Psychiatric Treatment is a Sham

Okay, I know I’m going to sound like an asshole to those who really believe in the organized scam called psychiatry. I’m not trying to be an ass, but I’ve been beat down repeatedly by these treatments and I am really frustrated by it, especially recently. I should be clear from the start that I think psychology is a valid social science, but it is just not one that can be used at the current time for a basis for medicine.

My first ‘beef’ with psychiatry is the practice of biological psychiatry (or the use of psychopharmaceuticals or neurological surgery or procedures to treat a psychiatric condition). Probably the greatest abuse is the prescription of drugs. Every time I have been ‘treated’ by a psychiatrist I have been prescribed a different type of drug under the guise that it would correct some type of chemical imbalance. I was always curious how the psychiatrist knew I had a chemical imbalance before he prescribed me drugs that would radically alter my brain chemistry. Nobody ever took a measurement of my brain chemistry. Apparently most of the time I must have been low/high in serotonin in various places (or maybe it was norepinephrene or acetylcholine or who knows). In any case various toxic drugs (Paxil being the worst) were prescribed and the doses increased and increased and increased until something plausibly was supposed to happen to me. It didn’t. Heck, even multiple drugs of the same class (which is trying to have the same effect) were prescribed in the magical hope than one would have some effect. It didn’t.

Why didn’t it? It is because the psychiatrist didn’t know what or if there was a brain chemistry problem, nor whether his current alterations would defeat a future treatment. He didn’t know my brain chemistry. He guessed that adding something like a SSRI or a tricyclic or a benzo or an antipsychotic would be beneficial even though all of these chemicals treat your entire brain, not just the ‘disfunctioning and chemically imbalanced parts’. Does this sound like the balancing of the humours to anyone? It should, because it is almost exactly the same. The only difference is that instead of hearsay and superstition we have ‘clinical experience’ and flawed medication studies.

Flawed medication studies? Everyone claims this, right? And they’ve all been debunked, right? Sure, but here are two points that nobody ever discusses: 1) all of these studies are simple correlations, and 2) important populations are always excluded. Part 1 is important because an extreme example of an effective treatment for depression by psychiatric correlations would be a lobotomy. Why--because it correlates with less extreme depressive symptoms. So do things like ECT (which may cause brain damage) and many psychiatric drugs that turn people into zombies. Basically, once you let simple correlation to be enough for your treatment plan you can get away with anything. If people fake feeling better, then that correlates with an effective treatment (and I have faked feeling better more than once to prevent yet another boost in drugs or a threat to be locked up in the mental hospital). Part 2 is important because the ‘standard of treatment’ for extremely depressed or psychotic individuals is to lock them up in the mental hospital and play with drugs until they pretend they’re better. It is considered unethical to let the people who could benefit the most from a new anti-depressant or anti-psychotic to participate in a drug trial (some good lectures on this issue here and here). Only people who are moderately depressed get in the anti-depressant trials, for example. There is actually no basis whatsoever for the belief, even by correlation, that psychiatric drugs will help a suicidal person. The ‘belief’ in psychiatry is that these drugs have a moderate benefit for moderately depressed people (implied by the correlation test), thus they must have a major effect on severely depressed people. But it is only a belief, and it is compounded with the fact that many people will pretend to be better to get out of the mental hospital (where the suicidal are thrown, as one example).

I’ve ranted for a little while on the issues of medications. Surely there must be a proper way that medications can be tested and administered, right? Yes, you need know the actual reason for a disorder with an individual. Is it really a chemical imbalance? Then what is exactly the proper balance for each part of the brain? And what are exactly the effects (short term and long term) of these chemicals being used on non-disordered parts of the brain? If it is genetic, then how does the ‘faulty’ phenotype produce a disordered individual, and how exactly would drugs correct this? If it is due to environmental conditions, then how does the interaction of the brain itself create this disorder, specifically? And how will these drugs specifically correct this? There probably won’t be answers to these questions for another century or more. Most real medicine can answer similar questions relative to that field. Psychiatry cannot.

My second ‘beef’ with psychiatry is the belief that psychiatrists and therapists understand suicide and know how to prevent it. Marsha Linehan and Barbara Stanley (in the above videos) are some of the few psychologists that have a clue. Most psychiatrists and therapists consider it to be an extreme and irrational response to very powerful emotional distress. Wrong! They also think the best way to deal with it is to lock a person up and then drug them until they pretend to no longer be distressed. Wrong again! As is pointed out in the videos, there is no evidence that mental hospitalization reduces the suicide rate. Suicide and suicide attempts are a method of problem solving. While powerful emotional distress is often a precursor, a person who is trying to attempt suicide is typically calm (I know). It is because the solution has been presented, hell is going to be over, the pain will stop, etc. It isn’t irrational; it is simply an extreme method of solving these problems given our mental states. Mental hospitalization is often the goal for a suicide attempt, or for friends to care, or to have people at least acknowledge your existence. Again, it is solving problems.

Suicide contracts and threats of being thrown in the mental hospital if I don’t comply with toxic medication demands did nothing to prevent me from trying to ‘solve’ my problems with an extreme method. In many cases I think these methods amplify suicidal intent considering most hospitals will boot you out after the minimum observation period due to crowding issues (which makes you feel even more worthless).

I have more issues with psychiatry, but I’ve written enough for now.

Psychiatry. Taking the ideas of psychology, and the ideas of biological/organic science, and poof! Whatever the intent is, the outcome at least doubles the problem. Terrific problem-solving strategy. Well, in a way it is, for the people who worship money. It doesn't matter to those making it who get trampled and $#%^ on in the process.

Chew them up and spit them out.

Science. Using observations and building a set of rules on top of that. What if those initial observations are flawed? Nope, too late now, all this time put into developing these rules, can't just throw away all that money. Yea, let's call it "psychiatry", everyone loves a fancy word. The ones that are troubled who can't afford it is who we'll target. That way the insurance companies pockets can balloon, they're our partners anyway, a mutual understanding and relationship. The state can pay for the "patients", they can afford it. But that gives them a reason to convince their constituents taxes need raised even higher, why have the state pay out of their pocket, cancun is fine this time of year, need to christen that luxury jet anyhow. The voters will grow an even higher disdain for the "patients" since they have to fork over even more money to "support" them, they love money just as much as we do. Oh, they'll say, there's a "crazy" guy, throw him in the hospital, he doesn't deserve the freedom we do, he doesn't pay the taxes we pay since he doesn't work.

The perfect cycle, exponentially increasing profits at the expense of a few. It's fine, they're just pee-ons...everyone hates those patients anyway because of some ridiculous ploy congered up by those who have.

Everything is a sham. Let's just fire the whole ######6 planet into the sun.

Where I live Hospitalzation saved my life.
I needed to be contained and monitored. All the while I was having up to three sessions a day with T's. The doctor who ran the Ward was an ex-military Trauma Specialist. She was tough as nails. Didn't baby people, but sure liked to medicate them. The smart part of that is I noticed that people who really wanted to take Therapy seriously would listen and respect her judgment enough to co-operate. My personal Psychologist, would often disagree with her suggested treatments for me when I was hospitalized.
I'd go into the Hospital and My dosages would go up, I'd get out and My Personal Psych Doc would bring them down.
I think that the meds in the hospitals were so widely overused was partly about containing a group of people who were on the ward.
Keep them quite and calm, for the good for all concerned. Everyone there was fragile and like a ticking bomb, friction between patients distracts from the reasons they are there. Patients often created dramas with other patients. It never failed, they were the ones who were not willing to take seriously why they were there in the first place. They never lasted long. The quiet and the calm stayed longer, went to the groups and eventually, their meds went down and they got real help while there.
I lived on that ward for a year and a half.
To me, Medications are like scaffolding. They hold a person up for a while. Therapy helped me to gain more and more strength until finally piece by piece, the meds went down, I lean less on them and finally I stood on my own two feet again. At my lowest point I was on 9 separate drugs. Now I am on None. Therapy saved my life, meds contained me while I was too deep into my issues to think straight.
There is a lot of stuff that I saw in the Hospitals that I did not like. When I was angry and hiding from my issues, I hated being there. When I got tired of being sick, I stopped bitching and listened and learned how to get better.
The system is not perfect. Far from it. My ward was always trying to find new ways to improve.
That was just my experience. Every one has their own opinion.
I am really sorry that you feel you have been mis-treated. I hope you can find some one on one treatment that you can trust.
With Hope,
One

onebravegirl wrote:Where I live Hospitalzation saved my life.
I needed to be contained and monitored. All the while I was having up to three sessions a day with T's. The doctor who ran the Ward was an ex-military Trauma Specialist. She was tough as nails. Didn't baby people, but sure liked to medicate them. The smart part of that is I noticed that people who really wanted to take Therapy seriously would listen and respect her judgment enough to co-operate. My personal Psychologist, would often disagree with her suggested treatments for me when I was hospitalized.
I'd go into the Hospital and My dosages would go up, I'd get out and My Personal Psych Doc would bring them down.
I think that the meds in the hospitals were so widely overused was partly about containing a group of people who were on the ward.
Keep them quite and calm, for the good for all concerned. Everyone there was fragile and like a ticking bomb, friction between patients distracts from the reasons they are there. Patients often created dramas with other patients. It never failed, they were the ones who were not willing to take seriously why they were there in the first place. They never lasted long. The quiet and the calm stayed longer, went to the groups and eventually, their meds went down and they got real help while there.
I lived on that ward for a year and a half.
To me, Medications are like scaffolding. They hold a person up for a while. Therapy helped me to gain more and more strength until finally piece by piece, the meds went down, I lean less on them and finally I stood on my own two feet again. At my lowest point I was on 9 separate drugs. Now I am on None. Therapy saved my life, meds contained me while I was too deep into my issues to think straight.
There is a lot of stuff that I saw in the Hospitals that I did not like. When I was angry and hiding from my issues, I hated being there. When I got tired of being sick, I stopped bitching and listened and learned how to get better.
The system is not perfect. Far from it. My ward was always trying to find new ways to improve.
That was just my experience. Every one has their own opinion.
I am really sorry that you feel you have been mis-treated. I hope you can find some one on one treatment that you can trust.
With Hope,
One

You are justifying the abuse of drugs and hospitalization to control people. Really, you are. Just because you claim that it worked in your case doesn't mean that a therapist has a right to call the police on you, put you in a cop car (threatening to taser you if you aren't compliant), drag you to this mental 'prison', and force you to take massive amounts of drugs before they will release you.

This type of thing is a human rights abuse. It also derails therapy. I have quit on therapists again and again and again and again when I suspected that they would 'imprison' me if I told them my thoughts.

There are two reasons for hospitalization. The first is for a therapist or psychiatrist to abandon a patient without feeling guilty since they are now in a supposedly safe place. Surprisingly, they don't feel bad about the human rights violations that occur there. The second is for a therapist or psychiatrist to beat a patient down and make them compliant. It is a pity they don't just carry police batons in their offices, it would be far more humane.

I am certain that many patients claim that hospitalization helped them, but only because they agree or were forced to agree with the propaganda. I am not going to speak for you. Hospitalization theoretically may have helped you. Then again, you may feel that it helped you because that is what it is what therapists and psychiatrists say that it was designed for (even if you have to discount your feelings). Cognitive dissonance is painful, and therapists and psychiatrists are experts at using it as a weapon to enforce compliance. It is tough as any type of patient to objectively critique their treatment, but doubly so for those with mental illnesses.

It helps you if you want it to. Yeah, it does come down to that.

And still. Planet -> Sun.

If your are looking for someone to argue with, it won't be me.
If a person is out in public cannot control themselves, the police have every right to contain them.
Act like a child and have a temper tantrum they get the consequences.
You strike me as a person who says "not fair!" a lot. If you don't like hospitals and Psychiatry, behave yourself so you don't have to be there. But trying to get other people to agree with you helps no one.
It is sad that you had the experiences you had. But you are over generalizing the entire field of medicine.
For your own sake I would suggest, letting all this anger go and try to move on to a happier and healthier life.
Best wishes,
One

onebravegirl wrote:If your are looking for someone to argue with, it won't be me.
If a person is out in public cannot control themselves, the police have every right to contain them.
Act like a child and have a temper tantrum they get the consequences.
You strike me as a person who says "not fair!" a lot. If you don't like hospitals and Psychiatry, behave yourself so you don't have to be there. But trying to get other people to agree with you helps no one.
It is sad that you had the experiences you had. But you are over generalizing the entire field of medicine.
For your own sake I would suggest, letting all this anger go and try to move on to a happier and healthier life.
Best wishes,
One

This.

I've been hospitalized repeatedly, and I can't say it was a prison. There was a method to their madness. There was a reason for doing the things it did. And the people around me, including myself, received benefit from it.

Being "forced" to take medications? No, we were encouraged, and if we didn't follow the treatment plan then we were discharged. In a time of crisis, which everyone in a temporary mental institution is in crisis, medication is very important in order to regulate your emotions and calm you down.

However, you seem to have everything figured out. I'm sure you know how to cure yourself better than people that went to medical school. So I'm not going to argue with you.

In every system set up, there will always be a lesser percentage of those who fall through the cracks. I've witnessed forced medicating, and the "encouraged" medicating was to be locked in a padded room until you decided to submit, not be discharged instead. There's always pros and cons, and yes they have a reason for everything they do, but the ends do not always justify the means.

And when the only drugs they have for your "condition" is poisonous, it's very easy to say "not fair" when it's injected against your will, or you are forced to submit to it. But you would know that if you were given them. I also don't see how taking meds for the rest of your life is a cure either.

Yes, as long as you make sure not to end up in there, you will not have to be exposed to any of it. I highly doubt the system will change anytime soon, just ensure you don't have your hand in it. Advocating? Lobbying? Yea, right.

I believe medication should be used in emergency situations only and that once the emergency is over and you're released from the hospital, the best treatment plan is to take natural supplements and to allow yourself to let your emotions out, which is what therapy is for. Not a single medication is safe for long term use no matter what symptoms it's supposed to treat. Even Tylenol causes liver damage if it is taken regularly over long periods of time even when taking what would otherwise be considered to be a normal dose.