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SCHIZOPHRENIA
Psychiatrys For Profit Disease
Report and recommendations on
psychiatric lies and
false diagnoses
Published by
Citizens Commission on Human Rights
Established in 1969
CCHR_Myths CVR R25-2.ps 10/22/04 9:09 AM Page 2
T
he psychiatric profession purports to be know the causes or cures for any mental disorder THE REAL CRISISIn Mental Health Today CHILD DRUGGINGPsychiatry Destroying Lives
the sole arbiter on the subject of mental or what their treatments specifically do to the Report and recommendations on the lack of science and Report and recommendations on fraudulent psychiatric
health and diseases of the mind. The patient. They have only theories and conflicting results within the mental health industry diagnosis and the enforced drugging of youth
facts, however, demonstrate otherwise: opinions about their diagnoses and methods, and
are lacking any scientific basis for these. As a past M A S S I V E F R A UD P s y c h i a t r y s C o r r u p t I n d u s t r y HARMING YOUTHPsychiatry Destroys Young Minds
1. PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ARE NOT MEDICAL president of the World Psychiatric Association Report and recommendations on a criminal mental Report and recommendations on harmful mental health
health monopoly assessments, evaluations and programs within our schools
DISEASES. In medicine, strict criteria exist for stated, The time when psychiatrists considered
calling a condition a disease: a predictable group that they could cure the mentally ill is gone. In PSYCHIATRIC HOAXThe Subversion of Medicine COMMUNITY RUINPsychiatrys Coercive Care
of symptoms and the cause of the symptoms or the future, the mentally ill have to learn to live Report and recommendations on psychiatrys destructive Report and recommendations on the failure of community
an understanding of their physiology (function) with their illness. impact on health care mental health and other coercive psychiatric programs
must be proven and established. Chills and fever PSEUDOSCIENCEPsychiatrys False Diagnoses HARMING ARTISTSPsychiatry Ruins Creativity
are symptoms. Malaria and typhoid are diseases. 4. THE THEORY THAT MENTAL DISORDERS Report and recommendations on the unscientific fraud Report and recommendations on psychiatry assaulting the arts
Diseases are proven to exist by objective evidence DERIVE FROM A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE IN perpetrated by psychiatry UNHOLY ASSAULTPsychiatry versus Religion
and physical tests. Yet, no mental diseases have THE BRAIN IS UNPROVEN OPINION, NOT FACT. Report and recommendations on psychiatrys subversion of
SCHIZOPHRENIAPsychiatrys For Profit Disease
ever been proven to medically exist. One prevailing psychiatric theory (key to Report and recommendations on psychiatric lies and religious belief and practice
psychotropic drug sales) is that mental disorders false diagnosis
2. PSYCHIATRISTS DEAL EXCLUSIVELY WITH result from a chemical imbalance in the brain. ERODING JUSTICEPsychiatrys Corruption of Law
MENTAL DISORDERS, NOT PROVEN DISEASES. As with its other theories, there is no biological THE BRUTAL REALITYHarmful Psychiatric Treatments Report and recommendations on psychiatry subverting the
Report and recommendations on the destructive practices of courts and corrective services
While mainstream physical medicine treats or other evidence to prove this. Representative
electroshock and psychosurgery
diseases, psychiatry can only deal with of a large group of medical and biochemistry
ELDERLY ABUSECruel Mental Health Programs
disorders. In the absence of a known cause or experts, Elliot Valenstein, Ph.D., author of PSYCHIATRIC RAPEAssaulting Women and Children
Report and recommendations on psychiatry abusing seniors
physiology, a group of symptoms seen in many Blaming the Brain says: [T]here are no tests Report and recommendations on widespread sex crimes
different patients is called a disorder or syndrome. available for assessing the chemical status of against patients within the mental health system
CHAOS & TERRORManufactured by Psychiatry
Harvard Medical Schools Joseph Glenmullen, a living persons brain. DEADLY RESTRAINTSPsychiatrys Therapeutic Assault Report and recommendations on the role of psychiatry
M.D., says that in psychiatry, all of its diagnoses Report and recommendations on the violent and dangerous in international terrorism
are merely syndromes [or disorders], clusters of 5. THE BRAIN IS NOT THE REAL CAUSE use of restraints in mental health facilities
symptoms presumed to be related, not diseases. OF LIFES PROBLEMS. People do experience CREATING RACISMPsychiatrys Betrayal
PSYCHIATRYHooking Your World on Drugs Report and recommendations on psychiatry causing racial
As Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry problems and upsets in life that may result in Report and recommendations on psychiatry creating conflict and genocide
emeritus, observes, There is no blood or other mental troubles, sometimes very serious. But todays drug crisis
biological test to ascertain the presence or to represent that these troubles are caused by CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
absence of a mental illness, as there is for most incurable brain diseases that can only be REHAB FRAUDPsychiatrys Drug Scam
The International Mental Health Watchdog
Report and recommendations on methadone and other
bodily diseases. alleviated with dangerous pills is dishonest, disastrous psychiatric drug rehabilitation programs
harmful and often deadly. Such drugs are
3. PSYCHIATRY HAS NEVER ESTABLISHED THE often more potent than a narcotic and capable
CAUSE OF ANY MENTAL DISORDERS. Leading of driving one to violence or suicide. They mask
psychiatric agencies such as the World Psychiatric the real cause of problems in life and debilitate WARNING: No one should stop taking any psychiatric drug without
Association and the U.S. National Institute of the individual, so denying him or her the oppor- advice and assistance from a competent non-psychiatric medical doctor.
Mental Health admit that psychiatrists do not tunity for real recovery and hope for the future.
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2004 CCHR. All Rights Reserved. CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, CCHR and the CCHR logo are trademarks and service
marks owned by Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Printed in the U.S.A. Item #18905-15
CCHR_MYTH-1.ps 10/18/04 3:22 PM Page 1
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Psychiatrys For Profit Disease
CONTENTS
Introduction: In Desperate
Need of Help ................................2
Chapter One:
Harming the Vulnerable ................5
Citizens Commission on
Human Rights International ........24
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INTRODUCTION
In Desperate Need of Help
L
ife can sometimes be a real challenge. It rally from his disturbed state.
can get very rough indeed. A family This is not to suggest that anyone taking
faced with a seriously disturbed and prescribed, psychotropic drugs should immedi-
irrational member can become desper- ately dispense with them. Due to their dangerous
ate in their attempts to resolve the crisis. side effects, no one should stop taking any
To whom can they turn when this happens? psychiatric drug without the advice and
According to psychiatrists, one should assistance of a competent non-psychiatric, med-
consult them as the mental health experts. But ical doctor.
that is a deception, as many have discovered. We wish to highlight however, that there
Dr. Megan Shields, a practicing family physi- are solutions to serious mental disturbances that
cian for more than 25 avoid the serious risks
years, and an Advisory and flaws inherent in
Board member of the Psychiatrists know nothing psychiatry.
Citizens Commission about the mind, treat the individual Any psychiatrist
on Human Rights, as no more than an organ in the or psychologist who
warns: Psychiatrists claims that serious
know nothing about head (the brain) and have about as mental illnesses are
the mind, treat the much interest in spirituality, no different than a
individual as no more standard medicine and curing, heart condition, gan-
than an organ in the as an executioner has in grene of the leg or the
head (the brain) and common cold, is deal-
have about as saving lives. ing in deception.
much interest in Dr. Megan Shields, family physician, As Dr. Thomas
advisory board member of CCHR International
spirituality, standard Szasz, professor of psy-
medicine and curing, chiatry emeritus of the
as an executioner has in saving lives. State University of New York, Syracuse, states, If
In the film, A Beautiful Mind, Nobel Prize we are to consider mental disease to be like phys-
winner John Nash is depicted as relying on ical disease, we ought to have biochemical or
psychiatrys latest breakthrough drugs to pre- pathological evidence. And if an illness is to be
vent a relapse of his schizophrenia. This is scientifically meaningful, it must somehow be
Hollywood fiction, however, as Nash himself capable of being approached, measured or tested
disputes the films portrayal of him taking in a scientific fashion, as through a blood test or an
newer medications. At the time of his Nobel electroencephalograph [recording of brain electri-
Prize award, Nash had not taken any psychi- cal activity]. If it cannot be so measuredas is the
atric drugs for 24 years and had recovered natu- case [with] mental illnessthen the phrase
INTRODUCTION
In D e s p e ra te Ne e d o f H el p
2
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INTRODUCTION
In D e s p e ra te Ne e d o f H el p
3
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IMPORTANT FACTS
CHAPTER ONE
Harming the
Vulnerable
M
ost people consider that psychia- Psychiatry never revisited Kraepelins material
trys main function is to treat to see that schizophrenia was simply an undiagnosed
patients with severe, even life- and untreated physical problem. Schizophrenia was
threatening mental conditions. a concept too vital to the professions claim of med-
The most pronounced is that condi- ical legitimacy. The physical symptoms of the dis-
tion first called dementia praecox by German psychiatrist ease were quietly dropped. What remained, as the
Emil Kraepelin in the late 1800s, and labeled schizo- foremost distinguishing features, were the mental
phrenia by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1908. symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, and bizarre
Psychiatrist E. Fuller Torrey reported that thoughts, says Whitaker.
Kraepelin put the final medical seal on Psychiatrists remain committed to calling
irrational behavior by schizophrenia a mental
naming it and categoriz- Diagnosing someone as schizophrenic disease despite, after a
ing it. Irrational behavior century of research, the
may appear scientific on the surface,
could now hold its head complete absence of
up in medical company
especially when biopsychiatry keeps objective proof that it
for it had names. claiming that a genetic brain disease is exists as a physical brain
His classificatory system involved. But when you step back and abnormality.
continues to dominate observe from a distance ... you wonder
psychiatry up to the pres- how they can justify their work. Drug Control
ent, not because it This is not science. The neuroleptics
has proven of value Ty C. Colbert, Ph.D., (nerve-seizing drugs),
[but] because it has been Blaming Our Genes, 2001 also known as antipsy-
the ticket of admission for chotics, prescribed for so-
irrational behavior into medicine.2 called schizophrenia were first developed by the
However, Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in French to numb the nervous system during surgery.
America, says the patients that Kraepelin diagnosed Psychiatrists learned very early on that neuroleptics
with dementia praecox were actually suffering from cause Parkinsonism and symptoms of encephalitis
a virus, encephalitis lethargica (brain inflammation lethargica, the very problem Kraepelin had misiden-
causing lethargy) which was unknown to doctors at tified and called dementia praecox.4
the time: These patients walked oddly and suffered The drugs damage the extrapyramidal system
from facial tics, muscle spasms, and sudden bouts of (EPS)the extensive complex network of nerve fibers
sleepiness. Their pupils reacted sluggishly to light. that moderates motor controlresulting in muscle
They also drooled, had difficulty swallowing, were rigidity, spasms and various involuntary movements.5
chronically constipated, and were unable to complete The drug-induced side effect tardive dyskinesia
willed physical acts.3 (tardive, meaning late and dyskinesia meaning,
CHAPTER ONE
H a r m i n g t h e Vu l n e r a b l e
5
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CHAPTER ONE
H a r m i n g t h e Vu l n e r a b l e
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Treating Schizophrenia:
Increasing public awareness that neuroleptics A Comparison Between Countries
frequently caused irreversible brain damage
threatened to derail this whole gravy train, Several World Health Organization studies have shown
that the schizophrenia improvement is much greater in
Whitaker says. In response, new atypical (not
poorer countries who employ much less psychotropic
usual; having less effect on the EPS system) drugs for drugs in treatment, as opposed to affluent nations who
schizophrenia were introduced in the 1990s, promis- rely majorly on drugs.
ing fewer side effects.
However, the atypicals actually have even
64%
more severe effects: blindness, fatal blood clots, 61% Schizophrenic
heart arrhythmia (irregularity), heat stroke, improvement rates
swollen and leaking breasts, impotence and are HIGHER in
sexual dysfunction, blood disorders, painful skin poorer countries
rashes, seizures, birth defects and extreme inner- where LESS
anxiety and restlessness. DRUGS are used
One of the atypicals had been tested in the 1960s in treatment
and found to cause seizures, dense sedation, marked
drooling, constipation, urinary incontinence, weight
gain, respiratory arrest, heart attack and rare sudden
death. When introduced into Europe in the 1970s, the
drug was withdrawn because it caused agranulocy- 18% 16%
tosis (a potentially fatal depletion of white blood
cells) in up to 2% of patients.12
On May 20, 2003, The New York Times reported
that the atypicals may cause diabetes, in some cases Drugs used Rate of
in 61 percent improvement
Drugs used Rate of
in 16 percent improvement
leading to death. Dr. Joseph Deveaugh-Geiss, a con- of treatments in treatment of treatments in treatment
sulting professor of psychiatry at Duke University, In U.S. and three In poor countries
said that the diabetes link is looking a lot like what affluent countries
we saw 25 years ago with [tardive dyskinesia].13
In May 2003, a study of atypical use in 17 Veteran $14,000 Antipsychotic
Affairs hospitals found that one antipsychotic drug Drug Sales
$12.2 billion
cost $3,000 to $9,000 (2,448 to 7,343) more than the $12,000 (in millions
earlier drugs per patient, with no benefit to symp- of U.S dollars)
toms, easing of Parkinsons-like side effects or $10,000
CREATING HARM
Drug-Induced Violence
Little could the public have suspected that the
madman of its nightmares, who kills without warning
and for no apparent reason, was not always driven by
an evil within but rather by a popular medication.17
Robert Whitaker, Author, Mad in America: Bad Science,
Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the
Mentally Ill, 2002
P
sychiatrists blame violent crime on a patients failure
to continue his or her medication, while knowing
that extreme violence is a documented side effect of
both taking psychiatric drugs and withdrawal from them.
On June 20, 2001, Texas mother and housewife,
Andrea Yates, filled the bathtub and drowned her five chil-
dren, ages 6 months to 7 years. For many years, Mrs. Yates,
37, had struggled through hospitalizations, prescribed psy-
chiatric drugs and suicide attempts. On March 12, 2002,
the jury rejected her insanity
defense and found her
Presidential Assassin: On guilty of capital murder.
March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr., For the legal profession
and the media, the story had
shown in custody at Quantico, Virginia,
been told and the case was
staged an assassination attempt on closed. For psychiatry, their
President Ronald Reagan. A psychiatrist excuses were predictable: Mrs.
later attributed Hinckleys attack on the Yates suffered from a severe
President and others to be a violent rage mental illness, which was
precipitated by a psychiatric drug. treatment resistant or she
was denied appropriate and
quality mental health care.
Unsatisfied, CCHR Texas obtained independent med-
ical assessments of Mrs. Yates medical records. Science con-
sultant Edward G. Ezrailson, Ph.D., studied them and
reported that the cocktail of drugs prescribed to Mrs. Yates
caused involuntary intoxication. The overdose of one
antidepressant and sudden high doses of another,
worsened her behavior, he said. This led to murder.18
Robert Whitakers extensive research discovered
that antipsychotic drugs temporarily dim psychosis but,
over the long run, make patients more biologically prone
to it. A second paradoxical effect, one that emerged with
the more potent neuroleptics, is a side effect called
akathisia (a, without; kathisia, sitting; an inability to
keep still). This side effect has been linked to assaultive,
violent behavior.19
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A 1990 study determined that 50% of all fights in a to the condition that had not been previously experienced
psychiatric ward could be tied to akathisia. Patients by the patient.23
described violent urges to assault anyone near. 20
Dr. John Zajecka reported in the Journal of Clinical
A 1998 British report revealed that at least 5% of Psychiatry that the agitation and irritability experienced by
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antide- patients withdrawing from one SSRI can cause aggres-
pressant patients suffered commonly recognized siveness and suicidal impulsivity.24
side effects that include In Lancet, the
agitation, anxiety and British medical journal, Dr.
In 1995, nine Australian
nervousness. Around 5% Miki Bloch reported that
of the reported side effects psychiatrists reported that patients patients became suicidal
include aggression, hallu- had slashed themselves or become and homicidal after stop-
cinations, malaise and preoccupied with violence while taking ping an antidepressant,
depersonalization.21 SSRI antidepressants. I didnt want to with one man having
In 1995, nine die, I just felt like tearing my flesh thoughts of harming his
Australian psychiatrists re- own children.25
to pieces, one patient
ported that patients had On May 25, 2001,
slashed themselves or told psychiatrists. Judge Barry OKeefe of the
become preoccupied with New South Wales Supreme
violence while taking SSRIs. I didnt want to die, I just felt Court, Australia, blamed an antidepressant for turning a
like tearing my flesh to pieces, one patient told the psy- peaceful, law-abiding man, David Hawkins, into a violent
chiatrists.22 killer (of his wife). Had Mr. Hawkins not taken the anti-
depressant, the judge said, it is overwhelmingly probable
Withdrawal Effects that Mrs. Hawkins would not have been killed.
In 1996, the National Preferred Medicines Center In June 2001, a Wyoming jury awarded $8 million
Inc. in New Zealand, issued a report on Acute drug with- (6.5 million) to the relatives of Donald Schell, who went
drawal, saying that withdrawal from psychoactive drugs on a shooting rampage after taking an antidepressant.
can cause 1) rebound effects that exacerbate previous The jury determined that the drug was 80% responsible
symptoms of a disease, and 2) new symptoms unrelated for inducing the killing spree.26
CHAPTER ONE
H a r m i n g t h e Vu l n e r a b l e
9
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IMPORTANT FACTS
2
ill and drugged.
3 Schizophrenia, bipolar,
and all psychiatric labels have
only one purpose: to make
psychiatry millions in insurance
reimbursement, government
4
funds and profits from drug sales.
CHAPTER TWO
Diagnostic Deceit
and Betrayal
A
s a substitute for mental healing, the a physical disease, they may adopt a passive role
American Psychiatric Association in their own recovery, becoming completely
(APA) developed the Diagnostic dependent on a physical treatment to remedy
and Statistical Manual of Mental their condition.27
Disorders-IV (DSM), a text that lists
374 supposed mental disorders. Its diagnostic cri- Psychiatrists Cannot
teria are so vague, subjective and expansive that Define Schizophrenia
there is possibly not one person alive today who, Psychiatrists literally vote on what constitutes
using this as the standard, would escape being a mental illness or disorder by raising their
labeled mentally ill. Of course, that makes for a hands at a conference. This explains why they
whole lot more mental cannot scientifically
ill-health business for define what they treat.
psychiatrists. In the DSM-II, they
Meanwhile, psychi- There could arguably not state: Even if it
atrists not only admit be a worse term than mental had tried, the [APA]
that they have no idea Committee could not
of what causes these disorder to describe the establish agreement
supposed diseases, conditions classified in DSM-IV. about what this disor-
they have no scientifi- der is; it could
Allen J. Frances, professor of
cally validated proof only agree on what to
whatsoever that they psychiatry at Duke University Medical call it.28
even exist as discrete Center and Chair of the DSM-IV Task Force Allen J. Frances,
physical illnesses. professor of psychiatry
Professor of Psychia- at Duke University
try Emeritus Thomas Szasz says: The primary Medical Center and Chair of the DSM-IV Task
function and goal of the DSM is to lend credibility to Force, admitted: There could arguably not be a
the claim that certain behaviors, or more correctly, worse term than mental disorder to describe the
misbehaviors, are mental disorders and that such conditions classified in DSM-IV. DSM-IV itself
disorders are, therefore, medical diseases. Thus, states that the term mental disorder continues to
pathological gambling enjoys the same status as appear in the volume because we have not found
myocardial infarction [blood clot in heart artery]. an appropriate substitute.
Patients are betrayed when told their emo- Prof. Szasz further states: Schizophrenia is
tional problems are genetically or biologically defined so vaguely that, in actuality, it is a term often
based. Elliot Valenstein, Ph.D., says that while applied to almost any kind of behavior of which the
patients may be relieved to be told that they have speaker disapproves.
CHAPTER TWO
D i a g n o st i c D e c e i t a n d B et raya l
11
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CHAPTER TWO
D i a g n o st i c D e c e i t a n d B et raya l
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CHAPTER TWO
D i a g n o st i c D e c e i t a n d B et raya l
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PSEUDOSCIENCE
Blaming the Brain
More and more problems have been redefined
as disorders or illnesses, supposedly caused
by genetic predispositions and biochemical
imbalances. Life events are relegated to mere
triggers of an underlying biological time bomb.
Feeling very sad has become depressive
disorder. Worrying too much is anxiety
disorder. Making lists of behaviors,
applying medical-sounding labels to people
who engage in them, then using the presence of
those behaviors to prove they have the illness in
question is scientifically meaningless.34
John Read, senior lecturer in psychology
at Auckland University, New Zealand, 2004
T
he cornerstone of psychiatrys
disease model today is the con-
cept that a brain-based, chemi-
cal imbalance underlies mental dis-
ease.35 While popularized by heavy
marketing, it is simply wishful psychi-
atric thinking. As with all of psychiatrys
disease models, it has been thoroughly
discredited by researchers.
Dr. Valenstein is
unequivocal: [T]here are
no tests available for
assessing the chemical
status of a living persons BOGUS BRAIN THEORY
brain.36 Also, no bio- Presented in countless illustrations in
chemical, anatomical, or popular magazines, psychiatric researchers have
functional signs have dissected, labeled and analyzed the brain while
been found that reliably assailing the public with the latest theory
distinguish the brains of of what is wrong with it. What is lacking, as
mental patients.37 with all psychiatric theory, is scientific validity.
Dr. Colbert says, As Dr. Elliot Valenstein explained,
We know that the [T]here are no tests available for assessing
the chemical status of a living persons brain.
Elliot Valenstein
CHAPTER TWO
D i a g n o st i c D e c e i t a n d B et raya l
14
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CHAPTER TWO
D i a g n o st i c D e c e i t a n d B et raya l
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IMPORTANT FACTS
3 It is a matter of sound
medical fact that undiagnosed
physical illness or injury can
trigger emotional difficulties.
CHAPTER THREE
Achieving Real
Mental Health
J ohn Nash makes it clear that he willed his From individuals to governments, far too
own recovery. Why invent a fictitious many people assume that this is the nature of
Hollywood ending to his life story when mental healing today. The harsh reality, however,
the truththat he was able to recover is that the analogy between physical and mental
from his demons without drugsis healing breaks down when contrasting the
much more inspiring? results of physical healing to the results of what
Psychiatrists promote mental health as passes for mental treatment today, under the
being of equal priority to physical health. To contin- influence of psychiatry. In simple terms, while
ue this analogy, just as medical cures exist,
physical health would psychiatric ones dont.
be the outcome of effec- Mental health Under the man-
tive physical healing, so agement of psychiatry
would mental health
professionals working within a today, there is no men-
have to be the outcome mental health system have a tal healing. Logically
of effective mental professional and a legal obligation this means that psy-
healing. to recognize the presence of physical chiatry achieves no
Consider the follow- improvement in men-
ing basic criteria for the
disease in their patients physical tal health.
creation of mental health: diseases may cause a patients It is vital to know
1. Effective mental mental disorder [or] may worsen that numerous com-
healing technology and a mental disorder .... passionate and work-
treatments which improve able medical programs
and strengthen individu- California Department of Mental Health for severely disturbed
als and thereby society, by Medical Evaluation Field Manual, 1991 individuals exist that
restoring individuals to do not rely on psychi-
personal strength, ability, atric treatment. Dr.
competence, confidence, stability, responsibility and Loren Moshers Soteria House project and Dr.
spiritual well-being. Giorgio Antonuccis program in Italy (covered
2. Highly trained, ethical practitioners who are later in this publication) achieved much greater
committed primarily to the well-being of their success than psychiatrys dehumanization and
patient and patients families, and who can and do chronic drugging. These alternative programs
deliver what they promise. also came at a much lower cost. They and a num-
3. Mental healing delivered in a calm atmos- ber of other similar programs still operating are
phere characterized by tolerance, safety, security testimony to the existence of both genuine
and respect for peoples needs and rights. answers and hope for the seriously troubled.
CHAPTER THREE
Achieving Real Mental Health
17
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CHAPTER THREE
Achieving Real Mental Health
19
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REAL HELP
Workable Treatment
Dr. Loren Mosher Dr. Giorgio Antonucci
T
he late Dr. Loren Mosher was a Clinical Dr. Giorgio Antonucci in Italy believes in
Blaming
Our Genes Professor of Psychiatry at the School of the value of human life and that communication, not
late Dr. Medicine, University of California, San enforced incarceration and inhumane physical
Loren Diego. He was also the former Chief of the U.S. treatments, can heal even the most seriously
National Institute of Mental Healths Center for disturbed mind.
Studies of Schizophrenia.50 He wrote: In the Institute of Osservanza (Observance) in
I opened Soteria House in 1971 There, Imola, Italy, Dr. Antonucci treated dozens of so-called
young persons diag- schizophrenic women,
nosed as having most of whom had been
schizophrenia lived continuously strapped to
medication-free with a their beds or kept in
nonprofessional staff straitjackets. All usual
trained to listen to psychiatric treatments
understand them and were abandoned. Dr.
provide support, safe- Antonucci released the
ty and validation of women from their
their experience. The confinement, spending
idea was that schizo- many, many hours each
phrenia can often be day talking with them
overcome with the and penetrating their
help of meaningful deliriums and anguish.
relationships, rather He listened to stories of
than with drugs. years of desperation and
The Soteria project institutional suffering.
compared their treat- He ensured that
ment method with patients were treated
usual psychiatric Interestingly, clients treated compassionately, with
hospital drug treat- at Soteria [House] who received respect, and without
ment interventions for no neuroleptic medication the use of drugs. In fact,
persons newly diag- under his guidance, the
nosed as having schiz- or were thought to be destined to ward transformed from
ophrenia. have the worst outcomes, actually did the most violent in the
The experiment facility to its calmest.
worked better than
the best as compared to hospital and After a few months, his
expected. At two years drug-treated control subjects. dangerous patients
post-admission, Soteria- Dr. Loren Mosher, former head of Schizophrenic were free, walking qui-
treated subjects were Studies, U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, 2002 etly in the asylum gar-
working at significant- den. Eventually they
ly higher occupational were stable and dis-
levels, were significantly more often living inde- charged from the hospital after many had been
pendently or with peers, and had fewer readmis- taught how to work and care for themselves for the
sions. Interestingly, clients treated at Soteria who first time in their lives.
received no neuroleptic medication or were Dr. Antonuccis superior results also came
thought to be destined to have the worst out- at a much lower cost. Such programs constitute
comes, actually did the best as compared to permanent testimony to the existence of both
hospital and drug-treated control subjects, Dr. genuine answers and hope for the seriously
Mosher said. troubled.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations
3 When faced with incidents of psychiatric assault, fraud, illicit drug selling or other
abuse, file a complaint with the police. Send CCHR a copy of your complaint. Once
criminal complaints have been filed, they should also be filed with the state regulatory
agencies, such as state medical and psychologists boards. Such agencies can investi-
gate and revoke or suspend a psychiatrists or psychologists license to practice. You
should also seek legal advice to file a civil suit for compensatory damages.
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Recommendations
21
CCHR_MYTH_R1-22.ps 10/18/04 12:09 AM Page 22
Citizens Commission
on Human Rights International
T
he Citizens Commission on Human CCHRs work aligns with the UN Universal
Rights (CCHR) was established in Declaration of Human Rights, in particular the
1969 by the Church of Scientology to following precepts, which psychiatrists violate on
investigate and expose psychiatric a daily basis:
violations of human rights, and to Article 3: Everyone has the right to life,
clean up the field of mental healing. liberty and security of person.
Today, it has more than 130 chapters in over
31 countries. Its board of advisors, called Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture
Commissioners, includes doctors, lawyers, educa- or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
tors, artists, business professionals, and civil and punishment.
human rights representatives. Article 7: All are equal before the law and
While it doesnt provide medical or are entitled without any discrimination to equal
legal advice, it works closely with and supports protection of the law.
medical doctors and medical practice. A key CCHR Through psychiatrists false diagnoses, stigma-
focus is psychiatrys fraudulent use of subjective tizing labels, easy-seizure commitment laws, brutal,
diagnoses that lack any scientific or medical depersonalizing treatments, thousands of indi-
merit, but which are used to reap financial benefits viduals are harmed and denied their inherent
in the billions, mostly from the taxpayers or human rights.
insurance carriers. Based on these false diagnoses, CCHR has inspired and caused many hun-
psychiatrists justify and prescribe life-damaging dreds of reforms by testifying before legislative
treatments, including mind-altering drugs, which hearings and conducting public hearings into psy-
mask a persons underlying difficulties and chiatric abuse, as well as working with media, law
prevent his or her recovery. enforcement and public officials the world over.
CITIZENS COMMISSION
on Human Rights International
22
CCHR_MYTH_R1-23.ps 10/18/04 12:09 AM Page 23
MISSION STATEMENT
THE CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
investigates and exposes psychiatric violations of human rights. It works
shoulder-to-shoulder with like-minded groups and individuals who share a
common purpose to clean up the field of mental health. We shall continue to
do so until psychiatrys abusive and coercive practices cease
and human rights and dignity are returned to all.
REFERENCES
References
1. Richard E. Vatz, Lee S. Weinberg, and Thomas S. Szasz, 26. Jim Rosack, SSRIs Called on Carpet Over Violence
Why Does Television Grovel at the Altar of Psychiatry?, Claims, Psychiatric News, Vol. 36, No. 19, 5 Oct. 2001,
The Washington Post, 15 Sept. 1985, pp. D12. pp. 6.
2. E. Fuller Torrey, M.D., Death of Psychiatry (Chilton 27. Elliot S. Valenstein, Ph.D., Blaming the Brain (The Free
Publications, Pennsylvania, 1974), pp. 1011. Press, New York, 1998), p. 225.
3. Robert Whitaker, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad 28. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders II
Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill (American Psychiatric Association, Washington, D.C.,
(Perseus Publishing, New York, 2002), p. 166. 1968), p. ix.
4. Ibid., p. 203. 29. Stephen Soreff, M.D. and Lynne Alison McInnes,
5. Ibid., pp. 253254; Ty C. Colbert, Rape of the Soul, How M.D., Bipolar Affective Disorder, eMedicine Journal, Vol.
the Chemical Imbalance Model of Modern Psychiatry has 3, No. 1, 7 Jan. 2002.
Failed its Patients (Kevco Publishing, California, 2001), 30. Herb Kutchins and Stuart A. Kirk, Making Us Crazy
p. 106. (Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, 1997), p. 36.
6. George Crane, Tardive Dyskinesia in Patients Treated 31. Op. cit., Joseph Glenmullen, p. 205.
with Major Neuroleptics: A Review of the Literature, 32. Ibid., p. 206.
American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 124, Supplement, 1968, 33. David Healy, The Anti-Depressant Era (Harvard
pp. 4047. University Press, 1999), p. 174.
7. Op. cit., Robert Whitaker, p. 208. 34. John Read, Feeling Sad? It Doesnt Mean Youre
8. Ibid., p. 150. Sick, New Zealand Herald, 23 June 2004.
9. L. Jeff, The International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia: 35. Op. cit., Joseph Glenmullen, p. 195.
Five-Year Follow-Up Findings, Psychological Medicine, 36. Op. cit., Elliot S. Valenstein, p. 4.
Vol. 22, 1992, pp. 131-145; Assen Jablensky,
37. Ibid., p. 125.
Schizophrenia: Manifestations, Incidence and Course in
Different Cultures, a World Health Organization Ten- 38. Op. cit., Ty C. Colbert. p. 97.
Country Study, Psychological Medicine, Supplement, 1992, 39. Edward Drummond, M.D., The Complete Guide to
pp. 195. Psychiatric Drugs (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York,
10. Op. cit., Robert Whitaker, p. 229. 2000), pp. 1516.
11. Ibid., p. 182. 40. Lisa M. Krieger, Some Question Value of Brain Scan;
Untested Tool Belongs in Lab Only, Experts Say, The
12. Ibid., p. 258.
Mercury News, 4 May 2004.
13. Erica Goode, Leading Drugs for Psychosis Come
41. Ibid.
Under New Scrutiny, The New York Times, 20 May 2003.
42. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
43. Op. cit., Joseph Glenmullen, p. 196.
15. IMS HEALTH Reports 14.9 Percent Dollar Growth in
U.S. Prescription Sales to $145 Billion in 2000, 44. Op. cit., Elliot S. Valenstein, p. 4.
IMSHealth.com, 31 May 2001; IMS Reports 11.5 Percent 45. David E. Sternberg, M.D., Testing for Physical Illness
Dollar Growth in 03 U.S. Prescription Sales, in Psychiatric Patients, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, Vol.
IMSHealth.com, 17 Feb. 2004. 47, No. 1, Jan. 1986, p. 5; Richard C. Hall, M.D., et al.,
16. Op. cit., Erica Goode. Physical Illness Presenting as Psychiatric Disease,
Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 35, Nov. 1978, pp.
17. Op. cit., Robert Whitaker, p. 189.
13151320; Ivan Fras, M.D., et al., Comparison of
18. Edward G. Ezrailson, Ph.D., Report on Review of Psychiatric Symptoms in Carcinoma of the Pancreas with
Andrea Yates Medical Records, 29 Mar. 2002. Those in Some Other Intra-abdominal Neoplasms,
19. Op. cit., Robert Whitaker, pp. 182, 186. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 123, No. 12, June 1967,
20. Ibid., p. 188. pp. 15531562.
21. Charles Medawar, Antidepressants Hooked on the 46. Patrick Holford and Hyla Cass, M.D., Natural Highs
Happy Drug, What Doctors Dont Tell You, Vol. 8., No. 11, (Penguin Putnam Inc., New York, 2002), pp. 125126.
Mar. 1998, p. 3. 47. Leslie Goldman, Finding Clues to Unmask
22. David Grounds, et. al., Antidepressants and Side Depression, Chicago Tribune, 22 Aug. 2001.
Effects, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 48. Alternatives for Bipolar Disorder, Safe Harbor,
Vol. 29, No. 1, 1995. Alternative On-Line. Internet address:
23. Acute Drug Withdrawal, PreMec Medicines http://www.alternativementalhealth.com, 2003.
Information Bulletin, Aug. 1996, modified 6 Jan. 1997, 49. Thomas Dorman, Toxic Psychiatry, Internet address:
Internet URL: http://www.premec.org.nz/profile.htm, http://www.dormanpub.com.
accessed: 18 Mar. 1999. 50. Loren Mosher, Soteria and Other Alternatives to
24. Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash (Simon & Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization: A Personal and
Schuster, New York, 2000), p. 78. Professional Review, The Journal of Nervous and Mental
25. Ibid., p. 78. Disease, Vol. 187, 1999, pp. 142149.
CCHR_Myths CVR R25-2.ps 10/22/04 9:09 AM Page 2
T
he psychiatric profession purports to be know the causes or cures for any mental disorder THE REAL CRISISIn Mental Health Today CHILD DRUGGINGPsychiatry Destroying Lives
the sole arbiter on the subject of mental or what their treatments specifically do to the Report and recommendations on the lack of science and Report and recommendations on fraudulent psychiatric
health and diseases of the mind. The patient. They have only theories and conflicting results within the mental health industry diagnosis and the enforced drugging of youth
facts, however, demonstrate otherwise: opinions about their diagnoses and methods, and
are lacking any scientific basis for these. As a past M A S S I V E F R A UD P s y c h i a t r y s C o r r u p t I n d u s t r y HARMING YOUTHPsychiatry Destroys Young Minds
1. PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS ARE NOT MEDICAL president of the World Psychiatric Association Report and recommendations on a criminal mental Report and recommendations on harmful mental health
health monopoly assessments, evaluations and programs within our schools
DISEASES. In medicine, strict criteria exist for stated, The time when psychiatrists considered
calling a condition a disease: a predictable group that they could cure the mentally ill is gone. In PSYCHIATRIC HOAXThe Subversion of Medicine COMMUNITY RUINPsychiatrys Coercive Care
of symptoms and the cause of the symptoms or the future, the mentally ill have to learn to live Report and recommendations on psychiatrys destructive Report and recommendations on the failure of community
an understanding of their physiology (function) with their illness. impact on health care mental health and other coercive psychiatric programs
must be proven and established. Chills and fever PSEUDOSCIENCEPsychiatrys False Diagnoses HARMING ARTISTSPsychiatry Ruins Creativity
are symptoms. Malaria and typhoid are diseases. 4. THE THEORY THAT MENTAL DISORDERS Report and recommendations on the unscientific fraud Report and recommendations on psychiatry assaulting the arts
Diseases are proven to exist by objective evidence DERIVE FROM A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE IN perpetrated by psychiatry UNHOLY ASSAULTPsychiatry versus Religion
and physical tests. Yet, no mental diseases have THE BRAIN IS UNPROVEN OPINION, NOT FACT. Report and recommendations on psychiatrys subversion of
SCHIZOPHRENIAPsychiatrys For Profit Disease
ever been proven to medically exist. One prevailing psychiatric theory (key to Report and recommendations on psychiatric lies and religious belief and practice
psychotropic drug sales) is that mental disorders false diagnosis
2. PSYCHIATRISTS DEAL EXCLUSIVELY WITH result from a chemical imbalance in the brain. ERODING JUSTICEPsychiatrys Corruption of Law
MENTAL DISORDERS, NOT PROVEN DISEASES. As with its other theories, there is no biological THE BRUTAL REALITYHarmful Psychiatric Treatments Report and recommendations on psychiatry subverting the
Report and recommendations on the destructive practices of courts and corrective services
While mainstream physical medicine treats or other evidence to prove this. Representative
electroshock and psychosurgery
diseases, psychiatry can only deal with of a large group of medical and biochemistry
ELDERLY ABUSECruel Mental Health Programs
disorders. In the absence of a known cause or experts, Elliot Valenstein, Ph.D., author of PSYCHIATRIC RAPEAssaulting Women and Children
Report and recommendations on psychiatry abusing seniors
physiology, a group of symptoms seen in many Blaming the Brain says: [T]here are no tests Report and recommendations on widespread sex crimes
different patients is called a disorder or syndrome. available for assessing the chemical status of against patients within the mental health system
CHAOS & TERRORManufactured by Psychiatry
Harvard Medical Schools Joseph Glenmullen, a living persons brain. DEADLY RESTRAINTSPsychiatrys Therapeutic Assault Report and recommendations on the role of psychiatry
M.D., says that in psychiatry, all of its diagnoses Report and recommendations on the violent and dangerous in international terrorism
are merely syndromes [or disorders], clusters of 5. THE BRAIN IS NOT THE REAL CAUSE use of restraints in mental health facilities
symptoms presumed to be related, not diseases. OF LIFES PROBLEMS. People do experience CREATING RACISMPsychiatrys Betrayal
PSYCHIATRYHooking Your World on Drugs Report and recommendations on psychiatry causing racial
As Dr. Thomas Szasz, professor of psychiatry problems and upsets in life that may result in Report and recommendations on psychiatry creating conflict and genocide
emeritus, observes, There is no blood or other mental troubles, sometimes very serious. But todays drug crisis
biological test to ascertain the presence or to represent that these troubles are caused by CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS
absence of a mental illness, as there is for most incurable brain diseases that can only be REHAB FRAUDPsychiatrys Drug Scam
The International Mental Health Watchdog
Report and recommendations on methadone and other
bodily diseases. alleviated with dangerous pills is dishonest, disastrous psychiatric drug rehabilitation programs
harmful and often deadly. Such drugs are
3. PSYCHIATRY HAS NEVER ESTABLISHED THE often more potent than a narcotic and capable
CAUSE OF ANY MENTAL DISORDERS. Leading of driving one to violence or suicide. They mask
psychiatric agencies such as the World Psychiatric the real cause of problems in life and debilitate WARNING: No one should stop taking any psychiatric drug without
Association and the U.S. National Institute of the individual, so denying him or her the oppor- advice and assistance from a competent non-psychiatric medical doctor.
Mental Health admit that psychiatrists do not tunity for real recovery and hope for the future.
PHOTO CREDITS: Page 4: Peter Turnley/Corbis; page 9: NewsPix (NZ); Reuters News Media Inc./Corbis; AP Wide World Photos;
page 10: Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis; page 12: Gabe Palmer/Corbis; Lester Lefkowitz/Corbis; page 15: Tom & Dee Ann McCarthy/Corbis.
2004 CCHR. All Rights Reserved. CITIZENS COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS, CCHR and the CCHR logo are trademarks and service
marks owned by Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Printed in the U.S.A. Item #18905-15
CCHR_Myths CVR R25-1.ps 10/22/04 9:09 AM Page 1
SCHIZOPHRENIA
Psychiatrys For Profit Disease
Report and recommendations on
psychiatric lies and
false diagnoses
Published by
Citizens Commission on Human Rights
Established in 1969