by Chaya Grossberg To voice experiences of oppression or inequality, there is sometimes an apparent need to speak in binaries or spectrums that might not be entirely fair or ultimately honest. Yet these binaries such as white/black, rich/poor, and male/female have cultural relevance and reality. My purpose in naming and discussing a binary isn’t to Read More
Author: Chaya
Why You Should Spend More Time Thinking About Seriousness
04/01/2014 by Chaya GrossbergAn anonymous opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal criticizes SAMHSA and the peer movement for focusing primarily on the “worried well” and neglecting those with serious mental disorders. I’m writing to tell you this distinction is vague and unfounded. There is no evidence base to support this supposedly clear distinction that the author Read More
The Two Choices Doctors Have For a Sane Person in a Mental Hospital
When I was 20, I faced involuntary outpatient commitment, which is an encrypted way of saying court ordered forced psychiatric drugging. My life had 2 possible paths before me. One was freedom to live my life and learn from my struggles and the other was mental health treatment. It was 2001 and I didn’t know much Read More
How do you Know if You’re Receiving Informed Consent?
03/17/2014 By Chaya GrossbergWhat is informed consent? Informed consent obviously means if you are being given drugs you should know the common and potential adverse affects, drug interactions, risk of dependency and addiction, and counter-indications with other substances, health conditions or health concerns. This is the baseline of informed consent (which many people don’t receive) Read More
Mood Disorder Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit
03/12/2014 by Chaya GrossbergI was at a meditation gathering of a specific Indian tradition last night where I happened to be the only female present. Disclaimer: the purpose of this is not to “genderalize” or specifically focus on gender differences, but rather to use socialization differences (which are not solid or permanent) as an example. I Read More
How To Be Paid Well For Following Your Bliss
02/26/2014 by Chaya GrossbergIf you are starting your own business, or have one, don’t demand the Universe pay you in money. The Universe WILL pay you when you follow your life mission, no question, but that payment can look like a wide variety of things: free stuff, free housing, luxurious travel gifted to you, money Read More
Bubbling up with the Essential
by Chaya Grossberg It may be due to my introversion and need for lots of quiet alone time to write. It may be that my childhood traumas messed me up. It could have something to do with how the psychiatric system robbed me of ages 20-22, ripping me out of college for awhile and isolating Read More
Do you think I should go on anti-depressants?
02/21/2014 by Chaya Grossberg This is a question I get a lot, so I thought I’d share my most recent response. There are many other answers and I invite you to share your in the comments below. Q: Do you think I should go on anti-depressants? I’m going through a really hard time. My Answer: Read More
Rock and Redeemer
02/17/2014 by Chaya GrossbergPeople have recently asked me if they could share my blogs on their social media pages. These are blogs I have on my website with social media sharing buttons underneath them and that I post on facebook, twitter, google plus and others on the public setting and post publicly in facebook groups Read More
14 Must Join Facebook Groups For Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs
02/10/2014 by Chaya Grossberg There are an abundance of Facebook groups that speak to those who are coming off psychiatric drugs or already have and are supporting each other. These groups are also for those who never took psychiatric drugs in the first place and need support and allies for that. They are places for Read More