From Harm
to Heard

Malissa Pistillo isn’t here to sugarcoat the journey.

She’s here to speak the truth — the kind of truth that cracks things open and calls people back to themselves as they heal. Her story is one of survival, awakening, and fierce reclamation. And it’s a story shared by millions.

Malissa’s Mission

The path back to herself

Malissa’s journey into the world of psychiatric drugs didn’t begin with a mental health diagnosis — it began with a physical injury.

Let the story unfold of how Malissa went from this....

to this

What should have been a path to recovery turned into a descent through misprescription, misinformation, and medical gaslighting.

She was given antidepressants that led her to benzodiazepines that slowly disconnected her from her body, her clarity, and her self-trust.

august 2018

The Blow That Changed Everything

Malissa was an amateur Muay Thai boxer in peak condition—until a training demonstration went wrong. Her coach’s elbow struck her full force, causing a concussion. What followed was a cascade of symptoms—disrupted sleep, instability, and a fractured sense of self. Like most people, she turned to her doctor for help.

december 2018

The Wrong Prescription

Instead of empathy, proper care & treatment, she was given two antidepressants: lexapro & trazodone—with no history of anxiety or depression, just a brain injury needing rest. Within weeks, she spiraled: akathisia, POTS, psychosis, swelling, bradycardia. Her doctor dismissed it as “all in her head” and increased the dose and told to stay on and push through as if everything was normal. She lost her smile.

I got Vestibular Neuritis, which is endless vertigo...

January 2020 - November 2020

Protracted Withdrawal Begins

After a rushed 4-month taper with almost no medical support, she stepped off—only to crash into Protracted Withdrawal Syndrome (PWS). Doctors misdiagnosed it as PTSD and handed her a new prescription: Xanax. At first, she held off on the prescription as her intuition told her not to take it. Then stress from PWS triggered vestibular neuritis, dismantling her equilibrium and hope.

November 2020 - January 2021

Kindling & Collapse

She took the benzo. Two months later, her doctor forced her off with a rapid 2-week taper. Then, with increased & new symptoms, she was told it was “escalated PTSD,” and advised to go back on. The stop–start pattern caused kindling—leading to tolerance withdrawal, mania, psychosis, rage, and dizziness.

The next suggestion? Ketamine IV treatment.

January 2021 - April 2021

The Unsafe Mix

Benzos and ketamine carry major safety conflicts and are rarely combined by reputable clinics. But in an unregulated system, they gave it to her anyway— this led to oversedation, then forced to cut her benzo dose by 50% practically overnight. That’s when her brain broke in entirely new ways.

april 2021 - november 2021

The Chemical Brain Injury

The result: severe chemical brain injury. Seven months of a rapid benzo taper destroyed her already-fragile nervous system. Symptoms were relentless: akathisia, suicidal ideation, jelly-legs, TMJ, mania, PTSD, panic, depression, vertigo—and dozens more.

“We have to use lab-grade scales to shave off fractions—because Big Pharma conveniently never made smaller, safer doses for tapering.”

November 2021 - Current

BIND & Survival Mode

When she swallowed her final dose, she expected freedom. Instead came BIND—Benzodiazepine-Induced Neurological Dysfunction. Her body collapsed: unable to walk, feed, or bathe herself, she had to be transported on a dolly just to leave the room. Spinal cord injury, ataxia, crushing weight gain, sensory hypersensitivity, and hallucinations turned life into pure survival. There are no photos from the first year—only memories of endurance. Over time, she fought her way from bedbound, to walker, to cane...

May 2023 - May 2025

Facing Herself

At rock bottom, there was nowhere left to hide. She confronted the traumas, self-abandonment, blind trust, and silences that had shaped her path. She felt every wave of pain and grief until her nervous system began to release. Stripped of illusions, she stood with only the truth.

Speaking Out & Healing

As of August 23, 2025, she’s 45 months into BIND—still bedridden, but healing. She’s rebuilding her nervous system layer by layer, listening to her body, and untangling deep trauma. She took her story to social media—not just to expose a silenced truth, but to guide others back to their voice, their power, and themselves.

Holding space for what’s real

With years of lived experience navigating benzo and antidepressant withdrawal — alongside formal training — Malissa offers support rooted in clarity and compassion. She meets people where they are—holding space as a soundboard, naming the unspeakable, helping them understand how they got here, guiding somatic practices, and helping them find their intuition again. Her work helps others question false narratives, reconnect with their inner knowing, and take the first steps toward autonomy and healing.

Her presence is raw, grounded, and radically honest — because that’s what this moment calls for.

Only those who have walked this path, can understand it.

This platform isn’t about self-promotion.

It’s about collective transformation. Malissa is here to guide, to amplify, and to name what needs naming — with zero gaslighting and full-hearted care.

This is a space that centers survivors, not systems. A place where your voice matters more than their diagnosis.

See the Resources

From Harmto Heard

Malissa Pistillo isn’t here to sugarcoat the journey.

The path back to herself

Holding space for what’s real

This is a space that centers survivors, not systems. A place where your voice matters more than their diagnosis.

From Harm
to Heard