Posted by ItsHowdyDudyTime on December 14, 2002, at 15:42:51
In reply to Re: Parnate to SSRI After ECT??? » ItsHowdyDudyTime, posted by Geezer on December 14, 2002, at 10:52:48
Im doing OK, going back to work soon to make some money. Im going to get retrained I think. Im also getting ready to have full battery neuropsychological testing in January, Im really looking forward to that. My Pdoc doesnt want me to have ECT anymore and he wont let me take anymore anti-psychotics, not even this new Abilify. All he wants me on is MAOIs. MAOIs is all I hear about. They are good drugs, the best Ive tried so far, at least for me. Im off them right now, I had a mild reaction a while back but Im going right back on them soon.Im thinking of forming a lobbying organisation in the future, which will be dedicated towards trying to formally merge psychiatry into Neurology. I have looked it up and there is no organisation dedicated specifically to that objective. I think its something thats long overdue myself. The Stanley foundation while a good organisation, is mostly technically nuts and bolts research oriented and is focused more on schizophrenia and bipolar and not on severe depression or anxiety disorders I have gotten the impression. NAMI is a joke and doesnt have enough political power to get anything substantial done. Most of the other "mental health" lobby groups are more interested in patients rights and things like that. There is no organisation dedicated towards trying to get severe mental illness totally and formally redefined as Neurological diseases and getting them removed from the category of psychiatric illnesses.
We need to totally bypass psychiatry, go around them, dont waste our time with them and rebuild a better, more science based foundation for diagnosing and treating severe mental illness IMO. In other words, the wheel needs to be reinvented, chiefly by forcing Neurology to take over severe mental illness.
Another goal of this organisation would be to try to get the mentally ill to vote more, so politicians would pay more attention to us. And get more real medical research into severe mental illness going. Politicians only pay attention to two groups of people. People who vote and people who have money and are politically organized.
Ive given the thought of going back to school too. Im thinking of becoming a lobbyist. If I create an organisation such as this at some point in the future, would you be interested in becoming involved possibly?
Are you aware of the most powerful lobby groups? The NRA is number one, another lobby group I support totally. Gun owners tend to vote. After that its the AARP, all the senior citizens vote. then the American trial lawyers association lobby. Then a lobby called AIPAC, which is a quiet lobby that is behind a large portion of the American government's support for Israel.
Id like to see a grass roots lobby that represented the severely mentally ill someday in the top ten most powerful lobby groups someday. I know most would say thats a pipe dream and maybe they are right. But I think it could be done, somehow. NAMI certainly wont ever cut it, maybe I can create an organisation that will do it. Even if it took me the rest of my life to build and I made absolutely no money at it, Id do it anyway.
A big part of our problem is that the mentally ill do not vote on a regular basis, as a block. If this could be changed somehow, I believe we could have real progress in the war on mental illness.
later,
Howdy Doody
poster:ItsHowdyDudyTime
thread:131335
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021210/msgs/131835.html