Tracking the American Epidemic of Mental Illness

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Some very disturbing articles about where the pharacuetical companies money ends up:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00022.htm

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00040.htm

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00057.htm

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00162.htm

I read the first link and i think it is very true.

There's a few disturbing undercurrents in that LONG article. First among them is the idea that "mental illness isn't real" and that there is no biological basis for mental illness, therefore it's all a scam and the mentally ill need to be told, in the eternal words of American shock jock Michael Savage, "straighten up and don't be a putz". Then comes the equally disturbing suggestion that patients who think the drugs work have actually been "brainwashed" by a "cult".

Whenever this sort of thing is trotted out, I think of a long forgotten, extremely cheap "spy kid" show from around 1988. The spy's friends were brainwashed (more like put in a trance) by an evil cult. So the spy hires, of all people, Dee Snyder of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister to "deprogram" his friends by screaming at them and slapping them. It works. Whenever somebody starts singing the old song "it's all your fault, and if you don't straighten up and fly right, if you think drugs help, you need to be deprogrammed from an evil cult that has a hold of your mind", I think of Dee Snyder in his leather vest and snakeskin boots screaming at and abusing teenagers on that show.

Is there corruption in the pharma industry? You betcha. Are there corrupt doctors who are drugging kids unnecessarily? Yep. But it doesn't therefore follow that it's ALL a scam and that every single person with mental illness simply needs Dee Snyder to come over to their house and slap them around a bit. There are any number of autistics on this very forum whose parents thought that eventually the kids would become normal if they were abused enough, including myself. Abusing an autistic doesn't make him normal. It makes him crazy.

I did not read anything at all that was totally anti psyciatry in those articles. Most of the people who were interviewed do believe there is a role for medication in some cases, but the fact is the research consistently shows that LONG TERM outcomes are better for those who are not maintained on medication. That does not mean that is the case for all people. There are people who smoke who do not get lung cancer, does that mean that smoking plays no role at all in lung cancer, no?? The same is true here. The long term quality controlled research that is not funded by drug companies, but that done by the National Institute of Mental Health and like shows that most people do better if they are not maintained on medication. Just becuase you can say but I know these people who have done well on it, does not mean it applies to everyone, and research is looking for generalisations. Smoking is not good for anyone, it does not mean it will kill every single person who smokes though. There is a very large group who do not respond to medications and this group has actually been shown by the research that it is larger than the group that does do well on medication. The real question is about human rigths. The vast majority of people not doing well on meds are not being given the choice to go off them as they are being forced on them by court orders, which Alaskan courts have shown they no longer believe in. If people are given the choice to decide what to do, if research considered other things other than medications then people would not really have a problem.

There is no doubt that there are not some very distressed people out there, but that does mean that we need to put every single person who cries when a loved one dies on prozac??

The definitions of mental illness are extending all the time and if you looked at the criteria proposed for psychosis risk syndrome it would include bascially every single person on the spectrum. They are then proposing that we put all of these people, of which only about 25% will actually become psychotic on medication, which despite the horrendous side effects will decrease there life span by 25 years. Can you honeslty justify shortening life spans of that many people for no real reason. There is no research to show that the medications will stop these people from becoming psycotic, there is no research to show that even if they do become psychotic that medications will even work for them.

There is a role for medication and always will be. There are some people, and the research consistently shows about 5% do do better when they are maintained on medication. While it may have side effects, so do all medications. Chemotherapy for cancer is hardly good for you, we do not propose giving it to people who MAY develop cancer, to stop them from developing it. There is no doubt that chemotherapy would shorten life spans, but it also extends it for the vast majority who take it. With any medication it is about weighing up the pro's and con's of what is at stake. For some people the side effects are much more debilitating than any benefits it offers, for others the benefits obtained weigh out any side effects. Just because it works for one person does not mean it will work for all. It is about giving people real choice, and above all else telling them the truth.

The truth is that we still have absolutely no idea at all of what causes any mental illness. No damage or differences have been found between normal and mentally ill people, before they are medicated. The thought (and that is all it is) that serotion is involved in depression was developed because they discovered that people felt better when they were on medications that acted on that part of the brain. The same is true for dopamine in schizophrenia. In no other aspect of medicine do they come up with treatments before they know what they are treating. In all other parts of medicine they know what the problems are, they know the cause and then they look for treatments for that cause. That has never ever been the case in psychiatry in the past or today. They simply try people on a wide range of different things if people feel better or they stop saying strange things they can try to come up with a reason why they are working. From the mid 80's all of the theories about serotin and dopamine had been proved to be impossible, and despite continual research to try to find something they still can't. That does not mean the medication is wrong, I myself take some, but I have made a fully informed decision, know very well what the risks are, have tried other options first, etc. And I am not niave enough and nor are the doctors I have now chosen to see to try to tell me that I need this because I have issues with specific neurotransmitters in my brain. Tell people the truth, let them and/or their loved ones make fully informed decisions and people will stop being so angry at what is happening. The fact is we know no more now about the causes of mental illness than we did 200 years ago. Sure we have some medications that help some people, but don't lie and say they are treating a certain physiological problem we have nothing to support. Admit the truth, that you try this it may help you and stop putting people on meds for the most tiny reason. Stop over medicating people. Allow people to feel, to cry and to be human.

I personally think medication works to some extent, some of the time. but (in my personal case) over time i became depressed because of the adhd meds then was given anti depressants which at the time did not help. and then they tried anti psychotics because of my ocd. then i actually had a psychotic episode which i believe was caused by my medication. because it went away after i got off all my meds.

I do see medication helps in some cases though. after alot of bad stuff happened in my life i got back on meds after 4 years of being off them. and they are helping. i can sleep now and i am less depressed. but i wonder if i take them for years if i will have the same problems as i did before.

My opinion is for some people meds work for the sort term, and over the long term they end up causing more problems . so in some people i believe they would be best used as a short term fix to stabilize the person so they can get back on there feet. then slowly get them off of them with a doctors supervision and see if they are able to function fine off of all meds.

and if another break down occurs meds can be used again then after a while then slowly take the person off them again.


I agree one rule dose not apply for everyone. some people need it, some dont and some only need it for a short time.

And NO ONE should beat there children to try and treat a mental illness!! !!

I am truly sorry you've been treated as such. my hart goes out to you. if you ever want to talk about it around people who understand and have been abused too , then please visit this thread i started for survivors of abuse. http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt80990.html

I was beaten and abused in every way possible as a child to "make me normal", I was then handed over to the mental health system so they could do there own abuse to me, via ECT, drugs to the point of not being able to move, seclusion, without any access to a toilet for days on end, while naked, etc. Was what my parents did right, but nor was what the mental health system did to me. Since when does shoving electricity through someones brain stop them from being autistic, since when does locking someone in a concrete room without clothes, any place to toilet, etc, treat anything and since when does drugging someone to oblivion make someone not autistic or in anyway help anyone.

I did not see anywhere in those articles anything at all about medication being bad, wrong, never useful, etc. The mental health system is the problem and to assume that you would have been better off recieving the care I recieved after I was finally able to leave my parents is also niave. Neither is right, and the current obsession with blaming all mental illnesses on something that does not exist is also not right.

It also needs to be remembered that Autism is now considered a neurological condition and as such is rarely if ever treated by the mental health system, and from what I hear that is the same in the US and in many other countries. That does not mean that people on the spectrum will not benefit from mental health support, but the treatment I received and which is still standard practice here and in the US is not anything I can see that should legally be allowed to be called treatment for anyone, whether autistic or mentally ill.

We have 2 year olds being given ECT. We have infants under 12 months being put on psychotropic medications. Are you honestly going to tell me that those things are good for the children??? Has anyone ever tried to consider the effects such things must be having on the developing brain. As for helping them, more likely they will cause more problems than the child already has. Stoping the abuse from one side to simply do it in another way from the other side is not helping or theraputic.

Just because someone questions medication does not mean they are anti it, that they propose child abuse or the like?? Many of them are anti the system which is very much what I am. Above all else I am just sick of the lies.

MY GOD! I am so sorry you went through such torture! They wanted to do ect on me but luckily my parents said no. they never committed me, even after i tried to commit suicide. i guess its because my dad knew full well what kind of "treatments" they do.
they did over medicate me but at least they did keep me out of the system. they dont believe in the system but fully believe in medication. I am so sorry you've been through so much.




I fully agree it should NOT be allowed!!
treatment should be humane and follow the standard human rights. Please contact amnesty international so they can be made aware of this human rights violation! they can lobby to change it. if you need my help just pm me. if you take action you really can change this! here is there site http://www.amnesty.org/en/contact




Yes i think something needs to be done. i have seen my friend being abused by the system. she almost got put in an institution. If she had ,i would have reported the doctors responsible and fought to get her realized. luckily the institution used some basic logic and said she was no where severe enough to warret institutionalizing.

In fact i am still going to report them because they are not being ethical. and if they did it to her they will do it again.

please do contact amnesty international they have changed so much around the world. and if they are made aware they can change the abuses in the mental health industry.

I totally respect what you are saying and am working with human rights groups here, and in contact with groups in the US and worldwide.

I could only wish that parents here had some say in whether children were given psychiatric treatment here. The view here, as in the US is that psychiatrists know best and what they say goes and children and teenagers are on the whole medicated, hospitalised and the like without the parents consent. No one is seen to be able to make informed decisions about such treatments except the treating professionals, and we have excessively high levels of community based treatment. I do know that NAMI loves the laws we have about forced community treatment in Australia (and sees them as model laws they want implemented everywhere!!), but most people with common sense would not see the need for them. There may be times when people do need to be in hospitals and the like, but get a diagnosis here and you'll be ordered to have a needle in your arse every month!! You can appeal the diagnosis (not the treatment!) it to a panel of psychiatrists not a judge!! ! Afterall judges can't possibly make those decisions, they can't understand them!! And parents cannot possibly make informed decisions about such treatment for their children only psychiatrists can do that. I swear there is not a profession anywhere that has as much power to control and determine someones life as a psychiatrist. Even the decisions of judges can be appealed!!

That's no surprise as pharmaceutical companies are the ones either inventing mental illnesses or producing drugs that cause it.

Don't believe what the quacks say, most psychiatric medicines are designed to worsen symptoms of "mental illness".