I have recently learned of Psychex, a non-profit Swiss organization that stands up for people who are force-“treated” against their will in psychiatric hospitals. Psychex was founded in 1987 by Edmund Schönenberger, Barrister at Law. In 2012, Edmund produced a document titled Fundamental Criticism of Coercive Psychiatry. It runs to 19 pages, and makes interesting… Continue Reading
Archives for April 2015
The Spurious Chemical Imbalance Theory is Still Alive and Well
On April 5, 2015, Scott Alexander, MD, a trainee psychiatrist, posted an article titled Chemical Imbalance on his website Slate Star Codex. (The writer tells us that Scott Alexander is a blog handle and not his real name, but for convenience, I will refer to him as Dr. Alexander.) Dr. Alexander begins by noting that… Continue Reading
Allen Frances and the Spurious Medicalization of Everyday Problems
On April 5, Allen Frances MD, published an article on the Huffington Post blog. The title is Can We Replace Misleading Terms Like ‘Mental Illness,’ ‘Patient,’ and ‘Schizophrenia’ It’s an interesting piece, and it raises some fundamental issues. Here are some quotes from the article, interspersed with my comments. “Those of us who worked on… Continue Reading
Book Review: Psychiatry and the Business of Madness An Ethical and Epistemological Accounting, by Bonnie Burstow
This latest book by Bonnie Burstow, PhD, critiques psychiatry, and effectively annihilates any claims that the profession might have had to legitimacy. Bonnie gives us a scholarly, but very readable, account of: the history of psychiatry, ancient and modern; the significance and shortcomings of the DSM; the legal, ethical, and personal ramifications of involuntary “treatment”;… Continue Reading