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
The Chemical Imbalance Theory. Dr. Pies Returns, Again
On April 30, 2019, the very eminent and learned psychiatrist Ronald Pies, MD, published a piece in Psychiatric Times titled Debunking the Two Chemical Imbalance Myths, Again. Here’s the opening paragraph: “Like the legendary Count Dracula, who could be killed only by driving a stake through his heart, some myths seem almost immortal. For more… Continue Reading
In Defense of Anti-psychiatry
On August 19, 2018, an article titled The Reality of Mental Illness was published on Psychology Today. The authors were Ronald Pies, MD, and Mark Ruffalo, LCSW. Dr. Pies is a professor of psychiatry at Tufts and at SUNY. Professor Ruffalo has a private psychotherapy practice in Tampa, Florida. He is also an instructor of… Continue Reading
Allen Frances and the Increasing Use of Antidepressants
On May 16, 2018, the prestigious and venerable psychiatrist Allen Frances, MD, gave an interview to Christiane Amanpour on CNN. You can see the video here. It’s titled How Antidepressant Withdrawal “Can Trap People”. Here’s how the interview opened: CA: “So you know, I just wanted to start by saying that who knew that antidepressants… Continue Reading
The “Essential Principles” of Psychiatric Practice: More Psychiatric Cheerleading
In the May 2018 issue of Current Psychiatry, there’s an editorial by Henry Nasrallah, MD. Dr. Nasrallah is a highly renowned psychiatrist, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal. He is also chair of the St. Louis University Department of Psychiatry. Here’s the opening paragraph of the article. “As the end of the academic year approaches,… Continue Reading
“The Power Threat Meaning Framework”: A New Perspective on Mental Distress
In January, 2018, the clinical psychology division of the British Psychology Society published a very important paper. The document is titled The Power Threat Meaning Framework and is subtitled: “Towards the identification of patterns in emotional distress, unusual experiences and troubled or troubling behaviour, as an alternative to functional psychiatric diagnosis”. The term functional psychiatric diagnosis… Continue Reading
“How Long a Time”. A new song by Richard Lewis
Psychiatry is a hoax. The “mental illnesses” that it invents with increasing frequency are not illnesses in any ordinary sense of the term. Its “diagnoses” are destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing; and its “treatments” (drugs and electric shocks) always do more damage than good, especially in the long term. In our struggle against this destructive travesty,… Continue Reading
Dr. Pies Defending Psychiatry’s Position on Auditory Hallucinations
On September 4, 2017, the very eminent and prestigious psychiatrist Ronald Pies, MD, published an article on Psychiatric Times. The piece is titled: Hearing Voices and Psychiatry’s (Real) Medical Model. Dr. Pies is Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times and a professor of psychiatry at SUNY and Tufts. He has written extensively on psychiatric and other… Continue Reading
Speaking Out Against Electric Shocks
“…they’re human beings, for God’s sake! In the name of everything holy, how can they do that to them?” (p 108) The Other Mrs. Smith, by Bonnie Burstow, 2017 In the March 2017 issue of the Journal of ECT, there was an editorial titled: Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) in the News: “Balance” Leads to Bias…. Continue Reading
Rebranding Psychiatry
Or, how to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear. INTRODUCTION In November 2017, the British Journal of Psychiatry published a guest editorial titled Shrink rethink: rebranding psychiatry. The authors are Scottish psychiatrists Jim Crabb, MD and Neil Masson, MD, and Lee Barber, an advertising and marketing strategist. Both Drs. Crabb and Masson practice… Continue Reading
Mental Illness Vs. “Bad” Behavior
On February 14, 2017, the very eminent psychiatrist Allen Frances, MD, published a letter in the New York Times. The main points of Dr. Frances’s letter are: that, contrary to some speculations and assertions, Donald Trump, President of the USA, does not meet the criteria for narcissistic personality disorder “because he does not suffer from… Continue Reading
Elimination of the Bereavement Exclusion: History and Implications
INTRODUCTION The bereavement exclusion was formally eliminated in the spring of 2013, with the publication of DSM-5. The exclusion was a provision in earlier editions, that a “diagnosis of major depressive disorder” could not be assigned to a bereaved person, even though he or she met the criteria, unless certain additional considerations were met. The… Continue Reading
Pharma Responds: Antidepressants Really Work. Really?
On July 25, 2017, Fredrik Hieronymus et al published a meta-analysis in Molecular Psychiatry. The study is titled Efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the absence of side effects: a mega-analysis of citalopram and paroxetine in adult depression. Elias Eriksson, PhD, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is the principal… Continue Reading
An Anti-Psychiatry Music Video!
Two days ago, on July 9, Richard Lewis published on Mad in America a post in which he draws attention to the prolific worldwide prescribing of benzodiazepines, and the problems that this creates. The article includes a music video of a song which Richard has written and performs. The song is called Benzo Blue, and… 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 Jeffrey 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
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