Expansion of Psychiatric Turf

The Newtown mass murders have generated widespread demand for improved “mental health” services, and even for mandatory mental health screenings for schoolchildren. The notion embedded in these demands is that the perpetrators are “mentally ill,” and that early identification will enable psychiatrists to treat (i.e. drug) them before they can do any damage. As I’ve said many times, the APA’s definition of a mental disorder is essentially: any human activity that entails significant problems. So, of course, provided we accept this definition, all the mass murderers are mentally ill. But all we’re saying here is that mass murder is problematic behavior. (Wow – such wisdom!) ...

I’ve recently come across (courtesy of Tallaght Trialogue) an article in Current Psychiatry (Feb 2013) on this topic. The author is Henry A. Nasrallah, M.D., and you can see it here. Dr. Nasrallah, who is Editor-in-Chief of Current Psychiatry, states that there are 273 bio-markers for schizophrenia. But wait. Dr. Nasrallah goes on to say: "None of the individual 273 biomarkers alone can serve as a diagnostic tool for the schizophrenias because there will be high rates of false positives and false negatives." ...

It’s widely known that the initial drafts of DSM-5 received a great deal of negative comment. It’s also known that some of the more controversial proposals have been scrapped, but that others have been retained and sent for printing. All of this was fairly predictable. The APA’s agenda is to widen the “diagnostic” net to include as many people as possible. But they’re not complete fools. They know that there’s a good deal of anti-psychiatry feeling out there, so in my view, they floated some very contentious proposals, fully accepting that these would be withdrawn under pressure, thereby creating the perception that they are reasonable folk just trying to do what’s right. Meanwhile, other proposals go under the wire unscathed, and the “diagnostic” net is widened. Mission accomplished. ...

On March 5, 2013, a bipartisan panel of leading mental health experts and parents of children with “mental disorders” held a conversation (that’s newspeak for meeting) in Washington D.C. on the topic: Violence and Severe Mental Illness. The invited panelists were: Thomas Insel, MD, Director of NIMH Harold Koplewicz, MD, President of Child Mind Institute E. Fuller Torrey, MD, Founder of Treatment Advocacy Center Michael Welner, MD, Founder and Chairman of The Forensic Panel Michael Fitzpatrick, MSW, Director of NAMI And three parents of "diagnosed" children ...

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. ...

I’ve recently come across an article from the Manchester Guardian on this topic. The article is by Sarah Boseley, and is a review of a UK study in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society written by Aideen Maguire, C. Hughes, Chris Cardwell, and Dermot O’Reilly. The researchers examined the Northern Ireland prescribing database and discovered that when people were admitted to nursing homes, the rate at which they were prescribed anti-psychotic drugs increased from 1.1% to 20.3%! ...

I came across an interesting article Psychiatric Medication or Play Therapy? by Bob Fiddaman, a New Zealand writer. The article compares the efficacy and dangers of play therapy vs. pharmaceutical products for children with various problems. Here are some quotes: "…play therapy outcome studies support the efficacy of this intervention with children suffering from various emotional and behavioral difficulties." "Pharmaceutical companies spend billions on marketing psychiatric medication." "Front groups that purport to fly the mental health flag are, in fact, nothing more than agents, pimps for the pharmaceutical industry." ...

Another interesting article: Academic Integrity in Ireland and the UK: Is there any such thing? at Leonie fennells’ Blog. It’s about financial ties between pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists. Same old story; different location. It’s worth a look. Thanks to Becky @yobluemama2 on Twitter for drawing my attention to this.

Until just a few years ago, the spurious nature of mental illness received little or no attention either in professional circles or in the general media. There were a few of us “cranks” who poked away at the issue, but peer condemnation was usually swift and outspoken. On one occasion I was called an “anti-science Nazi” for daring to suggest that the condition known as ADHD might have more to do with ineffective parental discipline than with brain chemistry. We were voices in the wilderness. ...