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I’ve come across an article by Lisa Cosgrove et al entitled Conflicts of interest and the quality of recommendations in clinical guidelines. It was published in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice in December of last year. As everyone knows, the APA publishes the DSM, but they also publish “Clinical Practice Guidelines” for various “diagnoses,” including the condition known as major depression. Dr. Cosgrove and her colleagues examined the guidelines for major depression to see if the authors had financial or intellectual conflicts of interest. An example of a financial conflict of interest would be recommending drug treatment when one is on the payroll of a drug company. An example of an intellectual conflict of interest would be relying on and citing a poor quality study in support of a position in which one had a stake. ...

There’s a new post on SOAP – How to Escape from a Psychiatric Hospital. It’s light-hearted in tone, but relevant and significant in its implications. It discusses three ways to escape: make a run for it; play the game; and the tribunal. In its undertones, the article levels a number of valid and accurate criticisms at the mental health system. These include: - the system is patronizing - the use of tranquilizers is common - mental hospitals are overly restrictive - lengths of stay can be arbitrarily extended - the biological illness model predominates - the patient-psychiatrist status imbalance is marked - refusing to accept that one is sick is considered proof of illness - discharge is contingent on surrender and compliance - etc. ...

BACKGROUND There’s an article by Jack Carney, DSW, on this topic on Mad in America. Jack refers to the DSM-5 field trials published earlier this year in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Inter-rater reliability is measured by a statistic called a kappa score. A score of 1 means perfect inter-rater agreement; a score of 0 indicates zero agreement. In psychosocial research a kappa score of 0.7 or above is generally considered good. ...

DELICATE THINGS REQUIRE DELICATE HANDLING When I was a teenager, one of my hobbies was making small transistor radios. It sounds complicated, but is well within the reach of an average 15-year-old. You get some magazine articles, learn how to read a circuit, and learn how to use a soldering iron. A transistor is a small device – about half the size of a pencil eraser – with three wires coming out of it. In building a radio receiver, the transistors have to be soldered to other devices which are in turn soldered to other devices, etc… The soldering iron is plugged into a wall outlet, but no mains electricity reaches the tip of the iron. However, tiny eddy currents can circulate in the tip, and although they are only of the order of milliamps, they can burn a transistor in seconds. What you have to do is unplug the iron from the socket, make the joint with the tip’s retained heat, and then replug the iron to have it ready for the next joint. The point being that delicate things require delicate handling, and that electricity can be very destructive. ...

The following post is a part of our “Tell Your Story” category, where our readers submit their stories about their contact with the mental health system. This was originally a submission in our forum by Jaymax, before we changed to the new submission format: Jaymax Why dont you tell the truth about being a Scientologist? on: February 15, 2013, 04:50 Dear Phil.Why don't you tell the truth about being a Scientologist from the Church of Scientology? And that's why you campaign against psychiatry with misinformation and lies? Phil Re: Why dont you tell the truth about being a Scientologist? on: February 15, 2013, 10:34 Jaymax,I am not a member of the Church of Scientology, or indeed of any church. As to why I criticize psychiatry, it is because it is based on spurious and invalid premises and does an enormous amount of harm.If you believe that I disseminate "misinformation and lies," then please come back and specify.Best wishes. Jaymax Re: Why dont you tell the truth about being a Scientologist? on: February 20, 2013, 01:46 Really? You sound EXACTLY like a Scientologist ranting about the evils of psychiatry.My main issue is actually that your knowledge of the field mental health is so outdated and lacking. Do you not believe in ongoing education and Professional Development? Phil Re: Why dont you tell the truth about being a Scientologist? on: February 21, 2013, 10:19 Jaymax,Thanks for coming in.Firstly, the only common ground between Scientologists and me is the fact that we criticize modern psychiatry. Our reasons are very different.Secondly, I don't rant. Thirdly, perhaps my knowledge of the field is outdated and lacking. I certainly don’t claim to know everything. The critical question, however, is this – specifically what errors am I making? What am I missing? What am I getting wrong? Attacking me because I’m “outdated” serves no purpose. Snidely questioning my commitment to education gets us nowhere. Instead, provide me one piece of hard evidence that contradicts my position. One fact is better than a thousand ad hominem attacks. ...

The following post is a part of our “Tell Your Story” category, where our readers submit their stories about their contact with the mental health system. This was originally a submission in our forum by normac, before we changed to the new submission format: normac Hello Phil on: September 11, 2012, 16:31 I happened upon your blog a few days ago, and have a few questions about bipolar.Hope you are doing better, as I observed you were off due to surgery. My story is long, as most people with a mental illness can attest. ...

The following post is a part of our “Tell Your Story” category, where our readers submit their stories about their contact with the mental health system. This was originally a submission in our forum by lonewolf, before we changed to the new submission format: lonewolf Schizophrenia is a broken spirit on: March 22, 2012, 12:24 My younger brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia about 8 years ago. Since then, my mother and father have been so immensely sad watching my brother not be able to hold down a job, talk to himself, laugh to himself, pace around the backyard of my parents home, and not have a an adult life with adult responsibilities.I never accepted that diagnosis for him. I refused to believe that he had a chemical imbalance without PROOF of a chemical imbalance. Human beings are capable of all kinds of behavior. Just because a behavior doesn’t fit in with this particular culture, at this particular point in time, doesn’t mean that the person is suffering from an illness. Furthermore, most people suffering from an illness WANT to get better. I never felt Joe wanted to get better. I could see it in his eyes that he discovered a loophole, a way out. A way to get disability checks, sympathy from my parents, etc. Everyone and the system was reinforcing his behavior.Since Joe is my brother, only 2.5 years younger than me, I feel I know him pretty well. I know that he’s sensitive and shy and would get embarrassed. I also know that some of his life skills aren’t the best (neither were mine when I was a young adult but I kept thrashing forward). Joe went to school after high school and graduated from DeVry with an electronics degree. At around the age of 23-24, he got a job at FedEx as an IT support person. After a few incidents at work where he didn’t have a solution to a problem right away, he got embarrassed and quit. Instead of telling the person with the computer issue, “hold on, let me go ask someone else”, or go and google an answer, or simply state that he is not sure but will spend a few hours or days figuring it out. He instead came home and started crying to my parents that he doesn’t feel “normal”. I knew that life was tough. People take for granted how tough life is. I knew what he was going through. He needed to be told that he has the skills to do good at that job. He needed to be encouraged to go back out there the next day. Instead my parents took that too mean that perhaps he had some weakness, or problem. Perhaps he was depressed? They weren't sure so from that moment on, he was set off on a journey of phsychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, rehab, detox, mental hospitals, prison, currently Joe roaming the streets asking people for money.It was great for Joe. For the most part he could sit at home, smoke cigarettes all day, which my parents would by for him. I was told to speak gently to Joe since he was "under a lot of stress". Joe knew he had my parents fooled and that they would now allow him to sit at home and do nothing. But his little plan has backfired on him. He has stopped evolving and has therefore lost his friends, is not capable of talking to women, has no money, etc. And is now much unhappier than he ever would have been if he simply plowed through life's challenges on his own. It’s sad watching him deteriorate like this. But I firmly believe that what he is suffering from is a broken spirit, not a chemical imbalance. He needs to be in a place where he is not allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, or smoke grass. He needs discipline and routine. He needs an environment where he is rewarded for good behavior and punished for bad behavior. He needs to be exercising regularly, eating nutritious foods, going to sleep and waking up at regular hours, and someone needs to work with him to slowly build up life skills and confidence. ...

The following post is a part of our “Tell Your Story” category, where our readers submit their stories about their contact with the mental health system. This was originally a submission in our forum by jonnyworthington, before we changed to the new submission format: jonnyworth- ington One guys story. on: August 8, 2011, 02:59 What can I say, I finally found some rational thinking out here. I guess I will start about 15 years ago, I was an angry teenager. I wanted less restrictions, more time with my girlfriend, so on and so on. Typical teenager stuff. Then I decided to ditch school, and home, and maybe get my parents attention. It most certainly did and it launched me into the modern world of psychiatry. It is indeed an odd world. I left home and school, so my parents were convinced something must be wrong with me. I didn't think there was, but they thought I had ADD, put me on some medicine. I also found it hard to connect the dots, but they put me on something, so my parents thought it was an answer. Fast forward about nine years, and once again, pressure from the 'rents, and I was being put on adderall, which I will say was a 'productive' drug. I could have built bridges in hours, lots of energy. I guess thats what speed will do with you. Stopped taking that after a few months because it just didn't seem normal. It was just making me more productive doing something I didn't want to be doing. Moving along the next few years, I took up drinking, heavily at times. Got into a hole and got a sort-of intervention staged on me. Went to rehab, shrinks, and they decided I had bipolar. I took med's and did the rehab. I found that lamictal, and depakote are great ways to put a tarp over creativity, insight, and general joy of living. Struggled with rehab a bit, and was on and off the bottle. I was looking for an answer, and a rational answer. I found the modern behavioral health system to be flawed in its dealings with substance abuse, mainly the fact that they all subscribe to something similar to AA's 12 steps. Powerless? Not in control of my life and circumstace? Seemed awfully unlikely to me, so I treated myself. I read, looked for answers and stumbled upon Rational Recovery. It made a lot of sense to me, as it treated an addiction as one. Something that can be beaten by out thinking the problem itself. It works, its just knowing yourself enough, and taking the time to get to know yourself. I have been clean for a couple of months, and its the easiest time I have had with it in years. Problem solved, and all I needed was to understand my own brain. So I searched some more online, and found this site, and I guess its nice to see some 'alternate' thinking. I just find it difficult that western society has quickly gotten on board with the 'science' of psychology. Phil Re: One guys story. on: August 12, 2011, 18:03 Jonny,Thanks for coming in and telling your story. My major criticism of substance abuse “treatment” ( at least in the US) is the over-reliance on AA. Some treatment units, in fact, do little more than induct the client into AA and teach the so-called twelve steps. The problem with this approach is that AA is a religion and doesn’t sit well with people who are not religiously inclined. The traditionalists, however, usually insist that there is only one way to get sober, i.e. through AA, and they imply that the individuals who don’t or won’t embrace AA have some defect or character flaw that inevitably prevents their attaining sobriety. But you probably know more about all this than I do.I’m glad you found Rational Recovery, and I hope that you continue to do well. Once again, thanks for coming in, and best wishes.

The following post is a part of our “Tell Your Story” category, where our readers submit their stories about their contact with the mental health system. This was originally a submission in our forum by AlmuntherAlmaktoum, before we changed to the new submission format: Hi, I am sharing a series of forum posts written by a friend of mine. This is a man who suffered from Schizophrenia, has had a criminal history and had 7 relapses.I am posting this because recently, he was able to challenge his delusions and through a tolerant religious belief system was able to remain off the medication and function normally in society.Unfortunately due the flaws with modern psychological treatment that most readers of this website are familiar with, he has been forced to take drugs and consequently he has lost the belief that helped him challenge his delusion.I am also sharing an audio recording that he did of a recent meeting with his carers.http://involuntarytreatmentcase.com/?q=node/1#attachments He has given me permission to share all this. ...

Today, courtesy of Monica, I came across an article by Marilyn Wedge, PhD. It’s called Six Problems with Psychiatric Diagnosis for Children. You can read it here. Here are some quotes: "Psychiatric diagnoses contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders are not classified by causes like genuine medical diseases." "Perhaps worst of all, a child who has been labeled with a psychiatric diagnosis grows up believing that there is something wrong with her, that she is somehow “abnormal.” ...