About
Straight Outta State Hospital
Instead of being afraid and promoting symptom suppression, we need to refine public understanding of what psychosis is: something to which most of us can relate. We need to open up dialogue about the emergency state and to challenge the medicalized cultural delusion that these experiences lead to irreversible brain damage. Finally, we need to learn to call upon to shamanic teachers who know how to live well with psychosis for help.
As someone with over twenty years of experience as a provider, I am still haunted by the fact that six years in, I found myself warehoused for three months in a state hospital. The two years of crisis I went through during and after my incarceration was a challenge. In fact, it was so bad, I wrote an award-winning book about it.
Across Diagnostic Categories!
Whether you are a sufferer, survivor, provider or loved one, I am almost certain that when we look across diagnostic categories that more people relate to these experiences than you think!
What Will People Think?
When a person first experiences a psychosis or special message emergency, many think a threshold has been crossed from which there is no going back. Often, associates presume the worst possible outcome and go on with their lives as if the sufferer no longer exists.
Treatment?
Often, the focus of treatment is overly protective reality checks and behavioral control. Many experts do not know what to do and utilize an institutional system that does not work and can make things worse. They may vastly underestimate what the sufferer can learn and accomplish.
Book Viral Spotlight
“Much has been written on the subject of schizophrenia with as many paths to recovery as there are individuals affected by it, but Dee’s work is most notable for his candid reflections on cultural delusions. Clearly articulating the loss of faculties that make us what we are, they prove intrinsic to the telling of his story. More importantly they provide an often harrowing perspective on the anguish of mental illness from the inside and in doing so allow Dee to address commonly held beliefs and prejudices.”
Paige Lovitt, Readers Views, five stars
“[Clyde’s] story is fascinating because he is able to intellectualize what he was thinking and feeling at the time, even if he is discussing his paranoid delusional thoughts . . . As someone with a Master’s of Science degree in a counseling field, I have found my greatest lessons have been from real people and not material in textbooks. As I read Clyde’s story, I felt like I learned many lessons through what he has to share. My work will definitely be more beneficial by what I learned from him.”
Niki’s book review
“What a great read! As a person with mental health issues myself, I could relate to most of the memoir. Go ahead and read this book. I guarantee you won’t be able to put it down. Read cover to cover fast!”
Rabia Tanveer, Readers Favorite, five stars
“I finally understand what a person with a mental illness feels like,lives like, and how he fights for his sanity and his life every single day . . .This book has compassion, passion, understanding, and a force of will that will allow any person to become better and make peace with themselves. Great job.”
Midwest Book Review, five stars
“An intensely personal and impressively well written memoir, “Fighting for Freedom in America: Memoir of a ‘Schizophrenia’ and Mainstream Cultural Delusions” is a compelling read from beginning to end.”
A Vulgar Marxist Beat
Belizaro’s old Ford pickup Strained to cross the deep ruts It has gauged into me, Grinding its wheels Across my soft black earth. The truck coughed an echo Against my silent countryside, Carrying in it An empty-hearted American boy Who had come to see My fields of working men. Wheezing to a halt, Its echo […]
Original Gangster!?
You might think you know Where he comes from By noting the precision Of his feet as they Rest in sandals. Atop the spattered glass concrete. Looking at the charisma Buzzing within his disposition, You might imagine his room— The bed sheets and blankets Sucking on the mattress, The ugly, throw rug Nestling into the […]
Stigma
Jargonizing the Stigma Concept: Stigma is a mysterious external process that becomes internal that all message receivers face. Though stigma works in many different ways, I think it is particularly astounding and deceptive that it is not considered part of the definition of all forms of schizophrenia disorders. In my mind including it in the […]
How to Help Your Loved One Be A Successful Schizophrenic?
How many parents out there would rather learn that their child had developed a life-threatening cancer, than hear that their child carries a diagnosis of schizophrenia? Historically burned-out doctors may be known to make such negative statements about schizophrenia at the time of diagnosis. If they end up being wrong, they simply re-diagnose the sufferer […]