This sound bite from Alxv:

I tried to stop taking one of my meds and after 2 weeks I was in hell again. So yes, I need my meds no matter how much therapy I do.

As a useful counterpoint, Alfredo points out:

If we have an alcoholic partner who is giving us hell at home no medication in the world will work. Similarly when life is stable with less problems and more fun we can then reduce medication easily. Medication is not a substitute for a good and clean life. Unfortunately it is because our life is so chaotic and messed up that we need to rely on medication.

And from Tabby:

Overall, looking back over my life of many many years... I've had years and years on meds and I've had years and years off meds. I see very little to no difference. I struggle and suffer with the debilitating effects and affects of my mental illness. Yet, I keep getting up when my mind shouts lay down and die, and I keep stepping forward though more and more stumbling and falling face down. Still, I get back up.

What we are seeing here is a balanced dialogue. Knock on any blog and what you tend to encounter, instead, us one-sided monologue. People who take meds tend to be marginalized in our own community, made to feel like drug addicts, told that if they only practiced mindfulness or some other flavor-of-the-month recovery tool they would not need meds. Who knows how many in our community have dealt with the disastrous consequences of a bad choice (namely going off meds) due to antipsychiatry, well-meaning recovery advocates, or peer pressure? I’ve certainly seen enough examples in the real world.

So thank you very much, Fab Four - SweetLynnie, Kad, Cretin, and Alxv - for standing up for yourselves and injecting reality into the conversation. Yes, we’re all into recovery and various non-meds things we can do for ourselves, but what many of us tend to forget is that for nearly all of us recovery is a non-starter without meds.