Mental Health Coming Off Invega Sustenna (Paliperidone) v.2

[lemmon]

I think the people here understand each others

 

[RisperdalAnhedonia]

anyone tried Adderall to treat Anhedonia from Risperdal/Invega after withdrawal? what was the outcome?

my doc gave me Ritalin but it didn't help.

 

[Travis0129]

I have come off invega a few times and recovered. My orgasms went from nothing, to back to normal. I was stupid and got another shot when I seen demons. It will take me another 4 months to fully recover. I just don't like the disconnection from God invega does.

 

[MrRoot]

What is this stuff used for? Is it given as some kind of sick punishment by court or is it a form of torture?

 

[lemmon]

The thing is neuroleptics are designed to block the effects of adderall (ok maybe it's a coincidence, but who cares). Maybe it will work at some extent, but for me ritalin does nada. It's really expensive and nobody here understands why they use the stuff on us, so yes it's a form of punishment for getting court ordered.

 

[nnnbbvvv]

Occasionally, amphetamines will bring you back to normalish for like 4 hours, then you fall back down(which is rough, the struggling). I mean once or twice a week, but besides that, they will burn you out hard and are trouble. I recommend the wakefullness agent modafinil to pick up the slack.

@MrRoot -- They are a solution to unwanted consciousnss or behavior in society by the institutions. They disable the person sick or healthy, and cause damage which is difficult to recover from. The crippling effects are the worst kind of torture and the irony is that the drug makes it difficult for the victims to express their pain.

Anyone here ever read the book "Johnny got his Gun?" Well that is what Invega is alot like. The Metallica song "One" is about this experience BTW.

Well that's enough of that . . . I'm going for a walk with my dog . . Peace

 

[nnnbbvvv]

8(

 

[ZombieMode]

Sorry - made a mistake with my last post. It took 8 full months to make a recovery. I was on max dose abilify injections for 1 year. I found that reishi mushroom & gotu kola + drinking organic vege juices made the final home stretch to recovery (i took this stuff for about 1.5 months and my health improved each day).

Things I learnt - on suffering
It's painfully slow. This we all know and have experienced. Had it not been for video games (WoW), I'd probably have tried more often to hang myself. Find something that you can sink some time into whilst you're on the APs - I made a poor decision sitting down all day every day, but it did keep my mind somewhat active.
The quote "this too, will pass" came true for me - I recall feeling/thinking & believing that I would NEVER recover - there's so many horror stories out there about how this damage is permanent... Was not true for me. I recovered to a point where I was BETTER than I ever was. Try to stay positive; it's fucking hard to be alone, but a few years pass by quick in the scheme of things. Don't dwell on the wasted time.

On recovery
I still swear by all forms of mental illness and psychiatric drugging being a paradox (catch 22) with spirituality. It's so similar where it overlaps.I'd encourage anyone to adopt the hippy lifestyle - meditation, organic foods, nature. Learn alternative views about how other cultures and ancient ancestors view mental illness. I like Terence McKenna's Video on YouTube on Schizophrenia. My mate runs the 'End Psychiatry' page on facebook also. Don't passively accept what a kook doctor tells you. I hold that the industry is corrupt. Read into the history of psychiatry.

I say this to keep you hopeful.


Sex drive, happiness & energy
All healed.

---

I just came out of another 8 week hospital admission though, hahahaha. Back doing this a second time. Planning a runner to another state to shorten my forced treatment. They had me on clopixol injections, invega, olanzapine, abilify, epilim, valium... They're all fucked. Zombie

 

[The Most Ultimate]

While I was there in the psyc ward, I met some interesting people. There was this kid named Jerry who heard voices, he was a "real" schizophrenic. He told me that he had been in different psyc wards 6 times now. I asked him "how do I get out of here bro?" And he told me to just go to the doctor and say that I am better, take my pills for 3 days, show that I am complying, and I will be out in no time. He also said bizarre things like "this is all Mind Control bro, mind control." And I didn't give it a second thought, thinking that he was referring to the voices in his head as someone trying to control him. I told him to at least not say that to the Pdoc B/C the doc will think he is crazy and keep him in longer, he said he knew.
Btw even guys who hear voices don't stop hearing them after the shot.

 

[Travis0129]

If you get court ordered to take invega, how long do you have to take it for. That would suck if they made you take it forever.

 

[iridescentblack]

If Satan is laughing. I'll kick is hass

 

[lemmon]

@invegauser your text was so long it to me a while before I decided to read it. Thanks for the reply

I've heard of someone going crazy after the use of invega, which is a strange coincidence. Withdrawal from Aps seems to make to make things worse, but who knows at this point... they'll probably blame it on the illness. (Why would the guy I've read about of went through a psychotic episode afterward???).

@travis0129 I was court ordered to the psych ward, it was more or less my choice to take the drug.

 

[swisscurrie]

is there anyone that benefits from this poison?

 

[The Most Ultimate]

Hey you guys notice that some people just disappear and stop posting?

 

[crOOk]

It's always been like that. Not just on bluelight, but on any forum. Plus it'd be more reasonable to assume suicide or accidental death (just crunch the numbers) due to the underlying illness than to suspect neuroleptics to be the culprit, because I have a feeling that is what you were implying.

is there anyone that benefits from this poison?

Lots of people. You just don't find many of them on bluelight where people prefer to self medicate.

It's a very rare thing that I insult a person here on bluelight and I will surely violate the rules, but I feel it's necessary to get my point across: How fucking stupid does someone have to be to not figure out that the benefit of neuroleptics is relief from psychosis?! I'll be good now. please accept my apology.

Not counting the patients I've seen, I know three people other than me who had their life saved by neuroleptics. If it weren't for these drugs, my best friend would long be dead. Ironically Risperidone depot injections are his maintenance therapy for schizophrenia. He fucking loves it and has been loving it for 9 years now. He would never want to go without. He got a steady job, he's been in a steady relationship for the past 8 years, he's enjoying life, has hobbies and all that shit. This was never possible for him before neuroleptic drugs were first forced onto him.

If the moron doesn't know that Invega and Risperidone are pretty much the same thing then she shouldn't be working in this field.

What the fuck?! One is a metabolite of the other, but they sure the hell are not the same thing. Risperidone exposes you to two active neuroleptic drugs: Risperidone and paliperidone.

I am highly critical of the psychopharmaceutical industry, classical psychiatry in which there is a lot of room for improvement, just as I am very critical of the way neuroleptics are prescribed as well as of our current treatment guidelines for affective or schizophrenic psychosis and how our society treats people in psychotic states or interprets their trouble, but if anyone actually wants to claim these substances - paliperidone included - don't have any use, he is obviously closing his eyes to reality. Fucking read proper information. Talk to people who do not share your point of view. It's not all black and white.

There are people who are grateful electroconvulsive therapy exists. Pay some respect to these people and acknowledge that some harsh, extremely side effect laden treatments can bring relief and can allow a person to function in our sick and twisted society. You know, other than us patients, nobody is more interested in finding more tolerable pharmaceutical treatment options than the pharmaceutical industry and your doctors. They are not all out to get you, they are just trying to maximize their profits by selling treatments. The more effective and the less side effects, the better their shit will sell.

 

[swisscurrie]

http://www.askapatient.com/mobile/viewrating.asp?drug=21346&name=RISPERDAL+CONSTA

Crook read the reviews above. They are not side effects, they are life threatening symptoms of toxicity from a dangerous neuroleptic. Many of the patients died due to it and most became disabled from the brain damage it caused.

I don't believe that your friend took risperdal consta for 8 years and didn't suffer any side effects. Risperdal causes at least one severe side effect (Weight gain, metabolic disorder, anhedonia, Movement disorder, sexual dysfunction and genital anesthesia, gynecomastia) in practically everyone who takes it, even short term. Clinical trials prove this. Its inherently a very toxic drug that blocks over 80% of dopamine neurons on the human brain. It makes you fat, anhedonic, ugly and unpleasant to be around.

I realize most people who respond favourably to a drug don't take the time to review it.

But you would think out of the three thousand posts on invega on this thread someone would have something positive to say about the drug. Some kind of benefit would be expected. With most discussions of pharmaceuticals on forums you find posts with people saying that the drug helped them in some way, but also had side effects. Its very rare to hear anyone say anything positive about neuroleptics such as risperidone and haloperidol. Your much more likely to hear people say it ruined their life.

I have yet to find a single positive effect from invega reported by anyone on this site. Only destruction of mind, body and soul.

I strongly believe potent neuroleptics like haloperidol and risperidone have no place in modern society. There are much safer alternatives that haven't been proven to permanently damage the brain. Cannabidiol and Cerebrolysin for example. Both are neurprotective and neuroregenerative with proven efficacy against schizophrenia.

I do agree with you that paliperidone and risperidone have a very different pharmacology. Paliperidone is not a safe drug by any means and can inflict considerable damage, but it is significantly less harmful to the brain than risperidone.

For anyone interested in the differences:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4488186/

 

[crOOk]

All neuroleptics can kill you. That's nothing new. I am aware that this one is especially nasty though, yes. It's just that I can't stand people denying the usefulness of a drug because they were unfortunate enough to suffer severe side effects.

And trust me, he did not suffer side effects. He is an exceptionally good eater and has slowly gained some weight throughout the years, but not like most people do on neuroleptics (me: 77 lbs in the first 10 months). He eats north of 6000 kcal per day, so some weight gain is to be expected. :D

Dosis facit venenum. We all tend to forget that at times. I do. My friend is on a very low dose these days, even though that took some time. He keeps stressing that whenever the topic comes up because he knows what a huge difference there is between a low and a high dose.

I've seen patients being prescribed 30mg olanzapine for maintenance before. There should be laws against that kind of idiocy. Crisis management can sometimes require such doses, but most people's psychosis is well controlled at much lower doses.
When I get too hypomanic I take a maximum of 5mg olanzapine to stop mania in it's tracks. Any more and I suffer akatisia and get extremely lethargic, but in low doses it just feels like a wonderful drug, something that really makes me feel baseline and healthy. I consider this a big problem in psychiatric facilities and am not alone with that opinion. Fortunately, old psychiatrists are getting replaced by younger ones every day. Things are getting better.

The fact that people on here don't report positive effects is because this is a forum dedicated to recreational drug use. We should look at how many people have done recreational drugs during their time on paliperidone. Bear in mind one is not supposed to do that. A person should in fact not take recreational drugs at all when he is susceptible to psychosis or in the middle of one. If it is true that most of these people did not stop abusing drugs their data is worthless.

Actually, most people here probably had a drug induced psychosis which shouldn't really be treated the same way as schizophrenia which alas is often done.

Have you ever seen what neuroleptics do to an acutely psychotic person? Not just a patient who hallucinates a little, but a slobbering mess who's crawled up in a corner and has lost it's ability to form simple three-word sentences? I honestly don't think cannabidiol can do what neuroleptics do in those cases, although it surely has it's uses.

For Schizophrenia "I had been on Haldol before which I am allergic to and it caused wasting away disease. Invega was my last option and it helped fix what Haldol seemed to have ruined and took away a lot of the scary stuff I was dealing with like seeing people in my room. The only thing is I am still hearing voices but they are mostly nice. I am on 234mg a month."

For Schizophrenia "About to depart invega so felt to document my experience. 5 years have been good on invega. the pamphlet said "as clean as we can make it" or some such and sure enough the mind felt cleaner. If I was in room all day I would feel like my brain was drenched in depression. invega made it fresh. Was able to take an interest in new things and grew over that time. Male Sexual function: 9 mg say good bye, 6mg hints of life, 3 mg omg I thought it left forever Thank U God Weight: kind of hard to manage diet and exercise. its like you need a scientist to work out satisfaction vs calorie control. beyond me, though weight training helped me feel good. Tiredness: very tired after work on all dosages. Hard to motivate to exercise but very rewarding,"

For Schizophrenia "This drug saved my son's life. He failed to respond to any other drug and lost two years of his life in mental facilities. He was put on Invega Sustenna and within 2 weeks was changed. Within 3 months he was almost asymtomatic.. Over the next 4 years he earned a degree in computer science with a 4.0 GPA and within 1 unit of a Masters with a very high GPA and accepted into a Phd Program. The insurance company forced us off the depot sustenna injections onto pills. Within 8 weeks he was fully psychotic and in a lock down facility. The injectable form is a miracle drug! It should be a crime to allow an insurance company trying to save a few dollars more to destroy someone's life as they have. Write to Jannsen, Write to your congressman!"

For Schizophrenia "Been on invega for two weeks 9mg weigh 130 and 5' 8''. Just started my loading dose of injection 234 mg. Does not help me sleep am on rendering 15 mg for sleep. Had heart palpitations only once and hope not to have it again since starting shot I've been OK. Paranoia is at a minimal and mood is stable. Seems to be going good."

For Schizoaffective Disorder "this medication is weird. you can be doing really well and be normal and then all of a sudden you get a manic episode or psychotic episode out of nowhere when you were normal like 2 days ago. It doesn't help you sleep although it's good because it didn't stop me from waking up in the morning. I was able to go to for my morning class as I was waking up at 5:30am. Although couldn't concentrate in class and I never cooked. from what I remember I was doing better on risperdal although I was more out of it and way more paranoid and it was really scary but I had good friends and never got manic and never had to go to the hospital for almost 10 years and also did well in school. I think invega is too inconsistent and can't take the mood stabilizer I want to"

For Schizophrenia "This medicine allow me to be less paranoid and this helps me by eliminating all my hard feelings about my life. The only side effect that I am getting from this medicine is oculogyric crisis."

For Schizophrenia "I have been using Invega for less than a year. The reason I appealed to this medication was because it was the only extended release medication on the market. What this means is that the medication slowly released into our body within 24 hours. Other medication when you take it, it hits our body straight away to the top and gradually decrease the medication in our body. I find that it is good as it gives less severed side effect as the medication in our body at a constant level. I don't have any major side effects from this medication other than depression and insomnia but that in general related to my unresolved personal life issues. My prolactin level lower compared to when I was on Solian. Less lethargic & sleepy"

For Schizoaffective Disorder "I think this is the only antipsychotic that has worked for me. I was on risperdal previously and it didn't work that well except that I made good friends and was nice usually but I was always really paranoid or psychotic when I'd do all nighters for school and thought there was a serial killer outside the window. invega is much better though and I don't get that paranoia anymore or the really scary type of paranoia anymore although I get scared sometimes but it doesn't stop me from doing things. I'm on 12 mg of invega and 300 mg of lamictal. Im not doing the best because the lamictal should be at 400 mg to be optimal. I wasn't able to tolerate too high of a dose of invega at first because it made me really tired& sleep all day but I can now.

I didn't have to scroll and skip a thousand negative reviews to yield these.

 

[The Most Ultimate]

http://www.askapatient.com/mobile/vi...SPERDAL+CONSTA

Wow. This is horrifying.

Rating:[TABLE="class: datatable, width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext, width: 80"][/TD]
[TD]1 (extremely dissatisfied)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Date Added:[/TD]
[TD]12/26/2016 Sex: M Age: 20[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Reason:[/TD]
[TD]to get raped[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Side Effects:[/TD]
[TD]My son got tortured by this drug. He is now in heaven. He begged and begged for his life. They would not stop. I begged them too. God please send them to Hell.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Comments:[/TD]
[TD]My son died after 6 shots. He said the room kept spinning, his gut hurt, burning sensation all over his body, his tongue swelled up, dry mouth, head felt like it was spilt open, shaking non stop, gained weight, couldn't move hands, couldn't breath, couldn't see, pain in both arms, heart going fast, sweating like crazy and alot more. How in the world can they sell this. The reason anybody would say this shot helps is because they are mental and should not even respond to this because there opinion is not right.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Duration:[/TD]
[TD]6 months Dosage: 1X M[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Rating:[TABLE="class: datatable, width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext, width: 80"][/TD]
[TD]1 (extremely dissatisfied)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Date Added:[/TD]
[TD]1/17/2017 Sex: F Age: 33[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Reason:[/TD]
[TD]schizophrenia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Side Effects:[/TD]
[TD]My sister is so sick and can't move from this medicine. It is like she is paralized. I showed the psychiatrist this and he said he knows of the side effects. He acted like he didn't even care. What a ****! I am trying everything I can to get her off of this poison. She is so sick I think she is dying. She was full of energy and now there is nothing. She is screaming and crying every day. She seemed fine to me mentally but they keep injecting her. I hope it don't kill her.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Comments:[/TD]
[TD]Please say prayers for my sister. Pray they stop giving her the medicine. I think it is evil what they are doing to her. She can't move or walk.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Duration:[/TD]
[TD]1 years Dosage: 1X D[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
Rating:[TABLE="class: datatable, width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext, width: 80"][/TD]
[TD]1 (extremely dissatisfied)[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Date Added:[/TD]
[TD]1/17/2017 Sex: F Age: 33[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Reason:[/TD]
[TD]schizophrenia[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Side Effects:[/TD]
[TD]My sister is so sick and can't move from this medicine. It is like she is paralized. I showed the psychiatrist this and he said he knows of the side effects. He acted like he didn't even care. What a ****! I am trying everything I can to get her off of this poison. She is so sick I think she is dying. She was full of energy and now there is nothing. She is screaming and crying every day. She seemed fine to me mentally but they keep injecting her. I hope it don't kill her.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Comments:[/TD]
[TD]Please say prayers for my sister. Pray they stop giving her the medicine. I think it is evil what they are doing to her. She can't move or walk.[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: labeltext"]Duration:[/TD]
[TD]1 years Dosage: 1X D[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

I never did drugs in my life and I have the same effects... well not quite that extreme since I am alive like you. R.I.P.

I MUST emphasize that you guys need to start exercise and brain exercise along with good food.
@New members: Unfortunately, I also realize that my advise on exercise right after the injection is potentially dangerous! Go very light for the first 2 1/2 months or maybe even 4-6. With my single shot, I started until after 2 1/2 months, but at least start brain exercise. You only need to give it a very small push, instead of sitting on a couch.
I might be greedy, but my sweating, body hair, and body odor is back. There is slow improvement everyday.

Some people just don't understand what this drug is. Remember though we have each other.

 

[nnnbbvvv]

@swisscurrie: Excellent post! Excellent wording, and an asset to this entire thread. I couldn't have said it better myself.
Agree with everything you're saying.

@crook: What I do not believe you are fully absorbing is the absurdity in casually prescribing this substance which OFTEN causes SEVERE side effects. Many people here are given a flimsy pseudo-science label and given drug which causes profound damage far worse than whatever psycho-babble definition they had been accused of. The population with schizophrenia severe enough to warrant this kind of deactivation is very rare. The consensus on this forum states that the major impairment from this drug does not go away for 10 monthes to one year. In my own case, I spoke to no doctor and was treated very unfairly at the hospital. I have seen my charts and I was prescribed an Invega Sustenna shot after four days in the hospital. 96 hours of shallow observation to decide my next year. No appeals , no explanations of the treatment to my loved ones, no chance for a second opinion. One overworked doctor who's too tired to sit down and talk to me gets to make this call over my next year. Violent criminals, drunk drivers and bank robbers do not this kind of summarily performed judgement. Make no mistake that the injection of Paliperidone is a form of brain surgery which engenders profound brain change. I received the minimum I could of two Invega shots and I would have rather sat 6 monthes in jail. I suspect that there are others in this forum who share that sentiment.
The Dose Makes the Poison: Interesting point. I suspect that actual body damage is exponentially lessened by decreasing dosage. This is how many drugs work. I was given the 234&156 shot so that equates to 4mg~ of risperidone in my system for 4-6 weeks. According to Dr.Peter Breggin's citation of neuroleptic research; that is a suffiecient dosage&duration to cause chemical lobotomy.
Perhaps lower dosages could be helpful for some people like you are saying. Again, the casual administration of large doses of a drug which negatively effects the outcome of a person's next YEAR is criminal.
I can't believe they get away with it. But then again, look at all the other 'sick and twisted' nonsense that goes on in our world eyy- Iraq, Trump, Neo-colonialism eyy
We need more compassionate ways of dealing with our problems. My medical visit (unwarranted) was incredibly expensive and the treatment I got was HORRIBLE! If given the choice, I could have gone to a wellness center in Costa Rica to make certain I was doing alright and healthy before cutting me loose. Greed in the hospitals and lack of creativity on the treatment end. Why create more problems with extreme treatments for potentially minor troubles. It's completely inhumane to show so little patience for the customers in the medical industry on this end of the treatment gun and one day something is going to come out and topple this whole paradigm. Whether it's better technology to make this practice appear crude and brutal and when they over-medicate the wrong important person like what happened to JFK's sister. Do you really believe that these medical personnel have the authority to make decisions of this magnitude? I certainly don't. The only reason they get away with it is that their victims are so catastrophically powered down/disabled that they are no longer able to advocate for/ express themselves.
I hope that I am not talking past you and thank you for being part of the dialogue.
One last thing - This forum just so happens to be the BEST user dialogue to be found on the internet. 2000 posts of varying quality journaling the 'trip reports' from a diverse population. We have everyone from the "I can't shut off the voices" schizo to the "My mom found my pot stash and called the cops" unfortunate teenager. I believe the quality of data on this "druggie info" website is superior than the mental health sites because it encourages free-thinking neutral drug report trips in the simple spirit of erowid, shroomery, or the similar drugs-forum. We're not recreational, we are misdiagnosed/mistreated and want a normal place to discuss how to get healthy.


^I could ramble on all of this stuff. Hope this helpful for you. Hope you all are enjoying March Madness, my boys Michigan just got knocked out tonight, tough loss. Still more good basketball to be played. I am in my 8th month and doing well. Life pleasure increasing, cognitive fogginess decreasing, and body returning form. This is all so very gradual, almost too slow to notice. /rant

cheers!

 

[crOOk]

What I do not believe you are fully absorbing is the absurdity in casually prescribing this substance which OFTEN causes SEVERE side effects.

As I have explicitly stated before I think there is a lot wrong with the way psychotic states are handled by classical psychiatry, including the inflationary administration of neuroleptics. That however doesn't mean paliperidon is "useless" or "evil".

My son died after 6 shots. He said the room kept spinning, his gut hurt, burning sensation all over his body, his tongue swelled up, dry mouth, head felt like it was spilt open, shaking non stop, gained weight, couldn't move hands, couldn't breath, couldn't see, pain in both arms, heart going fast, sweating like crazy and alot more.

Sounds like malignant neuroleptic syndrome. People die off medication every day. Others have their life saved. It's a hard truth to swallow. Ibuprofen kills a shitload of people year by year.

My sister is so sick and can't move from this medicine. It is like she is paralized. I showed the psychiatrist this and he said he knows of the side effects. He acted like he didn't even care. What a ****! I am trying everything I can to get her off of this poison. She is so sick I think she is dying. She was full of energy and now there is nothing. She is screaming and crying every day. She seemed fine to me mentally but they keep injecting her. I hope it don't kill her.

So... Do you think there is a possibility that this doctor acted according to their best knowledge and conscience as they have sworn to do? Do you think it's possible that these are classical 'negative' symptoms many schizophrenic patients elicit or a full-blown catatonic episode? Neuroleptics don't treat negative symptoms very well and can even exacerbate them. However depending on how severe and long her last episode was it can make sense to keep her on neuroleptics for some time to prevent another episode. Keep in mind her sister is most definitely struggling very hard to accept her sister's illness and is in desperate need to find someone or something to blame, to make sense of the horrors her sister is going through.

Whether or not keeping her on the drug is the right way to go is up to both the patient and the doctor once the acute psychotic state has dissipated. Maybe the dose was too high if her negative symptoms/side effects were that bad. Many here may have just had drug induced psychosis or single manic/schizophrenic episode, but severe schizophrenia is a serious fucking illness. It's not just all in the head and a change of lifestyle or a changing attitude of society towards the sick will NOT fix the person. It's a fucking horrid disease. Everyone who has seen the damage it can do to a mind knows both the value of neuroleptics as well as their dark side, which as I've stated before becomes a lot more pronounced with increased dosage.

The negative symptoms are often misinterpreted as side effects when the drug is really just making that which is already there worse.

Sometimes a micro dose for a relatively short period of time will be the best solution. They are overprescribed. Drug psychosis should not be treated with neuroleptics to the same extent as schizophrenia. The time frame over which the pharmacotherapy should span is defined by guidelines, but the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy behind those time spans is not something everyone will agree to.

EDIT: Just wanted to mention that I know plenty of excellent psychiatrists who develop a treatment plan in cooperation with the patient and are aware that much lower doses can be needed than those used in the literature for maximum relief of positive symptoms. That's probably just because I live in one of the biggest German cities which has some very progressive institutions.
I have however known some sadistic psychopathic psychiatrists as well. There are a few who get some pleasure out of sticking a needle into a patient and hitting him with 50mg olanzapine. Like it's the case most jobs in which you can gain power of others, some pychopaths are drawn to the medical profession. That is part of why every patient should learn as much as he can about his illness, the pharmacotherapeutical options and the existing laws that protect him. The same goes for family members.
The torturous shit that has happened to some of you and a lot of people I hold dear has never happened to me because I know how to talk to those motherfuckers who will strap you to a bed and inject you with neuroleptics without even knowing your name or having made any serious attempt to talk to you. I have however never entirely lost my ability to form sentences during psychotic episodes which is a huge plus in those situations. :D