I used to think the idea of antipsychotic medicine sounded horrifying.
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I used to think the idea of antipsychotic medicine sounded horrifying. I could scarecly imagine anything worse. I've never taken an antipsychotic: I have been taking antidepressants since I was five years old.
Eventually, I realized that I was afraid of antipsychotics for the same reason I was afraid of testosterone. Antipsychotics are not bad: they just aren't for me. What's bad is
a)Forcing people who don't want to antipsychotics or testosterone to take them, and
b)Denying antipsychotics or testosterone to people who do want them. -
@183231bcb Yeah. I was initially pretty scared about antipsychotics, when I was first diagnosed with bipolar. And just because a person experiences mania or psychosis doesn't mean they have to be on antipsychotics. There's some major drawbacks to the medications, although the modern atypicals are much easier for most to handle vs the more classic antipsychotics. I'm likely going to develop diabetes from my AAP, with no family history of it whatsoever on either side of my family tree.
But antipsychotics have seriously helped me too, multiple times, and currently more continuously although I also have another one I take as needed. They've helped me to feel like I have some degree of control over what can at times feel like uncontrollable mental illness. I had some terrible side effects when I started my current one, but those went away, and I'm so much more stable since being on it. But nobody, absolutely nobody, should be forced to take them. Ever.