by Pat
(Midwest)
My son went to a ten day silent meditation course. Ten days of complete silence and long term meditation all day every day. When he got back he became euphoric and then as he 'came down' from that state he experienced some jumbled thoughts (not hallucinations) it seemed to be an episode like someone with bipolar disorder might have. He had also very recently returned from six months in Asia (so culture shock and time zone) and mid 'episode' additional travel and a major disruption in sleep. He is very healthy. Practices yoga and does not do drugs or alcohol . Would you assume a bipolar diagnosis based on these facts and prescribe medication? Up until now he had had a few issues with relatively mild depression - nothing manic or irrational and he has been fine since. The psychiatrist PA seeing him seems hell bent on a BPD diagnosis and Abilify. Seems premature. Couldn't that meditation course have triggered something that does NOT necessarily mean he has BPD?
Thanks for your excellent website.
Ben's reply:
This is a scenario I have seen before... sort of the perfect storm. The mainstream approach to mental illness treats it like it is an infectious disease that you just catch and then need to be medicated for - perhaps for the rest of