By all means, speak your truth! Hearing stories like yours helps all of us to remember that the folks in the white coats are just as human and fallible and potentially corruptible as the rest of us. That makes us all more informed, more careful, and more questioning consumers. More power to ya'. Just because I also know stories that go the other way, where fear of medications is what caused the tragedy, doesn't mean that your story is not also extremely important.

I appreciate your sympathies, but the stress I initially was dealing with does not come under the category of illness. I think if you look in the DSM, you will find that stress is not a diagnosis. I was given the medication for stress and, of all things, high blood pressure (most psych meds raise blood pressure, and at the time I only took the doctor's advice. I had no idea that I had been improperly prescribed.

It was the prescribed medication that made me ill. After the medication was prescribed, everytime I complained of increasing depression and suicidal thoughts (called suicidal ideation), the doctor increased the dosage of my medication -- which caused panic attacks among other things. A mild acrophobia became so bad that I literally had to crawl up the library steps to the third floor in order to do research. If I had tried to stand, I felt I would have passed out.

This was not some undiagnosed bipolar disorder manifesting itself suddenly in me at the age of 48. This was not some teenaged onset of schizophrenia. It was the meds.

To paraphrase the author of the article "Psych Meds Drove Me Crazy." I am sorry people don't like me saying that, but it reflects exactly my experience.

Maybe those who follow such stories will recall that SSRIs, which had been prescribed to some children, were finally deemed to have a side effect of suicidal ideation. Later on, there began to be questions about these same drugs causing suicidal ideation in teenagers. Why does it seem so strange that they might also cause suicidal ideation in some adults?

Children, teenagers, adults = Human beings.

DonaQuixote puts it very well: the lesson here is not to be panicked or bullied into any decision with consequences as serious as the decision whether/how to medicate for something like this. Medical emergencies seem so urgent ('cause they are urgent, I guess) that it might not feel like you have the time to seek a second opinion or even sit and think about an option.

Meds can be a blessing or a curse and I believe the most disturbing facet of the current medical climate is the omnipresence of, uh, the evil forces of capitalism.

I'm done failing at "articulate" now. DonaQuixote put it better than I would anyway.

Just because you would like to question the veracity of the article itself -- which is by the way one person's story and not a piece of investigative reporting -- does not mean the headline is inaccurate. The author is writing as her son's mother. She makes no claims of medical expertise.

Headlines are supposed to reflect the story they head and not the sensitivities of all possible readers. As a matter of fact, it is Journalism 101 that the first function of a headline is to grab the reader's attention.

The headline is yellow journalism. The story is worthwhile even though the author does not make clear that it was taking the wrong medication that made her son suffer. Some questions I have:

1. Not clear whether the son's downturn was a direct result of medication or as the doctor suggests, something that happens to 15% of the autistic population and the psychotic medication made his symptoms worse.

2. Whether the son took another class of medication as part of his new therapy.

Medication can be a life-saver for people with the right kind of therapy. To write such a biased and rhetorically-charged headline gives people the false impression that all medication causes harm. Medication is not without side effect but they can be life-savers if properly administered under the care of a good doctor. I know, because it saved my life when I needed it most.

I know exactly how hard it is to advocate for yourself when you are ill and on medications, because I and my bi-polar partner have both had to do it, and I have watched countless others do it as well. You have my sympathies.

Was Bauer's son on psych meds? Yes, he was. He was on one type after another. Did he get better? No, he got worse. Is the behavior she describes crazy? As much as I dislike the word crazy rather than the words mentally ill, I have to admit that this characterization seems to accurately fit the behavior she describes, which went away when he was finally taken off all psych meds.

Hello? Something is wrong with some of the responses to the article. Some people seem so eager to rush to defend the good uses of psych meds. Some people seem strangely concerned about bipolar people and them going off their psych meds under the influence of the headline. Bauer's son is not bipolar. He is autistic.

Frankly, I think there is a mental health problem going on in the responses. It is called brainwashing. So many people are so programed to say get thee to a counselor, a psychologist, a psychiatrist for every painful mental circumstance that I am sometimes suprised that there are any unmedicated worried, blue, stressed, or frustrated people still left in America. I am suprised teenagers are still allowed to have a little adolescent angst. I am surprised that everyone who suffers the loss of a loved one does not become a legal junkie courtesy of those well-dressed, perk-giving drug pushers and Big Pharma.

My own sorry story started in grad school. I took 18 hours of English two semesters in a row. I am a slow reader. I was determined to maintain a 3.8 GPA. Was I stressed? You betcha. I was prescribed Paxil for my stress. The rest of the story is a really horrifying one similar to Bauer's about her son.

I am not one bit Autistic. However, so eager were my caregivers to keep me on drugs that I spend the next seven years in an utter nightmare.

Before Paxil, I never had serious suicidal thoughts.

Before Paxil, I never had a panic attack.

Before Paxil, I never had a PTSD-type flashback.

Before Paxil, the damn floor never moved.

Before Paxil, I never thought seriously of actually laying out a plan to hurt others.

Before Paxil, my Seasonal Affective Disorder was manageable.

Before Paxil, I was not just a good mother, I was an exemplary parent.

Before Paxil, although stressed, I got my work done.

Before Paxil, I never expected to be homeless.

Before Paxil, I was sane.

Someone in this thread said that one should be informed and advocate for oneself. You have no idea how hard that is to do when you have some sort of odd drug-induced despair and ennui.

The first time I tried to get off of Paxil, I had a complete breakdown. This is because I did not know one must taper off SSRIs very slowly. The second time, after serious physical side effects landed me in the hospital, I began to taper off all psychological, mood altering drugs. It took me six months to get clean. It took me another year to feel human.

I am now stable, psych med free, and so glad to still be alive. How did I make it? I read a book critical of SSRIs. I cannot even remember the name of it because I was in such a fog, but I will be eternally grateful to the author.

I have a life now. The downward spiral ended. I am well now. However, no one can give me back those seven years. Furthermore, my daughter, who I have always loved so dearly was harmed by my circumstances. Who can take away that guilt?