INTRODUCTION:
Psychiatry�s Lack of Science
How
concerned should we be about reports that mental illness has become an epidemic
striking one out of every four people in the world today? According to the
source of these alarming reports�the psychiatric industry�mental illness threatens
to engulf us all and can only be checked by immediate and massive increases
in funding. They warn of the disastrous effects of withheld appropriations.
What the psychiatrists never warn of is that the very diagnostic system used
to derive the alarming statistic�their own Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM- IV) and its equivalent, the mental
disorders section of the International Classification of Diseases
(ICD-10)� are under attack for their lack of scientific authority
and veracity and their almost singular emphasis on psychotropic drug treatment.
Professor Herb Kutchins
from California State University, Sacramento, and Professor Stuart A. Kirk
from the University of New York, authors of several books describing the flaws
of the DSM, warn, �There are indeed many illusions about DSM and very
strong needs among its developers to believe that their dreams of scientific
excellence and utility have come true. ��
The �bitter medicine�
is that DSM has �unsuccessfully attempted to medicalize too many
human troubles.�
Professor Edward Shorter,
author of A History of Psychiatry , stated, �Rather than heading
off into the brave new world of science, DSM-IV-style psychiatry seemed in
some ways to be heading out into the desert.�
We formulated this report
and its recommendations for those with responsibility in deciding the funding
and fate of mental health programs and insurance coverage, including legislators
and other decision makers charged with the task of protecting the health,
well-being and safety of their citizens.
The results of the widespread
reliance by psychiatrists on the DSM, with its ever-expanding
list of illnesses for each of which a psychiatric drug can be legally prescribed,
include these staggering statistics:
Seventeen million schoolchildren
worldwide have now been diagnosed with mental disorders and prescribed cocaine-like
stimulants and powerful antidepressants as treatment.
Psychiatric drug use
and abuse is surging worldwide: More than 100 million prescriptions for antidepressants
alone were written in 2002 at a cost of $19.5 billion.
One in seven prescriptions
in France includes a psychotropic drug and more than 50% of the unemployed�1.8
million�take psychotropic drugs.
Meanwhile, driven by
DSM-derived mental illness statistics, the international mental health
budget has skyrocketed in the last 10 years.
In the United States, the mental health budget soared from $33 billion in
1994 to more than $80 billion in 1999.
Switzerland�s spending
on mental health increased from $73.5 million in 1988 to over $184.8 million
in 1997.
Germany currently spends
more than $2.6 billion a year on �mental health.�
In France, mental health
costs have soared, contributing $400 million to the country�s deficit in 1996.
In spite of record spending,
countries now face record levels of child abuse, suicide, drug abuse, violence
and crime�very real problems for which the psychiatric industry can identify
neither causes nor solutions. It is safe to conclude, therefore, that a reduction
in the funding of psychiatric programs will not cause a worsening of mental
health. Less funding for harmful psychiatric practices will, in fact, improve
the state of mental health.
The evidence presented
herein has been drawn from physicians, attorneys, judges, psychiatrists, parents
and others active in the mental health or related fields. The consensus of
these experts is that DSM-based, psychiatric initiatives such
as the broadening of involuntary commitment laws and the expansion of socalled
community mental health plans are detrimental to society in human and economic
terms. The same applies to programs such as the screening for mental disorders
of young children in schools.
The claim that only
increased funding will cure the problems of psychiatry has lost its ring of
truth. Fields of expertise that are built on scientific claims are routinely
called upon to deliver empirical proof to support their theories. When the
Centers for Disease Control receives funds to combat a dangerous disease,
the funding results in the discovery of a biological cause and development
of a cure. Biological tests exist to determine the presence or absence of
most bodily diseases. While people can have serious mental difficulties, psychiatry
has no objective, physical test to confirm the presence of any mental illness.
Diagnosis is purely subjective.
The many critical challenges
facing societies today reflect the vital need to strengthen individuals
through workable, viable and humanitarian alternatives to harmful psychiatric
options. We invite you to review for yourself the alternatives we have included.
We respectfully offer the information in this report for your consideration
so that you may draw your own conclusions about the state of mental health
and psychiatry�s ability, or the lack thereof, to contribute to its resolution.
by
Rohit Adi, M.D., Mary Jo Pagel, M.D.
Julian Whitaker, M.D. and Anthony P. Urbanek, M.D.
JULIAN WHITAKER, M.D.: Dr. Whitaker is the founder of the Whitaker
Wellness Center in California and a popular speaker and lecturer. Dr. Whitaker
is the author of eight books, including Reversing Heart Disease
and Reversing Diabetes . He is the author of the widely read newsletter
Health and Healing .
ANTHONY P. URBANEK,
M.D. Dr. Urbanek has a prior fellowship with the National Institutes of
Health and is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. His medical career includes
founding medical centers, such as the Trelawney Outreach Project, in a joint
venture with the Jamaican government to service 50,000 Jamaicans. He currently
practices in Nashville.
ROHIT ADI, M.D.: Dr. Adi is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal
Medicine. He has been practicing emergency medicine since 1993 and now serves
as the assistant director of a trauma center that handles 72,000 patients
a year.
MARY JO PAGEL, M.D.:
Dr. Pagel graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch
with honors in cardiology. She is a specialist in internal medicine
and preventative and industrial medicine, and is medical director
of a medical clinic. She is a member of the medical advisory
board of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.
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