Laura Delano

This is happening at scale to so many people around the world who start psych meds for all kinds of reasons and And then years later, when they want to come off of them, have a hell of a time. And so I eventually started a nonprofit organization called Intercompass Initiative that now my husband Cooper runs. And our mission is we're not anti-medication. We're not anti-psychiatry.

This is happening at scale to so many people around the world who start psych meds for all kinds of reasons and And then years later, when they want to come off of them, have a hell of a time. And so I eventually started a nonprofit organization called Intercompass Initiative that now my husband Cooper runs. And our mission is we're not anti-medication. We're not anti-psychiatry.

We're about helping people get good information about the drugs that they take and about how to safely taper off of them. And I think to me, the most important part of what we do is around helping people understand kind of take back the power and the ability to help themselves and one another in a mutual aid capacity.

We're about helping people get good information about the drugs that they take and about how to safely taper off of them. And I think to me, the most important part of what we do is around helping people understand kind of take back the power and the ability to help themselves and one another in a mutual aid capacity.

Because I know for me, as someone who grew up in the mental health system, I believed for so many years that the only kind of valid help there was came from a professional. And there are some great therapists out there. Some of my closest friends are psychiatrists. I'm not bashing them, but they've Professionalized help has such a monopoly in our culture.

Because I know for me, as someone who grew up in the mental health system, I believed for so many years that the only kind of valid help there was came from a professional. And there are some great therapists out there. Some of my closest friends are psychiatrists. I'm not bashing them, but they've Professionalized help has such a monopoly in our culture.

And I think a lot of us have realized that going through difficulties yourself, taking these drugs yourself and coming off of them actually gives you a different kind of expertise that can be really helpful to other people. So much of what we do is about helping people help each other.

And I think a lot of us have realized that going through difficulties yourself, taking these drugs yourself and coming off of them actually gives you a different kind of expertise that can be really helpful to other people. So much of what we do is about helping people help each other.

Yeah, Moniz won a Nobel Prize.

Yeah, Moniz won a Nobel Prize.

Yeah, and I think one important point to make here is that because people are often brought off way too fast without realizing it, and the doctors don't realize they're tapering people too fast either, when people have a hard time after they've come off, they get told, oh, you're having a relapse of your illness because, oh, we tapered you slowly. We tapered you over a few months. Yeah.

Yeah, and I think one important point to make here is that because people are often brought off way too fast without realizing it, and the doctors don't realize they're tapering people too fast either, when people have a hard time after they've come off, they get told, oh, you're having a relapse of your illness because, oh, we tapered you slowly. We tapered you over a few months. Yeah.

A few months is actually very fast. And so people will end up staying on these drugs long-term because every time they think they're coming off slowly, they feel horrible. And then everyone tells them, see, this is why you need to be on them. And that's where public education is so important.

A few months is actually very fast. And so people will end up staying on these drugs long-term because every time they think they're coming off slowly, they feel horrible. And then everyone tells them, see, this is why you need to be on them. And that's where public education is so important.

Well, I think, I mean, when I look at my own experience, I see that all the struggles I was going through were actually very meaningful responses to what was happening in my life, around me, in the culture of the town I grew up in. When I eventually came to believe that my struggles were symptoms of an illness, I cut off the ability for my suffering to mean anything else.

Well, I think, I mean, when I look at my own experience, I see that all the struggles I was going through were actually very meaningful responses to what was happening in my life, around me, in the culture of the town I grew up in. When I eventually came to believe that my struggles were symptoms of an illness, I cut off the ability for my suffering to mean anything else.

I stripped it of context. I depoliticized it. I basically came to see it as these meaningless symptoms of faulty pathology. And so when you think about how many people are... engaged with the mental health system today in our society, again, just people on psychiatric drugs alone, it's almost one in four adults and something like one in 10 kids.

I stripped it of context. I depoliticized it. I basically came to see it as these meaningless symptoms of faulty pathology. And so when you think about how many people are... engaged with the mental health system today in our society, again, just people on psychiatric drugs alone, it's almost one in four adults and something like one in 10 kids.

And you think about how many of them are also like me, believing that their struggles are symptoms of an illness instead of responses to their lives. Maybe it's related to nutrition and diet. Maybe it's related to bad things that have happened to you. Maybe it's related to bullying or a meaningless job or loss of social connections. There's so many reasons why people have

And you think about how many of them are also like me, believing that their struggles are symptoms of an illness instead of responses to their lives. Maybe it's related to nutrition and diet. Maybe it's related to bad things that have happened to you. Maybe it's related to bullying or a meaningless job or loss of social connections. There's so many reasons why people have