Posted on 08/14/2007 7:07:09 AM PDT by SkyPilot
"When I was lying in my bed that night, I couldn’t sleep because my voice in my head kept echoing through my mind telling me to kill them."
You're reading the words of 12-year-old Christopher Pittman, struggling to explain why he murdered his grandparents, who had provided the only love and stability in his turbulent life. He was angry with his grandfather, who had disciplined him earlier that day for hurting another student during a fight on the school bus. So later that night, he shot both of his grandparents in the head with a .410 shotgun as they slept and then burned down their South Carolina home, where he had lived with them.
"I got up, got the gun, and I went upstairs and I pulled the trigger," he recalled. "Through the whole thing, it was like watching your favorite TV show. You know what is going to happen, but you can’t do anything to stop it."
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
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In his treatise, titled "The Presence of Spirits in Madness," Van Dusen provided a window into the inner experience of his patients' "hallucinations." Note that these were not criminally insane people who had perpetrated violent acts, but rather were simply "mentally ill" individuals who had been committed to the institution. So their condition was not as serious or dangerous as that of the criminal perpetrators referenced earlier.
"Out of my professional role as a clinical psychologist in a state mental hospital and my own personal interest, I set out to describe as faithfully as possible mental patients' experiences of hallucinations," he wrote:
The average layman's picture of the mentally ill as raving lunatics is far from reality. Most of these people have become entangled in inner processes and simply fail to manage their lives well.
After dealing with hundreds of such patients, I discovered about four years ago that it was possible to speak to their hallucinations. To do so I looked for patients who could distinguish between their own thoughts and the things they heard and saw in the world of hallucinations. The patient was told that I simply wanted to get as accurate a description of their experiences as possible. I held out no hope for recovery or special reward. It soon became apparent that many were embarrassed by what they saw and heard and hence they concealed it from others.
Also they knew their experiences were not shared by others, and some were even concerned that their reputations would suffer if they revealed the obscene nature of their voices. It took some care to make the patients comfortable enough to reveal their experience honestly. A further complication was that the voices were sometimes frightened of me and themselves needed reassurance. I struck up a relationship with both the patient and the persons he saw and heard. I would question these other persons directly, and instructed the patient to give a word-for-word account of what the voices answered or what was seen. In this way I could hold long dialogues with a patient's hallucinations and record both my questions and their answers.
One consistent finding was that patients felt they had contact with another world or order of beings. Most thought these other persons were living persons. All objected to the term hallucination. Each coined his own term such as The Other Order, the Eavesdroppers, etc.
For most individuals the hallucinations came on suddenly. One woman was working in a garden when an unseen man addressed her. Another man described sudden loud noises and voices he heard while riding in a bus. Most were frightened, and adjusted with difficulty to this new experience. All patients describe voices as having the quality of a real voice, sometimes louder, sometimes softer, than normal voices. The experience they describe is quite unlike thoughts or fantasies. When things are seen they appear fully real. … Most patients soon realize that they are having experiences that others do not share, and for this reason learn to keep quiet about them. Many suffer insults, threats and attacks for years from voices with no one around them aware of it. Women have reported hearing such vile things they felt it would reflect on them should they even be mentioned.
… Lower order voices are as though one is dealing with drunken bums at a bar who like to tease and torment just for the fun of it. They will suggest lewd acts and then scold the patient for considering them. They find a weak point of conscience and work on it interminably. For instance, one man heard voices teasing him for three years over a ten-cent debt he had already paid. They call the patient every conceivable name, suggest every lewd act, steal memories or ideas right out of consciousness, threaten death, and work on the patient's credibility in every way. For instance they will brag that they will produce some disaster on the morrow and then claim honor for one in the daily paper. They suggest foolish acts (such as: Raise your right hand in the air and stay that way) and tease if he does it and threaten him if he doesn't. The lower order can work for a long time to possess some part of the patient's body. Several worked on the ear and the patient seemed to grow deafer. One voice worked two years to capture a patient's eye which visibly went out of alignment. Many patients have heard loud and clear voices plotting their death for weeks on end, an apparently nerve-wracking experience. One patient saw a noose around his neck which tied to "I don't know what" while voices plotted his death by hanging. They threaten pain and can cause felt pain as a way of enforcing their power. The most devastating experience of all is to be shouted at constantly by dozens of voices. When this occurred the patient had to be sedated.
All of the lower order are irreligious or anti-religious. Some actively interfered with the patients' religious practices. Most considered them to be ordinary living people, though once they appeared as conventional devils and referred to themselves as demons. In a few instances they referred to themselves as from hell. Occasionally they would speak through the patient so that the patient's voice and speech would be directly those of the voices. Sometimes they acted through the patient.
Do these people commit crimes BECAUSE they are on these medications, or are they on these medications because they are already nutz?
The article says the medications dull their sense of reality further, and they cannot feel remorse any longer.
The Pharmaceutical companies and physcians who give these drugs to people should be locked up. Psychologist would rather give you a pill than talk to you.
“Why so many Americans today are ‘mentally ill’”
???
How could it be otherwise?
Later Read
Also fascinating....”The Varieties of Religious Experience” by William James
An oldie but goodie
Everyday in America, we are inundated with drug ads on TV , telling us who wonderful they are, that the pill will cure you, then at the end of the commercial, they are made to tell the side effects. The Brainwashing of America for money. Does anyone pay attention to the evils of presciption drugs???
Demon possession. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12)
Why are so many Americans so gullible, and trusting of physicians???
NO ONE takes a drug without it having some negative side effect, even if it helps the immediate problem. Thank God I do not have any mental illness.
There are people for whom these types of drugs do wonderful things. But there are others for whom the drugs were prescribed, and when things went wrong, no one noticed, or they failed to inform the doctor, or the doctor was stupid (or uncaring) enough to just prescribe more drugs.
Side effects of Paxil
Most common
Weight loss or gain (most often gain rather than loss)
Headache
Nausea
Dry mouth
Increased sweating
Drowsiness/Somnolence or Insomnia
Increased or decreased appetite
Constipation or diarrhea
Inability to achieve orgasm
Partial or complete loss of libido (sexual desire)
Erectile dysfunction
Tremor
Vertigo/Dizziness/Motion sickness
[edit] Less common
Check with your doctor if these continue or are bothersome.
Increased feelings of depression and anxiety (initially)
Apathy
Loss of empathy
Flattening of emotional response
Nocturnal salivation
Nocturnal bruxism (teeth grinding)
Pupil dilation
Asthenia or muscle weakness
Muscle ache
Pruritis
Rash
Nightmares or change in dreams
Change in sense of taste
[edit] Rare
See your doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
Myoclonus (involuntary muscle twitching)
Sodium depletion
Severe restlessness or akathisia
Uncharacteristic levels of aggression (especially in children and teens)
Uncharacteristic risk taking
[edit] Very rare but serious
Suicidal ideation and Suicide
Serotonin syndrome
Bipolar mania or hypomania
Schizophrenia (unverified)
Jaw, neck, and back muscle spasms
Fever, chills, sore throat, or flu-like symptoms
Yellowing of the skin or eyes (Jaundice)
Black, tarry stools (this can indicate upper GI bleeding)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paxil#Side_effects
An excellent point. The premise of this article is that evil pharmacteutical companies are over-prescribing drugs that make sane people psychotic. There may be some of that.
I think the exact opposite is more correct: a lot of behavior in some "irritating" or "hot-tempered" or "forgetful" people, for example, is explained away as "that's how he is" or "yeah her mom is the same way", etc., and in fact these are symptoms of organic mental illness that can be treated medicinally.
I personally know this to be the case in at least two people who had a whole list of seeminingly "normal" problems who were "going through a lot of things at the time". In fact they were about to crack -- one did -- and under medication have recovered from a more or less decades-long mental "fever", if you will.
or a Personal overwhelming problem that would cause you to go to a physciatrist who gladly gives you these precriptions
Sounds like your typical Code Pink meeting.
I know this is not the main point of the article, but why do people allow 12 year olds unfettered access to guns? This makes no sense even with a perfectly sane child, much less a child the grandparents already knew had problems.
The sanity of the grandparents (and parents and relatives in other similar stories) is called into question.
Even too much aspirin or tylenol has side effects. We live in a culture where everyone wants to be medicated , and get an easy fix to their problems.
Psychiatrists are the ones that tend to use pills. Psychologists are the ones who talk to you.
Tioga, that’s what I think. Demons/ Satan whispers those things. ‘Pharmakopia.’
“The premise of this article is that evil pharmacteutical companies are over-prescribing drugs that make sane people psychotic”
No. The article is about a loss of God in people’s lives
We got some counseling, and over three years or so as we worked out issues on both sides, the voice stopped. I asked the doctor what the heck it meant, and he just shrugged. You know, raised on TV movies, you expect some amazing insight, some brilliant fact that will make it all make sense, and it doesn't always work that way. Sometimes, it is just like RF interference from a computer...you deal with be real causes of the problem, and the symptoms go away.
In their defense, I'd rather give a pill than talk to MOST people.
Oh the Irony of it all!
I'm going to develop a prescription cure for this phenomenon.
Not only the Psychiatrist take the dope, but there is a higher incidence of drug abuse among Pharmacist.
Another time I was having headaches and after repeated trips to the dentist for a possible abcessed tooth and the doctor for possible sinus infections......they were treating me like I was mentally ill.......I went to a ENT doc who finally tooks some xrays, a CAT scan and samples of my mucous (unpleasant experience) and HE proved I had a bad sinus infection and began treatment of it.....I had to have surgery to remove diseased sinus tissue and open up a passage into my left sinus. Thank God I told the docs no way was I imagining this kind of pain and stood my ground. Took me close to a year to prove it and get help though. My poor family was sick of me being sick.
Carolyn
Because they are Moonbat Democrats.
How many times to Doctors create health problems to take care of, just so they can increase their clientele? How many women have had their uterus removed unnecessarily? ...
Patients should listen to their doctors but also be informed about what they doctor is doing?
Many Doctors prescribe drugs because people expect it. If they don’t, the patient feels cheated. Drugs suck and should be avoided where they can be. These “Paxil” type drugs are especially dangerous.
All these pills related to lack of serotonin.
Natural means out there to boost its production.
Heck, there are plenty of people who still have their Kerry/Edwards bumper stickers on their cars.
But seriously, what Pope was it that said something about one of the greatest ills to befall mankind in the 20th century was the lack of a “sense of sin”?
Side effects of Paxil
Most common
Weight loss or gain (most often gain rather than loss)
Headache
Nausea
Dry mouth
Increased sweating
Drowsiness/Somnolence or Insomnia
Increased or decreased appetite
Constipation or diarrhea
Inability to achieve orgasm
Partial or complete loss of libido (sexual desire)
Erectile dysfunction
Tremor
Vertigo/Dizziness/Motion sickness
In other words, Paxil turns you into this:
Isn't it easier to just post a pic? :O)
“Why are so many Americans so gullible, and trusting of physicians???”
More likely the person just wants a pill rather than engage in psychological counseling. And perhaps the insurance companies encourage it. I don’t know how the cost of pills stacks up against the cost of counseling.
My own personal amateur theory is that these pills probably unleash a host of unresolved feelings at one time. Depression isn’t always crying and moaning. Sometimes it is just a feeling of deadness or numbness, that one ought to care but can’t. Things that ought to make one happy, don’t. Things that ought to make one mad also don’t. If an antidepressant pill suddenly makes feelings more intense, then I can see how past incidents might accumulate to the point of explosion. I don’t excuse it but I can see how it might happen that years of resentments and anger coalesce to tempt one to drastic action.
I also firmly believe in demonic possession. It happens more than we like to think and it is sad that modern medicine discounts that possibility. God ought to be consulted as often as medical doctors.
I believe it is the meds.
Read this
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/casualties.htm
http://www.erichufschmid.net/Columbine/Columbine-Bollyn.html
They give out these drugs like candy and it is a shame.
They have an increase now in suicides of the elderly, seems they were depressed and docs gave them anti-depressants.
These drug companies are getting away with 2 much. They have people kill themselves in clinical studies.
These drugs do not work for everyone.
Everytime we hear of a mass murder, we hear, what is wrong. Well, check the drugs they were taking.
This is an excellent article.
I have studied these drugs for almost 4 years.
Have written Congress, but so many of these companies lobby Congress.
They give these pills for almost anything, hot flashes, quitting smoking, depression,sleep problems, you name it and it is wrong, oh so very wrong.
Merck made 4 billion last year on Effexor alone. This is only one drug.
We have to wake up Congress , but you know what they already know.
I'm going to develop a prescription cure for this phenomenon.
LOL. Are you Steven Wright?
Ding, ding, ding! I think you got it!
Paul Westerberg - Psychopharmacology
Feelin’ better than yesterday, and worse than tomorrow
It’s depressing for me to say I been dressing like Greta Garbo
Oh psychopharmacology works wonders, wonder will it work on me?
They been searching for a cat who matches that perscription
Sign up for a chat, they said we’ll cure your addiction
Well psychopharmacology works wonders, wonder will it work on
me?
Yeah psycho...
I need something to calm me down
I need something to keep me focused
Narcaleptic, paranoid, and borderline hopeless
ADD, PCP, F-U-*-*-E-D that’s me.
I’m feelin’ better than yesterday, and I’m havin’ none of that
They say all the world’s a stage, it’s more like a medicine
cabinet.
Psychopharamcology works wonders, wonder will it work
Psychopharmacology works wonders, wonder will it work
Psychopharmacology works wonders, wonder will it work on me?
(Psycho)
On me...
I have long thought that the reason Al Gore put on so much weight is because he was on some kind of Anti-depressant.
Most common Weight loss or gain (most often gain rather than loss)
Headache
Nausea
Dry mouth
Increased sweating
Drowsiness/Somnolence or Insomnia
Increased or decreased appetite
Constipation or diarrhea
Inability to achieve orgasm
Partial or complete loss of libido (sexual desire)
Erectile dysfunction
Tremor
Vertigo/Dizziness/Motion sickness
Remnants of Bicameralism.
We took her to every doctor we could, and it destroyed us financially.
Through all of it, I could tell the doctors were just grasping at straws in the dark.
The went from pill to pill, in every conceivable mix.
I quickly realized the "experts" didn't have a clue about the human mind, or the human soul.
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