Hey! Interesting forum. I’ll visit it from time to time. If I decide to sign up, I’ll leave my username here. Thanks for sharing.

According to the book “Anatomy of an Epidemic” SSRIs (antidepressants) improve patient symptoms slightly in the short term compared to those who are not medicated. However, in the long term:

1. They do not solve the problem of anxiety/depression at the symptomatic level.

2. They hinder the patient’s recovery and turn them into a chronic depressive or anxious individual.

In my experience, since I started taking SSRIs, I have been having more panic attacks, even though initially, about 5 years ago, they seemed to improve my symptoms of social anxiety and sadness.

Check this out: https://robertwhitakerbooks.com/anatomy-of-an-epidemic/antidepressantsdepression/

At the moment, I am still reading “Amadeo Bordiga in the Italian Communist Party” by Agustín Guillamón. Additionally, I have started “Anatomy of an Epidemic” by Robert Whitaker, which critiques the solutions that current psychiatry proposes in Western societies; it specifically focuses on the United States.

Now I am reading ‘Amadeo Bordiga in the Italian Communist Party’ by Agustín Guillamón. I recently finished ‘What Is to Be Done?’ by Lenin.

Try “El túnel” by Ernesto Sabato. As far as I remember, it doesn’t have a very complex vocabulary. However, the story it tells has a message that can be analyzed from somewhat more complex perspectives.

Hey! Cheer up, man, little by little you’ll get better. And I know it’s hard to do, but try not to worry so much about what others think. It’s a small piece of advice that, in some way, has worked for me.

Good song. I like it. Now I’m listening to the full album and it is very good. I love their influences.

Although I still have material to read, my current thought is the following: Trotsky was closer to the Mensheviks than to the Bolshevik faction; or if you prefer, his approach was situated somewhere between both currents. If he joined the Bolshevik faction, it was out of pure pragmatism.

If you read Lenin in ‘What Is to Be Done?’ or ‘The State and Revolution,’ you will see how he criticizes the Russian social democrats of that time, from the opportunist branch (referring among others to the Mensheviks and similar), for wanting to collaborate with the government and divert the proletariat from the path of revolution. Stalin does nothing more than follow the path started by Lenin.

Hence, the ‘orthodox’ thought of Marxism sees Trotsky as a revisionist/reformist.

I would just like to remind you of the following sentence from Karl Marx: ‘The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution.’

The material conditions of capitalism will evolve towards a state in which the contradictions between classes are reflected with high intensity. The middle classes tend to proletarianization, due to the concentration of capital in the hands of a few bourgeois and to competitiveness. We must create class consciousness so that when the time comes, if we have done a good job, we can reap the fruits and finally establish socialism. This means pointing out the causes and origins of injustices, always proposing a political solution.

I also think that I don’t have schizophrenia. When I was diagnosed, I was scared. I was afraid because I have always been an activist; with everything I’ve seen about police brutality, I thought it would happen to me. I thought I was being pursued by the police forces. I believe that paranoia is somewhat logical. On the other hand, I think my negative symptoms are more a consequence of my anxiety and depression. Since I was a child, around 13 or 14 years old, I have had social anxiety and a tendency towards sadness. I don’t believe that at 13 I was already sick with schizophrenia. I have never had hallucinations (neither auditory nor visual). Just “logical” paranoia and self-referential thoughts (which could be caused by social phobia). The issue is that since I started taking antipsychotics, I began to notice symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome. What makes me doubt is that there are people who have “denial of illness” and have a worse prognosis; I hope I am not one of those people. Nevertheless, I follow my treatment to the letter. Now I am fine; the only thing that makes it difficult for me to lead a normal daily life is the irritable bowel syndrome. From here, I want to send encouragement to all of you who are in the same situation. We will get through this with struggle, I am sure. A hug.

PS: I apologize if my message contains any errors. My native language is Spanish. This message is written with the help of an AI for accurate translation.

Me too. I started smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol until I got sick with schizophrenia; it was then that I had to stop using cannabis. Now I occasionally drink beer; but above all, I consume a lot of caffeine, in my case in the form of energy drinks.

I have read “The State and Revolution.” Now I am reading “What Is to Be Done?” Both books by Lenin.

I read in Spanish because it is the language I am most proficient in. Sometimes, I also read in Catalan.

Right now I am reading “Hegemony and Socialist Strategy” by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Just a few days ago, I finished the book “Workers’ Councils” by Anton Pannekoek (5/5).