http://laingsociety.org/colloquia/polofdiagnosis/modelconsent.htm
This is a powerful document, first written in 1991 and regularly updated, making its points with facts and a touch of irony.
Clients who come to us are often taking or thinking of taking prescription psychiatric drugs. We seldom hear that they have been offered any of this information by their doctor.
In fact, our sense is that – even in the therapeutic world – people are often unaware of these facts and imagine a far stronger ‘scientific’ base for some drug treatments than in reality exists.
These are powerful drugs that have multiple and complex effects on our systems, which vary by individual. In many cases, e.g. commonly prescribed anti-depressants, the evidence suggests they may have little or no therapeutic usefulness, and their wide prescription is now being challenged inside and outside the medical establishment (as we have recorded in other posts – for example, concerning the work of Dr Joanna Moncrieff).
Monica Cassani’s site, http://www.beyondmeds.com, also has a wealth of links and articles on this and allied subjects, such as iatrogenic illness.
It would serve us all to do a bit more research, and a bit less trusting of ‘experts’ – and above all to learn to listen to and defer to our own inward/body sense of what we need…..
Thank you to Laura Delano for her Facebook post on this.
Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter
Palace Gate Counselling Service Blog 