Psychiatry: The Dark Side

Psychiatric Bible (DSM-IV) Undergoes Revisions

2008-12-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

Are you in doubt as to what is or isn’t a mental disease? Evidently, so are the psychiatrists. They’re in the process of editing—and expanding—their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, yet again.

Read “Psychiatrists Revise the Book of Human Troubles,” and you will see how “disorders” are judged. Psychiatrists bring up the symptoms and discuss whether or not that condition (excessive nose picking, or chronic lateness—not kidding) qualifies as a disorder. There are “political, social and financial” influences.”

And this is why “parity” just doesn’t work. If someone has a case of measles, there’s no doubt about it. The evidence is right there on the body. Broken bones, same. Bacterial infections, same. No one votes on it. Research, yes. Observation, sure. But it isn’t just “opinion.”

As the leading historian of psychiatry, Edward Shorter, phrased it: “What you have in the end is this process of sorting the deck of symptoms into syndromes, and the outcome all depends on how the cards fall.”

—Based on an article by Benedict Carey, “Psychiatrists Revise the Book of Human Troubles,” December 17, 2008, nytimes.com

Chinese Whistle-blowers Sent to Mental Hospital

2008-12-11T16:25:00.000-08:00

Evidentally the Chinese feel that being locked up in a mental ward is suitable punishment for speaking one's mind. Guess they have a low opinion of psychiatry too, since they're equating their hospitals with prisons. Once these people are diagnosed, they lose their legal rights. And so much for human rights.

—"Whistle-blowers in Chinese City sent to Mental Hospital," by Andrew Jacobs, December 8, 2008, nytimes.com

Healthy Alternatives for A Change

2008-12-01T15:11:00.000-08:00

Natural News is a site about natural foods, natural health treatments and anything else that is part of a “natural” lifestyle. This section on psychiatric drugs offers non-drug solutions, articles exposing psychiatry’s myths and shortcomings, and helpful resources.

http://www.naturalnews.com/psychiatric_drug.html

The Perils of Psychiatric Care

2008-11-26T15:44:00.000-08:00

An investigation into a chain of psychiatric hospitals—ironically named Psychiatric Solutions, Inc.—uncovers negligent care that put patients at risk and, in some cases, even caused their deaths.

“When Steven Burton, 55, checked in for treatment of alcohol abuse and depression in February, he complained of chest pains. The intake nurse didn't notify a doctor because, as she later told regulators, ‘he didn't look sick.’"

—“Psychiatric care's peril and profits”, by Christina Jewett and Robin Fields, ProPublica Staff Writers, November 23, 2008

Psych Hospital Fined for Prescription Error

2008-11-14T12:39:00.000-08:00

"A Sacramento psychiatric hospital that gave a patient 10 times the suggested dose of the wrong medicine was fined $25,000 Thursday, joining one other psychiatric institution and nine hospitals facing penalties statewide."

—"Sacramento psychiatric hospital fined $25,000 for medication error," by Christina Jewett, March 21, 2008

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/802336.html

Too Many Kids on Meds?

2008-10-27T13:06:00.000-07:00

You bet! See the experts (psychiatric, medical and legal) discuss this important subject.

In their words there is/are NO:

—studies that show brain abnormalities
—scientific evidence
—biological markers
—illness
—disease

A “depressed” child may be physically ill. A fidgety “ADD” child probably has a study problem. Don’t let anyone talk you into putting your kids on psychiatric drugs without finding out ALL of the dangers and alternative treatments. Children are a parent’s responsibility and you’re their first line of defense.

YouTube videos from “Your Turn” with Kathy Fountain, Fox 13

Psychology Debunked

2008-10-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

Although the media leads you to believe that the only people protesting psychiatry are Scientologists, opponents come from all religious and ethnic backgrounds.

PsychologyDebunked.com—run by Lisa Bazler, an experienced counselor and family therapist, and her husband, Ryan Bazler, an electrical engineer—is a site with a Christian viewpoint. Psychology Debunked is also the title of their book.

Here's the site’s summary of the current situation with psychiatry and the general public.

Psych Drug Companies Added to “Sin Stocks” List

2008-10-12T07:21:00.000-07:00

If you’re an investor who avoids companies that are unethical or produce questionable or harmful products, i.e. tobacco or pornography, (what have become known as Sin Stocks) check out this article by John Carey. Since antidepressants and anti-psychotics have such serious side-effects (often the same symptoms as they are supposed to cure!) people need to know more about them. As conscientious investors, you should look elsewhere to spend your hard-earned dollars.

www.americanchronicle.com/articles/72162

Psychiatrists Investigated for Under Reporting Drug Money

2008-10-11T13:37:00.000-07:00

A Congressional inquiry, led by Senator Charles E. Grassley, disclosed the following:

Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff (Emory University) earned more than $2.8 million in drug company fees but neglected to report $1.2 million to the university.

Dr. Melissa P. DelBello (University of Cincinnati) said she earned about $100,000 from drug makers, but one company paid her $238,000.

Dr. Joseph Biederman and Dr. Timothy E. Wilens claimed to have earned hundreds of thousands when both earned at least $1.6 million.

—“Top Psychiatrist Didn’t Report Drug Makers’ Pay”, by Gardiner Harris, New York Times, October 3, 2008

Starting Up Again

2008-10-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had dropped this blog when we were moving cross-country, putting on a show and starting a new business. But thanks to a new friend (Marvin D. Wilson, http://inspiritandtruths.blogspot.com/) I’m reviving it.

To begin with, a reminder: This blog never insults or degrades people with emotional problems who are seeking help. It’s the practitioners (and only those individuals) who betray the people they promise to help by offering false hope, ineffective procedures, dangerous drugs and barbaric practices (like ECT and lobotomies) who are the intended target of my verbal bows and arrows.

Getting help is a positive step. Ensuring that the people offering this help are not, instead, harming others is the goal of this blog. Ask questions. Do your research. Contact your legislators. And, if necessary, file complaints. If you think that psychiatry is benefiting you, or that you are feeling better from the drugs, that is your personal experience and that is valid. (Although I would still suggest checking out natural supplements instead of drugs, and reading some of the books mentioned here.)

Stand by for more…and thanks for stopping by.

A Plea for Change: No More Abuse

2007-08-05T06:58:00.000-07:00

The confidential forum reported to Parliament about psychiatric abuse. It is timely for the health select committee to have a good look at the report.

A considerable number of people have spoken of extensive maltreatment with electro convulsive shocks without anaesthetics; insulin maltreatment to make them convulsive; deep sleep; significant periods of time in seclusion; and heavy drug regimes with medicines such as Largactil and Paraldehyde.

Paraldehyde is a torture drug, very painful when injected into the muscle. If you put Paraldehyde in a plastic syringe, the syringe will melt.
...
The laws have to change so this can never happen again. The Mental Health Act 1992 is open to abuse. Section 59 and section 60 give doctors the right to use electro convulsive shock treatment despite a patient's refusal. Section 122 excuses doctors from criminal responsibility if they act in good faith.

Nothing has changed, it is still going on right now.

Lots of money is given for mental health. All that money is going in the wrong direction, to the drug companies, and more is spent on torture devices. It has to stop.

—Call for change, Letter to the Editor, by Anna de Jonge, Patients rights advocate, Hamilton, Waikato Times, July 6 2007

Note: I usually don't use such a long quote but I'm trying to assist this cause. Why is it taking the psychiatric community so long to clean up its act? This is an international issue we all need to be aware of.

Psych Abuse in New Zealand

2007-08-05T06:34:00.000-07:00

A group of almost 500 former patients have made claims of abuse in New Zealand's psychatric hospitals during the period from 1940 to 1992. Complaints range from overcrowding and overmedication to physical and sexual violence, and the use of ECT (electro-convulsive therapy or shock treatments) on pregnant women—without medication—as punishment.

—The Timaru Herald, June 29 2007, "Damning report on mental health care," posted on www.peterellis.org.nz/Institutions/Psychiatric/index.htm

Note: It's 2007 —fifteen years since the date of the last complaint in the case—and people are "calling for change." Why do they even have to ask for it?

Manipulating Data, Endangering Lives for Profit

2007-07-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

"Washington, DC: In a June 27, 2007 press release that made headlines all over the world the US Centers for Disease Control announced that birth defects associated with the use of antidepressants by pregnant women are rare. As proof for this claim, the CDC cited two new studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
...
"The public needs to know that the CDC study was funded in part by GlaxoSmithKline, the maker of Paxil, which carries the strongest FDA warnings about birth defects developing in infants exposed to the drug in the womb."

—by Evelyn Pringle, "CDC Leads SSRI* Disinformation Media Blitz, Juy 20, 2007, www.lawyersandsettlements.com

SSRI: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a class of antidepressants

Psychiatrists Top List in Drug Maker Gifts

2007-06-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

"As states begin to require that drug companies disclose their payments to doctors for lectures and other services, a pattern has emerged: psychiatrists earn more money from drug makers than doctors in any other specialty.

...the more psychiatrists have earned from drug makers, the more they have prescribed a new class of powerful medicines known as atypical antipsychotics to children, for whom the drugs are especially risky and mostly unapproved."

—by Gardiner Harris, "Psychiatrists Top List in Drug Maker Gifts," June 27, 2007, The New York Times

Doctor Says Psychiatrist is Responsible for Child's Death

2007-06-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

[Note: Neither Dr. Biederman nor the child's psychiatrist have been charged with anything. The responsibility aspect refers to the practice of prescribing multiple strong psychiatric drugs—including some not approved for children—to a young child. Also, Dr. Biederman has received research funding from 15 drug companies and serves as a paid speaker or adviser to seven of them, including Eli Lilly.]

This doctor deserves an acknowledgment for his courage. Thank you, Dr. Diller!

"As a doctor, I did the nearly unthinkable at a recent conference on bipoloar disorder in children. I charged another doctor with moral responsibility in the death last December of Rebecca Riley, a 4-year-old girl from Hull. Naming names in medicine is just not done very often — and I knew the personal and professional risks I was taking. Yet I felt compelled to name Joseph Biederman, head of the Massachusetts General Hospital's Pediatric Psychopharmacology clinic, as morally culpable in providing the "science" that allowed Rebecca to die.
...
"Finally, it's sad but true — the field of child psychiatry is afraid of Biederman....academic researchers in child psychiatry risk losing their funding if they criticize this darling of the pharmaceutical industry, which provides most of the money these days for psychiatric research."

—by Dr. Lawrence Diller, "Misguided Standards of Care," June 19, 2007, The Boston Globe, boston.com

Dr. Lawrence Diller practices behavioral/developmental pediatrics in Walnut Creek, Calif., and is the author of "The Last Normal Child: Essays on the Intersection of Kids, Culture and Psychiatric Drugs."

Antidepressant's Role in School Shootings

2007-05-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

In this post, Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, author and executive director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness talks about the link between antidepressants and violence. She says, "It's happening daily in this country. It's so massive, it's just unreal. We've got so many school shootings now, I can't even begin to keep up with them all. And the reason is so incredibly obvious. You don't have to look at much to figure it out."

Well, it seems that some people, including politicians and the medical profession, are slow to connect the dots. So to help them fill in the blanks, there are hundreds of cases listed on the coalition's web site, www.drugawareness.org. Check it out.

—data taken from, "Role of antidepressants in killings needs review," By Ty Phillips, Modesto Bee, www.modbee.com, April 30, 2007, 03:23:08 AM PDT

The Drugs Don't Work, Psychiatrists Say

2007-05-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

Dr. Michael Corry, a consultant psychiatrist, said, "The psychiatric world has to be cleaned up - it's appalling." He said people taking Zyprexa and Seroxat get "totally overwhelmed by a sense of disinhibition, and they literally feel they can't go on, and they kill themselves."

A report from the National Parliament of Ireland (Oireachtas) stated that "the influence of the pharmaceutical industry is unhealthy" and that some drugs "were of doubtful benefit" and "where side effects are well known, they seem not to be appreciated or are ignored by prescribers".

—Data taken from The Sunday Independent (Ireland), "The drugs don't work, warn top psychiatrists," by Tom Prendeville

Drug $$ Influences Psychiatrists' Prescriptions

2007-05-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

"From 2000 to 2005, drug maker payments to Minnesota psychiatrists rose more than sixfold, to $1.6 million. During those same years, prescriptions of antipsychotics for children in Minnesota’s Medicaid program rose more than ninefold."

Dr. Steven E. Hyman, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health and Harvard University provost said, There’s an irony that psychiatrists ask patients to have insights into themselves, but we don’t connect the wires in our own lives about how money is affecting our profession and putting our patients at risk."

—Data taken from, "Psychiatrists, Children and Drug Industry’s Role," By Gardiner Harris, Benedict Carey and Janet Roberts, May 10, 2007

The Common Link

2007-04-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

There has been a furious and heated debate over the cause of school violence. The media points a finger at violent video games. But most people who play these games don't commit violence. Others say it's the lack of discipline and guidance from parents. Sure that has an effect on kids, but that still doesn't turn them into killers. Then, there are those who blame guns, so we get into gun control issues.

But in all these school shootings there is one common link that gets touched on, then glanced over: psychiatric drugs like Ritalin and Prozac.

Almost all of the shooters (and if you read the various news stories this will back me up) had taken, or been on, psychiatric drugs around the time of the killings. Note: None of them killed before taking these drugs.

Can I say definitively that the drugs were the sole cause of the killings? No. These were troubled teens to begin with. But the drugs—which have side-effects of violent or suicidal tendencies—certainly pushed them over the edge.

I don't think any children should be put on these drugs. Previous generations survived without them, and they endured wars, the Depression and other horrific events. When you give potent side-effect laden drugs to emotionally disturbed children, it adds the fuse to the bomb.

We'll never know if these teens would have killed if they hadn't been on these drugs. But let's not take a chance on this happening again. Watch the video from Fox News and fight to keep kids off drugs.

Fox National News exposes the link between psychiatric drugs and school shootings:
Click here to watch 3 min. video

Naughty Kids Need Discipline Not Drugs

2007-04-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

"Official figures from the Department of Health show that more than 1,000 prescriptions for powerful drugs are doled out every day to treat behavioural disorders in children. GPs prescribed drugs such as Ritalin, known as the "chemical cosh*", on 384,000 occasions last year - a fourfold increase since 1997. An estimated 32,000 children are being drugged every day, at a cost to the NHS of £13.5million a year.

"So far, so bad. But I also learn that drug companies secretly fund support groups for parents of kids diagnosed with behavioural problems. In other words, they are fueling this Ritalin bonanza - despite evidence linking their very profitable drugs to sudden deaths and heart problems."

—Naughty Kids Need Discipline Not Drugs, Paul Routledge, Sunday Mirror, 17 November 2006

*a heavy stick or bar used as a weapon

Another School Massacre Linked to Antidepressants

2007-04-18T16:01:00.000-07:00

Why-oh-why is the government still supporting psychiatric programs in the schools? Why isn't the public at large in an uproar about kids being given drugs like Prozac and Ritalin? The side-effects of these drugs are dangerous, and often—deadly. Why are psychiatrists still being called in to "help" when they clearly fail time and again, finally resorting to drugs. And the cycle goes on.

Let Cho Seung-Hui be the last of these deadly killers. Protect your children. Tell your government to stop funding psychiatric programs!

Whom Do You Trust? Obviously Not Psychiatrists

2007-04-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

That's the conclusion of the most recent annual Gallup poll—as posted on the APA's own web site.

"Only 38 percent of Americans believe that psychiatrists adhere to 'high' or 'very high' ethical standards..."

"...the majority of respondents rated psychiatrists' honesty and ethical standards as 'average' (42 percent) or 'low' or 'very low' (12 percent)."

—Data from Psychiatry News March 2, 2007, Volume 42, Number 5, page 18, Eve Bender, "Public Has Trust Issues With Psychiatrists, Survey Finds"

Bloggus Interruptus

2007-04-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the long interruption but we moved our home and business cross-country. An extensive escrow (with everything packed), and setup delays at this end, caused total backup. I'll try to make up for lost time. :)

A Tragic Death of a Child

2007-02-18T19:49:00.000-08:00

Michael and Carolyn Riley were charged with deliberately poisoning their 4-year-old daughter, Rebecca, in order to sedate her. The child was found dead on their bedroom floor, of a drug overdose. Her psychiatrist is on a voluntary leave until the case resolves.

Rebecca had been diagnosed with ADD and bipolar disorder when she was only 2 years-old, and was prescribed several powerful drugs, including Risperdal.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, professor of psychiatry at Boston University, had this to say about the increasing number of children being labeled as bipolar: "The diagnosis is made with no understanding of the context of their life. Then they're put on these devastating medications and condemned to a life as a psychiatry patient."

[Data from an article by Benedict Carey, "Debate Over Children and Psychiatric Drugs", February 15, 2007, nytimes.com]

Liberty Coalition Exposes TeenScreen Documents

2007-02-03T17:45:00.000-08:00

Urgent note to parents: To see exactly what your children are being exposed to and screened for, visit the Liberty Coalition web site. There are links for you to download or view the Diagnostic Predictive Scales (DPS) and the Columbia Health Screen (CHS).

Before long all children will be screened unless we take steps to stop this now. Read the documents and sign the petition to end TeenScreen!