Soul Survivor

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 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlEiNmnuELc

Ex-Nun Vs. Psychiatry  

On leaving the convent after seven years in 1972, Mary had met and married her husband Jim by 1974. Within a further two years, she found herself in Sarsfield Court Psychiatric Hospital, two days after the birth of her daughter. Heavily medicated and subjected to many sessions of electro-convulsive therapy, it was the beginning of a nightmare that saw her admitted to a further three psychiatric hospitals – the GF wing of Cork University Hospital, St. Anne’s (now Carrigmor) in Cork and St.Patrick’s in Dublin.

Mary was branded a ’manic-depressive’ and put on a cocktail of drugs, including lithium for the next 18 years. Supposedly ‘well’ and out of hospital, in reality she was reduced to a piece of psychiatric flotsam – an overweight, stiff-limbed, kidney-damaged, drooling, tremor-ridden, mind-numbed, middle-aged woman.

Then in 1993, a completely fortuitous event marked a turning point in her life. With the help of people like Dr. Peter Breggin and Dr. Terry Lynch, of organisations like The Cork Advocacy Network and MindFreedom, she began to challenge the orthodox thinking of the Psychiatric Establishment and
began her brave, slow, scary but ultimately empowering journey of liberation from its clutches.

Extract from Soul Survivor:

the years. Gradually, my mind and spirit returned and I was able to think and feel

again. But after all the years of being abused with the drugs, my body was in terrible

shape. I began to walk a little every day and as my fitness improved, I increased the

distance. It was difficult to motivate myself at the beginning but the more I

persevered, the easier it became. At the time, I also began to attend a practical

philosophy course where I discovered the importance of ‘living in the now’. I began

to go to the swimming pool and take part in aquarobic classes under the guidance of

the inspirational Valerie. With her help, I learned how to use my whole body in the

water and to love the sensation of it. I was really learning how to relax for the first

time in my life and particularly re-discovered my sense of touch, a primary sense we

all have at birth when we snuggle up to our mother’s breast. I became more

conscious too of my breathing. I realised that this was shallow which, in turn, can

lead to fear and tension. Every day in the steam room, I worked on a deep breathing

technique and it greatly helped me to eliminate a catarrh problem I had suffered from

because of the abuse of my body over the years. It was a great feeling to know that I

had achieved this myself, that I was in control over my own body. Years of

psychiatric abuse had only led me to being more and more dis-empowered. All

the negatives were beginning to turn into positives and I was discovering talents

I never knew I possessed. I wanted to tell the whole world about the joys of my new

life. Jim, Claire and Sheena began to take an interest in swimming and exercise

again and many of my friends came along to join me in the pool from time to time.

When I got to know Greg White, the psycotherapist from West Cork, we had lots of

interesting conversations. He too had discovered the importance of breathing

exercises and ‘living in the now’ in his own personal growth. He understood exactly

my experience. His clear insights into life increased and enriched mine and mine his, I

hope!

Another milestone in my recovery was knowledge. It had been ignorance that had

led me into the horrific world of psychiatry and now knowledge was leading me out.

I began to read. Some of the books that enlightened me were:

“Toxic Psychiatry” by Peter Breggin

“Beyond Prozac” by Terry Lynch

“Users and Abusers of Psychiatry” by Lucy Johnson

“Beyond Fear” by Dorothy Rowe

“Insanity” by Thomas Szasz

“Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs” by Peter Lehmann

“Mad in America” by Robert Whitaker

“Choice Theory” by William Glasser

“They Say You’re Crazy” by Paula Caplan

“Depression – an Emotion not a Disease” by Michael Corry and Aine Tubridy

The title of this last book is excellent. It was because I was convinced by the so-

called experts that I had a disease – a chemical imbalance in my brain – that I got

into such trouble and lost twenty years of my life but when I discovered it was an

emotion based on fear, I began my recovery. When I was deep in the ‘medical

model’, I remember with pain my psychiatrist advising Jim to treat me “as an invalid”

not realising that he was giving me a disability. I was becoming more and more

dependent because of him and his ‘treatment’. He was turning Jim into my carer,

not my supporter. Only when I was drug free did I slowly began to regain my

independence. Jim, the girls and my friends were now my supporters and I received

great encouragement from them all by word of mouth and texts on my mobile phone.

‘Great stuff’ was a favourite of Terry Lynch and I really appreciated all the

messages I received from people like Greg White, Joan Hamilton, Lydia Sapouna,

Orla O’Farrell, Orla O’Donovan and Nuria O’Mahony. Pat O’Callaghan, and

Brendan O’Callaghan were two other service providers who helped me greatly.

Most of all, I was supported by my fellow survivors.