I’ve recently come across an October 2012 article by Ted Chabasinski. It’s on Mad in America and it’s called: Our Task Is to Take Away the Power of Psychiatry. Ted tells us that he was was subjected to electric shock “treatment” when he was six years old. You can see a brief bio here. Here are some quotes from the October 2012 article: "Those who benefit from the way things are now won’t give up their money and power without a huge fight." ...
BACKGROUND On 19 April, The Conversation ran an article titled Mental disorders: debunking some myths of the DSM-5, by Perminder Sachdev, MD. Dr. Sachdev is a psychiatrist, and was a member of the DSM-5’s Neurocognitive Disorders Work Group. He works at the School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Australia. (Thanks to Dave Traxson on Twitter for the link.) ANALYSIS Let’s start with the title. “…debunking some myths of the DSM-5.” This sounds good. You might get the impression that he’s going to address the myth of mental illness – the myth that all human problems are illnesses and are best treated by drugs. But – alas – you would be mistaken. Dr. Sachdev lists four myths that he plans to debunk. He refers to these as the “…four key criticisms about DSM-5…” Let’s examine what he says about these one by one. ...
BACKGROUND On May 17, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a report titled Mental Health Surveillance Among Children – United States, 2005-2011. The CDC is based in Atlanta, Georgia and is a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC’s report runs to 40 pages, including tables and references. It received a fair amount of media coverage, and will likely inform legislation and other government action for several years. ...
There’s a very interesting article by Kyle Arnold on DxSummit.org. It’s titled DSM: Letting Go of the Big Lie. Here are two quotes: "The lie is that we have succeeded in domesticating emotional suffering, that we have placed it in a grid with clear and familiar boundaries. The lie is that we know the line between mad and normal, and can tell you on which side of the fence you belong. The lie is that it is science, rather than ethics or social norms, that can tell us what kind of behavior is acceptable and what is not. The lie is that psychiatric treatment is objective medical treatment, as clear and direct as your medical doctor treating a broken wrist. The lie is that by accepting a psychiatric label, you embark on the road to being cured. The lie is the provision of false hope at the price of a stigmatized identity." ...
BACKGROUND There has been some discussion in recent weeks concerning the role of childhood abuse in the etiology of the condition known as schizophrenia. It is particularly difficult to address this problem because the condition known as schizophrenia is not a unified phenomenon. Rather, it is an assortment of loosely clustered behaviors which has been falsely and illogically labeled by the APA as an illness, existing in an individual. So the question “Is schizophrenia caused by childhood abuse?” is a meaningless question. In other words, it cannot be answered either as “true” or “false.” In fact, it can’t even be answered “maybe.” ...
There’s an interesting article on MINNPOST, Many mental-illness websites show drug-company bias, study finds, dated May 16. The article is by Susan Perry, and presents the results of a Web survey of mental health websites conducted by John Read and A. Cain from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The original study was published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. You can see the abstract here. The full article is behind a paywall. (Thanks to Leonie Fennell for the link.) ...
Joel Paris, MD, is an eminent psychiatrist, and is also a Professor of Psychiatry at McGill University in Montréal. He has recently written a very timely book titled: The Intelligent Clinician’s Guide to the DSM-5, published by Oxford University Press. I have placed an order for this book through our local inter-library loan system, and when it comes in, I’ll publish a review. But in the meantime, Dr. Paris has posted on Oxford University Press’s website a brief essay to promote the book. The essay has lots of interesting aspects, and I thought it might be helpful to examine it in some detail. ...
This is an anti-psychiatry website. I say this with no apology. I am opposed to psychiatry because: Its concepts are pathetically spurious, and have no explanatory value. Its practices are harmful, disempowering and stigmatizing. It is routinely deceptive towards it clients and towards the general public. It has avidly sustained a corrupt and corrupting relationship with pharma. But every once in a while I come across a psychiatrist who is different. Recently I came across a post written by 1 Boring Old Man. The post - titled no further comment - is dated February 20 2012. Here are two quotes: ...
Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, is president-elect of the APA, and is scheduled to take over the reins from Dr. Dilip Jeste this month. Never in its history has the APA been subject to such scrutiny or criticism from such diverse sources, and one might reasonably have expected Dr. Lieberman to open on a conciliatory note, promising investigations, reforms, etc…. But no! He’s in the ring slugging furiously from the opening bell. Two days ago (May 20) he published an article in Scientific American titled DSM-5: Caught between Mental Illness Stigma and Anti-Psychiatry Prejudice. ...
Carl Elliot has an interesting post up about the possible link between the military’s increased use of psychotropic drugs and the concomitant increase in soldiers’ suicide rates. It’s titled Note to New York Times reporters: Read the New York Times. Here’s a quote: "Like many reporters before them, James Dao and Andrew Lehren, [NY Times reporters], report that suicides in the military have risen to record levels. What they don't mention is the fact that prescriptions of psychotropic drugs, many of them with black box warnings for suicide, have also risen to record levels." ...