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Leading clinical
psychologist describes feelings of "helplessness" and
"uncontrolled weeping" after taking neuroleptic
February
1, 2004
A
leading clinical psychologist has described his experience of taking
a neuroleptic medication as part of a clinical trial.
Richard
Bentall, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Manchester,
told the New Scientist magazine how he experienced the symptoms
of akathisia, and became agitated and depressed.
Bentall,
one of clinical psychology's most outspoken critics of psychiatry's
medical model, took 5mgs of the droperidol neuroleptic. He was one
of the subjects in a study organised by David Healy, professor of
psychological medicine at the North Wales Hospital in Bangor.
Dr Bentall, a leading proponent of cognitive behavioural therapy
in the treatment of psychosis, explained to the magazine: "I
felt lethargic and sedated...I
felt a sense of depression and hopelessness but also an inner sense
of restlessness and agitation. It was a combined wanting to do something
and not being able to.
"I
had to do these neuropsychological tests, and it was embarrassing,
but I burst into tears halfway through. I started weeping uncontrollably,
so much so that I was given an anticholinergic drug as an antidote
and David took me out to get some fresh air.
"I
suddenly felt I had to tell him about all the things I had ever
felt guilty about. Then I went back and fell asleep for three hours.
I woke up with a woozy hangover, like there was a glass wall between
me and the world and that lasted for about a week after a single
dose."
In
the interview Bentall also spoke with candour about his own experience
of depression.
"In
the space of a few years in my late twenties, my father was killed
in a car smash, I got divorced, my brother Andrew committed suicide
and I became depressed.
"People
are nervous about the influence of the family: a psychologist once
told me my research was dangerous, that I was reviving the idea
that families cause psychosis. The thing is, getting from one end
of your life to the other is about negotiating a series of obstacles.Some
find it more difficult than others. I wanted to get away from the
idea that we are a professional elite who have all the answers.
It's not how I feel.
"And
to some extent I talk about my own experiences as an illustration
of that. But it's deeply difficult to talk about. As I talk I feel
this emotional knot."
See:
The
full New Scientist article
What
Bentall thinks about the role of cognitive behavioural therapy in
the book, 'Raising Our Voices'
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