Peter Breggin and others have done a good job documenting the research showing how SSRIs doubled the suicide risk and how the psychiatric establishment has worked to obfuscate those clear findings. This evidence started accumulating before the drugs were even approved by the FDA. The drug companies have thrown their full weight behind trying to hide that fact that antidepressants increase suicidal and homicidal risk and yet the truth still trickles out
This article should be national news! While I appreciate all the info here on MIA it is frustrating that it basically plays the role of “alternative” information instead of just mainstream news that all patients, providers, family members and the public in general should be made aware of. But I guess the advertising dollars that those same companies pay to larger media outlets affect their coverage. (“Guess” is the wrong word BTW since it has been well documented how just as you would expect, drug advertising dollars lead to more favorable press coverage for drug companies.)
I for one was completely convinced by Robert Whitaker’s arguments in his three books that the overwhelming majority of “pediatric bipolar” diagnoses are iatrogenic in origin, i.e., caused by giving kids antidepressants and/or stimulants. I tell coworkers, other mental health workers, and patients that in my opinion, we categorically should not give psych meds to kids. Almost everyone seems to agree with me, yet the practice continues, seemingly more all the time.
Birdsong: Agreed that MIA has been instrumental in keeping the idea of medication-free treatment alive. Robert Whitaker’s books were the only way I learned about this option, which was not covered at all in my years of training. It was also from Robert and MIA where I learned about the terrible long-term outcomes for most psych meds, the history of mistreatment of Americans with mental health issues, and other hugely important issues which should be a central part of any psychiatric curricula. I find it ironic that I have learned as much or more from a non-medical person than from any doctor
As as mental health professional, it’s difficult for me to wrap my head around professional opposition to steps that improve patient care. How can people go to work every day knowing they are harming the very lives they are entrusted to help? And not slight harms either .. these are outcomes differences that change entire life trajectories. No wonder so many people are ready to throw the whole mental health industry into the trash bin.
I’d love to learn more about this – hoped that the linked paper would have some more deets on how to replicate the training but, alas.
The last de-escalation training I did was a big waste, and yet is very expensive and generates lots of money for the “non-profit” that controls the copyright on it
in my estimation, devices are the most damaging aspect of technological and societal “advancement” on the pragmatic, day-to-day basis. they are terrible for brain development, social development and interaction, bad for our souls, increase the fragmentation of communities and society. any benefit (and of course there are benefits) are vastly outweighed by the negatives. childhood isn’t even childhood anymore. and I feel powerless to stop it, even in my own household
This piece is so good! Please keep sharing your writing talent and insight with the world. It is criminal that the mind that wrote this piece could have been locked up in a psych ward
Why shouldn’t we just ban ECT completely? We are not even sure if it helps, but it damages the brain. How many doctors who perform ECT would opt to receive it themselves or have it performed on a loved one? I bet the number is pretty close to zero. I have yet to meet anyone who had ECT and who did not have significant brain problems as a result. It’s bad stuff.
Birdsong – I have zero intent to downplay the significant harm caused by psychiatry. However I think that the harms would not be accepted in a society that did not have certain parallel problems going on. One book that opened my eyes a lot was:
“Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It,” by Harvard professor and physician John Abramson.
Dr. Abramson has sat in on a lot of lawsuits against big pharma by injured parties and has had access to lots of internal pharma corporate data. He shares a lot of details about how unconscionably corrupt pharma is, and the medical journals too. The situation is similar and parallel to what Bob Whitaker details in his books regarding the field of psychiatry.
American society has selfish and even sociopathic traits, with publicly traded companies and other organizations seeing no problem internalizing profits and externalizing costs to society. Curiously this seems to have accelerated in the 80s under Reagan, around the time that psychiatry seems to have taken additional turns for the worse with big pharma taking over and the APA leaning into the biomedical model of mental health.
These and other facts do not lessen anything that psychiatry has done but do add context. And the goal remains to lessen the harm.
I suspect that I may continue to be the target of your comments despite the fact that I think that you and I probably more similar and more on the same team than you may realize, despite the fact that I am a psych NP
Please run more stories on this topic! I have met so many people who have had their families destroyed by CPS that I have come to view it as a destructive force. We need to have much more effort placed on keeping families together than children ripped from competent parents because of poverty. Sometimes the poverty could even be described as broke-ness – a temporary low-money period where resources are slim. Other times a mother may be having a temporary issue, such as psychosis or substance use, and her rights are permanently and irrevocably severed by a judge in a minutes-long, not impartial hearing. Both the parents and the children, in my experience, almost always want to be reunited. And my respects to any family who chooses to take in foster children. However, that being said, healthy family dynamics in foster households seem to me (in my experience and in those with whom I have spoken) the very rare exception to the rule. Most foster family environments seem to be abusive. So in my opinion, stealing kids from a not-ideal situation and placing them into another problematic situation, but now with strangers instead of relatives. I read stories about how indigenous children were stolen from their families and cannot help but to imagine that there is a direct lineage from the agencies that did this to the agencies that currently tear children from their families. Of course there are situations where this must happen and it is clearly in the best interest of the child. But, in many cases, separation could and should have been avoided. At very least, make the separation temporary, give the parent(s) ample opportunities to be reunited with their children, and whenever in doubt, default to reunification over separation.
Lots of things to mull over in this excellent piece. To focus on just, current one, that is pretty horrible to hate on patients! Definitely not acceptable. I have seen this dynamic of disrespecting patients, and it led me to quitting my job where it was happening.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I genuinely like almost all of my patients. On the occasional time that I find myself disliking someone I see, I request that they transfer to a different provider because I don’t think that I could provide appropriate care or form a therapeutic relationship with someone that I don’t like.
If you hate your patients you should not be treating them. Is there any wonder that there are so many horror stories in psychiatry?
Birdsong – I can’t claim to be unbiased, but I don’t think that any of us can. I do agree that the idea of “mental health” can be harmful in many circumstances. However I do believe that in many circumstances it can be helpful and used constructively. I even believe that there are people who receive mental health care in our very messed-up health system (the messed-up nature of which goes well beyond mental health) who genuinely benefit from it and are not harmed. So I agree that the idea of “mental health” can be problematic, but that is sometimes and not always
Do you have anywhere that I could read more about Dianetics in a succinct way and which might lead me to support its use and/or efficacy? My exposure to it has been (almost) nothing. In general I am wary since it is structured as a money-making enterprise, although this criticism could be leveled at many things in our society
Great question. For now I am working on my own direct interactions with the people I see. Do you have any suggestion for additional things I could do to help?
Peter Breggin and others have done a good job documenting the research showing how SSRIs doubled the suicide risk and how the psychiatric establishment has worked to obfuscate those clear findings. This evidence started accumulating before the drugs were even approved by the FDA. The drug companies have thrown their full weight behind trying to hide that fact that antidepressants increase suicidal and homicidal risk and yet the truth still trickles out
Report comment
This article should be national news! While I appreciate all the info here on MIA it is frustrating that it basically plays the role of “alternative” information instead of just mainstream news that all patients, providers, family members and the public in general should be made aware of. But I guess the advertising dollars that those same companies pay to larger media outlets affect their coverage. (“Guess” is the wrong word BTW since it has been well documented how just as you would expect, drug advertising dollars lead to more favorable press coverage for drug companies.)
Report comment
I for one was completely convinced by Robert Whitaker’s arguments in his three books that the overwhelming majority of “pediatric bipolar” diagnoses are iatrogenic in origin, i.e., caused by giving kids antidepressants and/or stimulants. I tell coworkers, other mental health workers, and patients that in my opinion, we categorically should not give psych meds to kids. Almost everyone seems to agree with me, yet the practice continues, seemingly more all the time.
Report comment
Birdsong: Agreed that MIA has been instrumental in keeping the idea of medication-free treatment alive. Robert Whitaker’s books were the only way I learned about this option, which was not covered at all in my years of training. It was also from Robert and MIA where I learned about the terrible long-term outcomes for most psych meds, the history of mistreatment of Americans with mental health issues, and other hugely important issues which should be a central part of any psychiatric curricula. I find it ironic that I have learned as much or more from a non-medical person than from any doctor
Report comment
Great information here! Yet I wonder why Dr. Healy fails to see the obvious harms in ECT.
Report comment
As as mental health professional, it’s difficult for me to wrap my head around professional opposition to steps that improve patient care. How can people go to work every day knowing they are harming the very lives they are entrusted to help? And not slight harms either .. these are outcomes differences that change entire life trajectories. No wonder so many people are ready to throw the whole mental health industry into the trash bin.
Report comment
I’d love to learn more about this – hoped that the linked paper would have some more deets on how to replicate the training but, alas.
The last de-escalation training I did was a big waste, and yet is very expensive and generates lots of money for the “non-profit” that controls the copyright on it
Report comment
in my estimation, devices are the most damaging aspect of technological and societal “advancement” on the pragmatic, day-to-day basis. they are terrible for brain development, social development and interaction, bad for our souls, increase the fragmentation of communities and society. any benefit (and of course there are benefits) are vastly outweighed by the negatives. childhood isn’t even childhood anymore. and I feel powerless to stop it, even in my own household
Report comment
This piece is so good! Please keep sharing your writing talent and insight with the world. It is criminal that the mind that wrote this piece could have been locked up in a psych ward
Report comment
Excellent piece! Please keep writing
Report comment
Why shouldn’t we just ban ECT completely? We are not even sure if it helps, but it damages the brain. How many doctors who perform ECT would opt to receive it themselves or have it performed on a loved one? I bet the number is pretty close to zero. I have yet to meet anyone who had ECT and who did not have significant brain problems as a result. It’s bad stuff.
Report comment
Birdsong – I have zero intent to downplay the significant harm caused by psychiatry. However I think that the harms would not be accepted in a society that did not have certain parallel problems going on. One book that opened my eyes a lot was:
“Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It,” by Harvard professor and physician John Abramson.
Dr. Abramson has sat in on a lot of lawsuits against big pharma by injured parties and has had access to lots of internal pharma corporate data. He shares a lot of details about how unconscionably corrupt pharma is, and the medical journals too. The situation is similar and parallel to what Bob Whitaker details in his books regarding the field of psychiatry.
American society has selfish and even sociopathic traits, with publicly traded companies and other organizations seeing no problem internalizing profits and externalizing costs to society. Curiously this seems to have accelerated in the 80s under Reagan, around the time that psychiatry seems to have taken additional turns for the worse with big pharma taking over and the APA leaning into the biomedical model of mental health.
These and other facts do not lessen anything that psychiatry has done but do add context. And the goal remains to lessen the harm.
I suspect that I may continue to be the target of your comments despite the fact that I think that you and I probably more similar and more on the same team than you may realize, despite the fact that I am a psych NP
Report comment
Please run more stories on this topic! I have met so many people who have had their families destroyed by CPS that I have come to view it as a destructive force. We need to have much more effort placed on keeping families together than children ripped from competent parents because of poverty. Sometimes the poverty could even be described as broke-ness – a temporary low-money period where resources are slim. Other times a mother may be having a temporary issue, such as psychosis or substance use, and her rights are permanently and irrevocably severed by a judge in a minutes-long, not impartial hearing. Both the parents and the children, in my experience, almost always want to be reunited. And my respects to any family who chooses to take in foster children. However, that being said, healthy family dynamics in foster households seem to me (in my experience and in those with whom I have spoken) the very rare exception to the rule. Most foster family environments seem to be abusive. So in my opinion, stealing kids from a not-ideal situation and placing them into another problematic situation, but now with strangers instead of relatives. I read stories about how indigenous children were stolen from their families and cannot help but to imagine that there is a direct lineage from the agencies that did this to the agencies that currently tear children from their families. Of course there are situations where this must happen and it is clearly in the best interest of the child. But, in many cases, separation could and should have been avoided. At very least, make the separation temporary, give the parent(s) ample opportunities to be reunited with their children, and whenever in doubt, default to reunification over separation.
Report comment
Lots of things to mull over in this excellent piece. To focus on just, current one, that is pretty horrible to hate on patients! Definitely not acceptable. I have seen this dynamic of disrespecting patients, and it led me to quitting my job where it was happening.
Maybe I am in the minority, but I genuinely like almost all of my patients. On the occasional time that I find myself disliking someone I see, I request that they transfer to a different provider because I don’t think that I could provide appropriate care or form a therapeutic relationship with someone that I don’t like.
If you hate your patients you should not be treating them. Is there any wonder that there are so many horror stories in psychiatry?
Report comment
Birdsong – I can’t claim to be unbiased, but I don’t think that any of us can. I do agree that the idea of “mental health” can be harmful in many circumstances. However I do believe that in many circumstances it can be helpful and used constructively. I even believe that there are people who receive mental health care in our very messed-up health system (the messed-up nature of which goes well beyond mental health) who genuinely benefit from it and are not harmed. So I agree that the idea of “mental health” can be problematic, but that is sometimes and not always
Report comment
Do you have anywhere that I could read more about Dianetics in a succinct way and which might lead me to support its use and/or efficacy? My exposure to it has been (almost) nothing. In general I am wary since it is structured as a money-making enterprise, although this criticism could be leveled at many things in our society
Report comment
Great question. For now I am working on my own direct interactions with the people I see. Do you have any suggestion for additional things I could do to help?
Report comment
This literally made me laugh out loud!
Report comment