Wednesday, March 22, 2023
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Comments by Rosalee D

Showing 100 of 226 comments. Show all.

  • Hi Lori,
    People see psychiatrists in good faith, expecting to get ‘help’ or at least a tad bit of compassion, but instead get denigrated with labels and punished. So sorry you endured such a long nightmare at the hands of psychiatry.

    When my brother was referred to a psychiatrist for ‘help’ with sadness (re divorce, young sons moving away with ex) I thought surely psychiatrists must have special knowledge to help people with distress, sadness etc. It was perplexing when all he got was a 20 minute appt once a month, drugged and later given ECT. It became alarming when his physical health deteriorated, he lost cognitive abilities and had to quit his job as an electrical engineer. Then one night he died in bed at age 40. His autopsy states poor metabolism and excretion of two drugs led to a chronic accumulation in his liver. His psychiatrist hadn’t even noticed his decline and was actually surprised by his death. That was my first clue as to how negligent psychiatry is. I would later have my own nightmarish encounter with a psychiatrist I saw under the pretense it was for “help with sleep meds” after chemotherapy and steroids caused insomnia. I would further learn how deceitful and totally absurd psychiatry is.
    Thank you for your courage in sharing your story. My heart breaks for you. I hope there may be some way to improve your health and hold these pathetic psychiatrists accountable for all the harm they do.

  • Tammy, thank you for a well written and compelling blog that demonstrates just how destructive psychiatry is. Your first paragraph sure captures the never ending harm spurious psychiatric labels bring. Mainstream media avoids these issues so the average person does not realize what goes on in psychiatry until it affects them or a loved one. Very grateful to MIA for shining a light on these issues and for giving a voice to those who were exploited, oppressed and harmed by the tangled web of psychiatry. Sending you best of wishes and I hope you keep writing.

  • Hi Nancy,
    Yes strange why this vile attack on Robert Whitaker is on your blog. Mr. Whitaker is a well-respected investigative health reporter, a humanitarian and person of integrity. However it’s coming from a psychiatrist who is obviously desperate to protect his fragile ego, relevance and lucrative turf so it should not be a surprise.

    I appreciate much of what you have written and your good intentions but for this to be helpful it has to be available BEFORE a person tangles with psychiatry and is harmed by the spurious DSM labels and drugs.

    “that they know who to reach out to” – that’s the most critical component for someone to improve their state of mind and situation in life. Psychiatry is NOT the place to reach out to for ‘help’. There are some psychiatrists with good intentions, but psychiatry has proven to be a most detrimental place one could reach out to.

    My brother was an electrical engineer, athletic, talented musician and father of two little boys when he saw a psychiatrist for ‘help’ with divorce depression. I foolishly believed (at that time) he was getting knowledgeable/specialized ‘help’ to sort out his emotions and a path forward. Instead I was worried to see his physical health and cognition decline until he could no longer work. It was a shock to realize the only ‘help’ he got was drugs and also subjected to ECT. One night he died in his sleep at the age of 40 and his autopsy concludes his body was not properly metabolizing the drugs and a fatal level built up in his liver and caused his death. Yet the psychiatrist watched his health go downhill without questioning anything, just kept prescribing. So many have been harmed or killed yet the status quo remains.

  • Bravo Rob Wipond and Elizabeth Rich for all your dedication and initiatives to expose these inhumanities and grave injustices. So very sorry for the loss of your son Elizabeth. The inhumanity dealt to vulnerable people who psychiatry labels ‘mentally ill’ is utterly chilling. Sadly most people aren’t aware until it happens to them or a loved one. Your work is so important to make more awareness and push back in every way possible.

  • Thanks for a good article. These common sense protocols are certainly needed however it seems many mental health professionals are more interested in what their position does for them rather than what they can do for those who come for help. I also think the lack of emotional intelligence and emotional states of the ‘mental health’ professionals are a part of the problem too. Many don’t have the humanity, compassion or empathy required for the job.

  • The deception and harm perpetuated by psychiatry has carried on far too long as business as usual. This thorough, compelling presentation by Robert Whitaker is much needed.

    It’s clear after psychiatry labels someone “disordered” the person is no longer afforded any credibility or much respect. The dehumanization of the ‘labelled’ allows psychiatry to continue ignoring or dismissing the voice of the harmed. Those who died from adverse effects of psychiatric treatment as my brother did, are permanently silenced. Very thankful to Robert Whitaker and MIA for the dedicated, courageous and humanitarian work to try bring more awareness and justice.

  • Birdsong, you always write great comments, spot on.
    There is a mindset among all health care providers that whatever a psychiatrist says/writes or labels a person with, it’s akin to the word of God. If a psychiatrist says it is, then it is, there’s no questioning it by anyone, including other doctors or professionals. There are unethical doctors in other areas of the health care system but it’s clear there’s a major lack of ethics and values in psychiatry. Not every psychiatrist is self-serving, arrogant and unethical but too many are and they are causing much harm and destroying lives. The ones who actually care about patients are in the minority but often too afraid to speak up and remain complicit. Thank God for those who do speak out!

  • Terry.baranski you are spot on about ALL of western medicine simply treating symptoms. After given a cancer diagnosis in 2009 and told I had a very poor chance to survive I had an eye opening experience/nightmare as to the arrogance and corruption of western medicine and that they will push toxic cancer treatments on people when it turns out there was no cancer to treat. If you question or resist the treatments they can quickly slap psych labels on you to try take away your autonomy. Like psychiatry, it is another money making industry. That is why after so very many years western medicine has no real interest in, or money put towards prevention of cancer and no cure either. Too many $$$ to be made.

  • Robert, Thank you for such meticulous reporting on how psychiatry continues to exploit patients through dishonesty. Somehow psychiatry managed to be considered medicine so most people likely assume such blatant corruption could not be hidden. This industry operates under the guise of providing ‘help’ for the mental well-being of patients therefore making it absolutely repugnant they will unscrupulously harm and sacrifice patients in order to protect their own self-serving interests. Thomas Insel MOST definitely makes a case for psychiatry to be abolished. Many thanks and much respect for your esteemed journalism and extensive humanitarian efforts to expose the truth.

  • Thank you Irit. Back then I very mistakenly trusted a psychiatrist would provide ‘specialized’, or at least knowledgeable, ‘help’ to my brother to deal with grief. But all he got was a label of MDD and drugged. When the drugs made him dysfunctional he was given ECT. The psychiatrist was unconcerned my brother continued going downhill and became physically unwell from the ‘help’. The autopsy states all his medications were accounted for but his body was not properly metabolizing one of the drugs until a fatal level built up in his liver to cause his death at 40 yrs old.
    There may be a few in psychiatry with good intentions but overall it’s a cruel industry that ‘helps’ by repressing, oppressing, humiliating and silencing people who are in distress or suffering. How psychiatry is still allowed to operate is incomprehensible.

  • Irit, great blog and review of Tina’s book and work to have dangerous crisis responses outlawed. After my brother died taking psych drugs as prescribed by a psychiatrist I was reeling with many unanswered questions. I would learn later via my own encounter with a psychiatrist while in cancer treatment that psychiatry violates human rights with unquestionable power and control. (was referred to “someone” under the pretense I would get “help with sleep meds” after chemo/steroids caused sleep issues but hastily given 4 psych labels without my knowledge and stripped of the liberty to make further medical decisions)

    A system that claims to ‘care’ about ‘mental health’ and provide ‘help’ cannot be so vacuous as to think violating human rights and treating people with contempt and subjugation is ‘help’. It’s cruel and sadistic that people in distress who have done nothing wrong get treated far worse than criminals and somehow psychiatry gets away with this.

    The ethical and humane changes Tina has outlined are very much needed. Many thanks to Tina for all her important work.

  • Dear Dr. Hickey, I’m very sad to see you wind down your vital work exposing the fraud and harm perpetuated by psychiatry. Your voice has been such a powerful validation to all who have been harmed or lost their lives to psychiatry. Your blogs and response comments were always so appreciated. You will be tremendously missed. Thank you for all your exceptional work, Wishing you all the best, Take care, Rosalee

  • Rob, very admirable work and reporting on this important issue. It’s disturbing they have so little regard for the input of the Lived Experience Committee. The collection of personal data is a human rights issue. The quest for an extra invasion of privacy is very questionable. I hope the work and concerns you have put forth helps to get it revoked.

  • Dr. Hickey you once again dissected with utter brilliance!
    I appreciate Dr. Aftab’s honesty and courage in acknowledging there are “too many recipients of psychiatric care who have been left traumatized, disenchanted, even devastated by their experiences” (and many have died from their experiences with psychiatry, psych drugs prescribed to my brother for grief caused his death at 40 yrs old) I also wonder why Dr. Aftab does not switch specialties. If he has the integrity to acknowledge the arrogance and level of harm done by psychiatry it has to be unsettling to try play both sides of the fence so to speak.

    “It is also worth asking what exactly psychiatrists are doing that leaves “too many” of their customers traumatized, disenchanted, and devastated by their experiences?”

    Very good question and would love for Dr. Aftab to answer this.

    Thank you so much for your fantastic blogs Dr. Hickey. Wishing you a Happy New Year and sending best of wishes to stay healthy and keep the blogs coming!

  • Dear Lisa, It’s shocking to read of the many traumas and medical abuse you were subjected to. Heart breaking and appalling what happens to vulnerable children in foster care. That you completed a college degree, worked in challenging jobs while dealing with so much medical harm and raised two wonderful daughters is a testament to your intelligence and incredible strength of character.

    “I was coerced into agreeing that I was suicidal so insurance would pay, and then abused and tortured because I was “suicidal.”

    The general public are not aware such gross inhumanities are inflicted on those who suffer adversities in life and only hoped to receive a little ‘help’.

    “I want my final days to be about the autonomy of my own body and mind.”

    Amen to that, I feel the same.
    Thank you for bravely recounting your story for others. I hope you get the compassion you so deserve to live out your final chapter and can leave this world on your terms with dignity and autonomy. Warm regards to you and your family.

  • Hi Rachel, Thanks for sharing your inspiring story. In the past many people, including myself, mistakenly put doctors up on a pedestal and never questioned their advice/instructions. I am very happy to hear you are doing much better, writing, enjoying nature and other aspects of life that were not possible under the influence of psychiatry. Wishing you all the best in 2022.

  • Agree KateL, don’t let anyone silence you again. I know you are devastated by the harm the “DSM hogwash” and psychiatry has done to you and you must continue speaking your mind and feelings. The MIA site has been so helpful for the many who have been harmed. Those in favor of psych ‘diagnoses’ or who feel psych diagnoses helped them should find a pro-diagnosis website rather than cause more distress for those who are not in a good place and come to MIA for validation and to have a voice. Take good care and keep speaking your mind. ♄

  • Lisa, thank you for sharing Kathleen’s tragic story and being such a good friend to her. This world can be cruel but it was so painful to read how maligned Kathleen was by her family and the psychiatric system, and how much she suffered because of it. The cruelty and harm often inflicted on those who get ‘help’ must be exposed because the system is so rigged to silence the voices of those it harms. Psychiatry has no compassion. It seems to be a self-serving sham to exploit the suffering of those dealt adverse and difficult life circumstances.

    I am so very sorry you lost your friend. RIP Kathleen.

  • Thanks for a compelling blog Rose. I’m grateful you share your story as it validates how the system is so quick to label legitimate concerns, or temporary understandable thoughts and feelings as ‘disorders’ and thus inflicts more suffering, demoralization and loss.
    It really speaks to how pathetic ‘mental health’ treatment is when a person can get more help and understanding from a brief encounter with an Uber driver than from disinterested professionals.

  • Yes I totally agree Jack. When a psychiatrist comes from a life of privilege it’s unlikely they can understand or even relate to the adversities, hardships, abuse, poverty etc. of the ordinary person. But they sit up on their high horse and judge the suffering of those who are much less fortunate. It’s appalling how a child’s life can also be so negatively affected when a judgmental, totally subjective label gets placed on the parent. So often psychiatry and their bogus labels are used as weapons for agendas. I am glad your child’s aunt prevented further upheaval in your child’s life.

  • Sorry to hear of your situation Jack. The system is so messed up and it proceeds to mess up so many lives. It sounds like blackmail and using a child as a pawn. Glad your child is starting to see through the coercion and harmful nonsense.

  • An excellent piece Karen and much needed advocacy for children.
    “It’s at that point of asking for help from someone in authority, someone we should be able to trust, that many have their story stolen from them.”
    “This is theft of the most criminal kind. Today, at this very moment, despite all we know about the perils of the mental health system, someone will walk into a doctor’s office for help and support. They feel they‘re in danger of drowning, they reach out for a lifeline but instead are thrown an anchor.”

    Very well stated truths. Psychiatrists who hastily and judgmentally affix labels do not suffer any negative consequences. It’s only the person labelled (under the pretense of getting ‘help’) who pays the price for the harm that masquerades as ‘help’. When psychiatry redefines someone’s story, and thus their reality, it sets a trap and forces someone to live in a trauma that could have been healed and moved on from. Horrible this type of ‘help’ is inflicted on adults but should be considered abusive and criminal when inflicted on vulnerable children.

  • I am saddened to hear of Don Weitz’s passing. Thank you Irit for such a lovely tribute. I have his book Rise Up/Fight Back and was amazed at the strength and courage he had to survive the psychiatric harm he endured as a young man and then to become an incredible activist. My condolences to his family, friends and to you Irit on the loss of such a wonderful friend as Don. May he rest in peace. Let’s all continue to Rise Up/Fight Back against the harms of psychiatry in honor of his memory and work.

  • Dr. Gotzsche, thank you so much for your blogs and all you do to expose the grave harm psychiatry perpetuates on the unsuspecting. Psychiatry remains so defensive and displays so much animus towards anyone (professionals, harmed patients etc) who dare to speak of and expose the harm. It’s about ego, power and retaining financial wealth and status, while ethics, humanity and genuinely trying to ‘help’ anyone are severely lacking. Thanks again!

  • Chris, this is a profoundly insightful piece. Yes what any person feeling despair needs is connection and validation. It is great help to be validated that feelings regarding abnormal, challenging or difficult circumstances are in fact normal and expected, and how most others would feel dealing with the same circumstances. It would be interesting to know how psychiatrists who are quick to label would “feel” if dealt the same circumstances and if they would be happy to be labeled defective. But again with such gigantic egos and how they look down on, or actually hold contempt for anyone struggling, they probably view labels as “for thee but not for me”.

    It has been said, and it makes sense to me, that suicidal ideation can be a coping mechanism. That if one feels they have that option if the pain gets to be too much it allows a person to take one day at a time and to keep working on solutions and healing, a concept that is foreign to psychiatry.

  • I am shocked and saddened to hear Dr. Caplan has died. She was such an important, knowledgeable and insightful voice to educate the public and validate the harm and despair psychiatric labelling brings for so many. I applaud her exemplary courage and integrity to walk away from the DSM Task Force after realizing how warped the whole process was in the manufacture of DSM labels and to then expose the absurdity and harm, which she so thoroughly did in her book They Say You’re Crazy. As she states in her book: “When bad bias is allowed to drive the business of classifying and labelling human beings, it strangles our speech and constricts the space in which we can feel safe, free, and proud.”

    I echo what Frank says above, that at a time when we really need critical voices to speak of the damage psychiatry does it’s very sad to have lost another one.

    My sincere condolences to her family and friends. God bless you Dr. Caplan, You will be greatly missed, RIP

  • Maria, I’m very sorry to hear you lost both your father and brother to prescription psych drugs and had your own experience as well. The tentacles of harm are so pervasive. It’s long past due for the media to start reporting these dreadful issues. Hopefully Britney’s situation will be the catalyst. If you or anyone else hasn’t seen this letter to the media you may want to read and sign it:

    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1X-22I-R5bJGOGmgCfUFF_J5MzUlCfCMgkBslVuHdS5s/viewform?edit_requested=true

  • Thanks Maria!
    Before my ordeal I had already felt traumatized by psychiatry after my brother died while dutifully taking drugs a psychiatrist prescribed him to deal with grief over divorce and kids moving. He went downhill and died one day. The autopsy showed his body had not been metabolizing the drugs properly and attributed his death to a toxic level that built up in his liver.

    So I was already leery of psychiatry when my ordeal took place. There were many twists and turns when I began to get my medical records and uncover the layers of collusion and lies that led to the shocking ambush. It would make for a title such as “Predatory Psychiatry; How A Cancer Over-Diagnosis Became a Saga of Abuse, Collusion, Defamatory Lies, Psych Labels and Assault”.

  • Thanks Miranda for reporting on the shocking abuses Britney Spears has been dealt. What was recently revealed in her case should be a huge wake-up call to the media and general public as to how easily psychiatric labelling leads to violations of human rights and grave harm.

    This saga resonates as after living my life very responsibly and independently I was shocked to be stripped of my autonomy after given what was proven a ‘cancer over-diagnosis’. An oncologist told me I had very little chance to survive the ‘cancer’ and that my only hope was a drug with ‘side effects’ of heart attack, stroke and blindness. He was enraged and abusive after I declined the drug. Cancer docs colluded with a psychiatrist and an estranged eldest sibling to put 4 psych labels on me and strip me of my autonomy to make my own medical decisions. I didn’t take his drug but because of the psych labels a brutal surgery was later forced on me without consent or any information on risks, long term effects etc. and without a chance to ask questions or get answers. The disabling surgery was proven unnecessary as there was no cancer. Hospital records and doctor’s records prove there was no informed consent but if psychiatry is involved there is no accountability. Hopefully Britney gets her life back sooner than later and her case brings more awareness to the damage and violations psychiatric labelling brings to so many.

  • I had missed seeing this wonderful blog until now Karin. Thank you, it’s beautifully written with so much wisdom and truth. I have seen quotes that ‘to seek help is a sign of strength’ but because psychiatry is so consumed with maintaining power, control, income and ego they of course view it very differently. Anyone seeking ‘help’ is labelled by psychiatry as weak, defective and disordered no matter what hardships, oppression, adversity etc. they are dealing with in life.

  • Great points Steve. I appreciate much of what Dr. Kelmenson writes on MIA but can’t ignore the exploitation factor of psychiatry and oppression factor when a person doesn’t want to take psych drugs, or the drugs don’t help and produce negative side effects, as psychiatry will always blame the patient for that. They will even mock a patient for experiencing negative effects. After my brother caved in and took the drugs for a temporary situation of grief, he could no longer think straight to keep working as an engineer or to function enough to make decisions to get himself out of the deep hole psychiatry pushed him into.

  • A brilliant piece! The profound wisdom in this article made my day! I am happy to add my name and grateful and hopeful to see this humane, much needed plan go forward. Psychiatry blindly and haphazardly puts labels on human suffering without any regard for cause or context. Labels are disempowering, demoralizing, stigmatizing and discriminatory and too many are harmed or die after psychiatry labels normal, often temporary, reactions to difficult life circumstances a permanent ‘disorder’ within the person.
    A big thank you to Dr. Blackburn and everyone else involved in this project!

  • Thanks Dr. Cornwall for this lovely tribute to Jay Mahler. The cruelty and torture psychiatry inflicted on him as a younger man is shocking. How very commendable he was able to give his pain a purpose through his activism and to make such remarkable contributions to help others who were suffering harm at the hands of psychiatry. He certainly was a wonderful man. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and friends. RIP Jay.

  • I commend you for your compassion and ethics. This is sorely lacking by many in psychiatry. My younger brother did not survive psychiatric ‘treatments’ doled out simply because he was grieving personal losses. I saw a young psychiatrist for “help with sleep meds” for insomnia due to chemo and steroids while in cancer treatment. She was arrogant and deceptive, labelling side effects of chemotherapy and psych drugs she prescribed (incl. anti-psychotics) as “Somatization Disorder”. Unbeknownst to me she put a total of 4 psych labels permanently onto my electronic records. When I later tried to resolve the ongoing harm these labels were causing I consulted a psychiatrist who was the Director at the same clinic. He called the medical care during my cancer treatment a “horror story” and said “if this happened to me I would be fighting it” and “she needs to issue a retraction (of the labels) but I can’t make her”. However he was leery to stick his neck out too much and get in trouble. He explained it would put him in an “adversarial” position.

    When the psychiatric system is so corrupted by ego, power and control that even the reasonable or good ones (even as Director of a psych clinic) are silenced it shows how doomed people are who see mainstream psychiatrists. Best of wishes and I hope you do go into private practice and can speak more freely against the untruths and damage of psychiatry.

    To anyone who is interested please sign this letter:
    https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1X-22I-R5bJGOGmgCfUFF_J5MzUlCfCMgkBslVuHdS5s/viewform?edit_requested=true

  • My 40 yr old brother died undergoing psychiatric ‘care’ and no explanation ever provided. His death was totally unexpected and disturbing but I naively believed it must have been an ‘unusual’ occurrence. I didn’t realize how dangerous and corrupt psychiatry was until I was ambushed by a psychiatrist I saw for “help with sleep meds” for chemo-induced insomnia.

    “Psychiatry’s focus is on itself—a kind of eternal selfie it sends to the world all the time.”

    Yes, this is why the lies and damage continues – psychiatry only cares about itself. They keep labelling people with crafted, absurd labels in order to push toxic pills because it’s all they’ve got. Psychiatry has made it quite clear it’s not about helping people, it’s all about retaining careers, reputation, ego and big salaries.

    When you look behind the curtain you realize psychiatry is the epitome of harm. I really hope more people start suing and winning. Some justice is long overdue.
    Thank you Dr. Gotzsche for your outstanding efforts to expose the corruption and to enlighten and protect people.

  • “Psychiatrists dismiss research results that go against their interests.”

    As myself and many others have discovered, psychiatrists claim to be in a ‘caring’ profession but have no regard for the health and well-being of those who trust them for ‘help’. It’s all a perverse facade.

    Much gratitude for all the meticulous work you do Dr. Gotzsche exposing the depth of the fraud by drug companies and psychiatrists.

  • Yes Sam, you are right with that analysis. For the first few years after his death I was confused as nothing made any sense as to why he spiraled down AFTER he was supposedly getting ‘help’. Then came my own encounter with a psychiatrist during cancer treatment with psych labels and many psych drugs pushed on me while I was still battered by chemo and so dizzy I had fallen and suffered a head injury. I was shocked at how dishonest and toxic the psychiatrist was, just dismissing everything and mocking the side effects and I began to question more what happened to my brother. After finding MIA I realized my concerns and fears were well founded. I do grieve his death more knowing it didn’t have to be and that he was not ‘defective’ as psychiatry likes people to believe but instead was drugged into a stupor for having a normal reaction of grieving his losses.

  • So thankful there are warriors for the truth like yourself Dr. Gotzsche striving to protect patients. Thank you for your continued research in the face personal attacks for seeking truth and facts.

    “Finally, there were eight deaths from “natural causes.” It is not natural for a young person to die. I would have liked to know in detail what happened.”

    My brother died suddenly and without explanation while in psychiatric ‘care’. He had temporary sadness over his divorce and children moving with their mother. He was sent to a psychiatrist and put on psych drugs. He was a musician, engineer and physically fit but instead of improving he went downhill on the drugs. He became disoriented and experienced cognitive dysfunction and when he could no longer work he was given ECT. He died suddenly one night while trying to get out of bed. No cause of death was determined, it was simply ruled inconclusive. As you state, it is not “natural” for a healthy person at 40 years old to suddenly die – with no explanation. We were shocked his death didn’t warrant any investigation and strongly believe his early death was due to psychiatry.

  • Thank you for all your work Dr. Gotzsche and thank God for professionals such as yourself who have ethics, honesty and integrity.

    “They will fight tenaciously to save their jobs and their reputations”.

    That’s definitely at the core of why psychiatry resists/refuses to acknowledge all the harm they inflict on people’s live.

    “It doesn’t seem to matter whether a diagnosis is correct or wrong. It follows you for the rest of your life..”. “It sticks to you forever, as if you were a branded cow”.
    “She was left with a lifetime, yet erroneous, sentence. This wouldn’t have happened if she had been wrongly sentenced for a crime, but in psychiatry, this is perfectly “normal.”

    Yes criminals are treated better and have more rights than someone who was seen by a psychiatrist.

  • Oldhead, no nothing wrong with that logic but it’s doubtful that would ever happen. So the next best thing is the psychiatrists with a conscience speaking out about the harm. If they are against the labelling, drugging, ECT and forced treatment I assume they do not follow that harmful protocol. At least they are taking a step in the right direction when compared to some of the defensive, arrogant and hostile psychiatrists out there.

  • This is very sad news and a great loss for humanity. My deepest condolences to Jennifer’s family, colleagues and friends. Thank you Kevin Miller and Dr. Gilbert for this heartfelt tribute to Jennifer Kinzie and all the genuine caring and support she provided for so many.

  • As always Robert the investigations and reporting you do to educate the public and save lives is extraordinary. It is very concerning how mainstream media is even more narrow minded and biased these days. Psychiatry and their ties with big pharma have a stranglehold on the media making it a real uphill battle to find the truth and try to get truth out to the public.
    Thanks for all your meticulous work and efforts.

  • Very helpful information on Akathisia. Thanks for this interview Jill and James.
    It’s very scary akathisia occurred for you Jill even after the first dose of opioids. It proves any drug can trigger nasty effects and cause lasting harm.

    “So after 12 days of observation, the doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me so they transferred me out to a psychiatric facility.”

    It’s pathetic to send someone with debilitating health issues to psychiatry to be gas lite and made worse. How terribly sad the intense suffering of akathisia and dismissiveness of family, friends and doctors drove some in the support groups to take their lives.

    It’s a great idea to empower people with patient cards and information sheets to give to their doctors. Thanks for all your advocacy Jill and great work to spread awareness.

  • This is very true Kindredspirit. During cancer Tx the chemo and steroids gave me insomnia so a cancer doc sent me to a shrink to “get help with sleep meds”. I saw the shrink 6 appts over a period of 6 weeks for med checks to try various drugs to help with sleep. I was unaware she (shrink) immediately put 4 labels onto my electronic records until a year or so later when I began to question/investigate why I was repeatedly denied consults with specialists and denied other imaging tests that my family doctor tried to get me in for. I was even dismissed from the ER with a bleeding retina (that was detaching) as they did not believe I saw streaks of blood in my vision and dismissed me saying “oh it’s probably just floaters”. When I could no longer see the next morning so I went back to the ER and was made to wait all day and almost sent home again without needed laser treatment. (at 4:30 pm. they finally called an eye doctor back in from the parking lot as he was leaving and then he admonished me for not coming in for treatment sooner and told me there was so much blood in my eye now he could not see what he was doing to do a proper laser repair) No matter what you do you will get blamed if you have psych labels on your records.
    It’s bizarre psychiatry gives people “diagnoses” but never bothers to inform the person of the “diagnoses.” If some other branch of ‘medicine’ practiced like this there would be an uproar.

  • Dr. Hickey, “whitewash” is a very fitting word for how Dr. Pies keeps trying to cover up his harmful tracks. Some psychiatrists are very adept at being ‘spin doctors’ and Dr. Pies is trying to be the best spin doctor out there. These whitewashing tactics would be laughable if they weren’t so devious and destructive to trusting and vulnerable patients.

    Thank you for your brilliant blogs that so clearly expose the ongoing whitewashing and self-serving deceptions.

  • Dr. Heath, I’m sure you mean well and have good intentions on trying to improve people’s access to “help” but from my perspective the resistance is to the type of “help”. If it follows standard psychiatric protocol to ignore all environmental factors, including all context and cause, and instead label the person “disordered” and needing drugs to render them accepting of harmful environments, it will not be an improvement on in-hospital psychiatric treatment.

    I live in Canada and it would be interesting to know whereabouts psychiatrists are allowed to provide psychotherapy (and have it billed to the public system) ? It seems pretty standard that the first appointment is 50-55 minutes (possibly a second one at 40 minutes) but after that “treatment” is mostly a 15 minute med-check once a month.

  • Thank you Mr. Anthony for this blog and for reporting this to the FDA to promote patient safety and awareness of the harm of these drugs. Now if only all medical professionals could have this level of integrity and candor to always speak out in the best interests of patients. Unfortunately there is a big “cloud of delusion and collusion” and cover-up when a patient is harmed.

  • Yes so right Sam, people need to be warned that anything they say can – and will – be used against them. If there happens to be nothing said that could be used against you, that’s no problem for them, they simply make up whatever they want to suit their agenda. And no one can ever dispute what a psychiatrist has written because they have a license to lie and defame with impunity.

  • Yes, ThereAreFourLights, and Canada is the only country that has an organization called the CMPA. The CMPA is funded with millions of taxpayer dollars each year to provide top notch lawyers to doctors to fight patients who are harmed or who simply make a legitimate complaint against a doctor. Because all other lawyers know there is no chance to ever go up against CMPA lawyers most patients cannot even find a lawyer who will agree to provide assistance in a medical matter. A former registered nurse who has heard too many patient horror stories has started a petition to try get the CMPA defunded and stop this perverse use of taxpayer dollars. If you know anyone in Canada who is interested to sign this petition please let them know. (It closes for signatures on Feb 5, 2021)

    https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2890

  • Dr. Cornwall, Thanks for a great blog. I think psychiatry does operate like a cult and somehow managed to brainwash the general public into believing they have superior knowledge in how to ‘help’ people in distress or who are experiencing difficult circumstances, when they do far more harm than anything else. They do conspire and engage in conspiracy theories in a variety of ways, i.e. this recent twitter exchange between a psychiatrist and another who says they are a neuropsychologist
.

    Psychiatrist -”Anti-psychiatrists really know how to do hate don’t they. It drips from them, even the more polite ones”

    Neuropsychologist – “Their beliefs appear to be driven by ideology, envy and resentment and not by a desire to improve patient care. IMHO. Bizarre.”

    Seems bizarre is to believe anyone would be envious of psychiatrists who have no conscience.
    I enjoy your blogs. I hope you keep writing.

  • wow, Sam you always make excellent points. This is so true about a person sharing personal information or feelings with a psychiatrist as most people assume the situation is similar to seeing a psychologist in that the information is kept private and confidential. The bit of info I shared with a young psychiatrist (during cancer Tx under the guise it was for “help with sleep medications”) she went ahead and published to widespread electronic records for thousands of health care staff to read. Now if she published what I had actually told her that would be one thing and would still seem like a breach of trust, but it was shocking to see she totally spun the facts to be her own version and actually put words in my mouth to publish lies. Then you learn that no matter how much evidence you have there is nothing you can do to get your records corrected. Patients have no protection. Doctors can lie and publish whatever mistruths they want about a patient and the lies can never be corrected. We learned that a psychiatrist is allowed to manufacture their own version of reality.

  • Dr. Hickey, you never cease to amaze with your straightforward analysis to debunk all the damaging psychiatric nonsense. Your knowledge and blogs are pure gold!

    “I welcome dialogue, and have never blocked any critic from my site or from my Twitter stream, which is more than can be said of a great many psychiatrists.”
    and
    “You can block us from your Twitter feeds, but you can’t silence the truths that we speak.”

    Yes it’s very telling how some psychiatrists block people who have legitimate concerns about psychiatry. They want to stay in their tightly controlled safe echo chamber because they don’t have any genuine answers. Even more disturbing is the nasty comments they post about those they label as ‘antipsychiatry’. No wonder patients end up being so harmed. It appears those who had their lives upended or lost their lives to psychiatric drugs as my brother did should never be allowed to have their story told or for those harmed to speak their truth. Thank you for giving voice to those who have been silenced.
    Also I am very happy to hear you have a new kidney that is functioning well! Stay well and best wishes for many more years to come.

  • Dr. Timimi, Another exceptional chapter. It resonates on many levels.
    “When bad things happen we feel bad”. Yes indeed.
    Reminds me of a tweet from Dr. Umesh Prabhu – “Any fool can make things complex and complicated. It takes a touch of genius to make things easy and effective”.

    Psychiatry must stop the insanity of labelling ordinary, understandable feelings as “disorders” that need drugging. My brother “felt bad” because his marriage ended and his ex-wife moved away with the children. He was referred to a psychiatrist for his temporary low mood, labelled, drugged, given ECT and died at 40.

    I relate to having issues with insomnia in cancer treatment due to chemo and steroids taken to mitigate gastrointestinal damage from chemo. I also coped with an abusive oncologist who refused to explain anything or answer any questions. I was then sent to a psychiatrist under the deception it was to get “help with sleep meds” for the insomnia but it was to have 4 labels put onto my electronic records and an array of psych drugs prescribed because I asked questions and wanted to make decisions that were right for me and my circumstances. The name of your book “Insane Medicine” is very fitting. Thank you for making it available on Mad in America. I hope many get to read it.

  • Very well written Lisa and thanks for sharing your unnerving story. Psychiatry pulls a great con job having people believe they have superior knowledge and are genuine about “helping” people who deal with difficult life circumstances. More people need to be aware if you step into the world of psychiatry it’s like going down the rabbit hole and getting sucked into a vortex of ever increasing harm.

    It’s chilling and telling to read how cold and distant these people are that when they ordered you out of the ER and you left telling them you were going to kill yourself they didn’t care and no one tried to stop you. It is exactly as you say, once they have labelled someone they are no longer considered a human being, instead they are simply a “label”. I’m so glad you had the strength and courage to stay the course being cold stopped off their toxic drugs and to free yourself from psychiatry. Also glad you have your adorable and entertaining cat Iris by your side for great companionship. Wishing you the best on your healing journey.

  • 1Wayfarer, you’re most welcome. Yes I found Dr. Ruby’s book very validating. I agree it’s most unfortunate people do not know the harm they will be dealt until it’s too late. Hopefully there will be more insiders with the courage and integrity to speak out and warn people.

  • Dr. Hickey, I’m grateful for all you have so brilliantly written to expose the deception and dangers of psychiatry. It’s been very helpful and validating when one is trying to recover from the gas-lighting, lies and harm psychiatry flippantly inflicts on anyone who dared to enter psychiatry’s snare. Maybe the widespread suffering this pandemic has caused will finally expose the abusive practices psychiatry has to immediately affix disempowering, harmful labels on people while completely ignoring/dismissing all context of their stressful life circumstances or suffering.

    Thanks for the list of other resources. I believe the movement will keep gaining traction as more become aware of lives lost and the egregious harm being done to so many.

    I would add this book I recently read to the list of great resources exposing the industry of psychiatry for what it is:

    Smoke and Mirrors, an Insider’s Warning to Consumers – by Dr. Chuck Ruby

  • Excellent blog Yulia.
    Yes, we hear of many other forms of discrimination and abuse covered by mainstream media but the powers that be maintain a code of silence around the harm involving psychiatry. The public does not know or realize that what goes in psychiatry is a public health and safety threat and leads to serious situations of health inequality, suffering and early death.

    I applaud you Yulia for speaking out and trying see what additional steps are possible to further expose the havoc wreaked by psychiatry. I will get in touch with you shortly by email.

  • Thank you Dr. Timimi, this is another compelling chapter.

    “It’s a bit like the relationship of the dieting industry to the food one—our consumer culture contributes to creating mental stress and, as it spreads, this distress now presents itself as a new and growing market for exploitation and profit.”

    Indeed, and how inhumane it is that people’s distress or worries are exploited and commodified.

  • Wow, thank you Peter this analytical article is brilliant! Everyone needs to read this!!

    The general public has this hugely false notion that psychiatry is privy to superior knowledge and science, and that psychiatry is about ‘helping’ people in difficult circumstances improve their emotional or mental well-being. When in truth psychiatry has NO Science, very little knowledge and only a few psychiatrists who appear to actually ‘care’ about people or want to ‘help’.
    The harshest realization for me has been that rather than ‘caring’ about the people they see many psychiatrists instead harbor feelings and attitudes of contempt and disdain for their patients.

  • Yes Steve very disturbing!
    There are a couple government organizations but they have no teeth and therefore are useless. One org took all my documentation, went through it, stated it was horrible etc, but informed me they have “no protocols in place with which they can help”. The other is the Ombudsman but again they have no power to do anything. They were not even able to obtain answers or reasonable explanations from the self-regulated Colleges of Physicians. You get some sympathy and a pat on the head, when meanwhile millions of taxpayer dollars go to the CMPA to provide doctors with top notch lawyers and unlimited funds to fight patients. The system is totally rigged against patients but most don’t know this until they are harmed. Kathleen Finlay is a self-funded Patient Advocate who has tried for a few years to get the CMPA dismantled and a former RN is also trying by presenting a petition to the House of Commons.

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/patients-who-suffer-from-medical-errors-face-rigged-system-critics-say-1.4507664

  • Thank you so much Irit! That’s great to hear! I too was not aware of the CMPA until I tried to complain about the psychiatrist. I think most Canadians are not aware their tax dollars are being used in this nefarious way.

    This lawyer (Taryn Burnett) is with the CMPA and provides the psychiatrist I saw during cancer treatment with free legal services to fight patients:

    https://gowlingsabuse.blogspot.com/2015/01/investigation-into-lawyer-taryn.html

    This video about the CMPA involves a woman dying from psych drugs:
    https://www.facebook.com/thomas.p.harding/videos/107101266065666/

    https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kathleen-finlay/medical-error-deaths_b_8350324.html

    https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/kathleen-finlay/physician-malpractice-medical-lawsuits_b_7556334.html

  • Irit,
    In Canada we have the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA) which provides legal protection for doctors to fight patients who were harmed. This organization is funded via taxpayer dollars (520+ Million per year) and now has a war chest of over 5 Billion to fight patients. The minute a patient makes a complaint against any doctor or psychiatrist the Dr. runs to the CMPA for free legal representation. The CMPA uses a scorched earth approach to every case. When I wrote a letter to the psychiatrist who harmed me she immediately had a pit-bull of a lawyer from the CMPA write her dismissive letter back to me. When I took the complaint to the College she of course had her lawyer handle it for her. This happens to every patient who has been harmed or to any family searching for answers if their loved one died from medical harm.
    This petition is filed by a former RN to try have the CMPA defunded. It needs enough signatures in order to get read in the House of Commons. If you or any Canadians are interested please sign the petition. (it closes February 5, 2021) Thanks!

    https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2890

  • Thank you for speaking out Angele!

    “Iatrogenic harm. This is routine in our current health system.”
    Yes! So very true!

    When the health ‘care’ system harms you and you try to speak up about it they will mercilessly beat you down further. In Canada they use taxpayer dollars to do this to harmed patients. This is a petition that hopes to change that perversity and needs more signatures before February 5, 2021 to get read in our House of Commons. Please advise any Canadians you know to think about signing this petition for better patient safety:

    https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-2890

  • Thanks for sharing your horrible experiences with psychiatry Nick. I too found out how destructive psychiatry is. Somehow psychiatry managed to put themselves at the top of the pyramid of ‘medicine’ and all medical professionals kowtow to psychiatry’s damaging nonsense and harmful rituals.

    When they write and publish damaging falsehoods onto EMR’s (that are legally proven to be false) they fall back on the excuse it was their “opinion at the time” and when their opinion is proven faulty and without any merit or evidence then they fall back on the excuse “well it was my understanding at the time.” We also learned how legitimate complaints are whitewashed and covered-up. The powers that be take years to process a complaint and then claim they carried out an investigation but you are not privy to the information they collected or even to know who their so-called expert was that provided them with an ‘expert’ opinion. The system is totally rigged against patients and for any complaint to ever be acknowledged or dealt with appropriately. There can never be any improvements when no one is ever held accountable.
    Thanks for speaking out and I wish you and your family the best going forward.

  • HuffPost is international, don’t know how hard it is to get published there but might be possible.

    https://www.huffpost.com/static/how-to-pitch-huffpost

    Something is needed to counter this latest story because it reads like a Big Pharma plug. This young girl has been taking the psych drug Prozac for only 6 months. As often is the case, the drug may work ‘at first’ but she is totally unware of the rabbit hole she’ll fall into if she keeps taking it and then realizes it no longer works, is bringing about adverse effects but she cannot get off it without major W/D:

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/combat-depression-mental-health-prozac-work_n_5fc91395c5b613828e32e94a

  • Yulia,
    “how come I regularly read about controversies in all areas of medicine, except psychiatry; about systemic discrimination of all kinds of groups except those diagnosed with mental illness; about violations of human rights committed by all kinds of institutions, except the mental health system.”

    Yes that is what I have always been appalled by too. All types of discrimination/violation of rights etc gets covered by mainstream media but psychiatric abuses/discrimination/violations are a BIG DIRTY SECRET that they try keep hidden at all costs. If you want to connect to discuss a media letter I am open to that in the new year (but I am in Canada so not sure if that is of help?)

  • Yes, very good point Steve. Which gets me thinking not only should there be an informed consent form for people to sign to agree they have been fully informed of all the minor and major risks of taking psych drugs and are okay with it – but there also needs to be a consent form for people to sign that they agree to an “assessment”. When I saw a psychiatrist I was told it was simply to “get help with sleep meds” and had no clue an ‘assessment’ was done on me. A psychiatrist needs to be honest and upfront and inform a person “I am going to very briefly listen to your problems but will have to determine the problems are all ‘within you’ and then decide which disempowering DSM label I will put on you. This label will remain on your records for life and will be a barrier for you to be treated with any humanity or given any credibility in the future by all other health professionals.”

  • Thank you Dr. Hickey, as always you deliver a spot-on analysis to expose the hypocrisy.

    Dr. Pies: “to be clear: patients are not infallible recorders of what their doctors tell them.”
    Dr. Hickey: “In other words, Dr. Pies is stating categorically that “patients” can’t be trusted unless their assertions are confirmed by their psychiatrists”.

    Yes, a perfect example of the enormous hubris and egomania so entrenched in psychiatry, when ironically it’s most often the psychiatrist who cannot be trusted. I was gob-smacked when I finally got ahold of my records and saw any information I shared with the young psychiatrist was twisted into something entirely different to cast very negative aspersions and completely redefine my reality. I was bald from chemo so she writes “patient appeared with a scarf wrapped around her head” to imply it was strange behavior, with no mention of course I was bald from chemo or the “scarf” was in fact a hat sold to patients at the cancer hospital.

    No doubt, psychiatrists did write the book on “PREJUDICE”. And they most certainly are “DOGMATISTS”, as well as the biggest HYPOCRITES around.

    I always look forward to your blogs Dr. Hickey, a much needed voice of reason and wisdom speaking truth to power! Please keep writing!

  • I totally agree. It is almost impossible to process. I had described it as perverse to those who are unfamiliar with psychiatry but depravity describes it better.

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