A Behavioral Approach to Mental Disorders

There’s an interesting study in the British Medical Journal (August 2013). It’s called Use of antidepressants near delivery and risk of postpartum hemorrhage: cohort study of low income women in the United States, and it was written by Kristin Palmsten et al. The study examined nationwide Medicaid data from 2000-2007, and followed 106,000 pregnant women aged 12-55 who had been given a “diagnosis” of a mood or anxiety disorder. The women were categorized into four mutually exclusive groups on the basis of information obtained from Medicaid’s pharmacy dispensing data. The criterion for categorization was exposure to SRI’s or to Non-SRI’s and the groupings were: ...

Recently, Carl Elliott posted a link to a statement written by Jonathan Moreno, PhD, a renowned bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Moreno’s statement was in reference to an Oregon court case. The Oregon Department of Justice had accused two cardiologists of concealing information from patients. Apparently the cardiologists had put heart implants into patients without informing the patients that they (the cardiologists) had financial ties to the manufacturer of the implants. ...

Despite the general rise in economic indicators over the past year or two, there are still many young adults who, for economic reasons, have had to move back in with their parents. A proportion of these people become depressed. Depression is the normal human reaction to loss, disappointment, or a general sense of unfulfillment. Viewed in this light, it is not surprising that young people who have to move back in with their parents might be depressed. ...

The book Madness Contested has recently been published by PCCS Books. It’s a collection of articles, edited by Steven Coles, Sarah Keenan, and Bob Diamond. The book is a remarkable piece of work. It covers just about every contentious concept in the present “mental illness” debate, and brings to bear an abundance of new insights and up-to-date research findings. There are 21 articles plus an introduction by the editors. Here’s the name of each article with a brief quotation from each: ...

If we’re happy to take some of the credit for our children’s successes, we should also accept a share of the responsibility when they don’t do so well. In the late 70’s, I met an elderly gentleman in a social context. I’ll call him James. He was in his early 80’s. We got to talking, and found that we had a good deal in common – primarily a love for the land, the forests, gardening, and just generally being active. ...

A few days ago, there was an interesting item in the Dear Abby column of our local newspaper. Dear Abby is a general advice column written by Jeanne Phillips, and is widely read. The letter in question was written by “Sibling Standing By,” who described his/her 63 year old sister as someone who “…takes no responsibility for her health.” The sibling goes on to say: "She’s extremely overweight because she overeats and doesn’t exercise. She complains every day that she feels 'terrible.' (I call it self-pitying whining.)" ...

I’ve recently come across (courtesy of Tallaght Trialogue on Twitter) an article titled: The Court: Electroshock treatments should not be forced on psychiatric patients. The original was in Israel Hayom, an Israeli newspaper, and was written by Edna Adato. The English version above was on occupypsychiatry.net, and was translated by Janna Weiss. The article is brief, and the content is straightforward. As a result of a recent Israeli court ruling, electric shock treatment will not be administered against a person’s will, even if the person has been involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. ...

Earlier this week (August 21), a 20-year-old gunman entered a school in Atlanta, apparently intending to kill people, but was talked down by a school bookkeeper. As everyone knows, we’ve had a great many incidents of this sort in the past fifteen years, most of which ended more tragically than this one. The reporting of these incidents in the media often mentions the fact that the perpetrators of these murders had a history of “mental health problems.” ...

There’s an interesting article, recently published in Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, on Springer Link. It’s titled Shooting the Messenger: The Case of ADHD, and it was written by Gretchen LeFever Watson, PhD, et al. Apparently some of the authors had noted in 1995 a marked increase in the “diagnosis” and “treatment” of the condition known as ADHD in southeastern Virginia. This is a large urban conglomeration of six different cities, including Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach. ...

BACKGROUND In the last ten years or so, the anti-psychiatry movement has been gaining adherents, and has been growing more focused and more outspoken. But we are not a unified group. I, for instance, take what I think would be considered a fairly extreme position. I believe that there are no mental illnesses; that the clusters of thoughts, feelings, and actions labeled as mental illnesses are better conceptualized as habits that have been acquired in accordance with the normal principles of behavior acquisition or as understandable responses to extreme life stressors. I further believe that conceptualizing these problems as illnesses has been disastrous for the individuals involved, and for society in general. In particular, I believe that psychiatry’s promotion of the idea that all problematic thinking, feeling, and behaving is caused by brain illnesses and can only be treated with drugs is causing extraordinary levels of physical damage to their clients. It is also severely stigmatizing and disempowering. As a culture, we are losing the notion that people can improve their lives through effort and application, and through mutual assistance and support. ...