A Behavioral Approach to Mental Disorders

Recently, courtesy of Monica on Twitter, I’ve come across a United Nations document. It’s a report on torture or cruel, degrading treatment in healthcare settings. You can see it here. It runs to 23 pages. Here are some quotes: "…the discriminatory character of forced psychiatric interventions, when committed against persons with psychosocial disabilities, satisfies both intent and purpose required under the article 1 of the Convention against Torture, notwithstanding claims of 'good intentions' by medical professionals…"(p. 7) ...

This is a new group: “…a grassroots organization dedicated to providing accurate information and resources to families and individuals seeking better mental health.” I discovered them thanks to Tallaght Trialogue and zebdot on Twitter. They’re not affiliated with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (despite the similarity in title), and their philosophy is very different from NAMI’s. You can read about them here, and their posts, by Dennis Dodson, are here. Here are some quotes from Dennis’s first post: ...

In the late 80’s, I worked for a while in an addictions unit that was located on the grounds of a State Hospital in West Virginia. Clients would arrive on 72-hour holding committals from the counties, and if the psychiatrist felt that the client needed to stay longer than that (which was almost always the case), then either the client had to convert to voluntary status, which is what happened in most cases, or the hospital had to arrange for a hearing in front of a judge. For convenience, a local judge would come in and the hearing would be held in the hospital. ...

All the awful things you’ve heard and read about the pharmaceutical companies are documented on the pages of Bad Pharma with compelling clarity and abundant references. Dr. Goldacre is a British physician. His primary issue is the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products in general medicine, but he has a lot to say about psychiatric drugs also. Here are some quotes: "Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques which are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments."(p. x) ...

When I was about eleven or twelve, I had reasonably good social skills with my peers, but I was shy and awkward with adults. Our neighbor, Mrs. F., was a very pleasant lady who loved to spend time in her front yard with her flowers. Often, as I came up the walk to our door, I would pass her. She always gave me a nice greeting, to which I would respond by gazing at my toes and grunting. ...

It will come as no great surprise that James Holmes, the suspect in the Aurora theater shootings, is considering an insanity plea. But there’s an interesting twist. Before he enters a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, he (or rather his lawyers) wants the court to define the term “mental condition,” which occurs several times in the statute. His point is that he can’t admit to something until he knows what this admission might entail! ...

First story In the early 70’s I worked in Grendon Prison in England. The facility was run on the lines of a therapeutic community – lots of meetings, groups, etc… One of the prisoners – let’s call him William – was serving time for burglary. He was about 24 years old, and during his intake interviews he told us that he was a member of a small quasi-religious sect who believed that doomsday was imminent and that they would be the chosen few. He talked about these matters openly and with a good measure of passion, and after a few weeks the other prisoners were describing him as “crazy” and a “nutcase.” ...

The central theme of this website is that there are no mental illnesses, and that the widespread medicalization of ordinary human problems is spurious and destructive. These concepts have been around for decades, but in the last four or five years have “taken off,” and are finding a good deal of acceptance among practitioners, academics, clients, and the general public. Change is in the air. A matter that is sometimes overlooked, however, is that the concept of “mental illness” and its “treatment” by psychiatrists and other professionals is deeply embedded in the legal system of most states and countries. ...

Yesterday (February 28) the Lancet published a study called “Identification of risk loci with shared effects on five major psychiatric disorders: a genome-wide analysis." The study was conducted by the Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) was formed in 2007. Its purpose is “…to undertake meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for psychiatric disorders…” The authors state that they have no conflicts of interest. On their home page, the PGC state: ...

In recent times a good deal of criticism has been directed towards the practice of involuntarily committing individuals to state and private mental hospitals. Most of this criticism focuses on the lack of effective due process; conflicts of interest in the case of private facilities; and failure to adequately explore alternatives. In my view, all of these criticisms are valid, and warrant attention. But there is another side to the story that is seldom aired outside the mental health centers. A great many clients like going to the mental hospital; they plan their trips in advance and “freak out” at the appointed time, knowing that the knee-jerk response of the mental health center will be a court-ordered admission. ...