Mass psychosis in the US - How Big Pharma got Americans hooked on anti-psychotic drugs.
PEOPLE’S PHARMACY: Can drugs cause violent behavior?
Can Our Medical Model of Care Be Remade? — By Robert Whitaker
America’s mental illness epidemic: It turns out that the drugs are the problem
More evidence on overuse of antipsychotics psychotics
"In the last chapter of my book Anatomy of an Epidemic, I noted that if our society is going to stem the epidemic of disabling mental illness that has erupted during the past twenty years, then it needs to have an honest discussion about what is truly known about the biological causes of psychiatric disorders, and an honest discussion about how the medications affect the long-term course of those disorders. The illuminating powers of science could work their usual magic. But that is a discussion that many in our society don't want to have, and my recent experience at the Alternatives conference in Anaheim illustrates that point, and reveals too why this is such a loss." by Robert Whitaker
SAMHSA, Alternatives, and a Psychiatrist’s Despair Over the State of American Science
"In the last chapter of my book Anatomy of an Epidemic, I noted that if our
society is going to stem the epidemic of disabling mental illness that has
erupted during the past twenty years, then it needs to have an honest discussion
about what is truly known about the biological causes of psychiatric disorders,
and an honest discussion about how the medications affect the long-term course
of those disorders. The illuminating powers of science could work their usual
magic. But that is a discussion that many in our society don't want to have, and
my recent experience at the Alternatives conference in Anaheim illustrates that
point, and reveals too why this is such a loss." by Robert Whitaker
A Schizophrenia Mystery Solved?
Schizophrenia outcomes in developing and developed nations -- a mystery solved?
Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness - Part I By Evelyn Pringle
Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness - Part II By Evelyn Pringle
Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness - Part III By Evelyn Pringle
Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness - Part IV By Evelyn Pringle
Psychiatric overdiagnosis means "normal" could become obsolete by Jenny
Westberg
Are you normal? Are you sure?
A growing number of behaviors and moods are being relabeled as mental disorders,
according to two recent articles. Sadness, shyness, personality quirks and the
ups and downs of everyday life may qualify almost anyone for a psychiatric
diagnosis, effectively pathologizing normality.
Why is this a problem? Mental illness carries a stigma. A diagnostic label can
follow you for the rest of your life. It is shared with your insurance company.
Your family and friends might make certain assumptions about you. Your doctor
may insist you need psychiatric drugs.
The Americanization of Mental Illness By ETHAN WATTERS
The Hazards of Psychiatric Diagnosis by Dr. Peter Breggin
THINKING OUTSIDE THE BIO-PSYCHIATRIC PARADIGM BY DR. DAN L. EDMUNDS, ED..D.
America’s
mental illness epidemic: It turns out that the drugs are the problem
By Gary G. Kohls, MD Online Journal Contributing Writer
Fact Checking the New Yorker, Part Two - The long-term course of unmedicated depression Published on March 18, 2010
Head Case Can psychiatry be a science? by Louis Menand
A psychiatric revolution by Andrew Scull - a history of psychiatry
Neuroplasticity of the brain — Steven Morgan "In fact, there are so many problems with making the simple statement, “Mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain,” that it should perhaps be discontinued altogether.......Here is an example of what a worker could tell a client: “Your brain changes in response to the experiences you have. Even though psychiatric disorders show up on the biological level as differences in the brain’s functioning, your brain is not set in stone. In fact, you can change it, though it will take time and effort. There is much reason to be hopeful.”
Sadness is Not a Disorder Allan V. Horwitz and Jerome C. Wakefield are authors of "The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder."
"In recent decades, what is meant by depression - the range of the psychiatric diagnosis - has expanded dramatically. Indeed, too much. Depression, for many doctors, therapists, and for our society at large, has come to encompass feelings of sadness that are not disorders at all. We may be in danger of losing the notion of normal human sadness. And that would be a loss for our sense of humanity."
Does Mental Illness Exist? by Lawrence Stevens, J.D.
"In medicine, strict criteria exist for calling a condition a disease. In addition to a predictable cluster of symptoms, the cause of the symptoms or some understanding of their physiology must be established. ... Psychiatry is unique among medical specialties in that... We do not yet have proof either of the cause or the physiology for any psychiatric diagnosis. ... In recent decades, we have had no shortage of alleged biochemical imbalances for psychiatric conditions. Diligent though these attempts have been, not one has been proven. Quite the contrary. In every instance where such an imbalance was thought to have been found, it was later proven false. ... No claim of a gene for a psychiatric condition has stood the test of time, in spite of popular misinformation." Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., clinical instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, in his book Prozac Backlash (Simon & Schuster, New York, 2000), pages 192-193, page 196, and page 198.
"Nothing has harmed the quality of individual life in modern society more than the misbegotten belief that human suffering is driven by biological and genetic causes and can be rectified by taking drugs or undergoing electroshock therapy. ... If I wanted to ruin someone's life, I would convince the person that biological psychiatry is right - that relationships mean nothing, that choice is impossible, and that the mechanics of a broken brain reign over our emotions and conduct. If I wanted to impair an individual's capacity to create empathetic, loving relationships, I would prescribe psychiatric drugs, all of which blunt our highest psychological and spiritual functions." Dr Peter Breggin