Sue Clark's Exposing Psychiatry Home Page

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Thymatron® System IV - Integrated ECT Instrument

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Antipsychotic drugs are doing harm

2008-03-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

From: "News and alerts from www.MindFreedom.org" <mindfreedom-news@intenex.net>

Date: March 16, 2008 5:10:30 PM EDT (CA)

To: "News: Human Rights in Mental Health" <MindFreedom-News@intenex.net>

Subject: Register-Guard: Mental Health Worker vs. 'Antipsychotic' Psych. Drugs

Reply-To: news@mindfreedom.org

- Hide quoted text -

Below, a courageous long-time mental health worker sounds the alarm

about the long-term use of neuroleptic psychiatric drugs which are

also known as "antipsychotics."

The daily newspaper for Eugene, Oregon, USA published Chuck Areford's

guest column which you can read BELOW. Please forward his emergency

warning about deaths and brain damage related to neuroleptics to all

appropriate places on and off Internet. Chuck is on the Advisory

Committee for MindFreedom Lane County. Opposition is expected. At

BOTTOM is how you can write a letter to editor and take other action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

_The Register-Guard_, Eugene, Oregon, USA

16 March 2008 - Commentary - Guest Viewpoint

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psychiatric-drugs/antipsychotics/

areford-neuroelptics

Antipsychotic drugs are doing harm

By Chuck Areford

[It is essential to note at the outset that suddenly stopping or

reducing psychiatric medications can be hazardous. Adjustments in

medication are best done under the supervision of a medical

professional.]

In the early 1990s, a new class of drugs promised to revolutionize

the treatment of schizophrenia and other mental disorders. Known as

atypical antipsychotics, drugs such as Clozaril, Zyprexa and

Risperdal largely replaced older medications such as Thorazine,

Haldol and Prolixin. Research and advertising sponsored by the

pharmaceutical industry led to the widespread belief that the newer

medications were indisputably safer, more effective and well worth

additional billions of dollars in taxpayer money. Pharmaceutical

profits soared.

Since then, the life expectancy of those treated in community mental

health centers has plunged to an appalling 25 years less than

average. Life expectancy may have fallen by as much as 15 years since

1986. Indications are that the death rate continues to accelerate in

what must be ranked as one of the worst public health disasters in

U.S. history.

The toxicity of antipsychotic medications, also known as

neuroleptics, is thoroughly documented. Atypical antipsychotics

initially seemed less hazardous because they produce fewer movement

disorders. We now know that the newer drugs lead to more

cardiovascular disease, which is by far the leading killer of those

in the public mental health system.

People who need mental health services already suffer from high rates

of cigarette smoking, lack of exercise, substance abuse, poor

nutrition, homelessness and poor access to health care. Adding

medications pours gasoline on a fire. This lethal combination is

almost certainly driving the spiraling death rate.

Advances in brain imaging techniques show that antipsychotic

medications cause brain damage. Animal and human studies link the

drugs to shrinkage of the cerebral cortex, home to the higher

functions. One study of monkeys given either older or newer

neuroleptic medication in doses equivalent to those given humans

showed an 11 percent to 15 percent shrinkage of the left parietal

lobe. Drugs that cause brain damage almost invariably reduce life

expectancy.

Marketing campaigns for atypical antipsychotic drugs target new

groups of patients, including the elderly and children. Public

television recently reported that as many as 1 million children have

been newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and thus may receive

neuroleptic medication. This does not include children treated with

antipsychotics for other disorders.

The damage to developing brains cannot be overemphasized. Years ago,

the Soviet Union was condemned for giving neuroleptic medication to

political dissidents. We now are giving a more lethal form of this

medication to our children. Where is the outcry?

Recent studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine and

elsewhere demonstrate that the newer drugs are no more effective than

the older ones in reducing psychotic symptoms. Patients stop taking

the new drugs at the same high rate as the old ones because they do

not like the way the drugs affect their lives.

While medications are effective in relieving symptoms in the short

run, research indicates that people suffering from psychosis recover

more quickly and completely without medication. Incredibly, one study

showed that those not taking medications had eight times the recovery

rate of those who remained medicated. Research in Finland shows that

immediate psychosocial interventions achieve far better results than

those in this country. It simply makes sense that people recover

better when not treated with medication that causes brain damage and

shortens their lives.

Yet professionals and the public widely believe that it is unethical

to treat serious mental disorders without antipsychotic medication.

The reasons for this are complex, but foremost is the enormous

profitability of the pharmaceutical industry. In the early 1990s, the

top 10 drug companies earned more profit than all the other Fortune

500 companies combined. The sheer volume of money corrupts medical

research, and misinformation is fed to professionals, clients and the

public.

The deplorable conditions at the Oregon State Hospital are,

unfortunately, just one more indication of the failure of psychiatry

as a whole. I know many of the psychiatric professionals in Lane

County, and they are intelligent and compassionate people who want

the best for their clients. There will always be a place for

medication in the treatment of emotional disorders, yet there must be

public acknowledgement that the long-term use of antipsychotic

medication, particularly the atypicals, is a costly mistake. Silence

truly equals death.

The Oregon Department of Addictions and Mental Health has the

responsibility to confront the terrible inadequacies of the current

system and to fund the development of alternatives. We owe this to

the taxpayers, to society and especially to those who suffer from

mental illness.

Chuck Areford of Eugene has worked in the public mental health system

for the past 25 years.

- end -

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*** ACTION *** ACTION *** ACTION ***

1) Please *FORWARD* Chuck's emergency warning above to all

appropriate places on and off the Internet, immediately!

2) Please consider a LETTER TO THE EDITOR of support!

Chuck's brave statement will probably elicit opposition. MindFreedom

International is pro-choice about personal health care decisions, but

human rights violations linked to administration of neuroleptics are

an emergency. Please speak out now, and anticipate possible responses.

Here is how to submit a letter to the editor from _The Register-

Guard_ web site:

"The Register-Guard welcomes letters on topics of general interest.

Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to

condensation. Writers are limited to one letter per calendar month.

Because of the volume of mail, not all letters can be printed.

Letters must be signed with the writers full name. An address and

daytime telephone number are needed for verification purposes; this

information will not be published or released."

E-mail: rgletters@guardnet.com

Mail letters to: Mailbag; P.O. Box 10188; Eugene, OR 97440-2188 USA

Fax: 541-338-2828

3) THANK Chuck Areford via MindFreedom Lane County, an affiliate of

MindFreedom International, at lane@mindfreedom.org.

4) INFORM yourself and others about human rights violations related

to neuroleptic abuse!

* More info on neuroleptics including evidence of structural brain

damage:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psychiatric-drugs/antipsychotics

http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/NLPs/neuroleptics.htm

http://www.madinamerica.com

http://www.breggin.com/neuroleptics.html

* For books on psychiatric drugs, alternatives, information about

quitting, etc. see totally-new MADMARKET which supports MindFreedom's

human rights activism:

http://www.madmarket.org

* Original article on RG click here (after a period of time

registration required):

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/

dt.cms.support.viewStory.cls?cid=78024&sid=5&fid=2

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Support united activism for a nonviolent revolution in mental health:

JOIN MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL!

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

* Win human rights campaigns in mental health.

* End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry.

* Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors.

* Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental health.

* Be a part of MFI's 22 year history of united activism.

* Show your MAD PRIDE!

MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor

and affiliate groups with individual members.

MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent activist

groups in the mental health field with no funding from governments,

drug companies, religions, corporations, or the mental health system.

All human rights supporters are invited to join MFI by donating here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate

For hard-to-find books and gear go to MFI's ALL NEW Mad Market here:

http://www.madmarket.org

MindFreedom International Office:

454 Willamette, Suite 216 - POB 11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA

web site: http://www.mindfreedom.org

e-mail: office(at)mindfreedom(dot)org

MFI office phone: (541) 345-9106

MFI member services toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743

fax: (541) 345-3737

Please forward.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Being pregnant being target as mental illness

2008-03-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

U.S. govt 'Mothers Act' pathologizes pregnancy & postpartum depression as "mental illness"- millions of women targeted for more antidepressants - who profts? Big Pharma! another fraud/another scam (see article below)

Don

Begin forwarded message:

From: Graeme Bacque <graemeb@3web.com>
Date: March 17, 2008 2:27:26 PM EDT (CA)
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: [can-survive] Branding Pregnancy as Mental Illness
Reply-To: can-survive@lists.riseup.net

http://www.naturalnews.com/022853.html

Branding Pregnancy as Mental Illness: Immediate Consumer Action Needed to Stop Mothers Act
Monday, March 17, 2008 by: Byron Richards | Key concepts: MOTHERS Act, pregnancy and Big Pharma

The Mothers Act is pending legislation that will indoctrinate hundreds of thousands of mothers into taking dangerous psych drugs. It is a great example of how the Big Pharma lobby controls Congress to the detriment of health, as well as needlessly and dramatically inflating the costs of our health care system for everyone. Like any piece of legislation it purports to address a troubling issue – in this case the mood distress of mothers following birth known as postpartum depression. It is true that 10% - 15% of women need some assistance in dealing with this topic – but the majority of them sure don't need it from Big Pharma. That is the Big Lie.

The Mothers Act (S. 1375: Mom's Opportunity to Access Health, Education, Research, and Support for Postpartum Depression Act) ((http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtex...) has the net affect of reclassifying the natural process of pregnancy and birth as a mental disorder that requires the use of unproven and extremely dangerous psychotropic medications (which can also easily harm the child). Urgent consumer action (see below) is needed to stop this atrocity, as the Senate could now vote any day.

It is my understanding that the process of birth, the intimate bonding of mother and child, and the placing of significant responsibility on the father is all part of a healthy culture and the backbone of the fabric that makes strong families and consequently our great nation. I fail to see why we need laws that force health care professionals to emphasize the idea that the process is some type of mental illness affecting 80% of all women – what a bogus pile of crap.

The Mothers Act proposes sweeping and dramatic changes in the delivery of pregnancy care by all health professionals. It demands that health professionals indoctrinate pregnant women into mental health treatment options for mild depression-like symptoms experienced during or following pregnancy, including moderate symptoms they call "baby blues" which they say affects 80% of pregnant women. In other words, this is a massive federate health mandate to get the majority of pregnant and nursing mothers on psych drugs – a new target market for Big Pharma.

The bill was obviously written by the Big Pharma lobby and its passage into law would be considered laughable except that it is actually happening. The bill seeks to require taxpayer-funded grants to treat postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, as defined in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. For those of you who don't know, this is the manual of vaguely defined mental health issues used by Big Pharma to allow the sale of their expensive psych drugs and get payment from Medicare and Medicaid at taxpayer expense. While some people certainly need help, this system racks up billions in fraudulent sales per year – including the sale of dangerous antipsychotic medications to our children. The Big Pharma lobby last year spent tens of millions to ensure the government would continue to cover vulnerable children so they could capitalize on this blatant scam.

As far as the Mothers Act goers, how can taxpayers be expected to pay for drug treatments when the problem that isn't even understood? As the bill freely acknowledges "The causes of postpartum depression are complex and unknown." In a mysterious leap of faith the bill says that this condition requires medication to treat it even though such medication has never been proven clinically effective and carries serious side effect risks for the mother and baby, including cardiovascular birth defects.

The bill goes on to set up a system of taxpayer-funded grants to pay for the treatments. It even commits you the taxpayer to funding "clinical research for the development and evaluation of new treatments for postpartum conditions, including new biological agents." This means taxpayers will now foot the bill of Big Pharma drug development including the most dangerous new category of totally unproven pie-in-the-sky biological drugs that cost hundreds of billions of dollars to develop and can irreparably injure within minutes!

Yes, and once you have paid a fortune to develop these biological gene-altering agents then you will pay the drug companies price so that they can be freely dispensed to hundreds of thousands of pregnant and nursing mothers. Taxpayers will be on the hook for tens of billions of wasted dollars.

Immediate Consumer Action is Needed
The Mothers Act has already passed the House (H.R. 20, the Melanie Blocker Stokes Postpartum Depression, Research and Care Act). Word has it that it is being snuck out of the HELP committee on Thursday or Friday of this week and may be rammed through the Senate without any debate before the Easter break.

Rather unbelievably up to this point is that the cause of defeating this legislation has fallen onto the shoulders of one young mother, Amy Philo. When she struggled with postpartum stress she was placed on the very same psych drugs advocated for use in the Mothers Act legislation. She began having violent thoughts towards her child and suicidal thinking. Her not very bright doctor had her double and then triple her dose, nearly killing her. She is lucky to be alive today and wants to warn other mothers of the dangers inherent in the Mothers Act. Link to her You Tube post: http://youtube.com/watch?v=LQW23XCmOCw

Immediate consumer action is needed to stop the Big Pharma-crafted Mothers Act. Here are the two action steps you can take right now to help make a difference:

1) Go to my CapWiz page and with two clicks of a mouse send an opposition letter to your Senators. http://www.wellnessresources.com/health...

2) Sign the petition against this legislation, which is being used to pressure Senators on the HELP committee. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-t...

About the author: Byron J. Richards, Founder/Director of Wellness Resources (www.wellnessresources.com), is a Board-Certified Clinical Nutritionist and nationally-renowned health expert, radio personality, and educator. He is the author of Mastering Leptin, The Leptin Diet, and Fight for Your Health: Exposing the FDA's Betrayal of America.

Madness Radio: Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs

2008-02-06T14:06:00.001-08:00

From: Graeme Bacque <graemeb@3web.com>

Date: February 4, 2008 7:51:33 PM EST (CA)

To: Can-Survive <can-survive@lists.riseup.net>

Subject: [can-survive] Fwd: [fc-discuss] Fwd: Madness Radio: Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs

Reply-To: can-survive@lists.riseup.net

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	[fc-discuss] Fwd: Madness Radio: Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs
Date:	Mon, 4 Feb 2008 19:46:34 -0500
From:	Oryx Cohen
To:	Freedom Center

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: will hall <willhall@valleyfreeradio.org>
Date: Feb 4, 2008 1:56 PM
Subject: Madness Radio: Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs
To: pacificaannounce@yahoogroups.com

Hi all,

This week's Madness Radio show, from our archives:

Oryx Cohen and Will Hall of the Freedom Center discuss how to reduce and
go off psychiatric drugs safely. Oryx is diagnosed with bipolar disorder
and Will with schizophrenia, and both are medication-free. They talk
about their own experiences as well as general principles and things to
keep in mind for anyone working to reduce or go off psychiatric drugs,
lessons learned from 5 years of working with the Freedom Center support
group and helping people reduce and go off drugs successfully.
www.freedom-center.org.

Also check out the new *free* Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off
Psychiatric Drugs, also available at www.freedom-center.org

For more info:

www.madnessradio.net

go to this episode:
http://freedom-center.org/reducing-and-going-psych-drugs-will-hall-oryx-cohen-freedom-center-mental-health-show-8-30-06

download episode directly:
http://freedom-center.org/audio/download/236/MadnessRadio-2006-08-30ReduceGoOffDrugsSafely.mp3

Madness Radio is produced weekly at Valley Free Radio in Northampton MA
by the Freedom Center and Icarus Project, peer-run mental health
communities. Join the growing numbers of stations nation-wide
broadcasting this vital and unique voice!

Will Hall
producer

email: radio@madnessradio.net

Madness Radio
Voices and Visions from Outside Mental Health.
Produced by freedom-center.org & theicarusproject.net, peer-run mental
health support communities.
Broadcast live weekly 6-7pm EST on FM Pacifica affiliates WXOJ-LP
Northampton Mass, & KWMD Kasilof, Alaska.

--
http://graemesgallery.5gbfree.com
http://theicarusproject.net/blog/graeme

Name That Psychiatric Illogic!

2008-02-03T20:50:00.001-08:00

Today's Topics:

1. Name that Psychiatric Illogic! (Chris Dubey)
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2008 17:28:54 -0500

From: Chris Dubey <chrisdubey@hotmail.com>

This is a game I designed to test people's ability to identify common logical fallacies and cognitive biases in psychiatric beliefs. You may distribute it to whomever, as long as you do not claim authorship of the game. People can also add new scenarios to the game or play solitaire. I have published the game to the Web, from which you can print copies of it.

Address: http://shimmersplash.livejournal.com/24719.html
Yours Truly,

Chris Dubey

Name That Psychiatric illogic!

Do you wonder what types of irrationality psychiatry often uses in its beliefs? "Name that Psychiatric Illogic!" is a game I authored, for the purpose of exposing common types of illogic in psychiatric beliefs. I first publicly presented the game on February 1, 2008 at the first meeting of the Connecticut Chapter of the Mad Students Society, an institution that tries to protect and support students in their relationship with psychiatry. In the game, the goal for players is to attempt to identify the logical fallacy or cognitive bias in each of a set of scenarios that relate to psychiatry. To play, first peruse the "List of Types of Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases." Then, working on a team or as an individual player, try to recognize the type of illogic in each scenario about psychiatry. You may reread the list of fallacies and biases for help. The Answer Key is at the end. The players with the most correct guesses win!

***

"List of Types of Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases"

Logical Fallacies

A logical fallacy is an irrational type of reasoning, usually one that makes false overgeneralizations that do not recognize the possibility for exceptions.

appeal to authority: Logical fallacy of believing that a claim is true, because the claimer is an expert in the associative topic. This is irrational because even experts can have false opinions.

ad hominem: Logical fallacy of believing that a claim is false, because the claimer is not an expert in the associative topic or the claimer possesses an unpleasant characteristic. The opposite of appeal to authority. This is illogical because a layperson with little knowledge in a topic can still have a true claim about that topic.

argumentum ad populum: Subtype of appeal to authority, logical fallacy of believing a claim is true, because the majority of people believe it is true. This is illogical because the majority of people can have the same false opinion.

misleading vividness: Logical fallacy of believing that a description of a singular, poignant example provides a realistic description of a generality. This is irrational because although a claim can be true about a poignant example, the claim can still be false about other cases.

appeal to emotion: Logical fallacy of believing that the validity of a claim depends on its type of emotional effect. This is irrational because an opinion can cause listeners to feel good and that opinion can still be false. Furthermore, a claim can cause listeners to feel bad and that claim can still be true.

argumentum ad consequentiam: Sometimes a subtype of appeal to emotion, logical fallacy of believing a claim is true because the consequences are pleasant. This is illogical, because, for example, a person’s belief that they are heterosexual can cause them to feel good, even if they are homosexual. Even though the belief has a pleasant effect, the belief can still be false.

straw man argument: Logical fallacy of claiming that all of a person’s beliefs are false, because the person has expressed, or appears to have expressed, a singular false belief. This fallacy can take other forms, but we will not examine those at this time.

Cognitive Biases

A cognitive bias is an assumption that a claim is true, with little questioning.

cultural bias: Assumption that a claim is true, because the claim agrees with the beliefs of the assumer’s culture.

confirmation bias: Assumption that a claim is true, because the claim agrees with the assumer's preexistent belief about that possibility and/or the assumer considers more of the evidence that the claim is true than the evidence that the claim is false.

bias blind spot: Assumption that a claim is true, because of the assumer’s ignorance of their cognitive biases.

***

"Name that Psychiatric Illogic!"

Goal: Working in teams or as individuals, players will attempt to identify the logical fallacy or cognitive bias in each of a set of scenarios that relate to psychiatry. Each type of fallacy or bias can appear multiple times or zero times.

The teams or individuals tied for the most identifications win!

Let’s begin! Can you name the type of illogic in each of these scenarios? Make a try.

1. Two commentators on a television show are discussing psychiatry. One is a psychiatrist and the other is a layperson. The layperson opines that a psychotropic caused him to gain weight and get diabetes. The psychiatrist declares that the layperson’s belief is false, because the layperson is not a psychiatrist and, therefore, does not possess the expertise to understand the psychotropic. What type of illogic is the psychiatrist using?

2. In a course about politics, Darla and Jon argue about involuntary medication of neuroatypical or “mentally ill” persons. Darla expresses her belief that the involuntary medication alters the biochemistry of the brains of the mentally ill, increasing specific chemicals in the brain that psychiatrists say make people happy. She cites a scientific study that shows that neuroatypical patients who received involuntary medication became more docile and friendly to their caretakers. This pleasant effect, she says, is proof that the medicine increased the specific chemicals in the brains of the mentally ill. Jon disagrees, saying that, instead of the involuntary medication, fear of the caretakers might be the cause of the change in the patients’ behavior. What type of irrationality is Darla using in her belief that the results prove the medicine alters levels of the specific chemicals?

3. At a psychiatric ward, the staff performs involuntary electroshock on ten depressive patients. The staff has read multitudinous reviews in scientific periodicals that state that electroshock always makes the patient happier and, because of those readings, the staff assumes that electroshock indeed causes a lighter mood. All of the patients refuse the electroshock, but the staff forces them to take it anyway. After the electroshock, nine of the patients report feeling happier as a result. Without wondering what else might cause the patients to report a higher level of happiness, the staff believes the patients’ reports, because of the staff’s assumption that electroshock always increases happiness. Later, after the ward discharges the ten patients, seven of the patients report to legal authorities that the involuntary electroshock done to them was a physical assault. When the legal authorities ask why the seven patients were dishonest to the psychiatric staff and said that the electroshock made them feel better, the patients admit that they gave a false report because they were under duress and afraid of more shock if they continued to express their unhappiness. What type of illogic did the staff of the psychiatric ward use in their belief that the electroshock made nine of the patients happier?

4. Carlyle says that every neuroatypical or “mentally ill” person has a tendency to physically harm other people and that all mentally ill people should be confined in asylums. He cites an example of a school shooter with a history of depression. In the example, the school shooter attempted suicide several times, was then involuntarily hospitalized and treated with multiple psychotropics, was released and placed on a regimen of the same psychotropics, later shot and killed several people at his school, and shot and killed himself. Carlyle claims that this example proves that all neuroatypical people are physically dangerous to others. What type of irrationality is Carlyle using in that claim?

5. Anna’s grandmother becomes distraught after the death of her husband. Her grandmother begins to have arguments with people that Anna can not see. Psychiatrists confine her grandmother in a psychiatric ward against her will, saying that her grandmother is psychotic and hallucinatory. Anna says that her grandmother is merely in grief, highly spiritual, and that her grandmother believes she is communicating with spirits and using that to deal with her grief. The psychiatrists are nonspiritual, secular, and believe that trying to talk to the dead is a sign of insanity. Because of their beliefs, the psychiatrists claim that Anna’s grandmother is psychotic. What type of illogic are the doctors using in that claim?

6. A judge is at a hearing to decide whether to implement a municipal program that will test all students in the public school for “mental illness.” Among the proponents, a group of psychiatrists say that the program will help hidden people with illness. Opponents say the test that the program will use is unscientific and has caused inaccurate results in other school systems. The test asks the student to answer questions such as “Have you ever felt nervous speaking in public?” and “Have you ever had trouble focusing in school?” After listening to the arguments, the judge authorizes the program. He does so because he believes that the psychiatrists are experts and, therefore, their opinions in their field must always be true. What type of illogic did the judge use in that belief?

7. A psychological researcher is doing a study about whether homosexual men, heterosexual men, or bisexual men are more productive employees. In the cases of one hundred employees, he finds that the homosexual and bisexual employees took fewer sick days than the heterosexual employees did. The researcher also finds that bosses made more formal complaints about male employees who were not purely heterosexual. The researcher knew that a possible cause of the higher complaints was prejudice against the sexual orientation of the homosexual and bisexual men, but he did not investigate this possibility further because he disbelieved it. The researcher concludes that heterosexual, male employees are more productive than either homosexual or bisexual, male employees, because the researcher is himself bigoted against queers. Although the researcher used a confirmation bias, he also used a type of illogic that ignored his cognitive bias. What type of illogic did the researcher use in his conclusion that the heterosexual employees were most productive?

8. A politician of a minor political party is debating with a reporter about health care. The politician expresses her belief that involuntary medical treatment is immoral and often does not cause the effect the treaters intend. The politician claims that, in the patients who take them, several specific psychotropics increase violence towards others. She cites some studies as evidence. The reporter nods and then recounts how the politician expressed an unpopular opinion last year, that an illegal drug should be legalized for use as a remedy for dementia. The reporter cites many studies that evinced that the illegal drug did not remedy dementia in tests of patients with the condition. Because the politician previously expressed an unpopular and apparently false opinion, the reporter says that all of the politician’s beliefs are false and the public should disbelieve her. What type of irrationality is the reporter using in this statement?

***

Answer Key

1. ad hominem.

2. argumentum ad consequentiam, appeal to emotion.

3. confirmation bias.

4. misleading vividness.

5. cultural bias.

6. appeal to authority.

7. bias blind spot.

8. straw man argument.

MEDICAID KIDS IN PSYCH-RX $urge

2008-02-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02032008/news/regionalnews/medicaid_kids_in_psych_rx_urge_702469.htm

MEDICAID KIDS IN PSYCH-RX $URGE

By SUSAN EDELMAN susan.edelman@nypost.com and MELISSA KLEIN

February 3, 2008 -- New York state's Medicaid program paid $82.8 million in 2006 for two dozen psychiatric drugs for tens of thousands of children - with many of the meds not FDA-approved for kids, records obtained by The Post show.

Use of the powerful antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and antidepressants once prescribed only for adults has skyrocketed as more New York kids are diagnosed with mental illnesses and behavioral disorders.

But experts fear some children may be misdiagnosed, overmedicated and at risk for horrendous side effects such as diabetes, breast growth in boys and suicidal tendencies. Most of the drugs have not been thoroughly tested or studied on kids. The psychiatric drugs are generally used - and can be effective - in treatment of schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, aggression and other behavior problems.

But state Health Department officials say they do not know what illnesses the children in the Medicaid program are suffering.

"Pharmacy claims do not require a diagnosis," a state Health Department spokeswoman said.

Claims are paid without question based on a doctor's judgment that the drug is "medically necessary," even when it's not approved for kids, Medicaid officials said. But they added that the state plans to look closer at how and why some drugs are prescribed.

The lucrative sale of the drugs also has drawn scrutiny from law-enforcement authorities in New York and other states. Several states are investigating whether pharmaceutical companies are illegally promoting the drugs to doctors "off label" - for uses not FDA approved.

Eli Lilly & Co. said last week it was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Pennsylvania seeking documents on the marketing of its best-selling antipsychotic, Zyprexa, which was prescribed to 2,647 New York Medicaid kids in 2006. Connecticut's attorney general has joined the probe.

John Milgrim, a spokesman for state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, would not comment on the Zyprexa case, but told The Post: "We currently have open investigations regarding this kind of conduct. Marketing of pharmaceuticals for off-label usage may be a fraud on the state Medicaid program."

Risperdal was given to 17,393 New York Medicaid kids in 2006, making it the most heavily prescribed psychiatric drug in the program. It was recently approved by the FDA to treat autism but is also often prescribed for bipolar disorder in kids. It's blamed in lawsuits nationwide for side effects including diabetes caused by weight gain, Parkinson's-like movement disorders and gynecomastia, in which males grow breasts.

Stephen Sheller, a Philadelphia lawyer, said he has filed suits in New Jersey on behalf of four boys, ages 14 to 16 - two who underwent mastectomies.

"You blitz the kids, and they're under control," Sheller said, noting that the drugs often cause drowsiness. "They're out of it."

Dr. Mark Olfson, a psychiatry professor at Columbia University Medical Center, led a study published in September that found outpatient treatment of kids for bipolar disorder rose 40-fold from 1994 to 2003. Doctors frequently prescribed the kids mood stabilizers, antipsychotics and antidepressants. The study found an "urgent need" to evaluate the drugs' safety and effectiveness.

Olfson said Friday that many kids need help. "The much greater problem is that we have large numbers of young people in the United States with mental-health problems who receive no treatment," he said.

Medicaid's 2006 expenditure of $82 million on psychiatric drugs for children was up $8 million from the previous year and $15 million from 2004. In all, Medicaid counted more than 85,000 child recipients of psychiatric drugs in 2006 but said that number duplicates kids who got two or more drugs.

Elderly taking some psychiatric drugs could die

2007-11-19T02:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.sptimes.com/
St. Petersburg Times
Dementia relief, with a huge side effect

The off-label use of some drugs is helping elderly patients, but may be killing thousands.

By KRIS HUNDLEY
November 18, 2007

Two years ago, federal regulators sounded a dire warning: Elderly people with dementia who take drugs like Seroquel, Risperdal and Zyprexa could suffer the ultimate side effect.

They could die.

Yet today, about one in four nursing home residents still take these antipsychotic drugs. Sales to the elderly continue to rise, generating a total of $13-billion in revenues for their manufacturers this year.

The disconnect between government warnings about the increased risk of death and physician prescribing practices led a prominent Food and Drug Administration safety expert to make a stunning estimate.

Dr. David Graham, who had blown the whistle on the dangers of Vioxx, was back before a congressional panel in February. He testified that Zyprexa and other antipsychotics kill about 15,000 nursing home residents each year.

His pronouncement did not spark any followup investigations; it did not prompt government-sponsored research for safer alternatives. Instead, there was resounding silence.

Why was there no outrage?

Barbara Hengstebeck, executive director of the Tallahassee-based Coalition to Protect America's Elders, thinks she knows.

"A lot of people feel like the elderly in nursing homes are expendable," she said. "They're old anyway, they have dementia anyway, they're of no value to society. So what's the big deal? That's a sad commentary."

But people who deal with dementia patients say it's a devil's dilemma. Yes, the drug might kill them. Then again, it might make their remaining days easier - not only for the patients but for those around them.

In nursing homes, where resources are strained and staff overworked, medication that can prevent residents from hurting themselves or others is often the only option, regardless of the risks.

"There are time restraints, financial restraints and limited resources," said Dr. Fadi Saba, a St. Petersburg internist who sees patients at several local nursing homes. "So we go to pharmaceutical intervention."

Psychosis and behavioral problems associated with dementia are the No. 1 reason people end up in nursing homes. If their behavior can be controlled with these drugs, sometimes they can stay home longer.

Robert Wager, an 89-year-old St. Pete Beach resident, was diagnosed three years ago with Alzheimer's disease, one of the leading causes of dementia. He would erupt into eye-popping rages over nothing.

"It would come out of the blue and all hell would break loose," his wife, Leora, said of the incidents, one triggered by dirty measuring spoons. "It was to the point where I was absolutely terrified."

Two years ago, Wager's doctor, David LeVine, recommended 2.5 mg of Zyprexa at bedtime. It has made all the difference.

"Now he's a pussycat," Leora said. "It's not like he's in a stupor. He's still active, walking the dog and pulling weeds. If he weren't on Zyprexa, he'd probably have to go somewhere."

LeVine, a family practice doctor and medical director at Menorah Manor in St. Petersburg, said he focuses on improving a terminal patient's quality of life.

"If it means speeding death slightly, there's some risk/benefit there," he said. "If it means being able to keep them in their homes longer, it's the quality of the time that they're here. That's why we keep prescribing these drugs."

Seroquel, Zyprexa and Risperdal are the bestselling brands in a class of drugs called atypical antipsychotics. Approved by the FDA during the 1990s, they were hailed as a major improvement over earlier antipsychotics, known as typicals.

Those drugs, including Haldol and Thorazine, could turn patients into zombies and cause severe shakes and involuntary facial tics. With atypicals, those side effects were far less likely.

The FDA approved atypicals only for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, diseases that affect just 1 percent of all adults. But doctors can prescribe drugs for unapproved, "off-label" uses. They quickly discovered that atypicals seemed to be effective in dealing with behavioral problems associated with dementia in the elderly.

"They calm a person down," Saba said. "And when you find something that works, you stick with it."

Eager to boost sales, drugmakers began targeting family practice doctors and nursing homes. Pharmaceutical reps should have been hamstrung: By law, drug companies are allowed to promote their products for FDA-approved uses only. And few elderly suffer from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

But legal restrictions only meant drug reps were smoother in their sales spiels.

Doctors like Amanda Smith at the Suncoast Alzheimer's and Gerontology Center in Tampa say that the reps know just how to avoid crossing the line. "A lot of this is ridiculous charade," said Smith, who said sales reps never specifically claimed their products worked for dementia.

"They know full well that we don't see anyone with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. But they figure if people are going to get something an atypical, they might as well get their product."

The extent of the charade at Eli Lilly & Co. can be seen in confidential marketing documents that became public late last year in response to thousands of lawsuits that claimed Zyprexa led to weight gain and diabetes in younger patients.

Buried in those documents are details abouthow the company created a 280-person "long-term care" sales force and internal memos that referred to nursing homes and assisted living facilities as an "opportunistic market."

Lilly also coached sales reps to approach family doctors, who would normally refer patients with schizophrenia to psychiatrists. During a "Viva Zyprexa" sales meeting in March 2001, company executives urged reps to build sales by using an imaginary patient dubbed "Martha."

Described as a widow who lives alone and is increasingly agitated, confused and unable to sleep, Martha was portrayed as an ideal candidate for Zyprexa.

"What's the first thing you notice about Martha?" Mike Bandick, Zyprexa's brand manager, asked the sales reps. "She's old!"

Martha's age "reinforces Zyprexa as a nursing home drug," Bandick said, but her symptoms also are commonly seen by family doctors.

"Agitation, tension, anger, hostility all show up in primary care in a variety of packages," he said.

Using the generic name for Zyprexa, Bandick told sales reps, "Olanzapine is the molecule that keeps on giving."

Marni Lemons, a Lilly spokeswoman, defended the company's sales to primary care physicians, saying they often deal with serious mental illness.

"We believe that it is absolutely appropriate to discuss Zyprexa and its indicated uses with primary care physicians in the interest of meeting a critical medical need," she said.

As it turned out, it was partly Lilly's desire to legitimize Zyprexa's use for dementia that led to the FDA's black-box warning. Lilly halted a study of the drug in the elderly population after it showed increased risk of death and strokes.

The FDA then analyzed data from 17 studies of four atypicals and found that the rate of death for elderly dementia patients treated with an atypical was 1.6 to 1.7 times that of a placebo. Most common causes of death were heart failure or pneumonia.

The FDA and researchers are not sure how atypicals increase the risk of death in the elderly, though they've long been aware of dangers with antipsychotics.

Since 1987, when medications like Haldol were widely used to control behavior, federal rules have required nursing homes to keep close tabs on the use of what are called "chemical restraints."

No physician in Florida prescribed more Zyprexa to elderly Medicaid patients last year than Dr. Laurence Petty, according to state data. A geriatrician for 17 years, his practice involves visiting more than 30 nursing homes in the Tampa Bay area.

Petty said the FDA's black-box warning on atypicals had no impact on his prescribing practices. Nor has the demand for these drugs lessened, he said, despite him spelling out the potentially fatal risk to patients and their relatives.

"I have family members asking me to put their moms and dads on something," he said. "It's hard to visit them in the nursing homes when they're screaming."

Ginny Hoar, consulting pharmacist at St. Petersburg's Bon Secours-Maria Manor, said she often suggests patients be weaned off atypicals, especially if staffers detect side effects like excessive drowsiness or falling.

Hoar recently found that 60 of 260 patients at Maria Manor were on atypicals. She recommended discontinuing the treatment for just two of them.

"The FDA can put out a black-box warning, but that doesn't mean the disruptive behavior just goes away," she said. "You have to consider the risks if we don't use the medicine. But it would be nice if there were other options."

There are other options, but they take time, money and effort.

At the Cobble Hill Health Center in Brooklyn, Dr. Louis Mudannayake decided to try to change the thinking at his 400-bed nursing home.

Ignoring naysayers and the doomsday predictions of senior nurses, 18 months ago he put together a team of pharmacists, social workers and recreational therapists to review every atypical prescription.

If a new roommate caused agitation, room assignments were changed. If a new aide was hit while dressing a patient, the aide was given special training on that patient's preferences and routine.

Though the nursing home's resources were initially stretched, Mudannayake said the quality of patients' lives improved. "Ultimately, I'm convinced financial expenditures will be diminished, because it's easier to manage a patient who is calm," he said.

Atypical use at Cobble Hill has been cut from about 25 percent of patients to about 10 percent, he said. Almost 40 percent of patients were taken off the drugs completely; 75 percent of those still on the drugs have had their dosage reduced.

"We instituted a cultural change. That's what's required to bring the numbers down," said Mudannayake, who said psychiatric hospitalizations did not increase as medication dropped.

"You'll always have doctors say there's nothing else to use but atypicals, and I agree there are a small minority of patients where you need to use these drugs. But not in the numbers we are using them."

Despite an undeniable and growing need for safer medications to control dementia, drug companies have little incentive to develop such drugs when their existing products are still bringing in billions.

Though Lilly warned doctors in 2004 that Zyprexa can cause death in the elderly, last year the over-64 age group still accounted for more than 26 percent of the drug's total prescriptions. Zyprexa had $4.4-billion in sales last year.

"There's very high risk for trying to study new drugs in older patients because it's always more complicated," said Dr. Bruce Pollock, with the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest in Toronto.

"But what good does it do if drug trials are only conducted in healthy, middle-aged people with only one condition? It's a disservice to the biggest consumers of pharmacy that we don't have adequate data."

About the drugs

What the FDA said: Based on results from 17 trials, the agency concluded in April 2005 that the death rate for patients on atypical antipsychotics was about 1.6 to 1.7 times higher for elderly patients with dementia than for those taking a placebo.

What's a black-box warning? So named because of the black border that surrounds it on the drug label, it's the FDA-required disclosure that a drug can have serious or life-threatening side effects.

What drugs got black-box warnings? Abilify, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Risperdal, Clozaril, Geodon and Symbyax (a combination atypical and antidepressant)

Top-selling atypicals: total 2006 sales, percent of Rx to elderly
Seroquel: $3.4-billion, 19 percent to patients over 64
Risperdal: $4.2-billion, 19.7 percent to patients over 64
Zyprexa: $4.4-billion, 26.6 percent to patients over 64
Source: Company reports, Verispan

'What are some of the other red flags we should be watching for?'

Testifying at a congressional hearing, Dr. David Graham, a prominent FDA drug safety expert, was asked if he had issues with any medications already on the market.
"I would pay careful attention to antipsychotic medications. ... The problem with these drugs are that we know that they are being used extensively off-label in nursing homes to sedate elderly patients with dementia and other types of disorders.

"But the fact is, is that it increases mortality perhaps by 100 percent. It doubles mortality. So I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation on this and you have probably got 15,000 elderly people in nursing homes dying each year from the off-label use of antipsychotic medications.

"With every pill that gets dispensed in a nursing home, the drug company is laughing all the way to the bank."

Don Weitz's speech about psychiatric abuse

2007-11-08T08:07:00.001-08:00

Above is a picture of Don Weitz, an antipsychiatry activist from Toronoto

Read this powerful speech by Don Weitz:

STOP PSYCHIATRIC ABUSES - ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
(draft speech for Antipoverty Day of Action, September 26, 2007)
by Don Weitz

I want to thank the Disability Action Movement Now/ DAMN, particularly Loree and AJ, for giving me the opportunity to say a few words today at this historic event in our continuing struggle for human rights. Since I'm also a psychiatric survivor, I say Hi to and eagerly embrace all other survivors, people with disabilities, and antipoverty activists who are here today, who have the courage and fighting spirit and who are making common cause for justice and human rights long-delayed. NO JUSTICE-NO PEACE.

Today, we are making some very good and necessary and just demands on this corrupt McGuinty-Liberal government that specializes in breaking promises and violating our human rights. Of course, I support all our demands, particularly immediate raise in the minimum wage, an immediate 40% raise in ODSP and welfare rates, and affordable housing NOW - like a crash program of building 3000 affordable housing units a year for the next 5 years for homeless brothers and sisters. As I speak, hundreds or thousands of psychiatric survivors are homeless and on the street - homelessness drives them mad or crazy, it also kills them. So-called "mental illness" doesn't cause homelessness--governments and corporations cause homelessness.

I want to focus on one of our huge and urgent demands:
STOP PSYCHIATRIC ABUSES INCLUDING FORCED DRUGGING, ELECTROSHOCK AND COMMUNITY TREATMENT ORDERS. These are extremely destructive and dehumanizing and psychiatric procedures (not treatments) that have harmed and sometimes killed our brothers-and-sisters in the psychiatric system and community.

Forced drugging is an assault, a crime. It's administering brain-damaging antidepressants and neuroleptics to people against their will or without informed consent. There's no informed consent in psychiatry, it's a cruel sham because refusing psychiatric treatment on coercive and intimidating psychiatric wards in Ontario and other provinces is virtually impossible. Some of the more horrific, tragic and direct effects (not "side effects") of antidepressants like Prozac and Paxil are suicidal ideas, mania or agitation, and sudden homicidal violence. Some of the direct effects of the neuroleptics or so-called "antipsychotics" are neurological disorders like Parkinsonism, Tardive Dyskinesia (a grotesque and permanent neurological disorder), and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome (a neurological and life-threatening disorder) - they all indicate brain damage, a medical fact minimized or denied by the psychiatrists. I should also point out that proportionately more women than men are drugged.

Electroshock ("electroconvulsive therapy" or "ECT")) is a barbaric psychiatric procedure that always causes brain damage, including permanent memory loss, and other intellectual impairments including problems concentrating, reading and learning new material after a series of shocks. Women, particularly elderly women, are the prime targets of electroshock; According to ECT statistics I've collected over several years from the Ontario government's Ministry of Health, 2-3 times more women than men are electroshocked. Women diagnosed with postpartum depression and elderly women including those 80 and older have been shocked and experienced it as torture! Clearly, electroshock isn't just a human rights issue but primarily a women's issue, its time it was publicly recognized as such.

Community treatment orders (CTOs) are the more recent state-sanctioned psychiatric assaults on the mind and freedom of psychiatric survivors. Ontario's CTO law was proclaimed into law in the Mental Health Act in 2000 under the repressive Harris-Tory government, unfortunately the McGuinty-Liberal government is still enforcing CTOs. Essentially, a CTO is a doctor's order giving the psychiatrist or another doctor the authority to forcibly drug you after you've already been locked up and "treated" 2 or 3 times and after you've been released from the hospital. It's like being put on psychiatric probation in the community, a CTO is in force for 6 months at a time, it can be renewed almost indefinitely, appeals are generally useless since the psychiatrist's opinion carries more weight than the patient testimony. Psychiatric survivor-activists and other critics call CTO a leash law. It's time to outlaw CTOs. HEY-HEY, HO-HO, CTOS HAVE GOT TO GO!

Forced drugging, electroshock and community treatment orders are assaults and must be stopped. That is a big demand and challenge. I make another demand on this government: Call and hold public hearings on forced drugging, electroshock and community treatment orders. If not now, when? NO JUSTICE-NO PEACE!

**********************************************************************************

Tell me your story

2007-11-08T07:26:00.001-08:00

Tell me story. If you want me to keep it confidential I will, you can be assured.

Let me know what psychiatry did to you.

Do you want me put your story on this blog? If you want me to to I will. Keep it to two pages if you can, three maximum. No names of people involved like doctors etc. Hospitals names ok. You can put your story anonymously if you want, that is up to you.

I wanted people to have a chance to put up their stories.

If you want to have a blog of your own, go to blogger.com and it easy to set up a blog for yourself.
There are countless free blogs on the internet.

Self expression is very important. Break the silence by telling your story today. Writing about what happened to you can be a healing experience, it was for me.

You can email your story to me: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com

Thank you. Sue Clark-Wittenberg.

Sue and Steven's ECT videos on youtube.com

2007-11-08T07:14:00.000-08:00

See all of our videos on youtube.com exposing ECT as brain damaging. To see our 24 videos - go to this URL:

URL http://www.youtube.com/writers9065

We are looking for someone with a good digital video camera to make our future videos. If interested, please see the contact information below:

You can email us at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com or call us in Ottawa at 613-721-1833.

We welcome your feedback.

Psychiatric drugs can cause brain damage

2007-11-06T10:44:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Psychiatric drugs can cause brain damage

Book Review

The Anti-Depressant Fact Book

What Your Doctor Won't Tell You
About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox

Perseus Publishing - Cambridge, Massachusetts
copyright 2001, paperback

by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.

reviewed by
Douglas A. Smith

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because it says so clearly and convincingly what I have believed for a long time about the myth of biologically caused depression and about so-called antidepressant drugs and so-called electroconvulsive "therapy" (ECT).
Of the idea of biologically caused depression, the author, psychiatrist Peter Breggin, says "It is a mistake to view depressed feelings or even severely depressed feelings as a 'disease'" (p. 14) and "There is still no reason to define grief, dejection, or melancholia as a 'disease' simply because it is severe or lasting" (p. 19). He says "...in psychiatry, none of the problems are proven to originate in the brain" (p. 169) and that "Depression is never defined by an objective physical finding, such as a blood test or brain scan. ... Attempts have also been made to find physical markers for depression, the equivalent of lab tests that indicate liver disease or a recent heart attack. Despite decades of research, thousands of research studies, and hundreds of millions of dollars in expense, no marker for depression has been found" (pp. 18 & 22).
Of the theory behind the so-called SSRI or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor "antidepressants" Dr. Breggin says "In reality, science does not have the ability to measure the levels of any biochemical in the tiny spaces between nerve cells (the synapses) in the brain of a human being. All the talk about biochemical imbalances is sheer speculation aimed at promoting psychiatric drugs. ... science has almost no understanding of how the widespread serotonin system functions in the brain. Basically, we don't know what it does." (pp. 21 & 42).
Of drugs used to "treat" this nonexistent disease called depression he says "The term 'antidepressant' should always be thought of with quotation marks around it because there is little or no reason to believe that these drugs target depression or depressed feelings" (p. 14). He says "Impairing our emotional awareness and our intellectual acuity with psychoactive drugs such as SSRI antidepressants [including Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft] tends to impede the process of overcoming depression" (p. 26). About the foolishness of the beliefs of most people about psychiatric drugs he says:

Overall, we're a rather sophisticated citizenry with a fairly high index of suspicion about the products we buy and the corporations that influence our lives. But something happens to us when we are dealing with companies that make prescription medicines. Perhaps it's the aura of FDA approval. Perhaps it's the passage of these drugs through the trusted hands of our physicians. Perhaps it's the cleverness of the ad campaigns. Perhaps we just can't believe that anyone would sell poison as if it were a miracle cure. [p. 2]

That's right: He said "poison." Psychiatric drugs are poisons. In a chapter titled "Damaging the Brain with SSRI Antidepressants," Dr. Breggin says "the evidence is piling up that SSRIs cause permanent brain damage" (p. 38). Let's stop concealing or minimizing this truth as we do when we call psychiatric drugs "medications" or say they are merely "ineffective" or "harmful" or even "neurotoxic." Lawyers trying to defend us from outpatient commitment laws (as they are called in the USA) or laws authorizing "community treatment orders" (CTOs) (as such laws are called in Canada) should stop accepting the terminology of those advocating forced psychiatric drugging. Lawyers trying to defend us from forced psychiatric drugging should not go into court and say the so-called patient should not be ordered "to take his medication." Because psychiatric drugs are poisons, and because most that are administered by force cause permanent brain damage, lawyers representing people threatened with forced psychiatric drugging should tell it like it is and say, "Judge, the question presented for your decision today is whether my client should be ordered to swallow poison - poison that is known to cause permanent brain damage." Letting advocates of forced psychiatric treatment get away with calling brain-damaging poisons "medications" is hurting our cause. It has been said: Whoever controls the language controls the perceived reality of those who have it. Let's not let the advocates of forced psychiatric "treatment" and those who would persuade gullible people to take harmful drugs win because they use deceptive semantics.
In the Introduction Dr. Breggin reveals why pharmaceutical companies would do something as evil as hoodwink people into believing poisons are in fact miracle cures. He says: "In the previous year [1999], Prozac had generated more than one-quarter of the company's [Eli Lilly & Company's] $10 billion in revenue" and that "Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil are among the top-selling drugs in the United States, with total sales exceeding $4 billion per year" (p. 1). We apparently can't expect pharmaceutical companies to bypass enormous profits just because the drugs they sell are hurting people.
Throughout this book Dr. Breggin points an accusing finger at the USA's Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is given the responsibility of keeping harmful drugs off the market in the USA. After reviewing how the FDA had to accept misleading, manipulated data to approve SSRI antidepressants as safe and effective, and after reviewing the harm done by these drugs, he says "If the FDA had been more responsible, these continuing tragedies could have been avoided. ... When I began my review of FDA documents as a medical expert in product liability suits against Eli Lilly and Co., I was shocked and disillusioned by what I found. Until that time, I had not fully confronted the willingness of the FDA to protect drug companies, even at the cost of human life." (pp. 78-79). He says "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has forsaken its watchdog role. Instead, FDA officials climb like puppies into the laps of drug company executives who might some day hire them at enormous salaries" (p. 181).
One of the reasons I like this book is in it Dr. Breggin is as bold as he has been in any of his previous books when describing the pseudoscience called biological psychiatry and the harm done by its so-called treatments. For example, speaking of psychiatric drugs he says -

"If a drug has an effect on the brain, it is harming the brain. Science has not found or synthesized any psychoactive substances that improve normal brain function. Instead, all of them impair brain function. ... antidepressants are typically prescribed in doses that cause a wide variety of adverse effects in most patients and significantly harm a great many people" (p. 168).
"FDA approval by no means indicates that a drug is truly effective. ... the combined efforts of the drug company and the FDA could not come up with even one good study that unequivocally supported the value of Prozac in comparison to placebo" (p. 151).
"Overall, the results suggest that placebo is actually much better than an antidepressant" (p. 145).
"If anything, as I've already indicated, antidepressants worsen severe depression and suicidal tendencies" (p. 170).
"Nothing reinforces depression more than having your brain befuddled by psychiatric drugs, unless it is having your mind befuddled by false ideas about the biological or genetic origin of your suffering" (p. 189).
"Lithium, for example, is a toxic element that suppresses over-all brain function..." (p. 125)
"There are so many potential hazards involved in taking SSRIs that no physician is capable of remembering all of them and no patient can be adequately informed about the dangers without spending days or weeks reviewing the subject in a medical library" (p. 107).

Of electroconvulsive "therapy" (ECT) he says -

"Damaging the brain to impair brain function lies at the heart of all the physical treatments in psychiatry. Shock and lobotomy are merely the most egregious examples" (p. 155, italics in original).
He deplores "the willingness of psychiatry to defend its treatments no matter how obviously damaging to the brain" (ibid).
"In my clinical and forensic experience, patients and their families are never told the truth about how dangerous shock is; otherwise they would not consent to it. Shock advocates tend to tell patients that memory loss is temporary and surrounds the treatment time only, when in reality the memory loss can wipe out years of educational and career knowledge. ... Nurses, teachers, and other professionals may never again be able to function in their jobs. Like head injury patients from other causes, such as automobile accidents and lighting strikes, general mental function is often impaired for the rest of their lives. Advocates [of ECT] ignore this by chalking it up to the patient's 'mental illness.'" (pp. 160-161).
"Electroshock treatment causes brain damage and, in my clinical experience, can cause lasting depression" (p. 141). This of course is in contrast to psychiatry's claim that by some unknown means ECT relieves depression.
"The question is not 'Does shock treatment cause brain dysfunction and damage?' A series of shocks to the head sufficient to cause convulsions will always produce brain dysfunction and damage. The real question is 'How completely can a person recover from shock?'" (p. 162).
Advocates of shock claim that newer methods make it safer. ... Instead, it's more dangerous. ... modified ECT requires the use of higher amounts of electrical charge than were used in the early animal experiments that showed brain damage and cell death" (p. 163).
"In my clinical experience, the brain damage [caused by electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT] makes people feel more hopeless and resentful, and hence more suicidal" (p. 164).
"Several state legislatures have passed laws banning shock treatment for children. It's now time to ban it for adults a well" (p. 165).

This book is a fairly short (200 page), recent (2001) book that neatly summarizes many of the best arguments against biological psychiatry. I recommend it highly.
----------------
Dr. Peter R. Breggin has a huge website where all his book are listed: www.breggin.com

Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry:
Drugs, Electroshock, and the Role of the FDA
by Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
Springer Publishing Company (1997)
Reprinted with permission of Springer Publishing Company & Dr. Peter Breggin, M.D.

Order This book now by clicking here

Chapter 1: The Brain-Disabling Principles of Psychiatric Treatment

The last decade has seen escalating reliance upon psychiatric drugs, not only within psychiatry, but throughout medicine, mental health, and even education. Nearly every patient who is psychiatrically hospitalized is encouraged or forced to take medications. There is a movement within psychiatry to make it easier to force clinic outpatients to take long-acting injections of drugs. In private practice psychiatry, it is common to give patients a medication on the first visit and then to instruct them that they will need drugs for their lifetime. Family practitioners, internists, and other physicians liberally dispense antidepressants and minor tranquilizers. Nonmedical professionals, such as psychologists and social workers, feel obliged to refer their patients for drug evaluations. Managed care aggressively pushes drugs to the exclusion of psychotherapy. Adult medications are increasingly prescribed for children.
Laypersons have joined in the enthusiasm for drugs. Because of media support for medication, as well as direct advertising and promotion to the public, patients frequently arrive at the doctor’s office with the name of a psychiatric drug already in mind. Teachers often recommend children for drug evaluation or treatment.
As a part of this overall resurgence in biological psychiatry, electroshock has become increasingly popular. Even psychosurgery once again has its vociferous advocates (reviewed in Breggin & Breggin, 1994b).
This “drug revolution” views psychiatric medications as far more helpful than harmful, even as an unmitigated blessing. Much as insulin or penicillin, they are frequently seen as specific treatments for specific illnesses. Often they are said to correct biochemical imbalances in the brain. These beliefs have created an environment in which emphasis upon adverse drug effects is greeted without enthusiasm and criticism of psychiatric medication in principle is uncommon heresy.
This book takes a decidedly different viewpoint – that psychiatric drugs achieve their primary or essential effect by causing brain dysfunction, and that they tend to do far more harm than good. I will show that psychiatric drugs are not specific treatments for any particular “mental disorder.” Instead of correcting biochemical imbalances, psychiatric drugs cause them, sometimes permanently.
The critiques in this book coincide with an alternative view that psychological, social, educational, and spiritual approaches are the most effective in helping individuals to overcome their personal problems and to live more fulfilling lives. I have described some of these approaches elsewhere (e.g., Breggin, 1991a, 1992a, 1997; Breggin & Breggin, 19941; Breggin & Stern, 1996). Many others have continued to voice strong criticism of the biological model and physical treatments from a variety of perspectives (Armstrong, 1993; Breeding, 1996; Caplan, 1995; Cohen, 2990; Colbert, 1995; Fisher & Greenberg, 1989; Grobe, 1995; Jacobs, 1995; Kirk & Kutchins, 1992; Modrow, 1992; Mosher & Burti, 1989; Romme & Escher, 1993; Sharkey, 1994). Here I want to re-evaluate the underlying assumptions used to justify drug and shock treatment in psychiatry, and to document their brain-disabling and brain-damaging effects.
The principles that are introduced in this chapter will be documented and elaborated throughout the book. Therefore, citations will be omitted in chapter 1.

Principles of Brain-Disabling Treatment

Modern psychiatric drug treatment gains its credibility from a number of assumptions that professionals and laypersons alike too often accept as scientifically proven. These underlying assumptions qualify as myths: fictions that support a belief system and a set of practices. In contrast to these myths, this book identifies principles of psychopharmacology that are based on scientific and clinical evidence, as well as on common sense. Together these form the brain-disabling principles of psychiatric treatment. While the book in its entirety provides the evidence for these principles, this chapter will summarize them:

I. All biopsychiatric treatments share a common mode of action – the disruption of normal brain function.

Pharmacologists speak of a drug’s therapeutic index, the dosage ratio between the beneficial effect and the toxic effect. The first brain-disabling principle of psychiatric treatment reveals that the toxic dose is the therapeutic effect. This same principle applies to electroshock and psychosurgery.
The brain-disabling principle states that as soon as toxicity is reached the drug begins to have a psychoactive effect, that is, it begins to affect the brain and mind. Without toxicity, the drug would have no psychoactive effect.

II. All biopsychiatric interventions cause generalized brain dysfunction.

Although specific treatments do have recognizable different effects on the brain, they share the capacity to produce generalized dysfunction with some degree of impairment across the spectrum of emotional and intellectual function. Because the brain is so highly integrated, it is not possible to disable circumscribed mental functions without impairing a variety of them. For example, even the production of a slight emotional dullness, lethargy, or fatigue is likely to impair cognitive functions such as attention, concentration, alertness, self-concern or self-awareness, and social sensitivity.
Shock treatment and psychosurgery always produce obvious generalized dysfunction. Some medications may not obviously produce these effects in their minimal dose range, but they may also lack any substantial “therapeutic effect” in that range.

III. Biopsychiatric treatments have their “therapeutic” effect by impairing higher human functions, including emotional responsiveness, social sensitivity, self-awareness or self-insight, autonomy, and self-determination. More drastic effects include apathy, euphoria¹, and lobotomy-like indifference.

Higher mental, psychological, and spiritual functioning are impaired by biopsychiatric interventions as a result of generalized brain dysfunction, as well as specific effects on the frontal lobes, limbic system, and other structures. Sometimes there is a lobotomy-like indifference to self and to others – a syndrome that I have called deactivation (see chapters 2 and 4 of this volume).
Biopsychiatric treatments are deemed effective when the physician and/or the patient prefer a state of diminished brain function with its narrowed range of mental capacity or emotional expression. If the drugged individual reports feeling more effective and powerful, it is most likely based on an unrealistic appraisal, impaired judgment, or euphoria. When patients on “maintenance doses” do not experience noticeable effects, either the dose is too low to have a clinical effect or the patient is unable to perceive the drug’s impact.

IV. Each biopsychiatric treatment produces its essential or primary brain-disabling effect on all people, including normal volunteers and patients with varied psychiatric diagnoses.

Despite the deeply held convictions of drug proponents, there are no specific psychoactive drug treatments for specific mental disorders.
There is, of course, a certain amount of biological and psychological variation in the way people respond to drugs, shock treatment, or even lobotomy or an accidental head injury. However, as a general principle, biopsychiatric interventions have a nonspecific impact that does not depend on the person’s mental state or condition. For example, it will be shown that neuroleptics and lithium affect animals and normal volunteers in much the same way as they affect patients.

V. Patients respond to brain-disabling treatments with their own psychological reactions, such as apathy, euphoria, compliance or resentment.

There is some variation in the way individuals respond to drugs. For example, the same antidepressant will make one person sleepy and another energized. Ritalin quiets many children but agitates others.
It can be very difficult to separate out drug-induced form psychologically induced responses. For example, nearly all of the antidepressants can cause euphoria and mania². At the same time, some of the people who receive these drugs have their own tendency to develop these mental states. Similarly, a variety of drugs are capable of generating agitation and hostility in patients, yet people can develop these responses without medication. The docility and compliance seen following the administration of neuroleptics can be caused by the drug-induced deactivation syndrome, but can also result from the patient’s realization that further resistance is futile or dangerous.
Later in this chapter, I will introduce the concept of iatrogenic helplessness and denial which addresses the combined neurological and psychological impact of biopsychiatric treatment. In chapter 11, I will discuss some of the criteria for determining that a drug can itself cause abnormal mental and emotional responses, including destructive behavior.

VI. The mental and emotional suffering routinely treated with biopsychiatric interventions have no known genetic and biological cause.

Despite more than two hundred years of intensive research, no commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorders have been proven to be either genetic or biological in origin, including schizophrenia, major depression, manic-depressive disorder, the various anxiety disorders, and childhood disorders such as attention-deficit hyperactivity.
At present, there are no know biochemical imbalances in the brain of typical psychiatric patients – until they are given psychiatric drugs. It is speculative an even naïve to assert that antidepressants such as Prozac correct underactive serotonergic neurotransmission (a serotonin biochemical imbalance), or that neuroleptics such as Haldol correct overactive dopaminergic neurotransmission (a dopamine imbalance). The failure to demonstrate the existence of any brain abnormality in psychiatric patients, despite decades of intensive effort, suggests that these defects do not exist.
It seems theoretically possible that some of the problems treated by psychiatrists could eventually be proven to have a biological basis. For example, mental function often improves when certain physical disorders, such as hypothyroidism or Cushing’s Syndrome, are adequately treated.
However, the vast majority of problems routinely treated by psychiatrists do not remotely resemble diseases of the brain (see chapters 5 and 9). For example, they do not produce the cognitive deficits in memory or abstract reasoning characteristic of brain disorders. They are not accompanied by fever or laboratory signs of illness. To the contrary, neurological and neuropsychological testing usually indicate normal if not superior brain function, and the body is healthy. There seems little likelihood that any of the routinely treated psychiatric problems are based on brain malfunction rather than on the life experiences of individuals with normal brains.
If some patients diagnosed with major depression or schizophrenia do turn out to have subtle biochemical imbalances, this would not justify current biopsychiatric practice. Since these presumed imbalances have not yet been identified, it makes no sense to give toxic drugs, including the currently available antidepressants and neuroleptics, all of which grossly impair brain function.
To claim that an irrational or emotionally distressed state in itself amounts to impaired brain function is simply false. An analogy to television may illustrate why this is so. If a TV program is offensive or irrational, it does not indicate that anything is wrong with the hardware or electronics of the television set. It makes no sense to attribute the bad programming to bad wiring. Similarly, a person can be very disturbed psychologically without any corresponding defect in the “wiring” of the brain. However, the argument is moot, since no contemporary biopsychiatric interventions can truthfully claim to correct a brain malfunction the way an electronics expert can fix a television set. Instead we blindly inflict toxic substances on a brain that is far more subtle and vulnerable to harm than a television set. We even shock or mutilate the brain in ways that would appall TV repair persons or their customers, while ruining their television sets.
It is often suggested that persons suffering from extremes of emotional disorder, such as hallucinations and delusions, or suicidal and murderous impulses, are sufficiently abnormal to require a biological explanation. However, the emotional life of human beings has always included a wide spectrum of mental and behavioral activity. That a particular mental state or action is especially irrational or destructive does not, per se, indicate a physical origin. If extremes require biological explanation, then it would be more compelling to ascribe extremely ethical, rational, and loving behaviors to genetic and biological causes, since they are especially rare in human life.
The fact that a drug “works” – that is, influences the brain and mind in a seemingly positive fashion – does not confirm that the individual suffers from an underlying biological disorder. Throughout recorded history, individuals have medicated themselves for a variety of spiritual and psychological reasons, form the quest for a higher state of consciousness to a desire to make life more bearable. Alcoholic beverages, coffee and tea, tobacco, and marijuana are commonly consumed by people to improve their sense of well-being. Yet there’s no reason to believe that the results they obtain are due to an underlying biochemical imbalance.

VII. To the extent that a disorder of the brain or mind already afflicts the individual, currently available biopsychiatric interventions will worsen or add to the disorder.

The currently available biopsychiatric treatments are not specific for any known disorder of the brain. One and all, they disrupt normal brain function without correcting any brain abnormality. Therefore, if a patient is suffering from a known physical disorder of the brain, biopsychiatric treatment can only worsen or add to it. A classic example involves giving Haldol to control emotionally upset Alzheimer patients. While subduing their behavior, the drug worsens their dementia.
After psychiatric drugs are developed and marketed by drug companies, attempts are made to justify their use on the basis of correcting presumed biochemical imbalances. For example, it is claimed that Prozac helps by improving serotonergic neurotransmission. Even electroshock and lobotomy are justified on the grounds that they correct biochemical imbalances. There is no likelihood that these intrusions correct a biochemical imbalance. Too wide a variety of brain-disabling agents are used to treat every disorder – everything from Prozac to Xanax to electroshock is prescribed for depression – and each treatment ends up disrupting innumerable brain functions. In reality, all currently available biopsychiatric interventions cause direct harm to the brain and hence to the mind without correcting any known malfunctions.

VIII. Individual biopsychiatric treatments are not specific for particular mental disorders.

It is often said that psychiatry has specific treatments for specific diagnostic categories of patients: for example, neuroleptics for schizophrenia, antidepressants for depression, minor tranquilizers for anxiety, lithium for mania, and stimulants, such as Ritalin, for attention-deficit hyperactivity. In actual practice, many individual patients labeled schizophrenic to be initially treated with neuroleptics or for depressed patients to be initially prescribed to be initially prescribed antidepressants, this is, in part, a matter of convention within the profession.
When a drug seems more effective in a particular disorder, it often depends on whether it has a suppressive or an energizing effect on the CNS. For example, if depressed patients are already emotionally and physical slowed down, giving them a neuroleptic that causes psychomotor retardation would tend to make them look worse. These patients are more likely to seem improved when artificially energized. Conversely, if schizophrenic patients are agitated and difficult to control, it would not make sense to give them stimulants. They are more likely to be judged “improved” when taking a neuroleptic that reduces or flattens their overall emotional responsiveness. These gross behavioral effects, however, are a far cry from having a “magic bullet” for a specific disease.

IX. The brain attempts to compensate physically for the disabling effects of biopsychiatric interventions, frequently causing additional adverse reactions and withdrawal problems.

The brain does not welcome psychiatric medications as nutrients. Instead, the brain reacts against them as toxic agents and attempts to overcome their disruptive impact. For example, when Prozac induces an excess of serotonin in the synaptic cleft, the brain compensates by reducing the output of serotonin at the nerve endings and by reducing the number of receptors in the synapse that can receive the serotonin. Similarly, when Haldol reduces reactivity in the dopaminergic system, the brain compensates, producing hyperactivity in the same system by increasing the number and sensitivity of dopamine receptors.
It is difficult if not impossible to accurately determine the underlying psychological condition of a person who is taking psychiatric drugs. There are so many complicating factors, including the drug’s brain-disabling effect, the brain’s compensatory reactions, and the patient’s psychological responses to taking the drug.
Because the brain attempts to compensate for the effects of most psychoactive drugs, patients can have difficulty withdrawing from most psychiatric medications. Physically, the brain cannot recover from the drug effects as quickly as the drug is withdrawn, so that the compensatory mechanism can require weeks or months to recover after the drug has been withdrawn. Sometimes, as in tardive dyskinesia, the brain fails to recover. Psychologically, individuals fear that their emotional suffering will worsen without the medication. They may have been told by psychiatrists that they require the medication for the rest of their lives. This can make withdrawal even more difficult.

X. Patients subjected to biopsychiatric interventions often display poor judgment about the positive and negative effects of the treatment on their functioning.

Generalized brain dysfunction tends to reduce the individual's ability to perceive the dysfunction. Impaired individuals not only tend to minimize their dysfunction, they often see themselves as performing better than ever. Individuals intoxicated with alcohol, for example, often show poor judgment in estimating their capacity to drive an automobile or to carry on a sensible conversation. Many individuals who chronically smoke marijuana believe that it improves their overall psychological and social functioning, but if they withdraw from the drug, it may become apparent to them that their memory, mental alertness, emotional sensitivity, and social skills have been impaired while using the drug. People intoxicated with stimulants, such as amphetamine, may feel they have superior or even superhuman capacities, when they are often seriously impaired. The same is true of all psychiatric drugs. Often the patient will have little appreciation for the degree of mental or emotional impairment until the drug has been stopped for some time and the brain has had time to recover.
In my experience as a clinician and forensic medical expert, I have seen patients remain for years in severe states of intoxication from one or more psychiatric drugs without realizing it. Attributing their condition to their own emotional reactions or to stresses in the environment, they may ask for more medication.
After shock treatment and psychosurgery, patients may also fail to understand the iatrogenic source of their mental dysfunction and instead believe that they need further interventions.
The failure to perceive the extent of treatment-induced impairment can have several interrelated psychological and physiological bases:

Psychological denial. Individuals overcome by emotional suffering are likely to deny the degree of their psychological dysfunction. They don't want to admit to being severely mentally impaired. If they are hoping to fell better with the use of a drug, their denial can be further reinforced.
Placebo effect. Patients have faith that biopsychiatric interventions will be helpful rather than harmful, encouraging them to disregard drug-induced dysfunction or to mistakenly attribute it to their emotional problems.
Compliance. To an extraordinary extent, patients will tell doctors what the doctors want to hear. If a psychiatrist clearly wants to hear that a drug is helpful, and not harmful, many patients will comply by giving false information or by withholding contradictory evidence.
Psychologically induced confusion. Emotionally upset individuals can easily lose their judgment concerning the cause of their worsening condition. They can easily mistake a negative drug effect, such as rebound anxiety from a minor tranquilizer or depression from a neuroleptic, for a worsening of their emotional problems. Typically, they blame themselves rather than the medication. This confusion is abetted when the physician exaggerates the drug's benefits and fails to inform the patient of its potential adverse effects.
Drug-induced confusion. Almost all biopsychiatric interventions can at times induce confusion, impairing the patient's awareness of the drug-induced mental dysfunction.
Drug-induced anosognosia. Anosognosia refers to the capacity of brain damage to cause denial of lost function. Anosognosia is a hallmark of central nervous system (CNS) disability (see below and chapter 5). It has physical basis in addition to a psychological one.

XI. Physicians who prescribe biopsychiatric interventions often have an unrealistic appraisal of their risks and benefits.

In recent years, doubt has been thrown on the objectivity of controlled clinical trials in which drugs are compared to placebo or to alternative medications (see chapters 6 and 11). Too often the investigators are influenced by their conscious or unconscious biases.
If clinical and scientific studies can be distorted by bias, it is even more likely that routine clinical practice will be affected by the hopes and expectations of the prescribing physician. Physicians in great numbers have prescribed drugs with unbounded enthusiasm for years before the agents have proven to be worthless or unacceptably dangerous. Amphetamines, for example, were freely dispensed for many years to millions of patients for both depression and weight control without regard for their lack of efficacy and addictive potential. Similarly, minor tranquilizers, such as Valium, were given to millions of patients before the profession recognized that they have little or no long-term benefit and can become addictive. Both psychosurgery and electroshock continue to be utilized, despite obviously devastating effects on the mental life of the patients and the absence of proven efficacy.

IATROGENIC HELPLESSNESS AND DENIAL (IHAD)

I have coined the term iatrogenic helplessness and denial (IHAD) to designate the guiding principle of biopsychiatric interventions. (Breggin, 1983b). It describes how the biological psychiatrist uses authoritarian techniques, enforced by brain-disabling interventions, to produce increased helplessness and dependency on the part of the patient.
Iatrogenic helplessness and denial include the patient's and the doctor's mutual denial of the damaging impact of the treatment, as well as their mutual denial of the patient's underlying psychological and situational problems. Overall, iatrogenic helplessness and denial account for the frequency with which psychiatry has been able to utilize brain-damaging technologies, such as electroshock and psychosurgery, as well as toxic medications.
Before the potential patient encounters a psychiatrist, he or she has usually been feeling helpless for some time. In my formulation, helplessness is the common denominator of all psychological failure. Helplessness is at the core of most self-defeating approaches to life (Breggin, 1992a, 1997). People who feel helpless tend to give up using reason, love, and self-determination to overcome their emotional suffering, inner conflicts, and real-life stresses. They instead seek answers from outside themselves. In modern times, this often means from "experts."
Iatrogenic helplessness and denial go far beyond relatively benign suggestion (as used in medicine and psychiatry, for example, to help overcome physical pain or addiction). First, in iatrogenic helplessness and denial the psychiatrist compromises the brain of the patient, enforcing the patient's submission to suggestion through mental and physical dysfunction. Second, in iatrogenic helplessness and denial the psychiatrist denies to himself or herself the damaging effects of the treatment as well as the patient's continuing psychological or situational problems.
Often denial is accompanied by confabulation - the patient's use of rationalizations and various "cover stories" to hide the extent of mental dysfunction. Confabulation is well understood in psychiatry and neurology, but is generally ignored in regard to treatment-induced effects. Many patients confabulate good results from drug therapy when they are obviously impaired by it.
Denial is closely linked to indifference. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the patient doesn't care, or if the patient cares so much that he cannot bear to face up to his mental and physical dysfunction. Denial is also related to euphoria. After lobotomy or shock treatment, and sometimes during drug treatment, the patient can develop an unrealistic "high."³
Denial is one of the most primitive ways of responding to threats. The person avoids facing problems and thereby becomes unable to make headway with them. Denial as a basic defense tends to result in ineffective, impotent lives.
Brain damage and dysfunction from any cause, including accidents and illness, frequently produces helplessness and denial; but only in psychiatry is damage and dysfunction used as "treatment" to produce these disabling effects.

CONCLUSION

As I have discussed in earlier books (1991a, 1994a, 1994b), I believe that the concepts of "mental illness" and "mental disorder" are misleading, and that none of the problems commonly treated by psychiatrists are genetic or biological in origin. The terms "schizophrenia" and "major depression," for example, are based on concepts whose validity can easily be challenged. However, the brain-disabling principles remain valid even if some of the mental phenomena that are being treated turn out to have a genetic or biological basis. All of the currently available biopsychiatric treatments - drugs, electroshock, and psychosurgery - have their primary or therapeutic effect by impairing or disabling normal brain function.

Footnotes:
1. The term euphoria as used in psychiatry indicates an exaggerated, irrational, or unrealistic sense of well-being. It can be psychological in origin but is commonly caused by brain damage or drug toxicity.

2. Euphoria is unusual in patients treated with the neuroleptics because of the suppressive effects on the CNS (see chapter 2). It is more common among patients treated with antidepressants, stimulants, and minor tranquilizers.

3. See fotnote 2, (above).

Leave your comments here

2007-09-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

Post your comments here. I moderate the comments and put them on the blog if I think they are appropriate in language. Scroll down to the bottom of this section that says Post a comment.

2 DAY FORUM/MENTAL PATIENTS LIBERATION ALLIANCE

2007-08-15T04:52:00.000-07:00

A Forum on The Mental Patients Liberation Movement
>>
>>August 29th & 30th, 2007
>>
>>
>>
>>The Mental Patients Liberation Alliance is hosting a two-day forum of,
>>by, and for
>>
>>individuals who are interested in human rights in "mental health".
>>
>>The Mental Patients Liberation Movement, which started in the early
>>1970's, is a human and civil rights movement comprised of people who
>>have experienced psychiatric incarceration and treatment. The goal of
>>movement activists and supporters is to end of involuntary psychiatric
>>intervention, including civil commitment and forced or coerced
>>procedures such as electroshock, psychosurgery, forced drugging,
>>restraint and seclusion. The Mental Patients Liberation Alliance began
>>Syracuse in 1972, and in a few years gained statewide membership. The
>>Alliance Incorporated in 1983, and received a grant from the New York
>>State Legislature to open our first funded Advocacy Center in 1986.. The
>>work of The Alliance in promoting equality, and helping secure personal
>>choice, autonomy, dignity, respect, and self-determination - is for the
>>good of all people .
>>
>>
>>
>>What To Expect:
>>
>>Discuss/Share
>>
>>* The Mental Patients Liberation Movement...
>>
>>* Principles of The Movement...
>>
>>* Self-Help, Mutual Support and Advocacy...
>>
>>* Civil & Human Rights...
>>
>>* Issues of Interest...
>>
>>
>>
>>Schedule: The first day is Wednesday, August 29th, 2007. The
>>forum ends on Thursday August 30th, 2007.
>>
>> Each day begins at 9:00 a.m. and ends at 4:00 p.m. Noon hour
>>lunch on-your-own
>>
>>
>>
>>Location: Center For Disability Rights 497 State Street,
>>Rochester, NY 14608
>>Reservations:
>>
George Ebert: georgeebert@yahoo.com or (315)-947-5888
>>
>>Daniel Hazen: danhazeus@yahoo.com or (315)-723-4118
>>
24 Hour Toll-Free, Information & Telephone Line 1-800-654-7227

Psychiatry the biggest medical fraud today

2007-07-19T09:53:00.001-07:00

I made a video about "Psychiatry - the biggest medical fraud today" The URL is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFcwwOIT4o4

In my video I describe how I was labelled with 15 different psychiatric bogus psychiatric diagnoses from the DSM IV book (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) used by most psychiatrists.

There are over 300 disorders listed. Smoking and Stuttering are classified as mental disorders.
There is no scientific proof nor test to proof that mental illness exists yet the American Psychiatric Association get together every few years to concoct up some new mental disorder.

Paul J. Caplan, an American psychologist and author wrote an excellent book entitled "They Say You're Crazy: How the World's Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who is Normal". On the back cover of her book it says "by debunking and demystifying the process through which the American Psychiatric Association determines who is and who is not "normal"," They Say You're Crazy gives the rest of us a figthing chance to avoid becoming victims of the mental-health establishment." -The Cleveland Plain Dealer. Paula Caplan's website URL is: http://paulajcaplan.net/

Dr. Peter R. Breggin has been quoted as saying

I got my medical file from the Royal Ottawa Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I had to pay $100. for my file, it would have been more but I asked that the price be reduced as I am
on a low income, a meagre disability cheque from the Ontario government. Here is what was on my file.

SUE CLARK-WITTENBERG's
LIST OF PSYCHIATRIC
MENTAL DISORDERS SHE
HAD FROM 1972 TO 1990

15 mental disorders from the DSM book

Agitated Depression
Adult Situational Disorder
Bipolar Affective Disorder
Histronic Personality
Hypomanic
Manic Depressive Psychosis
Marital Maladjustment
Paranoid Schizophrenic
Personality Disorder
Psycho Affective Psychosis
Schizoaffective Psychosis
Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizophrenia
Severe Psychotic Illness
Situational Reaction

I started to believe for years I was mentally ill and was brainwashed by psychiatrists I would be mentally ill for life and there was nothing I could do about it but take this certain pill for this certain psychiatric
disorder, and when the pills did not work, I got a new mental disorder
with a new psychiatric pill to match. After 18 years of being humiliated,
thinking I was sick and listening to and acknowledging these so
called mental disorders, I fired my shrink and dumped my toxic
psychiatric pills down the toilet and never felt better in all my life.
At last I felt there was hope and that I could be free of psychiatry and I am for l7 years now, since 1990, no hospital stays, no psychiatrist
appointments and no psychiatric drugs. My mind is free and I think
more clearly now not having my mind polluted with all these toxic
meds that have done real damage to my body. I get ticks in all parts of my body, nerve damage you might call it, and body ticks can hurt real bad and they do.

I now take pills for high blood pressure and for diabetes type II. I have lost 50 pounds and have more to lose but I am doing it one day at a time, one step at a time.

There is no test nor scientific proof that
mental illness exists yet the Diagnostic
& Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
has over 300 mental disorders in the
book called DSM IV. Smoking and stuttering
are classified as mental disorders.

DR. Paula J. Caplan wrote a book called "They say you're Crazy"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Psychiatric Pills I took from 1972 - 1990

Here is the list of 14 different types of psychiatric medications
GENERIC DRUG -------- BRAND NAME

amitriptyline--------------------elavil
benztripine---------------------cogentin
chlorprothixene--------------- taractan
chlorpromazine----------------thorazine
diazepam------------------------valium
fluphenazine--------------------permitil, prolixin
fluphazine enanthate injections
flurazepam----------------------dalmane
lithium carbonate--------------lithane, lithobid, eskalith
methotrimeprazine------------nozinan
perphenzine--------------------trilafon
somote---------------------------chloral hydrate
thioridazine--------------------- mellaril
trifluoperzine--------------------stelazine

I gained lots of weight, became lethargic and became confused on these meds, couldn't think straight at all, felt tired all the time
and had no energy at all. I had a dry mouth, was always thirsty,
had double vision at times, and found it hard to read as my eyes
were blurry. Walked at times in a stupor, fell asleep most of the time,
and was hungry all the time and ate loads of food. I felt like I had no hope while on these meds, like my life was going nowhere, I had low self esteem and I was brainwashed into thinking I needed these
meds for life which is hogwash.

Dr. Peter R. Breggin, a psychiatrist in the New York
State wrote books about the harm done by
psychiatric drugs in books he wrote entitled
"Toxic Psychiatry", "Talking Back to Prozac"
"Your Drug May be your problem". He has a
huge website at the URL www.breggin.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I feel the medical model of psychiatry which is the psychiatric labels/diagnoses, psychiatric meds/drugs, electroshock and behaviour
modification is barbaric, inhumane, destroys your sense of self
and self esteem, and most of all takes any sense of hope you ever had for the future. Being locked up on a ward and not knowing when you
are going to get out is very frightening, very humiliating and very
intimidating to say the least. You are the mercy of the psychiatrist
who toys around with your freedom so to speak. There are conditions for being released from a ward. It could be comments like this that were made to me...take your pills or else we keep you on the ward...see the psychiatrist once a month or you will come back in.....take your pills because you know what happened last time, you got suicidal and landed back on the ward....you did much better when you were on the pills....you are sick and you need your pills, you don't understand how sick you are....it would make your family happy to see you well again....you do want to get off the ward,
don't you....you are not realistic right now....act your age and take your pills....look at yourself the way you are acting, demanding that we not give you your pills... Dr. says you have too, and we don't want to tell him you didn't take your pills....here are your happy pills....don't hide the pills under your tongue or we will give you your pills in a liquid form....dr says you need to increase your pills so you will get better...
now. now behave yourself and do what the doctor asks...we have to give you your pills because the doctor has the ordered marked down here on your chart....refuse your pills, why would you want to do that?
that is a silly thing to do....think about it carefully and come back and we will talk about it....don't get angry at me just because I have to give you your pills....you will lose your privileges or you won't get any if you don't take these pills now, you do like to go off the ward, don't you...
take these pills with you for the weekend...did you take an overdose of someone's pills who came back from the weekend, why did you do that.....don't spit the pills out again or we will give you a needle, an injection...so act out so much...these pills are going to help you get better....no one likes to take pills but diabetics have to too you know, it like the same thing....why are you sleeping so much.....you are lazy and can't get out of bed now can you.....line up everyone, it is pill time and come and get your happy pills, our large nurse terry would say on
Ward H at Brockville Psychiatric Hospital with a big grin on her face and she was wearing a one carat diamond ring....lift up your tongue so we can see if you are hiding your pills....why did you spit your pills down the toilet....what would happen if someone took all my pills for one day I asked a nurse and she told me it would knock out a horse
just the big black sleeping pills I took at night....be careful of the sun,
as some of the pills will make you get sunburned more quickly, stay out of the sun now....your eyes look tired...can I have more water I am very thirsty....I have to lay down and sleep right now....can I have
toothpicks to open up my eye lids....what are these pills for....
when will the doctor stop these meds for me....what is the name of these pills.....too long of a name to remember, please mark it down for me....what is my mental disorder.....oh, I don't understand why I have to take so many types of pills at once...one for agitation,one to help me sleep, and one to calm me down and one to quiet down my racing of my thoughts....why do I have to have a blood test while I am taking lithium, why did I get lock jaw? why do I get this injection every month...I lost my pills and I need some more, asked for more pills and got them....got drugged up for free on psychiatric drugs... don't have to pay for the meds, I got them free on my drug card from the Social
Services....how many pills did you take, 14, oh no...140...nurse come here quick, the patient is going unconscious in the emergency ward...
why did you take all the pills, Suzanne, I was asked in intensive care...
death wish you say...Suzanne, take this, what is this, a cup of cigarette ashes, no it is a liquid to clean out your system, do you remember taking too many pills...this liquid takes awful and I passed out again...
Suzanne, stop pulling that nose cup off, it is to help you breath...turn over Suzanne, do you hear me... I have to change your sheets again...
where am I going, you are on an elevator going to the psych ward, do you remember coming into Emergency and then going to Intensive care....John said, I held your hand but you did not know I was there
Sue...you were out cold for two days, first you were listed as critical in Intensive care and then you were listed as in satisfactory condition...
the pills did not kill you because you are large woman, if you were a think girl you would have died, the pills took longer to get into your system and you came in quickly and that was a good thing...taxi driver why are you driving so quick after I told him I took 140 pills as he asked me why I was going to Emergency.....he took me into the hospital....whoever you are, thank you, I don't remember what taxi or
what the driver looked like....restaurant maitre d, I took 140 pills,
I can't help you so I wanted down the street to the hotel and told the
recepitionist who called the ambulance and I spoke to them and did not believe I took the pills and they never came so a couple who ordered a taxi heard me and said take their taxi and I did, thank you
to whoever you are, you saved me life...Three angels that day...
the couple and the taxi driver....I had the money to pay for th taxi
thank goodness...I did not really want to die, I was really crying out for help....what do you think this place is a resort the young psychologist grilled me as I did not do the MMPI personality test with all their stupid questions, I told her that the Intensive Care department shipped me up here, not me...where are my clothes...they are put away in case you try to run away from the hospital....why are taking my picture...just in case you try to run away
from the hospital...why are looking through my purse and my box of my belongings...just in case there is something there that you might hurt yourself with...you are a schizophrenic like your uncle Gerry my father told me referring to his brother Jerry...

Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center

2007-07-03T15:39:00.001-07:00

Here is a picutre of the third level at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, notice the section
ECT/Electroconvulsivo therapie where they peform brain disabling electroshock

The infamous ECT room 3105 at the new "Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, in Ottawa, Ontaro Canada How many people have they brain damaged to date with ECT?

Here is a picture of the new Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Nothing has changed since I was a patient there staring in 1972 to 1990. Still oppressive,
still labelling people with bogus psychiatric disorders and still prescribing toxic psychiatric
drugs to the patients, psychiatric inmates I call them. A hellhole for sure, make look pretty inside with all the latest modern stuff but still has the same psychiatric medical model as 35 years ago. Don't judge the image....

Security followed me in a car driven by a friend to Westgate shopping centre next door and the security guard gave me on nasty look and drove off. Just a nice little warning...
I took these pic one Sunday evening and I took them quickly as there are cameras on the
walls everywhere and they spotted me for sure. It was worth taking those pics, a picture is
worth a thouand words...

My history as a frequent patient at the Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH)

I had the "revolving door syndrome" at the ROH. I was first admitted there voluntarily when I was 17 years old in 1972. I had just left my upper middle class home with my folks. I ran
away in other words for good reason. My mom was threatening me all the time and I Dad turned a blind eye to my Mom's emotional abuse and physical abuse. Mom had beat me and my brother Chris for 17 years and I had had enough and I took off. I had no money, no
survival skills, I was young and naive and homeless.

A high school friend Christie took me in while her parents were Florida. Once her folks were coming back home I had to leave. My boyfriend Elsayed Shelbaya, an Egyptian who was
16 years older than me, took me a friend's house to stay for a month. Come the middle of
April, I had missed lots of my high school classes at Sir Wilfrid Laurier High School on Carson Road.... to read more go to my personal story at the URL: http://symclark.blogspot.com

Big Pharma makes big bucks

2007-06-28T05:14:00.001-07:00

DMS-IV Psychiatrists manual of bogus mental disorders

2007-06-28T05:09:00.000-07:00

pro psychiatry - Canadian Mental Health Association

2007-06-28T05:08:00.000-07:00

Schools forcing kids on toxic psychiatric meds

2007-06-28T05:06:00.004-07:00

Oppressive Community Treatments Orders (CTO)

2007-06-28T05:06:00.001-07:00

CTOs

Mindfreedom.org

2007-06-28T05:05:00.001-07:00

Mindfreedom.org

Brockville Psychiatric Hospital

2007-06-28T05:04:00.002-07:00

Above is a picture of Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in Brockville, Ontario.

I was a patient a the Royal Ottawa Hospital (ROH). I was on the Whitney 4 ward. I tried to hang myself in my room and it was decided by my psychiatrist to send me to Brockville Psychiatric Hospital (BPH) .

In March of 1973 I was transferred from the ROH to BPH by an ambulance. It took one hour as the BPH is 60 miles away. I sat in the back of the ambulance, anxious not knowing what was in store for me. I was feeling very suicidal and depressed. I had been abused at home for l7 years by mother. She beat me, choked me, strangled me, threw me down stairs, called me all sorts of names and she abused my brother Chris and she abused our animals. My mom was sadistic
and I still am recovering from the abuse. I am 52 years old and I have been in therapy since I was 17 years old. Her brother my uncle Lyman molested me when I was 4 years old. My father beat my mother and he abused my brother and I emotionally and as well did physically abuse sometimes. I came from a very unstable and violent home where I did not feel safe at all.
My brother and I protected each other. My brother would pull my mother as she would be on top of me strangling me. He would try to call the police and my mother would pull the phone out of the wall and threaten to kill us if we told anyone. We were very afraid of our mother for good reason and did not tell anyone. We told a school counsellor at Chamaplain High who did little for my brother and I. Child abuse was a taboo subject and hidden in the closet in the early 1970s. No one talked about and very few people did anything about it. Today it is very much different and people do report child abuse cases and most times something is done about it.

Well the ambulance ride did not ease my mind at all but made me more anxious. I never went to Brockville, Ontario before and never knew anyone who had been a patient at the hospital.
The ambulance arrived at the hospital and a big red brick building. The hospital had big spacious grounds with large trees and many buildings, just off the main highway and near the water.

I got out of the ambulance and was escorted to the entrance of the building by the ambulance attendant.

Dr. Bonnie Burstow

2007-06-28T05:03:00.001-07:00

Dr. Bonnie Burstow

Don Weitz

2007-06-28T05:02:00.000-07:00

Don Weitz

Fighting the APA, CPA etc

2007-06-28T04:48:00.000-07:00

Fighting the American Psychiatric Association and the Canadian Psychiatric Association

Dr. Seth Farber

2007-06-26T09:33:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. Seth Farber and author and founder of the Network Against Coercive Psychiatry in the USA.

Dr. Seth Farber, is a psychologist (he received his doctorate in 1984), a social activist (both in the human rights and anti-war movements) and founder of the Network Against Coercive Psychiatry. He has had four books published previously, including a book critiquing Zionism, and numerous essays and articles. A critic of the mental health system, he has been a guest on many television and radio shows. His first book Madness, Heresy and the Rumor of Angels:The Revolt Against the Mental Health System(Open Court, Chicago, 1993) contained a foreword by Thomas Szasz. The publication of his book Lunching with Lunatics: Adventures of a Maverick Psychologist has been temporarily postponed due to circumstances beyond his control. Dr Farber is also an editor of the pioneering review The Journal of Mind and Behavior, and is currently working on a book on "mad liberation" and the new spirituality. Farber founded the Network Against Coercive Psychiatry in 1988.

Dr. Farber's Website
http://www.sethhfarber.com

Network Against Coercive Psychiatry

http://www.sethhfarber.com/work6.htm

Dr. Seth Farber's quote:

"The mental health establishment has snowed the American people: it launches the most unimaginable brutal psychological and physical assault on human beings in distress, calls this 'medical treatment', and then blames the outcome on 'mental illness'.

One Who Flew Over Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey, author

2007-06-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

a picture of Ken Kesey, author of "One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

Ken Kesey's son has a website about his dad, Ken Kesey

http://www.key-z.com/

Ken Kesey's quote:

Electro Shock Therapy - a device that might be said to do the work of the sleeping pill, the electric chair, and the torture rack. It's a clever little procedure, simple. quick, nearly painless it happens so fast, but no one wants another one. Ever.
-Ken Kesey, (1962)

Dr. Paula Joan Caplan, psychologist and author

2007-06-26T08:55:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. Paula Joan Caplan, an American psychologist and author

Above is an image of Dr. Paula J. Caplan's book

On the back cover of this book it states:

The inside story of the process by which the mental-health elite judge us all

"By debunking and demystifying the process through which the American Psychiatric Association determines who is and who is not "normal". They Say You're Crazy gives
the rest of us a fighting chance to avoid becoming victims of the mental-health establishment." -
-The Cleveland Plain Dealer

How are decisions made about who is normal? As a former consultant to those who construct
the "bible of the mental-health professions," the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders), Paula Caplan offers an insider's look at the process by which decisions
about abnormality are made. Cutting through the professional psycho-babble, Caplan clearly
assesses the astonishing extent to which scientific methods and evidence are disregarded
as the handbook is developed. A must read for consumers and practitioners of mental health
services. They Say You're Crazy exposes and challenges the mental-health establishment
which through its creation of potentially damaging interpretations and labels, has the power
to alter our lives in devastating ways.

Paula Joan Caplan's Website:

http://paulajcaplan.net/

Wendy Funk, ECT survivor and author

2007-06-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Wendy Funk's book entitled "What DiffErenCe Does IT Make (The Journey of A Soul Survivor)

Reviews of Wendy Funk's book:

Barbara C. Cody B.Sc., R.N. Electroshock Survivor, Activist, Writer, Speaker
"What Difference Does It Make?" is a courageous young woman's experience of psychiatric hospitalization and tragic life altering, memory robbing effects of Electroshock "therapy". A true story of survival. Recommended reading for ECT survivors, their families, activists, and anyone considering ECT as a treatment option for themselves or a loved one. If you want to know what ECT really does, read this book."

Bonnie Burstow, Psychotherapist, anti-psychiatry activisit, co-editor of Shrink Resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada.
"Wendy reveals as only a survivor can the travesty, the dehumanization, the affront to self, and the theft of self perpetrated by the psychiatric system. A gripping and terrifying account that serves as a warning to anyone who thinks that they are beyond reach."

On the back cover of her book it states:

Wendy Funk grew up with the notion that if she worked hard and lived a clean life, her goals

could be attained. Much to her horror - this was not to be the case. Wendy is here to tell the story that so desperately needs to be told. That one too many people around the globe have
experienced first hand. It's the story of having all freedoms and rights once taken for granted - suddenly stripped away; of learning to live without the memories of a lifetime; of knowing
the ultimate in betrayals. It's the story of how survival after psychiatry is possible.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wendy and I correspond with each other. She is such a nice and courageous person. She sent me her book and I was very appreciative and I read Wendy's book.

It is a fantastic book that says it the way it is, how psychiatry oppresses people and harms them. Wendy is a good writer and puts her raw emotions into her writing and you feel her painful journey every step of the way in her book and how she struggled and remains free of psychiatry today. I have a lot of admiration and respect for Wendy. I highly recommend this book to everyone. Available at amazon.com - type in Wendy's title of her book.

Wendy Funk in a newspaper article

Shock Treatment!
A Survivor Battles to Stop Controversial Therapy

By JOY HICKSON Lethbridge Herald

Seven years ago, Wendy Funk-Robitaille was a different person.

At 32, she was living in Medicine Hat, happily married with two children, had a job as a social worker, was working on her master's degree and planning to go to law school.

But after being diagnosed and treated, including electric shock, for depression, Funk-Robitaille was left a shell of her former self, unable to read, drive or even remember how to find her bathroom.

She had lost almost a lifetime of memories, including knowing her husband and sons.

In the years since, she has been able to recover to a degree, thanks largely to the support of her husband, Dan Robitaille.

But she has discovered she is not the only one who feels scarred by psychiatric treatment and he's started a support group called Crusaders Against Psychiatry.

"I would like to see ECT (electroconvulsive therapy or shock treatment) banned and some kind of tighter control on psychiatrists," she says. "I want other people to realize this could happen to you."

Members of her group, CAP, believe psychiatry "is a brainwashing technique which damages the brain and destroys memory," she says.

"I think mental health care is a scam. Professionals are in it to make money."

Robitaille's treatment began after a visit to a doctor whom she'd never seen before to treat a sore throat.

She had been under considerable stress because she had recently been raped at work. That, a heavy workload and the pain of a sore throat caused her to burst into tears in the doctor's office. The doctor determined she might be suffering from depression and prescribed Prozac.

Side effects of the antidepressant drug, affecting her sleep and eating patterns, made her feel worse and Funk-Robitaille's treatment snowballed to include more medication and eventually ECT.

After 43 shock treatments in a 14 month period and dozens of pills, she knew she needed a change.

"I decided this was not the way to live," Funk-Robitaille says. "I flushed the pills down the toilet."

Then she went to a psychiatrist in Calgary who determined she no longer needed treatment, but said her amnesia was probably permanent.

Now living in Lethbridge, Funk-Robitaille has re-learned most life skills and had another baby three years ago.

But life is still a struggle, she says

Many memories have been lost and some of her abilities, such as with math, are impaired.

"I can't remember my older sons' (ages 15 and 17) births or our wedding," she says. "I have a record in my picture albums and diaries, but it' not the same."

She thought her experience was an isolated incident until she saw a television talk show about the same thing happening to other people.

"I couldn't believe it," she says thought I was the only one. Then I knew there had to be other people this area who'd had bad experience and want to survive."

She has gone on local talk show herself, and is planning to publish, book on her experience.

"(Psychiatric treatment) took away my career, my past is gone and my future is shaky," she says.

"I just want to raise my family a give them the best life possible. And I want to tell others to be careful of people who they think can help the cope with life. Find alternatives to taking chemicals."

And she wants people who have had damaging treatment to know "there is hope for survival after psychiatry." For more information about CAP people may call Funk Robitaille at 381-6582
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wendy Funk can be reached by email: wendyf@klondiker.com or by telephone at

the 2nd Opinion Society in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada 1-867-667-2037
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Famous people who suffered from depression

2007-06-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Famous People Who Have Suffered from Depression

These famous authors, scientists, leaders, artists, and celebrities all have been reported as having suffered from depression.

Alvin Ailey, dancer and choreographer
Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, astronaut
Louie Anderson, comedian, actor
Ann-Margaret, actress
Diane Arbus, photographer
Lionel Aldridge, football player
Alexander the Great, king
Hans Christian Anderson, author
Tai Babilonia, figureskater
Oksana Baiul, figureskater
Honore de Balzac, writer
Samuel Barber, classical composer
Roseanne Barr, actress
Drew Barrymore, actress
James M. Barrie, writer
Rona Barrett, columnist
Charles Baudelaire, poet
Shelley Beattie, athlete and artist
Ned Beatty, actor
Samuel Becket, writer
Ludwig von Beethoven, composer
Menachem Begin, Prime Minister of Israel
Brendan Behan, poet
Irving Berlin, composer
Hector Berlioz, composer
John Berryman, poet
William Blake, poet
Charles Bluhdorn, executive, Gulf Western
Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor
Kjell Magne Bondevik, Prime Minister of Norway
Robert Boorstin, writer, special assistant to Pres. Clinton, State Department
Clara Bow, actor
Tommy Boyce, musician, composer
Cheyenne Brando, actor
Marlon Brando, actor
Richard Brautigan, writer
Van Wyck Brooks, writer
John Brown, abolitionist
Ruth Brown, singer
Anton Bruckner, composer
Art Buchwald, political humorist
John Bunyan, writer
Robert Burns, poet
Robert Burton, writer
Tim Burton, artist, movie director
Willie Burton, basketball player
Barbara Bush, former First Lady
Lord Byron, poet
Helen Caldicott, activist, writer
Donald Cammell, movie director, screenwriter
Robert Campeau, Canadian businessman
Albert Camus, writer
Truman Capote, writer
Drew Carey, actor and comedian
Jim Carrey, actor and comedian
Dick Cavett, broadcaster
C.E. Chaffin, writer, poet
Ray Charles, R&B performer
Thomas Chatterton, poet
Paddy Chayefsky, writer, movie director
Lawton Chiles, former governor of Florida
Frederic Chopin, composer
Winston Churchill, British prime minister
Sandra Cisneros, writer
Eric Clapton, blues-rock musician
Dick Clark, entertainer (American Bandstand)
John Cleese, actor
Rosemary Clooney, singer
Kurt Cobain, rock star
Tyrus Cobb, athlete
Leonard Cohen, poet and singer
Natalie Cole, singer
Garnet Coleman, Texas legislator
Samuel Coleridge, poet
Judy Collins, musician, writer
Shawn Colvin, musician
Jeff Conaway, actor
Joseph Conrad, author
Pat Conroy, writer
Calvin Coolidge, U.S. president
Francis Ford Coppola, director
Billy Corgan, musician
Patricia Cornwell, writer
Noel Coward, composer
William Cowper, poet
Hart Crane, writer
Oliver Cromwell, dictator
Kathy Cronkite, writer
Dennis Crosby, actor
Sheryl Crow, singer and rock musician
Richard Dadd, artist
John Daly, athlete (golf)
Rodney Dangerfield, comedian
Charles Darwin, explorer and scientist
David, Israeli King
Ray Davies, musician
Thomas De Quincey, poet
Lenny Dee, musician
Sandra Dee, actor
Ellen DeGeneres, comedienne, actor
John Denver, singer and actor
Muffin Spencer Devlin, pro golfer
Diana, Princess of Wales
Paolo DiCanio, athlete (soccer)
Charles Dickens, writer
Emily Dickenson, poet
Isak Dinesen, author
Scott Donie, Olympic athlete (diving)
Terence Donovan, photographer
Michael Dorris, writer
Theodore Dostoevski, writer
Eric Douglas, actor
Tony Dow, actor, producer, director
Richard Dreyfuss, actor
Jack Dreyfus, manager, Dreyfus Fund
Kitty Dukakis, former First Lady, Mass.
Patty Duke, actress
Thomas Eagleton, lawyer, U.S. Senator
Thomas Eakins, artist
Thomas Edison, inventor
Edward Elgar, composer
T.S. Eliot, poet
Queen Elizabeth I of England
Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer
Robert Evans, film producer
James Farmer, civil rights leader
Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television
William Faulkner, writer
Jules Feiffer, cartoonist and satirist
Tim Finn, musician, composer
Carrie Fisher, actress and writer
F. Scott Fitzgerald, writer
Larry Flynt, magazine publisher
Betty Ford, former First Lady
Harrison Ford, actor
James Forrestal, cabinet member
Steven Foster, writer
Michel Foucault, writer, philosopher
George Fox, Quaker
Connie Francis, entertainer
Andre Franquin, 1924-1997, cartoonist
Albert French, writer
Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist
Brenda Fricker, actress
Peter Gabriel, rock star
John Kenneth Galbraith, economist
Judy Garland, singer, actor
James Garner, actor
Paul Gascoigne, athlete (soccer)
Paul Gauguin, artist

Harold Geneen, executive, ITT Industries
King George III of England
Stan Getz, musician
Kaye Gibbons, writer
Kendall Gill, athlete (basketball)
Kit Gingrich, Newt's mother
Johann Goethe, writer
Oliver Goldsmith, poet
Dwight Gooden, baseball player
George Gordon, poet
Tipper Gore, wife of U.S. Vice-President
Arshille Gorky, artist
Francisco de Goya, painter
Phil Graham, owner, Washington Post
Graham Green, writer
Shecky Greene, comedian
Philip Guston, artist
Alexander Hamilton, politician
Linda Hamilton, actress
Georg Frederich Handel, composer
Pete Harnisch, baseball player
Mariette Hartley, actress
Juliana Hatfield, musician
Hampton Hawes, musician
Stephen Hawking, physicist
Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer
Lillian Hellman, writer
Ernest Hemingway, writer
Margaux Hemingway, actor
Audrey Hepburn, actress
King Herod, Biblical figure
Kristin Hersh, musician
Hermann Hesse, writer
Abby Hoffman, writer and activist
Sir Anthony Hopkins, actor
Gerard M. Hopkins, poet
Edward Hopper, artist
Howard Hughes, industrialist
Victor Hugo, author
Helen Hutchison, broadcaster
Heinrich Ibsen, playwright
Jack Irons, musician
Eugene Izzi, writer
Andrew Jackson, U.S. President
Janet Jackson, singer
Henry James, writer
William James, writer
Kay Redfield Jamison, psychologist, writer
Randall Jarrell, poet
Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President
Jim Jenson, CBS News
Jeremiah, Biblical figure
Joan of Arc, French leader
Job, Biblical figure
Billy Joel, musician, composer
Elton John, musician, composer
Daniel Johns, musician
Samuel Johnson, poet
Daniel Johnston, musician
Ashley Judd, actor
Franz Kafka, writer
Karen Kain, prima ballerina
Danny Kaye, entertainer
John Keats, writer
Margot Kidder, actress
Larry King, talkshow host
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, artist
Gelsey Kirkland, dancer
Heinrich von Kleist, poet
Percy Knauth, journalist
Joey Kramer, musician
William Kurelek, artist
Pat LaFontaine, hockey player
Charles Lamb, poet
Jessica Lange, actor
Peter Nolan Lawrence, English writer
Edward Lear, artist
Frances Lear, publisher
Robert E. Lee, U.S. general
Vivian Leigh, actress
John Lennon, musician
Rika Lesser, writer, translator
Primo Levi, chemist, writer
Bill Lichtenstein, producer (TV & radio)
Allie Light, director
Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President
Vachel Lindsey, writer
Karl Paul Link, chemist
Ross Lockridge, Jr., writer
Joshua Logan, producer
Jack London, writer
Rick London, cartoonist
Greg Louganis, U.S. diver and Olympic gold medallist
Courtney Love, musician
James Russell Lowell, poet
Robert Lowell, poet
Malcolm Lowry, writer
J. Anthony Lukas, writer
Salvador Luria, bacterial geneticist
Martin Luther, Protestant leader
Gustav Mahler, composer
Duke of Marlborough, soldier
Elizabeth Manley, Canadian figureskater
Camryn Mannheim, actor
Martha Manning, psychologist, writer
Imelda Marcos, Philippine dictator's wife
Jay Marvin, radio personality, writer
Vladimir Mayakovsky, poet
Gary McDonald, Australian actor
Kevin McDonald, comedian, actor
Robert McFarlane, former United States National Security Adviser
Rod McKuen, writer, poet, producer
Sarah McLachlan, singer, Lilith Fair creator
Kristy McNichol, actress
Peter McWilliams, writer
Herman Melville, writer
Burgess Meredith, actor
Robert Merrill, musician, lyricist
Paul Merton, British comedian
Michelangelo, Italian artist
Dimitri Mihalas, scientist
Kate Millett, writer, artist
Spike Milligan, comic actor, writer
Carmen Miranda, actor
Claude Monet, artist
Thelonious Monk, musician
Marilyn Monroe, actor
Alanis Morissette, Canadian singer
S.P. Morrissey, musician
John Mulheren, financier (U.S.)
Edvard Munch, artist
Robert Munsch, writer
Les Murray, Australian poet
Conrad Meyer, writer
Michelangelo, artist
John Stuart Mill, writer
Edna St. Vincent Millay, poet
Kate Millet, writer and feminist
Spike Milligan, humourist
John Milton, poet
Charles Mingus, compser
Carmen Miranda, singer
Marilyn Monroe, actress
Mavor Moore, producer
J.P. Morgan, industrialist
Modest Mussogorgsky, composer
Benito Mussolini, Italian dictator
Ilie Natase, tennis player, politician
Ralph Nader, U.S. consumer rights advocate
Nebuchadnezzar, Biblical figure

Sir Isaac Newton, physicist
Florence Nightingale, British nurse
Vaslav Nijinksy, ballet dancer
Richard Nixon, U.S. president
Deborah Norville, television journalist
Sinead O'Connor, musician
Georgia O'Keeffe, painter
Eugene O'Neill, playwright
John Ogden, pianist
Laurence Olivier, actor
Margo Orum, writer
Ozzie Osborne, rock star
Donny Osmond, musician
Marie Osmond, musician
Wilfred Owen, poet, soldier
Nicola Pagett, actor
Susan Panico, business executive
Charles Parker, compoer
Dorothy Parker, writer, poet, wit
Dolly Parton, singer
Boris Pasternak, writer
John Pastorius, composer
George Patton, soldier
Pierre Peladeau, publisher
Charley Pell, former coach, Univ. of Florida
Teddy Pendergrass, musician
Walker Percy, writer
Murray Pezim, Canadian businessman
Jimmie Piersall, baseball player
William Pitt, Prime Minister
Sylvia Plath, poet
Edgar Allen Poe, writer
Jackson Pollock, artist
Cole Porter, composer
Ezra Pound, poet
Alma Powell, wife of Gen. Colin Powell
Susan Powter, motivational speaker
Charlie Pride, country singer
Sergey Rachmaninoff, composer
Bonnie Raitt, singer
Mac Rebennack (Dr. John), musician
Lou Reed, singer
Jeannie C. Riley, singer
Rainer Maria Rilke, poet
Joan Rivers, comedian
Lynn Rivers, U.S. Congresswoman
Alys Robi, Canadian vocalist
Norman Rockwell, artist
Theodore Roethke, poet
George Romney, artist
Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. President
Axl Rose, rock star
Roseanne, actor, writer, comedienne
Amelia Rosselli, 1930-1996, poet
Dante Rossetti, poet and painter
Gioacchimo Rossini, composer
Martin Rossiter, musician
Philip Roth, writer
Mark Rothko, artist
Gabrielle Roy, author
John Ruskin, writer
Winona Ryder, actor
Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer
May Sarton, poet, novelist
Francesco Scavullo, artist, photographer
Lori Schiller, writer, educator
Charles Schulz, cartoonist (Peanuts)
Robert Schumann, German composer
Delmore Schwartz, poet
Ronnie Scott, musician
Alexander Scriabin, composer
Jean Seberg, actress
Monica Seles, athlete (tennis)
Anne Sexton, poet
Linda Sexton, writer
Mary Shelley, author
Percy Bysshe Shelley, poet
William Tecumseh Sherman, general
Frances Sherwood, writer
Dmitri Shostakovich, musician
Scott Simmie, writer, journalist
Paul Simon, composer, musician
Lauren Slater, writer
Christopher Smart, poet
Jose Solano, actor
Phil Specter, promoter and producer
Alonzo Spellman, athlete (football)
Muffin Spencer-Devlin, pro golfer
Vivian Stanshall, musician, writer, artist
Rod Steiger, actor
George Stephanopoulos, political advisor
Robert Louis Stevenson, writer
Sting, singer and musician
Teresa Stratas, opera singer
Darryl Strawberry, baseball player
William Styron, writer
Emmanuel Swedenbourg, religious leader
James Taylor, singer and musician
Kate Taylor, musician
Lili Taylor, actor
Livingston Taylor, musician
P.I. Tchaikovsky, composer
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet
Tracy Thompson, writer, reporter
Dylan Thomas, poet
Edward Thomas, poet
Leo Tolstoy, writer
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, artist
Spencer Tracy, actor
Ted Turner, founder, CNN Network
Mark Twain, author
Hunter Tylo, actress
Mike Tyson, prizefighter
Jean-Claude Van Damme, actor
Vincent Van Gogh, artist
Vivian Vance, actor
Victoria, British Queen
Mark Vonnegut, doctor, writer
Kurt Vonnegut, writer
Sol Wachtler, judge
Tom Waits, musician
Mike Wallace, broadcaster
Michael Warren, executive, Canada Post
George Washington, U.S. President
Damon Wayans, comedian, actor, writer, director, producer
Walt Whitman, poet
Dar Williams, musician
Robin Williams, actor
Tennessee Williams, playwright
Brian Wilson, rockstar (Beach Boys)
William Carlos Williams, physician, writer
Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous
Jonathan Winters, comedian
Hugo Wolf, composer
Thomas Wolfe, writer
Mary Wollstoncraft, writer
Ed Wood, movie director
Natalie Wood, actor
Virginia Woolf, writer
Luther Wright, basketball player
Elizabeth Wurtzel, writer
Tammy Wynette, singer
Bert Yancey, pro golfer
Boris Yeltsin, former President, Russia
Faron Young, musician
Robert Young, actor
William Zeckendorf, industrialist
Emile Zola, writer
Stefan Zweig, poet

Reporting a doctor who abused you

2007-06-26T08:26:00.001-07:00

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario

http://www.cpso.on.ca

How to make a complaint
http://www.cpso.on.ca/Info_Public/factcomp.htm

How to make a complaint about sexual abuse

http://www.cpso.on.ca/Info_Public/factscompl.htm

Canadian Regulatory Bodies/The College of Physicians and Surgeons for all provinces in Canada etc.
http://www.cpso.on.ca/Links/links.htm

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The College of Psychologists in Ontario

Contact the College

Website: www.cpo.on.ca

General Email: cpo@cpo.on.ca
Registration: registration@cpo.on.ca
Examination: exams@cpo.on.ca
Investigations and Hearings: invhear@cpo.on.ca
Professional Practice Questions: practicequeries@cpo.on.ca

Telephone: (416) 961-8817
Toll Free: (800) 489-8388 (Ontario Only)
Fax: (416) 961-2635

Address: The College of Psychologists of Ontario
110 Eglinton Avenue West
Suite 500
Toronto, Ontario M4R 1A3
Canada

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Lobby governments to ban ECT/Political Action

2007-06-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Take Politicial Action Today to Lobby your Governments to ban electroshock:

Guidelines:

1. Email or mail a letter to your representative/senator/MP/MPP today:

Hello everyone, I wanted to tell you how important it is to let your legislators know you want electroshock banned, to end now. You may think your one email or one letter does not count BUT it does count. The government is aware of public opinion and your opinion counts.

Please take a few moments of your time to let the legislators know how you feel about electroshock. It will take legislation changes to the mental health laws to ban electroshock. Here is a sample letter below. Thank you for caring to make a difference in the world today!

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing/emailing you today because I want electroconvulsive therapy also known as electroshock or ECT to be banned from the mental health legislation.

There have been numerous studies and reports done that prove that electroshock
therapy causes brain damage. See the website of Dr. Peter R. Breggin, an American psychiatrist in the USA who has for many years written about the hazards of electroshock. His URL is: http://www.breggin.com.
(Add your own comments about why you want ect banned)

Make sure you have your contact info on the email and the letter.

2. Organize a peaceful protest against the use of electroshock at your nearest psychiatric hospital.

Call your local City Hall administration for a permit to have permission to have the protest. The permit is free. Apply for this permit a few weeks ahead of your event. This is good to have in case the police show up, keep a copy of the permit on you and ready your permit carefully. You cannot enter the facility you are protesting at or go onto the grounds. You can go on the sidewalk for the protest.

Get some supporters and friends and family together to show up for the protest. Post your press release of the event at libraries, online, at stores, at churches etc. a few weeks before the event and in your neighbourhood and where the event is taking place.

Make a press release and send it to the local media a week ahead. The media usually show up promptly as soon as the protest starts, so please be on time.

Here is a sample Press Release for the Media. Send it out to all the tv stations, radio stations and newspapers. Have some copies of your press release with you at the protest, the event to handout to the media.

SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE:

P R E S S R E L E A S E

June 19, 2006

ECT PROTEST AT THE ABC HOSPITAL ON JUNE 26th, 2007

TIME: 10 a.m. to 12 noon

PLACE: ABC Hospital, 3333 Juniper Street, City, State

Contacts: Sue Z. Home (555-555-555) cell phone (777-777-7777)

The group called End ECT is holding a peaceful protest on June 26, 2007 to protest the use of electroshock at this hospital. Mr. L. was a patient there and he says he has suffered from permanent memory loss.

Mr. L. wants ECT to be stopped at this hospital. (put the main points of your protest here,
and keep it concise - 3 or four paragraphs.

Keep the 5 W's in your press release, Who, What, When, Where, Why and what you want to achieve by having this protest, your goal.)

Electroshock harms people.
(see the website www.breggin.com for more info on ECT)

(Keep the press release to one page only) Some local stationary stores have cheap prices for
photocopying, maybe someone you know has a photocopier and can make you some free copies
Ask around and you will find people willing to help you out.
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Some local stationary stores have cheap prices for photocopying, maybe someone you know has a photocopier and can make you some free copies. Ask around and you will find people willing to help you out.

You can use props for the protest which the media like, make protest signs on bristol board
too. Remember, most of all to have fun. Sings songs, make up slogans and chants for your protest, get someone with a guitar or a singer. Be creative.

Get the names of the media who you speak too at the event as you may want to contact them. Keep a list of the people who participated in the peaceful protest as you may want them to come back to another protest. Have water supplied if you can especially on a hot day. Take pics of your protest or video.

You may want to put up a website or a blog. Lots are free on the web like geocities.com
and www.blogger.com

Keep a copy of your press clippings. Good Luck to you all who are organizing. It is fun and it is constructive.

3. Call your local radio shows and tv stations and try to get them to interview you.

4. Write to the editors of newspapers and magazines and write about wanting the governments to end electroshock or tell them about your experiences with ECT or of a friend of family member.

5. Organize your own group of psychiatric survivors if there is not one in your area. You can
sometimes use a church hall for free. Ask other groups you know of how they got their
meeting place.

6. Write your own book about your experiences. If you don't have the money to publish your book, you can always type it online at places like www.blogger.com for free for everyone to have access to. Publishing a book can be expensive or self publish if you can or get someone to hlep you.

7. Speak out at library or event about your experiences with psychiatry.

8. Write poetry or a play.

9. Organize an event in your city. Some local newspapers have a section in the newspaper where you can post your event for free. Send in your event announcement a few weeks ahead.

10. Write a song

11. Have a MAD Pride Day on July 14th Bastille Day

If you think of any more ideas for social action, please let me know and I will post them here.
Email mail me: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com

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START YOUR POLITICAL ACTION WITH THESE GOVERNMENT WEBSITES:

IN ONTARIO, CANADA

The Ontario Mental Health Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Mental_Health_Act

IN CANADA, WEBSITES OF ALL THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS

http://www.canada.gc.ca/othergov/prov_e.html

How to contact your Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP)

http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/member_addresses.do?AddType=QP&locale=en

How to contact your Federal Member of Parliament (MP) It is free to send a letter to your MP in Ottawa. No postage stamp needed

http://canada.gc.ca/directories/direct_e.html#mp

IN THE UNITED STATES, GOVERNMENT WEBSITES

How to contact your representative's office/United States House of Representatives
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

How to contact your US Senator

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

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Steven's movies exposing ECT and DSM-IV

2007-06-25T15:40:00.001-07:00

My husband Steven Earl Wittenberg made 2 movies about ECT and 1 movie about the DSM-IV Steven and I feel The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is a SHAM. We also feel electroshock is torture and a crime against humanity and that electroshock should be banned universally.

Here are the 3 movies. These are good little movies, don't miss them! Steven is very creative - Sue, his wife

Here are the movie titles and their URLs:

WHAT IS ECT?

The URL is:

www.digitalfilms.com/play.php?id=847260

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FAMOUS PEOPLE & ECT

The URL is:

www.digitalfilms.com/play.php?id=847266

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EXPOSING THE DMS-IV

www.digitalfilms.com/play.php?id=847276

These are the websites that were posted in these movies:

http://psychiatrybuster.blogspot.com
http://www.breggin.com
http://www.ect.org
http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca
http://capacanada.wordpress.com
http://banshock.org
http://endofshock.com
http://www.mindfreedom.org
http://www.wildestcolts.com

You can contact Steven or Sue by email: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com or by telephone at 613-721-1833 in Ottawa.

No Proof Mental Illness Exists

2007-06-25T11:50:00.001-07:00

See this youtube.com video titled "Psychiatry - No Science No Cures

The people in this video discusses the fraud of diagnosing people with psychiatric diagnoses.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=V96aYXnRqKw

No proof mental illness rooted in biology

By Dr. KEITH HOELLER
GUEST COLUMNIST

What is "the mental health movement?" Its proponents claim that millions of Americans are afflicted with a mental illness, which is a disease "just like any other" and that the mentally ill suffer from a chemical imbalance in the brain that is corrected by psychiatric drugs.

Mental illness is said to be the cause of many of our society's social ills, such as suicide, murder, divorce, child abuse, sex offenses, depression and various addictions. If only mental illness could be cured, mental health supporters say, all of these ills could be prevented.

Because the mentally ill often are unaware of their disease, treatment must be forced on the mentally ill. All 50 states have laws that allow involuntary treatment if professionals deem they are a danger to self and others.

Psychiatrists, we are told, can now accurately diagnose mental illness and have safe and effective treatments. Psychiatry is considered a valid medical specialty, like cardiology, and the claims of the movement are based on scientific research.

The largest lay group is the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). The media routinely refer to NAMI as advocates for the mentally ill, although its membership consists almost entirely of family members and not the mentally ill themselves. NAMI ascribes to the "biological basis of mental illness," and endorses forced treatment of the mentally ill.

The movement's major source of funding is the highly profitable pharmaceutical industry, which funds the drug research; which funds psychiatric journals, and even the American Psychiatric Association itself; which funds advertising to doctors and the public; and even funds lay groups such as NAMI (at least $11 million) and Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (at least $1 million).

Yet many professionals claim that the mental health movement is not a legitimate medical or scientific endeavor, let alone a civil rights movement, but a political ideology of intolerance and inhumanity.
Numerous psychiatrists and psychologists have examined the psychiatric research literature and found it to range from smoke and mirrors to quackery.

Psychiatrists have yet to conclusively prove that a single mental illness has a biological or physical cause, or a genetic origin. Psychiatry has yet to develop a single physical test that can determine that an individual actually has a particular mental illness. Indeed, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders uses behavior, not physical symptoms, to diagnose mental illness, and it lacks both scientific reliability and validity.

On Aug. 16, eight members of MindFreedom (www.mindfreedom.org), an umbrella organization of mental patients who call themselves "psychiatric survivors," began a Fast for Freedom "to press for human rights and choice in psychiatry" and to "demand that the mental health industry produce even one study proving the common industry claim that 'mental illness is biologically-based.' "

Dr. James Scully of the American Psychiatric Association responded to the hunger strikers by claiming the evidence was so vast one need only look at "Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General" (1999) or a recent psychiatry textbook.

An expert panel for the strikers, made up of members (like myself) of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (http://www.icspp.org), quickly responded by pointing out that neither of these works contains any such conclusive proof. Actually, the surgeon general's report on mental health states that "the precise causes (etiology) of mental disorders are not known" and "there is no definitive lesion, laboratory test, or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify (a mental) illness." The Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry (1999) states: " ... Validation of the diagnostic categories as specific entities has not been established." In its reply to the fasters, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill did not cite any scientific evidence at all.

In 1784, a similar debate raged in Paris about the scientific validity of the latest psychiatric nostrum (hypnotism) and its inventor, Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer, who claimed to have discovered a physical mechanism he called animal magnetism. The Academy of Sciences formed a panel, including American scientist Benjamin Franklin and French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, to assess the movement sweeping the city, and concluded that Mesmer's "cures" had no scientific basis. They were due entirely to the power of suggestion, now called the placebo effect. The Royal Society of Medicine issued a report with similar findings on Aug. 16, 1784.

Let us hope the Fast for Freedom has a positive outcome for all involved. If not, let us insist that the American Medical Association (or similar body) form a panel of objective, non-psychiatric scientists, without any ties to drug companies, to examine whether psychiatry should continue as a medical specialty or if it should join the historical ranks of alchemy, astrology and phrenology as a pseudoscience.

Dr. Keith Hoeller is editor of the "Review of Existential Psychology & Psychiatry" in Seattle.

For the latest news release plus lots of updates, published media articles, commentary, fact sheets, latest actions on electroshock, you can take to support the fast, and how to become a member of MindFreedom, check:
http://www.MindFreedom.org

For daily Fast photos, a lively public message board with hunger striker discussion, and more see this page:

Photos of a delegation of hunger strikers meeting with the President of the American Psychiatric Association:

Some of the latest published media articles on the fast:

For a sample of the debate going on about the "biological basis of mental illness" see: http://psychrights.org/

Antipsychiatry Movies and Plays

2007-06-25T11:45:00.001-07:00

movies and plays

25 ReasonsWhy Psychiatry Must Be Abolished

2007-06-25T11:26:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Don Weitz of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Don is an antipsychiatry activist and author.

25 GOOD REASONS WHY PSYCHIATRY MUST BE ABOLISHED

by Don Weitz

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. Because psychiatry is not a medical science.

5. Because psychiatry is quackery, a pseudo-science which lacks independent diagnostic tests, testable hypotheses, and cures for "schizophrenia" and all other types of alleged "mental illness" or "mental disorder".

6. Because psychiatrists can not accurately and reliably predict dangerousness, violence, or any other type of human behaviour, yet make such claims as "expert witnesses", and with the media promote the "dangerous mental patient" myth/stereotype.

7. Because psychiatrists have caused a worldwide epidemic of brain damage by promoting and prescribing brain-disabling treatments such as the neuroleptics, antidepressants, electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroshock), and psychosurgery (lobotomy).

8. Because psychiatrists manufacture hundreds of "mental disorders" classified in its bible called "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (a modern witch-hunting manual); such "mental disorders" and "symptoms" are in fact negative, class-and-culturally-biased moral judgments for dissident ways of coping with personal problems and alternative ways of perceiving, interpreting or being in the world.

9. Because psychiatrists, blinded by their medical model bias, fraudulently pathologize and label people's serious life or existential crises as "symptoms" of "mental illness" or "mental disorder" such as "schizophrenia","bipolar affective disorder", and "personality disorder".

10. Because psychiatrists compound this fraud by falsely claiming, without scientific proof, that these "mental disorders" are caused by a "biochemical imbalance" in the brain, genetic factors or "genetic predispositions", despite the fact that there are no genetic factors in "mental illness".

11. Because psychiatrists frequently misinform their patients, families and the public by claiming that brain-disabling procedures such as the neurotoxins (e.g.,"antipsychotic medication" and "antidepressasnts"), electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroconvulsive therapy/"ECT"), psychosurgery (lobotomy) and other behaviour modification-mind control procedures are "safe, effective and lifesaving". The exact opposite is tragically true.

12. Because psychiatrists routinely deceive or lie to patients, prisoners, their families, and the public.

13. Because psychiatrists routinely and willfully violate the medical-ethical principle of "informed consent" by misinforming or not informing their patients about the numerous toxic, disabling and frequently permanent effects of the neuroleptics such as memory loss, tardive dyskinesia, tardive psychosis, parkinsonism, dementia (all signs of brain damage), and death.

14. Because psychiatrists routinely threaten, intimidate or coerce many patients - particularly women, children, the elderly, and prisoners - into consenting to health-threatening/brain-damaging "treatment" such as the antidepressants, neuroleptics, electroconvulsive brainwashing, and hi-risk experiments.

15. Because psychiatrists frequently fail to fully inform psychiatric inmates and prisoners about existing safe and humane, non-medical alternatives in the community such as survivor-controlled crisis centres, drop-ins, self-help or advocacy groups, diet, massage, wholistic medicine, affordable supportive housing, and jobs.

16. Because psychiatrists are sexist in frequently stereotyping women in crisis as "hysterical" or "over-emotional", blaming women whenever they voice real complaints and assertively express their feelings and emotions, prescribing massive doses of tranquilizers and antidrepressants to disproportionately large numbers of women, and in sexually assaulting women in their offices and institutions.

17. Because psychiatrists, particularly white male psychiatrists, are homophobic - the American Psychiatric Association (APA) once labelled homosexuality as a "mental illness" or "mental disorder" - and have used forced electroshock on lesbians, trying to coerce them into adopting a heterosexual life style.

18. Because psychiatrists are ageist in prescribing tranquilizers, antidepressants ("medication") and electroconvulsive brainwashing for disproportionately large numbers of elderly people - a form of elder abuse.

19. Because psychiatrists are racist in disproportionately incarcerating and drugging people of African descent, aboringal people, other people of colour and labelling them "psychotic" or "schizophrenic".

20. Because psychiatrists routinely violate people's civil rights, human rights and constitutional rights such as imprisoning innocent people without court trial or public hearing ("involuntary commitment"), and subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishments or tortures such as forced drugging, electroconvulsive brainwashing, psychosurgery, solitary confinement, "chemical restraints", and 4-point or 5-point restraints.

21. Because psychiatrists masterminded the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people including disabled children, the elderly and psychiatric patients during The Holocaust in Nazi Germany, and "selected" hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners for death ("T-4 euthanasia" program) - historical facts still missing in psychiatric textbooks and histories.

22. Because psychiatrists have willingly participated in and administered mind-control experiments in the United States and Canada since the early 1950s - its chief targets have been poor patients, women, dissidents and prisoners.

23. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is based on the 3 Fs: Fear, Fraud,and Force.

24. Because psychiatry is a form of social control or punishment - not treatment.

25. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is fascist - a direct threat to democracy, human rights and life.

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A note from the author:This statement is a slightly revised version of the original written in Spring 1998. Feel free to add and publish your own reasons. I am a psychiatric survivor and antipsychiatry activist who has been involved in the psychiatric survivor liberation movment for 24 years.

I am also co-editor of "Shrink Resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada" (1988), host-producer of the antipsychiatry program "Shrinkrap" on CKLN radio (88.1 FM) in Toronto, member of People Against Coercive Treatment (P.A.C.T.), and member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).]

To contact Don Weitz: email: dweitz@pathcom.com or by telephone: 416-545-0796

Antipsychiatry Radio Shows

2007-06-25T09:31:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of David Oaks, head of the Mindfreedom International. He is a psychiatric survivor. His website is at the URL: www.mindfreedom.org A great place to join and get involved if you want you want to know or to help fight peacefully the many psychiatric abuses and human rights violations happening in psychiatry and in mental health services. David Oaks can be reached by email at: oaks@mindfreedom.org He is a real nice person and an a great leader and leader and activist. He is one of my heroes.

Internet Radio -

http://www.mindfreedom.org/radio

Welcome to MindFreedom hosted by David W. Oaks a psychiatric survivor. LIVE FREE Internet radio. For over a year, MindFreedom has had a weekly Internet radio show that is broadcast free and live to a computer new you. Here's how to listen and call-in live every Wednesday at 4 pm EST or listen to archives later.

MindFreedom News Hour Internet Radio

Listen and call-in live every Wednesday at 4 pm EST at:

http://prncomm.net/

Hear MindFreedom's free weekly public Internet radio show every Wednesday at 4 pm EST about a nonviolent revolution in the mental health system, hosted by psychiatric rights activist David Oaks, director of MindFreedom.

Archives are now available again. To hear recent shows go here:

http://oaks.progressiveradionetwork.org/

The MindFreedom News Hour is part of a diverse array of new shows on Progressive Radio Network with leadership from radio personality and health advocate Gary Null.

On each MindFreedom News Hour you'll hear hear news, resources, and an interview. Shows have covered the history of the psychiatric survivor movement, how psychiatric survivors and concerned mental health professionals are working together on human rights campaigns, and more.

Regular features include networking announcements about successful activism and alternatives.
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Above is a picture of Don Weitz, a psychiatric survivor and former psychologist, an antipsychiatry and anti-ECT activist and author. Don is co-founder of the group called "Coalition Against Pscychiatric Assault (CAPA) which is located in Toronto. CAPA websites: http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca http://capacanada.wordpress.com Don is a real nice person, a great activist and leader. He is one of my heroes and one of my mentors. Don can be reached by email at: dweitz@pathcom.com

SHRINK RAP - CKLN - 88.1 FM - Toronto

Don Weitz hosts the radio show "SHRINK RAP" in Toronto, Ontario Canada. The show is aired on radio station ( 88.1 FM) CKLN on the last Friday of the month between 6:15 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time) This is a fantastic radio show! CKLN Website: http://www.ckln.fm

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This is not an antipsychiatry show, but I was on this show recently

SOUND MIND - CKCU in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. I was a guest on the show on April 25th of this year and I was interviewed by Heather Bruce. I spoke about
electroshock and psychiatry. I asked Heather if she could send me a cassette copy of the tape of the show I was on in April. Heather agreed to do a copy for me.

Three months later and I am still waiting for a copy of the cassette of the show. Spoke to Heather and sent emails to her. She said the CKCU office is under major repairs and she will send me a tape, she has not forgotten me she said....after 3 months.... You would think the Sound Mind show would have the courtesy of sending me a copy of the show in a reasonable amount of time...

My advice to you is - if you are going to be on a radio show, tape the show yourself or you may end up in the same situation and I did.
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Antipsychiatry Reading Room

2007-06-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

Antipsychiatry reading room

Drug awareness/bad side effects Websites

2007-06-25T08:41:00.000-07:00

Health Canada
http://www.cbc.ca/news/adr/

http://www.drugs.com/ CANADA
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/index_e.html - CANADA
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/advers-react-neg/fs-if/ar-ei_data-donn_web_e.html

FDA
http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/18/87/
http://www.fda.gov/cder/index.html - USA
http://www.drugdigest.org/DD/Interaction/ChooseDrugs

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/idcplg?IdcService=SS_GET_PAGE&nodeId=287 - UK

http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/ USA
http://www.healthanddna.com/adversedrugreactions.html
http://psychdrugdangers.com/

http://www.hsa.gov.sg/ HSA_DRUGSAFETY@hsa.gov.sg USA
http://www.tga.gov.au/adr/aadrb/aadr0702.htm AUSTRALIA
http://www.tga.gov.au/adr/aadrb.htm AUSTRALIA
http://www.pbs.gov.au/html/consumer/report-reactions

http://www.drugawareness.org/home.html

http://search.medscape.com/all-search

http://www.ascp.com/advocacy/briefing/medreporting.cfm

http://search.medscape.com/drug-reference-search

CANADA
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/databasdon/index_e.html

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/advers-react-neg/fs-if/cadris-2_e.html

http://www.who.int/druginformation/

INDIA
http://www.mspcindia.org/dic/
http://www.cdsco.nic.in/
http://www.ijdvl.com/

Anti-Psychiatry Websites

2007-06-24T12:41:00.000-07:00

These websites below expose the harm done by psychiatry which includes psychiatric drugs and and electroshock also known as ECT, shock and electroconvulsive therapy.

If you know of any other antipsychiatry that you think I should post here, please let me know and please email me at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com
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http://www.antipsychiatry.org

http://stopshrinks.org

http://www.breggin.com

Dr. Breggin, an American psychiatrist and author exposes the harm done by ECT and psychiatric drugs. He has written several books which include "Toxic Psychiatry", "Talking Back to Psychiatry" He was an expert witness at lawsuits for victims of psychiatry, lawsuits on his site. He is an expert on psychiatric drugs and electroshock. See the many articles on psychiatric drugs and electroshock on this huge website which is a wealth of information.

http://www.ect.org

Juli Lawrence, who is an electroshock survivor has a huge website all about ECT which includes
ECT lawsuits

http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca and http://capacanada.wordpress.com

The websites of the "The Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA) ", Toronto, Ontario - this dynamic group headed by Dr. Bonnie Burstow and Don Weitz recently
organized a Mother's Day Event on May 13, 2007 to protest the use of electroshock on
Women, called "Stop Shocking Our Mother's and Grandmothers. This was an international event with Montreal, Quebec and Cork, Ireland Participating. Videos and pictures on this website of this ECT protest. CAPA is organizing to host a play about Hemingway in July 2007
in Toronto. There are many articles opposing psychiatry on this website. I am a member of large of CAPA.

http://endofshock.com-

Dr. John Breeding, a psychologist from Texas and his Coalition for the Abolition of
Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) . Videos about ECT/ECT protests/Shock Quotationary

http://www.wildestcolts.com - Dr. Breeding's other website where he exposes the harm done by psychiatric drugs which are given to children.

http://idiom/~drjohn/

Dr. John Friedberg, a neurologist speaks out about how ECT causes brain damage.

http://banshock.org

FDA alert on ECT/Slovenia - ECT free zone/

http://stopshrinks.org

exposing the harm done by psychiatry

http://www.mindfreedom.org

MindFreedom International is an independent nonprofit that unites 100 grassroots groups and thousands of members to peacefully take action for human rights in the mental health system.

http://outlawpsychiatry.blogspot.com
http://2ndoutlawpsychiatry.blogspot.com

http://psychrights.org/index.htm

http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com/antipsychiatry.htm

psychdata.blogspot.com/

http://www.critpsynet.freeuk.com/antipsychiatry.htm

Sue's Poem about ECT

2007-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

A picture of me a year before I had electroshock. I had just turned 17 years old and I was dressed up as I was going to my Grade 12 graduation.

I attended at the Sir Wilfrid Laurier High School on Carson Road in Vanier in 1972. I was an in-patient at the Royal Ottawa Hospital on the Whitney 4 ward at the time of this picture. I was let off the ward by the hospital staff to go to my graduation.
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I wrote a poem this year 2007 about my experience with electroshock. My poem is entitled "ECT Hurt Me" I was given ECT against my will at the age of l7 years old, I was not an adult yet in 1973. I got the ECTs forced on me at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in Ontario, Canada.

Here is my poem:

ECT Hurt Me

by Sue Clark-Wittenberg, 2007
(Copyright)

The day I got my first ECT
I recall the room was white
the nurses wore white
the doctor wore white
and I was white as a sheet with fright

I lay on my back on the bed
with wires put on both sides of my head
a rubber band put on my forehead
and a rubber mallet stuck in between my teeth

I was scared to death, terrified
I wanted to jump up and run
but I could not
I saw the ECT machine
right to my left
and knew that horrible machine
was going to be turned on
any minute
and it would hurt my brain
and it did

I woke up after the ECT
dizzy, confused and did

not know who I was
where I was

I was put in a wheelchair
I missed my breakfast
and had to to wait for lunch

a peer on my ward
told me many years later
that when the staff grabbed me
to take me to the ECT room
I screamed, kicked and bit the
staff and hollered
"Somebody, anybody, please
help me"
But nobody did

ECT hurt my brain
No one told me
truth about what ECT
would do to me
because nobody cared

So that is why I want ECT
the atrocity that it is
to be banned, to end
to stop now
so no one else has to
go through the torture
like I did which is called ECT
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Dr. Thomas Szasz

2007-06-23T23:59:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Thomas Szasz, American psychiatrist and author of many books one of which is entitled "The Myth of Mental Illness"

Dr. Thomas Szasz has a website at the URL: http://www.szasz.com
and Dr. Szasz also has a blog at the URL: http://www.theszaszblog.blogspot.com
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Source: http://www.szasz.com/intro.html

Who is Thomas Szasz? by Jeffrey A. Schaler, Ph.D.

He is Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus at the State University of New York Health Science Center in Syracuse, New York, Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, Washington, D.C., author and lecturer. His classic The Myth of Mental Illness (1961) made him a figure of international fame and controversy. Many of his works--such as Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry, The Ethics of Psychoanalysis, Ceremonial Chemistry, and Our Right to Drugs--are regarded as among the most influential in the 20th century by leaders in medicine, law, and the social sciences.

Born in Budapest in 1920, Thomas Szasz came to this country in 1938 from his native Hungary and within a few months was admitted to the University of Cincinnati. After graduating with honors in Physics in 1941, he entered the College of Medicine of the University of Cincinnati and won his M.D. degree in 1944. Later, Szasz took his psychoanalytic training at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis and for the next five years was a member of its staff--taking twenty-four months out for active duty with the U.S. Navy. A FELLOW of the American Psychiatric Association and a LIFE member of the American Psychoanalytic Association, Dr. Szasz has published frequently in leading medical, psychiatric, and psychoanalytic journals.

Reviewing Law, Liberty, and Psychiatry in the American Bar Association Journal, former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Arthur J. Goldberg wrote: "Dr. Szasz makes a real contribution by alerting us to the abuses--existing and potential--of human rights inherent in enlightened mental health programs and procedures. He points out, with telling examples, shortcomings in commitment procedures, inadequacies in the protections afforded patients in mental institutions and the dangers of over-reliance on psychiatric expert opinion by judges and juries." Charles D. Aring, M.D., Professor of Neurology, University of Cincinnati, praised the book in these words: "One of the most important statements since the publications of Freud. Law, Liberty and Psychiatry is likely to rank among the classics of psychiatry." In an introduction to his writings and thought, Professors Richard E. Vatz and Lee S. Weinberg wrote (1983) "Throughout his distinguished career . . . Thomas S. Szasz has steadfastly defended the values of humanism and personal autonomy against all who would constrain human freedom with shackles formed out of conceptual confusion, error, and willful deception."

John Leo, social science editor for U.S. News & World Report, wrote in 1993 that "No one attacks loose-thinking and folly with half the precision and zest of Thomas Szasz." Paul Roazen, author of Encountering Freud, wrote in 1993 that "Thomas Szasz remains unique among contemporary observers of the social, ethical, and political implications of psychiatry: every argument he makes, and each word he chooses, are deserving of our closest attention."

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Dr. Thomas Szasz's quotes:

"No further evidence is needed to show that ''mental illness'' is not the name of a biological condition whose nature awaits to be elucidated, but is the name of a concept whose purpose is to obscure the obvious".

"Involuntary mental hospitalization is like slavery. Refining the standards for commitment is like prettifying the slave plantations. The problem is not how to improve commitment, but how to abolish it."

"Institutional psychiatry is a continuation of the Inquisition. All that has really changed is the vocabulary and the social style. The vocabulary conforms to the intellectual expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-medical jargon that parodies the concepts of science. The social style conforms to the political expectations of our age: it is a pseudo-liberal social movement that parodies the ideals of freedom and rationality."

"The problem with psychiatric diagnoses is..that they are swung as semantic blackjacks: cracking the subject's dignity and respectability destroys him just as effectively as cracking his skull. The difference is that the man who wields a blackjack is recognized by everyone as a thug, but one who wields a psychiatric diagnosis is not."

-Thomas Szasz, M.D.

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Find Authors
- Thomas Szasz, American Psychiatrist, author of the book "The Myth of Mental Illness"

Children getting electroshocked

2007-06-23T21:31:00.001-07:00

A whistleblower told me recently that a boy who was in the Hospital for Sick Kids in Toronto was sent to the Sunnybrook Hospital for electroshock. This is horrendous!

Are they any more whistleblowers out there that know of any children being sent to get electroshock in Canada, the USA or any other country, please let me know.

Your confidentiality is assured. I never reveal my sources. Please email me with the info to: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com
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Abuse of Electroshock Found in Turkish Mental Hospitals

The New York Times

September 29, 2005

By CRAIG S. SMITH

PARIS, Sept. 28- Turkey's psychiatric hospitals are riddled with horrific abuses, including the use of raw electroshock as a form of punishment, according to a human rights report issued in Istanbul on Wednesday, just days before Turkey begins formal talks to join the European Union.

The report, by Mental Disability Rights International, a Washington-based group, came after several visits in the past year by the group's investigators to psychiatric hospitals and other facilities for people with developmental or mental disabilities.

While the report details many types of abuses, it said the most disturbing involved the use of electroconvulsive therapy without anesthesia to treat a wide range of illnesses in adults and children. The World Health Organization has called for a ban on "unmodified" or "direct" use of the treatment and states that children should never be subjected to it in any form.

The therapy, in which an electrical current is passed through the brain, was developed in the 1930's and continues to be used in mainstream psychiatry to treat a limited number of ailments. But it is normally administered with anesthesia and muscle relaxants.

Without them it can be painful, terrifying and dangerous. Patients can break jaws or crack vertebrae during the induced seizures. The report quotes a 28-year-old patient at Bakirkoy Psychiatric Hospital in Istanbul as saying, "I felt like dying."

The Health Ministry, which is responsible for psychiatric hospitals, said it had not yet read the report and declined to comment, other than to say that the director of the electroconvulsive therapy center at Bakirkoy denied administering unmodified electroshocks there.

But on one day in April when the rights group's staff visited the center, 24 people received such treatments, the report said. Technicians at the center told the group that only patients who had broken bones, presumably from previous treatments, were given anesthesia.

The human rights group estimated that unmodified shock treatment was used on nearly a third of patients undergoing psychiatric crises at the government-run hospitals, including children as young as 9. The treatment is also administered for many illnesses, like postpartum depression, that are not generally considered by the international psychiatric community to warrant electroshock.

The investigators also found that the treatment was used as punishment. The report describes patients being dragged to electroshock therapy in straitjackets and forcibly held down during the procedure.

"If we use anesthesia the E.C.T. won't be as effective, because they won't feel punished," the report quotes the director of the electroconvulsive therapy center as saying.

Referring to that statement, Eric Rosenthal, the founder of the rights group, said in a telephone interview from Istanbul, "That was one of most horrifying statements I've ever heard in 12 years of doing this work."

Turkey has been criticized for using unmodified electroshock before. In 1997 the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture called on Turkey to stop the practice, and the Health Ministry promised to do so.

Now, the new report is likely to complicate Turkey's talks with the European Union, because of the organization's strict human rights requirements for membership.

"There's no question that what's described in the report counts as torture under the European convention and shouldn't exist in Turkey or anywhere in Europe," said Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament who sits on the joint European Union-Turkish parliamentary committee.

He said he would bring up the report as part of the membership negotiations, because to join, a nation must be judged to follow democratic principles, respect human rights and be on its way to meeting certain economic and institutional standards.

The report, which includes testimony from former patients and videos taken inside some institutions, reported other abuses as well.

Much of the documented abuse took place in orphanages and rehabilitation centers for children with developmental or intellectual disabilities. Investigators saw emaciated and neglected children, many of whom had behavioral problems that were likely to have been the result of mistreatment rather than pre-existing illness, Mr. Rosenthal said.

"We saw children who were essentially abandoned, starving, tied down to their beds," he said, adding that investigators had not been allowed to see the worst wards.

Photographs and videos taken at the Saray Rehabilitation Center, the largest of Turkey's government-run rehabilitation centers, show skeletal children, some with plastic water bottles taped over their hands to prevent them from biting their fingers. Other children with only minor disabilities are mixed in with the rest.

Although the center keeps no mortality records, a footnote in the report notes that the large number of admissions without a corresponding number of discharges suggests that many children die at the center.

"We believe there's a very high death rate in these facilities," Mr. Rosenthal said.

Officials at Turkey's Directorate for Social Services and Child Protection could not be reached for comment.

The report said that there were no enforceable laws in Turkey to protect mentally ill people from arbitrary detention or forced treatment and that there were virtually no community services that might keep them out of institutions. As a result, according to the report, thousands are institutionalized for life.

Mr. Rosenthal founded Mental Disability Rights International in 1993. It now has a staff of nine people, including one in Turkey.

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Electroshocking children by Leonard Roy Frank

2007-06-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

Electroshocking children by Leonard Roy Frank

The estimated 1 in 155 children in the U.S. said to be autistic, represent an untapped and apparantly growing market waiting to be exploited by the electroshock (ECT) industry. And now a first move has been made. At least two electroshock proponents are promoting the notion that ECT may be an effective treatment for children diagnosed as autistic.

Psychiatrists D.M. Dhossche and S. Stanfill (Deptartment of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson) have recommended that "All child specialists -- psychiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, and developmental pediatricians -- should independently review the feasibility, potential, and risk of using ECT in autism." To back their recommendation, the psychiatrists wrote, "ECT is considered as a safe, effective, and life-saving treatment in people of all ages who suffer from affective disorder, acute psychosis, and, in particular, catatonia. There are recent speculations that certain types of autism may be the earliest expression of catatonia and that both disorders have identical risk factors. Therefore, ECT may improve autism and, if started early enough, may prevent further development of autistic symptoms in some children. The use of ECT in autism has never been systematically assessed. There have been two large ECT studies in child!
ren in the 1940s. Autism was not assessed in these studies because the autistic syndrome was just then being recognized as a separate entity. Findings from these studies add little to the hypothesis that ECT may be effective in autistic children, but attest to the safety and feasibility of ECT in children.... Unless anti-ECT prejudice can be overcome, it is unlikely that any ECT trial in autism is forthcoming. Research areas that may support the hypothesis that ECT is effective in autism should be pursued." ("Could ECT Be Effective in Autism?" Medical Hypotheses, 63(3):371-6., January 2004)

Dhossche and Stanfill have falsified and omitted certain key facts about ECT. Not only is electroshock unhelpful, it is also a memory-destroying, intelligence-lowering, brain-damaging, and life-threatening procedure that has worsened the lives of millions of people since its introduction almost 70 years ago. As to the findings of "safety and feasibility of ECT in children" in two studies conducted during the 1940s, consider this selection from "The Electroshock Quotationary" (www.endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF) about what is perhaps the best known study on ECT and children from this period:

1947 - It is the opinion of all observers in the hospital, in the school rooms, of the parents and other guardians that the children [a total of 100] were always somewhat improved by the [electric shock] treatment inasmuch as they were less disturbed, less excitable, less withdrawn, and less anxious. They were better controlled, seemed better integrated and more mature and were better able to meet social situations in a realistic fashion. They were more composed, happier, and were better able to accept teaching or psychotherapy in groups or individually.
LAURETTA BENDER (U.S. electroshock psychiatrist and co-originator of the Bender-Gestalt Scale Test, 1897-1987), "One Hundred Cases of Childhood Schizophrenia Treated with Electric Shock," Transactions of the American Neurological Association (72nd Annual Meeting), July 1947. Comment: In a 1954 follow-up study, two psychiatrists investigated 32 children Bender had electroshocked. "In a number of cases, parents have told the writers that their children were definitely worse after EST. In fact, many of these children were regarded as so dangerous to themselves or others that hospitalization become imperative. Also, after a course of such treatment one nine-year-old boy made what was interpreted as an attempt at suicide." Soon afterwards, when being admitted to a state hospital, "he said that he had tried to hang himself because [referring to ECT] he was 'afraid of dying and wanted to get it over with fast'" (E. R. CLARDY and ELIZABETH M. RUMPF [U.S. psychiatrists], "The Effect !
of Electric Shock Treatment on Children Having Schizophrenic Manifestations," Psychiatric Quarterly, vol. vol. 28 [supplement], 1954). Comment: "Children have been treated without harm as shown by the

extensive experience of Bender" (LOTHAR B. KALINOWSKY [German-born U.S. electroshock psychiatrist], "Electric and Other Convulsive Treatments," published in Silvano Arieti, ed., American Handbook of Psychiatry, 2nd ed., vol. 5, 1975).

Is there any limit to the depravity of the psychiatrists who use or promote the use of electroshock on children? If there is such a place as hell, surely its hottest places are reserved for those psychiatrists.

Leonard Roy Frank

Leonard Roy Frank, ECT survivor and activist

2007-06-23T15:54:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Leonard Roy Frank, who is an ECT survivor and anti-ect activist and author

In 1962, three years after moving to San Francisco, I was diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic" and committed to a psychiatric institution where I was forcibly subjected to 50 insulin-coma and 35 electroconvulsive procedures.

This was the most painful and humiliating experience of my life. My memory for the three preceding years was gone. The wipe-out in my mind was like a path cut across a heavily chalked blackboard with a wet eraser. Afterwards I didn't know that John F. Kennedy was president although he had been elected three years earlier. There were also big chunks of memory loss for events and periods spanning my entire life; my high school and college education was effectively destroyed. I felt that every part of me was less than what it had been.

If the body is the temple of the spirit, the brain may be seen as the inner sanctum of the body, the holiest of places. To invade, violate and injure the brain, as electroshock unfailingly does, is a crime against the spirit and a desecration of the soul. (1991)

- Leonard Roy Frank, American electroshock survivor/activist/author and editor of the book "The History of Shock Treatment"

To reach Leonard Roy Frank, email him at:
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http://www.idiom.com/~drjohn/LFrank.htm

TESTIMONY OF LEONARD ROY FRANK AT A PUBLIC HEARING ON ELECTROCONVULSIVE "TREATMENT" BEFORE THE MENTAL HEALTH COMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY, MARTIN A. LUSTER (CHAIRMAN), MANHATTAN, 18 MAY 2001

My name is Leonard Roy Frank, from San Francisco, and I'm here representing the Support Coalition International based in Eugene, Oregon. SCI unites 100 sponsoring groups who oppose all forms of psychiatric oppression and support humane approaches for assisting people said to be "mentally ill." This year the United Nations recognized Support Coalition International as "a Non-Governmental Organization with Consultative Roster Status."

I've taken the epigraph for my presentation from a talk on the Holocaust by Hadassah Lieberman, the wife of Sen. Joseph Lieberman, which was rebroadcast on C-SPAN last month. She quoted the Bal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidism: "In remembrance lies the secret of redemption."

INTRODUCTION

Some personal background is relevant to the substance of my testimony: I was born in 1932 in Brooklyn and was raised there. After graduating from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, I served in the U.S. Army and then worked as a real estate salesman for several years. In 1962, three years after moving to San Francisco, I was diagnosed as a "paranoid schizophrenic" and committed to a psychiatric institution where I was forcibly subjected to 50 insulin-coma and 35 electroconvulsive procedures.

This was the most painful and humiliating experience of my life. My memory for the three preceding years was gone. The wipe-out in my mind was like a path cut across a heavily chalked blackboard with a wet eraser. Afterwards I didn't know that John F. Kennedy was president although he had been elected three years earlier. There were also big chunks of memory loss for events and periods spanning my entire life; my high school and college education was effectively destroyed. I felt that every part of me was less than what it had been.

Following years of study reeducating myself, I became active in the psychiatric survivors movement, becoming a staff member of Madness Network News (1972) and co-founding the Network Against Psychiatric Assault (1974) -- both based in San Francisco and dedicated to ending abuses in the psychiatric system. In 1978 I edited and published The History of Shock Treatment. Since 1995, three books of quotations I edited have been published: Influencing Minds, Random House Webster's Quotationary, and Random House Webster's Wit & Humor Quotationary.

Over the last thirty-five years I have researched the various shock procedures, particularly electroshock or ECT, have spoken with hundreds of ECT survivors, and have corresponded with many others. From all these sources and my own experience, I have concluded that ECT is a brutal, dehumanizing, memory-destroying, intelligence-lowering, brain-damaging, brainwashing, life-threatening technique. ECT robs people of their memories, their personality and their humanity. It reduces their capacity to lead full, meaningful lives; it crushes their spirits. Put simply, electroshock is a method for gutting the brain in order to control and punish people who fall or step out of line, and intimidate others who are on the verge of doing so.

BRAIN DAMAGE

Brain damage is the most important effect of ECT. Brain damage is, in fact, the 800-pound gorilla in the living room whose existence psychiatrists refuse to acknowledge, at least publicly. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in the American Psychiatric Association's 2001 Task Force Report on The Practice of Electroconvulsive Therapy: Recommendations for Treatment, Training, and Privileging, 2nd ed. (p. 102), which states that "in light of the accumulated body of data dealing with structural effects of ECT, 'brain damage' should not be included [in the ECT consent form] as a potential risk of treatment."

But 50 years ago, when some proponents were careless with the truth about ECT, Paul H. Hoch, co-author of a major psychiatric textbook and New York State's Commissioner of Mental Hygiene, commented, "This brings us for a moment to a discussion of the brain damage produced by electroshock.... Is a certain amount of brain damage not necessary in this type of treatment? Frontal lobotomy indicates that improvement takes place by a definite damage of certain parts of the brain." ("Discussion and Concluding Remarks," Journal of Personality, 1948, vol. 17, pp. 48-51)

More recently, neurologist Sidney Sament backed the brain-damage charge in a letter to Clinical Psychiatry News (March 1983, p. 11):

"After a few sessions of ECT the symptoms are those of moderate cerebral contusion, and further enthusiastic use of ECT may result in the patient functioning at a subhuman level.

Electroconvulsive therapy in effect may be defined as a controlled type of brain damage produced by electrical means....

In all cases the ECT 'response' is due to the concussion-type, or more serious, effect of ECT. The patient 'forgets' his symptoms because the brain damage destroys memory traces in the brain, and the patient has to pay for this by a reduction in mental capacity of varying degree."

Additional evidence of ECT-caused brain damage was published in an earlier APA Task Force Report on Electroconvulsive Therapy (1978). Forty-one percent of a large group of psychiatrists responding to a questionnaire agreed with the statement that ECT produces "slight or subtle brain damage." Only 28 percent disagreed (p. 4).

And finally there is the evidence from the largest published survey of ECT-related deaths. In his Diseases of the Nervous System article titled "Prevention of Fatalities in Electroshock Therapy" (July 1957), psychiatrist David J. Impastato, a leading ECT proponent, reported 66 "cerebral" deaths among the 235 cases in which he was able to determine the likely cause of death following ECT (p. 34).

MEMORY LOSS

If brain damage is electroshock's most important effect, memory loss is its most obvious one. Such loss can be, and often is, devastating as these statements from electroshock survivors indicate:

"My memory is terrible, absolutely terrible. I can't even remember Sarah's first steps, and that's really hurtful... losing the memory of the kids growing up was awful."

"I can be reading a magazine and I get halfway through or nearly to the end and I can't remember what it's about, so I've got to read it all over again."

"People would come up to me in the street that knew me and would tell me how they knew me and I had no recollection of them at all... very frightening." (Lucy Johnstone, "Adverse Psychological Effects of ECT," Journal of Mental Health, 1999, vol. 8, p. 78)

Electroshock proponents are dismissive of the memory problems associated with use of their procedure. The following is from the sample ECT consent form in the APA's 2001 Task Force Report (pp. 321-322): "The majority of patients state that the benefits of ECT outweigh the problems with memory. Furthermore, most patients report that their memory is actually improved after ECT. Nonetheless, a minority of patients report problems in memory that remain for months or even years." The text of the Report supplies flimsy documentation for the claims in the first two sentences, but the third sentence, at least, is closer to the truth than coverage of the same point in the sample consent form of the first edition of the APA's Task Force Report (1990, p. 158) which reads, "A small minority of patients, perhaps 1 in 200, report severe problems in memory that remain for months or even years." And even the more recent Report underestimates the prevalence of memory loss among ECT survivors.

The vast majority of the hundreds of survivors I've communicated with over the last three decades experience moderate-to-severe amnesia going back two years and more from the time they underwent ECT. That these findings do not appear in published ECT studies may be accounted for by the bias of electroshock investigators, virtually all of whom are ECT proponents, by denial (from ECT-induced brain damage) on the part of participants and their fear of punitive sanctions if they were to report the extent and persistence of their memory loss, and finally by the difficulty in having anything published in a mainstream professional journal that seriously threatens the vested interests of an important segment of the psychiatric community.

DEATH

The 2001 Task Force Report on ECT states, "a reasonable current estimate is that the rate of ECT-related mortality is 1 per 10,000 patients" (p. 59). But some studies suggest that the ECT death rate is about one in 200. This rate, however, may not reflect the true situation because now elderly persons are being electroshocked in growing numbers: statistics based on California's mandated ECT reporting system indicate that upwards of 50 percent of all ECT patients are 60 years of age and older.

Because of infirmity and disease, the elderly are more vulnerable to ECT's harmful, and sometimes lethal, effects than younger people. A 1993 study involved 65 patients, 80 and older, who were hospitalized for major depression. Here are the facts drawn from this study: The patients were divided into 2 groups. One group of 37 patients was treated with ECT; the other group, of 28 patients, with antidepressants. After 1 year, 1 patient among the 28, or 4 percent, in the antidepressant group was dead; while in the ECT group 10 patients among the 37, or 27 percent, were dead. (David Kroessler and Barry Fogel, "Electroconvulsive Therapy for Major Depression in the Oldest Old," American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, Winter 1993, p. 30)

BRAINWASHING

The term "brainwashing" came into the language during the early 1950s. It originally identified the technique of intensive indoctrination, combining psychological and physical pressure, developed by the Chinese for use on political dissidents following the Communist takeover on the mainland and on American prisoners of war during the Korean War. While electroshock is not used overtly against political dissidents, it is used throughout most of the world against cultural dissidents, nonconformists, social misfits and the unhappy (the troubling and the troubled), whom psychiatrists diagnose as "mentally ill" in order to justify ECT as a medical intervention.

Indeed, electroshock is a classic example of brainwashing in the most meaningful sense of the term. Brainwashing means washing the brain of its contents. Electroshock destroys memories and ideas by destroying the brain cells which store them. As psychiatrists J. C. Kennedy and David Anchel, both ECT proponents, described the effects of this tabula rasa "treatment" in 1948, "Their minds seem like clean slates upon which we can write" ("Regressive Electric-shock in Schizophrenics Refractory to Other Shock Therapies," Psychiatric Quarterly, vol. 22, pp. 317-320). Soon after published accounts of the erasure of 18 minutes from secret White House audiotapes during the Watergate investigation, another electroshock psychiatrist reported, "Recent memory loss [from ECT] could be compared to erasing a tape recording." (Robert E. Arnot, "Observations on the Effects of Electric Convulsive Treatment in Man--Psychological," Diseases of the Nervous System-, September 1975, pp. 449-502)

For these reasons, I have proposed that the procedure now called electroconvulsive treatment (ECT) be renamed electroconvulsive brainwashing (ECB). And ECB may be putting it too mildly. We might ask ourselves, Why is it that 10 volts of electricity applied to a political prisoner's private parts is seen as torture while 10 or 15 times that amount applied to the brain is called "treatment"? Perhaps the acronym "ECT" should be retained and have the "T" stand for torture - electroconvulsive torture.

SEVEN REASONS

If electroshock is an atrocity, as I maintain, how can its use on more than 10 million Americans since being introduced more than 60 years ago be explained? Here are seven reasons:

1. ECT is a money-maker. Psychiatrists specializing in ECT earn $300,000-500,000 a year compared with other psychiatrists whose mean annual income is $150,000. An in-hospital ECT series costs anywhere from $50,000-75,000. One-hundred thousand Americans are believed to undergo ECT annually. Based on this figure, I estimate that electroshock is a $5 billion-a-year industry.

2. Biological model. ECT reinforces the psychiatric belief system, the linchpin of which is the biological model of mental illness. This model centers on the brain and reduces most serious personal problems down to genetic, physical, hormonal, and/or biochemical defects which call for biological treatment of one kind or another. The biological approach covers a spectrum of physical treatments, at one end of which are psychiatric drugs, at the other end is psychosurgery (which is still being used, although infrequently), with electroshock falling somewhere between the two. The brain as psychiatry's focus of attention and treatment is not a new idea. What psychiatrist Carl G. Jung wrote in 1916 applies today: "The dogma that 'mental diseases are diseases of the brain' is a hangover from the materialism of the 1870s. It has become a prejudice which hinders all progress, with nothing to justify it." ("General Aspects of Dream Psychology," The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche, 1960) Eighty-five years later, there's still nothing in the way of scientific evidence to support the brain-disease notion. The tragic irony is that the psychiatric profession makes unsubstantiated claims that mental illness is caused by a brain disease while hotly denying that electroshock causes brain damage, the evidence for which is overwhelming.

3. The myth of informed consent. While outright force is seldom used, genuine informed consent is never obtained because ECT candidates can be coerced and because electroshock specialists refuse to accurately inform ECT candidates and their families of the procedure's nature and effects. ECT specialists lie not only to the parties vitally concerned, they lie to themselves and to each other. Eventually they come to believe their own lies, and when they do, they become even more persuasive to the na�ve and uninformed. As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1852, "A man cannot dupe others long who has not duped himself first." Here is an instance of evil so deeply ingrained that it's no longer recognized as such. Instead we see such outrages as ECT specialist Robert E. Peck titling his 1974 book, The Miracle of Shock Treatment and Max Fink, who for many years edited the leading professional journal in the field, now called The Journal of ECT, telling a Washington Post reporter in 1996, "ECT is one of God's gifts to mankind." (Sandra G. Boodman, "Shock Therapy: It's Back," 24 September, Health [section], p.16)

4. Backup for treatment-resistant psychiatric-drug users. Many, if not most, of those being electroshocked today are suffering from the ill effects of a trial run or long-term use of antidepressant, anti-anxiety, neuroleptic, and/or stimulant drugs, or combinations thereof. When such effects become obvious, the patient, the patient's family, or the treating psychiatrist may refuse to continue the drug-treatment program. This helps explain why ECT is so necessary in modern psychiatric practice: it is the treatment of next resort. It is psychiatry's way of burying their mistakes without, except rarely, killing the patient. Growing use and failure of psychiatric-drug treatment has forced psychiatry to rely more and more on ECT as a way of dealing with difficult, complaining patients, who often are hurting more from the drugs than from their original problems. And when the ECT fails to "work," there's always -- following an initial series -- more ECT (prophylactic ECT administered periodically to outpatients), or more drug treatment, or a combination of the two. That drugs and ECT are for practical purposes the only methods psychiatry offers to, or imposes on, those who seek treatment or for whom treatment is sought is further evidence of the profession's clinical and moral bankruptcy.

5. Lack of accountability. Psychiatry has become a Teflon profession: criticism, what little there is of it, doesn't stick. Psychiatrists routinely carry out brutal acts of inhumanity and no one calls them on it -- not the courts, not the government, not the people. Psychiatry has become an out-of-control profession, a rogue profession, a paradigm of authority without responsibility, which is a good working definition of tyranny.

6. Government support. Not only does the federal government stand by passively as psychiatrists continue to electroshock American citizens in direct violation of some of their most fundamental freedoms, including freedom of conscience, freedom of thought, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom from assault, and freedom from "cruel and unusual punishment," the government also actively supports electroshock through the licensing and funding of hospitals where the procedure is used, by covering ECT costs in its insurance programs (including Medicare), and by financing ECT research (including some of the most damaging ECT techniques ever devised). A recently published study provides an example of such research. The ECT experiment, which was conducted at Wake Forest University School of Medicine/North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Winston-Salem, between 1995 and 1998, reports the use of electric current at up to 12 times the individual's convulsive threshold on as many as 36 depressed patients. The destructive element in ECT is the current that causes the convulsion: the more electrical energy, the greater the brain damage. This reckless disregard for the safety of ECT subjects was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health. (W. Vaughn McCall, David M. Begoussin, Richard D. Weiner, and Harold A. Sackeim, "Titrated Moderately Suprathreshold vs. Fixed High-Dose Right Unilateral Electroconvulsive Therapy: Acute Antidepressant and Cognitive Effects," Archives of General Psychiatry, May 2000, pp. 438-444)

7. Electroshock could never have become a major psychiatric procedure without the active collusion and silent acquiescence of tens of thousands of psychiatrists. Many of them know better; all of them should know better. The active and passive cooperation of the media has also played an essential role in expanding the use of electroshock. Amidst a barrage of propaganda from the psychiatric profession, the media passes on the claims of ECT proponents almost without challenge. The occasional critical articles are one-shot affairs, with no follow-up, which the public quickly forgets. With so much controversy surrounding this procedure, one would think that some investigative reporters would key on to the story. But it's happened only rarely up to now. And the silence continues to drown out the voices of those who need to be heard. I'm reminded of Martin Luther King's 1963 "Letter from Birmingham City Jail," in which he wrote "We shall have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."

CONCLUSION

As noted earlier, I'm here representing the Support Coalition International. But more significantly, I'm also here representing the true victims of electroshock: those who have been silenced, those whose lives have been ruined, and those who have been killed. All of them bear witness through the words I have spoken here today.

I'll close with a short paragraph, in way of summary, and a poem I wrote in 1989.

If the body is the temple of the spirit, the brain may be seen as the inner sanctum of the body, the holiest of holy places. To invade, violate, and injure the brain, as electroshock unfailingly does, is a crime against the spirit and a desecration of the soul.

Aftermath

With "therapeutic" fury
search-and-destroy doctors
using instruments of infamy
conduct electrical lobotomies
in little Auschwitzes called mental hospitals

Electroshock specialists brainwash
their apologists whitewash
as silenced screams echo
from pain-treatment rooms
down corridors of shame.

Selves diminished
we return
to a world of narrowed dreams
piecing together memory fragments
for the long journey ahead.

From the roadside
dead-faced onlookers
awash in deliberate ignorance
sanction the unspeakable --

Silence is complicity is betrayal.

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Leonard Roy Frank's Shock Quotationary

http://endofshock.com/102C_ECT.PDF

Dr. John Breeding

2007-06-23T15:34:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. John Breeding who is the man on the left holding a microphone. Dr. Breeding is at a rally to protest the use of electroshock which was organized by the group
"The Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas (CAEST) at the Seton Shoal Creek Hospital in Austin, Texas in 2006

A picture of a protestor at the same CAEST rally

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Dr. John Breeding is a psychologist and author who heads the Texas group called "The Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock (CAEST) in Texas. The website for this group is at the URL: http://endofshock.com I am part of this group as an advisor.

Dr. Breeding has done videos about Electroshock and the electroshock protests he has organized. The URL is:

Dr. Breeding has another website at the URL: http://www.wildestcolts.com

On his website, he has his highly acclaimed book, The Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses, exposes the lack of science behind child psychiatric disorders such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He has also been a critic of electroshock treatment, especially its use in children. Texas prohibits the use of electroshock on children under the age of twelve.

The 5 big lies of ECT by Dr. John Friedberg

2007-06-23T15:06:00.001-07:00

Above is a picture of Dr. John Friedberg, an American Neurologist

author of the book "Shock Treatment Is Not Good For Your Brain" and "Shock Treatment, Brain Damage and Memory Loss," a peer reviewed article in the American Journal of Psychiatry

"All ECT [electric shock] does is produce brain damage. ...If you want brain damage, it's your prerogative... there's no more effective way than ECT. It's more effective than a car wreck, or getting hit with a blunt instrument."

- Dr. John Friedberg, Neurologist, USA

Dr. John Friedberg's website:
http://www.idiom.com/~drjohn/ and

http://www.idiom.com/~drjohn/ect.html
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THE FIVE BIG LIES ABOUT ECT:

Source: http://www.ect.org/news/newyork/friedbergtest.html

TESTIMONY OF JOHN M. FRIEDBERG, M.D., NEUROLOGIST, BEFORE THE MENTAL HEALTH COMMITTEE OF THE NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MARTIN LUSTER PRESIDING

NYC, May 18, 2001

"In view of the primitive simplicity of their minds, they (the masses) more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one, since they themselves lie in little things, but would be ashamed of lies that were too big." Adolph Hitler. Mein Kampf, Vol.1, Ch. 10, 1924 tr. Ralph Manheim, 1943

INTRODUCTION

My name is John Friedberg. I am a board certified neurologist practicing in Berkeley, California.

I was born in Far Rockaway (NYC) in 1942, graduated Lawrence High School, Yale University and the University of Rochester School of Medicine and for the past twenty years I’ve been seeing patients with every conceivable neurologic problem, from headaches to Huntington’s, in my office and in hospitals.

I am in good standing with my hospitals, professional societies and licensing boards and I’m proud to say I’ve never been successfully sued.

In 1975 I published my book "Shock Treatment Is Not Good For Your Brain" and in 1979 "Shock Treatment, Brain Damage and Memory Loss," a peer reviewed article in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

I do not believe in mental illness. Depression is no more "the same as diabetes" than heartbreak is the same as a heart attack.

I do not believe in hypothetical diseases of the mind but there is no mistaking damage to the brain. Psychiatric drugs and electroshock inflict real injury in the name of treating fictive maladies. Paul Henri Thomas has Tardive Dyskinesia and heptatitis from psychiatric drugs and amnesia from the ECT.

BASIS FOR OPINIONS

My opinions are based on my years of experience with patients and review of records from all over the country as an expert witness electroshock malpractice cases. They are based on ECT statistics from the six states which mandate reporting; and of necessity, my opinions are based on a lifetime following publications and statements issuing from the small but vocal minority of psychiatrists who believe in ECT and usually nothing but.

Fortunately for me, the believers don’t always believe each other; their data frequently belie their conclusions; and what they actually do contradicts what they say they do. The truth slips out.

As one example: we have known since the 1950’s that confining electroshock to the non-verbal hemisphere (usually the right as in "unilateral non-dominant ECT") causes less verbal impairment and memory loss than bilateral ECT but the recommendation to begin with non-dominant ECT is honored mostly in the breech.

Another example: the "grandfather" of ECT, Dr. Max Fink claims the rate of memory loss is 1 in 200. He has repeated this so often it sounds like a fact. But Harold Sackeim, Ph.D., just as much an enthusiast and just as aggressive, says Fink’s figure has "no scientific basis."

Who to believe? My view is that memory loss from ECT is no "side effect;" it’s the main effect and the best studies find it in 100% of subjects.

Incidentally, Dr. Fink didn’t pick the number 1/200 out of thin air. 1/200 has consistently been the death rate from ECT administration - as far back as 1958 and as recently as Texas and Illinois in the 1990’s.

FIVE BIG LIES

Big Lie 1: Dr. Fink tells people that ECT is safer than childbirth. If one out of every 200 women were dying in delivery it would be front page news.

Big Lie 2: ECT doesn’t cause brain damage. One picture will refute that. The illustration below (MRI on the right, CT left, same patient) depicts a large hemorrhage from ECT. Hemorrhages, large and small, cause permanent seizure disorders in some patients.

( Weisberg, L. Elliott, D and Mielke, D: Intracerebral Hemorrhage Following Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT). November 1991, Neurology V 41 p 1849.)

Another MRI study documented a breakdown of the blood brain barrier and cerebral edema - brain swelling - after each and every shock. (Mander et al: British Journal of Psychiatry, 1987: V 151, p 69-71)

Big Lie 3: ECT is new and improved. The whole point of ECT is to trigger a convulsion and there is simply no way around the brain’s threshold: 100 joules of energy, a typical "dose," whether brief pulse, square wave, sine wave, AC or DC, unilateral or bilateral, with or without oxygen equals the energy it takes to light up a 100 watt bulb for one second or drop a 73 pound weight one foot. And it’s the energy that does the damage.

Big Lie 4: ECT is a "Godsend" (Fink again). In March of this year, Dr. Sackeim published a study in JAMA showing a "relapse rate" of 84% within six months of stopping ECT. It is no coincidence that improvement ceases just as the concussive effects are finally waning. Sackeim’s solution?: more ECT. Call it "maintenance" or call it "continuation," just don’t stop. (JAMA. 2001;285:1299-1307).

Big Lie 5: No one knows how ECT works. On the contrary, everyone knows how ECT works. It works by erasing memory and terrifying people.

CONCLUSION

ECT isn’t back - it never went away. It’s more common than appendectomy.

What has happened is that it’s advocates have grown more arrogant and the number of patients forced to undergo ECT against their will is increasing.

This was brought to public attention by Paul Henri Thomas fighting for his life and his mind at Pilgrim State Hospital on Long Island. Over the past two years he has been subjected to 60 shocks and a judge just ordered up 40 more. The newspapers state the Mr. Thomas was born in Haiti, emigrated from oppression and was granted American citizenship.

To be held down, drugged and forcibly administered convulsive dose after convulsive dose of electroshock to the head: can anyone think of a greater assault on a human being’s rights - short of death - in the whole world? And it’s happening here in the land of the free. That’s not acceptable.

We have had 60 years of poignant testimony from eloquent victims of electroshock. Ernest Hemingway complained it ruined his memory and put him out of business. He killed himself within weeks of concluding a second course of ECT. George Orwell ends 1984 with his protagonist being forced to love Big Brother on an electroshock table.

I urge you to declare a moratorium on electroconvulsive therapy until it can be proven safe by evidence, not proclamation.

I urge you to declare a moratorium on electroconvulsive therapy until patients can be guaranteed free and informed choice.

Thank you.

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About Sue Clark-Wittenberg

2007-06-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

I am Sue Clark-Wittenberg and I am 52 years old. I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I continue to live. I am married to Steven Earl Wittenberg.

I am an electroshock survivor. I am an antipsychiatry activist who is exposing the harm done by psychiatry.

I was psychiatrized in Ontario psychiatric hospitals for 18 years from 1972 to 1990.

I have been free of psychiatry now for 17 years now. Since that time I have not been admitted to a psychiatric hospital nor have I taken any psychiatric drugs/medications.

I am an electroshock (ECT) survivor. I had 5 ECTs given to me against my will at the age of 17 years old in 1973 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in Ontario, Canada.

On my 5th ECT, my heart stopped and I was revived. As a result of having had ECT I suffer my brain damage that caused me to have permanent memory loss.

I can't remember anything but day to day and I have to mark everything down in a book and even then I forget where I put the book. My life is chaotic because of this. I have missed countless meetings, doctor appointments, and visits with friends and family. If I put something in my house not in the same place, I will not find it for a long time.

I find it difficult to learn anything new. I went to Carleton University in Ottawa in 1995 for one semester. I had to leave the university as I could not remember what I was learning.

This was unfortunate as I wanted a good education so I could get a good job.

I am the executive director of the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock.

I want to help ban electroshock in Canada. Electroshock is torture and I don't want anyone to go through what I did. Electroshock should have been banned many years ago.

Electroshock always causes brain damage. There are many reports and studies proving this.

Go to Dr. Peter R. Breggin's website for more info on ECT and it brain damaging effects at the URL: http://www.breggin.com

I am writing my autobiography called "Behind the Locked Ward" online at the URL:
http://symclark.blogspot.com

I am also an incest survivor. One of my uncles molested me. I am also a survivor of childhood abuse, my mother abused me. I am also a survivor of domestic abuse in two former marriages.

About Steven Earl Wittenberg

2007-06-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Above is a picture of Steven Earl Wittenberg taken at Tim Horton's in Ottawa in 2006.

I am Steven Earl Wittenberg. I am 47 years old and I was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I continue to live. I am married to Sue Clark-Wittenberg. She is an electroshock survivor. We are both antipsychiatry activists.

I experienced psychiatry as a child. I was labelled by psychiatry as a hyper active child.

I was put on Ritalin, a psychiatric drug. I went to the out-patient psychiatry department as a child to see psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. I have been free of psychiatry for many years.

I believe children should not be put on psychiatric drugs/medications nor should they be labelled. Label jars not people (not my quote).

I am a male incest survivor. I was sexually abused by one of my family members and it started when I was a teenager. I am seeing a counsellor to deal with these issues.

I have epilepsy. I developed the seizures when I was a baby after a bad reaction to the smallpox vaccination. I put on medication for epilepsy when I was 10 months old and I still on medication for epilepsy which is well controlled by these medications.

In my childhood, in my neighbourhood the stigma of having epilepsy was real. Some of the kids in my neighbourhood on First Ave in Ottawa were told by their parents not to play with me in case they caught my epilespy which is not true, but they did not know differently. It hurt me as I was lonely as a child as I had very few friends to play with.

I am a quiet and shy person. I don't open up to people until I know them well and trust them.

I am an honest person with high self esteem and I have integrity.

There still is a stigma about epilepsy. I function well as a person. I am a member of the group called Epilepsy Ottawa-Carleton.

I am the assistant director of the Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock, and my wife Sue is the executive director of the center. My wife Sue and I decided to open a center because we felt there was a need to lobby governments in order to make changes to the mental health laws to ban electroshock in Canada. We are looking for an office in Ottawa.

I want to help ban electroshock because no one should have to go through what Sue did.

Sue had 5 ECTs against her will in 1973 at the age of 17 at the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital in Ontario. Canada.

On her 5th ECT, her heart stopped and she was revived and suffers from permanent memory loss as result.

I classify electroshock as barbaric, torture, and it is horrendous. I can't believe that in this year 2007 that electroshock is being given more and more. There have been many studies and reports stating that electroshock always causes brain damage 100% all of the time. For more information on ECT, see Dr. Peter R. Breggin's website at the URL: www.breggin.com

"I want to help to close down all the ECT rooms all over the world because ECT is torture.
- Steven Earl Wittenberg

You can contact me by email: wittenbergcenter@gmail.com or by phone at 613-721-1833

What is electroshock?

2007-06-23T08:30:00.001-07:00

Above is picture of a woman having electroshock also known as ECT, shock and electroconvulsive therapy.

Above is a picture of Italian psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti shocking pigs in a Roman slaughterhouse

The picture above is of psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti who developed ECT, also known as electroshock, shock, and electroconvulsive therapy.

Electroshock, also known ECT, shock and Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric procedure in which seizures are induced with electricity. It became widespread as a form of treatment in the 1940s and 50s.

In a Rome slaughterhouse, psychiatrist Ugo Cerletti witnessed butchers incapacitate pigs with electricity. Cerletti lost no time in developing this for use on humans to control behavior. Electroshock—also known as electro-convulsive therapy, shock treatment and ECT— was thus pioneered by Cerletti in the mid-1930s.

Cerletti was fascinated by the control potentials of electroshock. The first man who received it pleaded with Cerletti, “Not another one! It’s deadly!” A witness recounts that, “The Professor (Cerletti) suggested that another treatment with a higher voltage be given.

German psychiatrist Lothar B. Kalinowsky, who witnessed this first electroshock while a student of Cerletti, became one of the world’s most ardent and vigorous proponents of this “treatment.” He developed his own ECT machine and in 1938 introduced his electroshock procedure to France, Holland and England, later pioneering it in the United States. By 1940, ECT had arrived in many countries around the world.

Today, the administration of electroshock brings an estimated $3 billion annually into psychiatric industry coffers in the U.S. alone. However, those receiving this “treatment” are the ones who pay the costliest price. Documented studies show ECT leaves irreversible brain damage. Shock treatment causes confusion of time and space orientation, permanent loss of memory and can result in death. Yet psychiatrists continue to use it. Nobody has ever been “cured”—only deprived of their memory, feelings and will.

Yearly Stats on number of people who get ECT:

14,000 ECTs are given in Ontario, Canada yearly

100,000 Americans get ECT yearly

50,000 people in the UK get ECT yearly

Worldwide it is estimated that 1 to 2 million people get ECT yearly
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Electroshock by Dr. Peter R. Breggin (http://www.breggin.com/electroshock.html)

Electroshock or electroconvulsive therapy involves the passage of an electrical current through the brain of the patient to produce a grand mal or major epileptic seizure. Sometimes the two electrodes are placed over both temples (bilateral shock) and sometimes over one side of the head (unilateral)

The shock induces an electrical storm that obliterates the normal electrical patterns in the brain, driving the recording needle on the EEG up and down in a violent, jagged swings. This period of extreme bursts of electrical energy often is followed by a briefer period of absolutely no electrical activity, called the isoelectric phase. The brain waves become temporarily flat, excactly as in brain death, and it may be that cell death takes place at this time.
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http://www.breggin.com/Electroshockscientific.pdf

The above URL is Dr. Peter R. Breggin's pdf file about electroshock . In this pdf file he explains in depth what electroshock is all about and the harm ECT does to people and he discusses all the studies and tests that have been done on electroshock. I think this is one of the best files to read about electroshock. Dr. Breggin has done all his homework on electroshock and knows what he is talking about. This is an excellent article.
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Proof that ECT causes 100% brain damage

2007-06-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

The picture above is of Dr. Peter R. Breggin, an American psychiatrist and author in New York State. His website is at the URL: http://www.breggin.com

The study below proves that electroshock causes brain damage 100% of the time.

DISTURBING NEWS FOR PATIENTS AND SHOCK DOCTORS ALIKE
By Dr. Peter R. Breggin

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/

Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction.

Based on numerous standardized psychological tests, six months after the last ECT every form of the treatment was found to cause lasting memory and mental dysfunction. In the summary words of the investigators, "Thus, adverse cognitive effects were detected six months following the acute treatment course." They concluded, "this study provides the first evidence in a large, prospective sample that adverse cognitive effects can persist for an extended period, and that they characterize routine treatment with ECT in community settings."

After traumatic brain damage has persisted for six months, it is likely to remain stable or even to grow worse. Therefore, the study confirms that routine clinical use of ECT causes permanent damage to the brain and its mental faculties.

The term cognitive dysfunction covers the entire range of mental faculties from memory to abstract thinking and judgment. The ECT-induced persistent brain dysfunction was global. In addition to the loss of autobiographical memories, the most marked cognitive injury occurred in "retention of newly learned information," "simple reaction time," and most tragically "global cognitive status" or overall mental function. In other words, the patients continued to have trouble learning and remembering new things, they were slower in their mental reaction times, and they were mentally impaired across a broad range of faculties.

Probably to disguise the wide swath of devastation, the Sackeim study did not provide the percentages of patients afflicted with persistent cognitive deficits; but all of the multiple tests were highly significant (p<0.0001>

Many patients also had persistent abnormalities on the EEGs (brain wave studies) six months after treatment, indicating even more gross underlying brain damage and dysfunction. The results confirm that the post-ECT patients, as I have described in numerous publications, were grossly brain-injured with a generalized loss of mental functions.

Some of the older forms of shock--and still the most commonly used--produced the most severe damage; but all of the treatment types caused persistent brain dysfunction. The greater the number of treatments given to patients, the greater was the loss of biographical memories. Elderly women are particularly likely to get shocked--probably because there is no one to defend them--and the study found that the elderly and females were the most susceptible to severe memory loss.

Destroying Lives

The study does not address the actual impact of these losses on the lives of individual patients. Like most such reports, it's all a matter of statistics. In human reality the loss of autobiographical memories indicates that patients could no longer recall important life experiences, such as their wedding, family celebrations, graduations, vacation trips, and births and deaths. In my experience, it also includes the wiping out of significant professional experiences. I have evaluated dozens of patients whose professional and family lives have been wrecked, including a nurse who lost her career but who recently won malpractice suit against the doctor who referred her for shock. Her story is told on my website, www.breggin.com.

Even when these injured people can continue to function on a superficial social basis, they nonetheless suffer devastation of their identities due to the obliteration of key aspects of their personal lives. The loss of the ability to retain and learn new material is not only humiliating and depressing but also disabling. The slowing of mental reaction time is frustrating and disabling. Even when relatively subtle, these disabilities can disrupt routine activities of living. Individuals can no longer safely drive a car for fear of losing their concentration or becoming hopelessly lost. Others can no longer find their way around their own kitchen or remember to turn off the burner on the stove. Still others cannot retain what they have just read in a newspaper or seen on television. They commonly meet old friends and new acquaintances without having any idea who they are. Ultimately, the experience of "global" cognitive dysfunction impairs the victim's identify and sense of self, as well as ruining the overall quality of life.

Although unmentioned in the Sackeim article, in addition to cognitive dysfunction, shock treatment causes severe affective or emotional disorders. Much like other victims of severe head injury, many post-shock patients become emotionally shallow and unable to relate on an intimate or spiritual level. They often become impulsive and irritable. Commonly they become chronically depressed. Having been injured by previously trusted doctors, they almost always become distrustful of all doctors and avoid even necessary medical care.

Decades of Opposition to Shock Treatment

This breaking scientific research has confirmed what I've been saying about shock treatment for thirty years. In 1979 I published Electroshock: Its Brain-Disabling Effects, the first medical book to evaluate the brain damaging and memory wrecking effects of this "treatment" for depression that requires inflicting a series of massive convulsions on the brain by means of passing a traumatic electric current through it. After many rejections, the courageous president of Springer Publishing Company, Ursula Springer, decided to publish this then controversial book. Dr. Springer told me about venomous attacks aimed at her at medical meetings as a result of her brave act in publishing my work. She never regretted it.

Over the years, I have continued to write, lecture, testify in court and speak to the media about brain damage and memory loss caused by electroshock (e.g., Breggin 1991, 1992, 1997, and 1998). At times my persistence has resulted in condemnation from shock advocates such as Harold Sackeim and Max Fink whom I have criticized for systematically covering up damage done to millions of patients throughout the world. It would require too much autobiographical detail to communicate the severity of the attacks on me surrounding my criticism of ECT. It was second only to the attack on me from the drug companies for claiming that antidepressants cause violence and suicide.

Given the vigor with which shock doctors have suppressed or denigrated my work, the study further surprised me by citing my 1986 scientific paper "Neuropathology and cognitive dysfunction from ECT" published in the Psychopharmacology Bulletin, noting that "critics contend that ECT invariably results in substantial and permanent memory loss." They contrast this critical view with "some authorities," specifically citing Max Fink and Robert Abrams, who have argued against the existence of any persistent shock effects on memory. The implication was clear that the critics were right and the so-called authorities were wrong. Sackeim was among those authorities. Fink's "authoritative" testimony at a number of malpractice trials has enabled shock doctors to get off Scott free after damaging the brains of their patients. Abrams used to testify successfully on behalf of shock doctors until I disclosed his ownership of a shock machine manufacturing company.

Unfortunately, the Sackeim group did not cite the work of neurologist John Friedberg who risked his career to criticize electroshock treatment. Nor did their article give credit to the published work of psychiatric survivor Leonard Frank or the anti-shock reform activities of the survivor movement lead by David Oaks of MindFreedom.org They also didn't cite Colin Ross's 2006 review and analysis showing that ECT is no more effective than sham ECT or simply sedating patients without shocking them.

Will the latest confirmation of ECT-induced brain damage cause shock doctors to cut back on their use of the treatment? Not likely. Psychiatrist and their affiliated neurosurgeons always knew that lobotomy was destroying the brains and mental life of their patients and that knowledge did not daunt them one bit. It required an organized international campaign to discredit, to slow down and to almost eliminate the surgical practice of psychiatric brain mutilation in the early 1970s (Breggin and Breggin 1994). The ECT lobby is much larger and stronger than the lobotomy lobby, and much better organized, with its own journal and shock advocates positioned in high places in medicine and psychiatry. Stopping shock treatment will require public outrage, organized resistance from survivor groups and psychiatric reformers, lawsuits, and state legislation.

This essay will appear in Dr. Breggin's column, "Politics, Practice and Breaking News," in a forthcoming issue of the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, sponsored by the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.ICSPP.org).

References
Breggin, P. (1979). Electroshock: Its brain-disabling effects. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Breggin, P. (1991). Toxic psychiatry. New York: St Martin's Press.

Breggin, P. (1992). The return of ECT. Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health, 3 (March, No. 1), 12-17

Breggin, P. (1997). Brain-Disabling treatments in psychiatry. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Breggin, P. (1998). Electroshock: Scientific, ethical, and political issues." International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 11, 5-40.

Breggin, P. and Breggin, G. (1998). The war against children of color. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.

Frank, L. (1978). (Ed.). The history of electroshock. Available from L. Frank, 2300 Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. Also available on www.Amazon.com.

Frank, L. (1990). Electroshock: death, brain damage, memory loss, and brain washing. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11, 489-512.

Frank, L. (2006). The electroshock quotationery. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 157-177.

Friedberg, J. (1976). Electroshock is not good for your brain. San Francisco: Glide Publications.

Friedberg, J. (1977). Shock treatment, brain damage, and memory loss: A neurological perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 1010-1014.

Ross, Colin (2006). The sham ECT literature: Implications for consent to ECT. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 17-28.

Sackeim, H., Prudic, J., Fuller, R., Keilp, J., Lavori, P. and Olfson, M. (2007). The cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy in community settings. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 244-254.

Dr. Peter R. Breggin

2007-06-22T05:17:00.000-07:00

The picture above is of Dr. Peter R. Breggin, an American psychiatrist in New York State who speaks out about the harm done by psychiatry.

With a background that Time magazine describes as "pure establishment"--Harvard College, Case Western Reserve Medical School, and a teaching fellowship at Harvard Medical School--Peter Breggin, M.D., has become an internationally known psychiatrist and author of a dozen books, including the bestselling Talking Back to Prozac and Talking Back to Ritalin. Formerly a member of the faculty of the Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling, he is the International Director of the Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, which he founded in the early 70s.

Dr. Breggin has a huge website at the URL: http://www.breggin.com

Dr. Breggin's website is a wealth of information on the harm done by psychiatry; by psychiatric drugs for adults and children, the brain disabling effects of electroshock and lobotomy.

He has lawsuits on his website against psychiatric drug companies; lawsuits that he was on as an expert witness.

On this website, he has many articles he has written on electroshock and psychiatry, and psychiatric drugs.

Dr. Breggin has written many books entitled: "Toxic Psychiatry", "Talking Back to Prozac" just 2 of the many books he has written. To see a list of all Dr. Breggin's books, see this URL:
http://www.breggin.com/prbbooks.html

Dr. Breggin has written articles in a blog. His blog URL is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/

Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has recently published a follow up study of 347 patients given the currently available methods of electroshock, including the supposedly most benign forms--and confirmed that electroshock causes permanent brain damage and dysfunction.

Destroying Lives
The study does not address the actual impact of these losses on the lives of individual patients. Like most such reports, it's all a matter of statistics. In human reality the loss of autobiographical memories indicates that patients could no longer recall important life experiences, such as their wedding, family celebrations, graduations, vacation trips, and births and deaths. In my experience, it also includes the wiping out of significant professional experiences. I have evaluated dozens of patients whose professional and family lives have been wrecked, including a nurse who lost her career but who recently won malpractice suit against the doctor who referred her for shock. Her story is told on my website, www.breggin.com.

Decades of Opposition to Shock Treatment
This breaking scientific research has confirmed what I've been saying about shock treatment for thirty years. In 1979 I published Electroshock: Its Brain-Disabling Effects, the first medical book to evaluate the brain damaging and memory wrecking effects of this "treatment" for depression that requires inflicting a series of massive convulsions on the brain by means of passing a traumatic electric current through it. After many rejections, the courageous president of Springer Publishing Company, Ursula Springer, decided to publish this then controversial book. Dr. Springer told me about venomous attacks aimed at her at medical meetings as a result of her brave act in publishing my work. She never regretted it.

Given the vigor with which shock doctors have suppressed or denigrated my work, the study further surprised me by citing my 1986 scientific paper "Neuropathology and cognitive dysfunction from ECT" published in the Psychopharmacology Bulletin, noting that "critics contend that ECT invariably results in substantial and permanent memory loss." They contrast this critical view with "some authorities," specifically citing Max Fink and Robert Abrams, who have argued against the existence of any persistent shock effects on memory. The implication was clear that the critics were right and the so-called authorities were wrong. Sackeim was among those authorities.
Fink's "authoritative" testimony at a number of malpractice trials has enabled shock doctors to get off Scott free after damaging the brains of their patients. Abrams used to testify successfully on behalf of shock doctors until I disclosed his ownership of a shock machine manufacturing company.

Unfortunately, the Sackeim group did not cite the work of neurologist John Friedberg who risked his career to criticize electroshock treatment. Nor did their article give credit to the published work of psychiatric survivor Leonard Frank or the anti-shock reform activities of the survivor moment lead by David Oaks of MindFreedom. They also didn't cite Colin Ross's 2006 review and analysis showing that ECT is no more effective than sham ECT or simply sedating patients without shocking them.

References
Breggin, P. (1979). Electroshock: Its brain-disabling effects. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Breggin, P. (1991). Toxic psychiatry. New York: St Martin's Press.
Breggin, P. (1992). The return of ECT. Readings: A Journal of Reviews and Commentary in Mental Health, 3 (March, No. 1), 12-17
Breggin, P. (1997). Brain-Disabling treatments in psychiatry. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Breggin, P. (1998). Electroshock: Scientific, ethical, and political issues." International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 11, 5-40.
Breggin, P. and Breggin, G. (1998). The war against children of color. Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press.
Frank, L. (1978). (Ed.). The history of electroshock. Available from L. Frank, 2300 Webster Street, San Francisco, CA 94115. Also available on www.Amazon.com.
Frank, L. (1990). Electroshock: death, brain damage, memory loss, and brain washing. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 11, 489-512.
Frank, L. (2006). The electroshock quotationery. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 157-177.
Friedberg, J. (1976). Electroshock is not good for your brain. San Francisco: Glide Publications.
Friedberg, J. (1977). Shock treatment, brain damage, and memory loss: A neurological perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 1010-1014.
Ross, Colin (2006). The sham ECT literature: Implications for consent to ECT. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 17-28.
Sackeim, H., Prudic, J., Fuller, R., Keilp, J., Lavori, P. and Olfson, M. (2007). The cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy in community settings. Neuropsychopharmacology, 32, 244-254.

Dr. Breggin founded the "International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and
Psychology (ICSSP) The website is at the URL: icssp.org

ICSPP is concerned with the impact of mental health theories on public policy and the effects of therapeutic practices upon individual well-being, personal freedom, and family and community values. For over 25 years ICSPP has been informing the professions, the media and the public about the potential dangers of drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery, and the biological theories of psychiatry. We inform others about the latest hazardous psychiatric invention and alert the media and the public to the dangers of treating social, interpersonal and personal problems as though they were medical diseases.

Quotes by Dr. Breggin:

"Going to a psychiatrist has become one of the most dangerous things a person
can do."

- Dr. Peter R. Breggin

"The escalating rate of shocking the elderly is one reason why I have come out in recnent years for a complete ban on the treatment. The elderly are less able to defend themselves against shock treatment, and their brains are more susceptible to devastating damage"

-Dr. Peter Breggin, in phone interview with Don Weitz (March 1996)

Informed consent for ECT becomes a mirage. I now endorse public efforts to ban ECT. The banning of ECT should be supported by all concerned mental health professionals."

- Dr. Peter Breggin, Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry (1997, p.156)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.breggin.com/Electroshockscientific.pdf

The above URL is Dr. Breggin's article on electroshock which is entitled
"Electroshock: scientific, ethical and political issues"

This article is 37 pages of complete info on ECT, everything you need to know about ECT. A great article!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE NEED TO BAN ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY

by Peter R. Breggin. M.D.

Brian-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Role of the FDA

(Springer Publishing Co., 1997, pp.155-156)

I have long aruged that ECT is an ineffective, dangerous, anachronistic treatment that should be abandoned by modern psychiatry. Yet, despite the urging of many victims of ECT, I refused for many years to endorse public or legislative efforts to ban it. It was my opinion that the practice of medicine and the rights of patients were better served by insisting on informed consent --
and by holding liable those psychiatrists who fail to convey to their patients the controversial
nature of ECT and its potentially damaging effects. Unfortunately...organized psychiatry is
determined not to inform professionals or patients about the risk of ECT...the APA report
(American Psychiatric Association 1990) provides a shild for those who recommend and
administer ECT--an 'official' conclusion that there is no serious risk of harm. Doctors who
prescribe or recommend ECT can try to hide behind this report when their injured patients
protest to them or bring legal action. "...informed consent for ECT becomes a mirage...I now
endorse public efforts to ban ECT. The banning of ECT should be supported by all concerned
health professionals.

"Some patients do feel 'helped' by ECT. Often they have been so damaged that they cannot judge their own condition. They suffer from iatrongenic denial and helplessness. But should
a treatment be banned when some people believe they are helped by it? In fact, it is commonplace in medicine and psychiatry to withdraw treatments and devices that have
caused serious harm to a small percentage of people, even though they have have helped a very
large percentage. The risk of serious injury to a few outweighs helping many.

"In the case of ECT, a large percentage of people are being harmed, and there's little evidence that many are being helped. There's no evidence that the treatment prevents suicide or rescues desperate cases. At the best the treatment offers a very poor trade-off--potentially
irreversible brain damage and mental dysfunction in exchange for the docility and the temporary emotional bluntings or euphoria that result from the damage
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jury Awards $635,000 in Shock Suit

In June 2005 in Columbia, South Carolina, a jury awarded $635,000 in a malpractice suit against a psychiatrist who referred a patient for electroshock treatment. The hospital had previously settled for a small amount and the doctor who administered the treatment was not found negligent. The plaintiff, Peggy Salters, is a former nurse who lost her memory for many years of her life, including her professional training and the raising of her children. Her cognitive abilities remain impaired for new learning as well. She was found permanently disabled by the shock treatment. Mrs. Salters viewed the jury award as a victory for all victims of electroshock. It is probably the first jury award in an electroshock malpractice case. The fact that the referring physician was found negligent may encourage greater caution on the part of physicians who refer their patients to “shock doctors” for treatment. Dr. Peter Breggin was the medical expert on behalf of Mrs. Salter’s. The attorney was Mark Hardee (phone 803 799 0905).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CAPA Event - Hemingway on Stage

2007-06-22T03:37:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of Brian Gordon Sinclair acting in his play as the famous author Ernest Hemingway. Brian's play is called "Stories for Hemingway's Havana"

CAPA - The Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault has an upcoming event and I am posting it here.

The event is happening in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on July 7th, 2007 at 7 p.m. All the details are below:

AWARD WINNING STRATFORD ACTOR OFFERS UP HIT PLAY TO BENEFIT
ANTI-ELECTROSHOCK GROUP

"Sinclair masterfully cedes the stage to Hemingway and the author's multiface
personality. He understands Hemingway's strengths as well as vulnerabilities
and does him justice. He (Sinclair) reaches into the writer's soul and becomes
him." - Miami Herald, July 20, 2006

"Hemingway on Stage is one of the most dramatic, intense, exhilaration and
outstanding shows I have ever seen." - Key West Marlin Magazine, July 2005

CAPA (Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault) proudly presents:

The world premiere of

STORIES FOR HEMINGWAY'S HAVANA

Written and performed by Brian Gordon Sinclair, recipient of the Stratford Festival's

Written and performed by Brian Gordon Sinclair, recipient of the Stratford Festival's prestigious Sir Tyrone Guthrie Award for acting

When: Saturday, July 7th, 2007 at 7:00 pm (One night only).

Where: O.I.S.E. (Ontario Institute For Studies In Education) 252 Bloor Street West on the 7th floor in the Peace Lounge.

Admission: Free - donations accepted. Please join us after the play for a reception.

Brian Gordon Sinclair has written a five part opus based on Ernest Hemingway's life. Each episode, presented at the annual Hemingway Days celebration in Key West Florida represents specific and notable periods in the writer's remarkable life. Brian's odyssey began when he reacquainted himself with Hemingway's seminal novel A Farewell to Arms and became captivated by the literary giant's passion, prose and philosophy on life and literature. His first instalment was presented at the Key West Festival in 2003 and will conclude in 2008.

This year he has sojourned from his series to present an evening of storytelling portraying Ernest Hemingway called Hemingway's Havana. This is essentially the presentation he will premiere at O.I.S.E. before he takes it to Key West to officially open Hemingway Days 2007 on Tuesday, July 17th. "Well, what is the sense of ruining my head and erasing my memory, which is my capital, and putting me out of business? It was a brilliant cure but we lost the patient."This is a quote from Ernest Hemingway as told to friend and biographer A.E. Hotchner (Papa Hemingway, 1967) after he received a second series of electroshock treatments at the Mayo Clinic.On July 2nd, 1961, a few days after his release from the hospital, Ernest Hemingway put the barrel of his shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

The Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault (CAPA) is a grassroots, political action organization co-founded four years ago by antipsychiatry activists Dr. Bonnie Burstow and Don Weitz. CAPA's chief objective is to dismantle the psychiatric system; its two top priorities are to strategize resistance against psychiatric drugs and electroshock ("ECT") - two of psychiatry's most destructive "treatments".

Just this year a major study conducted at Columbia University proved beyond a shadow of doubt that ECT causes permanent brain damage to recipients 100% of the time.

Since the early 1940s when it was introduced as a psychiatric treatment, electroshock is still administered in Canada and around the world. Electroshock has never been banned, despite the fact that it always causes serious cognitive impairments such as permanent memory loss and brain damage, emotional trauma, frequently aggravates depression, and sometimes triggers death including suicide.

When Hemingway became increasingly depressed around 1960, he was pressured to undergo electroshock. Like thousands of other people who have gone through the same procedure, Hemingway got even more depressed and suicidal soon after he discovered that electroshock had wiped out much of his memory and incapacitated his ability to write. Hemingway was one of the most famous and tragic victims of electroshock and psychiatry - there are thousands more.

When Brian Gordon Sinclair saw a newspaper ad announcing a Mother's Day demonstration called "STOP SHOCKING OUR MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS" to be held at Queen's Park organized by CAPA and endorsed by 27 organizations, he contacted CAPA's executive and offered to perform his play to add his voice to the growing number of people demanding the abolition of the barbaric practice of electroshock.. CAPA is honoured to present this brilliant production of the life of Nobel Prize-winning writer Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway's life, particularly its tragic ending has relevance and adds urgency to CAPA's
continuing campaign to stop electroshock.

For information please contact Don Weitz: 416.545.0796 or
Shaindl Diamond: capa@oise.utoronto.ca
or visit us at: http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca/upcoming_events.html or contact
Brian Gordon Sinclair: www.briangordonsinclair.com
email: sinclair4814@rogers.com
Telephone: 705-435-4814

CAPA - Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault

2007-06-21T09:14:00.000-07:00

Picture: Left to Right: Don Weitz, Bonnie Burstow, and Paivi Laine at the Press Conference for the Mother's Day Event, May 10, 2007 held at Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario

Bonnie and Don are co-editors of the book "Shrink Resistant: The Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada"

Don and Bonnie are my mentors and my friends. I have great respect for them.

CAPA - The Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault

CAPA was formed in 2003. The group is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I am member of large of CAPA.

CAPA has two websites:

http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca - CAPA's Main Website

http://capacanada.wordpress.com - CAPA's blog

Contact CAPA: Dr. Bonnie Burstow 416-538-7103 Email: bburstow@oise.utoronto.ca

Don Weitz 416-545-0796 Email: dweitz@pathcom.com

CAPA's Mandate taken from the CAPA website which reads:

"Formed in 2003, CAPA is a coalition of people committed to dismantling the psychiatric system and building a better world. Radical and visionary, we are comprised of activists, psychiatric survivors, dramatists, academics, and professionals.

We see problems in living which are currently pathologized as largely created by sexism, capitalism, racism, ableism, heterosexism, and other systemic oppressions.

We see the very concept of mental illness as flawed. We object to incarceration, electroshock, and the vast array of brain-damaging drugs.

We oppose the violation of human rights which is endemic to psychiatry.

We see a connection between globalization, intolerance, and the mass marketing of the mental health industry.

The world which we strive to co-create is one where people are not pathologized, where care is neither commodified nor professionalized, where choice and integrity are respected, and where we are all joined in caring and creative community to each other and to the planet earth."

I personally think this is a fantastic mandate.

The Mother's Day Events, May 13, 2007

The Mother's Day Events on May 13, 2007 were organized by CAPA (Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault). The Mother's Day events were organized to protest the use of electroshock on women because more women than men get electroshock. This was an international event with protests in Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Cork, Ireland.

The Toronto event had over 140 protestors. There were personal testimonies from ECT survivors in person and some ECT survivors who could not make the event like myself had their personal stories read out loud at the event. There was singing and songs played, musicians, puppets, acting, and lots of social activity and good food. It was a very successful event. There will be another Mother's Day Event next year 2008 in Toronto. The CAPA website will have all the details.

Electroshock is touted as the treatment of choice for post-partum
depression

** Women receive electroshock 2 to 3 times as much as men

** Elderly women are the greatest risk of electroshock- 52% of
electroshock treatments are given to women over 60

To see the pictures and videos and newspaper articles of the Mother's Day Event, May 13, 2007 held in Toronto,Ontario; Montreal, Quebec; and Cork, Ireland; visit these websites:

http://capa.oise.utoronto.ca

http://capacanada.wordpress.com
http://www.mindfreedom.org

The Anti-Electroshock Proclamation written by Bonnie Burstow

We who care,
We who are committed to decency,
We who behold with horror the disrespect for human life around us,
We who shudder at the knowledge
Of women who memory has been turned into ember and ashes,
Of families brutally torn assunder by pulse waves or sine waves,
Of the elderly, who final life reward is electrocution.

We who hold this fearful knowledge can be silent no longer.

LEGISLATORS, on this Mother's Day, we hold you directly accountable and call on you
to withdraw your authorization for electroshock.

FELLOW CITIZENS, who think this "practice" stopped decades ago, on this Mother's Day,
We tell you that the carnage continues and that you too are responsible.

On this Mother's Day, May 13, 2007, as survivors and allies, we come together to
raise our voices in protest,
And we vow to return,
Return,
and return again,
Until this abomination
Is no more.

The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock (WCEE)

2007-06-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

The picture above is of me and my husband Steven Wittenberg. Steven and I decided to open up "The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock (WCEE) " on May 20, 2007 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

We have a blog for our new center at the URL:

http://wittenbergces.blogspot.com

We felt there was a need for mental health legislation changes in order to ban electroshock.

In Canada, every province has their own mental health laws.

Our center will lobby all levels of governments to ban electroshock.

We are looking for a student lawyer for help up one day a week.

We are looking for an office and we need two updated computers with all the accessories, a fax machine, and a scanner in order to do our work for the center. These are needed urgently.

If you could help in any way, that would be very much appreciated. You can contact Sue at 613-721-1833 or email Sue at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com Thank you.

Sue's Personal Story "Behind the Locked Ward"

2007-06-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

SUE'S LIFE STORY ONLINE NOW:

I have a blog about my personal true life story. I have seven chapters up on this blog and I will continue to write the rest of my story this summer. Update: September 12, 3 quarters of my book is up online. See all the pics too.

My blog is called "Behind the Locked Ward - The Sue Clark Story" The URL for Sue's online book is:

http://symclark.blogspot.com

This blog depicts my traumatic childhood, my troubled teen years, my admissions to psychiatric hospitals at the age of 17 years old, my 18 years of being locked up on psychiatric wards in Ottawa and Brockville, Ontario, Canada.

I write about my recovery from living without psychiatry since 1990; I have had no psychiatric hospital admissions nor have I taken any psychiatric medications since then.

I write about my antipoverty, my antipychiatry and anti-ect activism.

I write about how I am doing now and my vision for the future.

I welcome comments, constructive criticism, suggestions from those reading my blogs. I welcome media interviews and do speaking engagements as well. Call me at 613-721-1833 or email me at:
2005.sueclark@gmail.com Two months notice needed for speaking engagements. Fees to be discussed.

Whistleblowers Needed

2007-06-14T03:25:00.001-07:00

GOT ANY INFO ??

Whistleblowers are needed? Why? Because I need to know what is going on in psychiatric hospitals and clinics. Medical professionals, lawyers, mental health advocates and friends and families of psychiatric patients have told me themselves what is going on. Confidentiality is assured. I never reveal any of my sources of information to anyone. No one uses my computer but me and I have a password to open up my computer.

There are psychiatric assaults out there and patients are being abused by psychiatry everyday.

I am looking to speak to a nurse who is against the use of electroshock. Confidentiality is assured.

I am also trying to get in contact with Ebba the nurse I knew who used to work at the Ottawa General Hospital.

You can send your email to me at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com or call me at: 613-721-1833 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

About my blog

2007-06-14T01:51:00.000-07:00

The picture above is of a woman having electroshock, also known as electroconvulsive therapy, ECT and shock. I am an electroshock survivor.

I want to tell you why "Psychiatry is the biggest medical fraud today"

I want to share with you my true life experiences as a person who was tortured by the mental health system in Ontario, Canada for l8 years from 1972 to 1990. Since 1990, I have not been admitted to a psychiatric ward nor have I taken any psychiatric drugs/medications. With the help of my supportive friends, mental health professionals, therapists, psychiatric survivor groups, peer counselling, and many other people, I began the journey from recovery from the psychiatric industry and from the toxic use of psychatric drugs.

I have been free of psychiatry since 1990. I have not taken any psychiatric drugs, nor been admitted to a psychiatric ward since that time. I have never felt beter in all my life.

On my blog I will post: antipsychiatry activist groups in Canada and the USA and all over the world; antipsychiatry websites; electroshock personal stories and news; anti-ect activists and groups and their protests and events; antipsychiatry books and movies.

I will post my own anti-ect protests and events here.

If you have an antipsychiatry protest or event or website, or news article you think I should know about, please email me at: 2005.sueclark@gmail.com or phone me at: 613-721-1833

Sue Clark's Exposing Psychiatry Home Page

ECT machine

whistle

whistle

Antipsychotic drugs are doing harm

Being pregnant being target as mental illness

Madness Radio: Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs

Name That Psychiatric Illogic!

MEDICAID KIDS IN PSYCH-RX $urge

Elderly taking some psychiatric drugs could die

Don Weitz's speech about psychiatric abuse

Tell me your story

Sue and Steven's ECT videos on youtube.com

Psychiatric drugs can cause brain damage

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Psychiatric drugs can cause brain damage

The Anti-Depressant Fact Book

What Your Doctor Won't Tell YouAbout Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox

Leave your comments here

2 DAY FORUM/MENTAL PATIENTS LIBERATION ALLIANCE

Psychiatry the biggest medical fraud today

Royal Ottawa Mental Health Center

Big Pharma makes big bucks

DMS-IV Psychiatrists manual of bogus mental disorders

pro psychiatry - Canadian Mental Health Association

Schools forcing kids on toxic psychiatric meds

Oppressive Community Treatments Orders (CTO)

Mindfreedom.org

Brockville Psychiatric Hospital

Dr. Bonnie Burstow

Don Weitz

Fighting the APA, CPA etc

Dr. Seth Farber

One Who Flew Over Cuckoos Nest - Ken Kesey, author

Dr. Paula Joan Caplan, psychologist and author

Wendy Funk, ECT survivor and author

Famous people who suffered from depression

Famous People Who Have Suffered from Depression

These famous authors, scientists, leaders, artists, and celebrities all have been reported as having suffered from depression.

Reporting a doctor who abused you

Contact the College

Lobby governments to ban ECT/Political Action

Steven's movies exposing ECT and DSM-IV

No Proof Mental Illness Exists

Antipsychiatry Movies and Plays

25 ReasonsWhy Psychiatry Must Be Abolished

25 GOOD REASONS WHY PSYCHIATRY MUST BE ABOLISHED

Antipsychiatry Radio Shows

Internet Radio -

Listen and call-in live every Wednesday at 4 pm EST at:

http://prncomm.net/

Antipsychiatry Reading Room

Drug awareness/bad side effects Websites

Anti-Psychiatry Websites

Sue's Poem about ECT

Dr. Thomas Szasz

Children getting electroshocked

Electroshocking children by Leonard Roy Frank

Leonard Roy Frank, ECT survivor and activist

Dr. John Breeding

The 5 big lies of ECT by Dr. John Friedberg

About Sue Clark-Wittenberg

About Steven Earl Wittenberg

What is electroshock?

Proof that ECT causes 100% brain damage

Dr. Peter R. Breggin

CAPA Event - Hemingway on Stage

CAPA - Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault

The Wittenberg Center to End Electroshock (WCEE)

Sue's Personal Story "Behind the Locked Ward"

Whistleblowers Needed

About my blog

What Your Doctor Won't Tell You
About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox