(Our enthusiasm for pharmaceuticals may blind us to our inner resources and to our culture’s age old, time-proven medicine and wisdom.)
When I came off benzoes almost 20 years
ago I was wet behind the ears. Over many years, formative years, I had learnt
to rely on the rather tainted succour of the prescription pad.
With the aid of the medical profession and the pharmaceutical profession I had learnt to believe that painful emotions and any inner chaos were a dangerous threat that needed to be efficiently obliterated and that it was the ‘experts’ who had the know-how.
When I came off the medication I began unlearning that lesson.
In the light of my own experience, and the experience of so many I have met and worked with, it seems to me that quite apart from the harmful side-effects, withdrawal symptoms and illnesses caused by mood medicines, we ought not underestimate another potential danger associated with the widespread promotion of such drugs.
We run the risk of teaching ourselves subtly, bit by bit, that difficult feelings, particularly ongoing ones, are like diseases or viruses in the face of which we humans are somehow physically and psychologically deficient. We thereby learn to underestimate our own resilience, inner wisdom, powers of endurance and ingenuity. What will such bogus lessons do for an individual’s capacity for self confidence, self-trust, and feelings of self worth? Let alone courage! What might such lessons do for our collective community beliefs about security, integrity and strength?
Like many benzo users and users of antidepressants I learnt to fear my own feelings, my own mind, and to doubt my capacity to live with myself without the aid of a medicine.
Clearly there are some situations and genuine illnesses in which certain individuals will benefit greatly from the use of a medicine, but they are not the situations I am discussing here - I am concerned about the overblown prescribing of mood medicines to treat extremes of ordinary human emotional pain.
Dr. David Healy, a psychopharmacologist and antidepressant expert based in the department of psychological medicine at the University of Wales, is quoted in the online journal Counterpunch (March 2002) as saying that ‘The overwhelming majority of people who are prescribed antidepressants are at little or no risk for suicide or other adverse outcomes from their nervous state’ i.e. they are experiencing a condition called Life which, though sometimes very painful and difficult, is generally well resourced to manage itself without chemical interference thank-you very much.
Overblown prescribing teaches us, and then we teach our friends and children, that the power lies outside ourselves, that we must go and pay money to get a pill from a supposed expert in order to be strong, in order to find courage, endurance, inspiration.
When I came off benzoes and was cast into an horrific and prolonged withdrawal illness I had no choice but to discover my own inner resources and the wealth of non-drug resources within my family and community. I was dumbfounded by the richness, wisdom and effective, life-enhancing knowledge and resources which I discovered. These were resources which a tawdry prescribed medicine had largely kept at bay.
(Prolonged low dose use of benzoes may inhibit the effectiveness of counselling, impair learning and diminish resourcefulness. But really, so long as the benzoes were tampering with my system, the dominant problem was toxicity and the only really effective treatment would have been removal of the toxin.)
Each culture inherits a wealth of rich and effective wisdom regarding appropriate behaviours, ‘medicines’ and healthy interventions for times of emotional pain and strife. We are born into a wealth of non-pharmaceutical knowledge, time proven and safe. We may have to fossick about but the information is there. This priceless wisdom is under serious threat if we learn to throw all our eggs in the pill basket.
And the ally of our age-old wisdom is our innate individual creativity. Each of us possesses an intuitive creativity which is abundantly inventive and which, although sometimes brow-beaten and speaking in mere whispers, serves us in varied circumstances by showing us from within the way to go. Contrary to what the pharmaceutical advertisements would have us believe, most of us come to this planet pretty well prepared; prepared to experience and live through (learn through) difficult emotions rather than to chemically obliterate them.
A sensible health professional might assist us to investigate our inheritance of healthy non-drug resources and encourage us to listen for the guidance of our own intuition before producing a prescription pad and picking up a Prozac pen.
Resources.
‘Medicine’ isn’t only available from a doctor or chemist, its all around us. However, most authentic and healthy ‘medicines’ have their effect gradually, over time - they are seldom quick fixes, they are more substantial than that.
As part of our work with the Benzodiazepine Research Group in the 1990’s, we asked ex benzo patients to describe the non-drug resources which assisted them in recovering from the pain, anxiety and depression of benzo use.
Recent research studies and centuries of anecdotal reports verify that many of the treatments and techniques which our benzo patients turned to can be powerful medicine for those experiencing extremes of emotional pain; depression, anxiety, despair, grief, confusion, anger, sadness, jealousy, hysteria, guilt et al.
Startlingly ordinary experiences or behaviours can serve as potent and unexpected ‘treatments’ - their value and effectiveness ought not be underestimated! Digging the garden, walking in nature or spending quiet time with truly caring friends are actually powerfully healing for many. Its a matter of finding the particular combination of activities, behaviours, remedies and attitudes, which work for you.
Below is a summary of some of the resources ex-benzo users and others have discovered to help them though a range of difficult circumstances. The list is simple and impressive and might be a place to start for anyone who is looking for help during dark times.
N.B. Regarding withdrawal from benzodiazepines: in the midst of a bad benzo withdrawal seemingly benign treatments and non-pharmaceutical medicines can sometimes aggravate symptoms (e.g.. vigorous exercise is often unhelpful; acupuncture, yoga and various herbal medicines have been counterproductive for some patients, some relaxation tapes and techniques can disturb some patients in early withdrawal etc.)
So introduce any new treatments gradually: don’t jump in the deep end, take it gently.
Also, a treatment which soothed symptoms one week may aggravate matters a week later and what works for one person may not work for another. Benzo withdrawal is very idiosyncratic, it teaches us to be sensitive to, and respectful of ourselves. Most of us put together an individual treatment regime over time, through careful trial and error.
Regular exercise, yoga, peaceful solitude, human touch (whether from friend or masseuse) and talking with someone openly and honestly about what is going on in the body and mind may help relieve symptoms and enhance well-being.
Naturopathic medicine, traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, kinesiology, reiki, chiropractic, counselling and support group meetings have helped some people. Telephone counselling services have been very popular, allowing anonymity and the flexibility of being accessible 24/7.
Eating a balanced, healthy and regular diet (avoiding stimulants, intoxicants, fast food and too much sugar) is generally beneficial. But being overly rigid or obsessive about any diet, technique or behaviour is likely to be counter-productive.
Many have found that prayer and meditation are healing as well as being broadly transformative and revelatory. In fact most ancient religious traditions contain highly sophisticated knowledge about the nature of human suffering, its patterns and resolution. Unfortunately there is sometimes the mistaken impression that religious institutions are all about chasing a transcendent God and nothing else. The truth is that within these traditions, beautiful, powerful practices have been developed over centuries to gently assist suffering individuals and communities. Nuns, monks and priests are often quiet repositories of such wisdom.
Libraries are another great resource - books and videos are full of information and personal stories from which people gain strength and useful knowledge about their circumstances and about human resourcefulness in difficult times.
Art making (painting, dancing, poetry etc.) has helped cure many ailments.
Investigating and altering one’s negative attitudes and beliefs can be liberating; learning to gently undo a mindset of fear, mistrust and resentment and to foster one of trust, gratitude and acceptance of reality (acceptance is not to be mistaken for complacency or resignation).
On the other hand, a determinedly positive ‘Pollyanna’ mindset which runs the risk of suppressing our pain and emotional difficulties, may trip us up if it goes unexamined.
If we look about us, we find a wealth of riches to draw on: those I am mentioning here are just the tip of the ice-berg. If we let it, our individual ingenuity guides us to an unlimited range of highly personal, perhaps quite unusual ‘medicines’. These can have great potency. One woman kept a simple flower in a vase on her window-sill, looking at it every day. “That is what got me through” she told me. Others knit, sing, swim, sleep or simply go on with their lives trusting that things will eventually right themselves.
Many folk tell of the wisdom, insight and personal growth which came to them as a result of enduring traumatic times. True compassion for others is another oft-mentioned by-product of such experiences. Trying to run away from emotional pain doesn’t seem to work. Learning to live with it, and live through it can bestow unexpected riches.
There are many wonderful alternatives to pharmaceutical antidepressants and tranquillisers. However none of these healthy alternatives is going to suit everyone or every circumstance - one person swears by counselling while another cannot stand it, someone loves long walks but another is exhausted by them and yes, there may occasionally be someone for whom a pharmaceutical product is a wise and worthwhile part of the mix.
Each individual looks carefully and listens to their own body to find, sometimes by trial and error, what works for them. And there is no such thing as a magic wand: sometimes the most a technique or treatment will do is take the edge off, allowing time itself and the innate wisdom of the body-mind-spirit to do its own gradual, painful, revelatory re-balancing work.