| Pressbox / September 28, 2005
Is your child easily distracted? Or perhaps he talks excessively, or can become impatient?
Most, if not all, parents would perhaps answer yes to these questions, as they are, what many of us
believe to be, normal expressions of child behaviour.
Not so, according to Psychiatry. It could be that your child has “Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder”, a “disease” of the mind that could require medical treatment.
The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM, version IV), the
psychiatrist’s handbook, lists a number of behavioural traits, such as these, that it considers
abnormal in children. Others include: “often has difficulty awaiting turn”, “often does not seem to
listen when spoken to directly”, and “often has difficulty playing or engaging in leisure activities
quietly”.
‘It’s total fraud’, says Michael Westen, editor of Psychbusters (groups.msn.com/psychbusters), an
online activist group that was set up in 2000 to ‘decode Psychiatric propaganda’. ‘This is not a
disease and these are not “diagnostic criteria.” These are subjective judgments aimed at coercing a
person to follow rules of “proper conduct” made by others with power. The list could just as easily
contain: fails to be white, often does not attend a Christian church, tends to be smaller, younger,
and unable to do adult tasks.’
‘For a disease to exist there must be a tangible, objective physical abnormality that can be
determined by a test,’ says neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman. ‘Such as, but not limited to, a blood or
urine test, X-Ray, brain scan or biopsy. All reputable doctors would agree: No physical abnormality,
no disease. In psychiatry, no test or brain scan exists to prove that a ‘mental disorder’ is a physical
disease.’
Baughman, from California, and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology, is one of an
ever-growing number of campaigners fighting to expose the lies within the psychiatric industry. An
adult & child neurologist of some 35 years, Dr. Baughman is vocal when coming up against
misleading research or downright fraud palmed off as “science”. ‘They made a list of the most
common symptoms of emotional discomfiture of children, those which bother teachers and parents
most, and in a stroke that could not be more devoid of science or Hippocratic motive–termed them a
“disease”. Twenty five years of research, not deserving of the term “research”, has failed to validate
ADD/ADHD as a disease. Tragically–the “epidemic” having grown from 500 thousand in 1985 to
between 5 and 7 million today–this remains the state of the “science” of ADHD.’
Despite there being no scientific basis for ADHD, prescriptions of Methylphenidate – most commonly
sold as Ritalin – rose to 359,100 last year, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the
Prescriptions Pricing Authority reveal that there has been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since
1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England.
Ritalin, which is pharmacologically similar to Cocaine, is a favoured treatment option for those
labelled with ADHD, yet critics claim it is a harmful drug that can cause neurological defects and
further behavioural difficulties. Earlier this year, researchers in Texas found a link between Ritalin
use and chromosome abnormalities – occurrences associated with increased risks of cancer and
other adverse health effects.
‘The simple fact is that there is absolutely no reliable test that accurately distinguishes between
children that are supposed to have “ADHD” and those that are not’, says Dr. John Breeding, author
of “The Wildest Colts Make The Best Horses”. To counter the claim that ADHD is a valid medical
condition that requires medical treatment, Breeding encourages parents to demand conclusive
scientific evidence. For there simply isn’t any.
Elliot S. Valenstien, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of
Michigan also agrees. ‘Contrary to what is often claimed, no biochemical, anatomical, or functional
signs have been found that reliably distinguish the brains of mental patients.’
‘I am constantly amazed by how many patients who come to see me believe or want to believe that
their difficulties are biologic and can be relieved by a pill,’ says psychiatrist Dr. David Kaiser. ‘This is
despite the fact that modern psychiatry has yet to convincingly prove the genetic/biologic cause of
any single mental illness. However, this does not stop psychiatry from making essentially unproven
claims that depression, bipolar illness, anxiety disorders, alcoholism and a host of other disorders
are in fact primarily biologic and probably genetic in origin, and that it is only a matter of time until all
this is proven. This kind of faith in science and progress is staggering, not to mention naive and
perhaps delusional.’
‘There are many reasons why a child can become inattentive or hyperactive,” says Michael Westen.
‘Nutritional deficiencies or a poor diet are often underlying problems. There can be difficulties in the
home, vision problems, even a lack of sleep. There can be many others. Yet instead of looking at all
these issues, Psychiatry ignores them, inventing a one-size-fits-all “disease” that requires
“medication”.’
‘Disingenuous comparisons between physical and mental illness and medicine are simply part of
psychiatry’s orchestrated but fraudulent public relations and marketing campaign,’ says Dr.
Baughman.
Many seem to share these views including the late Dr. Loren Mosher, a noted psychiatrist and
clinical professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, and former Chief of the
Center for Studies of Schizophrenia at the National Institute of Mental Health. Mosher famously
resigned from the American Psychiatric Association in 1998 due to Psychiatry’s growing “unholy
alliance” with the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry.
‘Psychiatry has become drug dependent (that is, devoted to pill pushing) at all levels – private
practitioners, public system psychiatrists, university faculty and organizationally,’ Mosher wrote
before attacking the field as being mechanistic, reductionistic, tunnel-visioned and dehumanising.
‘Modern psychiatry has forgotten the Hippocratic principle,’ Mosher once wrote. ‘Above all, do no
harm.’
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For more information, visit:
http://groups.msn.com/psychbusters
Decoding Psychiatric Propaganda |
