Thanks to Joanne Cacciatore for sending this story.  In March of 2013, a young, vibrant mother of three children (all under 18 years of age) was prescribed several psychiatric medications after she sought help for some personal difficulties around the failure of her business and several interpersonal relationships.  Within days of going on the medications, friends noticed she became akathesic. She was always agitated, began drinking during the day to cope with her agitation, and developed unusual bodily movements.  Within weeks after going on the medications, she shot and killed herself. She was a woman loved by her family, friends, and others.  This piece is written by a 17 year old girl who grew up with her and her children in a close neighborhood community.

Watching Over You, by your third daughter

Dedicated to a Beautiful Soul…C.A.

Personality change...a difference seen only by those who stand close to you.

The panic...anxiety...nightmares...only the beginning of a vast road winding in the direction of despair.

Withdrawal from us...from your family and friends...unlike you to walk away.

Why? It began. It continued. It came to an end. And through it all, nobody knew what you were seeing, what you were thinking, what you were planning.

We promise to fight for you. Our power as a whole will surpass the once invincible ring of governmental influence and will protect your reputation. They will not blame you and move on.

You will not go down as the being that chose to cease its own existence nor the unstable patient whom had it coming to you all along. You will be known for your strength, compassion, and unstoppable wanting for adventure.

The blame lies on the drugs. The blame lies on your psychiatrist--a deceitful man is drowning in your innocent blood and desperation has risen. You're gone and he is to blame. His drastic fault? The trusting of desperate patients whose hands hold few of the many murderous drugs made in Hell.

By your own hand, a single shot pierced your chest; another took your life. A note, prepared for reading after your departure, flutters to the floor and lies, waiting not for a seeker, but for an unlucky finder; and all because he chose not to watch over you. Your reaction was immense and now you are dead.

Yes--you take your own life, but only after you're already gone--the Zoloft, Paxil, and Prozac, laid before you without worry, have already taken you. You don't eat. You don't sleep. You don't talk. You aren't you. You have become the drugs. With this, we will make it our goal to fight against this so-called medication--to fight against the careless people who assign this death-sentence. We will spread the warning. We have lost you; but we will lose no more. We will prevent existence from becoming nonexistent.

We love you C.A. I will always love you.

~Tatum M., 17 years of age, Arizona

March 26, 2015 by Monica Cassani.

Professional Denial is a Form of Retraumatization.

A psychologist recently felt scandalized by my post: “Psychiatry ignores trauma with Bessel van der Kolk” — she felt my comments in the text of that post were completely irresponsible. I essentially talked about the traumatizing nature of psychiatry and the mental health system. Go read the post to see.