Laura Delano

The book is called Anatomy of an Epidemic, and it looks at the long-term evidence base for psychiatric drugs and makes a compelling case that if you actually look at outcomes, they're much poorer in people who stay on these drugs long-term. And that was... what really jolted me awake. And there I was on five drugs and my life had fallen apart over the previous decade.

The book is called Anatomy of an Epidemic, and it looks at the long-term evidence base for psychiatric drugs and makes a compelling case that if you actually look at outcomes, they're much poorer in people who stay on these drugs long-term. And that was... what really jolted me awake. And there I was on five drugs and my life had fallen apart over the previous decade.

I was a total, I was totally dependent on my family, totally disabled, couldn't work, had no friends, was just in crisis after crisis. And that book is what helped me step back and say like, what if it's not treatment resistant mental illness? What if it's the treatment? And that set me on the path that I've been on ever since. Yeah.

I was a total, I was totally dependent on my family, totally disabled, couldn't work, had no friends, was just in crisis after crisis. And that book is what helped me step back and say like, what if it's not treatment resistant mental illness? What if it's the treatment? And that set me on the path that I've been on ever since. Yeah.

Well, maybe I could quickly kind of walk your listeners through how I got myself off of these drugs and which led me to the work that I do. And just to set the stage out the gates, the issue of tapering off of psychiatric drugs is a hugely important one. And I think right now, especially as more and more people in our current cultural climate are beginning to step back and question

Well, maybe I could quickly kind of walk your listeners through how I got myself off of these drugs and which led me to the work that I do. And just to set the stage out the gates, the issue of tapering off of psychiatric drugs is a hugely important one. And I think right now, especially as more and more people in our current cultural climate are beginning to step back and question

their relationship to pharmaceuticals. By my account, there's somewhere between 65 and 70 million Americans on psychiatric drugs. So the issue we have here is that Getting on these drugs is very easy, but getting off them can be very hard.

their relationship to pharmaceuticals. By my account, there's somewhere between 65 and 70 million Americans on psychiatric drugs. So the issue we have here is that Getting on these drugs is very easy, but getting off them can be very hard.

And there are very few visible places where you can turn in our society and certainly within the mental health system itself to actually get good, safe, reliable information about how to taper off these drugs. And so when I decided in 2010, in my late 20s,

And there are very few visible places where you can turn in our society and certainly within the mental health system itself to actually get good, safe, reliable information about how to taper off these drugs. And so when I decided in 2010, in my late 20s,

to come off the five meds I was on, I had no idea that because I'd been on these drugs for so long, my central nervous system was completely dependent on them. No one had told me that. It had never occurred to me to educate myself. And so I also didn't know, therefore, that stopping these drugs too quickly

to come off the five meds I was on, I had no idea that because I'd been on these drugs for so long, my central nervous system was completely dependent on them. No one had told me that. It had never occurred to me to educate myself. And so I also didn't know, therefore, that stopping these drugs too quickly

would cause debilitating withdrawal symptoms so i came off five drugs way too fast in about half a year which is basically cold turkey and had a brutal time spent the first year you know it was a big success if i took a shower i was just i was just a mess and i would say the first few years off the drugs, you know, it, it really took that long.

would cause debilitating withdrawal symptoms so i came off five drugs way too fast in about half a year which is basically cold turkey and had a brutal time spent the first year you know it was a big success if i took a shower i was just i was just a mess and i would say the first few years off the drugs, you know, it, it really took that long.

It took years for my, my body to recover from what I call pharmaceutical trauma, because these are potent psychoactive chemicals. And when, when, you know, they've been altering your body for decades, many, many years, it takes a lot to heal from them. So I just want to say that out the gates that it's a really serious decision to make.

It took years for my, my body to recover from what I call pharmaceutical trauma, because these are potent psychoactive chemicals. And when, when, you know, they've been altering your body for decades, many, many years, it takes a lot to heal from them. So I just want to say that out the gates that it's a really serious decision to make.

It's dangerous to start a psychiatric drug and it's dangerous to come off one. And what I ended up discovering a few months, year, a year in was that the people who knew the most about how to safely taper off of these drugs were not actually doctors. They were lay people. They were people who had to have had to figure it out for themselves because they had no support

It's dangerous to start a psychiatric drug and it's dangerous to come off one. And what I ended up discovering a few months, year, a year in was that the people who knew the most about how to safely taper off of these drugs were not actually doctors. They were lay people. They were people who had to have had to figure it out for themselves because they had no support

from the mental health system itself. And so I began to connect with other people who were trying to come off these drugs. I was writing online about my experiences leaving behind the mental health system. And so people were finding me through my blog. And I just, I realized that my story is a much bigger story. What happened to me is not unique to me.

from the mental health system itself. And so I began to connect with other people who were trying to come off these drugs. I was writing online about my experiences leaving behind the mental health system. And so people were finding me through my blog. And I just, I realized that my story is a much bigger story. What happened to me is not unique to me.