Hidden In Plain Sight

By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

I know that many of you have been following the specific details of my own case in the Guelph Mirror blog. Though the names mean nothing at all to those of you who don't know me or my city, I am writing that blog for a reason.

I am trying to make the group phenomenon in this REAL to those who are participating. As bizarre as it may sound, it is NOT reality to them. This is one of the most essential pivotal points in understanding what has happened to me and to people just like me, in relation to a group (or mob) of others.
It's very simple, really but, the resistance to the truth about both us, as the observed and assessed, and them, as the observers and assessors, remains "hidden" in plain sight. I will try to boil it down here to it's simplest form in an attempt to relieve you who are the psychiatrized from some of your valid confusion over what is going on.

The first thing we know is that to state that we are confused to a psychiatrist is to push his well trained buttons. Psychiatrists view those they psychiatrize as neatly contained, genetic defective, disease processes, operating in isolation, without relationship to events or other people. I think it has developed from their loony, and frequently arrogant, need to believe they can, and even SHOULD, be able to control everyone. So immediately, the relationship between psychiatrist, and psychiatrized, is based upon a very serious imbalance of power. The psychiatrist is relating as a "superior" to an "inferior" while we are often relating as equal human to equal human. In such a situation, little, or no, real communication is present. That said, for the moment let's focus on the group phenomenon. It is surreal to say the least.

Basically, what is "split" in the first place, and tends to remain so, is reality itself. In most cases in which we get to be ; the 'schiz,' the Bi-polar disorder, the delusional disorder, schizoid, schizo-affective etc.- you know, the big "incurable" labels- their are opposing versions of reality being produced. Most of us are involved in some way with an individual who is operating with a hidden agenda of domination, which we don't now about until the damage is done and it is too late to change that, and which the group involved often NEVER knows about.

This split reality creates a paradox in that the more the victim tells the truth, the more likely he/she is to be psychiatrized for doing so. Because the group buys the version of reality the dominating protagonist is selling, and because psychiatry tends to believe consensus opinion defines reality, the truth is often as hard to find as buried treasure. Rarely is there a big X marking the spot.

So "confusion" which is from a legitimate cause in relation to our world and experience is seen by the assessors a a "symptom" of mental illness without relation to external reality, other people, or events. When the source of our confusion are invalidated, and we are given total custody of BOTH cause and effect, without relationship to external reality, we have been placed into isolation and instantly reduced to the "subject" or "object" of observation and assessment. We have been forced into psychological isolation, our input and insights into our own life situation and feelings, are no longer seen by the psychiatrist, nor the group involved as relevant.

We feel all alone, and rightly so, in a hostile "universe" which has been created for us like a special place of containment, a psychospiritual prison, without any possibility of genuine psychic contact with other humans. We are alienated but good. (I mean that both ways) These are the feelings expressed by the altered state of psychosis which expresses the horrifyingly inexpressible in symbolic form.

We are then told we must accept this fate, preferably without resistance, or any denial that the cause of our psychic state is anything other than our supposedly inherent defectiveness, and without complain. (if we know what's "good" for us)

For the purpose of this essay let's focus on the simple, obvious truth that remains unseen by the participants. It is the split premise from which the SAME incidents are being judged and assessed, which creates the paradoxical trap for the individual being psychaitrized. Often, we are using the same words, but with opposite meaning.

Since we are judging out experience from the premise of OUR reality, and the group is judging from the premise of the reality they have been TOLD is the correct one, the effect upon us, trying to relate as an individual to such a group is surreal, to put it mildly.

If you have seen any of the details of my ongoing community evaluation on the Guelph Mirror blog, you can see the group phenomenon at work. Here is a concrete example of what I mean.

Two people who are involved in the endless "diagnosing" from a distance, stand a few feet away, striking what I have come to call, The "observation pose." (psychiatric nurse wannabes) and as they watch me, looking right at them, they say,
"Apparently she thinks people are watching her all the time and judging her."
(Are you laughing ''for no reason'' here? Another of your "symptoms.") This is what is in this phenomenon psychologically:

1. The assessors have cast me in the role of the "inferior" mind, less conscious than they of the reality of the situation, when, in fact, I understand it better than they do.

2. They are unaware that THEY are "the people" watching and judging me, because they do not consider themselves to be either visible or audible to me, even though it would be perfectly obvious to a five year old.
(Now I don't mean that NONE of these people aren't hissing and snarling at me, fully conscious that I am aware that they are doing so. Every city has it's allotted share of assholes and bullies who will act out whenever the opportunity to do so, without getting caught, is presented to them. Such covert cowards live all over the world. But the majority of people who get involved are oblivious to themselves as well as to me. )

3. They hear no irony in what they have just said.

4. they have been taught by psychiatry, (which they do not question because psychiatrists present themselves as experts or authorities) that what they just said, about what they know I think, is a "symptom" in me, proving how right they are to see me as "crazy," for "thinking" that "people" like them, are doing, what they, in fact, ARE doing, which they who are assessing me for it, DO NOT SEE THEMSELVES DOING.

5. Psychiatry denies that this group phenomenon even exists, often "explaining" that it is our "perception problem" since it would not be "reasonable" for other people to behave this way.

At that point, which is a point of agreement between myself and the psychiatrist, we sit at the edge of a mutual reality, ALMOST out of the paradoxical trap, standing right at the edge of resolution together. But then, opposite conclusions drawn from opposing premises of thought are created again.

Psychiatrized patient: "Yes doctor. That's true. it's not reasonable for the group to behave that way."

Psychiatrist: "I am glad you can see that. "

Psychiatrized P: " I am glad you can too. it feels good to finally be heard by someone."

What the Psychiatrist means :
''I am glad you have enough insight to realize that a group of people would not be reasonable to be behaving the way you are describing it...therefore, they don't. therefore, you have a perception problem. ''

What the Psychiatrized patient means:
''I am glad to hear you believe the group behaved unreasonably towards me because now you understand it was the unrelenting stress of dealing with my protagonist and all the others who got involved which caused my breakdown. At last, I have been heard and understood.''

The psychiatrist then clams up feeling good that he has made his point. The psychiatrized patient feels that she has made hers too. But NO communication has actually taken place between them, despite surface appearances. It is only a brief touch in a shared reality, and understanding and will not last more than a fleeting moment in time.

The psychiatrist has been well trained in his beliefs. He hears the jargon of his profession, dancing in his head, just as surely as any cult member. He suspects nothing is wrong with what he hears. He believes he understands all of this as well as anyone could. Though I, as the psychiatrized, may have had my truth heard and understood for a brief moment, it is only an illusion. For as the object of observation, I KNOW that the behaviour of the group is not reasonable. I have always known that even if I did not understand WHY they were the way they were. It was the ongoing stress of that and my inability to get through to them or to stop them that caused my problems in the first place and that has kept the losses going and growing ever since it all began.

As the primary observer of the "object" which I have become, the psychiatrist also knows it is not reasonable for a group to behave that way, therefore he concludes, IT HAS NOT HAPPENED. For the psychiatrist is looking for reason where there was no reason in the first place and as frequently, fails to see reason where it actually exists.

Conclusion: (often arrived at after ten to fifteen minutes of listening for "noises" coming from the defective)
Since what I say happened could not have happened, I must be "delusional" and "paranoid" for "thinking" that it did. His training has taught him to believe what he believes and he also believes his understanding is superior to mine, since he has been taught that it is.
Having arrived together at the nexus of truth, the psychiatrist rejects it and continues to promote the psychiatric fiction, or "psy-fi." (as Louise Armstrong has called it)

The nexus I speak of here is defined in spirituality as the point where the spirits of good and evil meet, being neither good nor evil but having the potential to become either, depending upon how the same understanding is used. If it bothers you to think of it in ''religious'' terms, then call it something else like; a meeting between an unconscious person and a conscious one, or between vision and blindness. Whatever turns your particular ''crank.'' It is the switched roles at this point that keeps the chaos going.

The whole group, kept blind to the truth about both me and themselves, continues to "observe" me.
"It's just amazing," they say, as they have been saying for the last twelve years. " 'They' say they have never seen anything like it."
The fact is, they have never 'allowed' themselves to see "It" at all.

In their arrogant certainty they they, as a group, have a better grip on reality than I do, they can't "allow" me to see It or speak of It either . So around the circle of the paradox we still go, no doubt destined to reach the point of agreement again, like the repetition of the movie "Groundhog Day," only to pass the point of "enlightenment" and over and over again, splitting reality in two and constantly recreating an alternate "reality" which psychiatry likes better. For in THAT reality, everyone (except the individual forced into isolation) can remain "superior" and "blameless" and "off the hook."

This is why we, who are confused, often come to think all psychiatrists are psychopaths themselves and why we end up talking to the walls. The truth we tell is rarely heard, especially now in the ten minute diagnostic sessions, by those who have invented and now actively promote an alternate ''reality'' to make it all just go away, so that they don't have to face it or deal with it. Now, they are actively involving and training the public to to think, hear, and see the same way that they do.

Will there be a point in time when the denial of the obvious is no longer possible? Or will the group brainwashing become so widespread that the obvious truth will remain "hidden" in plain sight, forever? I believe in the former and I also believe it will be all of us talking about it all the time publicly that is going to make it happen. We are no longer in isolation. Just like we connected together in spirit, we are now connecting together on the web and all over the world.

Hold on my friends, wherever you may be, it is going to be a bumpy ride for awhile but we are heading for a brand new destination.

Big Pharma And American Psychiatry

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Steven S. Sharfstein, M.D.
Psychiatric News August 19, 2005

Volume 40 Number 16© 2005

APA's annual meeting is one of the largest medical meetings in the United States and the largest psychiatric meeting in the world. There is something for everyone at our wonderful meeting, but many have commented to me on the extraordinary presence of the pharmaceutical industry throughout the scientific programs and on the exhibit floor.

The U.S. pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable industries in the history of the world, averaging a return of 17 percent on revenue over the last quarter century. Drug costs have been the most rapidly rising element in health care spending in recent years. Antidepressant medications rank third in pharmaceutical sales worldwide, with $13.4 billion in sales last year alone. This represents 4.2 percent of all pharmaceutical sales globally. Antipsychotic medications generated $6.5 billion in revenue.

When the profit motive and human good are aligned, it is a "win-win" situation. Pharmaceutical companies have developed and brought to market medications that have transformed the lives of millions of psychiatric patients. The proven effectiveness of antidepressant, mood-stabilizing, and antipsychotic medications has helped sensitize the public to the reality of mental illness and taught them that treatment works. In this way, Big Pharma has helped reduce stigma associated with psychiatric treatment and with psychiatrists. My comments that follow on the pharmaceutical industry and its relationship to psychiatry bear this in mind.

The interests of Big Pharma and psychiatry, however, are often not aligned. The practice of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry have different goals and abide by different ethics. Big Pharma is a business, governed by the motive of selling products and making money. The profession of psychiatry aims to provide the highest quality of psychiatric care to persons who suffer from psychiatric conditions. There is widespread concern of the over-medicalization of mental disorders and the overuse of medications. Financial incentives and managed care have contributed to the notion of a "quick fix" by taking a pill and reducing the emphasis on psychotherapy and psychosocial treatments. There is much evidence that there is less psychotherapy provided by psychiatrists than 10 years ago. This is true despite the strong evidence base that many psychotherapies are effective used alone or in combination with medications.

In my last column, I shared with you my experience, and APA's, in responding to the antipsychiatry remarks that Tom Cruise made earlier this summer as he publicized his new movie in a succession of media interviews. One of the charges against psychiatry that was discussed in the resultant media coverage is that many patients are being prescribed the wrong drugs or drugs they don't need. These charges are true, but it is not psychiatry's fault—it is the fault of the broken health care system that the United States appears to be willing to endure. As we address these Big Pharma issues, we must examine the fact that as a profession, we have allowed the biopsychosocial model to become the bio-bio-bio model. In a time of economic constraint, a "pill and an appointment" has dominated treatment. We must work hard to end this situation and get involved in advocacy to reform our health care system from the bottom up.

Furthermore, continuing medical education opportunities sponsored by pharmaceutical companies are often biased toward one product or another, and they are more akin to marketing than CME. APA has strict guidelines for the industry-sponsored symposia presented at our annual meetings; sanctions are applied when our rules are broken. Our guidelines have been held up as a standard for medical meetings in other specialties throughout the country. But there are many grand rounds, evening dinners, and lectures where such standards do not prevail.

Direct marketing to consumers also leads to increased demand for medications and inflates expectations about the benefits of medications. As a profession, we need to be concerned about advertising and the impact it has on the over-medicalization of our field. Of course, what is marketed to consumers are the highest-cost, on-patent products, and the cost of medications is something rarely considered by prescribing clinicians. When doctors don't prescribe cheaper but equally effective drugs, it consumes money that could have been used to provide other psychiatric or medical services.

There are examples of the "ugly" practices that undermine the credibility of our profession. Drug company representatives will be the first to say that it is the doctors who request the fancy dinners, cruises, tickets to athletic events, and so on. But can we really be surprised that several states have passed laws to force disclosure of these gifts? So-called "preceptorships" are another example of the "ugly"; that is, drug companies who pay physicians to allow company reps to sit in on patient sessions allegedly to learn more about care for patients and then advise the doctor on appropriate prescribing.

Drug company representatives bearing gifts are frequent visitors to psychiatrists' offices and consulting rooms. We should have the wisdom and distance to call these gifts what they are—kickbacks and bribes. (For more thoughts on this topic, see Viewpoints on page 33.) If we are seen as mere pill pushers and employees of the pharmaceutical industry, our credibility as a profession is compromised.

Here are several suggestions for remedies in our relationship with the industry.
We need to embrace a new professional ethic. The doctor-patient relationship should not be a market-driven phenomenon.

Preceptorships should be considered unethical.
Enticements, gifts, parties, and so on should be reined in because patients must believe that their doctor has their best interests in mind when a prescription is handed to them.
We must re-evaluate single-sponsored medical education events and phase them out in favor of more general support for CME along with a careful policing of these events for bias.
The amount and support received by individual clinicians and researchers from industry should be transparent and the information readily available.

When we attend lectures at annual meetings and other educational events, and read journals and textbooks, we should know very clearly about the industry support given to presenters and authors.
As psychiatrists, we should all be grateful for the modern pharmacopia and the promise of even more improvements in the future. At the same time, however, we must be very mindful that we cannot accept gratuities in the new medical marketplace.


Related Article:

Thoughts on Pharmaceutical Companies and Gifts to Physicians
Charles Atkins
Psychiatric News 2005 40: 33. [Full Text]

Websites Of Possible Interest

Hello To My Fellow Searchers For Sanity

To me, there are only two premises (foundations) of reasoning which matter and which will determine the ultimate outcome of all we say and do.

Mental Health:Mutual respect for boundaries, which runs in both directions at the same time, ultimately heals both the individual and the group.

Mental Illness:
Boundary violation which runs in either, or both directions, ultimately sickens both the individual and the group. I would like to offer this list of Websites to anyone who may be able to use them for support. Many of them have been helpful to me in my own recovery. Take what you can use, from the place you are at right now, and leave what you can't use. You may, or may not, be able to use it at a later stage of your recovery. Remember to question the concepts of everything you hear and read, including what I post here you. That is part of forming your own boundaries.

Best Wishes to all who are working towards real healing. I believe it is possible for all people,
labelled or otherwise to do so. Be very cautious if you are on "medications." Many cause the "symptoms" which are claimed to be part of a disease process. Sudden withdrawals though, can cause more problems than you might think. Educate yourself and stay safe.
Connect to people who are well, and have made it through ahead of you. There is no better support group than those who have had the experience themselves. We get it.

Some Of My Suggested Websites: I will add to this list as I have time. There is a large, and growing number of others which will be of benefit also. Inclusion in this list does not necessarily infer approval of every word, from everyone, but is offered to aid in the persoanl search for meaning of individuals.

Canadian Web-Sites:

Greenspiration! Canada

The Fifth Body By Tessa Manning

Canadian Alliance For Rights In Health Care

The Lance Krasman Memorial Centre
Richmond Hill, Ontario

Sue Clark, Activist
Ottawa, Ontario

Dr. David Healy
Author of "Let Them Eat Prozac"

The Anti-Psychiatry Coalition International

The Laing Society
By Margreta Carr, Toronto.

Around The World:

Schizophrenia And Psychology By Per-Erik Larsson
Sweden

Welcome World By Clover Smith

Awaken In The Dream By Paul Levy

Freedom Of Mind Center
By Steven Alan Hasson

Just Listening
By Leon Redler, M.D. and Stephen Gans

Child Abuse and Mistreatment
The work of Alice Miller; an ex psychoanalyst:"For Your Own Good",
Thou Shalt Not be Aware,The Drama of the Gifted Child,
The Truth Will Set You Free" etc.

For help for children with bullying also see:

Operation Respect: Don't Laugh At Me

Screams From Childhood
By Barbara Rogers

The Harm Suffered By Many People

AllPsych Online
The Virtual Psychology Classroom
Find the Official Definition of Crazy Me, and Crazy You

International Cultic Studies Association
by Michael Langone, PhD

Psychiatric Survivor's Guide
By Shoshanna Moser

Songs Of The Captive

A Memoir of Alienation

ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION AHRP

Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability

The Rick A. Ross Intitute

Full of applicable subjects relating to abuse, power and control issues.

Mindfreedom International

David Oaks,Director

National Association For Rights, Protection and Advocacy

United States

Children & Adults Against Drugging America

The Works of M.Scott Peck,M.D

The Road Less Travelled etc.
Especially the Title: People of the Lie

Al Siebert,PhD.The Survivor Personality

Al Siebert,PhD. A Schizophrenia Breakthrough

The Work of Thomas Szasz,M.D

The Myth of Mental Illness
Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry etc.

Cutting The Ties That Bind

The Headless Way

Psychrights
USA
President, Don Roberts
Vice President, Jim Gottstein

The Mental Health Website Alternative

By And For Survivors,
International


Peter Breggin, M.D.
Toxic Psychiatry,Your Drug May Be Your Problem, " etc.
Web-Site: breggin.com
Also
He has a good list of alternate healers, including one in the UK, These Sites have much useful information.
International Center For The Study Of Psychiatry And Psychology
icspp.org
Click on Links in the left hand column

Protest Against The Inhumanity of Psychiatric Assault
London, England

Tools For Coping With Life's Stressors
http://www.coping.org/relations/reject.htm

National Empowerment Center, U.S.
Daniel Fisher, M.D.
Web-Site : power2U.org

Alliance To Stop Psychiatry's Influence in Religion and Education
aspire.us/

Sidran Institute
Traumatic Stress, Education and Advocacy
www.sidran.org

Tools For Relationships
James & Constance Messina, PhD's
http://www.coping.org/relations/reject.htm

PsychRights® Law Project for Psychiatric Rights
Effective Non-Neuroleptic Treatment
http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Effective/effective.htm

World Network Of Users and Survivors Of Psychiatry
http://www.wnusp.org/

International Coalition For Drug Awareness
This is an organization affiliated with Scientology as is CCHR
As it is such I post this one with a note of caution and some concern
http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html

Medication Sense Online
Jay S. Cohen, M.D.
http://www.medicationsense.com/

Asylum Online, Magazine , UK
Alec Jenner, Founding Editor
http://www.asylumonline.net/

The Hearing Voices Network
Manchester, England:
hearing-voices.org

Vine Partnership , Peterborough, United Kingdom
vinepartnership.co.uk/index.html

True Facts About Psychiatry
Alexander Skugor, Berlin, Germany
home.tiscali.de/alex.sk/index.html

Dr. Rath Health Foundation
Berlin, Germany
4.dr-rath-foundation.org/PHARMACEUTICAL_BUSINESS/
history_of_the_pharmaceutical_industry.htm


Tristano Ajmone,
President OISM
Psychiatric Survivor
Italy
http://tristano-ajmone.oism.info/index.htm


Association For Medical and Therapeutic Self Determination
Holland
metzelf.info/index.html

A Fênix - Associação Pró Saúde Mental
Brazil
(in Portuguese)
http://www.fenix.org.br/


Non Verbal Communication
http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm

The Icarus Project
Massachusetts, USA
http://theicarusproject.net/

Mad In America
Robert Whitaker
http://www.madinamerica.com/

What's The Point?

Dysfunctional Game Playing 101
By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

The end goal of the dysfunctional game is to sustain and promote the game itself.
Why?
Because for as long as the focus remains on sustaining the game itself, the boundary violations of the ones who want control of others are not seen nor dealt with. The controllers use a carrot on a stick sort of philosophy. As long as you don't give up altogether there is still a chance you might resolve. But resolution is of no real interest to them.

The domination types always remain blameless and superior and the fault continues to be found only in the perceptions and reactions of their targets. Know the game.
Who are the most likely targets?

Those who threaten to expose the game. Those who resist the dysfunctional trance. Those who have been abused by the game players. Those who dare to say they have been the dreaded "victims."

If the game is exposed for what it is, who will play it? If no one is willing to play it, the aggressor loses control over others. The game exists to control others. Sometimes it is not done with overt malice but merely as a defense of the aggressor's indefensible position. These are people who can never bear to think they are wrong about anything. That is the whole point of playing it. The aggressor wants to perceive himself as a "winner" in the game of life which he sees as a "contest" with others. Often the "others" do not KNOW they are in a "contest" as that is not how the targeted people think. To understand what motivates the aggressor is to understand his game. Once understood, the chaos and confusion created for you by the irrationality of it disappears. It is what Oprah likes to call your "Ah ha!" moment.

Once you really see it, you are no longer in, but outside the game, no longer searching for the answers that will help you to make sense of it all, nor confused by your protagonist and the group which blindly (usually) supports him.

The targets of the dysfunctional game rarely understand WHY they are targets. They are the ones who aren't "playing" it in the first place, and who tend to state something like:
"This makes no sense at all. " (though sometimes the group members will say something similar also)
In making such a statement, which is akin to the child saying, "the Emperor has no clothes," an instability is introduced into the game and the players who depend on it and live by it, are threatened by that. But the game is complete in itself. It is played in an infinite loop of anti-logic, so to protect the dysfunctional game, the players just play out the part of the game that is designed for just that purpose.

What is it basically?
They invalidate everything the targeted person thinks, says, feels or does which is not playing the game, until, under group pressure, she is so confused by the irrationality of it, and the chaos created she either breaks (proving her defective unlike the players) or gives up the attempt at resolution( which preserves the game intact) and maintains the status quo. The "complainer" can either accept the system as it is, in which case she will be accepted, at least minimally, by the group, or be rejected and get out, which will prove she can't get along with the group. Could a group be wrong and an individual be right? Of course not! Reality is being defined for the target by group consensus. That is how the dysfunctional system works.

Now, the invalidation is done largely by "interpretation," misdirection, disinformation (formerly known as lying) invention, manipulations, threats, intimidation, coercion, bribes, isolation, whatever it takes to remain within the game and keep it going.

Finally, even the existence of the game itself must be denied, preferably defined as the "delusions" of the targeted person who threatened the game. As targets, you must also understand that the majority of targeted group people who get sucked into the dysfunctional game have NO IDEA they are playing it. That's how well programmed everyone is. They are in an automatic response mode. So as the target, you are trying to make sense of something that doesn't make sense in the first place. An impossible task.

As a general rule, only the aggressor and the victim EVER know it, and frequently, the victim doesn't know it either, or only finds out after it's too late and the damage has already been done. That is because the aggressor has been covertly manipulating the group to accept the "reality" he wants them to believe. He does this in order to keep his position of power and control. Remember that ultimately the goal of the game is to keep the game itself going. That's "the circle."

The game maintains the status quo and prevents awareness and resolution by creating chaos and confusion for the whole group. For as long as you are playing a role in the game, either as victim, aggressor, or manipulated group member, you can't see it. You can only see the whole thing from outside of it. If you see it though, you CAN get outside of it and stop going around in those dizzying circles.

There is something all of you who have been psychiatrized need to understand.
The reality is simple. The complications are created as a smokescreen used to hide the simple reality of this. It is nothing complex the groups involved in this don't understand. It is the simple obvious truth. A truth that is being hidden by at least ONE (and sometimes more than one) of your protagonists.

I will later write a concrete demonstration of the boundary violations which keep the chaos going and the game being used to deny it all. I will use real life situations which start out as minor problems of relationship and grow into major problems and conflicts because of the denial and resistance to examining, or admitting to, the perfectly and absurdly obvious. The truth is all around us. It is just ignored.

Exposing this ENDS it. I believe that is what we must all do together; wake up and end the collective nightmare.

To Those To Whom It Now Applies:
Tell the "Voices" HOW the game is being played. And all those who understand from within, must tell the big "secret" to all those in external reality all over the world. End the secrecy. End the confusion. End the mystery. End this sick Game.

Getting Psychospiritually Centred

By Patricia Lefave, Labelled D.D.(P)

(I wrote this a few years ago to an Internet friend from Kenya who was going through the suffering of being psychiatrized. I have removed all references to keep her privacy intact but I thought it might be worth sharing again with all of you. She was having a breakthrough at the time and feeling quite euphoric about it.)

I believe we feel euphoric when we have a realization (Eureka!) and we DO see the potential for what could be. I also think that is unrealistic to expect that to occur all at once, but needs to be seen as a goal to aim towards and can even be a purpose for life, right to the end of it. My own goal is to aim for, and focus on the realization of equality of worth for all people. To me, that means seeing and undoing any error, in both myself and others, that impedes that common goal, though I recognize that I can only undo my own.

While aiming at that, my personal stability has grown by leaps and bounds, and I think as we become used to aiming for such a goal there is much less euphoria perhaps, but also far less despair. The concrete details of my life have changed. I have accepted the rejection of many family members who are only interested in having me around if I am willing to play a false role so as not to offend. A couple of them are willing to lie. Some know, that I know, what they did, that I know they know, and they still put on an act for others of mystification, and convince them that my accusations are false, and proof of my "paranoid delusions." They know I know they do this. They do not care, as long as they can keep the truth about themselves hidden from the rest of the group.

I have lost friends who do not like what I say openly and do not like my stance against corporate psychiatry, nor the fact that I have outed myself as a labelled person, in order to fight the status quo. But, I feel more integrated and whole than I ever have before in my life and after accepting the losses, which at one time in my life I was sure I would never be able to bear, I have found that I am gaining acceptance by a new group of people aiming for a similar goal. Now I feel more like my genuine self than I ever did while I was working for acceptance or approval from those who wouldn't give it and closer to a different group of people with a more honest and open agenda.

I can talk about these things to people who want to hear them, but I also know that many don't, and can't, because they hear the "symptoms" they have been taught to hear and not me at all. I have to know that I have the right to speak and that the other person has the right to reject what I say.But I can't abuse the person who rejects me or what I have to say, NOR can I remain silent if they abuse me for saying it. My objection to psychiatry is not to their right to disagree with me, nor even their lack of belief, but to their unquestioned power and control over my life and mind, when they do disagree and force their beliefs upon me against my will.

We must all be able to speak and to retain the right to disagree, without going beyond that to an abuse of power and control.
Instead of setting such a huge goal to "bring spirituality to the world" , only to be devastated if the world doesn't take your offer, focus on bringing a peaceful spirit just to you. Be selfish first. It's OK. When you do it, you can demonstrate it's effects, so the world, (or some of it) will take an interest in how you managed to do that.

In the past some have said, "Love and abuse go together." They don't really. But it sounds like maybe you think if you don't accept the abuse, you won't get the love either. My answer to that is, abuse isn't love. The aren't any more related than rape is to sex. Almost technically the same act. But completely opposite spirits. They can't be confused. But they often are confused by people who have been sexually abused, which is understandable.

I used to believe that if I could just find the right way to get through to somebody, he or she would say, "Oh! That 's what was wrong. Now I understand," and everything would then be fine. I now know some people, even some who were supposed to love me, were not interested in being "gotten through to." Some don't want to face, or deal with anything that will cause them to have to think they were wrong to try to control others as if it were a right. .
Part of being centred at a "safe level" is letting go of the expectation or need to change others and the need to be validated by others. We can WANT to share with others and want validation from others, but we can't NEED it. We have to get that first for ourselves from within and from those who are willing to give it. If they don't want to, telling them the same thing a thousand different ways won't change that.

Share with everyone and connect to those who are willing and be willing to let go of those who aren't. That way, we don't "suffer" rejection. We just accept rejection. Until all of humanity reaches psycho-spiritual perfection, we will be accepted by some and rejected by others, and we in turn, will do the same. As we work our way to enlightenment, on both an individual and collective basis, choosing our own path and rejecting other paths is part of the trip. I believe that in the ultimate reality, we will all end up in the same place. There and then we will utter a collective, "OH. I see. I am. We are. We only needed to stand still, see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, feel with our metaphorical hearts, what was right in front of us all along."

Talking To The Walls, Scene 2

Just Seeking Attention?

Present Are:
Mother: Marble Wall
Father: Stone Wall
Son: Rocky Wall, Age 12
Daughter: Crystal Wall, Age 4

Rocky and Crystal have just come into the house as Marble is feeding baby Perfect and Stone is sitting smoking at the kitchen table. Crystal is upset and seems on the verge of crying as she is asking older brother Rocky, "Why do you do that to me Rocky? I didn't do anything to you."

Marble asks Rocky (not crystal) what Crystal means by that to which he responds annoyed, "Oh she is just whining because I told her she had to stay in the back yard." So Marble turns to Crystal to correct her saying, "I have told you you must mind your older brother and do whatever he tells you, so you need to stop whining about this."
"But Mommy he is mean to me and gets his friends to be mean to me too."
"Your brother is NOT mean he is just taking care of you as he is supposed to and he does does a good job of it too."

Stone then speaks up, "Marble don't keep talking to her about this. She's just seeking attention and this behaviour needs to be stopped."
"He's mean," insists Crystal. He calls me stupid all the time."
"Rocky, did you call her stupid?"
" No Dad," Rocky said, She's just saying that to get me into trouble. She's always making up stories.
" I am not making up stories Rocky. You are."

Stone decided to repeat that back to Crystal, word for word and Rocky, exchanging looks with his father who is clearly on his side in this, joins in. As Crystal is being mocked by her father and brother, she notices that her mother says nothing about it but her eyes are glowing with amusement as she watches them do it and observing Crystal's distress. A little smirk appears on her mother's face. Crystal starts to cry out of confusion and frustration so Rocky, still testing his limits, mocks her some more while Stone just looks amused by her reactions.

"Whiny crybaby," he taunts her, "tried to get your own way and you can't do it can you whiny crybaby?"
As Crystal looks right at Rocky through the blurred vision of her tears, she sees clearly how happy he is to taunt her, and how pleased he seems to have both of their parents supporting him while he does it. Of course back then, she would not have known exactly how to express in words exactly what she saw. That would come a little later in life. So Rocky goes on and on with his verbal taunts and not only do Stone and marble NOT stop him, they continue to act amused at Crystal's frustration and blocked efforts to talk.
Crystal has never felt this alone and totally powerless before but it is only the beginning of this group routine; one she will experience often in the future as her life follows an inevitable path towards being psychiatrized in her late teens for her perception and reaction problems.

After fifteen minutes or so of taunting, Marble decides that's enough for now saying to Rocky, "All right Rocky, we really shouldn't go on with this forever. Let's just change the subject now."TO crystal she adds, We are not going to talk about this any more so let it go."
That was the first "let it go" in a long series of blocked attempts at resolution.

At that point, Rocky looks crystal right in the eye and smiles openly and broadly. You see he and Crystal are sharing a secret.
Back to "the Walls" in a moment.

Recently, I was watching one of the cop shows on T.V. (where I enjoy getting messages) about a man who had been falsely convicted of a crime and a team of forensics cops were taking a second look at this case to see if they could find something that had been missed the first time. The team members didn't know where to begin looking, so the team leader said something like, We start by taking a step further back from where they started to build the case the first time, assuming the convicted man was guilty. I think this was one of those messages off the T.V. intended just for psychiatrist. Let's me see if I can help them get the message.
Now let's look a little farther back in this particular episode in the life of the Walls, and take a look at what actually occurred before Rocky and Crystal came back into the house.

The Missing Information:
Before they went outside, Marble gave Crystal her usual instruction, "Rocky is in charge outside and you must do everything he tells you."
Once outside, Rocky's friend Tommy showed up to see if Rocky could go bike riding. Rocky complained to him that he had to stay and look after her his little sister. He also told Tommy how much he hated her, hated having to watch her, and how stupid she was. "I'll show you," he said.

Then, turning to Crystal who was right there and had just hear all of this, he told her to sit in the back yard in the sun, on the grass, and wait for him to come and get her. He told her she was not to move until he told her she could. He and Tommy then went to the side of the house and "peeked" at her from around the corner about fifteen feet away, while he talked about her to Tommy.

"See Tommy," he pointed out, "she's just going to sit there like I told her to until I tell her to move. She's so stupid that she doesn't even know that I am not going to come back to tell her to move. He and Tommy then laughed together about how stupid Crystal was.

Crystal could not make any sense out of what he and Tommy were doing. But even at four years old, she was aware that no matter what she did, the fault was going to be found to be in her. If she did not obey her brother, her mother would punish her and if she did obey him, she was going to be called stupid for doing so. What Crystal did not know at four was how blind Rocky was to the truth about both himself and her. He was already deciding FOR Crystal what she would be aware of and what she would not, so even though he and Tommy acted the whole thing out right in front of her. Rocky had edited it in his mind to make himself fell "superior" to Crystal. he had decided that Crystal did NOT see his perfectly obvious intent to set her up in an untenable position, as an object of ridicule, that she did not understand what he and Tommy were saying and doing, and that she would not be aware of the fact that no matter what she said or how she reacted, she could not win in a situation like that. She was effectively psychologically immobilized.

Such is the standard delusion in the minds of those who abuse others because they convince themselves that the "other" is getting just what she deserves for not understanding she is being abused. The Circle of self deceit.
Since this pattern began in Crystal's early childhood and she was not "allowed" to tell her side of the story, this became her assigned role in the group. She was constantly told by the whole group that her legitimate complaints were "just" attempts to "see attention" and they also told everyone else, inside and outside the family the same thing. So that is the basis upon which nearly everyone related to her. Most of the instructions on how to treat Crystal were given to others "covertly," then Crystal would find the way others treated her to make no sense.

Because Rocky, in particular, got away with it every time, the abuse escalated over the years and the family's response to Crystal's complaints, or attempts to get help, which were never acknowledged as 'real' were dealt with in a manner that became as automatic as pushing buttons on the family taperecorder. She was invisible to them as a human being and would stay that way under growing pressure from the whole family to deny the reality of herself if she wished to be even minimally accepted in the group. They also involved friends, neighbours and relatives in accepting their definition of crystal as inherently defective, instructing them not to take anything she said seriously. Most of them co-operated with that instruction.

In time, the unrelenting pressure, abuse, invalidation, and stress would break down what fragile ego structure she had left. When it finally happened, the psychiatrist would proclaim her defective based upon the "interpretations" of her given to him by others, mainly her family. After all, the family members would all tell him the same thing so they couldn't all be misunderstanding her could they? It would be the psychiatrist who would finally prove Rocky to be "right" in his opinion of Crystal so that he could feel justified in all that he had done to her over the years, mostly in secret, with the family's support, which only he and Crystal understood between them. No one was on Crystal' side. It was to be the psychiatrist that the family would hire, who would destroy the last vestiges of Crystal's hope to be seen and heard as she really was. The psychiatrist's label would put an end to resolution for Crystal and she would be trapped in the mental illness system for life, completely powerless to escape her fate.

But that was yet to come and Crystal would not see HOW it had really happened until after she looked back on her life and relationships with the kind of clarity and understanding only hindsight can provide.

THE BUSINESS

An Ongoing Concern For All of Us
BY Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

The mental illness system is first and foremost a "business" and as a business, is in business to make money.

In relation to that business, the "customer" can be a happy and satisfied "customer" or an unhappy one, but since this "business" defines an unhappy "customer" as a customer who needs it's "product" and who will have it forced upon her if necessary, it is a business for which no chance of failure, because of it's shoddy product, can ever possibly exist. Therefore, loss of this business need never be feared by those running the business.

Total customer control may seem like a great thing to those who play the role of the controller, but when you are in the role of the controlled, this "business" seems more like a monster that has gotten completely out of control. Those of us trapped within it, run around endlessly in circles looking for a logical means of escape from the "help." Had we known we had no choice but to humour the psychiatrists, we would have done that from day one and saved ourselves a lot of wasted effort. At least now, we can all look back and see how we were trapped within it right from the beginning. For we who have shared the experience understand we must come full circle to see the truth that was right there all along.

Domination Tactics

"Confidentiality": Privacy or Secrecy?

By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

All of the controllers of others, whether family members, employers or cult leaders, seem to share a similar tactic aimed at control apparent in the line:

" Listen, no need to let on we have had this little conversation; let's just keep this between you and I."

This is generally delivered right after one of them has given us some ''confidential'' information about someone else, or after they have given someone else some ''confidential information about us.

Most of us agree to that based upon our assumptions about the reason for it. It can be heard as a kind of admission of error like," Gee, I guess I shouldn't have violated that other person's boundaries by telling you that, so please keep this confidential, OK?"
So, we agree and may even be impressed by concern for others in that statement. But, controllers and domination types aren't saying that because they have empathy with others and think that they are wrong to assess someone behind his/her back. They say it because that is part of running their ''game'' in an attempt to dominate and control. The secrecy (not confidentiality) is one of the manipulations used to achieve that goal. They are, in fact, frequently playing people off against each other, without any of those they are manipulating being aware that it is being done.

The predictable result to all of those involved of course is growing confusion and a perception that something, or someone, isn't making any sense. The reason for that is because all are making their evaluations based upon what they believe is true about the other; not upon what is true. Most of the time, the manipulator who is playing the ''game'' with everyone involved, is not even suspected of having a hidden agenda of control and domination.

Why not?
He seems so "nice,'' he's not at all upset, (everyone else is) and why would he DO such a thing anyway? It wouldn't make any sense for him to do that now would it?

And that is the answer to the puzzle. It is the first step taken out of the maze of the group insanity.

This is done by people who feel entitled to control and dominate others whom they perceive as their 'inferiors.'' Given that, it should not be surprising to anyone when the identified patient being controlled by such domination types then perceives the psychiatrist, and the manipulations coercions and punishments of the system, as identical to those of his, or her, original protagonist(s). There is no difference to the identified patient.

There is, however, a difference to most psychiatrists. What is the difference?
The premise upon which they are erroneously basing their judgments of the patient. They believe the controller with the hidden agenda is "innocent'' (and "falsely'' accused) and also that the victim is only:

1. saying he or she is a victim to seek attention/fame.
Or
2. Actually believes he or she is a victim. (when ''really'' he/she is not)

It is on that faulty premise (or ''foundation stone'' from a religious point of view) upon which the house of cards of the Psychiatric Faith has been built. The ''sacred symbol'' of the Faith (as Szasz has termed it) being ''schizophrenia''- the label given to those who are to be sacrificed on the alter of the Faith as a ransom paid for the errors of others, whether the ''others'' involved are blind to what they do, or not. This is about a GROUP error in thinking. Not the individual's error, or ''illness.''

It is the tautological arguments used consistently by Psychiatry to justify itself, which traps the ''patient'' in the infinite double bind. For to simply state the truth about one's experience at the hand of another (or others) is to provide the stimulus which pushes the buttons of the all too well, trained psychiatrist causing the doctor to respond automatically, with machine-like precision.
The more the patient tries to escape the much loved paradigm of psychiatry, by continuing to tell the truth of his/her experience, the more controlling the psychiatrist is likely to become.

As a psychotherapist once stated to me, " logic will not penetrate illogic.". That has certainly been proven true in my own case. Nothing I have said or done for over a decade has penetrated the groupthink.

A Few Excerpts from the Book:

"And They Call It Help:
The Psychiatric Policing Of America's Children"
By Louise Armstrong"

..the majority opinion...represents a construction of the supposed reality...derived from idyllic notions of how the family and the mental health professions should be.
Once you enter the psy world, or once you are brought into it, the hypothesis is you are sick. In other words, the hypothesis in the psy world is the antithesis of the hypothesis in law.

What strikes me, as it has so often in listening to the kids, is that they seem to have such a more highly evolved sense of justice than do their keepers...

This is not the world as we expect it to be; in fact, it is the kind of mind controlling dictatorship...

The whole thing with that school (psychiatric institution) is the tighter you get with the faculty, the more power you get...

The biggest threat was the community would turn on you. (A parent) The school made you feel like shit. They would constantly remind you that they had complete control of your child and that it was none of your business.

The mental disorder is the object wrought by the objectifying gaze: it is not so much what the gaze sees, but what it constructs. It is not atheoretical to pin on Jimmy a label that does not validate and dignify his real life experience; it is cruel.

What seems in evidence here is an obsession with the mechanism of diagnosis that is overriding all interest in common sense.
If the behaviours are the leading determinant and play the dominant role in the diagnosis, the diagnoses have virtually no reliable relevance to experiential truth--even if enough psy practitioners have been similarly indoctrinated so that you can show the agree. Faced with this, any reasonable child may stand ready to shout that the emperor has no clothes. But, if given psy power, a kid does shout this out, it is less apt to result in a professional or public epiphany than in a prescription for psychotropic medication.

Giving Up The Suffering "Contest"

May Well Save Us from Further Suffering
By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

Recently, some members of the Jewish faith in Canada and The U.S. have voiced objections to the comparison of seemingly minor cases of oppression and abuse to the obviously major oppression and abuse of the Nazis of Germany. Some feel this minimizes the reality of the Holocaust; that it trivializes it.

I think we should consider this from another perspective.
If we see the same basic concepts used by the Nazis for building up power and control in other systems, we may be able to change something while there is still time to do so.

If we listen to those who went through the horrors of the Holocaust and lived to tell us about it and what happened, we hear a recurring theme.

Those who foresaw what was coming were ridiculed, often called crazy, enemies of the Fatherland, and early on, the majority of German citizens minimized the Nazi threat, since a few minor incidents of possible oppression against a sub group could certainly not be considered to be a sign of evil intent. That assessment didn't seem all that unreasonable at the time. It was only with hindsight that it was seen to be what it really was.

Perhaps we should be LOOKING for the Nazi mind where we least expect it. If seen very early on in it's growth , evil won't continue to grow in the darkness of the denial of it's existence.
Sometimes those who see a similarly constructed evil where others do not, prevent suffering like that of the Holocaust from being repeated. Some horrors are better not seen with Hindsight.

In relation to this topic, it has been said by some of Peter Breggin's detractors that Breggin has stated in the past that American Psychiatry is based upon a construct that came out of Nazi Germany. I think this is intended of course to undermine Breggin and his open opposition to the psychiatric establishment, by showing him to think like a wacko. Like us. We often compare the "help" we are given by the establishment to Nazi control etc. Which is said to prove we are nuts. Just as it did in Nazi Germany, where we who thought we were being oppressed and persecuted were murdered in asylums, by psychiatrists, who were originally only trying to "help" us with our delusions of persecution, of which we would not "let go." Because according to psychiatrists, we were (and still are ) genetic defectives who's thoughts and feelings aren't as "real" as theirs and who therefore see no need to compare American or Canadian Psychiatry to Nazis.

That's just crazy to see any comparison, according to those who judge these things...as experts...like those psychiatrists did...in Nazi Germany..

Isn't it?

Personal Pick Book List

Which Have Validated My Own Personal Experience Within the Mental Illness System

By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P)

Journey into Madness: Medical Torture and the Mind Controllers
By Gordon Thomas
For Canadian readers there is another mention in this one of Ewen Cameron and the CIA experiments at Montreal ’s Allan Memorial Insitute.

Emotional Blackmail by Susan Forward, PhD.
This book spells out the concrete experience of many of us who get labelled in many different ways for talking about what ACTUALLY has happened to us in concrete reality. I especially identified with the chapter titled “Tools of the Trade” (Chapter 4)
I think that many of you will see your own experiences in the metaphysical concepts of the group experience there.
This is the sort of thing I believe we experience on a collective level and I also think it goes back centuries. The difference in outcome often seems to be directly related to whether or not we get a mental health professional (usually a psychologist) requested by us or not, who takes us seriously and believes us or we get a psychiatrist who believes he hears ‘symptoms’ instead of the reality of our experience. This psychologist sees and hears what many others cannot.

A Social History of Madness: The World Through the Eyes of the Insane
By Roy Porter
If you read this one, what will likely strike you is the fact that we have been telling them this for literally hundreds of years and it has NEVER penetrated the minds of the psychiatrists as truth. If you want to hear your own experience with them validated, read this one.

Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health
by William Glasser, M.D.

Though I actually don't agree with all of Glasser's ideas (for example he dismisses the psychospiritual approach as irrelevent) I do think this book is worth reading for his discussion on the mental illness system and to hear what he has to say about his OWN experience. The other thing that bothers me about this is something I see quite frequently which is the suggestion that labelled people should NOT be included in this point of view so that they have no representation as themselves and others continue to 'interpret' them according to their own perceptions. I believe it is these labelled people (like myself) who should be the FIRST ones to be included in any discussions about ''us,'' not the ones excluded. I believe this commonly accepted exclusion as a norm is a major part of most labelled people's problems in the first place. It is still reductionistic no matter how well intentioned anyone is while doing it.

''In The Sleep Room: The Story Of The C.I.A. Brainwashing Experiments In Canada" by Anne Collins

September 2006
More reasons why I believe in the reality of the collective unconscious which when we are ‘altered’ is the collective consciousness to ‘us.’ If you want to see the same elements of your own experience, often including the concrete details within that experience, read: The Holotropic Mind: (The three levels of Human Consciousness) By Stanislav Grof, M.D.

Entangled Minds: Extrasensory Experiences in a Quantum Reality
By Dean Radin, 2006 publication

Your connection to others may not be as 'crazy' as you have been led to believe it is!

Mind Control
By Peter Schrag
Published in 1978, it reveals the use of government agencies (like public housing for example) involved by the Psychiatric Faith in the notion of watching for abstract signs and symbols of ''mental illness,'' apart from concrete facts, in those who come to them as clients, even those without psychiatric labels. Reads like a present day account of the machinations of the mental illness system.
As always, the ''defective'' under growing public scrutiny, is all but left out of the equation as anything other than an ''object'' of observation.

The Disappearance of God: a Divine Mystery
By Richard Elliott Friedman:
It is not quote what you may first think. It needs to be read to be appreciated.

Final Analysis: The Making and Unmaking of A Psychoanalyst and Also , The Assault On Truth: Freud's Suppresion of the Seduction Theory By Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the enduring mistreatment of the mentally ill

By Robert Whitaker: Highly Recommended to the Psychiatrized, as well as to the "normal" people who have convinced themselves they are not at risk of being "helped" like we are, and especially to any psychiatrists or bio-ethicists left in the world who still care about REAL ethics and integrity rather than just giving lipservice to it: This gives you a view of the history of psychiatry and opens the door to the ''secret'' side of treatment; psychiatry's knowledge, understanding, and attitudes. It lets those who have not YET shared the experience of being a ''patient'' get a closer look at the reality from the "non compliant, resistant" patient perpective. If you really WANT to know why we ''nuts'' don't want to take these drugs, nor get this brand of "help" open your minds and read carefully.

A suggestion for you as you read this book by someone who is NOT "just seeking attention/fame": Read the treatments given to mental patients. Then, replace the words like "mental patient, schizophrenic, disorder, subject, case," etc with the words "human being."

Now read the same acount again. Is there a difference between how YOU perceive the same reality when you do? Are you shocked to discover that what you perceived as ''good'' or even acceptable treatment for others, now seems like torture or abuse? Ask yourself an important question. Why didn't you see that in the first place?

And They Call It Help: Psychiatric Policing Of America's Children
By Louise Armstrong

Highly recommended.; for labelled people, family members who really care about the reality of the situation, friends, the system mavericks and to all the police officers who are now being required by the law to wrestle us to the ground and place us under psychiatric arrest. It speaks directly to me of my own experience and perception of it as an adult brought into the system, validates my own reality, tells it like it really is, and demonstrates (by a non labelled person) the confusion we all feel when getting the kind of ''help'' that does not help anyone.

The work of R. D. Laing, M.D.
Hard to find, but look around second hand book stores and libraries.
"The Voice Of Experience, Sanity Madness and the Family,
The Divided Self, The Politics of Experience, The Families of Schizophrenics, Self and Others, etc"

The work of Alice Miller;
an ex psychoanalyst: "For Your Own Good", Thou Shalt Not be Aware,
The Drama of the Gifted Child, The Truth Will Set You Free" etc.

Peter Breggin, M.D.
Toxic Psychiatry, Your Drug May Be Your Problem, " etc.

The Power To Harm: mind, medicine, and murder on trial
By John Cornwell
Despite the obvious, judgement remained focused on blaming either the patient, or the drug, and was NOT seen as a group event exacerbated by the denial of the reality of it's whole. A good example of the absence of the patient's perspective.

The Peter Pyramid
By Laurence J. Peter
Showing Group Structures

John Bradshaw :
Series of books regarding the dynamic of group dysfunction:On The Family etc. Though he later backed off from this, stating he now believed it was more complicated than he previously thought, I believe it is actually less complicated, and that many well meaning people are stopped by the fear of upsetting others and risking being rejected by their families. Many families fear being blamed for things, more than getting past some of our group errors. Very legitimate fears as these things happen all the time.

Melody Beatty on Co-Dependency:
Co-Dependent No More


The works of M.Scott Peck, M.D.
The Road Less Travelled etc.
Especially the Title: People of the Lie

Al Siebert, PhD.: A Schizophrenia Breakthrough
can be ordered at his Website www.successfulschizophrenia.com


The Work of Thomas Szasz, M.D.
Insanity: The Idea And It's Consequences.
The Myth of Mental Illness
Schizophrenia: The Sacred Symbol of Psychiatry etc.

The Family Unconscious by E. Bruce Taub-Bynum

Battle For The Mind by William Sargant, M.D.
Though this also may be difficult to find as I read it a very long time ago.

Toward A New Brain
By Stuart Litvak and A. Wayne Senzee

The Bully, The Bullied, and The Bystander
by Barbara Colorosso

When Bad Things Happen to Good People
by Rabbi Harold Kushner

The Enlightened Mind: An Anthology of Sacred Prose
Edited by Stephen Mitchell
I include this one because it shows that regardless of the period in which our temporal bodies exist, we all understand the same psychospiritual meaning behind things, simply expressed in slightly different ways.

The Rights Revolution
By Michael Ignatieff

They Say You're Crazy
By Paula Caplan

The Family Shadow: Sources of Suicide and Schizophrenia
David K. Reynolds, Norman L. Farberow
University of California Press 1981
ISBN 0-520-04213-1

Madness, Heresy and the Rumor of Angels: The Revolt Against the Mental Health System.
By Seth Farber, Phd.

The Death of Psychiatry by E. Fuller Torrey

I find this one especially interesting since it was much more on target before the Torrey's full conversion to the Psychiatric Faith. It makes an interesting read for comparison. Perhaps we could assess his fascinating case later.

Undermining Authority

It's a Thankless Job But Somebody's Got To Do It
By Patricia Lefave, Labeled, D.D.(P)

The idea that it is even possible to live life, or to learn without making any judgements, is a serious error in judgement.

(this is one of the things we nuts tend to laugh about for ''no reason.'')

If you actually believe that you can say, ''I am non judgemental,'' and that you are telling the truth when you say it, you are seriously self deluded and have judged yourself to be incapable of discernment and therefore, you are mad as a hatter.

Nevertheless, you are quite likely preaching to the ''mad'' for their ''judgemental'' ways.

What, in your opinion, is ''poor judgement''? Make a judgement on that one for me would you? Oh I'm sorry. I forgot. You're non judgemental aren't you?

So you have no judgements on ''poor'' judgement or ''good'' judgement, all is perfect right now, and there is no need to make any judgements about anything. It is only judgement itself, in the abstract, that is wrong. Right?

Damn! I've made another judgement haven't I? Obviously, I am not as sane or smart as those who have managed to give up making judgements about things or ''others.'' At least, that seems to be their judgement of me.

Could you please, please, teach me HOW you managed to stop judging ''others'' like that? I really want to know. Unless of course, you would have to make some judgements about yourself to tell me how it was done. If so, never mind. I don't mean to drag you into my obvious insanity because of my ''confusion.'' Please just ''overlook'' it so you can stay as sane as you are right now. I am just ''seeking attention'' from you anyway.

Don't respond at all. Just ignore me. Maybe I will just give up and go away. Then you can wonder why I don't bother trying to talk to you anymore. You might think that it's just because (unlike you) I'm anti social, or crazy, or lack good communication skills, or good judgement.

You might think that, but you won't, since that, of course, would be passing judgement, and unlike me, you're a non judgemental person.

Aren't you?

I wish I could be like you but I can't. Unfortunately, I am awake to all of this.

Want to know what you get when you don't judge anything?
You get nothing. No differentiation, no discernment, no right or wrong. You get chaos. You get entropy. That's what you get.

So, the next time you ''superior'' people are tempted to ''correct'' us who blame ''others,'' unlike you who ''don't like to judge,'' please know that what we hear you saying is something like this:

''I'm a sanctimonious idiot who thinks I am correcting my ''inferiors'' by telling you I do not do, what I am doing right now, as I roll my eyes up towards heaven with a sappy look on my self deluded face. ''

Now you are starting to understand what we nuts are actually hearing when we are listening to you.
Ungrateful aren't we? Well try not to judge us. After all, we are just ''sick'' and as you already know, you can't really talk to a walking, talking disease process now can you?

Hey! Isn't that a judgement? (Can't be. You don't judge)
So, I must be crazy if I think you do. Yes. That must be it! It's not your thinking and behaviour that is the problem. It it my perception and reaction that must be the problem.

Or have I judged that incorrectly? You're the experts. So, I guess I should defer to your judgement. I will wait patiently for your clarification.

And around the circle of the co-dependent dance marathon we go again...and again...and again.....