My first psychic break quickly brought me home from college when I was 17 years old.  My parents took me to a psychiatrist who told me to go back to college (I told him no way did I want that so I isolated myself for two months at home).  At that time I was never medicated and never put on any drugs of any kind.  My second wipeout occurred several years and another college later when I was fired from a well-known company in New York City for falling asleep at my desk, and back home I went again.  This time I was diagnosed with a thyroid condition, and once again no psychotropic medications.

In the ensuing years, I worked, attended a few colleges, got married, raised two sons, and led a relatively normal, if slightly zany, life.  My Big Bang, as I call it, came at 37 years of age.  With the Big Bang also came my first encounter with psychotropic medications.  During the next several years, I lost count of the many drugs given to me to try to stabilize my wicked mood swings, delusions and hallucinations, all to no avail.
Six psychiatrists, twelve hospitalizations (including two at Trenton Psychiatric), two or three rounds of ECT and one notorious failed suicide attempt- that was my life for a while.

I finally found an amazing psychiatrist, one who actually listened and inspired trust.  He tweaked my medications in a thoughtful and judicious manner.  He insisted on annual physical and dental exams for me.  My medications were changed forever.  What a difference-on his watch, I attained good recovery.  I am now on a low maintenance regimen of Depakote and Topamax easing the mood swings I still encounter.
As one gets older, one ponders.  After meeting Bob Whitaker and Dr. Harding, and connecting the dots, I realized how much there was to be thankful for and relieved about.  I often wonder what would have happened if I wasn’t challenged to push myself.  What if I had accepted a passive role?  What if I had been medicated when I was 17 years old?  What if I had spent those early years in a state facility?

I may never have married, raised a family nor had the joy of grandkids.  I may never have had my career as a P&A advocate or the opportunity of serving as the president of the CSP Governing Board in my mid-70s.”

To read the entire position statement, please see the attachment.