The "Science" behind Psychiatric Drugs

I just came across this fascinating article about The Psychiatric Drug Crisis in the pharmaceutical industry.

The article covers not only that crisis, but also the history behind many psychiatric drugs and the complete lack of science behind them.

For example, the use of the drug lithium for people who experienced mania came about because it sedated guinea pigs that had been injected with the urine of manic patients. Honest, I kid you not. If you don't believe me, read the article (see the link above).

Here is a quote from the article:

By 1960, the major classes of psychiatric drugs—among them, mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anti-anxiety drugs, known as anxiolytics—had been discovered and were on their way to becoming a seventy-billion-dollar market. Having been discovered by accident, however, they lacked one important element: a theory that accounted for why they worked (or, in many cases, did not). That didn’t stop drug makers and doctors from claiming that they knew.

The article also exposes the truth about the myth of the "chemical imbalance," which even its long time proponents no longer espouse.

It's nice to have someone in the actual industry completely validate everything you've been saying for the past twenty plus years.

Mental Health Declaration of Human Rights

These are important rights. Watch the video and realize that everyone, no matter their mental state, needs these rights.

Scientology Auditing versus Secular Therapy

Sophie said:

How is Auditing different from seeing a therapist and talking about your feelings and working on them and what not? Therapists usually don't prescribe drugs so how is it different?

That is an excellent question.

Unless you have a good understanding of what auditing is then you may not see much difference between Scientology Auditing and secular therapy. In fact the differences are so many and so great that a book could be written on the subject.

But to save you from a huge discussion, I'll try to keep it short and to the point.

The End Product

Here is an example of a typical secular therapy session: Typical Therapy Session. As you can see the end product and how long it takes to achieve is described like this:

On average, clients stay in therapy for one year. Some feel better much sooner, and some continue for much longer. The length of time it will take for you to feel better varies depending on your temperament and the particular issues you bring forward.

So "feeling better" is the end product and it take about a year to achieve.

When a person begins with Scientology Auditing often the first thing they do is a specific set of actions called "Life Repair" which are aimed at handling the upsets and difficulties the person is encountering in their current life. On average it takes 25 hours of auditing and at the end of that time the person's current life issues will be handled. They won't just "feel better" they will feel great and the things that were bothering them won't be bothering them anymore.

So that's the lowest, simplest, beginning form of Scientology Auditing and in a few days you will have not only reached, but completely surpassed the "feeling better" of secular therapy.

If you go to this link: Scientology Bridge you will see a full list of the abilities that you gain from the Scientology Auditing that comes after Life Repair.

Here are a few examples of what you get from Scientology Auditing:
- Ability to freely communicate with anyone on any subject.
- Ability to recognize the source of problems and make them vanish.
- Relief from the hostilities and sufferings of life.
- Freedom from the upsets of the past and ability to face the future.
- Moving out of fixed conditions into ability to do new things.
- Freedom from cruel impulses and chronic unwanted condition.

And there's plenty more. These end products far surpass anything there is in secular therapy.

The Precision

Another big difference is that Scientology Auditing is made up of very specific actions that have been tested and honed thoroughly over the years until they get a specific named result every time. The person delivering these actions to an individual is called an Auditor and he or she is very thoroughly trained so they do it right every time.

The actions an Auditor delivers are called "processes" and they range from very simple (such as "Remember something real" - it assists memory) to very complex (such as 12 questions/directions given in a very specific order with many internal variations possible) but each and every one is precise and has a carefully defined end product.

There is nothing comparable in secular therapy

What's wrong with you is ...

In Auditing the Auditor NEVER EVER tells a person what to think about what they just came up with, NEVER EVER tells them what is wrong with them, NEVER EVER makes disparaging remarks about what they did or didn't do or say and NEVER EVER interprets what the person says or feels. That is very different to secular therapy such as psychoanalysis where the analyst reads sexual significance into the person's statements and interprets his condition for him.

In Auditing the person comes to their own conclusions and realizations. To have a conclusion forced upon you is worse than useless and can actually be very detrimental, so it is forbidden in Scientology Auditing.

We actually have a code of conduct called the Scientology Auditor's Code, which all Auditors follow.

The Biggest Difference of All

The biggest difference that I see between Scientology Auditing and secular therapy is that Auditing is based on the idea that you are a spiritual being with enormous potential abilities which, although not currently realized, can be achieved.

Secular therapy is usually based on the idea that a human being is just an animal and is limited by genetics. So "feeling better" is the highest goal because you are just a body and that's the best you can do with a body. Spiritual freedom and spiritual ability are foreign concepts to the secular therapist.

Other References

- Scientology Auditing: Comparison to Earlier Therapies
- All About Scientology Auditing
- A Description Of Scientology Auditing
- What Is Auditing?

Well, Sophie, has that answered your question?

Psychiatic Drug Side Effect Search Engine

If you shop on Amazon or many other online sites you will be able to read reviews of a product before you purchase. These reviews are usually written by other consumers like yourself who have bought and used the product. Their comments give you information you can use to make an informed decision.

So where do you go to get the same type of reviews for prescription drugs?

The commercials or magazine ads were written by the drug company. They are selling the drug so they will paint the rosiest possible picture. Articles about the drugs on news sites are suspect because of the huge clout drug companies have due to their enormous advertising budgets. (You aren't going to say nasty things about one of your biggest advertisers.)

You could go to the FDA website and hunt around for data but that's not necessarily easy to do.

Until now it's been tough for consumers to get the facts on prescription drugs, but not anymore. Now you can check out the facts about psychiatric drugs by going to the Psychiatric Drug Side Effect Search Engine, an easy-to-use website that will tell you the other side of the story.

When you go to the site check out the two videos linked to in the top left corner of the page. They tell you what the search engine is and how to use it.

Don't be fooled by the marketing, the glossy ads and the drug company funded research. Get the facts.

Answer to Jim regarding Psychiatry and Scientology

Jim Gatos said:

Grahame,

I saw this article;

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32271786/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

thought I'd bring it here.

I'm curious, what's the "connection" with Scientology and Psychiatry?"

Thanks
Jim

Hey Jim,

The only "connection" is that we in Scientology are opposed to the abuses in Psychiatry.

The article you link to is typical of these abuses. Psychiatry and its main sponsor, the Pharmaceutical Industry, need to expand their profit base so Big Pharma finds some willing psychiatrists, hands them a study they can put their names to and the results are published.

The questions to ask before falling for the marketing propaganda in an article such as this are:

1. What are the financial ties between the researchers and the pharmaceutical industry?
2. What actual physical tests were carried out to determine that these 3 year old kids have "depression"?
3. If no physical tests were carried out then how can anyone possibly assert that these kids have "depression"?
4. Do physical tests actually exist to show that someone has "depression"?
5. If not then how come so much money is being made from the widespread prescription of drugs that address a "disease" that cannot be proven to exist.
6. What treatment is recommended for toddler depression? What are the side-effects?
7. What are the long-term effects of giving psychiatric drugs to toddlers?

(The most common side-effect of psychiatric drugs in toddlers, according to the FDA's adverse reactions database, is death.)

By-the-way, I don't say that the set of symptoms that have been labeled as "depression" don't exist. What I say is that they are a set of symptoms for which the underlying condition has not been accurately diagnosed.

Many real, treatable diseases can cause the symptoms that are labeled "depression". Here is an example from the CDC web site: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms.

References:
The Corrupt Alliance of the Psychiatric-Pharmaceutical Industry
Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Search Engine
Video: Where the Truth Lies
Video: What Consumer, doctors and pharmacists say about Psychiatric Drugs
Video: How to use the Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Search Engine

Psychiatrist hid records in Virginia Tech shooting

The missing mental health records of Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho just turned up ... in the home of the psychiatrist who was treating him.

In 2007, Dr. Robert C. Miller claimed that he didn't know where these records were but they were recently found in his home, during a document discovery phase of a pending trial.

Parents of some of the victims of the shooting are smelling a cover-up.

To see the full details of this and more revelations in the case read: Virginia Tech Shooter's Psych Doctor Hid Mental Health Records for Seung-Hui Cho

If you are reading this then you are mentally ill

Well according to psychiatrists you are.

Believe it or not, psychiatrists are planning to add a new disease to the next edition of their "Bible", the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM V) and that disease is ... "Internet addiction".

What this means is that you are sick and need psychiatric drugs. So get out your wallet or your medical insurance and prepare to cough up dough so they can medicate you for the rest of your life.

Here is the full story: If you're reading this you're "sick, sick, sick"

APA President shown to be a liar

An interesting video that takes what the president of the American Psychiatric Association says about mental illness and compares it to what her own APA members have to say:

Testing The Mother's Act

Here is an excellent article on a dangerous piece of legislation called the Mother's Act.

Stress Testing the MOTHERS Act

Difference between mental and physical disease

Here is a very informative and entertaining video:

Book Review: Psychiatry: The Science of Lies

The title "Psychiatry: The Science of Lies" would lead one to think the book was written by someone outside the field but in fact this book was written by one of the most respected psychiatrists of our time, Thomas Szasz.

I won't review the review, I'll just point you to it: Psychiatry: The Science of Lies By Thomas Szasz.

Film Review: Generation RX

Here is a review of the documentary "Generation RX":



You can read my review of this film here: Generation Rx - A must-see for all parents

ADHD drugs found to be ineffective in long-term study

A study of children on ADHD medication has found that over a period of eight years the drugs made no difference at all to the children in terms of behavior but that the drugs caused stunted growth. The other serious side-effects of these drugs were not mentioned.

Here is the complete article: Study admits that drugs may have long-term risk.

Mental Health Screening

Watch this short video if you care about the future of your children: Mental Health Screening

A Psychologist speaks about Psychiatry

Here is Dr. John Breeding Ph.D., a psychologist, talking about the uses psychiatry is put to in our society. This is quite eye-opening and he mentions a couple of bills currently before Congress that you should contact your representatives about.

Generation Rx - A must-see for all parents

We know the depths to which corporate executives will descend in order to make a profit. For example, we saw Big Tobacco CEOs stand up before Congress and swear that cigarettes did not cause cancer. Later it was revealed that they knew their cigarettes caused cancer and they lied to protect their profits.

The same story has been going on for a couple of decades now in the pharmaceutical field. The most noticeable difference being that the ones standing up and blatantly lying about the dangerousness of certain billion dollar earning drugs are not Big Pharma CEOs but doctors and other "authorities" who are paid huge sums by Big Pharma.

The rampant corruption in the medical field and the toll it is taking in terms of human lives, and especially children's lives, is exposed in the new documentary Generation Rx, produced and directed by acclaimed documentary maker Kevin P. Miller. The film is a riveting must-see for every person who has any contact with the medical field.

If you are a parent you should see this movie if you don't want to make the mistakes that the parents featured in the movie made. "If I'd known there was a 4 in 100 chance of my daughter committing suicide while on these drugs," says one mother, "you can be sure I wouldn't have let her take them." Her daughter, who took the drugs because she was nervous about a school test, committed suicide just 24 hours after starting on a prescribed anti-depressant. Too late the parents started researching to find out what had happened and they discovered that the truth about the danger of these drugs is out there and easy to find.

The movie is filled with facts about the profits the drug companies make and the human suffering caused by these "safe and effective" drugs. Numerous experts are interviewed and all tell the same story: marketing replacing science, profit usurping help.

One interview that especially caught my attention was with award winning author Robert Whitaker. Whitaker admitted that initially he was a proponent of the "wonder drugs" but that when he looked into the science behind the drug company claims he found that it wasn't there. The drugs were backed by marketing, not science.

If you live on planet Earth, then you need to see this documentary. It can be purchased here: Generation Rx DVD.

History of Psychiatry: 1920s Los Angeles

Over the weekend I saw a movie that came out last year called "Changeling". It is based on the true story of a woman in 1920s Los Angeles whose child went missing. The LAPD at that time was a corrupt organization that didn't take kindly to anyone crossing them, so when the woman's "son" was brought back and she pointed out the fact that this boy was not her son, they did what any self-respecting fascist would do: they had her committed.

The psychiatrists at the local psych hospital were quite happy to do as they were told so she was incarcerated and given "treatment" which to anyone other than a psych was obviously torture used in an attempt to shut her up.

While in the hospital she discovered many other women who were also there because they crossed the LAPD.

In the end, she was released and she campaigned until all the other women were also released and the law was changed so such easy commitment could not happen in the future.

But the sad truth of this movie is that it really happened and the psychs were happily complicit in this obvious violation of human rights as they have been throughout their history: Communist Russia where they were used to shut up dissidents; Nazi Germany where they were in charge of sending people to the death camp; 50s America where they ran the mind control experiments for the CIA, and on and on.

I highly recommend this movie as part of your education in the history of a dangerous subject which seems never to have had the good of mankind in mind.

In China they execute people for this

Let me begin by saying that I'm against the death penalty. I am for appropriate justice such as a sentence that gives the offender a chance to make up for the damage his criminal acts caused.

So, in China when people, in order to make a profit, carry out acts that kill or cause harm they are given pretty stiff sentences: Two condemned to death for role in China milk crisis and in 2007, Ex-Food and Drug Chief Sentenced to Death.

So what would have happened to the executives of Eli Lilly who pushed the killer drug Zyprexa on thousands of unsuspecting people. Here are a few quotes from an excellent article in Rolling Stone: Marketing a Phony "Miracle" Drug (Subtitle: Created to treat schizophrenia, Zyprexa wound up being used on misbehaving kids. How the pharmaceutical industry turned a flawed and dangerous drug into a $16 billion bonanza)

The mechanisms used to leverage this growth [of the antipsychotic drugs to $16 billion in sales a year] were in some ways the most modern and perfect the pharmaceutical industry had developed, but they were also, according to state and federal prosecutors, illegal. [Ely] Lilly has already agreed to pay $2.6 billion to settle charges that it built the market for Zyprexa first by concealing its side effects, and then by marketing it "off-label," for diseases for which it had not been approved.

... medical researchers who have studied the atypical antipsychotics say that, in the final tally, the drugs, which have already been linked to some deaths, may eventually be responsible for tens of thousands of cases of diabetes and other potentially fatal diseases.

I added the highlighting of what I consider the key phrases above. If that happened in China what do you suppose would be the sentence for the Eli Lilly executives? And what do they get in the USA? The company has to pay out $2.6 billion in fines. That sounds like a lot, but consider that antipsychotics make $16 billion a year. What is $2.6 billion compared to that?

So how was the entire medical community persuaded that these drugs were so wonderful that they should even be given to young children?

[Regarding atypical antipsychotic medication] "Almost the whole scientific community was conned into thinking — as a consequence of good marketing — that this was a different and better set of drugs. The evidence, as it's all added up, has shown this to be untrue."

... despite their early promise for treating schizophrenia, the drugs have not even performed any better than the crude and imprecise earlier medications that preceded them. "We have been paying $16 billion a year instead of $2 billion a year for drugs that seem to be no better and might be worse," says Douglas Leslie, a researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina who contributed to an extensive federal study of the drugs.

The story of how Zyprexa and other atypicals became a multibillion-dollar market suggests that the medical community — doctors, researchers, the institutions that back them — may be themselves prone to a placebo effect: the willed conviction that a new drug, presented as a breakthrough, must in fact be one, that a product sold as healing must in fact do good.

Read the article. It's a real eye-opener. Marketing a Phony "Miracle" Drug

Antipsychotics are killing people

More evidence has emerged of the dangers of the psychiatric drugs known as antipsychotics. Antipsychotic Drugs Shorten Lifespan of Alzheimer's Patients.

Most telling of all is this from the results of the study:

After three years, less than a third of people on antipsychotics were alive compared to nearly two-thirds that were given the placebo.

Perhaps the drugs work by killing the patient, thus "curing" them?

Scientology is not against Psychiatry

I keep seeing people making comments on news sites and blogs about how Jett Travolta didn't get proper treatment because Scientology is against Psychiatry.

This is not true. Scientologists and the Church of Scientology oppose abuses in the field of Psychiatry. For the official Church statement check here: Why is Scientology opposed to psychiatric abuse?

There are plenty of psychiatrists who agree with us that something is rotten in the state of Psychiatry such as Peter Breggin, Thomas Szasz and others. These courageous individuals are willing to stand up and say that something is wrong.

If you watch the "Making a Killing" video you will see many more mental health professionals who agree with us.

So in future when you see "Scientology is against Psychiatry" just read it as "Scientology is against Psychiatric abuse."