone involved in making this guide happen, and be on the lookout for upcoming publications!Written by Will Hall.
Published by the Icarus Project and the Freedom Center.
Thanks to Amy Bookbinder, Dave Burns, Oryx Cohen, Mary Kate Connor, Marc Dinacola, Dianne Dragon, Sascha DuBrul, Empties, Vikki Gilbert, Chaya Grossberg, Richard Gilluly, Molly Hardison, Gail Hornstein, Mollie
Hurter, Jonah, Krista MacKinnon, Ashley McNamara, Alex Samets, Seven, Bonfire Madigan Shive, Jessica Max Stein, Terramuggus, and many other collaborators and allies.
Cover art: Ashley McNamara. Art design: Carrie Bergman.
Contributing artists: Fly, Gheena, Miss Led, Ashley McNamara, Erik Ruin, Janice Sorensen, and Bec Young.
liz | 10:52 AM | Uncategorized
Thank God for the input of the licensed acupuncturists- I am sure their pharmacological training is impressive. How embarrassing to realize I have previously sought their expertise only when threading a needle.
I’d never heard of the Icarus Project until last weekend when I took my wife to San Antonio to celebrate her birthday.
Would you believe that I found a brochure, the one and only brochure that was there.
Where were we ? Of all places it was “The Mad Hatters Tea Room” !!!!
I’ve been on depression meds for over 20 years (BiPolar II, Major Depression, Dysthymia, et al diagnoses) and have gone through every personal hell imaginable.. 12 shock treatments, four or more hospitalizations, bankruptcy due to the bill from the shock treatments, lost jobs, broken dreams, discrimination, alienation from familyand ‘friends’,.
Not to mention all of the side effects ad nauseum from every med-cocktail mixture given to me. Also there has been the usual hundreds of hours spent in psych waiting rooms,with mostly unsympathetic psych doctors, and tens of thousands of dollars spent on drugs and ‘therapy’.
I formed a DMDA Support Group in my home town. It helped others, even prev ented a member’s suicide. But, I had to throw in the towel six months later. Being around so many depressed people was giving me problems as well.
Jobs…?I made it through a four year Practicum, Internship, and year of case management/counseling on an adolescent unit, employed by a well known Texas Treatment Center as a Licensed Drug and Alcohol Counselor only to have it end two years ago.
A year spent in Commercial Art School only to become so depressed that I quit even though I loved it and am very gifted artistically.
I spent three years trying to become a Director of Christian Outreach with an intensive load of classwork and studies, only to become exhausted, depressed after a year on my internship and being discharged unfairly and involuntarily.
My current work has also been too demanding…as an Oil and Gas Landman..driven 45,000+ miles in two years, and spending four nights a week in strange, lonely motels in small towns. I now find myself in poorer health, deeper debt, etc.
Yet despite it all, and by God’s very good grace and faithfulness, I am still here. I have learned, and am still am learning
powerful life lessons…. importance of family, having been shown my true ‘brokeness’,
and need to have help in breaking addictions.
My constant prayer has been..Please heal me,..Get me off the drugs.
Fear has been a constant roomate in this regard. There is never the right time…and continual cycling disrupts any attempts.
But, you know what??? I am stronger, and even strong in my weakness and thorn in the flesh. My creativity has leaked out into wonderfully creative photography which brings me much joy.
Maybe Icarus is going to become a new path????
Jake
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