>>110929498I'm older and male and I basically told my mental health staff to go fuck themselves and stopped taking my medication (psychiatrist was a condescending cunt). Instead of doing the smart thing and doing a gradual decrease, I went off them cold turkey and had some of the most terrible withdrawal symptoms I've ever had in my entire life along with a lot of destroyed friendships. Nowadays, I'm exercising on a regular basis, studying to get a new work certification, and have a much closer relationship with the few friends I have left.
My point isn't that you should stop taking your medication and do something insanely drastic. The only reason I typed up my blog post of a life description was to show how the system doesn't work for everyone. Real life mental healthcare reminds me a lot of how it's depicted in the new Joker film, believe it or not. When it works, it's wonderful. However, if the staff are overworked and underpaid and only see you as another case file instead of a human being, it actively destroys your life and cripples any sense of progress or happiness.
Try something new, whether it's requesting a new doctor or a new medication or something else entirely. If you have a STRONG support system, you might try quitting treatment entirely and gradually tapering off. I just hate it when people say "see a doctor" and act as if that will automatically improve someone's life for the better. It's as ignorant as saying that law enforcement works flawlessly or that there's never any mistakes in physical medicine. There are too many systemic problems to take modern mental healthcare as a total positive.
