The recent publicity surrounding the Justina Pelletier case has focused attention, not only on the spurious and arbitrary nature of psychiatric diagnoses, but also on the legitimacy and appropriateness of mental health commitments. It is being widely asserted that these archaic statutes are fundamentally incompatible with current civil rights standards, and the question “should mental… Continue Reading
Robert Whitaker Refutes Jeffrey Lieberman; But Is Psychiatry Reformable?
INTRODUCTION On May 5, 2017, Donald Goff, MD and seven other psychiatrists, including the very eminent Jeffery Lieberman, MD, published an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. The title is: The Long-Term Effects of Antipsychotic Medication on Clinical Course in Schizophrenia. Here’s the abstract: “Concerns have been raised that treatment with antipsychotic medication might… Continue Reading
Nassir Ghaemi and The Psychological Fallacy
INTRODUCTION On August 8, 2013, the eminent psychiatrist Nassir Ghaemi, MD, MPH, published an article on Medscape. The title of the piece is The Psychological Fallacy in Psychiatry. The article is almost four years old. Ordinarily I don’t discuss material this dated, but the content of this article is particularly important, and worthy of discussion,… Continue Reading
Beyond Survival
Recently I came across a remarkable article From surviving to thriving: how does that happen. The authors are Mark Bertram and Sarah McDonald, and the piece was published in The Journal of Mental Health Training, Education and Practice, Vol 10, Iss 5, 2015. The work was conducted in the vocational service department of a large… Continue Reading
Where Do We Go From Here?
At the risk of stating the obvious, the anti-psychiatry movement is rapidly gaining momentum. We are attracting an increasing number of supporters, and our message is being picked up increasingly by the mainstream media. We have won the intellectual and moral battles hands down. We have demonstrated again and again that psychiatry is intellectually and… Continue Reading
SSRIs: Minimal Effectiveness and High Risk
Last month (February 2017), the journal BMC Psychiatry published a study by James Christian Jakobsen et al. The study is titled Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors versus placebo in patients with major depressive disorder. A systematic review with meta-analysis and Trial Sequential Analysis. The research was a meta-analysis – i.e. it combined the findings from several earlier studies. … Continue Reading
More on the Biological Evidence for “Mental Illness”
On January 10, 2017, I put up a post titled The Biological Evidence for “Mental Illness”. It was published simultaneously on Mad in America. The post was a response to an earlier comment from Carolina Partners in Mental Healthcare PLLC, which included the assertion “mental illnesses have a long history of biological evidence.” In my… Continue Reading
Psychiatry Interrogated, (ed. Bonnie Burstow), Palgrave Macmillan: A Book Review
I have recently read Psychiatry Interrogated, subtitled “An Institutional Ethnography Anthology”. Ethnography is the branch of anthropology that deals with the systematic study of individual cultures. Institutional ethnography (IE), according to Wikipedia, is “a method of social research [that]… explores the social relations that structure people’s everyday lives, specifically by looking at the ways that… Continue Reading
Mental Health First Aid: Another Psychiatric Expansionist Tool
On December 25, 2016, the Baltimore Sun published an excellent article titled Drug companies prey on children, by Patrick D. Hahn, PhD. Dr. Hahn is an affiliate professor of biology at Loyola University, Maryland. Here are some quotes: “I recently attended Youth Mental Health First Aid Training at a local public school. It was an… Continue Reading
Book Review: The Power of the Double Circle
I have recently read The Power of the Double Circle by Philip Springer, MD, and Shelby Havens, DNP. It’s a small book (91 pages), but it sets out an idea that might have some value in support/self-help and other kinds of groups. Dr. Springer is a retired psychiatrist, and Dr. Havens is a psychiatric nurse… Continue Reading
Allen Frances and the “Overdiagnosing” of Children
On October 31, 2016, the very eminent psychiatrist Allen Frances, MD, architect of DSM-IV, published an article on his Psychology Today blog, Saving Normal. The article is titled DSM-5 Diagnoses In Kids Should Always Be Written In Pencil. (The piece also appeared on the Huffington Post Blog on the same date.) The subheading is “Mislabelling… Continue Reading
Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the President-Elect
CLARIFICATION This post is a critique of psychiatry’s spurious personality disorder diagnoses. It is neither a defense, nor a condemnation, of Mr. Trump. In my view, it is right and proper that we the people should comment freely on, and criticize, our political leaders, as we deem appropriate. But assigning spurious psychiatric labels is problematic… Continue Reading
The Biological Evidence for “Mental Illness”
On January 2, 2017, I published a short post titled Carrie Fisher Dead at Age 60 on Behaviorism and Mental Health. The article was published simultaneously on Mad in America. On January 4, a response from Carolina Partners was entered into the comments string on both sites. Carolina Partners in Mental Healthcare, PLLC, is a… Continue Reading
Carrie Fisher, Dead at Age 60
Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27, 2016, at the early age of 60. In a 2001 article on Healthy Place, she was described as “Perhaps one of manic-depression’s best-known champions…” Here’s another quote from the same article: “I’m fine, but I’m bipolar. I’m on seven medications, and I take medication three times a day…. Continue Reading
My Response to a Defender of Psychiatry
On October 13, an interesting article was published on the Huffington Post Blog. The author is Jessica Gold, MD, a psychiatry resident at Stanford University; the post is titled Inpatient Psychiatry: Not all Needles, Drugs And Locks. The article is a personal experience/opinion piece, the gist of which is that people who criticize or condemn… Continue Reading
Murphy Bill Being Sneaked Into House Legislation
This morning I received an email from Oldhead, who has been active in opposing the Murphy Bill. Here are two quotes from the email: “As succinctly as possible — the main language from MURPHY (including AOT funding) has been consolidated with another bill, the 21ST CENTURY CURES bill, which is being introduced as a House… Continue Reading
Neuroleptic Drugs, Akathisia, and Suicide and Violence
Thirty-three years ago, in August 1983, an article titled Suicide Associated with Akathisia and Depot Fluphenazine Treatment appeared in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. The authors were Katherine Shear, MD, Allen Frances, MD, and Peter Weiden, MD. Here are some quotes, interspersed with my comments/observations: “Akathisia is a common and distressing side effect of neuroleptic… Continue Reading
A Bill to Explore the Relationship Between Veteran Suicides and Prescription Medication
On September 28, US Senator John McCain (R-AZ) introduced a bill in the Senate titled Veteran Overmedication Prevention Act (S. 3410). This is a companion bill to HR 4640, Veteran Suicide Prevention Act introduced in the House by Congressman David Jolly (R-FL) earlier this year. The objective of both bills is to combat suicide deaths… Continue Reading
ADHD: A Destructive Psychiatric Hoax
INTRODUCTION Earlier this year, Alan Schwarz, an investigative reporter for the New York Times, published his latest book: ADHD Nation. The blurb on the jacket states: “More than 1 in 7 American children get diagnosed with ADHD—three times what experts have said is appropriate—meaning that millions of kids are misdiagnosed and taking medications such as… Continue Reading
The Bonnie Burstow Scholarship in Antipsychiatry
Bonnie Burstow, PhD, is a faculty member at the University of Toronto, and an antipsychiatry activist. She writes about topics that include institutional ruling, resistance, and social change. On October 7, 2016, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto announced that they had established a scholarship for students doing theses… Continue Reading
The Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 (SB 2680) Would Be a Huge Step Backwards
On July 6, HB 2646 (the Tim Murphy Bill) passed the US House and was sent to the Senate. At the present time, a related bill is working its way through the Senate. This is SB 2680, The Mental Health Reform Act 2016. It is sponsored by Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bill Cassidy… Continue Reading
Psychiatric Ethics
On June 9, 2016, the very eminent psychiatrist Allen Frances, MD, published an article on the Huffington Post Blog. The piece was titled Trump Is Breaking Bad, Not Clinically Mad. The gist of the article was that, although the Republican presidential candidate has many flaws, he does not have a mental disorder. Here are some… Continue Reading
A Diluted Murphy Bill Clears the House and Goes to the Senate
INTRODUCTION On Wednesday, July 6, the US House of Representatives passed a watered down version of HB 2646, the so-called Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act. The bill, which is now a House Resolution, is usually referred to as the Tim Murphy bill, after its principle author, Representative Tim Murphy, PhD, who is also… Continue Reading
Bad News on the Doorstep: Psychologists Prescribing Drugs
[Note: In this post, “APA” refers to the American Psychological Association] There is an article in the current (July/August) issue of The National Psychologist titled “Iowa becomes 4th state to approve RxP”. The author is James Bradshaw, Associate Editor. RxP is a commonly used abbreviation for prescription authority for psychologists. Here are some quotes from… Continue Reading
Non-psychiatrists Working in the Mental Health System
I know from my own experience and from emails I receive from readers that a great many non-psychiatrists who work in the mental health system have seen through the psychiatric hoax. These individuals, who are growing in number, realize that the problems for which clients seek help are not illnesses in any meaningful sense of… Continue Reading
“The Overdiagnosis of ADHD”
INTRODUCTION On May 23, the very eminent psychiatrist Allen Frances, MD, published on the HuffPost blog an article titled Conclusive Proof ADHD is Overdiagnosed. The general theme, that various “mental illnesses” are being “overdiagnosed” is gaining popularity in recent years among some psychiatrists, presumably in an effort to distance themselves from the trend of psychiatric-drugs-on-demand-for-every-conceivable-human-problem… Continue Reading
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