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No proof mental illness rooted in biology No proof mental illness rooted in biology By KEITH HOELLER editor of the "Review of Existential Psychology & Psychiatry" in Seattle. What is "the mental health movement?" Its proponents claim that millions of Americans are afflicted with a mental illness, which is a disease "just like any other" and that the mentally ill suffer from a chemical imbalance in the brain that is corrected by psychiatric drugs. Mental illness is said to be the cause of many of our society's social ills, such as suicide, murder, divorce, abuse, sex offenses, depression and various addictions. If only mental illness could be cured, mental health supporters say, all of these ills could be prevented. Because the mentally ill often are unaware of their disease, treatment must be forced on the mentally ill. All 50 states have laws that allow involuntary treatment if professionals deem they are a danger to self and others. Psychiatrists, we are told, can now accurately diagnose mental illness and have safe and effective treatments. Psychiatry is considered a valid medical specialty, like cardiology, and the claims of the movement are based on scientific research. The largest lay group is the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAM  . The media routinely refer to NAMI as advocates for the mentally ill, although its membership consists almost entirely of family members and not the mentally ill themselves. NAMI ascribes to the "biological basis of mental illness," and endorses forced treatment of the mentally ill.The movement's major source of funding is the highly profitable pharmaceutical industry, which funds the drug research; which funds psychiatric journals, and even the American Psychiatric Association itself; which funds advertising to doctors and the public; and even funds lay groups such as NAMI (at least $11 million) and and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (at least $1 million). Yet many professionals claim that the mental health movement is not a legitimate medical or scientific endeavor, let alone a civil rights movement, but a political ideology of intolerance and inhumanity. Numerous psychiatrists and psychologists have examined the psychiatric research literature and found it to range from smoke and mirrors to quackery. Psychiatrists have yet to conclusively prove that a single mental illness has a biological or physical cause, or a genetic origin. Psychiatry has yet to develop a single physical test that can determine that an individual actually has a particular mental illness. Indeed, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders uses behavior, not physical symptoms, to diagnose mental illness, and it lacks both scientific reliability and validity. On Aug. 16, eight members of MindFreedom (www.mindfreedom.org), an umbrella organization of mental patients who call themselves "psychiatric survivors," began a Fast for Freedom "to press for human rights and choice in psychiatry" and to "demand that the mental health industry produce even one study proving the common industry claim that 'mental illness is biologically-based.' " Dr. James Scully of the American Psychiatric Association responded to the hunger strikers by claiming the evidence was so vast one need only look at "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General" (1999) or a recent psychiatry textbook. An expert panel for the strikers, made up of members (like myself) of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.icspp.org), quickly responded by pointing out that neither of these works contains any such conclusive proof. Actually, the surgeon general's report on mental health states that "the precise causes (etiology) of mental disorders are not known" and "there is no definitive lesion, laboratory test, or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify (a mental) illness." The Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry (1999) states: " ... Validation of the diagnostic categories as specific entities has not been established." In its reply to the fasters, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill did not cite any scientific evidence at all. In 1784, a similar debate raged in Paris about the scientific validity of the latest psychiatric nostrum (hypnotism) and its inventor, Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, who claimed to have discovered a physical mechanism he called animal magnetism. The Academy of Sciences formed a panel, including American scientist Benjamin Franklin and French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, to assess the movement sweeping the city, and concluded that Mesmer's "cures" had no scientific basis. They were due entirely to the power of suggestion, now called the placebo effect. The Royal Society of Medicine issued a report with similar findings on Aug. 16, 1784. Let us hope the Fast for Freedom has a positive outcome for all involved. If not, let us insist that the American Medical Association (or similar body) form a panel of objective, non-psychiatric scientists, without any ties to drug companies, to examine whether psychiatry should continue as a medical specialty or if it should join the historical ranks of alchemy, astrology and phrenology as a pseudoscience. |
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Many ADD/ADHD children, actually most of them grow up to have depression to a varying degree and a good number have it so severe they commit suicide. The Feingold Association was raising funds to research what can be done for these adults since 2 of the founders of the Parents Organization had adult children come to that conclusion. Their goal was that the Organization worked so hard to get these children to survive and be successful students to some very bright and promising futures, there wasn't much study, just trial and error on the Parent's Organization to what to do when the hormones hit. An age we parents all held our breath's thru. Some made it thru successfully, some felt they were back at square on and then went to Stage One and started again, modifying even further to find success.... But what to do, what to do when they became older college years, more hormones, drugs, drinking, diets of Ramon Noodles, Dorito's etc... To marriage, work, stress, babies.......it's hard. It took me 3 years and many, many seminars all over this country to finally "get" the Blood Brain Barrier and the affections on Nutrition and how it affected the Central Nervous System to set off chemicals in the brain to affect behavior and learning. It's a fascinating arena and one that someone can spend a good part of their adult lifetime trying to understand, fine tune and perfect. Imagine parents trying to cram this info in their head while juggling a career, a household, finances, extra curricular activities all in the middle of life itself. Imagine how many people are confused. Imagine with the HMO, PPO's, etc... how Dr's are overbooked to truly concentrate on all this information. Writing a script sounds a whole lot easier, dontcha think? Who follow's up on these patients once the script is written? I ask you that? FIRST DO NO HARM!! Fun topic Dennis - Merry Christmas. Isn't it nice weather in Florida? I'd be outside, but that's just me. This is my area, this is my soapbox. Just didn't think I'd get up here on a holiday. * Sin is sin. Careful what comes across your lips & out your finger tips!!! * We are all the Body of Christ. Let's treat each other as such, with the same respect we give to HIM!! * Relationship advice: DO NOT make someone a PRIORITY, when they ONLY make you an OPTION!! * A woman's heart should be so lost in God, that a man has to seek HIM in order to find her!!
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I hope you have a Merry Christmas...rainny here. Thing is they are creating diagnosis just to be able to use drugs to supposedly treat it. There was a legal action because of this 
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12/25/2007 9:42 pm |
What are you trying to prove Dennis? One guy writes a book making unconfirmable bold statements, and we are all supposed to just fall down and believe him! What makes his very tiny bit of opinonated polluted evidence more worthy to consider then decades of research, and volumes after volumes written by the brightest and most gifted doctors of mental illnesses in the world? All because Tropical Man believes it. Tell us how different is this then the propaganda published by the tobacoo industry over the years about no links between smoking, and cancer. Smoking and luekemia. Smoking and birth defects. Smoking and emphezema. Tell us Agent Orange was a myth. Yup, I thought so. Isaiah 66:2b; But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
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Excuse me. No one says agent Orange is a myth. However the facts are, things proclaimed previosly that mental illness is rooted in biolectural structure is a flat out fabrication. The difference in a fabrication and in the truth is one has been proven and documented. This man reseaches for facts. The fact is, chemical imbalances that are used as a so called condition, in the medical scientific field is not proven nor is it factual. Why tell people? All antidepressants when taken over time cause permanant brain damage. They can cause death. Is that serious enough for you? Does it bother you some companies are willing to pay out 100 million a year in cases where the drug either kills someone or harms them or causes them to do harm to others? Why, because they sell 4.2 Billion dollars a year of an unsafe drug. You should read what you just said.
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Dennis, you are partly correct but its an entirely bigger picture. Ok, most certainly it can be medically proven regarding chemical imbalance!!! Really, you really aren't right about that. Like I said in another post I wrote on your blog - THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET. If someone with a mental illness IS NOT treated there can be death by suicide etc... If someone is treated with pharma drugs, there can be death by suicide. In both cases they can commit homicide and then suicide. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of or to play around yet Dr's just so easily give you meds without further intervention. NO therapy, NO monitoring, NO blood tests, No behavior mods, NO direction to support groups. Not to mention that most people do NOT have insurance and do NOT have the extra money for therapy. When you are that far gone due to chemical imbalance, brain injury, whatever, you feel very isolated and alone. Ok, let me give you an example of something that happened to ME personally. I was getting chest pains. Two of the Dr's mocked me. "What is a girl my age getting chest pains." The first time I went in they did all the necessary tests, showed nothing so the female - THE FEMALE!! Dr said to me, "Dear you must be under stress, let me give you some Paxil to help you." I said, "I don't need Paxil, these pains were very real, what was it?" She says, "Anxiety". I said, "I wasn't anxious or anything, it just came out of the blue." She said, "No, you need it." I said sarcastically because I didn't like being patronized, "I don't need it. I need help with my housework, the kids homework and paying my bills. Will this pill help me with that?". She said, "No, dear but it will help make you feel better while you do." No thank you very much. I don't do drugs. So the next time I am in there for a cold ro something. The male Dr. comes in and speaking at regular voice level when suddenly he started whispering and talking to me as if I was 2 years old. "Are you taking your Paxil, Dear." As he placed his hand on my arm. His voice sounded like pathetic baby talk. I said, "No, I didn't need Paxil, I had 3 leaking heart valves. I don't appreciate the other Dr. shoving meds my way when I had a very real heart condition that was very easily treated by switching my blood pressure meds." He backed away and said "Oh" and nothing else. I had gone to my cardiologist and he found out that I had 3 very badly leaking valves and a heart murmur. He told me to never let any one "poo poo" me. That I knew my body and to make sure people listen to me. He couldn't believe I was so ignored and was thrown Paxil before getting an exam by a cardiologist. He loves me!! He see's me every 3 months and I'm fine. I am doing great now. They still leak but very minor leak. I still have to be monitored and keeping my blood pressure down really does the trick. Dennis, you are correct to say we have a problem in the medical world. I AGREE WHOLEHEARTEDLY here but you are not correct about the fact that we have some real severe mental illness that it isn't too clear to have answer's. Yes, it is biological and yes our genetic make up can be changed forever due to environmental. Which is what makes diagnosis hard. Unless you have some oddball symptom that goes alone with the mental illness, you don't get those specialized Dr's or specialized test I spoke of that CAN TELL the imbalance. Alot of findings are trial and error and horrifyingly dangerous are the loved ones that we lose when something goes wrong but IT ALMOST ALWAYS IS THE CASE - I KNOW FAR TOO MANY UNFORTUNATELY - ALWAYS THEY ARE NOT BEING MONITORING OR FOLLOWING STRICT DIET WHILE ON THE MEDS. NOT KIDDING. There are so many factors, you really can't state fact based on ONE person's book or ONE person's claim. It has taken me 17 years to learn the info I have learned and I have seen the medical tests that are NOT THE NORM!!! To prove medical imbalance. Do an internship at NYU and at BELLEVUE - you will learn much more information and then you can spout off here about cold hard facts that YOU PERSONALLY LEARNED first hand. God Bless You Dennis. * Sin is sin. Careful what comes across your lips & out your finger tips!!! * We are all the Body of Christ. Let's treat each other as such, with the same respect we give to HIM!! * Relationship advice: DO NOT make someone a PRIORITY, when they ONLY make you an OPTION!! * A woman's heart should be so lost in God, that a man has to seek HIM in order to find her!!
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12/26/2007 4:55 pm |
Excuse me. No one says agent Orange is a myth. However the facts are, things proclaimed previosly that mental illness is rooted in biolectural structure is a flat out fabrication. The difference in a fabrication and in the truth is one has been proven and documented. This man reseaches for facts. The fact is, chemical imbalances that are used as a so called condition, in the medical scientific field is not proven nor is it factual. Why tell people? All antidepressants when taken over time cause permanant brain damage. They can cause death. Is that serious enough for you? Does it bother you some companies are willing to pay out 100 million a year in cases where the drug either kills someone or harms them or causes them to do harm to others? Why, because they sell 4.2 Billion dollars a year of an unsafe drug. You should read what you just said. I notice you didn't dispute the smoking claims. Are drugs dangerous? Of coarse they are, but that's not the issue. Are drugs overprescribed? Yes on that too, but again it's not the issue. Can drugs kill people? Yes again, but so can sucide attempts made by people not receiving treatment. Is drugs the ONLY way to treat mental illnesses? Absolutely not. There are a large varity of ways, theropies, natural remidies, and of coarse prayer, which should always be done first. You appear to be advocating a total stop of all meds used for mental illness, and use ONLY other methods. I said prayer should be used first, but unlike the faith blasters who make a mockery of faith healing, I won't say to use prayer, and or faith healing only. Unless it cures the ailment of coarse. No one questions the natural remidies, but they are not well published. If you are so concerned about deaths caused by drugs that you want to publish all kinds of research, why don't you publish some information on the natural remidies. You can start with depression since you brought it up. Then rather then condemn the use of drugs, and people who use them, why not promote something positive about what you believe works better, then the negetives about what you oppose. Therapy also has it's place to help, and there are many wonderful new therapy techniques coming about. One of which is called Theophostics. It has to do with using your own gift of holy spirit in you to root out and cure mental and spititual issues. However it has been widely critizised by basicly the same bunch of mainline traditionists who teach that the gifts of the spirit are obsolete. You love to argue so much that you seem to live for it, there's a big field for you to research and argue in favor of. Nobody ever died from using theophostics, but it has helped countless people. Why don't you track down some of their testimonies instead of again cutting down use of drugs. Finally Dennis, you really are promoting your ideas to the wrong crowd here. You speak of the drug companies who pay $100 million per year to settle court cases quietly, and covertly. Yet, you are silently absent in mentioning the Republican polititions that drug companies bribe with over a billion dollars per year for their campain funds, so that the Republican law makers will continue to allow the drug companies to continue making their 4.2 billion dollar profit on unsafe drugs as you identified. You want to fix the problem. Start with your own blind alligience to the criminals who call themselves Republicans. You know. The bunch that for the last 30 years have been promising to make abortion illegal, yet they never do, because they know that nearly half of their national vote comes from the Christian sector who's ONLY concern is to ban abortion. And that once abortion is made illegal again, most of them will never vote again in their lives, which will strip the Republicans of their voters. Those same Republicans are the ones who support today's medical system written by drug companies and insurance agencies. Go tell those you blindly support about the dangerous drugs, and quite condemning believers. Isaiah 66:2b; But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.
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