Why Ordinary People Should Not Seek Or Succumb To A Mental Health Diagnosis

The DSM Manual is the so called bible for diagnosing mental health disorders. Over the past forty years, the diagnostic manual has grown exponentially. Now every difficulty in life has a mental health disorder to go with it. I am not a doctor, or a mental health counsellor. But I did work in mental health for several years, and observed people for hours on end (twelve hour shifts) who were chronically mentally ill. 

My opinions are based on experience, and observations over many years, and are only intended as food for thought, or to point people to doing more research on medications commonly prescribed. It is not medical advice, but rather to provide some insight into an alternative viewpoint of self responsibility, that may not be readily accepted by mainstream healthcare, especially those in psychiatry.

If I was still working as an RN, I would not have the freedom to describe, or explain some of the things I have learned over the years. Since I am out of the profession (thankfully), I am free to write about my own experiences and observations. Some of the most damaging and addictive drugs are opiates, along with a multitude of other psychoactive medications.

The point to be made is that drugs are killing people. It is a well known fact. Encouraging people to seek a mental health diagnosis for every negative feeling, or difficult situation, is opening the door for more drug addiction, under the pretence of helping people. There seems to be a promotion of more and more mental health disorders. Human beings have always had struggles, anxieties, situational depression, losses, grief, divorces, and many other hurdles to overcome. Difficulties in life can be overcome without being labelled as being mentally ill, and drugged into oblivion. 

There are natural ways to increase serotonin. There are natural ways to increase dopamine. Prescription drugs can be just as dangerous as street drugs. More and more, the lines are blurred between the two when it comes to psychoactive medications. My only intention is to encourage people to look at different options, and not to blindly trust the system. Also do not be pushed or coerced into accepting a diagnosis or drugs, if you are a functioning, cognitively intact person. Trust your mind, your research, and your intuition. 

I also worked in ER departments, and did a fair bit of break relief in hospital psych units over the years. It gave me an idea on the scope of the acute care components of those who presented with mental health disorders. I also worked a three or four year stint in geriatric psychiatry, which is different because it involves more physical disorders, organic brain disorders, and damage to the brain due to strokes. 

When it comes to strokes, the person usually does not have a psychiatric disorder, but rather a physical impairment. It often causes paralysis on one side of the body, and also often causes speech impairment, or a difficulty finding words. Many people make a full or partial recovery following a stroke. The symptoms can vary widely though, as it depends on the part of the brain affected.

Some people do end up having mental health issues, labile moods, and erratic behaviours following a stroke, if there is damage to certain parts or the brain involving emotions and cognitive function. Strokes however, are physiological in cause, and have no relationship to prior mental health issues, as they are related to the circulatory system, as opposed to chronic anxiety, depression, or thought disorders. In addition, CT scans will show which area of the brain is affected, whereas with mental illness, if there is no physical cause, there is also no diagnostic method to determine what has happened. 

There may be advances in mental health imaging that I am not aware of, but for the most part, as far as I know, mental health has always been diagnosed based on feelings, behaviours, and various other symptoms like sleep disorders, appetite, inability to concentrate, confusion, intrusive thoughts etc. All people who have psychiatric disturbances should have a physical examination to determine if there is a physical cause for the disruptions in mood. Even fluctuations in blood sugar can cause emotional upheavals. Also, many medications that are prescribed for physical ailments can influence mood, sleep and appetite. A careful evaluation of onset, and symptoms help to identify the cause. 

When reading the charts of those who were institutionalized for mental illness, one common denominator was a prior history of frequent admissions throughout their lives. For instance, if a person had a “nervous breakdown” at age forty, and were admitted to hospital, they were at risk for more admissions in the future. Later on they might be admitted for severe depression a few times. It  appeared, the more short term acute admissions, the more likely they were to be admitted long term at some point. And the more likely they were to end up in LTC later in life. One thing I did notice, time and time again in LTC, is that the fewer drugs a person was on, the more cognitively intact they were. 

Those who took a Vit D tablet a day or a baby aspirin and nothing else, were more likely to be calm, aware, and alert even if they were a hundred years old. Those who were on multiple medications, especially benzodiazepines, anti psychotics, anti depressants, etc. were much more likely to be out of their minds. It is only an observation, not a formal research study. It is proven however, that as people age, there is less tolerance for many medications. The Beers list is a good reference manual for those who want to be sure to avoid medications that are poorly tolerated by the elderly. It is quite a long list with significant amount of information:

https://www.guidelinecentral.com/guideline/340784/

LTC is full of elderly people who fall into one of two categories. There are those who are physically disabled, and there are those who have dementia, or mental health disorders. Some of them are disabled, and also have mental health deterioration. But for the most part, the extended care patients had mobility problems, often with intact and alert minds, while the dementia patients were often very active, but had severe memory or psychiatric impairments. It really served to highlight how important it is to try to maintain both mobility, and cognition as we age.

In the case of younger people, psychosis as a result of schizophrenia seemed to be most prevalent in young men between the ages of 19-23 or so. Otherwise, many of the mental health disorders in young people were secondary to drug and alcohol toxicity, or sometimes impulsive patterns of behaviour associated with personality disorders. 

One thing that did seem apparent, was the more admissions, and the more drugs, the more likely the person would be to end up in a locked unit, or admitted for the long term. Therefore to stay out of such a situation, it is best to avoid ending up in the hospital repeatedly over mental health issues. That means finding ways to take care of ourselves, and not become a burden to others. Often the most determined people to find help, or to get a family member admitted, to do because they are at wit’s end, and can no longer manage the person’s disruptive behaviours or care. We are best to take care of ourselves as long as we possibly can. 

There are many pitfalls and snares to fall into as we navigate our lives. As much as we can get into an accident and become physically injured, we can also accidentally harm our minds, with toxic drugs, and by getting lured into the system.

Once the system sucks you in, it may never spit you back out again. The idea is to have a healthy dose of wariness, when it comes to the attempts to pitch us into the pit in the first place. The devil attacks our minds and spirits, more than anything else. It’s not to say the devil is the cause of mental illness, just that we have to protect our minds, as well as our bodies. Deception, and attacks upon our emotions, our minds, our will, and our better judgement; as well as attempts to destabilize us, are things to stand against, regardless of where they come from. 

In the absence of a medical condition that affects the brain such as a stroke, a person with no prior history of psychiatric admissions, is far less likely to have a breakdown later in life. It’s not to discount the fact we all have struggles, or may need care, but it’s the repeated admissions, and excessive need for medications, that seem to contribute to long term admissions, or a diagnosis of chronic mental illness.

In addition to observing people who were mentally ill and institutionalized, I also gave them the countless pills that were ordered for their mental illnesses. Therefore, I witnessed first hand the behaviours within the institution, as well as the side effects from the pills.

I don’t dispute that some people do need to be hospitalized, or in an institution. However, I also believe the vast majority of people who do not need to be institutionalized, can find ways to overcome their depression and anxiety without falling victim to the harm done by psychotropic medications. There is still very real, and ongoing stigma, associated with not being in full control of one’s faculties. It also increases our vulnerability a great deal, to turn our decision making over to an industry, whose sole motive is to push drugs, as the solution for mental health struggles. 

If a person is not really sick, or does not appear to be mentally ill, a course of potent psychotropic medications will make them sick. The reason for this is that the side effects are so severe, they cause movement disorders, drooling, twitches, extreme weight gain, and various other things. They may also increase thought disorders and confusion. Many of them cause dissociative reactions, and suicidal or homicidal ideation that the person did not have to begin with.

Given the fact they are now introducing ketamine and hallucinogenics into the mix of potentially damaging psychiatric drugs, it is even more reason to stay away from the insanity of it all. If a person was not psychotic to begin with, they will be offered to be put into a drug induced psychosis to help them along.

Furthermore, any person who goes to a psychiatrist will get diagnosed with some kind of mental health disorder. There is a very strong incentive within the industry to make a diagnosis. The reason for this, is because they will also immediately prescribe potent drugs. It does not matter if you tell a psychiatrist that you do not want medications. It does not matter if you tell him you are eating well, sleeping well, get fresh air and exercise, have goals, and believe you have much to look forward to. He will simply claim you are delusional, for thinking like a normal person. Seriously.

Delusions simply mean believing what is false. A person who gives a rational account of their issues, family background, and history to a psychiatrist, deserves to be heard, not face a rush to judgement. After all, as far as delusions are concerned, there is no diagnostic criteria involved, other than establishing the truth. Their role is to listen and validate the veracity of the claims.

If a psychiatrist within minutes, claims a person is delusional, without bothering to fact check the background or history, especially when it comes to factual, documented, provable issues – then he is making an unfounded, biased misdiagnosis, and is not worth his salt. A psychiatrist who makes such brazen errors in judgement, should be held accountable the same as any other professional in health care.

There is no credibility with many psychiatrists. They are all over the map when it comes to competency. Their main goal is to push drugs, so steer clear of them if you want to stay sane. As a profession, they have a higher incidence of mental health disorders, than there is in the general population. In addition, they may not have processed the meaning of ethics, or be too arrogant to have any regard for ethics and truth. 

Just look at the number of psychiatrists who will claim a repeat offender is no longer a risk to society? There are so many cases where a violent criminal has a psychiatric assessment, and is set free. Often they will reoffend in no time flat. In many cases, they commit crimes after being released, that were more horrific than the original crime. 

How about the psychiatrist who assessed Vincent Li, after he beheaded a person on a greyhound bus in Winnipeg? Li then stayed inside the bus for hours, parading around waving the person’s head, in front of horrified onlookers. Initially the police were too afraid to enter the bus. The traumatized onlookers were the people who had been on the bus, and fled the scene.

That man had an insanity defence, since it was decided he did not know what he was doing. Shortly after that, a psychiatrist claimed he was not a threat to society, so he was released. I wish that psychiatrist could be forced to sit beside the guy on a sixteen hour bus trip. They seem to have no clue, when it comes to the risk involved for innocent people. It makes you question their judgement in general, when it comes to making any assessments at all. 

Psychiatrists, paradoxically seem to be more inclined to call a sane person insane, and a person who is criminally and dangerously insane, sane. So much for trusting their knowledge and abilities. How many court cases do they screw up when they are expert witnesses? No wonder so many people call psychiatry a field of warped pseudo-science.

The only criteria they use is their own skewed judgement. Every other diagnosis in health care involves diagnostic tests such as blood work, ultrasound, X-Rays, ECG’s, CT scans, etc. But in psychiatry, they diagnose and drug people, without using any evidence or diagnostic tools at all. They just use their trusty pharmaceutical inspired DSM manual. They can be batting zero, but they still think they are hitting home runs. There is no way to refute them, because there is no real criteria. 

One thing for certain is that all people who go to a psychiatrist, and are then prescribed potent psychoactive medications, should first have a full physical exam before being started on treatment. They may have blood glucose issues, or trans ischemic attacks, or hypothyroidism, or cardiac problems etc., that may contradict certain medications. Psychiatrists have no business treating mental health, without treating the whole person. If the patient is on medications for medical reasons, the psychiatrist cannot possibly know all the potential drug interactions he may be subjecting them to. There needs to be some solid baseline work done, as well as a detailed medical history taken.

Yet most psychiatrists don’t bother with, care about, or even know much about medical conditions. If a psych patient ends up in hospital for any reason, they are at the mercy of the system more than ever, because no one in the hospital knows what they were like before they were diagnosed, drugged, and labelled as mentally ill. There is a stigma associated with it, no matter how much the media, or whoever else tries to sugar coat it. 

Furthermore, they have no business ordering a voluntary patient to “see me in two weeks”. Maybe the person does not want to see them. Maybe they do not trust the psychiatrist. Maybe they question why he would order a potent medication that can exacerbate cardiac arrhythmias, without even asking them about their medical history.

All the psychiatrists seem to want to do, is spend five or ten minutes with a patient, pull a diagnosis out of their hat, and then put them on dangerous drugs. They order the person to return in two weeks so they can up the medication, or add more medication, if the person complains of side effects. It’s a sketchy profession in many ways, with poor controls, especially from the perspective of holistic treatment. If you went and saw three different psychiatrists, you would probably get diagnosed with three different disorders at least.

Once they get a person reeled in, they seem to love to play with the medications and dosages, making adjustments, adding to, or changing medications like they are Frankenstein, or some kind of mad scientist. Gee, let’s see what this drug will do? Let’s up the dosage. Let’s add some anticholinergics for the side effects. Let’s tweak the anti anxiety meds, and add a sleeping pill. Before long, the person is twitchy, confused, zombie like, sleeping all day etc. 

I can honestly say that over the years I worked with many doctors, including many psychiatrists. I never met a single psychiatrist who was not strange and quirky. Some of them were nicer than others, but they all had very odd ideas, and mannerisms. 

In mental health, I used to have to accompany, and sit through the patient interviews with the psychiatrist. I remember one psychiatrist who had to have the clock on the wall placed in a certain location. If it was a tiny bit crooked, or even if it wasn’t crooked, he thought it was. He literally could not stand the position of the clock, or concentrate, if it was not quite right. He had clock OCD. He was always far more focused on the clock, than he was on anything else, and would fidget until he couldn’t take it anymore, and then get up and adjust it. A lot of the time the clock was not even off kilter. I have a pretty good eye for symmetry, and wondered what was wrong with him. He just thought it was crooked. I remember thinking, “Gee, which one is the psych patient here.”

If you delve into the reasoning behind all the newfound mental health disorders, you will find this rapid growth is fuelled and funded by the pharmaceutical companies. The goal is to diagnose, and drug people, for everything from mild situational depression, to unresolved family conflicts, to anxiety over all the covid turmoil that was inflicted on people in recent years. Any reason is a good reason, to claim someone is mentally ill.

By all means, some people do need medications and psychiatric evaluations. However the laws do protect Canadians from forced psychiatric evaluations. No one can, or should be forced into a psychiatric evaluation without a court order. That means they have to have been in trouble with the law, and there will be plenty of documented evidence to support the need for a psychiatric evaluation. Even in the case of criminal charges, often psychiatric evaluations are over ruled. 

In some cases, an employer can make the request for a psychiatric evaluation, if there is enough proof and documentation to support the need for a such an evaluation. The person has to be a recognized threat to the safety within the organization. Or it can be requested to support insurance claims, stress leave, or sick time. But this is only done as a condition of employment. If a person quits their job or is fired, there is no further mandatory requirement following termination, unless the person is reported to law enforcement, and the behaviour is so erratic, it poses a threat to the wider community.

Legally, there can be no legitimate accusation toward another person of being mentally ill. By law, we are all considered to be sane and mentally competent, unless it is proven otherwise. For those who repeatedly accuse a person of being mentally ill, without supporting evidence, they are engaging in false accusations, slander and defamation. False accusations are often used when there is family conflict, divorce, or a reason for a more powerful individual to discredit a person, in order to protect themselves. Sometimes, it is based on a projection of one person’s mental health disorder onto another. The one doing the projecting, is the one who has the most power. 

During times when governments, and large corporations become unstable, and there is a rise in fascism, there is also a rise in the attempt to claim people are mentally ill. There are many examples of this throughout history, especially during the second world war. Prior to that, Stalin and Mussolini were well known for using the field of psychiatry to imprison, drug and murder people.

In addition, when a person with a mental health disorder goes missing, the first thing that comes up as a reason, is the claim they had a mental health disorder, or were depressed.  It makes it much easier to simply allow people to vanish, giving a preconceived reason, with less incentive to investigate.

As far as diagnosing personality disorders, the key thing about personality disorders, is that they are intrinsic to the individual’s basic personality. They will be evident from early childhood onward, and will become increasingly obvious when the person enters their teens. The reason it is so difficult to treat personality disorders, is because they are a part of the person’s internal psychological make up.

If a person goes to a mental health counsellor for any reason, the mental health counsellor’s role is to support the client. He/she is obligated to contact authorities if, and only if the person has confessed to a crime, or poses a threat of violence to themselves or others.

Otherwise, the mental health counsellor has no right to coerce a voluntary patient or client in any way, with regards to their mental health, or their choices in how to manage their mental health. An attempt to force a diagnosis, or a treatment plan against the will of the client, is unethical and unlawful.

A mental health counsellor is not qualified to even make a diagnosis. Nor does he/she have the authority to force or suggest a psych diagnosis. It is extremely unethical, and unlawful to use the power of one’s profession to bully voluntary clients into a diagnosis or treatment plan.

Such practices are wide open to abuses of power, and the taking of bribes etc. An unethical mental health counsellor who abuses power over vulnerable people, is not fit to practice in a profession where people are entrusting them to provide empathy and assistance. They are expected to have an unbiased point of view, offer assistance to identify and explore underlying issues, such as family conflicts; and to provide genuine help with struggles the client may be trying to deal with. The counsellor must be transparent, and without an ulterior motive or agenda. All professionals have an obligation to disclose any conflict of interest they may have.

If they do have an ulterior motive, and are prone to unethical attitudes and coercion, they should not be practicing in the field of mental health. Unfortunately, it is a field that is poorly regulated, and has many unqualified and unethical practitioners. The first sign to be wary of, is if the counsellor is pushing an agenda that makes you uncomfortable, or is against your will. Bullying has no place in a therapeutic environment. If so, the best course of action is to get up and walk out.

If they are seriously using their power and position to bully you into a preconceived outcome, they should be reported to the appropriate association. Many of these practitioners are operating independently, and begin to think they are above the law, and accountable to no one. A Master’s degree by itself, does not make a person ethical. They too, must have personality traits with ethics and values, or they will do far more harm than good. 

Under the guise of taking away the stigma of mental illness, and encouraging people to get a diagnosis, we are now seeing countless people being herded into treatment for mental health disorders, for every disjointed nuance in their lives. The idea is to gear all these newfound disorders, into a myth that it will magically take away the stigma surrounding a mental health diagnosis. As if such a concept is a kind, safe and collective thing to do. The more the merrier. The more people who go crazy, the more they normalize it, and encourage it. Don’t fall for it. What it really means, is more drugs, more drug induced sickness, and more stigma, not less.

We need to protect our minds, not turn them over to a DSM manual that has no basis in reality. By that I mean, there is no diagnostic criteria for mental illness. They simply make it up. They invent a new diagnosis for every human flaw, with new labels for those imperfections, every single time they republish the manual. That is why the numbers of mental health disorders are growing exponentially.

When the objectives surrounding the diagnosis are purely subjective, what is it really about? The only real mental health disorders, should be based on unruly behaviours, a loss of self control, the inability to self care, and whether or not one has the ability to string sentences together. How we feel, even though there are times of distress, if we can cope with it, we are not mentally ill.

There is a strong element of gaslighting involved, when it comes to the attempt to direct people toward a diagnosis of being mentally ill. There are so many mantras surrounding “getting help” it is enough to make your head spin. What kind of help is there? Drugs and stigma, and being put on the MAID list? Is that help? Notice how the actual tangible help a person might need, like food and shelter, is not part of the equation? It all revolves around drugs.

Look at what happened to nurse Lindsay Clancy and her efforts to get help for her “touch of anxiety” and “touch of psychosis”. She ended up murdering three beautiful, innocent children. The two older children were three and five years old. Imagine the terror those poor kids went through, as their mother systematically and deliberately cut off their air supply?

Imagine what is was like for one of the older children to witness her sibling being murdered? Whatever order they were killed in, they were three and five years old, with an eight month old baby brother. Even the eight month old baby would have recognized the terror of his siblings, and the abnormal circumstances. He too would have been frightened beyond anyone’s imagination. Children are very astute. Few things could be more horrific, as it would take at least five minutes to murder each child.

An act so violent, and terminal, is done out of anger, malice and resentment. No one could convince me that you could actually murder a child, or anyone else, as an act of mercy. Even in a psychotic state, it would have to involve malice, and rage toward the other human being, as well as a sense of power, dominance and ultimate control. Killing is about control. On the extreme end of the spectrum of control, is a complete loss of control.

Exceptionally controlling people, are the most likely to kill. Such control is rooted in a profound insecurity. Murder is the ultimate expression of mastery over another human being. It is the final triumph of power, to take control over whether someone else can live or die. To do it to children is absolutely abhorrent. 

Clancy was getting help. She was going to an outpatient clinic five days a week. She was constantly making more doctor’s appointments, and seeking more medications, and changes to her medications. The list of medications she was on is staggering.

Her family was helping her. Her husband was working from home, in order to help her. She had medical insurance, and the system was supposedly helping her. It appears she was milking the health insurance with no end in sight. Was she a mental health hypochondriac? She was documenting all her woes, and misery every single day, in minute detail.

Criminal cases where violence is involved should be treated first and foremost as criminal cases. Most people with mental health struggles are not violent. Those who are, actually straddle the line between criminal and psychiatric, and needed to be evaluated by the legal profession more than anything, in order to protect the innocent. There is an old adage – the best predictor of future behaviour, is past behaviour.

The average person accepts negative thoughts, and feelings without constantly dwelling on them, unless there is a specific problem to try and solve. All people have negative thoughts and emotions. Sometimes those negativities are the result of abuse, lies, persecution, and controlling individuals in our lives. Wrestling with darkness is part of the human condition. By all means try to resolve the issues, but within limits. 

Clancy did not appear to have abusers in her life. She was the abuser, and even though some say she was wonderful, her actions speak volumes. What more could have been done to help her? The biggest questions surrounds the futility, and harm that was caused from of all the help she did get. All the treatment, and self-absorbed quest for a never ending focus on herself, as opposed to her children, was at the root of it all.

Drugs are not a solution to anyone’s problems. There is no magic pill to make life’s difficulties evaporate. Anyone who does take them to get past a crisis, should also be sure they are only a temporary aid, while sorting things out. Even then, it is a very high risk choice to make. 

All the attention had to revolve around her, and every little twinge of negative feelings that crossed her self-centred mind. Her solution was to get drugs and more drugs. One would think she would know better, but clearly she did not. She obviously had some kind of serious diversion from normalcy, and an inclination to have thoughts of murder, as a solution to her problems. It seems the crux of it was that she was a labour and delivery nurse, and did not want to go back to work, or had anxiety about returning to work.

There could have been problems in the marriage, since murdering one’s children, is often an ultimate act of revenge toward the other parent. Who knows what was going through her mind, but all the reports about her being a perfect mom, are so far from the truth, it is inconceivable people would even say such a thing. There is no such thing as a perfect mother, and she was most certainly not an example of even the worst of mothers. She was putting on an act. She might have had childish illusions about marriage, children, and a white picket fence, and then decided it was not all it was cracked up to be. So she cracked up, and thought she had created the perfect insanity defence. I’m just speculating of course. I have far less inclination to make excuses for this woman, than many of her co-workers and pals do. 

I worked ten years as a labour and delivery nurse, and returned to work while still breast feeding. I do understand the exhaustion, and the extremely busy pace of the work she had to deal with, as well as the upheaval and difficulty of shift work. There are much wider implications, and potential causal factors in this case, that may never be acknowledged or addressed.

The wider implications could be that the role of a nurse, can be overwhelming, enough to create dread over walking through the doors of the facility. The workload is over the top. LDR is an area where dire emergencies happen all the time, and often without warning. It can be a rewarding area to work in when all goes well, but it is also very demanding.

In addition, when nurse’s make mistakes, especially in the US, but it is now a global trend, they can get terminated. Not only could she be fired, but she could also be charged under the criminal code with homicide, or criminal neglect.

In addition, she would not be on the ball, or have good judgement, and would be a risk to her patients, if she was taking benzodiazepines, and other psychoactive drugs while at work. Mistakes would lead to exposure, judgement, investigation by administration, public scrutiny, media, investigation by the nursing College, professional discipline, and potentially arrest. There could be a lawsuit and a trial, if she caused harm, or was negligent while at work, especially while under the influence of so many medications.

Even though her maternity leave was coming to an end, she was going to doctor after doctor, seeking more medications. Addiction to multiple medications, is not the solution to anyone’s problems. I read the list of medications she had been prescribed. It is incredible to see such a list of drugs given to an adult with three young children. Most of the medications on the list are profoundly addictive, to include more than one prescription for benzodiazepines.

None of the medications she was prescribed could be stopped cold turkey. Even a drug like Trazodone, which is an anti depressant, cannot be stopped suddenly. If a person on that drug gets into a car accident, it has to be put into a feeding tube, or else other drugs must be given to deal with the detox.

Benzodiazepine addiction requires months of gradual tapering to get off them. Just look at what Jordan Peterson experienced and reported as a result of taking benzodiazepines. He was not looking after small children, and nor was he about to return to work as an LDR nurse. How could she possibly take care of small children, drive, or go back to work, with that many drugs on board? She was impaired. If you look at pictures of her, she did not look like she weighed more than a hundred and twenty pounds. Weight does matter when it comes to drug dosages. 

The system itself, and the multiple doctors she went to, facilitated this monumental disaster. They did so without calling social services, and without telling her she would not be capable of returning to work, given the number of medications she was on, and her ongoing drug seeking. The reason people go to numerous doctors, is to get more prescriptions. She had already been admitted to hospital as an inpatient for a week and discharged. She was going to an outpatient clinic every day. But none of it helped her. What else could have been done? Lock her up? Take the children away? Of course those options would have been viewed as being cruel. They were far better options than what she ended up doing. 

Those very same mental health professionals, were more concerned about poor Lindsay, than they were about the children. They were treating her with all those drugs, knowing full well she was due to return to work. Did they have any foresight into the detox required, or the safety of the patients? Her children did not get any help or protection, did they?

She is alive isn’t she? She is not paralyzed like they claimed. She will walk out of the hospital. Meanwhile her children did not stand a chance when she plotted her murderous rampage. To top it off, there was a GoFundMe set up, with a million dollars donated to the husband. Since the couple is still married, half of the money will go to Lindsay. They cannot use it for a legal defence. But they could pay off their house, and then borrow for a legal defence. What a crazy world we live in. 

Nurses do face a great deal of pressure, without a doubt. It is a profession, where for many there is an impossible workload, constant stress, chronic understaffing, and weak administration. Clancy may not have had the ability to manage the kind of workload foisted onto nurses. You cannot be a perfectionist overall. You have to set priorities, be able to anticipate what might happen, and chart every relevant detail. You have to let certain things go, but when it comes to what is important, you have to have nerves of steel, and the eyes of a hawk. It also helps to have intuition. I can honestly say that intuition was my best strength, while working in LDR. 

I know the issue of her case is swarming around postpartum depression, and how poorly understood it is. But I think there needs to be some evaluation of the work anxiety, as being a cause as well. Nurses have been under an unprecedented amount of pressure, which has been exacerbated by covid.

Every single time a patient is put on isolation requirements, it involves more workload for nurses. All of the hype, the extra rules, the contradictions, the oppression, the PPE, the lack of trust between employer and employee, serves to create more pressure. When the system fails to support the nurses, the nurses fail to support the patients.

Is it any wonder the anxiety surrounding a fast paced work environment, is increasing in healthcare? Nurses are required to provide care, and to apply knowledge. Yet when they are frantically busy, and exhausted, like anyone else, they are prone to making mistakes. Who has their backs? No one.

I think we would be wise to find ways to protect, and maintain our own mental health. Now more than ever before in our lifetimes, we need to be resilient when it comes to maintaining a sound mind, and having confidence in our abilities to cope, without getting diagnosed and drugged. All the help in the world did not save the Clancy children.

All the help in the world does not take responsibility for, or maintain our own self control or happiness. We have to be the ones to take responsibility for own own mental health, stability, and self control. Suffering does not mean we are crazy. It does not mean we need drugs. It just means we have to carry on, have faith, work towards doing good, and patiently wait it out. Sometimes it means taking the focus off ourselves, in order to care for others. It is not easy, that’s for sure.

In all difficulties we experience in life, we have to find ways to rebuild trust, to adapt, to make changes, to have discernment, and above all, to love one another. Sometimes all we can do is pray, and have faith. We cannot control the choices of other people. We cannot change the hearts, or minds of other people. 

Loving one another is not about being mushy and gushy. Love is not fake or two-faced or dishonest. It’s not about being superficially nice, or outgoing and friendly, although we should be pleasant, and patient in our interactions with others. More so, it is about setting boundaries, being truthful, trustworthy, and respecting the rights of one another. It is about esteeming other people equal to, or higher than ourselves. It is about fairness and justice. It is about patience, and long suffering. It is about being humble. It is about forgiveness and being forgiven It is about freedom from bondage, and snares. Ultimately it is about God, because God is love. Without His love, we have nothing left but selfishness, and the superficial things of this world. People will let us down, but God will not let us down. We cannot save ourselves. 

The Bible does say that in the end times the love of many will wax cold because lawlessness increases. 

Mathew 24:12 KJV ” And because iniquity shall abound the love of many will wax cold.”

Synonyms for iniquity from the thesaurus are: abomination, baseness, crime, misdeeds, immorality, injustice, wickedness, evildoing, unfairness, wrongdoing, and so on. We can take a bit of comfort knowing these things are in the prophecy of what happens during the end times. The only control we do have is over our own minds, to repent and turn away from our own wrongdoing. We are to stay alert, be cautious, discerning, use good judgement, and otherwise we cannot change what is happening.

We are seeing first hand the terrible outcomes of what a pocket full of pills, or street drugs, or anti-psychotic medications, anti anxiety medications, anti depressant medications, opiates, etc. are actually doing to people.

Medicine is supposed to be evidence based, however psychiatry is clearly not evidence based. In my opinion, we need to look at the evidence, and the outcomes of the so-called drugged and warped “help” they are offering, and see what it is actually happening as a result of all these drugs. Being witness to it, is all the evidence we need to reevaluate what we are reading in the MSM and DSM about it all. We can see the underlying agenda, if we open our eyes. 

We use our minds to make decisions about our own life. Some people also interfere with, and try to make decisions for the lives of other people, out of arrogance and abuse of power.

We need to develop resilience and confidence in our  own minds. Our minds can be assaulted and robbed just like our physical bodies can. You seldom see a confident or important person doubting their own sanity. The more powerful a person is, the less likely anyone will challenge their minds, even though many powerful people have been crazier than loons. 

In summary, don’t be gaslighted into doubting your own sanity, just because the world is going insane around us.

Copyright Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West (2023). Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author/owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Valerie J. Hayes and Quiet West with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.