Hey, Kim, I forgot to mention that OCD is not a ‘disease’ or ‘disorder’ either; it is a series of behaviors usually set in motion from ‘latent anxiety’, or hidden fear, which btw is an emotion, AND EMOTION IS NOT A ‘DISEASE’ OR A ‘DISORDER’ —
Post-partum depression/psychosis is not a discrete biological illness; it is a state of mind that’s usually brought on by the sudden hormonal readjustment (shock, aftermath) of giving birth, a natural but sometimes hormonally traumatic experience. Which makes it not surprising that a hormonally based treatment relieves it. But this does not mean that Brexanalone is ‘treating a disease’. After all, birth-control pills prevent pregnancy, and pregnancy is not a disease.
…and repeatedly stuffing people (especially young children) with ‘psychiatric medications’ does NOT ‘treat’ anything; all these do is NUMB EMOTIONS that need to be processed.
Furthermore, your unwillingness to recognize the existence of meaningful financial incentives in the business of medicine (psychiatry in particular) indicates a disturbing amount of denial on your part.
I think it’s time you step outside your cognitive bubble.
Kim, the things you mention (neuroscience scans, genome studies, pharmacodynamics, kinetics, etc.,) do not “tell us what is happening in the brain”; these function only as Rorschach tests, meaning whatever happens to be on the mind of the viewer gets projected onto whatever is being viewed. And this is because there is no convincing evidence of a pathological process for any emotional/cognitive state of mind or ‘psychiatric condition’. Check out this blog now available on MIA: Researchers: Depression Is “A Normal Brain Responding to Stress or Adversity” by Peter Simons
And in case you didn’t know, dementia is not a ‘psychiatric condition’; it is a neurological one.
CORRECTION: Framing distressing thoughts, feelings and behaviors ‘psychiatrically’ more often than not causes people to distance themselves (out of fear) from people who’ve been diagnosed ‘psychiatrically’ (biologically rooted or not), people who otherwise would be seen as simply having a hard time.
So, unfortunately, the final upshot from framing psychological problems as ‘biologically rooted’ actually INCREASES stigma, an unintended but nevertheless devastating consequence for persons simply seeking help.
Most people fear (stigmatize) illness of any kind on some level because they don’t like being reminded of their own vulnerability. Therefore, framing people’s thoughts and feelings as ‘psychopathology’ (a medicalized concept) only serves to increase stigma which subsequently prompts people to distance themselves from something that causes them too much anxiety.
Indeed. It’s lip service, a way of appeasing patients in order to make a prescriber’s life easier, a clever way of trying to sound progressive in order to salvage their tarnished reputations. And the craziest thing about it is that doctors are specifically trained to skillfully persuade people to ‘take their medicine’. The whole idea is ridiculously performative because the last thing an MD is concerned with is the patient’s sense of self; what they’re most concerned with is following is standard protocols to avoid malpractice suits.
“Shared decision making” in ‘mental health’ is a joke.
It might sound good, but the fact is most people in professional roles aren’t willing to share their power as this is what defines them. And this is especially true when it comes to ‘antipsychotics’, or any other psychiatric ‘medication’ because most clinicians are trained to believe that psychiatric patients don’t know their own mind (‘lack insight’, ‘anosognosia’). Which is the reason why most clinicians subtly pressure (or even coerce) patients into complying with whatever makes the clinician feel safe.
A client’s sense of self usually fares no better because this too is under the influence of the harmful dynamics present in most psychotherapeutic relationships, dynamics characterized by a ‘power imbalance’ that (insidiously) undermines clients’ faith in themselves.
“If the late adolescence/early adulthood period is genuinely ‘critical’ and ‘sensitive’ for still developing brains, then it is precisely this which should make clinicians wary of biomedical interventions!”
This kind of critical thinking (not to mention common sense) is woefully absent in psychiatry. I don’t know why the obvious never occurs to most of them. Wait a minute! Yes I do! Their confirmation bias has them primed to see what they’re looking for, even if they’re not sure what it is they’re looking at, i.e. ‘schizophrenia’, or ‘depression’, or ‘bipolar’, or ‘anxiety disorder’, or any other ‘disorder’ they happen to think of…
Therefore, the last thing any medical doctor should do is reach for their prescription pad.
I think anyone who has the audacity to call themselves a healer of the mind, brain, soul, etc., is remarkably unaware (unconscious) of their own limitations (unhealed wounds).
They should ask themselves why they feel the need to see themselves as a healer, or more precisely, why they feel the need to have others see them as a healer.
In other words, most often in jobs like this it’s the wounded ego that’s in charge, not ‘the wounded healer’ they may (pretentiously) declare themselves to be.
‘Anitpsychotics’ interfere with the psyche’s ability to naturally restore itself, which can happen, given enough time and favorable circumstances.
Aggressively ‘treating’ psychotic episodes with neuroleptics for years (or any amount of time for that matter) assaults the human body, and mis-perceiving withdrawal effects as a ‘recurrance of the original illness’ is not just a mistake, it is a crime.
“Researchers have reported concerns that screening can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment and wastes the time and resources of both doctors and patients. In a study that found screening youth for depression led to more severe outcomes, the researchers note that screening may have an iatrogenic affect—worsening depression by making people focus on it.”
Bingo! This is the reason why the number of people being diagnosed with ‘mental illness’ has exploded, to the dertriment of themselves and society.
I had serious misgivings when I first heard of widespread screenings for ‘depression’ some thirty-odd years ago. I found myself hoping some influential person in psychiatry would come forward and issue warnings about what this could lead to: a massive iatrogenic effect. But instead what I feared would happen did happen, which is especiallly tragic for people too young and inexperienced to recognize the dynamics of situations like this; in other words, how their emotions are being used (pathologized) to promote The Sickness Industry more than anything else.
I feel the same way. A person’s emotional state is highly personal, therefore is someone’s personal property, something a stranger has no business knowing or asking about for any reason whatsoever. I don’t care who they are or what their purpose is.
It’s one of many micro-inequities perpetrated by the ‘mental health system’ that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
It pisses me off the way psychiatry ducks responsibility for the proliferation of people needlessly prescribed psychiatric drugs because if there were no DSM (created by psychiatrists!) there’d be no way for physicians to legally prescribe psychiatric drugs.
Which means one thing: Psychiatry alone hold the keys to the Gates of Hell.
The reason for the disparity is obvious: people in ‘developed’ countries have more access (money) to pharmaceutical poisons, and pharmaceutical poisons can make you sick.
WTF is ‘screening for depression’??? Stupid checklists bankrolled by pharmaceutical companies administered by stupid people looking for more ‘clients’.
It does prove one thing, however: psychiatry is the apex of capitalism.
Speak for yourself. An apology from psychiatry isn’t enough if their “treatments” have harmed a person’s ability to provide for themselves financially.
Reading this aticle was so confusing it made me anxious. But here’s my take on it just the same:
Telling someone they have an “anxiety disorder” is just a fancy of way of saying something’s wrong with them for feeling anxious which often leads to feelings of shame. This often leads to more anxiety which often leads to more shame—so much so that people often find themselves saying “I AM anxious”, rather than “I FEEL anxious”.
AND WHO WANTS TO GO OUT FEELING LIKE THAT???
So, thanks to “psychiatry” we’ve got people stuck in one hell of an anxiety loop.
If Awais Aftab felt secure with the results of psychiatry’s genetic research, he wouldn’t bother reacting to articles in MIA that highlight the dubious nature of psychiatry’s genetic research results. It’s as simple as that, imo. The fact that Aftab does react imo suggests he harbors feelings of inadequacy around the subject, which is easy to understand considering how cobbled together, speculative and therefore essentially inconclusive the research results are.
Putting it more simply, Awais Aftab seems ‘triggered’ when reputable people like Robert Whitaker dare call out psychiatry’s dubious claims of genetic risk or causality regarding psychiatry’s equally dubious “DSM diagnoses”.
If Awais Aftab felt secure in the results of psychiatry’s genetic research, he wouldn’t bother reacting to articles in MIA that highlight the dubious nature of psychiatry’s genetic research results. It’s as simple as that. The fact that Awais does react suggests he harbors feelings of inadequacy around the subject, which is easy to understand considering how cobbled together (and ultimately speculative) the research results are.
In common parlance, Awais seems ‘triggered’ by certain people who dare call out psychiatry’s vacuous claims of genetic risk or causality. IMHO.
The only thing I learned from psychotherapy is how useless it is for me.
Sitting through psychotherapy left me with a nagging sense of cognitive dissonance that lingered for days. Talking myself into believing that therapists or psychiatrists have anything worthwhile to offer was not only exhausting but also took a huge toll on my relationship with myself since deep down I knew I was wasting my time with people I didn’t respect. In any case, having to constantly bite my tongue so as not to deflate a therapist’s or psychiatrist’s oversized ego was a huge turn-off, but it was something I learned I had to do because most of them couldn’t handle being contradicted.
I only have myself to blame for forcing myself to engage with people I considered incurably insecure overachievers unconsciously seeking validation from everyone they meet just because they have some stupid degree.
What’s the best qualification for anybody wanting to help others? A huge amount of humility and enough personal experience to know what the heck they’re talking about, two qualities I found sorely lacking in most of the people working in the “helping professions”.
Really good interview. I particularly appreciate the way Justin characterizes psychiatry’s use of the term “biopsychosocial” as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. I see this as lip service, a way of fooling people into thinking psychiatry has evolved when it clearly has not.
It’s almost comical how psy-professionals keep trying to prove that “psychotherapy” is better than psychiatric drugs when in reality it’s just the other side of the same dirty coin; its talky-talk spiel is just as gimmicky as psychiatry’s drugs.
Thank you for this article. The Power Threat Meaning Framework is a breath of fresh air that blows away the cobwebs of psychiatry’s hopelessly limiting “diagnostic” framework.
CLARIFICATION: Alan, what you say is a bit confusing to me because on one hand you seem to be saying that all someone needs are supportive relationships. This is true to a certain extent, but totally relying on others, friends or therapists, has the potential of leaving people in a precarious position if they don’t like therapy, can’t afford therapy, or have no close family or friends. Good relationships are important, but being your own best friend is more important, and in my experience, relying too much on others, therapeutically or otherwise can prevent that from happening.
Alan, I looked up Gabor Mate’s definition for trauma and this is what I found: “an inner injury, a lasting rupture or split with the self due to difficult or hurtful events”. I think this encompasses being hurt relationally, past or present.
I agree with you that medicalizing emotional distress is not a good thing. But unfortunately, most therapists are taught that emotional distress is a “disorder”, a “disease”, and that therapy is the only way to deal with it, which imo is limited view that harms those who don’t benefit from therapy.
But what you say is bit confusing to me because on one hand you seem to be saying all someone needs is supportive people, (which I agree with) while on the other hand you seem to be recommending therapy, which imo doesn’t make much sense since most therapists use the DSM and believe psychodynamics are critical, which is something I firmly disagree with.
But I agree that finding supportive people can be extremely helpful. However, I also think that relational problems are destined to repeat unless people get to know their own emotional history and triggers. Otherwise, people can find themselves in the same dysfunctional relationships.
It’s really important to learn to be your own best friend, and therapy isn’t necessary for that.
Learning how others affect you (“trauma”) is very important, but trauma has become a commodity; it need not be a medicalized, money-making opportunity for someone else (i.e., “therapy”).
“If one feels safe in another’s company and trusts someone completely, traumatic memories will most likely become available, and can be dealt with at that time. Otherwise, you don’t need to try to heal from trauma. More importantly, people who have been traumatized don’t need to “heal” from trauma in order to love oneself and life. They only require connection, support, solidarity and relationships with loving people who treat them well.”
YES!!! Medicalized relationships are a needless pain in the ass.
This is what’s wrong with the “mental health system”: it’s made by therapists for therapists where “patients” are seen as defective objects to be fixed with “success” measured by the therapist’s agenda. Totally arbitrary and totally nauseating.
Psychodynamic: this can be re-traumatizing.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: this can shut down people who need to be listened to.
Maybe all someone needs are people who help them feel safe to do what feels right TO THEM, instead of pressured to “do the work” just to please some agenda-possessed “therapist”.
I like this article. I think there’s a big difference between blaming parents and wanting them to understand and care about the harm they’ve done. And parents who genuinely regret the harm they’ve done deserve a second chance like anyone else. We are all human, and I don’t think holding grudges helps anyone.
Looks like psychiatry doesn’t know what the rest of us do: that more made-up “diagnoses” means more lifelong “patients”. So, forget the revolving door. It’s actually a merry-go-round that no one gets off, which (seems to me!) just the way psychiatry likes it.
Dear Essy,
I know how you feel. Pills didn’t help me either.
But self-therapy did help me. I found it by chance on YouTube from someone named Daniel Mackler. I think his approach can be very useful for people not getting what they need from our current mental health system. He’s a former therapist who’s very empathic because he’s aware of how ineffective its pills can be as well as how invalidating it is, especially for sensitive people.
Take good care, Essy. I hope you feel better soon,
Birdsong
IMHO, the problem with psy disciplines is that (most) of the people who work in them seem to think they know all the answers and that the fate of the world is in their hands alone. They need to examine their own motives more than anything else.
Lina, I appreciate your keenly perceptive analysis. I think so-called “victims” can damn well speak for themselves without “assistance” from chronic pathologizers.
Overprescribing is a problem in general medicine. Physicians too quickly write prescriptions for conditions that are not immediately life-threatening rather than suggest lifestyle changes.
“Some say if the DSM acknowledged Complex PTSD (usually from Developmental Trauma), it would be a thin volume.”
I think trauma experienced at any age can lead to significant problems.
“Many trauma experts recommend both top down (cognitive) and bottom-up (somatic) modalities. Unfortunately, few healthcare providers can offer the latter. It seems even fewer can be in their own bodies and emotions well enough to prevent them from thwarting their clients’ processes.'”
Somatic therapies helped me a great deal, but finding an affordable practitioner wasn’t easy. Talk therapy was re-traumatizing. Not only that, most of the talk therapists I knew were egotistical, which I think you have to be to want to be a therapist in the first place.
I grew up in an extremely stressful household where contempt and cruelty were the norm. There were also repeated instances of life-threatening violence as far back as I can remember, happening at a time before things of this nature were acknowledged, publicly or privately. My siblings and I never talked to each other about this nor (as far as I know) mention it to outsiders.
My nervous system is still in the process of calming down from this, and the psychiatric medications only added to my inability to relax. On top of all this, the main offender had the habit of playing loud rock music all day and late into the evening. Between that and the tv on almost constantly, I could never completely relax. My mind and body are still in the process of settling down from the horror of it all.
I think one of the main reasons a lot of people jump on the genetics bandwagon regarding “schizophrenia” and other so-called psychiatric diseases is because they are afraid of looking critically at their own lives and feelings. It’s too much for them. Their irrational fear explains why they react like the devil themselves and feel justified punishing people who make them uncomfortable.
Psychiatry is ââŠ.a presumed medical specialty that has no reputable theory about the alleged internal dysfunction that causes mental illness, that has no biomarkers with which to diagnose those illnesses, yet that has a long history of coercing people to act, think, and feel in accordance with an ill-defined and ever-changing set of moral standards.â
Psychiatry is nothing more than a medicalized game of Blind Manâs Bluff. And itâs guilty of Willful Blindness until it changes.
Psychiatry has become the polite term for drug dealing, because instead of advocating for healthier mindsets, behaviors, and lifestyles, they create drug addicts.
So why wouldnât they want their âpatientsâ addicted to their âtreatmentsâ when thatâs their business? Very paternalistic, i.e. âBig Daddy Knows Bestâ.
Generally, I like what Gabor Mate says. However, I always had the strange sense that heâs missing something, which always left me wondering: Does he not appreciate the way most people are forced to live?
I could never decide if he was being cowardly, or if it just never occurred to him how much deferential treatment he receives because he has âDr.â in front of his name.
I read your essay yesterday and Iâm in awe of it and you. Your insights and intelligence are AMAZING. I see it as a blueprint for the future.
And thank you, thank you, thank you Lisa, for being you, above all else.
I just took a look at âThe Illusion of Psychotherapyâ on Amazon and it sounds well worth reading as Epstein addresses the many social-relational causes of psychic distress.
I look forward to getting a copy once I find one less pricey.
True.
Often people with money and/or advanced education (the so-called âelitesâ) either donât know or have forgotten what itâs like to be low man on the totem pole and the consequences that real people can face if they dare call out the powers that be.
âTo see what âScienceâ is made of, we need only observe what happens when it collides with power, pounds, payola, politics or promotional prospects, perhaps?â
âPeople need to ask about all those patients who as teenagers became patients in the late 1980âs with Prozac and have been compliant and ask simply where are they today? Homeless? Jobless? Severely ill or dead?â
Psychiatry would hide that âdataâ if they had itâor try to give it a âpositiveâ spin.
Correction: Whether psychiatry does this deliberately or not is of NO CONSEQUENCE, because the results are THE SAME: iatrogenic illness, disability and death, which makes psychiatryâs claims of bearing no responsibility completely invalid.
Aftab can soft-soap about psychiatry all he wants, but it doesnât change the fact that psychiatry is a dishonest, exploitative organization whose long history of misinforming the public has allowed it to misuse its power against the most vulnerable people with virtually NO consequences and continues to do so TO THIS DAY.
And this has happened because until now the public has lacked access to information that tells them THE TRUTH behind psychiatryâs many FALSE CLAIMS:
1. That psychiatric diagnoses are physically rooted
2. That psychiatric drugs correct âchemical imbalancesâ or other physical processes
3. That these drugs pose little risk to peopleâs physical and/or psychological health
And whether not psychiatry does or has done this deliberately is of NO CONSEQUENCE, because the results are THE SAME: iatrogenic illness, disability or even death.
And no amount of charm or savvy on the part of any slickly packaged internet shill can change this AWFUL TRUTH.
Correction: Any non-drug therapies psychiatry lays claim to are already being done by people and organizations that have no connections to the drug world, legal or illegal. And as a result, people are experiencing better outcomes than psychiatryâs depraved world of âmedicationâ side effects and any ensuing drug withdrawal.
Aftab is the face of something that has morphed into a world-wide, legalized drug ring. And no amount of philosophizing can change that.
Any other âtherapiesâ it lays claim to are already being done by other people or organizations with no connections to the drug world which just happen to be showing âbetter outcomesâ. And what are âbetter outcomesâ? No drug-induced side effects or withdrawal effects.
No one is safe from psychiatryâs clutches. It strategically targets the entire globe through its trademark insidious fashion: Direct To Consumer Advertising â
âThe DSM mindset is now so thoroughly embedded within the culture itâs massively eroding the ability of people in describe their uniqueness and shifting emotional reactions and states in anything other than psychiatric language.â
Itâs become the biggest source of cultural pollution.
âRecently, he [Aftab] has written a curious blog about the Power Threat Meaning Framework, in which he claims that a) no one has ever heard of it b) everyone thinks it is rubbish c) everyone needs to be warned against itâŠ.. and attributes the authorsâ motivations to âactive hostilityâŠ.against diagnosisâ. Which doesnât really stand up as an evidence-based refutation.â
He says that stuff because the PTMF rattles his cage. And donât be surprised if sooner or later he tries to hijack the idea with his own distorted version. But heâd be much better off if heâd a) own his own âactive hostilityâ, b) quit his twitter habit, and c) stop dabbling in philosophy that only makes him sound more ridiculous.
And as for him claiming that no one has ever heard of the Power Threat Meaning Framework: itâs my understanding that people at the World Health Organization have heard of it.
Iâve learned one thing dealing with psychiatry: itâs best not to engage with it at all, because itâs full of people like Aftab who will defend their dubious âdiagnosesâ till their dying day.
Thank you for the extraordinary work you do. Youâve created a template based on honesty, respect, trust, personal agency and mutual growth, which are the only things that make any sense, and things I found sorely lacking both in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Listening deeply with an open heart and open mind is whatâs most important in life.
Youâve given me a lot to think about.
And thank you for your links.
Birdsong
Psychiatryâs current recognition of trauma and neurodiversity just provides more opportunities for psychiatry to invent more meaningless and ultimately stigmatizing labels, and more opportunities for psychiatry to peddle more harmful drugs, which obviously means more money for them.
Psychiatry is Opportunistic Medicine, and labels and drugs are all theyâve got.
Tanya says, ââŠI think there is such a defensiveness on the part of many psychiatrists. I think that my narrative was perhaps just something that was too challenging and wouldâve caused a lot of reflection on their part, and that reflection could probably be very painful, Iâm sure.â
Psychiatry is the modern version of the Tower of Babel, and itâs DSM is its Book of Babble.
So expecting serious reflection from people schooled in psychiatry is like waiting for the second coming of Christ.
Psychiatry is immune to meaningful reflection, because it would mean the end of psychiatry.
Another look at Aftabâs twitter tells me heâs much too busy promoting himself to spend any time reading anything that doesnât flatter his already inflated ego. So hereâs something short and sweet from Psychology Today:
âReview: The Book of Woe: Why the DSM is doomed to failâ, by Helene Guldberg, PhD
And for something more visually entertaining, Aftab might watch this: âThe Myth of Low-Serotonin & Antidepressants – Dr. David Horowitzâ, courtesy After Skool
And if thatâs not too taxing, Aftab might pick up a copy of âA Profession Without Reason: The Crisis of Contemporary PsychiatryâUntangled and Solved by Spinoza, Free-Thinking and Radical Enlightenmentâ, by Bruce Levine, PhD.
Thank you for sharing your poignant story. Youâve been through hell and back, but congratulations on making it out alive. I totally relate to your saying this:
âThe only therapy that made sense to me was self-introspection and a lot of reading about trauma from compassionate expertsâŠâ
And youâre absolutely right that no one should have to experience and heal from psychiatric gaslighting and abuse. But itâs my belief believe that psychiatryâs current recognition of trauma and neurodiversity is no more than lip service.
Thank you very much, lcjohnstone. And thank you for the wonderful link.
Aftabâs inviting two senior psychiatrists to oppose you proves you set his pants on fire, but I bet he had the old farts lined up long before the interview, as anyone who dares speak the truth poses a threat their identity and Power. And Aftabâs insistence on proving abstractions proves heâs a fool, a fraud, and a fake.
Someone needs to ask Aftab about the philosophy of bait and switch.
Definition for Bait and Switch: Fraudulent or deceptive practice.
The ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support), then thwarting expectations with something less desirable.
Aftabâs the perfect front man for a âprofessionâ that sees its days are numbered, but his carefully modulated hissy fits are a testament to MIAâs integrity. He sees the writing on the wall and it has him running scaredâŠ
You might find some videos and books by Daniel Mackler to be helpful, rasselas.redux. Heâs a former therapist who addresses childhood trauma and breaking from oneâs parents with a lot of understanding.
Psychiatry claims to be medicine, but itâs actually a socially acceptable form of drug trafficking that lobbied for DTCA at the end last century. Itâs not about health, but the bottom line.
I agree that much of whatâs labeled âgreat artâ is not relatable, and that womenâs perspective is often ignored or silenced. And art definitely attracts a lot of snobs.
To me, art is just another form of expression, to communicate soul to soul, to make the unconscious conscious.
You gotta hand it to psychiatry trying to walk back its biological reductionism. But itâs definitely overcompensating.
Hereâs what most people truly need: space and time to grieve unprocessed emotions – – unmolested by psychiatryâs intrusive machinations, pharmaceutical or otherwise.
Because the Federal Government has agreed to pay for psychiatryâs âstandard of careâ, which is primarily psychiatric drugs, and because the pharmaceutical industry is a huge part of the economy.
Psychiatryâs co-optation and de-radicalization of peer-support and psychedelics does nothing to change the fact that itâs CODIFIED BIGOTRY co-opted by financial interests.
âForcing agreement on one shared story, which will no doubt be created by those who hold the most power, is oppressive and dangerous for people who have experienced the dominant paradigm labels, diagnoses and âtreatmentsâ.â
Psychiatry and psychotherapy exploit peopleâs need for attachment and attention.
Traditional psychotherapy is a psychological trap based on an unnatural and unnecessary power imbalance imposed by those whose main goal is having power over vulnerable people. Itâs self-aggrandizing for the therapist and infantilizing for the client.
A peer-run approach is the only civilized way to conduct âtherapyâ, if one seeks it at all.
âIllness trajectories depend on developmental processes, learning, and behavioral interactions on multiple spatial and temporal scales, which involve levels of the organization across neurobiological, cognitive-affective, interpersonal, and social systems.â
Translation: LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE
And while youâre at it, try having a little respect for the people youâre dealing with.
Exposing children and adolescents to notions of âmental health awarenessâ is totally inappropriate because it makes them think thereâs something wrong with them for not feeling their best at all times; theyâre too young to have perspective about their feelings. Itâs a grossly irresponsible use of the power of suggestion.
Children need to know that feelings are a part of living, and be taught how to respond to their feelings in positive, self-affirming ways. Anything else is confusing and harmful.
Psychiatry is as much a political tool today as it was during the Nazi era, as its goal is essentially the same: power and control by whatever means necessary, which today includes psychedelics.
But has anyone imagined the iatrogenic damage in years to come?
Some people need to pull their heads out of their data-dependent asses and instead consider these novel ideas:
1. Maybe emotional distress isnât physical illness
2. Maybe psychoactive drugs arenât a good thing for most people
3. Maybe talk therapy isnât what itâs cracked up to be
Then finally ask themselves this burning question:
Is turning to a medicalized, data-dependent system for emotional distress good idea?
What do you know! Psychiatryâs finally come full circle with psychedelics. And who knows? Maybe with this latest twist, theyâll finally admit that psychiatry is drug pushingâŠ
Thereâs nothing more âdisalienatingâ than listening to people (be they men OR women) unconsciously guided by chauvinistic attitudes.
Definition for Chauvinistic: displaying excessive or prejudiced support for oneâs own cause or group; the irrational belief in the superiority or dominance of oneâs own group or people
And thereâs nothing more chauvinistic than psychiatry and its self-satisfied offshoot called âpsychotherapyâ, as both are based on gratifying the egos of their practitioners.
No one needs anyoneâs convoluted, self-serving theories regarding psychosis when the explanation is simple: people retreat from reality when life gets too painful. And if they sense safety, they often come back.
Intellectualism, as opposed to psychosis, is just another way to dissociate from intolerable feelings. And itâs long been a refuge for the intellectually pompous, i.e. âpsychiatryâ and itâs chronically confused cousin better known as âpsychologyâ.
There is such a thing as thinking too much. People need to get out of their heads and into their hearts.
I agree 100% with Lauraâs assessment of the situation regarding psychic distress in todayâs world; that itâs one of financial exploitation on top of personal victimization â which explains why so many people high on the abusive end of the narcissistic spectrum hold jobs as âmental health workersâ. And itâs definitely spread by the misuse and overuse of psychological language that characterizes emotions as illness. And any effort to reclaim the narrative, i.e. âDI Without The Disorderâ is definitely a step in the right direction.
The main problem with psychiatry is that all you need to do is say âbooâ to have the fools reach for their stupid DSM. And most psychologists are no different.
Worth a glance: âSplitting: The Psychology Behind Binary Thinking And How It Limits A Diversity Of Opinions,â by Ilana Redstone in Forbes Magazine
My takeaway was this quote from psychologist Andrew Hartz:
âThereâs an Islamic mystic who described how harmful it is to divide people into groups, say only good things about some and only bad things about othersâŠâ â something that accurately describes the âmental healthâ industry.
What I find remarkable about the enlightenment era is how adamant some people were about separating the mind and body. And I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that these were men who never had to contend with the agonizing realities of either menstrual cramps or childbirth. Because if theyâd had to, I bet theyâd have stopped thinking like a bunch of stubborn two-years olds. And while I donât believe thereâs any such thing as the completely egotistical construct invented by the completely egotistical Freud called âpenis envyâ, there is definitely such a thing as âpenis privilegeâ.
Cartesian dualism is actually a form of âsplittingâ, the defense mechanism used by people unable to tolerate ambiguity. And âsplittingâ is what characterizes most of the people who practice psychiatry and psychologyâand when challenged, they resort to gaslighting.
So there you have it, the two things that characterize the system of âmental healthâ: splitting and gaslighting.
âIt is an extreme materialism and pro technocratic thinking based on labels, procedures and it will be worse.â
âThinking based on procedures and labels is a programming of the enlightenment era leading to technocracy.â
âAnd there is no sign of psychiatric victims in this corrupted evil society.â
This is an evil society and things probably will get worse in some ways. But I hold out hope for radical change in how people see âmental illnessâ.
âThe JHP was the venerable journal of a revolutionary movement begun in the 1950âs to provide a âthird forceâ in the field, to counter the two dominant movements of Freudâs psychoanalysis and B.F. Skinnerâs behaviorism.â
Human beings are not just their brain chemistry; they are mind, body and spirit/soul. In my mind, humanistic psychology recognizes what other psychologies and certainly psychiatry do not, which is the overriding reality and beauty of the human soul, without which life loses its purpose and meaning.
Check this out on YouTube: âThis Is Priceless – George Harrison On What Lies BeyondâŠâ T&H – Inspiration & Motivation
Psychology needs to shut up and change its name to cognicology. It doesnât belong in the âfeelingsâ business. And psychiatry needs to shut up entirely.
The field of psychology should be called âbehaviorismâ because thatâs all it is. After all, âpsycheâ means âsoulâ and souls canât be âclinically studiedâ.
And psychiatry should be called drug pushing, because thatâs EXACTLY what it is.
I was delighted to read something about human suffering that actually captures the essence of what it means to be human:
âTo have seen those JHP journals on the library shelves full of merciful caring about human suffering, was proof that the human heart and spirit could prevail over the head and the dangerous objectification of the disease model of psychiatry.â
âThe contrast was human-hearted compassion and potential for all, verses human-disordered abnormality/pathology and emotion-killing psych drugs for all.â
My thanks are to you, Dr. Coleman. A heart-centered approach should be the gold standard for helping people, and also for living a good life.
People donât need a disease-centered, agenda-laden system. They need caring human beings without an agenda who know how to listenâsomething that used to be called a very good friend.
Healing happens in understanding, NOT âdiagnosesâ.
Thank you for sharing your story. I relate to it because like you I believe much of what is thought to be âmental illnessâ is actually a spiritual breakthrough brought about by repeated moral injuryâinjuries usually made worse by a system that speaks a different language.
And I wish you many Happy Returns on your Spiritual Birthday!
And I wouldnât be surprised if higher rates of addiction to psychiatric drugs correlates with higher levels of income. After all, thatâs just what the pharmaceutical cartels are counting on.
I think it depends on what you consider âmental illnessâ.
Enduring financial hardship and deprivation can cause high levels of stress that can adversely affect peopleâs state of mind and ability to function. And unfortunately this usually gets categorized as âmental illnessâ.
âA man who says, âI want change, tell me how toâ, seems very earnest, very serious, but he is not. He wants an authority whom he hopes will bring about order in himself. But can authority ever bring about inward order? Order imposed from without must always breed disorder.â
– J. Krishnamurti
âAll ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.â – J. Krishnamurti
And thereâs nothing more divisive than psychiatry and psychology.
Definition for Divisive: alienating, estranging, isolating, schismatic, discordant, disharmonious, inharmonious â all of which aptly describes psychiatry and psychology.
Psychologically speaking, the author seems to have all his ducks in order. However, he contradicts himself when first saying:
âFrom the relational-intersubjective standpoint, both the therapist and the context/system are unavoidably a part of the very experiences that become pathologised as individual disorders.ââ
And then saying:
âThough in relational-intersubjective therapy there is an inevitable âasymmetryâ â as there necessarily is in any therapeutic relationship â the model [relational-intersubjective] assumes and encourages an epistemological equality with regards to what is occurring and what it means.â
Why canât he see that an âinevitable asymmetryâ directly contradicts any claims of âepistemological equalityâ â the lack of which is extremely pathologizing?
All heâs done is prove how some people will say anything to maintain a pathologizing power imbalance, which, incidentally, ensures him of being capitalistically compensated.
Itâs not that complicated. Peopleâs emotions and frames of mind are most often the result of their interactions with others, while people stuck in Cartesian thinking are usually the result of disconnected control freaks addicted to power.
Who in their right mind would assume thereâs no collusion between the FDA and Big Pharma when so much moneyâs at stake? And donât forgetâwhen their stint is up at the FDA, youâll find them on the board at some Big Pharma.
Judi Chamberlin: âPeople are unlikely to question the underlying premises of their occupations, in which they often have a large financial and emotional stake.â
This is why so few âcliniciansâ critically evaluate psychiatryâs many unprovable assumptions: the validity of their âdiagnosesâ, the reliability of their prognosis, and the necessity and safety of their so-called âmedicationsâ. And their habitual use of the word âclinicalâ hides the fact that they themselves are afraid of admitting their whole shebang is full of holes.
If you want to persuade people, just pepper your speech with scientific language, itâs an effective marketing tool for just about anything.
Traumatic injury/memory gets stuck in the body as much if not more than anywhere else. And this is where psychiatry, psychology, and western medicine in general miss the boat. The DSM is an extreme example of how fragmented western approaches are.
Psychiatry and psychology have destroyed peopleâs faith in their ability to process emotional trauma without drugs or reliance on some foolâs idea of âpsychotherapyâ.
Thatâs for damn sure. But itâs gotten even sicker since hitching its wagon to the pharmaceutical industry as anything thatâs profitable financially inevitably controls the narrative. But megavitamin therapy sounds interesting though, as it probably helps restore peopleâs messed up physiology from either psychiatric drugs or other psychoactive substances like alcohol, etc.
And anythingâs better than psychiatryâs sanitized drug hustling or psychologyâs mindless minds fucks.
Definition for Mind Fuck: the process of raping someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
Definition for Psychiatry and Psychology: the raping of someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
David,
Thank you for your generous offer, but right now Iâm not needing it. But I donât doubt EMDRâs effectiveness as trauma definitely gets stuck in the mind and memory, and people definitely need alternatives to psychiatryâs drug-happy medical model.
It would be great if psychiatry were disbanded altogether. But realistically this wonât happen anytime soon because real change rarely comes from the top down. More likely to happen is psychiatry eventually going the way of cigarette smoking, meaning it will probably take a long time for the majority of the population to learn from bitter experience that psychiatryâs sick assortment of diagnoses and drugs are not the best answer.
However, I think it inevitable that the DSM will be formally discredited, hopefully with an admission that most psychic distress is caused by relational-environmental factors. And who knows? Maybe sooner rather than later an increasing number of general practitioners will be less likely to automatically prescribe psychotic drugs.
I canât say enough good things about something that fosters reconnecting with oneself rather than symptoms, i.e. psychiatryâs superficial âdiagnosesâ. Reconnecting With Yourselfâ needs to be everyoneâs motto.
Your kind and considerate perspectives are EXACTLY where the âtherapeutic modelâ (and anyoneâs perspective for that matter) needs to be.
Thank you for sharing your personal observations about therapy; they closely mirror my own:
1. The dishonesty of paying for kindness and compassionâwhich is the opposite of kindness and compassion
2. Using âtransferenceâ to protect and maintain what is essentially a destructive power dynamic
3. Money wasted on bad memories âdug up about which nothing can be doneâ
4. Being told you are incurably ill and hopelessly broken from someone with something to gain
5. Forced to cope with abandonment from boundaries âsuddenly put up by a previously accepting therapistâ
6. That most therapists are egomaniacs
7. That most therapists like having power over vulnerable people for all the wrong reasons which DEFINITELY âtakes a certain level of arrogance to think that wayâ.
And I forgot to mention how IFS uses curiosity in untangling the complexity of the mind rather than shutting it down with drugs or other narrow-minded âtherapeuticâ methods.
I just visited your website (healingtheself.net) and am glad I did. Itâs thorough without being exhaustive and accessible without being simplistic, something essential in an area as broad as mental health. Your âPerspectivesâ section is particularly illuminating as it includes the most relevant topics: âThe Spectrum of Traumaâ, âBreaking the Trauma Cycleâ, âWestern Medicineâ, and âInternal Family Systems (IFS)â. Itâs important you placed these topics together as these are all interconnected, and connecting the dots is something too few people are doing. And the quotes youâve chosen are brilliant.
Thank you for devoting your life to something so important and central to what truly matters. I wish you the best in your new vocation.
Thank you for saying everything that needs to be said about a non-pathologizing approach to psychic distress. You succeed in making the complicated understandable in a beautifully cogent way.
I appreciate your explaining in detail how Internal Family Systems parts-centric approach acknowledges not only the impact of the subconscious, but also âthe notion of the Selfâ and how respecting that Self, oneâs âtrue essenceâ or innate dignity, is central to the healing process, i.e., âbecoming wholeâ. And I especially appreciate your mentioning how psychiatry is âlocked into a paradigm of neurotransmitters and genetics, [that] misses whatâs right in front of its face, and turns a blind eye to mountains of evidence supporting the role of environmental distressâi.e., traumaâin mental health.â Your ideas are SPOT ON.
I too believe âa revolution is brewing with respect to mental health treatment in our cultureâ, but more strongly I hope âthe beauty of IFSâ will be at the forefront thisâand perhaps eventually of life itself.
Imo, psychiatry is nothing more than an absurd gallery of pseudoscientific diagnoses whose DSM represents one gargantuan psychological autoimmune âdisorderâ.
Itâs too bad psychiatry canât diagnose its own own pathological tendency to diagnose and label everything under the sun.
In contrast, Internal Family Systems is a path towards true healing, as itâs based on compassion and common sense.
Psychiatry isnât about listening, itâs about imposing pseudoscientific beliefs on others.
And most of the time people are âdiagnosedâ before theyâve even uttered a wordâand most of the time their goose is cooked if the doctor doesnât like them.
I also bet Decartes, like most of todayâs psychiatrists and psychologists, was secretly one angry dudeâand Heaven knows thereâs nothing more destructive than unacknowledged angerâwhich I think is the foundation of all of psychiatry and most of psychology.
And thereâs nothing wrong with anger; itâs one of most instructive and protective emotions anyone can haveâif dealt with authentically.
Itâs heartening to know that Dr. Ophirâs book is receiving such positive scholarly reviews. I hope his bravery encourages others like him to speak out against the institutional gaslighting not only surrounding ADHD, but all the other scientifically baseless âdiagnosesâ that constitute the fallacious field of psychiatry. And I sincerely believe itâs only a matter of time before it collapses from the weight of its own lies.
ericwsetz says, âThe first step is a willingness to be there with the patient and understand what they are saying.â
Which just happens to be the basis of ANY healthy relationship, and most importantly needs to starts with the first: with oneâs parents/caregivers in childhood
ericwsetz says, âPatients are not out of their minds they are too deep in it.â
Yes! And itâs not just psychiatry â âpsychotherapyâ often sets up its own convoluted âclinicalâ traps for people needing to get OUT of their heads â
So-called âmental health awarenessâ in schools is about as helpful as an infestation of head liceâpsychological head lice, that is. They are no longer places to learn and be educated, they are places to be labeled and âmedicatedâ.
And children often live up to a teacherâs worst expectations.
âThe motivation to remove the symptom has resulted in what Poole calls a âever-increasing proliferation of context-less achievementsâŠlocal scientific successes which precede even the remotest notion of how to deal with them ethically or how to integrate them into the needs of the totality.â
That explains psychiatryâs main flaw: its refusal to see experience in context.
Charlotte says, âThe discipline [psychiatry] pretends to be an objective classification of people, borrowing language (âdiagnosisâ) from physical medicine, which assigns the label of disease following the identification of a pathology, which one hopes can be targeted and cured. But the analogy fails in psychiatry. There are few known biological pathologies. And who is to say what cure is?â
Not only thatâwhoâs to say what pathology is? And THATâS the problem with psychiatry: it uses medicalized name-calling (âdiagnosesâ) to sell its designer drugs. And thereâs a label for that: FRAUD â
Some wounds never heal completely, and sometimes forgiveness is impossible, but thereâs nothing shameful or âsickâ about this. Itâs just accepting emotional realityâsomething that leads to emotional maturityâwhich is the beginning of wisdom, something psychiatry knows little about.
Psychiatry is entirely subjective. Indeed, how objective can it be when itâs based entirely on labeling WHATEVER IT ALONE deems âabnormalâ or âunhealthyâ?
But the real tragedy is that it fails to see how much itâs shaped by its own biased thinking.
But psychiatry isnât about thinking; itâs about its practitioners NEEDING to think theyâre ALWAYS right: hence they thunk up a COLOSSALLY STUPID DSM.
And just WHAT did psychiatryâs carnival of catastrophe do for me besides create havoc with its debilitating drugs?
1. It made me doubt my reality
2. It hijacked my healthy sense of self
3. It convinced me I couldnât function without its patronizing âinterventionsâ
ALL of which proved untrue once I FINALLY got off its merry-go-round of so-called âmental illnessâ and smorgasbord of so-called âmedicationsâ.
âPsychiatry persists because of the professionâs strategies to manage its ignoranceâŠâ
Translation: psychiatry persists because it believes its own lies.
âIn order to make those changes and to promote those reinventions, psychiatrists engage in hype.â
Translation: psychiatry is more public relations than science.
âNow the flipside to hype is hubris. Psychiatrists believe the hype and then undertake these transformations in an incredibly aggressive way.â
Translation: psychiatryâs become big business by teaming up with the pharmaceutical industry and its advertising flunkies while sending its latest edition of the DSM to every doctor in town.
All of which leads to one conclusion: psychiatry is what happens when quackery meets propaganda.
In a word? Emphatically NO. But it might be a step in the right direction if psychiatry realized that stress and trauma are the true culprit, not its idiotic assumptions of biological/genetic whatnot.
Me too. After all, most religions are based on sacred texts that believe in salvation, whereas psychiatry, (a secular religion based on its DSM/bible) says youâre eternally damned â
Beatrice g,
I have to disagree with your saying that âfixing traumaâ requires âtherapeutic practicesâ when itâs been clearly demonstrated time and again that children, animals and adults heal best in loving, non-judgmental environments, which often means staying as far away as possible from the so-called âtrauma expertsâ.
Yes! The the social structure of todayâs society and modern family dynamics are EXACTLY where âpsychiatric problemsâ start. But psychiatryâs answer is to have the whole world drowning in âdiagnosesâ and drugs or endlessly spinning their wheels in diagnostic-infested âpsychotherapyâ.
Very true. Itâs sad reality when children arenât safe in the very places they need it the most: home and school.
And a lot of doctors and âtherapistsâ just continue the pattern of bullying and name-calling through âdiagnosingâ and labeling and call it âmental healthâ.
Itâs no wonder the kids are upset when thereâs nowhere to turn.
âWhat are the socio-cultural factors of modern society that drive [abuse and bullying]âŠ?â
Let me take a wild guessâŠhow about psychiatry!âŠ.you know, that marvelous bully-inspired invention that prescribes chemical dissociation instead of emotional integrationâŠ
ââŠ.and what can we do to reverse its course?â
First of all, QUIT making excuses by seeing people as âpatientsâ instead of full human beingsâbe they children OR adultsâwhich means DUMPING psychiatry and its endless list of invented âdiagnosesâ/âdisordersâ as soon as possible.
It all starts with seeing people as doing the best they can in a sick society, NOT the other way around.
And Iâve often thought thereâs way more to learn from watching âDog Whisperer with Cesar Millanâ than listening to so-called âtrauma-informedâ therapists or so-called âhumanâ psychiatrists.
Steve,
Freud chickened out alright. He turned out to be an egotistical coward more anything.
And thank you for pointing out the true reason behind blaming peopleâs brains: the refusal to face reality, both personally and collectively.
Looking at it historically, though, deflection has always been used by the ruling class, one way or another. Just look at the Middle Agesâbut instead of blaming the brain, they blamed the devil.
At least Freud had curiosity and imagination. But even these got out of control, not to mention his unhealthy need to always be right, a fixation no doubt shared by none other than the great Emil Kraepelin, the founder of psychiatric eugenics. (Opps! I think I meant âgeneticsââŠ.)
I donât think âexpertsâ like thinking too much (i.e. âmentalizationâ, or âreflective functioningâ), because questioning their assumptions means questioning their power. So conversations with them too often pointless, Iâve found.
So whatâs my answer? Hauling out the old âcaveat emptorâ approach. After all, doing your own research never hurt, and it just might save your life. Or just trust your own instincts and move on.
I think a lot of problems come from people unconsciously needing to feel more powerful than the next person so they can get away with bossing people around; power means more than truth to them.
And this most likely comes from not having their emotional needs met in childhood, so having power-driven jobs like psychiatry or psychotherapy fills their unmet need to feel powerful.
So life for them becomes one big long âI know more than youâ kind of game that they never outgrow, but instead of flexing their muscles, theyâre flexing their egos, imho.
âBecoming more resilient means, for me, that I take the fragments of my identity which have become lost in the course of my life so far, and carefully and attentively re-assemble them into an intact ego so that I can perceive myself ever more accurately and clearly.â
âI look back on past times until they feel alive and warmâŠ.I believe that is helpful â and an essential part of livingâŠ.â
âGiven these accumulating personal observations, I find it hard to understand why, even today, research on schizophrenia focuses so heavily on genetics; why helping affected persons involves antipsychotics above all; and why the knowledge and experience of affected persons are barely recognized.â
âIf we have an increased susceptibility to stress and psychosis, then there are always reasons for this, which are as individual as we ourselves are.â
âExcessive treatment with antipsychotics and psychiatric medication in general can hide the true causes of mental problems and disorders, stand in the way of real healing, and destroy real social interactions.â
âAs humans and as inhabitants of the Earth we all depend on each other: physically, intellectually, and emotionally. So all of us need to be willing to learn from and with each other in mutual respect, to live together and establish a resilient community.â
Thank you for sharing your remarkable story and insights, Moyu. Itâs a beautiful testament to the resilience of the human spirit. I hope it inspires real change in the mental health system and the world at large.
Moyu says, ââŠ(when I had finally found a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who treated me as an equalâŠâ
Being thought of as an equal and treated as an equal is where healing begins in any relationship.
I felt stigmatized by psychiatry, infantilized by psychotherapy, and demoralized by bothâand diagnoses and power imbalanceâthe foundation of bothâare the reasons why, imo.
No one seeking help needs to feel worse than they already do.
KateL says, âPeople who were abused in the mental health system are experts in how the system abuses people. I guess some people just can handle that objective fact.â
Very true. Your statement reveals how most âmental health expertsâ are incapable of self-reflection.
Thank you KateL, for pointing out how the âexpertsâ try to defend themselves by discrediting people who donât share their views with stupid phrases like, ââbe careful not to over generalizeâ, and flipping from âthis is objective factâ, to âah well, itâs more art than science.ââ
Did it ever occur to the âexpertsâ that psychiatry and psychology ARE BASED on over generalizations???
When it suits the âexpertsâ narrative they call it objective fact, and when THAT fails they haul out the old bromide, âitâs more art than scienceâ, which simply means they don’t know what they are talking about.
ââŠthe gaslighterâlike all verbal abusersâoperates from what they know to be your fears, insecurities, vulnerabilities, and neediness.â
âAdditionally, as in other types of verbal abuse, there has to be an imbalance of power with the gaslighter holding all the cards.â
âThis [your inclination to doubt yourself] is something the gaslighter knows about and he or she stands ready to exploit.â
Psychiatrists AND therapists will often use these gaslighting dynamics to gain an unfair advantage over vulnerable people.
And people saying, âThatâs just their training, theyâre really just trying to help,â IS BULLSHIT because for the most part, people who have no problem using these tactics are more interested in HAVING POWER OVER OTHERS more than EMPOWERING OTHERS; they obviously prefer infantilizing people.
ââŠ.sometimes all you need is a genuine person to help you stand up when you are down and reignite not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light within yourself. Self-love and self-awareness are the key to a healthy life.â
Yes!!! THIS is the way to heal broken hearts, minds, lives and relationships, NOT name-calling (diagnoses) and âpsychiatric medicationsâ.
Thereâs nothing better than help from someone whoâs been there and sees you as capable of helping yourself.
Whether or not thereâs neurological evidence of emotional trauma, the bigger problem lies in seeing the results (âsymptomsâ) as medical issues, i.e. âpsychiatric diagnosesâ; the medical model just continues the trauma of disrespect, blame, and neglect.
3. Not only seriously curtail the use of psychiatric drugs, but stop saying these âtreatâ a âchemical imbalanceâ or other âmental illnessâ that need to be taken âthe rest of your lifeâ.
Thanks for the info, LivingPast27, though it looks like Europe has caught up: âHow depression treatment differs throughout Europeâ, from the Guardian. It shows how important it is that M.I.A. is getting a foothold in more and more countries around the world.
Yes!!! Apologizing and making amends to the patients theyâve harmed is as important as anything. But I was trying to stay within the realm of the possible.
Thank you Krista, for your detailed clarification.
I read Francesâ insulting rebuttal to the late Dr. Caplan, but I wasnât surprised by his blatantly condescending attitude and remarks. But I do consider it an excellent example of the attitudes psychiatric survivors are up against, which is why self-rescue is too often the only option.
Fraud, medical neglect, exploitation, and lack of patient/public education/information are what makes psychiatry psychiatry, and is why it needs to go the way of the dinosaur asap.
So what does âtreating patients betterâ actually mean? It means any one of the following, but should begin with the first:
1. Throw out the DSM and do not replace it
2. Stop claiming that psychiatric problems are biological or genetically linked
3. Seriously limit the prescribing of psychiatric medications
4. Seriously limit the use of ECT
5. Make it illegal for any physician to force medicate or medically incarcerate
6. Replace psychiatry with the many alternatives currently available
And when these happen, no one will be needing to find an exit.
âScreening for Mental Illness: The Merger of Eugenics and the Drug Industryâ, by Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS, from The Alliance for Human Research Protection
As I previously stated, if people want to take psychiatric drugs or undergo ETC, thatâs their business. What I object to is psychiatry falsely claiming that peopleâs problems are lifelong and biologically or genetically based, permitting the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs while downplaying the risks, and last but not least their ability to force treatments or involuntarily hospitalization on people which can be for indefinite periods of time.
Psychiatryâs abuse of medicine, power, and peopleâs human rights got a HUGE boost when psychiatrists collectively decided in 1980 to adopt the medical model through an admittedly flawed checklist system for their admittedly flawed DSM, which makes psychiatry not only misleading, but downright fraudulent. And the resulting devastation to both individuals and society are becoming increasingly apparent and definitively undeniable.
The body-brain chemical makeup can greatly affect how emotions are felt and thoughts are perceived. And lots of things can screw it up: too much stress (emotional, psychological or physical), prescription medications, environmental or recreational substances, and even bangs on the head. But none of these indicate biologically or genetically caused illnesses.
From the New York Post: âWhy more women, like me, are abandoning the pill over emerging health concernsâ by Rikki Schlott.
Correction: âIf people want to take âpsychiatric medicationâ or subject themselves to ECT, thatâs their business, but they need to be CLEARLY informed of significant risks of side effects and/or withdrawal reactions both immediate and future, and that NO âillnessâ is being âtreatedâ.
And NO ONE should have the legal authority to force any âtreatmentâ, or âhospitalizeâ someone who hasnât committed a crime.
Ideally, all medicine should be based in a Functional-Holistic paradigm. But present reality demands no longer seeing emotional distress through a medical/diagnostic lens, beginning with a dissolution of psychiatry and its DSM.
If people want to take âpsychiatric medicationâ thatâs their business, but they need to clearly know thereâs significant risk of side effects and/or withdrawal reactions, and that no âillnessâ is being âtreatedâ.
And no one should have the legal authority to hospitalize someone who hasnât committed a crime.
Itâs not hard seeing how disconnected modern society is when you stop to think how insane it is having people pay someone for emotional supportâand on top of THAT calling it âmental healthcareâ. Itâs not a sign of progress; itâs a sign of degradation.
And as corny as it sounds, things wonât change until people get out of their heads and into their hearts.
Richard says, âUnfortunately, you have fallen into Healyâs âoh so charmingâ trap of pragmatic rationalizations for justifying oppression.â
I agree with Richard.
IMHO, most psychiatrists are driven by an unconscious need to hide from their own hidden vulnerabilities. Why else would they seek to obliterate feelings through drugs and ECT?
And psychiatryâs veneer of science gives the illusion of invulnerability.
Itâs all about power, similar to what drives most bullies or those who want to be seen as saviors.
Freud was absolutely right about one thing: the unconscious influences behavior. And scientists are no exception.
Why rely on âexpertsâ who havenât experienced ECT?
Arenât peopleâs personal accounts enough?
Has anyone bothered to ask the dear Dr. Healy (or anyone else who canât make up their minds about the dangers of ECT) if theyâd be willing to subject themselves or their loved ones to ECT?
How much more âproofâ does anyone need?
Science has been put on a pedestal that leads people away from their intuition and common sense.
âThe expertsâ would be wise to remember thereâs a point at which ânuanceâ becomes a hindrance to seeing and accepting the cold, hard truth.
No one need rely on âpsychotherapistsâ to process their trauma. People can do a lot on their own, in their own time, in their own way: writing /journaling, reading, listening to peopleâs experience on podcasts and videos, talking with friends or family members, including animals, engaging in hobbies or creative pursuits, volunteering, and spending as much time as possible in nature.
âI suggest we all become shrinks or lawyers and then we will be safe from slander. It will then come down to who can outslander whom.â
THATâS what psychiatry boils down to: SLANDER â
âThey are a childish, immature, selfish hateful bunchâŠ.you better tread careful.â
Indeed. Only childish adults think the way most psychiatrists and psychotherapists do, i .e. having to believe theyâre always right, and having temper tantrums when âpatientsâ tell them theyâre not.
Wow. Who wouldâve guessed that talking to someone could be helpful??? And wouldnât it be great if people werenât made to believe they need an âexpertâ???
Iâm very sorry getting off the psych drugs is causing you so much pain and trouble. It can take a long time for your body to readjust. And itâs even harder when the people who should know something donât.
I donât know whatâs worse, the effects of the so-called âmedicationsâ or the stupidity of the so-called âtherapistsâ. The whole thingâs a scam, imho.
Just hang in there as best you can, believing you will get through this.
They it called âpsychopathyâ to make it sound impressive so they can charge a fee when all it is listening, and most psychotherapists do a lousy job of that.
The term âpsychotherapyâ implies illness which indicates medical which leads to the can of worms called âpsychiatric diagnosesâ. Itâs as weaponized as psychiatry.
On the other hand, the word âcounselingâ has a much less negative connotation, i.e. legal counsel, pastoral counsel, guidance counsel, parental counsel, etc. And in these situations, people are share knowledge, experience, wisdom and guidance that (hopefully) isnât biased on pseudoscientific âdiagnosticâ beliefs.
I no longer use words like âdepressionâ or âanxietyâ. I just say sad or apprehensive.
And the same goes if someone is acting in a way I dislike. So instead of saying something nasty like âsounds like someone has a personality disorderâ, I just take the time to describe their behavior.
But it IS consistently based on a âpower imbalanceâ and the exchange of money, something thatâs unfair, unnecessary, unhealthy and inappropriate when all it is is talking with someone.
And psychotherapists are trained in psychiatric ideologies, i.e. âmental illnessâ, âpsychiatric diagnosesâ; theyâre psychiatrists without a prescription pad which can be even more damaging.
Either way, itâs all about power, manipulation and money.
Thereâs one criticality important thing Ms.Heller doesnât mention, or perhaps is unable/unwilling to see: that itâs not uncommon for manipulative people to be working as mental health professionals.
Powerful organizations always try to fix things after the fact, and canât see how perhaps they and society are part of the problem.
Children and adults need emotional support from people who truly care about their wellbeing, but not from prying professionals paid to police their private lives.
This is true, but I think most are too dissociated to comprehend whatâs really going on. The ones at the top of the heap are another matter entirely.
Dear Ramesh,
You might look into something at The Withdrawal Project (TWP). Itâs part of ICI, the Inner Compass Initiative. These are dedicated to helping people who are looking to reduce or come off psychiatric drugs.
Birdsong made a mistake.
Bill Wells says, ââŠsome organizations can be extraordinarily closed.â
And Birdsong says, âMost of these belong to psychiatrists.â
HERE IT IS!!! In print! Just what Iâve always sensed and been trying to say here all along, which is that psychiatry (and its loyal sycophantic twin known as âpsychotherapyâ) are BULLSHIT GALORE â
âGoffman [a sociologist] emphasizes the role stigma plays in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment by expounding on its insidious barrier to recovery and the dehumanization and de-personalization which stimulates further damage and marginalizes victims. Essentially stigma breeds contempt and contempt breeds blame.â
Such are the so-called âhealingâ dynamics of psychiatry and its partner in crime âpsycho-therapy.â
To yinyang:
I wasnât fully aware of that, but I think MIA is as radical as Iâm comfortable with. And I also think itâs a good idea to post in a place that has a somewhat more broad appeal, as something more radical might be too radical and therefore reach fewer people.
Bill Wells says, âAs Tip OâNeill wound suggest, the politics start at the local level. And some organizations can be extraordinarily closed.â
Psychiatryâs not medical. Never was, never will be. Itâs political, which is why it needs to go.
The political (punitive) abuse of psychiatry already exists in some form as evidenced by peopleâs inaccurate beliefs and attitudes towards people with psychiatric labels and the laws permitting forced psychiatric drugging and detention. And this will continue as long as psychiatry exists in any form. And THATâS the truth and the horror OF IT ALL.
And psychiatry has people up a creek because being a former or current user can make it difficult to be taken seriously, or even ruin someoneâs life personally and professionally. (Did I say psychiatry is political? Yes I did!) So people are left with word of mouth that thankfully is often the most effective (and safest) way for real change to happen.
Violence isnât always physically brutal; sadism often looks benign.
Psychiatry is a case in point: it offers a way for traumatized people to unconsciously deny their trauma by wearing the mask of âdoctorâ so to legally traumatize people in the name of âtreatmentâ. Itâs sanitized sadism.
Psychiatryâs hauling out their old standby CYA (Cover Your Ass) medicine because theyâre afraid of the lawsuits headed their way. So theyâre jumping on the bandwagon before itâs too late.
Many thanks to MIA for giving voice to those who have been unfairly criticized, silenced, targeted, imprisoned, tortured, censured and censored by psychiatry and its advocates.
Kate W. writes, âThis is the problem with being a consumer â we get consumed.â
Wow. Reading this article confirmed my worst suspicions about people who work in the mental health system. Nonetheless I was deeply saddened as I read Kate W.âs painfully vivid account.
And itâs an eye opener for anyone holding illusions about creating alliances in a mental health system based on stigma and invasions of privacy.
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Psychiatryâs history of human rights violations has continued unabated to this day and is becoming increasingly widespread due to the undeniable association among psychiatry, Big Pharma, mainstream media, academia, and the legislative/judicial/policy-making branches of government. So promoting alliance between supporters and opponents of the current mental health system reveals not only a serious lack of understanding and concern for those caught in the mental health system, but a disturbing complacency that is best described as irresponsible.
I don’t ever consider the fight for ANYONEâS human rights âold fashioned!”
People holding seriously different views can unite on individual issues; it happens every day and is called democracy.
However, psychiatry is the only branch of medicine that seriously infringes on peopleâs basic human rights.
I therefore see aligning with people who believe in psychiatry as making a deal with the devil; this, however, does not preclude aligning over specific issues.
Iâve never viewed all âconsumersâ as the same. Whatever someone decides to do is their business.
What I object to is psychiatryâs violating peopleâs human rights by feeding them lies.
And building alliances where thereâs major conflicts of interests is counterproductive, especially when one side has more power than the other. So in this area I see collaboration and half measures as ultimately harmful for those who need help the most.
Yes, and psychiatry uses fear (on some level) to âwinâ every argument, or âdiscussionâ, which makes things airtight for them, but suffocates others.
âWhen the oppressed set aside all disagreements with their oppressors, there will be no discussion, no collaboration, no compromise. Just capitulation and silence.â
Protecting and restoring human rights requires addressing and eradicating problems at their source, which in this case is psychiatry. But unfortunately, too many supporters of the current mental health system either cannot see or refuse to acknowledge this.
Fortunately, more and more people are gradually seeing what âpsychiatryâ actually stands for, which is the denial of human rights.
madmom asks, ââŠ.if you do not believe in constructive dialogues between psychiatric survivors, consumers, family members, and mental health professionals, if you do not believe in recruiting allies from within the helping professions, what is your preferred strategy for implementing a global revolution of the mental health system? What activities do you believe will result in a safer, more humane world?â
First of all, I DO believe in constructive dialogue with anyone. But that is not the same as forming alliances, something that is NOT constructive when fundamental beliefs are fundamentally incompatible.
And my strategy for implementing a global revolution of the mental health system is supporting and contributing to MIA which I believe IS resulting in a safer, more humane world, as speaking out in whatever way possible is the MOST concrete action ANYONE can take.
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Human rights violations committed by psychiatry and its wide assortment of allied professionals has continued unabated to this very day, and are growing increasingly widespread due to the undeniable alliances formed among psychiatry, Big Pharma, mainstream media, academia, and the legislative/judicial/policy-making branches of government. So promoting alliances between supporters and dissenters reveals not only a serious lack of understanding and concern for those caught in todayâs mental health system, but a disturbing complacency that can only be described as irresponsible.
My question is this: WHO in their right mind would ever consider the fight for ANYONEâS human rights to be âold fashionedâ?
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Violations committed by psychiatry and its wide assortment of cooperating practitioners not only continues unabated to this day, but are getting increasingly worse with the increasing coordination of psychiatry, big Pharma, academia, government agencies, courts, and the mainstream media. So promoting cooperation between supporters and dissenters reveals a disturbing complacency about the serious issues people face when caught in todayâs mental health system, which is not only very disturbing, but most irresponsible.
Janne says, âIt really bothers me that the whole belief that science can prove the necessity of something and that educated professionals can make good decisions for others has been going on for so long. When that happens some personal and political goals are pushed in the scientific evidence base and expressed as objective fact. But those that are interested in these kinds of philosophical problems seem few.â
Agreed. Where people used to automatically point to their bible, theyâre now saying, âitâs the scienceâ about darn near everything, from dog food to psychiatric drugs. Itâs become a meaningless trope.
And itâs societyâs collectively uncritical embrace of anything that looks or sounds remotely âscientificâ that has led to the neglect of teaching people how to think philosophically and critically question the prevailing narratives about âmental healthâ. What started as misguided Freudian interpretations gradually merged with âscienceâ and steadily morphed into the publicâs unquestioning acceptance of psychiatryâs medical model. Itâs become the worldâs latest and greatest example of mass indoctrination.
Janne says, âIt really bothers me that the whole belief that science can prove the necessity of something and that educated professionals can make good decisions for others has been going on for so long. When that happens some personal or political goals are pushed in the scientific evidence base and expressed as objective fact. But those that are interested in these kinds of philosophical problems seem few.â
Agreed. It used to be people automatically saying things like, âthe Bible says soâ, to where theyâre now automatically saying, âitâs the scienceâ about darn near everything, from psychiatric drugs to dog food.
Sadly, today our societiesâ collectively uncritical infatuation with science has led to not teaching people how to think critically and question prevailing theories. The mass indoctrination that began with Freud has morphed into the publicâs unquestioning acceptance of âbio-psychiatryâ.
Ms. Aybarâs says, âAs it is, the clinical psychology field continues to promote and monetize the dehumanization of mentally ill people. When will the dehumanization of people with lived experience in mental illness stop?â
Excellent question. But I doubt things will change anytime soon due to the prevailing satisfaction with the status quo from those in leadership positions. But thanks to stories like Ms. Aybarâs, peopleâs efforts now have a fighting chance, as her story powerfully and painfully pulls back the curtain on the poisonous mindsets currently being inculcated in the very places one would think there would be none.
But I never held many illusions, as I always had the uncomfortable sense that the psychotherapeutic field too often brings out the worst in very people who work in it.
My using the phrase âsleeping with the enemyâ was not intended to be a personal attack on Mr. Oaks or the work he does. I consider the phrase a reasonable choice for anyone who has experienced psychiatryâs abuses and therefore understandably disagrees with Mr. Oakâs efforts to unite people with markedly different perspectives.
I personally find psychiatryâs many documented malfeasances to be much too serious to allow for any common ground with those who harbor more sanguine feelings. And criticizing those who for good reason harbor less sanguine feelings seems counter to the purposes of this webzine, one of which, if Iâm not mistaken, is to give voice to those who have been unfairly targeted, criticized, silenced, tortured, censured and censored by psychiatry and its advocates. And I sincerely hope MIA continues refraining from such practices.
Unless they haul out that sorry substitute for âcollaborationâ they call âshared decisionâ, their pathetic attempt to maintain control by appearing cooperative.
But when push comes to shove, they know damn well who holds the power, and theyâll not likely to willingly relinquish ANY of it.
Thank you yinyang for shedding some light on the situation.
To me itâs mind-boggling how defensive most psychiatrists and their advocates get whenever people disagree with them, especially when presenting evidence of psychiatryâs many obvious harms and fallacies. They invariably go into attack mode attempting to shred someoneâs character, i.e. âshooting the messengerâ â
Stopping psychiatryâs obvious abuses, (involuntary commitment, forced drugging, ECT, or âpsychosurgeryâ) wonât be enough, because psychiatryâs harms are rooted in its own false premises; more colloquially, psychiatry is psychological vermin that needs to eradicated, not merely âtweakedâ.
Steve,
Thank you for this comment. It reminded me of the term âwillful ignoranceâ. So I looked up the definition and think it perfectly describes most âmental health professionalsâ, from instructor on down.
Willful ignorance is: âTactical Stupidity. The practice can entail completely disregarding established facts, evidence, and/or reasonable opinions if they fail to meet someoneâs expectationsâ
Itâs uncanny how typical it is for therapists and psychiatrists to turn a deaf ear to peopleâs real concerns, as they usually demand to be seen as having more knowledge than anyone else, especially when they know they donât!
Iâm not blaming Woanjun Lee. Iâm stating my opinion on the study heâs reporting on. And I think important to keep tabs on what passes for âscience.â.
And I fully agree with you that psychiatry is definitely unkind, and prescribes powerful neurotoxins.
ââŠat some point the best decision is to say, screw all the therapies.â
THAT was the beginning of healing for me.
âAt some point, the patient realizes that maybe the âtreatment providersâ enjoy seeing patients face rejection, suffer, fail. Itâs the only thing that makes sense.â
THATâS what Iâve always thought! I think a lot therapists unconsciously live to experience schadenfreude; why else would they seek power over others?
No one should be expected or pressured to form an alliance with people who refuse to fully accept and stop the harms they cause, even if they stop harming.
Survivors arenât responsible for appeasing their perpetrators.
Allying with psychiatry is allying with barbarism.
You learn how to live life THROUGH LIVING IT â not from âprofessionalsâ who donât have enough sense to know that psychiatric labels are BULLSHIT.
People need to learn better ways of taking care of themselves emotionally, and this doesnât happen through âdiagnosesâ. It happens by being with others who openly share their own struggles, not people who hide behind âcredentialsâ in order charge a fee.
âToday, there are few opportunities to get help without also receiving a diagnosis.â
This is the root of the problem caused by the current âmental health systemâ. As soon as a diagnosis is given, an insidious process of infantilization starts taking place that may not be dislodged until serious damage is done to someoneâs self-concept. Itâs as damaging as calling a child âbadâ.
âYou make yourself the master of another through language and the power inherent in language.â
This is exactly what psychiatric language does, FOR psychiatrists, and anyone else who uses it. It gives the illusion of power and knowledge when all it actually does is strip people of their own.
This conference is a huge step in the right direction. But Iâm afraid itâs just going to spawn another school of âtherapyâ that inevitably puts itself ahead the client. In other words, just another ego trip for unhealed, unconsciously insecure therapists.
What helped me get beyond therapy better than anything was learning to heal myself through self-therapy, courtesy Daniel Macklerâs many videos and books. No gimmicks, just truth, through and through.
âJohnstone points out that if you only have a trauma-informed focus, you can fall into a trap of becoming too individual-focused and forgetting the interaction with the power structures in society.â
This point canât be emphasized enough. Therapist who say they âtreat traumaâ are doing the same thing as those who use DSM labels, making âtraumaâ just another label that ignores the surrounding situation, or âstoryâ.
The only thing people need is to be heard by someone who doesnât hijack their story, âtraumaâ or not.
– âWords affect both the person who utters the words and those who receive them.â
THATâS an understatement. Psychiatric language devalues people and allows practitioners to talk down to them. Not very âtherapeuticâ.
– âBut psychiatry has the problem that it does not base itself on what people actually say, but what it thinks they mean.â
Hereâs what most psychiatrists (and psychologists) fail to see: that DSM âdiagnosesâ are no more accurate and even less useful than the Freudian interpretations of yesteryear. In other words, theyâve merely exchanged one bogus idea for another. Not very âinsightfulâ.
Itâs paternalistic, alright, and in all the worst ways.
All it proves is that people, both men and women, take for granted someone running their home or having their kids.
They need to remember that people are PAID for doing housework, and that women can now RENT OUT THEIR WOMBâand if THAT isnât âworkâ, I donât know what is.
And thatâs a lot more work than any man will ever do.
Iâm surprised they havenât already. Theyâve co-opted just about everything else: âart therapyâ, âdance therapyâ, âmusic therapyâ, andâhow could I forgetââtalk therapyâ.
Genuine acts of kindness and freely chosen social connections do more than improve so-called ânegative affectâ, they prevent it. And no one needs a study to know that.
Some people are too arrogant to grasp the true nature, meaning and reason for religion: feelings of awe, gratitude and humilityâall of which are spiritualâsomething theyâre loath to accept, for who knows what reason.
Itâs too bad when people have no sense of the transcendent. But some people have no ability to be humble.
People like E. Fuller Torrey are too arrogant to grasp the true nature and meaning and reason for religion: a sense of awe, humility, and gratitudeâwhich are non-material, which means spiritualâsomething he seems loath to understand.
Someday psychiatry and its âtherapeuticâ offshoots will be seen for what they truly represent: complicated defense mechanisms used to hide from emotional reality.
l.e._cox says, âThe biggest problem with most academics (not to generalize) is that they canât confront, and thus see problems as much more complicated than they really are.â
THATâS the godâs honest truth. But some people get a kick out of complicating things. Or maybe theyâre just cowards.
NEWSFLASH: Psychiatryâs not rocket science. And neither is psychology, for that matter. But making people think they are can bring in lots of self-satisfaction, not to mention plenty of dough.
Thank you Dr. Gotzsche for your dedication to truth and integrity. A textbook critical of psychiatryâs current inaccurate narrative is badly needed, and I hope it gains traction in mainstream circles.
âResearchers have debated what it means to recover from mental illness, with âprofessionalâ opinions often differing greatly compared to service user opinions.â
I think psychiatrists are extremely arrogant to think theyâre the ones to decide what ârecoveryâmeans.
And most think youâre âsickâ if youâre not punching someone elseâs time clock.
Psychiatryâs replaced it with diagnoses and drugs, while other psychs preach âresilienceâ, âmindfulnessâ or that granddaddy of them all, âpsychotherapyâ.
Sheltering in place was a huge relief because it gave me a reason to stay out of places where music is constantly played. And things are a lot quieter with the advent of earphones. A lot less musical bombardment, which helped me gain some mental and emotional equilibrium.
Psychiatry and psychology promote unrealistic standards for peopleâs thoughts, feelings and behavior. Theyâre very judgmental. Just like religion often is.
My late aunt was hospitalized only once in her life for the only psychotic episode she ever had. Thank goodness the attending psychiatrist realized she was suffering from a one-time event because she hadnât been that way before. So when she was discharged she didnât fill any prescriptions or continue with âtherapyâ. And she was never psychotic again.
And what was the matter? She was suffering from extreme loneliness.
I think people who donât realize theyâre psychiatric prisoners are unconsciously using defense mechanisms, i.e. âStockholm syndromeâ or âidentification with the aggressorâ) as a means of survival.
The only reason Allen Frances did an about-face on the DSM was because he saw it was becoming a laughing stock, not because he suddenly grew a conscience.
Thank you very much, justsayno86. I greatly appreciate your generous appreciation.
You are right. Psychiatry IS the greatest enemy. But itâs an invisible enemy, which makes it more dangerous. And people definitely need to be warned.
I also canât imagine why anyone would ever want to unite psychiatric survivors with psych consumers. And anyone who thinks itâs a good idea shows a serious lack of understanding.
Spirituality essentially means emotional growth, which means the broadening, deepening or âmaturingâ of a personâs soul, which means gaining an awareness and understanding of oneself and others and how this relates to the world around them.
But this is a deeply personal, complex process that tragically gets hijacked by psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and even âpsycho-therapyâ.
sam plover says, âFunny how a shrink will accept that his patient is âsickâ, he never questions what you say and even has a bunch of diagnoses on hand.â
Fantastic article. It reveals like no other how one-sided and corrupt the psychiatric industry, Big Pharma, and the legal system have become.
âThe very fact that someone has been given any psychiatric label is used in a staggering variety of ways to deprive them of self-respect, dignity, self-confidence, employment, custody of their children, the right to make decisions about their medical and legal affairs, and even their livesâŠ.â
âAnyone in danger of losing their human rights â or their life â through a court proceeding should have someone like Gottstein advocating for them, because he is a tireless advocate, knows the law inside and out, and never loses sight of what is true, what is right, and what is humane in its respect for his clientsâ dignity.â
A YouTube video worth watching: âOH SH*T, THIS JUST HAPPENEDâ, by Russell Brand
These neuroscientists could have learned a lot from this YouTube video: âA Critique of NeuroscienceâAs it Relates to Psychological Healing From Traumaâ, by Daniel Mackler
Psychiatry unequivocally deprives people of their humanity with its pseudoscientific diagnoses, iatrogenically harmful drugs, damaging ECT, and forced medication/hospitalization. And none of these build diplomacy or allies, but definitely deny peopleâs human rights, which is criminal. So expecting meaningful dialogue with people who not only deny their humanity but also their human rights is not only unrealistic, it is illogical.
And while there are no laws demanding anyone face their inner demons, more than enough people have learned more than enough about psychiatryâs demons or âdark sideâ with its violations of social justice which is the reason for this website.
Nijinsky says, âSomething does happen when you step out of investing in using fear, trauma, coercion and physical violence to control peopleâŠThatâs what snake oil salesmen do, and lately the mental health system.â
Yes, and I would posit that miracles happen when people step out of psychiatry.
Steve says, âI think we should all be in touch with our own inner sense of what is ârightâ and true, rather than following some outside interpretation of reality.â
I agree completely. And I forgot that Buddhists donât believe in a deity, and that Quakers refer to God as Light Within, which to me means oneâs own intuition.
Iâm not dismissing anyoneâs claims of whatever they think is a miracle. I just donât think one group has the authority to decide whatâs a miracle.
And psychiatry and religion are about exerting authority more than anything else.
Nijinsky says, âReligion and psychiatry seem to be in the same boat as indoctrination rather than simply listening, being curious, and SHUTTING UP with their attempts at programming rather than allowing and showing decent curiosityâ.
Very true. Religion and psychiatry arenât about curiosity. Theyâre about conformity, how to think, talk and act like them.
And psychedelics arenât the answer anymore than psychiatric drugs.
I consider psychiatry the enemy because thatâs how I see it. And itâs not without reasoning OR content that Iâve come to this hard-won conclusion. And youâre assuming I donât use either reasoning or content is both disparaging and diminishing, and very presumptuous.
Steve says, ââŠ.generalizations about âtherapistsâ lead to mistaken ideas. Not all therapists are alike or believe in the same things.â
But they all believe in âtherapyâ, which creates more problems, in my experience.
I canât bring myself to defend anything about âtherapyâ because itâs a bad idea that only gets worse when people call themselves âtherapistsâ, no matter how well-intentioned they may be because they still represent and profit from an exploitive system based on irrational power dynamics and pseudoscientific diagnoses. So defending any part of it is morally inconsistent, imo.
And the saying, âthe road to hell is paved with good intentionsâ plays out again and again and again by people who practice âpsychotherapyâ.
And the Catholic Church arbitrarily changes its miracles checklist, as it used to demand three âmiraclesâ. I guess they got impatient in todayâs digital world.
Itâs like psychiatry arbitrarily changing its âDSMâ checklists.
And as for âmiraclesâ: for me, these mean good things that canât be explained. And I see no need for getting entangled in someone elseâs religiously tedious explanations, be they religious, or âscientificâ.
My question is this: why do some people insist on needing to explain the unexplainable? And my answer is this: some people need to be seen as god, and scientists are no exception.
The Catholic Church has its own arbitrary checklist for declaring new âsaintsâ, which includes at least two incidents they arbitrarily consider âmiraclesâ. This makes about as much sense as a group of psychiatrists arbitrarily declaring new âdiagnosesâ via arbitrary checklists for their own arbitrary bible, the DSM .
I was referring to the Catholic Church which has its own arbitrary criteria for determining whomever they arbitrarily deem a âgenuine saintâ, which includes at least two things they arbitrarily deem a âgenuine miracleâ, which makes about as much sense as psychiatryâs arbitrary checklists for its definitely ingenuine DSM.
Hey, Kim, I forgot to mention that OCD is not a ‘disease’ or ‘disorder’ either; it is a series of behaviors usually set in motion from ‘latent anxiety’, or hidden fear, which btw is an emotion, AND EMOTION IS NOT A ‘DISEASE’ OR A ‘DISORDER’ —
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Post-partum depression/psychosis is not a discrete biological illness; it is a state of mind that’s usually brought on by the sudden hormonal readjustment (shock, aftermath) of giving birth, a natural but sometimes hormonally traumatic experience. Which makes it not surprising that a hormonally based treatment relieves it. But this does not mean that Brexanalone is ‘treating a disease’. After all, birth-control pills prevent pregnancy, and pregnancy is not a disease.
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…and repeatedly stuffing people (especially young children) with ‘psychiatric medications’ does NOT ‘treat’ anything; all these do is NUMB EMOTIONS that need to be processed.
Furthermore, your unwillingness to recognize the existence of meaningful financial incentives in the business of medicine (psychiatry in particular) indicates a disturbing amount of denial on your part.
I think it’s time you step outside your cognitive bubble.
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Kim, the things you mention (neuroscience scans, genome studies, pharmacodynamics, kinetics, etc.,) do not “tell us what is happening in the brain”; these function only as Rorschach tests, meaning whatever happens to be on the mind of the viewer gets projected onto whatever is being viewed. And this is because there is no convincing evidence of a pathological process for any emotional/cognitive state of mind or ‘psychiatric condition’. Check out this blog now available on MIA: Researchers: Depression Is “A Normal Brain Responding to Stress or Adversity” by Peter Simons
And in case you didn’t know, dementia is not a ‘psychiatric condition’; it is a neurological one.
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Thank you! đ I enjoy reading your articles very much.
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“Neither an Eeyore nor a Tigger be.”
“The Overselling of Gratitude — Always being positive makes no more sense than always being negative”, by Alfie Kohn in Psychology Today
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Agree 100%
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The graphic for this article was very well chosen because unfortunately many people who ingest antipsychotics become shadows of themselves.
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CORRECTION: Framing distressing thoughts, feelings and behaviors ‘psychiatrically’ more often than not causes people to distance themselves (out of fear) from people who’ve been diagnosed ‘psychiatrically’ (biologically rooted or not), people who otherwise would be seen as simply having a hard time.
So, unfortunately, the final upshot from framing psychological problems as ‘biologically rooted’ actually INCREASES stigma, an unintended but nevertheless devastating consequence for persons simply seeking help.
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Most people fear (stigmatize) illness of any kind on some level because they don’t like being reminded of their own vulnerability. Therefore, framing people’s thoughts and feelings as ‘psychopathology’ (a medicalized concept) only serves to increase stigma which subsequently prompts people to distance themselves from something that causes them too much anxiety.
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I donate every month yet the same thing happens to me.
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Indeed. It’s lip service, a way of appeasing patients in order to make a prescriber’s life easier, a clever way of trying to sound progressive in order to salvage their tarnished reputations. And the craziest thing about it is that doctors are specifically trained to skillfully persuade people to ‘take their medicine’. The whole idea is ridiculously performative because the last thing an MD is concerned with is the patient’s sense of self; what they’re most concerned with is following is standard protocols to avoid malpractice suits.
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“Shared decision making” in ‘mental health’ is a joke.
It might sound good, but the fact is most people in professional roles aren’t willing to share their power as this is what defines them. And this is especially true when it comes to ‘antipsychotics’, or any other psychiatric ‘medication’ because most clinicians are trained to believe that psychiatric patients don’t know their own mind (‘lack insight’, ‘anosognosia’). Which is the reason why most clinicians subtly pressure (or even coerce) patients into complying with whatever makes the clinician feel safe.
A client’s sense of self usually fares no better because this too is under the influence of the harmful dynamics present in most psychotherapeutic relationships, dynamics characterized by a ‘power imbalance’ that (insidiously) undermines clients’ faith in themselves.
So, in effect, nothing really changes.
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“If the late adolescence/early adulthood period is genuinely ‘critical’ and ‘sensitive’ for still developing brains, then it is precisely this which should make clinicians wary of biomedical interventions!”
This kind of critical thinking (not to mention common sense) is woefully absent in psychiatry. I don’t know why the obvious never occurs to most of them. Wait a minute! Yes I do! Their confirmation bias has them primed to see what they’re looking for, even if they’re not sure what it is they’re looking at, i.e. ‘schizophrenia’, or ‘depression’, or ‘bipolar’, or ‘anxiety disorder’, or any other ‘disorder’ they happen to think of…
Therefore, the last thing any medical doctor should do is reach for their prescription pad.
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I think anyone who has the audacity to call themselves a healer of the mind, brain, soul, etc., is remarkably unaware (unconscious) of their own limitations (unhealed wounds).
They should ask themselves why they feel the need to see themselves as a healer, or more precisely, why they feel the need to have others see them as a healer.
In other words, most often in jobs like this it’s the wounded ego that’s in charge, not ‘the wounded healer’ they may (pretentiously) declare themselves to be.
IMHO.
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Awesome podcast. Informative, absorbing and uplifting.
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‘Anitpsychotics’ interfere with the psyche’s ability to naturally restore itself, which can happen, given enough time and favorable circumstances.
Aggressively ‘treating’ psychotic episodes with neuroleptics for years (or any amount of time for that matter) assaults the human body, and mis-perceiving withdrawal effects as a ‘recurrance of the original illness’ is not just a mistake, it is a crime.
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“Researchers have reported concerns that screening can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment and wastes the time and resources of both doctors and patients. In a study that found screening youth for depression led to more severe outcomes, the researchers note that screening may have an iatrogenic affect—worsening depression by making people focus on it.”
Bingo! This is the reason why the number of people being diagnosed with ‘mental illness’ has exploded, to the dertriment of themselves and society.
I had serious misgivings when I first heard of widespread screenings for ‘depression’ some thirty-odd years ago. I found myself hoping some influential person in psychiatry would come forward and issue warnings about what this could lead to: a massive iatrogenic effect. But instead what I feared would happen did happen, which is especiallly tragic for people too young and inexperienced to recognize the dynamics of situations like this; in other words, how their emotions are being used (pathologized) to promote The Sickness Industry more than anything else.
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I feel the same way. A person’s emotional state is highly personal, therefore is someone’s personal property, something a stranger has no business knowing or asking about for any reason whatsoever. I don’t care who they are or what their purpose is.
It’s one of many micro-inequities perpetrated by the ‘mental health system’ that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
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It pisses me off the way psychiatry ducks responsibility for the proliferation of people needlessly prescribed psychiatric drugs because if there were no DSM (created by psychiatrists!) there’d be no way for physicians to legally prescribe psychiatric drugs.
Which means one thing: Psychiatry alone hold the keys to the Gates of Hell.
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The reason for the disparity is obvious: people in ‘developed’ countries have more access (money) to pharmaceutical poisons, and pharmaceutical poisons can make you sick.
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WTF is ‘screening for depression’??? Stupid checklists bankrolled by pharmaceutical companies administered by stupid people looking for more ‘clients’.
It does prove one thing, however: psychiatry is the apex of capitalism.
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Speak for yourself. An apology from psychiatry isn’t enough if their “treatments” have harmed a person’s ability to provide for themselves financially.
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Reading this aticle was so confusing it made me anxious. But here’s my take on it just the same:
Telling someone they have an “anxiety disorder” is just a fancy of way of saying something’s wrong with them for feeling anxious which often leads to feelings of shame. This often leads to more anxiety which often leads to more shame—so much so that people often find themselves saying “I AM anxious”, rather than “I FEEL anxious”.
AND WHO WANTS TO GO OUT FEELING LIKE THAT???
So, thanks to “psychiatry” we’ve got people stuck in one hell of an anxiety loop.
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If Awais Aftab felt secure with the results of psychiatry’s genetic research, he wouldn’t bother reacting to articles in MIA that highlight the dubious nature of psychiatry’s genetic research results. It’s as simple as that, imo. The fact that Aftab does react imo suggests he harbors feelings of inadequacy around the subject, which is easy to understand considering how cobbled together, speculative and therefore essentially inconclusive the research results are.
Putting it more simply, Awais Aftab seems ‘triggered’ when reputable people like Robert Whitaker dare call out psychiatry’s dubious claims of genetic risk or causality regarding psychiatry’s equally dubious “DSM diagnoses”.
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If Awais Aftab felt secure in the results of psychiatry’s genetic research, he wouldn’t bother reacting to articles in MIA that highlight the dubious nature of psychiatry’s genetic research results. It’s as simple as that. The fact that Awais does react suggests he harbors feelings of inadequacy around the subject, which is easy to understand considering how cobbled together (and ultimately speculative) the research results are.
In common parlance, Awais seems ‘triggered’ by certain people who dare call out psychiatry’s vacuous claims of genetic risk or causality. IMHO.
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Psychotherapy for me was the adverse event.
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How did this scapegoat experience traumatic invalidation? By seeing a psychiatrist and other “psy-professionals”.
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“The treatment process can often be uncomfortable for many patients as they often avoid experiences that have the potential to improve their lives.”
THAT is an arrogant statement.
I suggest the author put aside his therapist’s agenda and consider that maybe the “patient” knows best.
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The only thing I learned from psychotherapy is how useless it is for me.
Sitting through psychotherapy left me with a nagging sense of cognitive dissonance that lingered for days. Talking myself into believing that therapists or psychiatrists have anything worthwhile to offer was not only exhausting but also took a huge toll on my relationship with myself since deep down I knew I was wasting my time with people I didn’t respect. In any case, having to constantly bite my tongue so as not to deflate a therapist’s or psychiatrist’s oversized ego was a huge turn-off, but it was something I learned I had to do because most of them couldn’t handle being contradicted.
I only have myself to blame for forcing myself to engage with people I considered incurably insecure overachievers unconsciously seeking validation from everyone they meet just because they have some stupid degree.
What’s the best qualification for anybody wanting to help others? A huge amount of humility and enough personal experience to know what the heck they’re talking about, two qualities I found sorely lacking in most of the people working in the “helping professions”.
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Psychiatric drugs are radioactive imo and consequently should be treated as such.
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Psychiatric handbooks aren’t handbooks, they’re playbooks.
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Really good interview. I particularly appreciate the way Justin characterizes psychiatry’s use of the term “biopsychosocial” as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing”. I see this as lip service, a way of fooling people into thinking psychiatry has evolved when it clearly has not.
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It’s almost comical how psy-professionals keep trying to prove that “psychotherapy” is better than psychiatric drugs when in reality it’s just the other side of the same dirty coin; its talky-talk spiel is just as gimmicky as psychiatry’s drugs.
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I agree with Yeah-i-survived. The talking profession is systemized gaslighting.
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The current mental health system isn’t about helping people, it’s about exerting power over emotionally vulnerable people.
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I can understand that.
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I couldnât agree more.
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Thank you for this article. The Power Threat Meaning Framework is a breath of fresh air that blows away the cobwebs of psychiatry’s hopelessly limiting “diagnostic” framework.
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I’ll never understand people’s worship of “science”. It has no place in situations having to do with peoples’ subjective, (“nuanced”) experience.
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CLARIFICATION: Alan, what you say is a bit confusing to me because on one hand you seem to be saying that all someone needs are supportive relationships. This is true to a certain extent, but totally relying on others, friends or therapists, has the potential of leaving people in a precarious position if they don’t like therapy, can’t afford therapy, or have no close family or friends. Good relationships are important, but being your own best friend is more important, and in my experience, relying too much on others, therapeutically or otherwise can prevent that from happening.
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Alan, I looked up Gabor Mate’s definition for trauma and this is what I found: “an inner injury, a lasting rupture or split with the self due to difficult or hurtful events”. I think this encompasses being hurt relationally, past or present.
I agree with you that medicalizing emotional distress is not a good thing. But unfortunately, most therapists are taught that emotional distress is a “disorder”, a “disease”, and that therapy is the only way to deal with it, which imo is limited view that harms those who don’t benefit from therapy.
But what you say is bit confusing to me because on one hand you seem to be saying all someone needs is supportive people, (which I agree with) while on the other hand you seem to be recommending therapy, which imo doesn’t make much sense since most therapists use the DSM and believe psychodynamics are critical, which is something I firmly disagree with.
But I agree that finding supportive people can be extremely helpful. However, I also think that relational problems are destined to repeat unless people get to know their own emotional history and triggers. Otherwise, people can find themselves in the same dysfunctional relationships.
It’s really important to learn to be your own best friend, and therapy isn’t necessary for that.
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Donât forget ânuanceâ; itâs the professional obfuscatorsâ favorite word.
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Research like this makes me wonder about the researchers….
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I’m having a hard time understanding Alan’s dislike of Gabor Mate, who I think is on the right track…
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I disagree. There’s nothing sophisticated or complex about mistreating people, however subtle. It’s just plain rotten, in anyone’s language.
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âșïž
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Learning how others affect you (“trauma”) is very important, but trauma has become a commodity; it need not be a medicalized, money-making opportunity for someone else (i.e., “therapy”).
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“If one feels safe in another’s company and trusts someone completely, traumatic memories will most likely become available, and can be dealt with at that time. Otherwise, you don’t need to try to heal from trauma. More importantly, people who have been traumatized don’t need to “heal” from trauma in order to love oneself and life. They only require connection, support, solidarity and relationships with loving people who treat them well.”
YES!!! Medicalized relationships are a needless pain in the ass.
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“In my opinion, to suggest that people can and should heal from trauma will end up doing more harm than good.”
It already has, imo.
The word “trauma” is now used to tell people how to live. It’s become a way to condemn people who don’t live up to your expectations.
Bad feelings need not be pathologized. It makes me feel bad about feeling bad.
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Thank you, Deepali, for sharing your moving story.
Girls and women are often pathologized for voicing their needs, even in so-called “progressive” cultures.
I’m delighted you found encouraging people that helped you find ways to live
that are meaningful to you.
“The power of women’s anger | Soroya Chemaly”, courtesy TED
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“…this is just from therapist perspective…”.
This is what’s wrong with the “mental health system”: it’s made by therapists for therapists where “patients” are seen as defective objects to be fixed with “success” measured by the therapist’s agenda. Totally arbitrary and totally nauseating.
Psychodynamic: this can be re-traumatizing.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: this can shut down people who need to be listened to.
Maybe all someone needs are people who help them feel safe to do what feels right TO THEM, instead of pressured to “do the work” just to please some agenda-possessed “therapist”.
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…although I strongly believe in holding psychiatry accountable for despicable harm it’s done and continues to do. It should never be let off the hook.
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And Essy, more than anything, please try not to get too discouraged, even though feeling better can be a long haul.
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I like this article. I think there’s a big difference between blaming parents and wanting them to understand and care about the harm they’ve done. And parents who genuinely regret the harm they’ve done deserve a second chance like anyone else. We are all human, and I don’t think holding grudges helps anyone.
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Looks like psychiatry doesn’t know what the rest of us do: that more made-up “diagnoses” means more lifelong “patients”. So, forget the revolving door. It’s actually a merry-go-round that no one gets off, which (seems to me!) just the way psychiatry likes it.
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Dear Essy,
I know how you feel. Pills didn’t help me either.
But self-therapy did help me. I found it by chance on YouTube from someone named Daniel Mackler. I think his approach can be very useful for people not getting what they need from our current mental health system. He’s a former therapist who’s very empathic because he’s aware of how ineffective its pills can be as well as how invalidating it is, especially for sensitive people.
Take good care, Essy. I hope you feel better soon,
Birdsong
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Lina is right.
IMHO, the problem with psy disciplines is that (most) of the people who work in them seem to think they know all the answers and that the fate of the world is in their hands alone. They need to examine their own motives more than anything else.
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Lina, I appreciate your keenly perceptive analysis. I think so-called “victims” can damn well speak for themselves without “assistance” from chronic pathologizers.
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Overprescribing is a problem in general medicine. Physicians too quickly write prescriptions for conditions that are not immediately life-threatening rather than suggest lifestyle changes.
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No need to apologize for the fact that a lot of what you write goes right over my head.
Here’s my take on the situation: the chump intentionally acted like a simon-pure asshole. End of story.
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Clarification: “JNANI: The Silent Sage of Arunachala – Ramana Maharshi”
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Agree 100%.
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CORRECTION: Universities teach a lot of things, but NOT what is truly important, WHICH MAKES THEM A WASTE OF MONEY.
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CORRECTION: Blasphemy is the word that best describes the DSM.
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They certainly aren’t merely the stuff of anyone’s imagination.
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Maybe TA needs to hear about this…
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John, science is great, but it’s no excuse for putting the cart before the horse.
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Prove it.
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The sooner the better, if you ask me.
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đ
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A Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis is code for “I can’t stand this person so don’t take their concerns seriously”.
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Universities teach lots of things, except what is truly important.
On YouTube: “6 Ways To Be In Flow With Your Life – Lao Tsu(Taoism)”, courtesy Philosophies for Life
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I’m still waiting for your response.
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That doesn’t mean they aren’t also stupid.
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“Some say if the DSM acknowledged Complex PTSD (usually from Developmental Trauma), it would be a thin volume.”
I think trauma experienced at any age can lead to significant problems.
“Many trauma experts recommend both top down (cognitive) and bottom-up (somatic) modalities. Unfortunately, few healthcare providers can offer the latter. It seems even fewer can be in their own bodies and emotions well enough to prevent them from thwarting their clients’ processes.'”
Somatic therapies helped me a great deal, but finding an affordable practitioner wasn’t easy. Talk therapy was re-traumatizing. Not only that, most of the talk therapists I knew were egotistical, which I think you have to be to want to be a therapist in the first place.
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I relate to this comment.
I grew up in an extremely stressful household where contempt and cruelty were the norm. There were also repeated instances of life-threatening violence as far back as I can remember, happening at a time before things of this nature were acknowledged, publicly or privately. My siblings and I never talked to each other about this nor (as far as I know) mention it to outsiders.
My nervous system is still in the process of calming down from this, and the psychiatric medications only added to my inability to relax. On top of all this, the main offender had the habit of playing loud rock music all day and late into the evening. Between that and the tv on almost constantly, I could never completely relax. My mind and body are still in the process of settling down from the horror of it all.
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Clarification: How do you change a paradigm/culture that subtly encourages people to feel superior to the person next to them?
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Clarification: genes play a role in everything, but not a direct one in psychological distress.
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I liken psychiatric drugs to pesticides used in gardens or factory farms.
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I think one of the main reasons a lot of people jump on the genetics bandwagon regarding “schizophrenia” and other so-called psychiatric diseases is because they are afraid of looking critically at their own lives and feelings. It’s too much for them. Their irrational fear explains why they react like the devil themselves and feel justified punishing people who make them uncomfortable.
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Nothing’s more calming and spiritually restorative than the beauty and quiet of nature. It’s my favorite companion, day or night.
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Why not call it Psychiatric Projective Disorder, or âPPDâ?
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On YouTube: “Sri Ramana Maharshi — JNANI” courtesy Cinefx Productions
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Definition for Blind Manâs Bluff:
TAKING A CHANCE ON A SOMETHING WITHOUT RHYME OR REASON TO YOUR POSITION
Definition for Willful Blindness: intentionally keeping unaware of facts that would render liability or implication
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Psychiatry is ââŠ.a presumed medical specialty that has no reputable theory about the alleged internal dysfunction that causes mental illness, that has no biomarkers with which to diagnose those illnesses, yet that has a long history of coercing people to act, think, and feel in accordance with an ill-defined and ever-changing set of moral standards.â
Psychiatry is nothing more than a medicalized game of Blind Manâs Bluff. And itâs guilty of Willful Blindness until it changes.
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And hereâs where the âcureâ lies:
âDigging In the Dirtâ, by Peter Gabriel
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Psychiatry has become the polite term for drug dealing, because instead of advocating for healthier mindsets, behaviors, and lifestyles, they create drug addicts.
So why wouldnât they want their âpatientsâ addicted to their âtreatmentsâ when thatâs their business? Very paternalistic, i.e. âBig Daddy Knows Bestâ.
Itâs the new white collar crime.
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And hereâs a song that should be on everyoneâs playlist:
âTwistedâ, sung by Joni Mitchell
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Iâm dizzy with cognitive dissonance at the insanity of it allâŠ
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Definitely one of Class and privilege.
Generally, I like what Gabor Mate says. However, I always had the strange sense that heâs missing something, which always left me wondering: Does he not appreciate the way most people are forced to live?
I could never decide if he was being cowardly, or if it just never occurred to him how much deferential treatment he receives because he has âDr.â in front of his name.
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Your most welcome, Lisa.
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I read your essay yesterday and Iâm in awe of it and you. Your insights and intelligence are AMAZING. I see it as a blueprint for the future.
And thank you, thank you, thank you Lisa, for being you, above all else.
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Fascinating.
Brought to mind this classic music video from once upon a timeâŠ.
âShock The Monkeyâ, by Peter Gabriel
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What speaks to people is entirely personal, and often canât be anticipated. And Iâve no idea what âright-brain malenessâ means.
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Absolutely. But Iâm more committed to honoring the human being from which all art springs.
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Topher,
I just took a look at âThe Illusion of Psychotherapyâ on Amazon and it sounds well worth reading as Epstein addresses the many social-relational causes of psychic distress.
I look forward to getting a copy once I find one less pricey.
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And hereâs something NO ONE should miss:
âMay Cause Side Effectsâ, by Brooke Siem
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COMPLETELY INVALID!!!
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True.
Often people with money and/or advanced education (the so-called âelitesâ) either donât know or have forgotten what itâs like to be low man on the totem pole and the consequences that real people can face if they dare call out the powers that be.
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âTo see what âScienceâ is made of, we need only observe what happens when it collides with power, pounds, payola, politics or promotional prospects, perhaps?â
Welcome to the 21st century.
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âMy Story Is Full of Liesâ, by Pata Suyemoto
Moving. Haunting. AND FULL OF TRUTH.
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I feel the need to hurl every time I hear the term âcharacter defectâ.
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Big Pharma and Big Psychiatry are always planning ahead. Itâs what Big Business does.
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âPeople need to ask about all those patients who as teenagers became patients in the late 1980âs with Prozac and have been compliant and ask simply where are they today? Homeless? Jobless? Severely ill or dead?â
Psychiatry would hide that âdataâ if they had itâor try to give it a âpositiveâ spin.
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Agree 100%. All talk, no substance.
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And psychiatry DOESNâT GIVE A DAMN about the people it harms; it only sees âpatientsâ as COLLATERAL DAMAGE â
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ââŠideology over reality..â
Thatâs the perfect definition for psychiatry.
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Correction: Whether psychiatry does this deliberately or not is of NO CONSEQUENCE, because the results are THE SAME: iatrogenic illness, disability and death, which makes psychiatryâs claims of bearing no responsibility completely invalid.
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Aftab can soft-soap about psychiatry all he wants, but it doesnât change the fact that psychiatry is a dishonest, exploitative organization whose long history of misinforming the public has allowed it to misuse its power against the most vulnerable people with virtually NO consequences and continues to do so TO THIS DAY.
And this has happened because until now the public has lacked access to information that tells them THE TRUTH behind psychiatryâs many FALSE CLAIMS:
1. That psychiatric diagnoses are physically rooted
2. That psychiatric drugs correct âchemical imbalancesâ or other physical processes
3. That these drugs pose little risk to peopleâs physical and/or psychological health
And whether not psychiatry does or has done this deliberately is of NO CONSEQUENCE, because the results are THE SAME: iatrogenic illness, disability or even death.
And no amount of charm or savvy on the part of any slickly packaged internet shill can change this AWFUL TRUTH.
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Correction: Any non-drug therapies psychiatry lays claim to are already being done by people and organizations that have no connections to the drug world, legal or illegal. And as a result, people are experiencing better outcomes than psychiatryâs depraved world of âmedicationâ side effects and any ensuing drug withdrawal.
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Aftab is the face of something that has morphed into a world-wide, legalized drug ring. And no amount of philosophizing can change that.
Any other âtherapiesâ it lays claim to are already being done by other people or organizations with no connections to the drug world which just happen to be showing âbetter outcomesâ. And what are âbetter outcomesâ? No drug-induced side effects or withdrawal effects.
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But maybe heâd be able to catch the beat by cranking up the hurdy gurdy to this snappy tune: âOne Thing Leads To Anotherâ, by The Fixx
But I doubt he could handle the lyrics.
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No one is safe from psychiatryâs clutches. It strategically targets the entire globe through its trademark insidious fashion: Direct To Consumer Advertising â
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Correction: Psychiatryâs a profession of Power, HUGE egos, and deliberate MISREPRESENTATION.
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Or maybe itâs groupthink. Or even gaslightingâŠ.
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And dispensing an endless supply of cognitive dissonance.
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And VERY thirsty for validation.
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Heâs tripping over himself trying to dance the Ad Hominem Shuffle.
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Hereâs Aftabâs idea of progress:
1. More diagnoses
2. More drugs
3. Less dissenting opinion
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âThe DSM mindset is now so thoroughly embedded within the culture itâs massively eroding the ability of people in describe their uniqueness and shifting emotional reactions and states in anything other than psychiatric language.â
Itâs become the biggest source of cultural pollution.
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Aftabâs keeping busy, alright. He just posted a response to Mr. Whitakerâs essay, which, unsurprisingly, is quite condescending.
All I can say is Aftab seems like one touchy guy.
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lcjohnstone says:
âRecently, he [Aftab] has written a curious blog about the Power Threat Meaning Framework, in which he claims that a) no one has ever heard of it b) everyone thinks it is rubbish c) everyone needs to be warned against itâŠ.. and attributes the authorsâ motivations to âactive hostilityâŠ.against diagnosisâ. Which doesnât really stand up as an evidence-based refutation.â
He says that stuff because the PTMF rattles his cage. And donât be surprised if sooner or later he tries to hijack the idea with his own distorted version. But heâd be much better off if heâd a) own his own âactive hostilityâ, b) quit his twitter habit, and c) stop dabbling in philosophy that only makes him sound more ridiculous.
And as for him claiming that no one has ever heard of the Power Threat Meaning Framework: itâs my understanding that people at the World Health Organization have heard of it.
Iâve learned one thing dealing with psychiatry: itâs best not to engage with it at all, because itâs full of people like Aftab who will defend their dubious âdiagnosesâ till their dying day.
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Dear Lauren,
Thank you for the extraordinary work you do. Youâve created a template based on honesty, respect, trust, personal agency and mutual growth, which are the only things that make any sense, and things I found sorely lacking both in psychiatry and psychotherapy. Listening deeply with an open heart and open mind is whatâs most important in life.
Youâve given me a lot to think about.
And thank you for your links.
Birdsong
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âBPDâ is a wastebasket diagnosisâŠâ.
So is every other âpsychiatric diagnosisâ.
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Correction: BPD is the medicalized TERM for âbitchâ.
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Psychiatryâs current recognition of trauma and neurodiversity just provides more opportunities for psychiatry to invent more meaningless and ultimately stigmatizing labels, and more opportunities for psychiatry to peddle more harmful drugs, which obviously means more money for them.
Psychiatry is Opportunistic Medicine, and labels and drugs are all theyâve got.
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Tanya says, ââŠI think there is such a defensiveness on the part of many psychiatrists. I think that my narrative was perhaps just something that was too challenging and wouldâve caused a lot of reflection on their part, and that reflection could probably be very painful, Iâm sure.â
Psychiatry is the modern version of the Tower of Babel, and itâs DSM is its Book of Babble.
So expecting serious reflection from people schooled in psychiatry is like waiting for the second coming of Christ.
Psychiatry is immune to meaningful reflection, because it would mean the end of psychiatry.
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âThis story is all too typical of psychiatric oppression.â
Absolutely. And itâs a story that needs to be told, desperately.
Thank you Tanya.
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But Aftab obviously has Schizoid disorder. Must be from trying to mix psychiatry with philosophy.
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More on Bait and Switch:
1. Psychiatry promises relief from pain through drugs that cause iatrogenic harm, which it then denies
2. Psychotherapy promises psychological freedom by creating emotional dependence on âtherapyâ, which it then denies
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Rasx says, ââŠ.ad hominem is psychiatryâs stock in tradeâŠâ.
You forgot drug pushing.
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Another look at Aftabâs twitter tells me heâs much too busy promoting himself to spend any time reading anything that doesnât flatter his already inflated ego. So hereâs something short and sweet from Psychology Today:
âReview: The Book of Woe: Why the DSM is doomed to failâ, by Helene Guldberg, PhD
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Correction: Aftabâs inviting two psychiatrists to oppose you proves his pants are on fire.
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But like all politicians, Aftabâs greatest strength lies in talking out of both sides of his mouth.
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And for something more visually entertaining, Aftab might watch this: âThe Myth of Low-Serotonin & Antidepressants – Dr. David Horowitzâ, courtesy After Skool
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Correction: psychiatry is a profession of insults (DSM) practiced by insulting people.
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And if thatâs not too taxing, Aftab might pick up a copy of âA Profession Without Reason: The Crisis of Contemporary PsychiatryâUntangled and Solved by Spinoza, Free-Thinking and Radical Enlightenmentâ, by Bruce Levine, PhD.
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BPD is medical misogyny.
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Dear Lisa,
Thank you for sharing your poignant story. Youâve been through hell and back, but congratulations on making it out alive. I totally relate to your saying this:
âThe only therapy that made sense to me was self-introspection and a lot of reading about trauma from compassionate expertsâŠâ
And youâre absolutely right that no one should have to experience and heal from psychiatric gaslighting and abuse. But itâs my belief believe that psychiatryâs current recognition of trauma and neurodiversity is no more than lip service.
Thank you again for your remarkable testimony.
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I believe itâs called collective insanity.
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Or their half-cocked âgeneticsâ theory.
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Definition for Magical Thinking: believing that genetics explains psychic suffering
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Psychiatry is a profession of Power, big egos, and deliberate misperception.
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Itâs obvious that getting under Aftabâs skin is easy.
Heâd be well advised to fix the carefully concealed chip on his shoulder.
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Correction: psychiatry is a religion more than anything else, because it believes in magical thinking.
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And psychiatry has no answers to explain that either.
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Psychiatryâs poisoned chalice is a jug of Kool-Aid. And Aftabâs the perfect Kool-Aid Man.
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He clearly loves being psychiatryâs latest Golden Boy.
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Thank you very much, lcjohnstone. And thank you for the wonderful link.
Aftabâs inviting two senior psychiatrists to oppose you proves you set his pants on fire, but I bet he had the old farts lined up long before the interview, as anyone who dares speak the truth poses a threat their identity and Power. And Aftabâs insistence on proving abstractions proves heâs a fool, a fraud, and a fake.
And thank you for lighting the match.
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Aftabâs a politician, more than anything else, because psychiatry is politics, more than anything else.
And if that were not the case, thereâd be no cause for argument.
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Correction: Aftab needs to realize he canât out-philosophize the truth.
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BPD is the medicalized form for âbitchâ.
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Iâm so glad you finally you finally heard a voice. It must have been your own.
Daniel was that voice for me.
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An even better question: What makes Aftab want to be a publicity hound?
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Hereâs the âscienceâ behind Aftabâs psychiatry: âIt IS so because we SAY so!â
Yet for all his disorganized rhetoric, he fails to answer the most basic philosophical question: WHAT THE FUCK IS PSYCHIATRY TRYING TO DO?
Hereâs more food for thought: âOn the Heels of Ignorance: Psychiatry and the Politics of Not Knowingâ by Owen Whooley
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Is psychiatry mostly hard or soft power?
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How is Brand a hypocrite?
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I think Aftab wears two hats at the same time: drug-pushing theologian AND drug-pushing propagandist.
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You gotta hand it to Aftab. After all, it must be tough being an apologist for psychiatry in this day and age.
But as the saying goes, âItâs a dirty job, but somebodyâs gotta do it.â
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Maybe Aftab should spend a little less time twittering and a little more time listening.
And hereâs something that just might expand his awareness a wee bit:
âPsychiatryâs Cycle of Ignorance and Reinvention: An Interview with Owen Whooleyâ, a conversation with Ayurdhi Dahl, PhD, courtesy MIA
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Someone needs to ask Aftab about the philosophy of bait and switch.
Definition for Bait and Switch: Fraudulent or deceptive practice.
The ploy of offering a person something desirable to gain favor (such as political support), then thwarting expectations with something less desirable.
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Psychiatry needs to go the way of the girdle.
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Believe this:
Psychiatry has no facts to back up its claims, by god.
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Doctors in general give me the creeps.
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It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same:
âMotherâs Little Helper: The History of Valiumâ, historyhit.com
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If Aftab felt secure in his convictions, he wouldnât bother with MIA â
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Psychiatry doesnât âtreat diseaseâ, it creates iatrogenic illness.
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Correction: Aftab needs to realize he canât outtalk the truth.
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What Aftab fails to see is this:
Psychiatry will eventually collapse under the weight of its own liesâwith or without MIA.
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Aftab needs to check his calendar: itâs 2023, not 1983, so controlling the narrativeâs a thing of the past, thanks to the internet.
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It used to be barefoot and pregnant. Now itâs drugged and compliant.
âMotherâs little helperâ: Vintage Drug Ads Aimed at Women, goretro.com
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Aftab needs to realize he canât outrun the truth.
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Aftabâs the perfect front man for a âprofessionâ that sees its days are numbered, but his carefully modulated hissy fits are a testament to MIAâs integrity. He sees the writing on the wall and it has him running scaredâŠ
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No, but the robots who prescribe sure do.
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You might find some videos and books by Daniel Mackler to be helpful, rasselas.redux. Heâs a former therapist who addresses childhood trauma and breaking from oneâs parents with a lot of understanding.
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Psychiatry claims to be medicine, but itâs actually a socially acceptable form of drug trafficking that lobbied for DTCA at the end last century. Itâs not about health, but the bottom line.
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What world do these researchers live in?
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Sad how much things have changedâŠ.
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Doctors will remain ignorant and afraid of lawsuits until theyâre offered more guidelines.
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I agree. Psychedelics have the potential to make opiates look like childâs play.
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I agree 100%. The professionalization of emotional support is a terrible invention.
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I agree that much of whatâs labeled âgreat artâ is not relatable, and that womenâs perspective is often ignored or silenced. And art definitely attracts a lot of snobs.
To me, art is just another form of expression, to communicate soul to soul, to make the unconscious conscious.
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You gotta hand it to psychiatry trying to walk back its biological reductionism. But itâs definitely overcompensating.
Hereâs what most people truly need: space and time to grieve unprocessed emotions – – unmolested by psychiatryâs intrusive machinations, pharmaceutical or otherwise.
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Psychiatry isnât medicine. Itâs a criminal enterprise of drugging and jailing.
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Hereâs a novel idea: Donât start antidepressants in the first place.
A YouTube video to watch BEFORE starting antidepressants:
âThe Myth of Low-Serotonin & Antidepressants – Dr. Mark Horowitzâ, courtesy After Skool
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Living in a state of numbness is not living.
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Perhaps it shouldnât be.
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Reductionism is not the answer. But neither is brain clutter.
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A drug-dependent society is a terrible legacy to pass onto the young.
A related video on YouTube: âHOLY SH*T! Big Food Is Profiting Off Sick Kidsâ, courtesy Russell Brand
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I wish you good luck, as you certainly have your work cut out for you!
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Itâs long been an open secret: âpsychotherapyâ is a potential playhouse for predators.
And why doesnât it matter to these people that the psychiatric drugs already prescribed produce similarly negative outcomes?
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I donât think increasing disability rates spell victory, especially when accompanied by a rise in psychiatric drug prescribing.
The side effects of psychiatric drugs are destroying peopleâs ability to support themselves in increasingly large numbers.
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Exactly. Psychiatry is all about âdiseases and disordersâ, and imaginary ones at that.
And âpsychotherapyâ is no better in that it creates an unhealthy dependence on âtherapyâ.
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Maintaining the status quo through drug sedation (psychiatry) is a form of oppression.
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Not quite the same. Psychiatry claims to be medicine.
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Psychiatry and its drugs ruins the quality of life for many.
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Art, humanities and psychiatry do have something thing in common: all are unwisely placed on pedestals.
Living should be revered, not someoneâs rendition of it.
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Indeed. The arts give meaning and expression to the human experience, whereas psychiatry destroys what it means to be human.
And âpsychotherapyâ caricatures human relationships.
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Because the Federal Government has agreed to pay for psychiatryâs âstandard of careâ, which is primarily psychiatric drugs, and because the pharmaceutical industry is a huge part of the economy.
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YES!!! Psychiatry doesnât âtreatâ drug dependence, it PRESCRIBES drug dependence, INDEFINITELY â
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Psychiatryâs co-optation and de-radicalization of peer-support and psychedelics does nothing to change the fact that itâs CODIFIED BIGOTRY co-opted by financial interests.
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Your welcome, Lauren, and thank you for your warmly insightful article.
I agree. Open minds and hearts works wonders. And BELIEVING in ourselves is key.
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Psychiatry is the only profession where a practitionerâs self-actualization depends on destroying the self-actualization of others.
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âForcing agreement on one shared story, which will no doubt be created by those who hold the most power, is oppressive and dangerous for people who have experienced the dominant paradigm labels, diagnoses and âtreatmentsâ.â
Psychiatry and psychotherapy exploit peopleâs need for attachment and attention.
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Thereâs nothing more co-dependent than the therapist-client ârelationshipâ.
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Good article.
The arts and humanities embrace and express the reality of human suffering in ways that are incredibly healing.
Neuropsychiatry is a haven for the heartless, and for those unable to accept the vagaries of life.
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Traditional psychotherapy is a psychological trap based on an unnatural and unnecessary power imbalance imposed by those whose main goal is having power over vulnerable people. Itâs self-aggrandizing for the therapist and infantilizing for the client.
A peer-run approach is the only civilized way to conduct âtherapyâ, if one seeks it at all.
People heal best on their own.
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Get a load of this:
âIllness trajectories depend on developmental processes, learning, and behavioral interactions on multiple spatial and temporal scales, which involve levels of the organization across neurobiological, cognitive-affective, interpersonal, and social systems.â
Translation: LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE
And while youâre at it, try having a little respect for the people youâre dealing with.
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People who abuse psychiatric patients need to be held accountable.
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Psychiatry dominates and disempowers through diagnoses and drugs.
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Who needs psychiatryâreductionist or otherwiseâwhen a little Jung is all you need?
On YouTube: âCarl Jung – How to Find Your Soulâ, courtesy After Skool
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Psychiatrists, and medical doctors in general, are now the âmiddle menâ of the pharmaceutical industry.
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Psychiatry needs to learn one thing: wordiness only goes so far.
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âPsychiatric disordersâ are autoimmune âdiseasesâ of the soul.
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By choosing to disregard the data compiled by Robert Whitaker and Joanna Moncreiff, psychiatry is guilty of criminal negligence.
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Psychiatry is the elephantâs turd.
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Exposing children and adolescents to notions of âmental health awarenessâ is totally inappropriate because it makes them think thereâs something wrong with them for not feeling their best at all times; theyâre too young to have perspective about their feelings. Itâs a grossly irresponsible use of the power of suggestion.
Children need to know that feelings are a part of living, and be taught how to respond to their feelings in positive, self-affirming ways. Anything else is confusing and harmful.
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Psychiatry has all the data it needs, thanks to Robert Whitaker and Joanna Moncreiff.
And by ignoring this data, it remains a profession of negligence by its own choice.
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Conventional psychiatry isnât medicine, itâs the nuclear option.
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Healing comes from collaboration, not domination.
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Psychiatry is as much a political tool today as it was during the Nazi era, as its goal is essentially the same: power and control by whatever means necessary, which today includes psychedelics.
But has anyone imagined the iatrogenic damage in years to come?
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Trauma has turned the world into a gathering of re-traumatizing psychiatrists and psychotherapists.
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Whatâs a âsuccessful outcomeâ in psychiatry? People chronically dependent on its âmedicationsâ.
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Psychiatry will never admit to being a total crock of shit.
But thanks to the internet, fewer and fewer people look to the likes of âJAMAâ.
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maradel says, âThey [doctors] are very insecure and enjoy their massive power trips.â
100% TRUTH.
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Doctors who rely on the DSM are completely irrational.
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Maybe people should stop being data-dependent and instead ask themselves this burning question:
WHY rely on âdataâ more than your own intuition?
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Some people need to pull their heads out of their data-dependent asses and instead consider these novel ideas:
1. Maybe emotional distress isnât physical illness
2. Maybe psychoactive drugs arenât a good thing for most people
3. Maybe talk therapy isnât what itâs cracked up to be
Then finally ask themselves this burning question:
Is turning to a medicalized, data-dependent system for emotional distress good idea?
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Psychiatry is colonialism at its most extreme.
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What do you know! Psychiatryâs finally come full circle with psychedelics. And who knows? Maybe with this latest twist, theyâll finally admit that psychiatry is drug pushingâŠ
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The people at JAMA need to pull their heads out of their data-dependent asses and instead consider these novel ideas:
1. Maybe emotional distress isnât illness
2. Maybe psychiatric drugs are a bad thing
3. Maybe talk therapy isnât what itâs cracked up to be
Then finally ask each other this burning question:
Why turn to the medical community for emotional distress in the first place?
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Thereâs nothing more âdisalienatingâ than listening to people (be they men OR women) unconsciously guided by chauvinistic attitudes.
Definition for Chauvinistic: displaying excessive or prejudiced support for oneâs own cause or group; the irrational belief in the superiority or dominance of oneâs own group or people
And thereâs nothing more chauvinistic than psychiatry and its self-satisfied offshoot called âpsychotherapyâ, as both are based on gratifying the egos of their practitioners.
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No one needs anyoneâs convoluted, self-serving theories regarding psychosis when the explanation is simple: people retreat from reality when life gets too painful. And if they sense safety, they often come back.
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Definition for Intellectualism: the exercise of the intellect at the expense of the emotions.
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No one learns to empathize by living in an intellectual bubble.
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Who would have thought that treating people with dignity could actually be a good thing?
But I guess thatâs not enough for people more interested in making a name for themselves, i.e. Freud, Lacan, etc.
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Intellectualism, as opposed to psychosis, is just another way to dissociate from intolerable feelings. And itâs long been a refuge for the intellectually pompous, i.e. âpsychiatryâ and itâs chronically confused cousin better known as âpsychologyâ.
There is such a thing as thinking too much. People need to get out of their heads and into their hearts.
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I agree 100% with Lauraâs assessment of the situation regarding psychic distress in todayâs world; that itâs one of financial exploitation on top of personal victimization â which explains why so many people high on the abusive end of the narcissistic spectrum hold jobs as âmental health workersâ. And itâs definitely spread by the misuse and overuse of psychological language that characterizes emotions as illness. And any effort to reclaim the narrative, i.e. âDI Without The Disorderâ is definitely a step in the right direction.
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The mental illness industry is exactly that, as itâs misuse of language has infected an entire generation.
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Never underestimate the power of words.
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Itâs all a matter of subjective interpretation, imo. And why define it at all?
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Well, I have to admit Iâve never thought that much about it, so Iâll leave the answer to that question up to youâŠ
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You can add Charlie Chaplin to the mix: âA Message For All Of Humanity – Charlie Chaplinâ courtesy T&H – Inspiration & Motivation on YouTube
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And thatâs about as far as it goesâyâall can keep your stupid floppy-sack!
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The main problem with psychiatry is that all you need to do is say âbooâ to have the fools reach for their stupid DSM. And most psychologists are no different.
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Worth a glance: âSplitting: The Psychology Behind Binary Thinking And How It Limits A Diversity Of Opinions,â by Ilana Redstone in Forbes Magazine
My takeaway was this quote from psychologist Andrew Hartz:
âThereâs an Islamic mystic who described how harmful it is to divide people into groups, say only good things about some and only bad things about othersâŠâ â something that accurately describes the âmental healthâ industry.
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What I find remarkable about the enlightenment era is how adamant some people were about separating the mind and body. And I wonder if this had anything to do with the fact that these were men who never had to contend with the agonizing realities of either menstrual cramps or childbirth. Because if theyâd had to, I bet theyâd have stopped thinking like a bunch of stubborn two-years olds. And while I donât believe thereâs any such thing as the completely egotistical construct invented by the completely egotistical Freud called âpenis envyâ, there is definitely such a thing as âpenis privilegeâ.
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Cartesian dualism is actually a form of âsplittingâ, the defense mechanism used by people unable to tolerate ambiguity. And âsplittingâ is what characterizes most of the people who practice psychiatry and psychologyâand when challenged, they resort to gaslighting.
So there you have it, the two things that characterize the system of âmental healthâ: splitting and gaslighting.
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I agree, feeling and thinking are intricately intertwined. But as you say, âFeelings do not lieâŠâ
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However, I do consider âmental illness industryâ an appropriate metaphor.
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James Hillman is brilliant:
ââŠ.medical jargon refers to nothing.â
âIt is an extreme materialism and pro technocratic thinking based on labels, procedures and it will be worse.â
âThinking based on procedures and labels is a programming of the enlightenment era leading to technocracy.â
âAnd there is no sign of psychiatric victims in this corrupted evil society.â
This is an evil society and things probably will get worse in some ways. But I hold out hope for radical change in how people see âmental illnessâ.
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Your most welcome, Penni.
And I agree, the metaphors used by the mental illness industry are a huge disservice to humankind.
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Correction: Dr. Cornwall, not âColemanâ. I do apologize for my oversight.
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Listen and enjoy: âAwaiting on You Allâ by George Harrison, courtesy Soft lyric on YouTube
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âThe JHP was the venerable journal of a revolutionary movement begun in the 1950âs to provide a âthird forceâ in the field, to counter the two dominant movements of Freudâs psychoanalysis and B.F. Skinnerâs behaviorism.â
Human beings are not just their brain chemistry; they are mind, body and spirit/soul. In my mind, humanistic psychology recognizes what other psychologies and certainly psychiatry do not, which is the overriding reality and beauty of the human soul, without which life loses its purpose and meaning.
Check this out on YouTube: âThis Is Priceless – George Harrison On What Lies BeyondâŠâ T&H – Inspiration & Motivation
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Uncomfortable feelings labeled as âmental illnessâ are messages from within that something is wrong in our life, not in our âbrain chemistryâ.
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What happens in a world without mercy? You get things like psychiatry and psychology.
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By the time some chooses to train as a psychiatrist, itâs usually too late to make any headway.
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For the most part, NAMI is a support group for the families of âThe Identified Patientâ.
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Psychology needs to shut up and change its name to cognicology. It doesnât belong in the âfeelingsâ business. And psychiatry needs to shut up entirely.
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I used to think having a medical degree indicated an ability to think critically. Needless to say I no longer think this way.
But Dr. Gotzsche is that rare exception.
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And sometimes extremes states are caused by living under too much stress.
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The field of psychology should be called âbehaviorismâ because thatâs all it is. After all, âpsycheâ means âsoulâ and souls canât be âclinically studiedâ.
And psychiatry should be called drug pushing, because thatâs EXACTLY what it is.
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I was delighted to read something about human suffering that actually captures the essence of what it means to be human:
âTo have seen those JHP journals on the library shelves full of merciful caring about human suffering, was proof that the human heart and spirit could prevail over the head and the dangerous objectification of the disease model of psychiatry.â
âThe contrast was human-hearted compassion and potential for all, verses human-disordered abnormality/pathology and emotion-killing psych drugs for all.â
My thanks are to you, Dr. Coleman. A heart-centered approach should be the gold standard for helping people, and also for living a good life.
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Correction: SHARING kindness and REALLY meaning it â
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Wonderful article and wonderful quote:
âMerciful love can help relieve the emotional suffering of extreme states.â
Not receiving merciful love is usually the reason people find themselves in an extreme state. And showing kindness can bring them back.
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The âmental health systemâ mutilates human relationships.
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All part of the new colonialism.
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A scarily accurate depiction of modern medicineâand psychiatry in particular.
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Psychiatry calls it psychosis.
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People donât need a disease-centered, agenda-laden system. They need caring human beings without an agenda who know how to listenâsomething that used to be called a very good friend.
Healing happens in understanding, NOT âdiagnosesâ.
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Someone should ask these characters if theyâd feel comfortable having a robot look after their kids.
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Dear Penni,
Thank you for sharing your story. I relate to it because like you I believe much of what is thought to be âmental illnessâ is actually a spiritual breakthrough brought about by repeated moral injuryâinjuries usually made worse by a system that speaks a different language.
And I wish you many Happy Returns on your Spiritual Birthday!
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âEgo collapseâ is a great term. When the ego dies the spirit survives.
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And I wouldnât be surprised if higher rates of addiction to psychiatric drugs correlates with higher levels of income. After all, thatâs just what the pharmaceutical cartels are counting on.
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I agree, physics canât replace the psyche. And for the most part, distressed people are suffering from soul sickness, not âmental illnessâ.
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I think it depends on what you consider âmental illnessâ.
Enduring financial hardship and deprivation can cause high levels of stress that can adversely affect peopleâs state of mind and ability to function. And unfortunately this usually gets categorized as âmental illnessâ.
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Who needs âbrain imagingâ to prove that poverty and maltreatment damages children in lasting ways?
Only idiots needs brain scans to realize that emotional scars are as real as physical ones.
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The researchersâ stupidity is rooted in assuming that âdepressionâ is an illness in the physical sense.
Itâs time these people put away their electronic toys and signed up for some courses in semantics and logic.
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ââŠ.the moment we want to be something we are no longer free.â – J. Krishnamurti
âFreedom from the desire for answer is essential for the understanding of a problem.â – J. Krishnamurti
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âDo not pursue what should be, but understand what is.â – J. Krishnamurti
Thought is never free because it is based on knowledge, and knowledge is always limited.â – J. Krishnamurti
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âA man who says, âI want change, tell me how toâ, seems very earnest, very serious, but he is not. He wants an authority whom he hopes will bring about order in himself. But can authority ever bring about inward order? Order imposed from without must always breed disorder.â
– J. Krishnamurti
âAll ideologies are idiotic, whether religious or political, for it is conceptual thinking, the conceptual word, which has so unfortunately divided man.â – J. Krishnamurti
And thereâs nothing more divisive than psychiatry and psychology.
Definition for Divisive: alienating, estranging, isolating, schismatic, discordant, disharmonious, inharmonious â all of which aptly describes psychiatry and psychology.
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Correction: Ramesh is the author, not Rasx.
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âThey talk about the psyche without the psyche itself, it is as if they were talking about theology without God. It is insanity.â
Psychiatry and psychology are the products of an insane society.
Psychiatry and psychology fail society because they ignore the reality and transcendence of the human soul.
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âThe primary cause of disorder in ourselves is the seeking of reality promised by another.â – J. Krishnamurti
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âIf you begin to understand what you are without trying to change it, then what you are undergoes a transformation.â – J. Krishnamurti
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If more people found peace in themselves, fewer would end up taking psychiatric drugs or paying some mannequin to listen to them.
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Rasx says, ââŠnot to project the image of what you want to be as against paying attention to what you areâŠâ
Psychiatry and psychology exploit peopleâs confusion.
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The author asks, âWhat alternatives do you have to simply coping with it? Simply adjusting to it?â
I think finding some kind of peace within yourself is what needs to happen before anything else.
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Imo, âtherapyâ itself is a pathololgized relationship.
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Psychologically speaking, the author seems to have all his ducks in order. However, he contradicts himself when first saying:
âFrom the relational-intersubjective standpoint, both the therapist and the context/system are unavoidably a part of the very experiences that become pathologised as individual disorders.ââ
And then saying:
âThough in relational-intersubjective therapy there is an inevitable âasymmetryâ â as there necessarily is in any therapeutic relationship â the model [relational-intersubjective] assumes and encourages an epistemological equality with regards to what is occurring and what it means.â
Why canât he see that an âinevitable asymmetryâ directly contradicts any claims of âepistemological equalityâ â the lack of which is extremely pathologizing?
All heâs done is prove how some people will say anything to maintain a pathologizing power imbalance, which, incidentally, ensures him of being capitalistically compensated.
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Thereâs no point in having a discussion with people already convinced the moon is made of green cheese.
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Itâs not that complicated. Peopleâs emotions and frames of mind are most often the result of their interactions with others, while people stuck in Cartesian thinking are usually the result of disconnected control freaks addicted to power.
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This article does a good job of explaining how Freud and Descartesâ dissociative ideas became a gaslighting technique that exists to this day
âRelational-intersubjectiveâ is just a fancy term for seeing the person in front of you.
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Dr. Gotzsche says, âADHD is the product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.â
Psychiatry itself is a product of vested commercial, political, and institutional interests.
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Who in their right mind would assume thereâs no collusion between the FDA and Big Pharma when so much moneyâs at stake? And donât forgetâwhen their stint is up at the FDA, youâll find them on the board at some Big Pharma.
Financial interests always win out.
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Psychiatry is propaganda disguised as science.
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Judi Chamberlin: âPeople are unlikely to question the underlying premises of their occupations, in which they often have a large financial and emotional stake.â
This is why so few âcliniciansâ critically evaluate psychiatryâs many unprovable assumptions: the validity of their âdiagnosesâ, the reliability of their prognosis, and the necessity and safety of their so-called âmedicationsâ. And their habitual use of the word âclinicalâ hides the fact that they themselves are afraid of admitting their whole shebang is full of holes.
If you want to persuade people, just pepper your speech with scientific language, itâs an effective marketing tool for just about anything.
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Correction: âdoubt my realityâ means doubt my intuition
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And I donât think anyone can successfully argue that psychiatry is anything more than a glorified drug racket and medicalized con game.
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The complexity of the mind first and foremost includes the emotions, as these are ultimately what guides peopleâs thoughts and actions.
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Traumatic injury/memory gets stuck in the body as much if not more than anywhere else. And this is where psychiatry, psychology, and western medicine in general miss the boat. The DSM is an extreme example of how fragmented western approaches are.
Psychiatry and psychology have destroyed peopleâs faith in their ability to process emotional trauma without drugs or reliance on some foolâs idea of âpsychotherapyâ.
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Thatâs for damn sure. But itâs gotten even sicker since hitching its wagon to the pharmaceutical industry as anything thatâs profitable financially inevitably controls the narrative. But megavitamin therapy sounds interesting though, as it probably helps restore peopleâs messed up physiology from either psychiatric drugs or other psychoactive substances like alcohol, etc.
And anythingâs better than psychiatryâs sanitized drug hustling or psychologyâs mindless minds fucks.
Definition for Mind Fuck: the process of raping someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
Definition for Psychiatry and Psychology: the raping of someoneâs intelligence and/or beliefs with lies and manipulation
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David,
Thank you for your generous offer, but right now Iâm not needing it. But I donât doubt EMDRâs effectiveness as trauma definitely gets stuck in the mind and memory, and people definitely need alternatives to psychiatryâs drug-happy medical model.
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Correction: psycho-TROPIC drugs, not âpsychoticâ drugs, although in my experience thereâs not much difference â
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Scwnorway,
Thank you for the fantastic link.
It would be great if psychiatry were disbanded altogether. But realistically this wonât happen anytime soon because real change rarely comes from the top down. More likely to happen is psychiatry eventually going the way of cigarette smoking, meaning it will probably take a long time for the majority of the population to learn from bitter experience that psychiatryâs sick assortment of diagnoses and drugs are not the best answer.
However, I think it inevitable that the DSM will be formally discredited, hopefully with an admission that most psychic distress is caused by relational-environmental factors. And who knows? Maybe sooner rather than later an increasing number of general practitioners will be less likely to automatically prescribe psychotic drugs.
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I canât say enough good things about something that fosters reconnecting with oneself rather than symptoms, i.e. psychiatryâs superficial âdiagnosesâ. Reconnecting With Yourselfâ needs to be everyoneâs motto.
Your kind and considerate perspectives are EXACTLY where the âtherapeutic modelâ (and anyoneâs perspective for that matter) needs to be.
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And âtalk therapyâ is not only the epitome of capitalism, itâs capitalism at its worst â
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maedhbh,
Thank you for sharing your personal observations about therapy; they closely mirror my own:
1. The dishonesty of paying for kindness and compassionâwhich is the opposite of kindness and compassion
2. Using âtransferenceâ to protect and maintain what is essentially a destructive power dynamic
3. Money wasted on bad memories âdug up about which nothing can be doneâ
4. Being told you are incurably ill and hopelessly broken from someone with something to gain
5. Forced to cope with abandonment from boundaries âsuddenly put up by a previously accepting therapistâ
6. That most therapists are egomaniacs
7. That most therapists like having power over vulnerable people for all the wrong reasons which DEFINITELY âtakes a certain level of arrogance to think that wayâ.
Thank you maedhbh for saying it all.
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And I forgot to mention how IFS uses curiosity in untangling the complexity of the mind rather than shutting it down with drugs or other narrow-minded âtherapeuticâ methods.
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Yes! Psychiatryâs continuous diagnostic rambling is enough to drive anyone batty.
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And because pharmaceutical companies are greedy â
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So whatâs the point of âtalk therapyâ?
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Pictures speak louder than words.
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Thank you for agreeing with me, Someone Else. I just hope the world is finally ready to listen to something thatâs long overdue.
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Terry,
I just visited your website (healingtheself.net) and am glad I did. Itâs thorough without being exhaustive and accessible without being simplistic, something essential in an area as broad as mental health. Your âPerspectivesâ section is particularly illuminating as it includes the most relevant topics: âThe Spectrum of Traumaâ, âBreaking the Trauma Cycleâ, âWestern Medicineâ, and âInternal Family Systems (IFS)â. Itâs important you placed these topics together as these are all interconnected, and connecting the dots is something too few people are doing. And the quotes youâve chosen are brilliant.
Thank you for devoting your life to something so important and central to what truly matters. I wish you the best in your new vocation.
Birdsong
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My anger at psychiatry ultimately lead to my leaving psychiatryâand in that way anger proved valuable.
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Dear Terry,
Thank you for saying everything that needs to be said about a non-pathologizing approach to psychic distress. You succeed in making the complicated understandable in a beautifully cogent way.
I appreciate your explaining in detail how Internal Family Systems parts-centric approach acknowledges not only the impact of the subconscious, but also âthe notion of the Selfâ and how respecting that Self, oneâs âtrue essenceâ or innate dignity, is central to the healing process, i.e., âbecoming wholeâ. And I especially appreciate your mentioning how psychiatry is âlocked into a paradigm of neurotransmitters and genetics, [that] misses whatâs right in front of its face, and turns a blind eye to mountains of evidence supporting the role of environmental distressâi.e., traumaâin mental health.â Your ideas are SPOT ON.
I too believe âa revolution is brewing with respect to mental health treatment in our cultureâ, but more strongly I hope âthe beauty of IFSâ will be at the forefront thisâand perhaps eventually of life itself.
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Psychiatry isnât about humility, itâs about disconnection and judgment; itâs a psychological cancer that affects all of society.
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Imo, psychiatry is nothing more than an absurd gallery of pseudoscientific diagnoses whose DSM represents one gargantuan psychological autoimmune âdisorderâ.
Itâs too bad psychiatry canât diagnose its own own pathological tendency to diagnose and label everything under the sun.
In contrast, Internal Family Systems is a path towards true healing, as itâs based on compassion and common sense.
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Psychiatry isnât about listening, itâs about imposing pseudoscientific beliefs on others.
And most of the time people are âdiagnosedâ before theyâve even uttered a wordâand most of the time their goose is cooked if the doctor doesnât like them.
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Never underestimate the power of the internet, and M.IA. is a good place to start.
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Correction: DIDDLY-SQUAT
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You canât talk yourself into forgivingâit has to be feltâsomething I suspect Decartes knew diddly about.
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And psychiatry is neither intuitive NOR thoughtfulâbut it IS emotional nitpicking – –
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CORRECTION: Healthy forgiveness isnât about inducing shame through emotional power plays.
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Imho, healthy forgiveness isnât about inflicting guilt through emotional power plays.
And I think itâs more important to forgive oneself for not wanting to forgive those who have hurt us.
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I also bet Decartes, like most of todayâs psychiatrists and psychologists, was secretly one angry dudeâand Heaven knows thereâs nothing more destructive than unacknowledged angerâwhich I think is the foundation of all of psychiatry and most of psychology.
And thereâs nothing wrong with anger; itâs one of most instructive and protective emotions anyone can haveâif dealt with authentically.
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Thereâs nothing objective about psychiatry; it sees people through a psychologically distorted lens.
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Dear Dr. Ophir,
Thereâs now a fighting chanceâthanks to people like youâfor which Iâm eternally grateful.
And as word of your book gets out among the general public, I seriously believe youâll find way more allies than foes.
Thank you for fighting the good fight, Dr. Ophir. I wish you all the best from now on in your truth-telling quest.
Birdsong
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Rasx,
Thank you for the wonderful quote from Heidegger:
ââŠthere are thoughtless emotions but no emotionless thoughtsâŠâ
I think CBT is an exceptionally thoughtless approach. And how do I know this? UmmmâŠIâm not sureâŠI just had a feeling.âŠ
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Thank you for thoroughly explaining the true nature of healthy forgiveness and questioning its value when itâs used to control people.
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Yet another attempt by the âmental health industryâ to psychiatrize every culture with its tone-deaf heavy-handedness.
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Thank you for an outstanding article.
Itâs heartening to know that Dr. Ophirâs book is receiving such positive scholarly reviews. I hope his bravery encourages others like him to speak out against the institutional gaslighting not only surrounding ADHD, but all the other scientifically baseless âdiagnosesâ that constitute the fallacious field of psychiatry. And I sincerely believe itâs only a matter of time before it collapses from the weight of its own lies.
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ericwsetz says, âThe first step is a willingness to be there with the patient and understand what they are saying.â
Which just happens to be the basis of ANY healthy relationship, and most importantly needs to starts with the first: with oneâs parents/caregivers in childhood
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ericwsetz says, âPatients are not out of their minds they are too deep in it.â
Yes! And itâs not just psychiatry â âpsychotherapyâ often sets up its own convoluted âclinicalâ traps for people needing to get OUT of their heads â
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CORRECTION: Decartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty ONE-SIDED â which has turned out to be a detriment to humanity, imho.
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So-called âmental health awarenessâ in schools is about as helpful as an infestation of head liceâpsychological head lice, that is. They are no longer places to learn and be educated, they are places to be labeled and âmedicatedâ.
And children often live up to a teacherâs worst expectations.
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And for what itâs worth, Descartesâ way of thinking always struck me as pretty narrow-mindedâand I bet he was an egomaniac to boot!
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Psychological issues donât belong in a medical textbook.
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Making value judgments based on forgiveness is not conducive to the healing process; itâs an entirely personal matter that canât be dictated.
People forgive in their own time and in their own way, if at allâand whether or not thatâs good or bad is for them alone to decide.
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Rebel,
Please note: nowhere did I claim that âforgiveness is impossibleâ â I said forgiveness is SOMETIMES impossible.
And I respectfully find your attitude towards a lack of forgiveness to beâfor lack of a better wordâunforgiving.
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CORRECTION: âThat explains psychiatryâs main flaw: it refuses to see âSYMPTOMSâ in context.
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Psychiatric labeling isnât medical progress; itâs pejorative language/thinking caught in a time warp.
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âThe motivation to remove the symptom has resulted in what Poole calls a âever-increasing proliferation of context-less achievementsâŠlocal scientific successes which precede even the remotest notion of how to deal with them ethically or how to integrate them into the needs of the totality.â
That explains psychiatryâs main flaw: its refusal to see experience in context.
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Charlotte says, âThe discipline [psychiatry] pretends to be an objective classification of people, borrowing language (âdiagnosisâ) from physical medicine, which assigns the label of disease following the identification of a pathology, which one hopes can be targeted and cured. But the analogy fails in psychiatry. There are few known biological pathologies. And who is to say what cure is?â
Not only thatâwhoâs to say what pathology is? And THATâS the problem with psychiatry: it uses medicalized name-calling (âdiagnosesâ) to sell its designer drugs. And thereâs a label for that: FRAUD â
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Some wounds never heal completely, and sometimes forgiveness is impossible, but thereâs nothing shameful or âsickâ about this. Itâs just accepting emotional realityâsomething that leads to emotional maturityâwhich is the beginning of wisdom, something psychiatry knows little about.
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Fear of emotion is why some people see intellect as separate from the somatic.
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And the irony is psychiatry lacks the insight it accuses âpatientsâ of lackingâwhich is WHY itâs ethically and scientifically vacant.
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The DSM isnât objective; itâs evidence of psychiatryâs warped subjectivity.
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Psychiatry is entirely subjective. Indeed, how objective can it be when itâs based entirely on labeling WHATEVER IT ALONE deems âabnormalâ or âunhealthyâ?
But the real tragedy is that it fails to see how much itâs shaped by its own biased thinking.
But psychiatry isnât about thinking; itâs about its practitioners NEEDING to think theyâre ALWAYS right: hence they thunk up a COLOSSALLY STUPID DSM.
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CORRECTION:
Psychiatry INVENTS âillnessâ to defend its ignorance.
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Psychiatry creates âillnessâ to DEFEND its ignorance â
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Psychiatryâs âcycle of ignoranceâ is a revolving door that creates âillnessâ to maintain its ignorance.
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Psychiatry taught me to hate myself.
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Psychiatry isnât medicine; itâs a medicalized Hall of Mirrors.
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And just WHAT did psychiatryâs carnival of catastrophe do for me besides create havoc with its debilitating drugs?
1. It made me doubt my reality
2. It hijacked my healthy sense of self
3. It convinced me I couldnât function without its patronizing âinterventionsâ
ALL of which proved untrue once I FINALLY got off its merry-go-round of so-called âmental illnessâ and smorgasbord of so-called âmedicationsâ.
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Professor Whooley says:
âPsychiatry persists because of the professionâs strategies to manage its ignoranceâŠâ
Translation: psychiatry persists because it believes its own lies.
âIn order to make those changes and to promote those reinventions, psychiatrists engage in hype.â
Translation: psychiatry is more public relations than science.
âNow the flipside to hype is hubris. Psychiatrists believe the hype and then undertake these transformations in an incredibly aggressive way.â
Translation: psychiatryâs become big business by teaming up with the pharmaceutical industry and its advertising flunkies while sending its latest edition of the DSM to every doctor in town.
All of which leads to one conclusion: psychiatry is what happens when quackery meets propaganda.
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In a word? Emphatically NO. But it might be a step in the right direction if psychiatry realized that stress and trauma are the true culprit, not its idiotic assumptions of biological/genetic whatnot.
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And the same goes for psychology, too.
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Me too. After all, most religions are based on sacred texts that believe in salvation, whereas psychiatry, (a secular religion based on its DSM/bible) says youâre eternally damned â
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And whatâs the BIGGEST source of neuroticism be it animal or human? The âmental healthâ industry, imho; itâs one big neuroticism factory
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Beatrice g,
I have to disagree with your saying that âfixing traumaâ requires âtherapeutic practicesâ when itâs been clearly demonstrated time and again that children, animals and adults heal best in loving, non-judgmental environments, which often means staying as far away as possible from the so-called âtrauma expertsâ.
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Yes! The the social structure of todayâs society and modern family dynamics are EXACTLY where âpsychiatric problemsâ start. But psychiatryâs answer is to have the whole world drowning in âdiagnosesâ and drugs or endlessly spinning their wheels in diagnostic-infested âpsychotherapyâ.
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Very true. Itâs sad reality when children arenât safe in the very places they need it the most: home and school.
And a lot of doctors and âtherapistsâ just continue the pattern of bullying and name-calling through âdiagnosingâ and labeling and call it âmental healthâ.
Itâs no wonder the kids are upset when thereâs nowhere to turn.
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I see psychiatry as medicalized bullying, and itâs important to stop bullying at its source.
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âWhat are the socio-cultural factors of modern society that drive [abuse and bullying]âŠ?â
Let me take a wild guessâŠhow about psychiatry!âŠ.you know, that marvelous bully-inspired invention that prescribes chemical dissociation instead of emotional integrationâŠ
ââŠ.and what can we do to reverse its course?â
First of all, QUIT making excuses by seeing people as âpatientsâ instead of full human beingsâbe they children OR adultsâwhich means DUMPING psychiatry and its endless list of invented âdiagnosesâ/âdisordersâ as soon as possible.
It all starts with seeing people as doing the best they can in a sick society, NOT the other way around.
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And Iâve often thought thereâs way more to learn from watching âDog Whisperer with Cesar Millanâ than listening to so-called âtrauma-informedâ therapists or so-called âhumanâ psychiatrists.
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Is there a difference between genetics and eugenics in psychiatry? Not much, imho.
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Psychiatry is just another way for egotistical people to deny reality in any way possible at otherâs expense in more ways than one.
Alice Miller places blame where it belongs.
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Steve,
Freud chickened out alright. He turned out to be an egotistical coward more anything.
And thank you for pointing out the true reason behind blaming peopleâs brains: the refusal to face reality, both personally and collectively.
Looking at it historically, though, deflection has always been used by the ruling class, one way or another. Just look at the Middle Agesâbut instead of blaming the brain, they blamed the devil.
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At least Freud had curiosity and imagination. But even these got out of control, not to mention his unhealthy need to always be right, a fixation no doubt shared by none other than the great Emil Kraepelin, the founder of psychiatric eugenics. (Opps! I think I meant âgeneticsââŠ.)
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Imo, psychiatry keeps going around in circles because itâs main goal is power, not truth.
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I donât think âexpertsâ like thinking too much (i.e. âmentalizationâ, or âreflective functioningâ), because questioning their assumptions means questioning their power. So conversations with them too often pointless, Iâve found.
So whatâs my answer? Hauling out the old âcaveat emptorâ approach. After all, doing your own research never hurt, and it just might save your life. Or just trust your own instincts and move on.
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I think a lot of problems come from people unconsciously needing to feel more powerful than the next person so they can get away with bossing people around; power means more than truth to them.
And this most likely comes from not having their emotional needs met in childhood, so having power-driven jobs like psychiatry or psychotherapy fills their unmet need to feel powerful.
So life for them becomes one big long âI know more than youâ kind of game that they never outgrow, but instead of flexing their muscles, theyâre flexing their egos, imho.
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The honor and pleasure is mine, Moyu. The world needs more people like you
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Dear Moyu,
Your art is amazing, just like you.
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Krista says, âThe lack of apparent insight by the self-appointed âexpertsâ in human behavior is perfect bitter irony.â
Not only perfect bitter irony, but an uniquely cruel one that places misery upon misery, imho.
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Moyu says:
âBecoming more resilient means, for me, that I take the fragments of my identity which have become lost in the course of my life so far, and carefully and attentively re-assemble them into an intact ego so that I can perceive myself ever more accurately and clearly.â
âI look back on past times until they feel alive and warmâŠ.I believe that is helpful â and an essential part of livingâŠ.â
âGiven these accumulating personal observations, I find it hard to understand why, even today, research on schizophrenia focuses so heavily on genetics; why helping affected persons involves antipsychotics above all; and why the knowledge and experience of affected persons are barely recognized.â
âIf we have an increased susceptibility to stress and psychosis, then there are always reasons for this, which are as individual as we ourselves are.â
âExcessive treatment with antipsychotics and psychiatric medication in general can hide the true causes of mental problems and disorders, stand in the way of real healing, and destroy real social interactions.â
âAs humans and as inhabitants of the Earth we all depend on each other: physically, intellectually, and emotionally. So all of us need to be willing to learn from and with each other in mutual respect, to live together and establish a resilient community.â
Thank you for sharing your remarkable story and insights, Moyu. Itâs a beautiful testament to the resilience of the human spirit. I hope it inspires real change in the mental health system and the world at large.
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Excellent comment.
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Moyu says, ââŠ(when I had finally found a psychiatrist and psychotherapist who treated me as an equalâŠâ
Being thought of as an equal and treated as an equal is where healing begins in any relationship.
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Thereâs a world of difference between trying to help people and trying to âfixâ them. And imo, psychiatry doesnât see the difference.
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I felt stigmatized by psychiatry, infantilized by psychotherapy, and demoralized by bothâand diagnoses and power imbalanceâthe foundation of bothâare the reasons why, imo.
No one seeking help needs to feel worse than they already do.
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Why not just leave âthe expertsâ out of it?
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Hereâs another word for shape-shifter: VAMPIRE.
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ââŠa shape-shifter who knows how to market himself.â
THAT says it all.
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Psychology has always had an inferiority complex when it comes to other sciences, but adding neurology to the mix just adds to the confusion.
Come to think of it, both psychology and psychiatry have an identity crisis because both believe theyâre sciences.
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Professor Whooley says:
âPsychiatry persists because of the professionâs strategies to manage its ignoranceâŠâ
âIn order to make those changes and to promote those reinventions, psychiatrists engage in hype.â
âNow the flipside to hype is hubris. Psychiatrists believe the hype and then undertake these transformations in an incredibly aggressive way.â
Excellent interview, but imho itâs just a long way of saying psychiatry is quackery.
And the definition for quackery is: dishonest practices and claims to have special knowledge and skill in some field, typically medicine.
Sounds like psychiatry to me.
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KateL says, âPeople who were abused in the mental health system are experts in how the system abuses people. I guess some people just can handle that objective fact.â
Very true. Your statement reveals how most âmental health expertsâ are incapable of self-reflection.
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Thank you KateL, for pointing out how the âexpertsâ try to defend themselves by discrediting people who donât share their views with stupid phrases like, ââbe careful not to over generalizeâ, and flipping from âthis is objective factâ, to âah well, itâs more art than science.ââ
Did it ever occur to the âexpertsâ that psychiatry and psychology ARE BASED on over generalizations???
When it suits the âexpertsâ narrative they call it objective fact, and when THAT fails they haul out the old bromide, âitâs more art than scienceâ, which simply means they don’t know what they are talking about.
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ââŠthe gaslighterâlike all verbal abusersâoperates from what they know to be your fears, insecurities, vulnerabilities, and neediness.â
âAdditionally, as in other types of verbal abuse, there has to be an imbalance of power with the gaslighter holding all the cards.â
âThis [your inclination to doubt yourself] is something the gaslighter knows about and he or she stands ready to exploit.â
Psychiatrists AND therapists will often use these gaslighting dynamics to gain an unfair advantage over vulnerable people.
And people saying, âThatâs just their training, theyâre really just trying to help,â IS BULLSHIT because for the most part, people who have no problem using these tactics are more interested in HAVING POWER OVER OTHERS more than EMPOWERING OTHERS; they obviously prefer infantilizing people.
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ââŠ.sometimes all you need is a genuine person to help you stand up when you are down and reignite not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light within yourself. Self-love and self-awareness are the key to a healthy life.â
Yes!!! THIS is the way to heal broken hearts, minds, lives and relationships, NOT name-calling (diagnoses) and âpsychiatric medicationsâ.
Thereâs nothing better than help from someone whoâs been there and sees you as capable of helping yourself.
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Whether or not thereâs neurological evidence of emotional trauma, the bigger problem lies in seeing the results (âsymptomsâ) as medical issues, i.e. âpsychiatric diagnosesâ; the medical model just continues the trauma of disrespect, blame, and neglect.
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Addition to number 3:
3. Not only seriously curtail the use of psychiatric drugs, but stop saying these âtreatâ a âchemical imbalanceâ or other âmental illnessâ that need to be taken âthe rest of your lifeâ.
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Thanks for the info, LivingPast27, though it looks like Europe has caught up: âHow depression treatment differs throughout Europeâ, from the Guardian. It shows how important it is that M.I.A. is getting a foothold in more and more countries around the world.
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Yes!!! Apologizing and making amends to the patients theyâve harmed is as important as anything. But I was trying to stay within the realm of the possible.
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True. But I think things will eventually change; itâs just going to take a lot more time and lot more needless suffering.
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Thank you Krista, for your detailed clarification.
I read Francesâ insulting rebuttal to the late Dr. Caplan, but I wasnât surprised by his blatantly condescending attitude and remarks. But I do consider it an excellent example of the attitudes psychiatric survivors are up against, which is why self-rescue is too often the only option.
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Fraud, medical neglect, exploitation, and lack of patient/public education/information are what makes psychiatry psychiatry, and is why it needs to go the way of the dinosaur asap.
So what does âtreating patients betterâ actually mean? It means any one of the following, but should begin with the first:
1. Throw out the DSM and do not replace it
2. Stop claiming that psychiatric problems are biological or genetically linked
3. Seriously limit the prescribing of psychiatric medications
4. Seriously limit the use of ECT
5. Make it illegal for any physician to force medicate or medically incarcerate
6. Replace psychiatry with the many alternatives currently available
And when these happen, no one will be needing to find an exit.
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Psychiatry is eugenics in action:
âScreening for Mental Illness: The Merger of Eugenics and the Drug Industryâ, by Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS, from The Alliance for Human Research Protection
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As I previously stated, if people want to take psychiatric drugs or undergo ETC, thatâs their business. What I object to is psychiatry falsely claiming that peopleâs problems are lifelong and biologically or genetically based, permitting the overprescribing of psychiatric drugs while downplaying the risks, and last but not least their ability to force treatments or involuntarily hospitalization on people which can be for indefinite periods of time.
Psychiatryâs abuse of medicine, power, and peopleâs human rights got a HUGE boost when psychiatrists collectively decided in 1980 to adopt the medical model through an admittedly flawed checklist system for their admittedly flawed DSM, which makes psychiatry not only misleading, but downright fraudulent. And the resulting devastation to both individuals and society are becoming increasingly apparent and definitively undeniable.
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The body-brain chemical makeup can greatly affect how emotions are felt and thoughts are perceived. And lots of things can screw it up: too much stress (emotional, psychological or physical), prescription medications, environmental or recreational substances, and even bangs on the head. But none of these indicate biologically or genetically caused illnesses.
From the New York Post: âWhy more women, like me, are abandoning the pill over emerging health concernsâ by Rikki Schlott.
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Correction: âIf people want to take âpsychiatric medicationâ or subject themselves to ECT, thatâs their business, but they need to be CLEARLY informed of significant risks of side effects and/or withdrawal reactions both immediate and future, and that NO âillnessâ is being âtreatedâ.
And NO ONE should have the legal authority to force any âtreatmentâ, or âhospitalizeâ someone who hasnât committed a crime.
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Ideally, all medicine should be based in a Functional-Holistic paradigm. But present reality demands no longer seeing emotional distress through a medical/diagnostic lens, beginning with a dissolution of psychiatry and its DSM.
If people want to take âpsychiatric medicationâ thatâs their business, but they need to clearly know thereâs significant risk of side effects and/or withdrawal reactions, and that no âillnessâ is being âtreatedâ.
And no one should have the legal authority to hospitalize someone who hasnât committed a crime.
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Itâs not hard seeing how disconnected modern society is when you stop to think how insane it is having people pay someone for emotional supportâand on top of THAT calling it âmental healthcareâ. Itâs not a sign of progress; itâs a sign of degradation.
And as corny as it sounds, things wonât change until people get out of their heads and into their hearts.
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Worth a listen: âRelease Trapped Emotions in 2023â, a video by Eckhart Tolle
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Daisy Valley is right. Psychiatry and Big Pharma have become a huge, financially driven bureaucracy.
If only more people knew just how petty psychiatry really is, then maybe things would start to change.
And all they need to do is look in the DSM.
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dogworld says, ââŠthe power structure of psychiatry is the root of the issueâŠâ
Thatâs where the problem begins and why psychiatry needs to end.
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Richard says, âUnfortunately, you have fallen into Healyâs âoh so charmingâ trap of pragmatic rationalizations for justifying oppression.â
I agree with Richard.
IMHO, most psychiatrists are driven by an unconscious need to hide from their own hidden vulnerabilities. Why else would they seek to obliterate feelings through drugs and ECT?
And psychiatryâs veneer of science gives the illusion of invulnerability.
Itâs all about power, similar to what drives most bullies or those who want to be seen as saviors.
Freud was absolutely right about one thing: the unconscious influences behavior. And scientists are no exception.
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Psychiatry uses science as a smokescreen for its evil.
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Most psychiatrists unconsciously expect people to kowtow to their supposed âexpertiseâ.
And those who wonât can expect to be punished, i.e. diagnoses, drugs, and ECT.
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Thereâs one way people can cut their losses: simply call a spade a spade.
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Thereâs surgical lobotomy, chemical lobotomy, and electrical lobotomy.
What more does anyone need to know???
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ââŠ.an impoverished sense of selfâŠ.â
THATâS the defining feature of âpsychiatryâ and âpsychologyâ.
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Thank you for pointing this out. Your example sounds much better. My sentence wasnât grammatically correct, but I do try my best.
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Steve,
Expecting people to kowtow reveals the kind of people working in the âmental healthâ system.
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Freud was by no means the first to divine the meaning of dreams. Any study of ancient cultures would show you that.
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KateL says, âWe have a basic right to human dignityâŠI was robbed of that rightâŠâ
This is why psychiatry should be abolished.
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Why rely on âexpertsâ who havenât experienced ECT?
Arenât peopleâs personal accounts enough?
Has anyone bothered to ask the dear Dr. Healy (or anyone else who canât make up their minds about the dangers of ECT) if theyâd be willing to subject themselves or their loved ones to ECT?
How much more âproofâ does anyone need?
Science has been put on a pedestal that leads people away from their intuition and common sense.
âThe expertsâ would be wise to remember thereâs a point at which ânuanceâ becomes a hindrance to seeing and accepting the cold, hard truth.
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No one need rely on âpsychotherapistsâ to process their trauma. People can do a lot on their own, in their own time, in their own way: writing /journaling, reading, listening to peopleâs experience on podcasts and videos, talking with friends or family members, including animals, engaging in hobbies or creative pursuits, volunteering, and spending as much time as possible in nature.
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Sam Plover says:
âI suggest we all become shrinks or lawyers and then we will be safe from slander. It will then come down to who can outslander whom.â
THATâS what psychiatry boils down to: SLANDER â
âThey are a childish, immature, selfish hateful bunchâŠ.you better tread careful.â
Indeed. Only childish adults think the way most psychiatrists and psychotherapists do, i .e. having to believe theyâre always right, and having temper tantrums when âpatientsâ tell them theyâre not.
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Wow. Who wouldâve guessed that talking to someone could be helpful??? And wouldnât it be great if people werenât made to believe they need an âexpertâ???
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Psychiatry and psychology are the inevitable result when the denigration and exploitation of human beings becomes second nature.
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Thank you, Lori.
Iâm very sorry getting off the psych drugs is causing you so much pain and trouble. It can take a long time for your body to readjust. And itâs even harder when the people who should know something donât.
I donât know whatâs worse, the effects of the so-called âmedicationsâ or the stupidity of the so-called âtherapistsâ. The whole thingâs a scam, imho.
Just hang in there as best you can, believing you will get through this.
Birdsong
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Yes!!! Everything in psychiatry and psychology is morally wrong and NOTHING they believe is beneficial and therefore IS NOT JUSTIFIED.
And spending time in nature is magical.
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Psychiatryâs political abuse ALWAYS exists in some form, beginning with its so-called âdiagnosesâ.
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They it called âpsychopathyâ to make it sound impressive so they can charge a fee when all it is listening, and most psychotherapists do a lousy job of that.
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Somehow, the destructive idea that psychological problems are medical has to be discredited and dismantled.
Universities no longer educate; they complicate and discriminate.
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Most psychotherapists see people as âdisorderedâ, just like most psychiatrists do
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The term âpsychotherapyâ implies illness which indicates medical which leads to the can of worms called âpsychiatric diagnosesâ. Itâs as weaponized as psychiatry.
On the other hand, the word âcounselingâ has a much less negative connotation, i.e. legal counsel, pastoral counsel, guidance counsel, parental counsel, etc. And in these situations, people are share knowledge, experience, wisdom and guidance that (hopefully) isnât biased on pseudoscientific âdiagnosticâ beliefs.
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And THAT goes for âprofessionalsâ as much as ANYONE ELSE â
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I no longer use words like âdepressionâ or âanxietyâ. I just say sad or apprehensive.
And the same goes if someone is acting in a way I dislike. So instead of saying something nasty like âsounds like someone has a personality disorderâ, I just take the time to describe their behavior.
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But it IS consistently based on a âpower imbalanceâ and the exchange of money, something thatâs unfair, unnecessary, unhealthy and inappropriate when all it is is talking with someone.
And psychotherapists are trained in psychiatric ideologies, i.e. âmental illnessâ, âpsychiatric diagnosesâ; theyâre psychiatrists without a prescription pad which can be even more damaging.
Either way, itâs all about power, manipulation and money.
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Thereâs one criticality important thing Ms.Heller doesnât mention, or perhaps is unable/unwilling to see: that itâs not uncommon for manipulative people to be working as mental health professionals.
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Sounds like just more Big Brother.
Powerful organizations always try to fix things after the fact, and canât see how perhaps they and society are part of the problem.
Children and adults need emotional support from people who truly care about their wellbeing, but not from prying professionals paid to police their private lives.
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This is true, but I think most are too dissociated to comprehend whatâs really going on. The ones at the top of the heap are another matter entirely.
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Dear Ramesh,
You might look into something at The Withdrawal Project (TWP). Itâs part of ICI, the Inner Compass Initiative. These are dedicated to helping people who are looking to reduce or come off psychiatric drugs.
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Birdsong made a mistake.
Bill Wells says, ââŠsome organizations can be extraordinarily closed.â
And Birdsong says, âMost of these belong to psychiatrists.â
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And btw, Freud wasnât the first to notice the importance of dreams. Just look in bible.
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Beatrice g asks, âWhat lie are you referring to?
I can think of two, right off the bat: little girls have âpenis envyâ, and little boys want to sleep with their mother.
Worth a glance: âWas Freud right about anything? Spoiler: not really., By Benjamin Plackett, from LIVESCIENCE
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Itâs been said many times before: itâs important live with both eyes WIDE OPEN â
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Brilliantly written and powerfully cogent article.
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HERE IT IS!!! In print! Just what Iâve always sensed and been trying to say here all along, which is that psychiatry (and its loyal sycophantic twin known as âpsychotherapyâ) are BULLSHIT GALORE â
âGoffman [a sociologist] emphasizes the role stigma plays in psychiatric diagnosis and treatment by expounding on its insidious barrier to recovery and the dehumanization and de-personalization which stimulates further damage and marginalizes victims. Essentially stigma breeds contempt and contempt breeds blame.â
Such are the so-called âhealingâ dynamics of psychiatry and its partner in crime âpsycho-therapy.â
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Dear Beata,
Youâre not alone in your efforts in truth telling. These videos might be of interest to you, at least in spirit:
âThis Changes Everything|Graham Hancock Interviewâ with Russell Brand
âFree Julian Assange: Noam Chomsky, Dan Ellsberg, & Jeremy Corbyn Lead Call at Belmarsh Tribunalâ from Democracy Now!
Take care,
Birdsong
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To yinyang:
I wasnât fully aware of that, but I think MIA is as radical as Iâm comfortable with. And I also think itâs a good idea to post in a place that has a somewhat more broad appeal, as something more radical might be too radical and therefore reach fewer people.
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And worth watching:
âBill Gates Said WHAT About Vaccines?!â By Russell Brand
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Worth reading:
âPolitical Abuse of PsychiatryâAn Historical Overviewâ, by Robert van Voren
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âToday, the vast majority of psychiatric drugs are prescribed by general practitioners.â
Psychiatric drugs are harmfulâno matter how you get them.
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Another good question.
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Bill Wells says, âAs Tip OâNeill wound suggest, the politics start at the local level. And some organizations can be extraordinarily closed.â
Psychiatryâs not medical. Never was, never will be. Itâs political, which is why it needs to go.
The political (punitive) abuse of psychiatry already exists in some form as evidenced by peopleâs inaccurate beliefs and attitudes towards people with psychiatric labels and the laws permitting forced psychiatric drugging and detention. And this will continue as long as psychiatry exists in any form. And THATâS the truth and the horror OF IT ALL.
And psychiatry has people up a creek because being a former or current user can make it difficult to be taken seriously, or even ruin someoneâs life personally and professionally. (Did I say psychiatry is political? Yes I did!) So people are left with word of mouth that thankfully is often the most effective (and safest) way for real change to happen.
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I refuse to become someoneâs puppet, psychiatryâs or M.I.A.âs â
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Itâs collective denial.
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Violence isnât always physically brutal; sadism often looks benign.
Psychiatry is a case in point: it offers a way for traumatized people to unconsciously deny their trauma by wearing the mask of âdoctorâ so to legally traumatize people in the name of âtreatmentâ. Itâs sanitized sadism.
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Psychiatry is inverted psychopathy: I see it as sadism disguised.
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You learn everything except whatâs most important. And whatâs most important? How to steer clear of the âmental health systemâ.
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I believe it. And itâs why I keep saying psychiatry is drug pushing.
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Neoliberalist gives advice:
b. Individuals experiencing misery are strongly urged to âget into therapyâ.
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All that garbage to get into college so you can become a âpsychiatristâ. Explains a lot.
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This is how I see it:
Psychiatryâs hauling out their old standby CYA (Cover Your Ass) medicine because theyâre afraid of the lawsuits headed their way. So theyâre jumping on the bandwagon before itâs too late.
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Many thanks to MIA for giving voice to those who have been unfairly criticized, silenced, targeted, imprisoned, tortured, censured and censored by psychiatry and its advocates.
I hope someday there will be no need for it.
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JamesHillmamdownwiththereligionofscientism says:
âThis a killing game from the beginning. This is not even a human relationship. It is artificial relation based on false assumptionsâŠâ
Exactly! The standard âIâm fine, youâre not,â paradigm works great for âmental health professionalsâ. Now how can that be?âŠ.
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And if THAT ever happens, Iâm getting the HELL outta here!
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yinyang :
âPsychiatry works to preserve the unjust corporate-dominated system under which we live.â
Thatâs the truth. They simply go along to get along.
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And all you need to do is follow the money.
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Itâs wonderful when people support each other.
But most psychiatric prisoners have no support.
Has anyone thought if there were no âpsychiatryâ thereâd be no Jim Flannerys???
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yinyang says, âThese people can NEVER speak for us.â
Absofuckinlutely.
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Bradford,
How very sweet of YOU!!!
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Amen, Bradford! Iâve no doubt it will eventually happenâŠ
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To yinyang,
I donât have a public email, but Iâm honored by your suggestion.
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I think legally banning the DSM should be FIRST on the list.
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Kate W.âs story painfully illustrates how nothing messes with your identity more cruelly and unjustly than a psychiatric diagnosis.
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Kate W. writes, âThis is the problem with being a consumer â we get consumed.â
Wow. Reading this article confirmed my worst suspicions about people who work in the mental health system. Nonetheless I was deeply saddened as I read Kate W.âs painfully vivid account.
And itâs an eye opener for anyone holding illusions about creating alliances in a mental health system based on stigma and invasions of privacy.
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David Oaks says:
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Psychiatryâs history of human rights violations has continued unabated to this day and is becoming increasingly widespread due to the undeniable association among psychiatry, Big Pharma, mainstream media, academia, and the legislative/judicial/policy-making branches of government. So promoting alliance between supporters and opponents of the current mental health system reveals not only a serious lack of understanding and concern for those caught in the mental health system, but a disturbing complacency that is best described as irresponsible.
I don’t ever consider the fight for ANYONEâS human rights âold fashioned!”
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People holding seriously different views can unite on individual issues; it happens every day and is called democracy.
However, psychiatry is the only branch of medicine that seriously infringes on peopleâs basic human rights.
I therefore see aligning with people who believe in psychiatry as making a deal with the devil; this, however, does not preclude aligning over specific issues.
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Thank you, Bradford for CLEARLY stating:
âA psychiatric âdiagnosisâ is the medical equivalent of a six-pointed yellow star pinned on your clothingâŠ.â
Truer words were never spoken.
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I second those measures.
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Thank you, yinyang, for pointing out this important distinction.
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Iâve never viewed all âconsumersâ as the same. Whatever someone decides to do is their business.
What I object to is psychiatryâs violating peopleâs human rights by feeding them lies.
And building alliances where thereâs major conflicts of interests is counterproductive, especially when one side has more power than the other. So in this area I see collaboration and half measures as ultimately harmful for those who need help the most.
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Yes, and psychiatry uses fear (on some level) to âwinâ every argument, or âdiscussionâ, which makes things airtight for them, but suffocates others.
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Exactly. And thatâs just the way psychiatry wants it!
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SoSaysAbilene says:
âWhen the oppressed set aside all disagreements with their oppressors, there will be no discussion, no collaboration, no compromise. Just capitulation and silence.â
Welcome to the world of âpsychiatryâ.
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Protecting and restoring human rights requires addressing and eradicating problems at their source, which in this case is psychiatry. But unfortunately, too many supporters of the current mental health system either cannot see or refuse to acknowledge this.
Fortunately, more and more people are gradually seeing what âpsychiatryâ actually stands for, which is the denial of human rights.
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madmom asks, ââŠ.if you do not believe in constructive dialogues between psychiatric survivors, consumers, family members, and mental health professionals, if you do not believe in recruiting allies from within the helping professions, what is your preferred strategy for implementing a global revolution of the mental health system? What activities do you believe will result in a safer, more humane world?â
First of all, I DO believe in constructive dialogue with anyone. But that is not the same as forming alliances, something that is NOT constructive when fundamental beliefs are fundamentally incompatible.
And my strategy for implementing a global revolution of the mental health system is supporting and contributing to MIA which I believe IS resulting in a safer, more humane world, as speaking out in whatever way possible is the MOST concrete action ANYONE can take.
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David Oaks says:
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Human rights violations committed by psychiatry and its wide assortment of allied professionals has continued unabated to this very day, and are growing increasingly widespread due to the undeniable alliances formed among psychiatry, Big Pharma, mainstream media, academia, and the legislative/judicial/policy-making branches of government. So promoting alliances between supporters and dissenters reveals not only a serious lack of understanding and concern for those caught in todayâs mental health system, but a disturbing complacency that can only be described as irresponsible.
My question is this: WHO in their right mind would ever consider the fight for ANYONEâS human rights to be âold fashionedâ?
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David Oaks says:
âAll this focus on psychiatry is a bit old fashioned.â
Violations committed by psychiatry and its wide assortment of cooperating practitioners not only continues unabated to this day, but are getting increasingly worse with the increasing coordination of psychiatry, big Pharma, academia, government agencies, courts, and the mainstream media. So promoting cooperation between supporters and dissenters reveals a disturbing complacency about the serious issues people face when caught in todayâs mental health system, which is not only very disturbing, but most irresponsible.
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Janne says, âIt really bothers me that the whole belief that science can prove the necessity of something and that educated professionals can make good decisions for others has been going on for so long. When that happens some personal and political goals are pushed in the scientific evidence base and expressed as objective fact. But those that are interested in these kinds of philosophical problems seem few.â
Agreed. Where people used to automatically point to their bible, theyâre now saying, âitâs the scienceâ about darn near everything, from dog food to psychiatric drugs. Itâs become a meaningless trope.
And itâs societyâs collectively uncritical embrace of anything that looks or sounds remotely âscientificâ that has led to the neglect of teaching people how to think philosophically and critically question the prevailing narratives about âmental healthâ. What started as misguided Freudian interpretations gradually merged with âscienceâ and steadily morphed into the publicâs unquestioning acceptance of psychiatryâs medical model. Itâs become the worldâs latest and greatest example of mass indoctrination.
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Kudos to you, Beata, for bravely standing up for the truth. Your courage is truly inspiring.
Please know Iâm sending you my heartfelt thanks and support, and am wishing you the best of luck.
Birdsong
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Many thanks and kudos to you, Beata, for your bravery in standing up for the truth. Your courage is truly inspirational.
Please know Iâm sending you my heartfelt support, and am wishing you the best of luck,
Birdsong
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And Iâll keep hoping Iâm not mistaken in thinking that allowing dissenting opinions is what MIA is all about.
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Many thanks and kudos to you, Beata, for standing up for what you believe in.
Bravery has tragically become a scarce commodity in the world these days.
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Janne says, âIt really bothers me that the whole belief that science can prove the necessity of something and that educated professionals can make good decisions for others has been going on for so long. When that happens some personal or political goals are pushed in the scientific evidence base and expressed as objective fact. But those that are interested in these kinds of philosophical problems seem few.â
Agreed. It used to be people automatically saying things like, âthe Bible says soâ, to where theyâre now automatically saying, âitâs the scienceâ about darn near everything, from psychiatric drugs to dog food.
Sadly, today our societiesâ collectively uncritical infatuation with science has led to not teaching people how to think critically and question prevailing theories. The mass indoctrination that began with Freud has morphed into the publicâs unquestioning acceptance of âbio-psychiatryâ.
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Shaming and excluding people for not sharing oneâs sanguine sentiments is intolerant, and collectively breeds authoritarianism.
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Ms. Aybarâs says, âAs it is, the clinical psychology field continues to promote and monetize the dehumanization of mentally ill people. When will the dehumanization of people with lived experience in mental illness stop?â
Excellent question. But I doubt things will change anytime soon due to the prevailing satisfaction with the status quo from those in leadership positions. But thanks to stories like Ms. Aybarâs, peopleâs efforts now have a fighting chance, as her story powerfully and painfully pulls back the curtain on the poisonous mindsets currently being inculcated in the very places one would think there would be none.
But I never held many illusions, as I always had the uncomfortable sense that the psychotherapeutic field too often brings out the worst in very people who work in it.
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To Robert Whitaker and Anyone Else,
My using the phrase âsleeping with the enemyâ was not intended to be a personal attack on Mr. Oaks or the work he does. I consider the phrase a reasonable choice for anyone who has experienced psychiatryâs abuses and therefore understandably disagrees with Mr. Oakâs efforts to unite people with markedly different perspectives.
I personally find psychiatryâs many documented malfeasances to be much too serious to allow for any common ground with those who harbor more sanguine feelings. And criticizing those who for good reason harbor less sanguine feelings seems counter to the purposes of this webzine, one of which, if Iâm not mistaken, is to give voice to those who have been unfairly targeted, criticized, silenced, tortured, censured and censored by psychiatry and its advocates. And I sincerely hope MIA continues refraining from such practices.
Respectfully,
Birdsong
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âPsychiatric diagnosingâ is a euphemism for shooting the messenger or blaming the victim. More plainly, itâs medicalized hate speech.
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Unless they haul out that sorry substitute for âcollaborationâ they call âshared decisionâ, their pathetic attempt to maintain control by appearing cooperative.
But when push comes to shove, they know damn well who holds the power, and theyâll not likely to willingly relinquish ANY of it.
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And how do most psychiatrists âshoot the messengerâ?
By doling out âdiagnosesâ.
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Yup! Itâs âmy way or the highwayâ for most psychiatrists, thatâs for sure â
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Thank you yinyang for shedding some light on the situation.
To me itâs mind-boggling how defensive most psychiatrists and their advocates get whenever people disagree with them, especially when presenting evidence of psychiatryâs many obvious harms and fallacies. They invariably go into attack mode attempting to shred someoneâs character, i.e. âshooting the messengerâ â
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Stopping psychiatryâs obvious abuses, (involuntary commitment, forced drugging, ECT, or âpsychosurgeryâ) wonât be enough, because psychiatryâs harms are rooted in its own false premises; more colloquially, psychiatry is psychological vermin that needs to eradicated, not merely âtweakedâ.
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Yes!!! Subjugation rules the day in psychiatry.
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Youâre probably right, yinyang. However, most psychiatrists have no concern for the hatred, confusion and pain their profession creates.
And no one ever attained meaningful change using euphemisms.
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Steve,
Thank you for this comment. It reminded me of the term âwillful ignoranceâ. So I looked up the definition and think it perfectly describes most âmental health professionalsâ, from instructor on down.
Willful ignorance is: âTactical Stupidity. The practice can entail completely disregarding established facts, evidence, and/or reasonable opinions if they fail to meet someoneâs expectationsâ
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Itâs uncanny how typical it is for therapists and psychiatrists to turn a deaf ear to peopleâs real concerns, as they usually demand to be seen as having more knowledge than anyone else, especially when they know they donât!
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The hypocrisy begins with saying that âexperts know bestâ. The fraud begins when theyâre paid for it.
Learning to live comes from actually living, not from those paid to read from a script.
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Problems begin in assuming that âprofessionals know bestâ. And hypocrisy begins when theyâre paid for it.
You learn to live from actually living, not from people who read from a script.
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Bradford ,
Iâm not blaming Woanjun Lee. Iâm stating my opinion on the study heâs reporting on. And I think important to keep tabs on what passes for âscience.â.
And I fully agree with you that psychiatry is definitely unkind, and prescribes powerful neurotoxins.
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KateL,
Your DBT therapist was gaslighting you. Itâs the typical therapistâs modus operandi.
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KateL says:
ââŠat some point the best decision is to say, screw all the therapies.â
THAT was the beginning of healing for me.
âAt some point, the patient realizes that maybe the âtreatment providersâ enjoy seeing patients face rejection, suffer, fail. Itâs the only thing that makes sense.â
THATâS what Iâve always thought! I think a lot therapists unconsciously live to experience schadenfreude; why else would they seek power over others?
And some are definitely full-blown sadists.
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Psychiatric survivors donât need any more burdens placed upon them.
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To my dear friend Bradford,
Are you asking me? If so, hereâs my answer:
No one should be expected or pressured to form an alliance with people who refuse to fully accept and stop the harms they cause, even if they stop harming.
Survivors arenât responsible for appeasing their perpetrators.
Allying with psychiatry is allying with barbarism.
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Thank you, Someone Else. THATâS what psychology is: âThe Study of the Blatantly Obviousâ.
And so is psychiatry.
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You learn how to live life THROUGH LIVING IT â not from âprofessionalsâ who donât have enough sense to know that psychiatric labels are BULLSHIT.
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Someone Else is right. The whole âmental health systemâ is âintrusive, insane, and devoid of common sense.â
And most people who work in it get drunk on power, sooner or later.
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Thank you, anotherone. Thatâs very kind of you.
And it actually means something because no one made you say it.
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People need to learn better ways of taking care of themselves emotionally, and this doesnât happen through âdiagnosesâ. It happens by being with others who openly share their own struggles, not people who hide behind âcredentialsâ in order charge a fee.
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âThe Power Imbalanceâ
âToday, there are few opportunities to get help without also receiving a diagnosis.â
This is the root of the problem caused by the current âmental health systemâ. As soon as a diagnosis is given, an insidious process of infantilization starts taking place that may not be dislodged until serious damage is done to someoneâs self-concept. Itâs as damaging as calling a child âbadâ.
âYou make yourself the master of another through language and the power inherent in language.â
This is exactly what psychiatric language does, FOR psychiatrists, and anyone else who uses it. It gives the illusion of power and knowledge when all it actually does is strip people of their own.
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This conference is a huge step in the right direction. But Iâm afraid itâs just going to spawn another school of âtherapyâ that inevitably puts itself ahead the client. In other words, just another ego trip for unhealed, unconsciously insecure therapists.
What helped me get beyond therapy better than anything was learning to heal myself through self-therapy, courtesy Daniel Macklerâs many videos and books. No gimmicks, just truth, through and through.
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Just goes to show what some people are made of.
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And most therapists âtreat traumaâ like itâs the flu.
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Art can threaten those in power because it reflects the unconscious, something they instinctively know they canât control.
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âJohnstone points out that if you only have a trauma-informed focus, you can fall into a trap of becoming too individual-focused and forgetting the interaction with the power structures in society.â
This point canât be emphasized enough. Therapist who say they âtreat traumaâ are doing the same thing as those who use DSM labels, making âtraumaâ just another label that ignores the surrounding situation, or âstoryâ.
The only thing people need is to be heard by someone who doesnât hijack their story, âtraumaâ or not.
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Psychiatrists and psychologists donât âdiagnoseâ anything, but they frequently do misinterpret EVERYTHING â
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– âWords affect both the person who utters the words and those who receive them.â
THATâS an understatement. Psychiatric language devalues people and allows practitioners to talk down to them. Not very âtherapeuticâ.
– âBut psychiatry has the problem that it does not base itself on what people actually say, but what it thinks they mean.â
Hereâs what most psychiatrists (and psychologists) fail to see: that DSM âdiagnosesâ are no more accurate and even less useful than the Freudian interpretations of yesteryear. In other words, theyâve merely exchanged one bogus idea for another. Not very âinsightfulâ.
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Artistic ability is one of the greatest gifts to give the world. But unfortunately, most of it isnât respected unless itâs profitable.
But I think it goes deeper than that, as art sometimes reflects things people arenât willing to see. And a lot of the hostility comes from jealousy.
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Itâs paternalistic, alright, and in all the worst ways.
All it proves is that people, both men and women, take for granted someone running their home or having their kids.
They need to remember that people are PAID for doing housework, and that women can now RENT OUT THEIR WOMBâand if THAT isnât âworkâ, I donât know what is.
And thatâs a lot more work than any man will ever do.
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Sure sounds like it.
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Iâm surprised they havenât already. Theyâve co-opted just about everything else: âart therapyâ, âdance therapyâ, âmusic therapyâ, andâhow could I forgetââtalk therapyâ.
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Genuine acts of kindness and freely chosen social connections do more than improve so-called ânegative affectâ, they prevent it. And no one needs a study to know that.
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Some people are too arrogant to grasp the true nature, meaning and reason for religion: feelings of awe, gratitude and humilityâall of which are spiritualâsomething theyâre loath to accept, for who knows what reason.
Itâs too bad when people have no sense of the transcendent. But some people have no ability to be humble.
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People like E. Fuller Torrey are too arrogant to grasp the true nature and meaning and reason for religion: a sense of awe, humility, and gratitudeâwhich are non-material, which means spiritualâsomething he seems loath to understand.
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Why would anyone want to unite with people who promote themselves to persecute others?
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Emotional distress and psychological collapse doesnât come from out of the blue. It comes from one of two things:
1. Bad things happening that no one can be blamed for, or
2. Getting treated like shit from people who should know better
Kindness and social connection are the foundation of any healthy relationship, NOT âchemical imbalancesâ
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Someday psychiatry and its âtherapeuticâ offshoots will be seen for what they truly represent: complicated defense mechanisms used to hide from emotional reality.
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l.e._cox says, âThe biggest problem with most academics (not to generalize) is that they canât confront, and thus see problems as much more complicated than they really are.â
THATâS the godâs honest truth. But some people get a kick out of complicating things. Or maybe theyâre just cowards.
NEWSFLASH: Psychiatryâs not rocket science. And neither is psychology, for that matter. But making people think they are can bring in lots of self-satisfaction, not to mention plenty of dough.
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And what is âspontaneous social connectionâ? Friendship. And no one should have to pay for that, i.e. âpsycho-therapyâ.
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Spirituality is innate. Religions are arbitrary inventions.
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Someone Else says, ââŠ.declaring all âwomanâs workâ volunteer workâŠis a staggeringly paternalistic attitude.â
Some do âwomanâs workâ for a living. Theyâre called nannies, housekeepers and cooks.
Some unfairly judge and denigrate for a living. A lot of them are psychiatrists and therapists.
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Thereâs no love in psychiatry.
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Psychiatric drugs numb the emotions and thus prevent the processing of trauma.
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Thank you Dr. Gotzsche for your dedication to truth and integrity. A textbook critical of psychiatryâs current inaccurate narrative is badly needed, and I hope it gains traction in mainstream circles.
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âResearchers have debated what it means to recover from mental illness, with âprofessionalâ opinions often differing greatly compared to service user opinions.â
I think psychiatrists are extremely arrogant to think theyâre the ones to decide what ârecoveryâmeans.
And most think youâre âsickâ if youâre not punching someone elseâs time clock.
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Doctors are the ones who are addicted to drugs. Patients are just being âcompliantâ.
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Psychiatric drugs prevent the processing of grief from trauma.
Feeling the feelings is how healing happens.
And no one âneeds a therapistâ to do it.
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âMeth but for childrenâ.
Scary but true.
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Psychiatryâs replaced it with diagnoses and drugs, while other psychs preach âresilienceâ, âmindfulnessâ or that granddaddy of them all, âpsychotherapyâ.
The un-psyched call it âproactiveâ.
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Itâs spiritual gaslighting.
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Beautiful. Only love. No labels, drugs, or âpsycho-therapyâ.
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Thatâs the gist of it all.
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Breakdowns could be breakthroughs, if psychiatry left people alone.
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Psychiatric diagnosing is codified abuse. Itâs medicalized gaslighting.
And psychiatryâs only concern is protecting its own turf.
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These researchers need to grow up, get real, and to quit trying to win the science fair.
Itâs way past time to feed someoneâs empty stomach instead of their own bloated ego.
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Howâs this for an alternative: find something to do other than ruining peopleâs lives.
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Telling children thereâs something wrong with their brain damages their budding sense of self.
Itâs a sanitized form of psychological abuse.
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Sheltering in place was a huge relief because it gave me a reason to stay out of places where music is constantly played. And things are a lot quieter with the advent of earphones. A lot less musical bombardment, which helped me gain some mental and emotional equilibrium.
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Psychiatry and psychology promote unrealistic standards for peopleâs thoughts, feelings and behavior. Theyâre very judgmental. Just like religion often is.
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My late aunt was hospitalized only once in her life for the only psychotic episode she ever had. Thank goodness the attending psychiatrist realized she was suffering from a one-time event because she hadnât been that way before. So when she was discharged she didnât fill any prescriptions or continue with âtherapyâ. And she was never psychotic again.
And what was the matter? She was suffering from extreme loneliness.
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Thank you again, Bradford, for your steadfast support.
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justsayno86,
I think people who donât realize theyâre psychiatric prisoners are unconsciously using defense mechanisms, i.e. âStockholm syndromeâ or âidentification with the aggressorâ) as a means of survival.
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The only reason Allen Frances did an about-face on the DSM was because he saw it was becoming a laughing stock, not because he suddenly grew a conscience.
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âOne thing psychiatrists will never invent is Ethics Deficit Disorder and put themselves or their own brethren through some brain scan studies.â
âEthics Deficit Disorder is no more or less real than Borderline Personality Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Internet Gaming Disorder.â
Terrific comments, registeredforthissite.
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I would never tell someone to drink from a poisoned well, nor to walk over quicksand.
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Good question.
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Thereâs nothing ethical about the mental health system.
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Thank you very much, justsayno86. I greatly appreciate your generous appreciation.
You are right. Psychiatry IS the greatest enemy. But itâs an invisible enemy, which makes it more dangerous. And people definitely need to be warned.
I also canât imagine why anyone would ever want to unite psychiatric survivors with psych consumers. And anyone who thinks itâs a good idea shows a serious lack of understanding.
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Thank you, Bradford. Your kind words and support mean a lot to me.
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Lawsuits and snobbery are the name of of the game.
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Constantly hearing music stresses me out, and I never knew how much until the pandemic.
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I doubt Ghandi or Dr. King would criticize or censor someone speaking what is true for them, as this is inhumane.
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One definition of science is âinterpreting an observation of the environment that is limited by the tools available for observingâ.
But most psychiatrists and psychologists lack the most important tool: an open mind.
Psychiatry and psychology see people through a diagnostic lens, which is the epitome of evil in anyoneâs language.
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And what is âsoul growthâ? Itâs the âevolution of a personâs spirit on the journey from fear to loveâ.
And whatâs the purpose of âspiritual growthâ? âTo help you embody your soul or Higher Self, to shift from ego to Soulâ.
But psychiatry and psychology call people âsickâ, which makes these both the Devil Incarnate.
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Spirituality essentially means emotional growth, which means the broadening, deepening or âmaturingâ of a personâs soul, which means gaining an awareness and understanding of oneself and others and how this relates to the world around them.
But this is a deeply personal, complex process that tragically gets hijacked by psychiatric diagnoses, drugs, and even âpsycho-therapyâ.
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Itâs all about emotional growth.
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Sam says, âAn authentic attempt at âhelpâ looks nothing like what is occurring.â
Medicine has no business involving itself in peopleâs emotional/psychological matters.
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sam plover says, âFunny how a shrink will accept that his patient is âsickâ, he never questions what you say and even has a bunch of diagnoses on hand.â
Yeah, and they call it âmedicineâ.
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Fiachra quotes, ââŠ. I was told I would have to take Mind-numbing Thorazine-like drugs for the rest of the lifeâŠâ
So was I, which was THE BIGGEST BULLSHIT GOING.
âMental Health Diagnosis is mostly a play on words, and the idea that psychiatric drugs are medicine is rubbish.â
Psychiatry is nothing more than a play on words, and this makes (most) psychiatrists THE BIGGEST liars out there.
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Fiachra says, âI think some of these âpsychiatric controllersâ must be psychopathsâŠâ
Iâd bet my life on that.
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Fantastic article. It reveals like no other how one-sided and corrupt the psychiatric industry, Big Pharma, and the legal system have become.
âThe very fact that someone has been given any psychiatric label is used in a staggering variety of ways to deprive them of self-respect, dignity, self-confidence, employment, custody of their children, the right to make decisions about their medical and legal affairs, and even their livesâŠ.â
âAnyone in danger of losing their human rights â or their life â through a court proceeding should have someone like Gottstein advocating for them, because he is a tireless advocate, knows the law inside and out, and never loses sight of what is true, what is right, and what is humane in its respect for his clientsâ dignity.â
A YouTube video worth watching: âOH SH*T, THIS JUST HAPPENEDâ, by Russell Brand
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These neuroscientists could have learned a lot from this YouTube video: âA Critique of NeuroscienceâAs it Relates to Psychological Healing From Traumaâ, by Daniel Mackler
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Psychiatry unequivocally deprives people of their humanity with its pseudoscientific diagnoses, iatrogenically harmful drugs, damaging ECT, and forced medication/hospitalization. And none of these build diplomacy or allies, but definitely deny peopleâs human rights, which is criminal. So expecting meaningful dialogue with people who not only deny their humanity but also their human rights is not only unrealistic, it is illogical.
And while there are no laws demanding anyone face their inner demons, more than enough people have learned more than enough about psychiatryâs demons or âdark sideâ with its violations of social justice which is the reason for this website.
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I was replying to David.
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Miracles happen when you treat people with dignity.
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Steve,
Hereâs an article from the New York Times about how Quakers deal with âmental illnessâ:
âFor 175 Years: Treating the Mentally Ill With Dignityâ by Debbie M. Price
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Whatâs the definition for enemy? A thing that harms or weakens something else.
This describes psychiatry and those who practice it and is the reason I have no respect for either.
And if you want to talk about âsweeping generalizationsâ I suggest you start with the DSM.
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Nijinsky says, âSomething does happen when you step out of investing in using fear, trauma, coercion and physical violence to control peopleâŠThatâs what snake oil salesmen do, and lately the mental health system.â
Yes, and I would posit that miracles happen when people step out of psychiatry.
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Steve says, âI think we should all be in touch with our own inner sense of what is ârightâ and true, rather than following some outside interpretation of reality.â
I agree completely. And I forgot that Buddhists donât believe in a deity, and that Quakers refer to God as Light Within, which to me means oneâs own intuition.
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Anonymity on MIA provides safety for people to express themselves authentically, which is no laughing matter, âalliesâ or not.
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Have it your way.
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Spirituality is not conformity; itâs reality. Religion is not spirituality or reality; itâs conformity.
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What do you mean âNot ALL religions are about conformityâ
when all religions require believing the supernatural?
Being in a religion means conforming to some notion of spirituality. How is this generalization untrue?
Trying to âbelieveâ in anything more than my own intuition made me feel more disconnected, almost psychotic.
Realityâs enough to deal with.
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oldhead says, âStrategizingâ towards what end?â
THATâS the real question.
As long as thereâs money in it, itâll come to no good.
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Iâm not dismissing anyoneâs claims of whatever they think is a miracle. I just donât think one group has the authority to decide whatâs a miracle.
And psychiatry and religion are about exerting authority more than anything else.
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Nijinsky says, âReligion and psychiatry seem to be in the same boat as indoctrination rather than simply listening, being curious, and SHUTTING UP with their attempts at programming rather than allowing and showing decent curiosityâ.
Very true. Religion and psychiatry arenât about curiosity. Theyâre about conformity, how to think, talk and act like them.
And psychedelics arenât the answer anymore than psychiatric drugs.
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Removed for moderation.
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I see no value in watering down or sugarcoating my opinions in order to make others more comfortable.
Thereâs no point in living if you canât be authentic.
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Someone Else says, âThe scientific fraud based âmental healthâ industries are corrupted to the bone.â
I couldnât agree more.
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I consider psychiatry the enemy because thatâs how I see it. And itâs not without reasoning OR content that Iâve come to this hard-won conclusion. And youâre assuming I donât use either reasoning or content is both disparaging and diminishing, and very presumptuous.
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I thought religion and science are both driven by fear of the unknown.
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Sleeping with the enemy is still too dangerous, especially when the enemy has more power than you.
And itâs hard having to sleep with one eye open.
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The saying, âThe road to hell is paved with good intentionsâ gets played out again and again and again by âtherapistsâ with good intentions.
And this is not a mistaken idea.
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Steve says, ââŠ.generalizations about âtherapistsâ lead to mistaken ideas. Not all therapists are alike or believe in the same things.â
But they all believe in âtherapyâ, which creates more problems, in my experience.
I canât bring myself to defend anything about âtherapyâ because itâs a bad idea that only gets worse when people call themselves âtherapistsâ, no matter how well-intentioned they may be because they still represent and profit from an exploitive system based on irrational power dynamics and pseudoscientific diagnoses. So defending any part of it is morally inconsistent, imo.
And the saying, âthe road to hell is paved with good intentionsâ plays out again and again and again by people who practice âpsychotherapyâ.
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I think religion and science are both driven from fears of the unknown.
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Few can distinguish ego from instinct, which leads to all kinds of problems, western medicine being one.
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And the Catholic Church arbitrarily changes its miracles checklist, as it used to demand three âmiraclesâ. I guess they got impatient in todayâs digital world.
Itâs like psychiatry arbitrarily changing its âDSMâ checklists.
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And as for âmiraclesâ: for me, these mean good things that canât be explained. And I see no need for getting entangled in someone elseâs religiously tedious explanations, be they religious, or âscientificâ.
My question is this: why do some people insist on needing to explain the unexplainable? And my answer is this: some people need to be seen as god, and scientists are no exception.
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The Catholic Church has its own arbitrary checklist for declaring new âsaintsâ, which includes at least two incidents they arbitrarily consider âmiraclesâ. This makes about as much sense as a group of psychiatrists arbitrarily declaring new âdiagnosesâ via arbitrary checklists for their own arbitrary bible, the DSM .
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I was referring to the Catholic Church which has its own arbitrary criteria for determining whomever they arbitrarily deem a âgenuine saintâ, which includes at least two things they arbitrarily deem a âgenuine miracleâ, which makes about as much sense as psychiatryâs arbitrary checklists for its definitely ingenuine DSM.
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Craziness is defining whatâs subjective as objective.
Psychiatry and psychology are perfect examples.
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[Duplicate Comment]
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The university system, like the societies that create them, capitalize on destructive dynamics that preserve societiesâ distorted values.
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