After spending a great deal of time in hospitals, residential facilities, and homeless shelters (where he lived for nearly a year), Hall began to believe that so-called "expert authorities" had failed him and started his own investigating, "I started judging my options more carefully." That process led Hall to co-found, along with Oryx Cohen, the Freedom Center, a support community in Western Massachusetts that brings together people asking similar questions. From all of this came the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs .
For Hall, "This is a guide I wish I had when I was taking psychiatric drugs. Prozac helped me for a while, then made me manic and suicidal. I was sick for days after coming off Zoloft, with counselors telling me I was faking it. Nurses who drew blood samples for my lithium levels never explained it was to check for drug toxicity, and I was told the Navane and other antipsychotics I took to calm my wild mental states were necessary because of faulty brain chemistry." Hall used many different psychiatric drugs over several years but, he tells us, "the medical professionals who prescribed them never made me feel empowered or informed. They didn't explain how the drugs work, honestly discuss the risks involved, offer alternatives, or help me withdraw when I wanted to stop taking them." Hall wrote this guide because, "Information I needed was missing, incomplete, or inaccurate."
"Making harm reduction decisions," says Hall, "means looking honestly at all sides of the equation: how drugs might help a life that feels out of control, how risky those same drugs might be, and the role of options and alternatives. Any decisions involve a process of experimentation and learning, including learning from your own mistakes and changing your goals along the way."
Below are titles of several of the short chapters offered in the Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs:
Why Do People Find Psychiatric Drugs Helpful?
How Do Psychiatric Drugs Work?
Do Psychiatric Drugs Correct Your Chemistry?
Who's To Blame? Yourself? Your Biology? Neither?
How Do Psychiatric Drugs Affect the Brain?
Facts You May Not Know About Psychiatric Drugs
Health Risks of Psychiatric Drugs
How Withdrawal Affects Your Brain and Body
Why Do People Want To Stop Using Psychiatric Drugs?
How Difficult Is Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs?
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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