Psychiatric issues anyone?

[Q789]

Emotional issues. Does anyone here use anit-depressants? Councelling services?

I have been on a doff them for years. Recently, although i have been doing well for 2 years, my doctor noticed my anxiety- and now i am on Valproate.

Does anyone else here have such problems? How does it reflect in our occult practices? Are there any advantages?

Q

[jthorp]

It's prolly well known to some people that I suffer from depression and a few other co-morbid disorders. You got put on Depakote for your anxiety? Ouch! I won't touch that med ever again. Psychiatric issues can cause some problems in magical practice. Depends on the path you're on too. Magic it can give you imbalances (mood change, etc). I frequently balance my chakras, meditate, and be mindful. You need good coping skills or your magical practice will eventually become dangerous. I've been practicing for 20 years. I don't see any advantages to having a mental disorder in magic, though your senses may become stronger. Don't work any magic when you're in a mood swing. Try to maintain positive energy because it can turn negative on ya.

Hope this helps.
J.

[Q789]

i am on Valproate. An anti epileptic drug that stablizes moods. I understand what you are saying about meditating and being centered. If i am anxious- meditations or ceremonial magick is useless.
I know that at sometime Crowley said to just push on and stop winching. For me it is part of unravelling myself, discovering myself and dealing with it. It seems to get easier as you get older. i am learning more and more about my emotional states, how i have trouble, slowely dealing with issues. In this case it has been 2 years since my wife and i split. I systematically went through the house and car and threw away everything that was hers, includng deleting all the photos from the computer. Last weekend i seems to have won the battle, i have felt great for a week. It may too have been the new meds.
i can't see meds in inhibiting your psychic abilities in any way. In fact to me it is most likely that i am to get n with my true will when i am more stable, at the moment with the meds.

There is so little difference between your life and your magick- in fact they are the same.personal development, emotional development and spiritual development are the same. They all tie into you working with yourself. 'Visit the interiors of the earth and through rectification thou shall discover the hidden stone'. - seem to me the work is never done, life brings more and mroe shit to bear.

Q

[Nahemah]

i am on Valproate. An anti epileptic drug that stablizes moods. I understand what you are saying about meditating and being centered. If i am anxious- meditations or ceremonial magick is useless.

My son is on Sodium Valproate for his epilepsy.Due to side effects from Encephalopathy he was put on low dose Risperidone,which was very effective for his anxiety and refusal to eat [another side effect].He was only given this for a short time,though.It's not a suitable long term medication.
I wasn't aware Valproate was also used as an anti anxiety med.You learn every day,lol.I do know these drugs and similar,are used for a range of medical issues though,it's a very interesting area of medicine to explore.Unfortunately my family are exploring it at the sharp end,so to speak.

I know that at sometime Crowley said to just push on and stop winching. For me it is part of unravelling myself, discovering myself and dealing with it. It seems to get easier as you get older. i am learning more and more about my emotional states, how i have trouble, slowely dealing with issues. In this case it has been 2 years since my wife and i split. I systematically went through the house and car and threw away everything that was hers, includng deleting all the photos from the computer. Last weekend i seems to have won the battle, i have felt great for a week. It may too have been the new meds.

What works works.
I have taken the self help route through my own issues,for a number of reasons.Mostly it's because I am limited in what drugs are safe for me,because of an underlying medical condition,but I also had issues with the long term use of strong meds that can interfere with the mind and cause numerous side effects that I thought would outbalance the benefits they could provide.

I advocate Cannabis for folk like me,it's a very useful tool for recovery and it does not hold any of the contraindications that most pharmaceuticals do for me.

People are individuals and there is no one cohesive method or route to wellness,what works for me may not suit another and so on.

i can't see meds in inhibiting your psychic abilities in any way. In fact to me it is most likely that i am to get n with my true will when i am more stable, at the moment with the meds.

Excellent point.But some meds do inhibit and curtail the psyche somewhat.Just saying.

There is so little difference between your life and your magick- in fact they are the same.personal development, emotional development and spiritual development are the same. They all tie into you working with yourself. 'Visit the interiors of the earth and through rectification thou shall discover the hidden stone'. - seem to me the work is never done, life brings more and mroe shit to bear.

True.Life is a learning experience and it just keeps on giving,lol. [thumbup]

[jthorp]

I agree with Nahemah. I advocate Cannabis too. I mean, the side effects are better than pharmaceutical drugs. You know, oh wow, I might get the munchies! LOL. You can get the munchies with various antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotics. I am what you call a amateur psychopharmacologist. Just a side note. Been involved with magic virtually my whole life, I have had experiences both good and bad with magic. Meditation, magic, mindfulness, medications and even smoking weed is just a temporary (palliative) cure.

I have been badmouthed on the internet because I have this reputation of being "crazy." My mental health issues don't really cross over into my spiritual life... all though things are intertwined. If I am feeling depressed, I will either do a cleansing or sit magic out a few days. I am in a routine, I do ritual everyday, but sometimes ya have to care for yourself in other ways.

Depakote (Valproic Acid) was horrible for me. I gained 30 pounds. And my hair fell out. Lovely side effects! LOL.

[beero]

I've had some problems in the past, I've mentioned EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) on here in the past, I think people with mental health issues or depression might benefit from trying it out

[manonthepath]

Try reading "Spritual Practices of the Ninja" by Ross Heaven. It may help. Good luck.

[Nahemah]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiritual-Pra ... 1594771073

Very interesting book,from what I 've seen so far.Thanks.
Do you have any more recommendations,manonthepath?

[Q789]

I think i should let you all know, that what happened is i went ot my doctor and he suggested going to my computer and throwing all my wedding photos out. So i did, i also went through my house and threw out all memories, and through the car too. It all came to a head one weekend. now i am free off the meds and doing very well

Thanks

[Occultess]

Just to add, for future reference (since Q's ok now), for me Chamomile works. I've been tried out on different anti-depressents before (for OCD), but none of them worked (but most if not all made my heart beat fast). Chamomile on the other hand....that works great. And it doesn't give me side effects, except maybe for kinda making me feel stoned sometimes.

[TheSeeker]

Several years ago I was misdiagnosed with Clinical Depression, and had a hell of a ride on a bunch of different antidepressant meds for about a year and a half.
Never again!
Since that nightmare I smoke weed daily, and get counciling once a week to manage emerging issues that get me a bit twitchy. No more problems.
I advise caution with any doctor that reflexively reaches for the pill bottle. Get a second opinion. Anti-depressant/psychotic meds have become a falacious panacea, mis-used by many and mis-prescribed by even more.

[Nahemah]

I think i should let you all know, that what happened is i went ot my doctor and he suggested going to my computer and throwing all my wedding photos out. So i did, i also went through my house and threw out all memories, and through the car too. It all came to a head one weekend. now i am free off the meds and doing very well

Thanks

I 'm very glad to hear that. [thumbup]

I do think some meds are useful in the short term.

As you previously said Q,they can help with getting you to a point of stability where you can see clearly and have been able to sleep and rest.I think also that being able to sleep a decent restful sleep makes a big difference when you have anxiety and/or depression.

But they should not become a crutch,which is what tends to happen over a long time period of use.Healing is a long winding road and it involves a lot of soul searching which you can't get to when your mind is numbed.
It's a shameful state of affairs over here,in the UK,though .Our mental health system is massively underesourced and understaffed,many people are 'parked' on drugs while waiting in massive queues for CBT and other therapies.
Most can't afford to go private and getting adequate help is a postcode lottery,it's there in some areas and absent in others.

Sleep deprivation has been a big 'black dog' for me,following me across my life issues for as long as I can recall,biting on my mind and never leaving me alone.It meant I couldn't think straight and every little bug was magnified until it was all a huge rolling ball of worry and I no longer knew what was real and what was illusory.I spent my whole time feeling tired and drained.

I have nighterrors and I m a somnambuliist ands sombnilloquist also.Sleepwalk,sleeptalk respectively,I just like writing the fancy terms,lol.It turns out I was also phobic about going to sleep,old traumas from childhood,meant I resisted unconsciousnes with a fervour that was so deeply primed it's taken a decade to get all the way out of it.

I am sfortunate enough to have a mild sleep apnoea,where I pretend to be dead,before gasping and muttering once more,my poor partner has had to put up with a lot from me,over the years.

I started getting to grips with myself,in earnest in 2001.It's been a long hard road back to wellness and I stil have off days,but now I know the nature of the beast and I can ride it out.
I gave that dog a name and a shape and it's now externalised as an ally,lol,but seriously.

This is a bit od a disjointed post,I know,but I wanted to expalin a little more of my own stuff.It might be useful as a reference or someone reading it might connect similarly.Dunno.I tend to apply humour a lot,when I write about myself,so please don't anyone think I 'm being cheeky or not appreciating the seriousness of these issues.I find laughing about them a little helps me keep em in perspective.

I have also been very successful in mitigating my OCD tendencies,maybe a seperate post or topic for that one though?

I was thinking perhaps we could have a section for mental health discussion,sub forum under healing maybe?

Sharing experiences was something I found incredibly helpful and useful when I first got online,by the way.I felt much less alone and lalking to a screen,instead of directly face ot face,felt less threatening/frightening for me.

[yyxx]

Emotional issues. Does anyone here use anit-depressants? Councelling services?

I have been on a doff them for years. Recently, although i have been doing well for 2 years, my doctor noticed my anxiety- and now i am on Valproate.

Does anyone else here have such problems? How does it reflect in our occult practices? Are there any advantages?

Q

Yoh. I think you should look for some Sceletium and stop listening to doctors. They have a particular zombie quota they need to make.

[Rauðolfr]

I had a whole range of stuff when I was younger. first started at 'relate' with my family, then was in the whole NHS psychiatric thing, later at the tavistock.

the difficulties of raising an ASPD child...
I would respond to all efforts to control my behaviour with complete scheming psychosis, trying to murder my parents with poison, and fire on separate occasions.
I also suffered from crippling depression until I stopped being vegetarian.

but I’m all much better now... no drugs or counselling really did anything for me. if anything they made me worse. I'm still prone to manipulative mind games and reckless behaviour (that’s why I now walk with a cane) but I’m a lot more kind than I was and have managed to sustain a few relationships beyond the initial charisma based stages... which is very difficult for me.

there is a great book here which was very helpful:
http://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Yourself- ... 1561840572

[cactusjack543]

i suppose i want to be kidnapped by aliens go on a schizophrenic world learn what normal really is and bieng alien and everything progress gallaxies every planet could you imagine worlds we call non normal progressing our solar system living together wherethe illness was normal cause everyone was the same bieng millions of years older and wiser cappable of progress solar systems on a planetary level.


never knowing never caring mankind could struggle for 1,000s of years learning this secret to life by visiting the planets but calling it science fiction of the ill in the mean time

[Moth]

I felt a bit depressed from time to time in my teens and early twenties and went to a counsellor for it, but she was really no use at all.

I saw her, years later, in Marks and Spencers. I said hi, and she grabbed her child and ran out of the shop

[Rauðolfr]

I saw her, years later, in Marks and Spencers. I said hi, and she grabbed her child and ran out of the shop

when i read the first part i totally assumed you meant she was working there. [rofl]

[Moth]

I saw her, years later, in Marks and Spencers. I said hi, and she grabbed her child and ran out of the shop

when i read the first part i totally assumed you meant she was working there. [rofl]

I'm sure she wasn't that bad!

[TheSeeker]

I'm sorry everyone.
I know this is a serious Thread, but I have to say that every time I see the Header in my 'New Posts' section I think to myself,
"No thanks, I've got plenty!"

[LordRyu]

Anxiety is realy a nasty thing to have.I have had it too and its been 3 years now and no doctor knows what to do or how to cure me.Ive been searching metods of healing it and i discoverd some runes that are helpfull eithery way you cant practice magic when you are on pills its dangerous for you.Im useing runes and meditation to dile it down but i cant seem to get rid of it completly i will try some of the advices that you guys posted.


I heard about bioenergy treatment and alternitive treatments but i didnt try them out if any of you know about them and if they are usefull i apriciate it if you could tell me xD

[reptilian]

Even though it isn't perfect, getting on Lithium (for Bipolar Type 1) was the best thing I've ever done. o.o I do supplement it with cannabis a few times a week if I'm feeling an extreme mood shift coming on, but I can finally get through most days without contemplating suicide and my anxiety issues have diminished as well.
My tendency toward OCD behaviors hasn't changed, but I'm actually looking into magical remedies for that. =]

I find that a manic phase is necessary for me if I want to physically perform a ritual, because I like to dance, but my lungs can't support that without the mania to super charge me. Working with grief and death energies is easier when I'm depressed. Witchcraft makes me feel less anxious automatically.

Not all medical professionals are good at their jobs, but I've been lucky. My psych is very interested in medicating me as little as possible so that I don't feel zonked out or crappy.

[420]

The similarities between psychiatry and ceremonial magic are quite impressive. Regardie even suggests complexes and spirits are two different terms for the same thing. I wouldn't suggest less magic, but open all rituals with the LBRP, which you should be doing anyway, and do the LBRP solo any day you're not doing a ritual. Also, pranic or pore breathing the elements, as described by Franz Bardon is very balancing and centering. Meditation is wonderful as well.

Cops can't win the war on drugs. Legalize now!

[Clockwork Ghost]

I'm a highly functioning schizophrenic, if you need a label. I take a whole bunch of pills each day to keep me stable, and still have anxiety attacks from time to time. I've managed schizophrenia without drugs in the past, but that didnt work as well as I hoped it would, and I eventually went back on the pills again. I've had to fight for recognition of my magical practice, as many people have told me its all psychosis and any result I've ever had must have been hallucinatory.

[Archo]

I've dealt with Anxiety most of my life, had no idea what was going on with until the last six years. Went on Paxil and Xanax for, I think 2 years, but the side effects made me pretty sick. Began meditating, learning to ground and center, shielding myself, a few other things and also went to an acupuncturist (which helped a great deal). On the road to recovery, but there are still hiccups. I would recommend acupuncture to anyone dealing with anxiety issues.

[manonthepath]

http://www.amazon.com/The-Spiritual-Pra ... 1594771073

Very interesting book,from what I 've seen so far.Thanks.
Do you have any more recommendations,manonthepath?

"The Roots of Chinese Qigong" by Dr. Yang Jwing Ming. This book provides an excellent overview into the topic in a way that is relatively easy for a Westerner to understand. It's also probably cheap on Amazon. If you decide to buy it, and then to read it, I will be happy to answer some questions you may have. If this is to your liking, and you complete this book, I may be inclined to recommend another to help you move along your path. I wish you well.