EFFORTS to update the psychiatrists' bible - the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - have led to bickering, contention, organised revolt and, finally, a backdown. The association announced it has abandoned plans to class so-called attenuated psychosis syndrome and internet addiction as psychiat […]
"LABEL jars, not people" and "stop medicalising the normal symptoms of life" read placards, as hundreds of protesters - including former patients, academics and doctors - gathered to lobby the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) annual meeting. The demonstration aimed to highlight the harm the protesters believe psychiatry is pe […]
In his book Psychiatryland, psychiatrist Phillip Sinaikin recounts reading a scientific article in which it was debated whether a three-year-old girl who ran out into traffic had oppositional-defiant disorder or bipolar disorder, the latter marked by “grandiose delusions” that she was special and cars could not harm her.1 How did the once modest medical spec […]
Seems like such a win-win change to the DSM. The Drug Czar wins because with all these new people “needing treatment” it justifies his emphasis on treatment. The drug companies win because they get to drug people up on drugs for which they get paid. The treatment industry wins because they get a ton of new people “needing treatment” that aren’t difficult cas […]
"[The DSM] is wrong in principle, based as it is on redefining a whole range of understandable reactions to life circumstances as 'illnesses,' which then become a target for toxic medications heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry," clinical psychologist Lucy Johnstone with a Health Board in Wales told Reuters. "The DSM proj […]
Thursday afternoon, Maryanne Godboldo filed a civil rights lawsuit. In it, there are new allegations that her daughter’s prosthetic leg was taken while in state care, to stop the child from trying to get back to her mother. “Just one betrayal after another. It’s a lie – bring us your children and we will help you. That’s not true. That’s not true at all. Bri […]
Lucy Johnstone, a consultant clinical psychologist for the Cwm Taf Health Board in Wales agreed: “(The DSM) is wrong in principle, based as it is on redefining a whole range of understandable reactions to life circumstances as ‘illnesses,’ which then become a target for toxic medications heavily promoted by the pharmaceutical industry,” she said. “The DSM pr […]
The Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton is the only place in the country where kids with severe behavioral problems are shocked when they misbehave. You read that right. After the release of a video depicting such a shock session, the Internet is rising in opposition to the practice, which the school claims to use as a clear disincentive to bad behavior — espec […]
More than 200,000 people have joined a campaign on Change.org calling for the Judge Rotenberg Center to stop its practice of giving electric shock treatments to students with special needs, for instance, Autism, as a form of therapy. Greg Miller started the petition on Change.org after video of a student with Autism being shocked for hours was released. Mill […]
The ever-expanding list of so-called psychiatric conditions included in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) may soon include "relational disorders," or mental illnesses supposedly attributed to two or more people involved in a relationship together. According to the official definition, relation […]
On February 11th, 2012, CCHR presented one of its annual human rights awards to Ms. Maryanne Godboldo. Previous award winners include doctors, state and federal legislators, whistleblowers, attorneys, human and civil rights activists and parents such as Maryanne, who have turned their personal battles to protect their children into a crusade for children […]
Congressman Ron Paul has re-introduced The Parental Consent Act , A bill which prohibits federal funds from being used to establish or implement any universal or mandatory mental health, psychiatric, or socioemotional screening program. "Many children have suffered harmful side effects from using psychotropic drugs. Some of the possible side effects inc […]
We keep hearing about hordes of dangerous lunatics wandering our streets just waiting to do unmentionable things to us. But fear not! The mental health police are there to protect you from all those crazed psychopaths! Reality, as usual, has quite a different story to tell. According to the latest report by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care ( […]
by Don Weitz, Psychiatric Survivor 1. Because psychiatrists frequently cause harm, permanent disabilities, death - death of the body-mind-spirit. 2. Because psychiatrists frequently violate the Hippocratic Oath which orders all physicians "First Do No Harm." 3. Because psychiatrists patronize and disempower people, especially their patients. 4. Bec […]
For some time now, Sheila Matthews has been suspicious about her home state of Connecticut’s treatment of its most vulnerable children. As a mother of two children and co-founder of Ablechild, her instincts led her to scrutinize the dubious relationships among Connecticut's Department of Children and Family Services [DCF], the pharmaceutical industry an […]
by Evelyn Pringle—The founders of Ablechild, Patricia Weathers and Sheila Matthews, have earned the title of “Unsung Heroes,” as both pioneers and warriors for over a decade, in the battle to protect children from the Psychopharmaceutical Industry. Ablechild (Parents for A Label and Drug-Free Education), is a national non-profit founded in2001, by these two […]
by Dominik Ritter, Psychologist—When thinking about psychiatry I find it hard to escape the comparison with the work carried out at assembly lines of large manufacturing companies and the process involved when faulty products are called back for inspection and repair. All mass produced goods are meant to basically look and function in the same way. The same […]
by Shane "The People's Chemist" Ellison—Antidepressants strive to increase the levels of a “coping” molecule known as serotonin in the brain. It supposedly helps us find happiness when it’s covered in an avalanche of nastiness. But, it’s never been proven. Still, the drugs attempt to boost serotonin by “selectively” stopping the “reuptake” amo […]
A new study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry and headed by psychiatrist John H. Gilmore, professor of psychiatry and Director of the UNC Schizophrenia Research, claims to be able to detect “brain abnormalities associated with schizophrenia risk” in infants just a few weeks old. We would like to point out the obvious flaw in this bogus study; […]
A Public Service Announcement on Australian TV features Australian of the Year, psychiatrist Patrick McGorry, claiming that nearly half the population will experience mental ill-health during their lifetime. Considering that after World War II, psychiatrists claimed that one in 20 people had a mental disorder, and now it’s every second one of us, that’s a da […]
Recent Comments