Author: beststartforkids

Parents: Get the Facts—Know Your Rights

beststartforkids Parents Rights

About ADHD & Child Mental Disorders:

“Virtually anyone at any given time can meet the criteria for bipolar disorder or ADHD.  Anyone.  And the problem is everyone diagnosed with even one of these ‘illnesses’ triggers the pill dispenser.” — Dr. Stefan Kruszewski, Psychiatrist

“‘Mental illness’ is terribly misleading because the ‘mental disorders’ we diagnose are no more than descriptions of what clinicians observe people do or say, not at all well established diseases” — Allen Frances, Psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman

There’s no doubt that many parents need help. Whether it is the school complaining about their child’s behavior, or the parent observing emotional or educational problems. The problem is parents are being told their child has a “mental disorder” and needs “medication” but are not being given all the facts about these psychiatric labels (mental disorders) or the drugs being prescribed to ‘treat’ their children. In the U.S. alone, 8.4 million children are currently being prescribed psychiatric drugs—more than 1 million are  under the age of five (source: IMS health.)

These are the actual figures taken from IMS Health Vector One National database, the most credited source of pharmaceutical prescribing information available in the United States.  To see the breakdown of what drugs these children were prescribed click here.

psychiatric-drug-side-effects

Number of Children on psychiatric drugs in the United States

0-1 Years                274,804
2-3 Years                370,778
4-5 Years                500,948

6-12 Years               4,130,340
13-17 Years             3,617,593

This is fact: There are no medical tests in existence that can prove ADHD or any other  mental disorder for which millions of children are being labeled, and drugged, is based on a physical abnormality, brain dysfunction, chemical imbalance or genetic abnormality.

The American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the National Institute of Mental Health all admit that there are medical tests to confirm mental disorders as “disease,” but do nothing to counter the false idea that these are biological/medical conditions when in fact, diagnosis is simply done by a checklist of behaviors.

This is not to say that children cannot experience emotional or behavioral difficulties (scroll down to the page to see alternative non-drug solutions), but these diagnosis of mental disorder are not the same as diagnosis of verifiable diseases or medical conditions.   There are no genetic tests, brain scans, X-Ray or any scientifically proven test to verify mental disorders as disease.   Claims of “new research suggests” or “psychiatrists now believe” continually running in the press, are simply claims, not scientific evidence, and quickly fade to be replaced by new claims.  Yet none have proven workable or verifiable.  If there were a proven test or genetic marker, X-Ray,  brain scan, or blood test…. each and every person diagnosed would have the lab results before being “diagnosed.”  They don’t because none exist.  And while psychiatrists and federal mental health agencies are well aware of this fact, the public is not.

“There are no objective tests in psychiatry-no X-ray, laboratory, or exam finding that says definitively that someone does or does not have a mental disorder.”  — Allen Frances, Psychiatrist and former DSM-IV Task Force Chairman

Read the full article here:

http://www.cchrint.org/issues/childmentaldisorders/

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At annual convention, psychiatrists collaborate on mental disease mongering to boost profits

beststartforkids Failing Education

by Monica G. Young

While sipping drinks from coconut shells, psychiatrists from around the world recently met in Honolulu to discuss more ways to capitalize on human behavior and promote drug dependency. The occasion was the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), held in a Hawaiian convention center lined with mental disorder displays and pharmaceutical booths.

“Hot” topics (potential markets for social control and drug pushing) included:

1) Mental health issues during a woman’s reproductive cycle, such as “treating” pregnant women for bipolar – a disorder said to cause unusual shifts in mood and energy levels. In speaking to Medscape News, an APA committee co-chair, Dr. Don Hilty, called this “a really nice-growing area.”

Yet most every woman experiences mood and energy shifts duringpregnancy. Despite this, it is not uncommon for pregnant women to be diagnosed as bipolar and prescribed antipsychotics, some of the most powerful drugs on the market. Even the FDA website alerts doctors to “be aware of the effects of antipsychotic medications on newborns when the medications are used during pregnancy.” The site warns of abnormal muscle movements and withdrawal symptoms, and the FDA’s adverse effects reporting program (Medwatch) includes cerebral hemorrhage, heart malformations and death as documented reactions in newborns. Similarly, studies show birth defects and other serious risks for infants whose mothers took antidepressants while pregnant.

2) Childhood disorders were a particularly popular issue at the convention. But they didn’t stop there – prenatal and newborn genetic screening for mental illness has taken on new emphasis in the psychiatric world. “It’s also trying to understand how genetics predict what medications can be used,” stated APA’s Dr. Hilty.

Having already labeled millions of kids “abnormal” and drenched their brains in toxic substances – a multi-billion dollar business – apparently they aren’t satisfied. They aim to brand children as mental patients and destine them for drug-dependency before they’re even born.

The conference even touched upon electroconvulsive shock therapy (ECT) for children – sending electric volts through their heads. That will teach ‘em to shut up and sit still! It will also cause permanent brain damage.

3) ADHD is usually promoted as a childhood disorder but a team ofpsychiatrists proposed a new definition to make it easier to diagnose (and drug) older teens and adults. They claim people who tend to miss work deadlines and interrupt others deserve this label.

This would surely lead to millions more on daily meds. Who doesn’t know co-workers who miss deadlines or even friends who interrupt you? Not emphasized however is that, per a study published in The Clinical Neuropsychologist, one in four adults seeking an ADHD diagnosis fake it to obtain stimulant drugs.

4) Capitalizing on America’s service men and women was another hot one: diagnosing and drugging the military for post-traumatic distress disorder,depression and anxiety.

Did they mention that 18 U.S. veterans commit suicide daily, largely due topsychiatric drugs? Not likely. As reported by Neev M. Arnell in NaturalNews, “the increasingly high number of deaths among both veterans and active duty soldiers-including suicides, accidental overdose, and lethal drug interactions-have now been linked to the exponential increase in the prescribing of drugs for post traumatic stress disorder, depression and other psychological illnesses.” (http://www.naturalnews.com/032598_v…)

5) Anticipating the “silver tsunami” as the Baby Boomer generation moves into the over-65 bracket, psychiatrists stressed the need for more psychiatric services for the elderly.

Not stressed, if mentioned at all, is the rampant over-use of psychiatric drugs in nursing homes. Elderly patients’ reactions to physical ailments are often squelched with mind-altering drugs. And a recently released government audit shows nearly one in seven elderly nursing home residents are given antipsychotics – nearly all of them dementia patients for whom the drugs can be lethal. Many lawsuits and settlements have revealed that drug companies have falsely promoted these drugs to doctors and nursing homes for years.

6) While not on the “hot” list, another issue that bit was bedbugs. A New Yorkpsychiatrist and his colleagues presented a detailed study showing bedbugs can trigger anxiety.

What a remarkable – and potentially profitable – discovery! Gee, with the rise in bedbug infestation in New York City, maybe Bedbug Anxiety should be included in the next edition of the DSM (psychiatry’s diagnostic and billing bible).

Father of psychiatry – the bloodletter

The American Psychiatric Association calls itself “the voice and conscience of modern psychiatry.”

Adorning the convention hall was the APA logo which enshrines Dr. Benjamin Rush (1746-1813) as the father of psychiatry. A very influential doctor, teacher and statesman of his time, Rush propagated his theory that Blacks suffered from an inherited disease called “Negritude.” The only evidence of acure, he said, was the skin turning white. He warned, “whites should not intermarry with them, for this would tend to infect posterity with the ‘disorder.’” Whites, seeking not to be “infected,” used this fabled disease to justify segregation.

Rush was also a chief proponent of bloodletting as a cure-all for mental and physical illnesses. Widespread in America in those days, he made lots of money at it. One of Rush’s students applied his teachings to a patient who complained of a sore throat: nine pints of blood were removed from the man’s body in twenty-four hours and he died. That patient was George Washington, the first President of the United States.

Sources for this article include:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle…

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle…

http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/…

http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/…

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/h…

http://www.jstor.org/pss/985399

http://www.websters-online-dictiona…

http://www.cchr.org/cchr-reports/cr…

About the author:
Monica G. Young is a human rights investigator and educational writer with a purpose to expose the truth about the pharmaceutical and psychiatric industries and safeguard human liberty. She encourages non-drug alternative approaches based on healthy lifestyles and human decency. She supports the Citizens Commission on Human Rights and like-minded groups.

Madness: These statistics could qualify tantrum-throwing children as mentally ill

beststartforkids Failing Education

In an effort to help parents “take the guesswork out of when to worry” about their children and rush them in for screening and treatment, researchers are ready to tell you that your tantrum-throwing kid is mentally ill. To “characterize the emergence of mental health problems” and “chart the progression from normal to abnormal” behavior, a National Institute of Mental Health sponsored study offers the following pathetically weak statistics.

In an effort to help parents “take the guesswork out of when to worry” about their children and rush them in for screening and treatment, researchers are ready to tell you that your tantrum-throwing kid is mentally ill.

To “characterize the emergence of mental health problems” and “chart the progression from normal to abnormal” behavior, a National Institute of Mental Health sponsored study offers the following pathetically weak statistics.

These stats are intended to suggest that your child may be developing a mental disorder. I couldn’t help but insert my own commentary in italics after each one.

If your child throws tantrums:

…with an adult who was not their parent, such as a babysitter or teacher (36 percent of tantrum-throwing children)

Really? More than one third of tantrum-throwing kids do this and you are calling it abnormal? Sounds pretty desperate.

…during which they broke or destroyed things (28 percent)

I remember becoming so angry once when I was five that I punched a window and it shattered. After my mother checked to see if I was OK, she informed me that I would be paying for the window by doing chores around the house. Took me a month to pay it off. I never punched a window again.

I guess these old school solutions won’t do anymore. Better to take your kid off to a psychiatrist for meds. He might have a window punching disorder.

…”out of the blue,” or for which parents could not discern a reason (26 percent)

Yeah, parents failing to understand why a child is upset means the child has a mental disorder. This is just sick.

…that lasted an unusually long time (26 percent)

Vague. Come on, guys. 15 seconds is a long time to deal with a screeching child.

…during which they hit, bit, or kicked someone else (24 percent).

Seriously? Children hitting, kicking and biting can be considered a mental disorder? I remember our twins, now 12, used to bite each other like a couple of puppies. Now, they are happy, well-adjusted, straight A students. We dealt with the biting by intervening as best we could. They grew out of it.

By the way, kids naturally grow out of things, even without psychiatric intervention. Imagine that!

“Our goal was to provide a standard method that would take the guesswork out of ‘when to worry’ about young children’s behavior and to provide a more developmentally sensitive way of characterizing the emergence of mental health problems, moving away from traditional approaches emphasizing extreme clinical distinctions to a dimensional approach that charts a progression from normal to abnormal,” said Lauren Wakschlag, one of the principals in the study.

Yes, they want to ensure you watch your child progress from normal to abnormal. The problem is, they have clearly labeled normal behavior as abnormal.

If your child throws tantrums, consider the following:

Maybe it’s you, the parent

In 20 years as a coach and counselor, I’d say only 5% of parents come in and present the following:

My child is misbehaving and I am concerned that I may not be adequately meeting his needs, so I’d like to discuss how I might become a better parent.

95% of parents present something like:

Here’s my kid – please fix him. When should I come back?

Sorry, this is not an automobile repair shop. You can’t drop your kids off for a tune up while you head over to Starbucks. I always required my parents to be the center of their children’s counseling process.

Maybe its just life

Think for a moment about something that the vast majority of mental health professionals do not understand.

From the womb onward, life is a series of challenges. In the womb, we experience warmth and security and oneness. The universe is us and we are the universe. Fetuses are true (and innocent) megalomaniacs.

From there on, separation and loss is the name of the game. We separate from the womb. We lose our inherent sense of oneness by learning that others and the world exist apart from us. We lose instant gratification when we don’t get fed right when we are hungry, or get what we want when we want it. We lose control – other people tell us when to eat, sleep and even when and where to poop. Lines are drawn. Punishments are given for crossing them.

Ultimately, we separate from our families, fantasies, some of our dreams, and eventually, our own lives. Life is tough.

This is all normal, though. It is just life.

So are childhood tantrums. In fact, they make perfect sense, all things considered. As parents, let’s help children through the tough spots, no matter how tough they are. It is part of life. Psychiatric drugs do not need to be.

Mike Bundrant is co-founder of the iNLP Center and host of Mental Health Exposed, a Natural News Radio program.

Push for Increased Mental Health Funding—No Rest for Psycho-Pharma Until Every American is Drugged

beststartforkids Drugging Toddlers

psychiatric-drugs-money_250“Among those championing increased funding for mental health without an investigation of the epidemic of Americans currently being drugged is the pharmaceutically-funded National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).”

By Kelly Patricia O’Meara
May 15, 2014

With nearly 79 million Americans currently taking at least one mind-altering psychiatric drug, it boggles the mind that a May 13, 2014 USA Todayarticle titled, “The cost of not caring: Nowhere to go,” would argue that the nation is somehow suffering from a lack of mental health treatment.

According to the article, “More than half a million Americans with serious mental illness are falling through the cracks of a system in tatters.” Based on the fact that one in four Americans is taking at least one psychiatric drug, it seems the psycho-pharmaceutical industry will not be satisfied until every American is under the influence of pharmacological “treatment”.

Put another way, the current number of Americans taking psychiatric drugs is nearly the equivalent to the entire state populations—every man, woman and child—of California, Texas and New York.

The article discusses the cost of mental health treatment and how the taxpayer funds are needed to support the increases. Of course thepharmaceutical-funded National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), an organization in which the late professor of psychiatry, Dr. Thomas Szasz, explained “NAMI represents the interests of mental patients the same way that the Ku Klux Klan represents the interests of black Americans,” always is available to champion mental health anything.

But the real force behind the article is the push to increase mental health screening, which is part of Representative Tim Murphy’s (R-Pa) controversial legislation (H.R. 3717). The Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act of 2013, not only creates a new mental health czar, but it also increases spending for mental health training, screening, awareness campaigns and court-ordered treatment—up to a whopping $270 million a year.

And this taxpayer mental health financial benevolence is expected without any data to support that even one psychiatric disorder is based in science. Worse still, nowhere in the article is mention made of the known seriousadverse reactions to the psychiatric drugs commonly used as treatment.

Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), also throws his weight behind the push for increased spending for mental health treatment, contradicting his earlier admission that unlike real medical conditions, “…mental illness, unlike cancer or heart disease, is not a disease of aging.” This is true, but Insel fails to further inform the reader that not only is mental illness “not a disease of aging,” it is not a disease at all.

Insel knows very well that there is no known biological/genetic cause for any psychiatric diagnosis.  The NIMH website clearly identifies all the “major” mental illnesses and explains that scientists don’t know what causes any of the listed mental illnesses.

So why would Insel ask for more funding when there is no evidence that mental disorders are in fact medical illnesses, yet there are 286 drug regulatory agency warnings on psychiatric drugs causing damaging and even life-threatening side effects?

dsm-5_225When the American Psychiatric Association (APA) launched its latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), it was Insel who made it irrelevant saying, “it is, at best, a dictionary.” Its “weakness is its lack of validity…” and “the DSM diagnoses are based on a consensus about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure.”

In none of the arguments for increased mental health, do any of those groups supporting increased mental health funding address the dangers of the psychiatric drugs currently being prescribed to millions.

For example, as reported in a recent paper by Harvard-trained Dr. Peter R. Breggin titled, The Rights of Children and Parents in Regard to Children Receiving Psychiatric Diagnoses and Drugs, “Amphetamine and methylphenidate [drugs used to treat the alleged ADHD] produce persistent biochemical abnormalities in the brain. Children treated with stimulants often develop atrophy of the brain.”

Another Harvard-trained psychiatrist, Dr. Joseph Glenmullen, co-authored a study published in the December 15, 2010, PLOS ONE, which identified 31 drugs that were disproportionately associated with violence. These drugs, accounting for 79% of all the violence cases reported to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System, included 11 antidepressants, 6 sedative/hypnotics and 3 drugs for used for ADHD.

Even the pharmaceutical companies that produce the psychiatric drugs used as treatment admit they have no idea how the drugs actually work in the brain nor what causes the alleged mental illness. The pharmaceutical companies are, however, mandated to list all adverse reactions associated with the psychiatric drugs, including mania, psychosis, hallucinations, abnormal behavior, increased depression, suicidality and even homicidality to name a few.

The question is not whether the nation’s suffering are receiving enough mental health “treatment,” but whether the mental health “treatment” they are receiving is harmful. Before investing more taxpayer dollars into more mental health treatment, it is time to conduct a serious investigation into the dangers associated with psychiatric drug “treatments,” considering the nation currently is in an epidemic of psychiatric drugging.

—

Kelly Patricia O’Meara is an award-winning former investigative reporter for theWashington Times’ Insight Magazine, penning dozens of articles exposing the fraud of psychiatric diagnosis and the dangers of the psychiatric drugs—including her ground-breaking 1999 cover story, “Guns & Doses,” exposing the link between psychiatric drugs and acts of senseless violence. She is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills that Kill. Prior to working as an investigative journalist, O’Meara spent sixteen years on Capitol Hill as a congressional staffer to four Members of Congress. She holds a B.S. in Political Science from the University of Maryland.

When Prescribing Psychiatric Drugs Becomes Reckless Endangerment

beststartforkids Uncategorized

psychiatric-drugs-side-effectsWhen psychiatrists or doctors prescribe dangerous, potentially life-threatening psychiatric drugs to children without the parent or legal guardian’s consent, they should be charged with reckless endangerment and/or child endangerment because these drugs aredocumented to cause side effects including, but not limited to, suicide, mania, heart problems, stroke, diabetes, death and sudden death.

CCHR is a non-profit, public benefit organization.

The fact that Child Protective Service (CPS) or other government funded agencies can charge parents with “Medical Neglect” for refusing to give their child a dangerous and potentially life-threatening psychiatric drug is an oxymoron.    There is no “medical” or scientific test in existence to prove any child has a “mental disorder” or “mental illness, so how it is medical neglect to refuse to drug a child, where there is no evidence of “medical abnormality”?  Diagnosis is completely and utterly subjective—based solely on a checklist of behaviors. The only medical risk to the child is when they are prescribed psychiatric drugs.

Only once a child is prescribed drugs, such as antipsychotics documented to cause brain shrinkage or antidepressants which can cause delusional thinking, mania and psychosis, this is the actual “illness,” which has been chemically induced.    Psychiatrists openly admit that psychiatric drugs do not “cure” anyone, and that there are no medical tests to confirm any psychiatric diagnosis as a medical condition.  Therefore the term medical neglect must be stricken from any accusations made by the mental health industry, Child Protective Services or any other government agency.

There have been more than 200 international drug regulatory agency warnings that psychiatric drugs can cause dangerous and potentially life-threatening affects. This is now common knowledge and the information is easily available to any doctor or psychiatrist. When a psychiatrist or other mental health practitioner prescribes such drugs and puts the child at risk of being prescribed drugs documented to have severe side effects, in direct opposition to the parent/legal guardian’s wishes, and in disregard of the life and safety of the child, this should be a criminal offense.

The legal definition of Reckless Endangerment is:

Reckless endangerment is a crime consisting of acts that create a substantial risk of serious physical injury to another person. The accused person isn’t required to intend the resulting or potential harm, but must have acted in a way that showed a disregard for the foreseeable consequences of the actions. The charge may occur in various contexts, such as, among others, domestic cases, car accidents, construction site accidents, testing sites, domestic/child abuse situations,and hospital abuse. State laws and penalties vary, so local laws should be consulted.

The legal definition of Child Endangerment is:

Child Endangerment refers to an act or omission that renders a child to psychological, emotional or physical abuse. Child abuse based on the offense of child endangerment is normally a misdemeanor, but endangerment that results in mental illness or serious physical illness or injury is a felony. The child who is subjected to child endangerment is called an abused child or a neglected child.

Under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) child abuse and neglect means:

  • Any recent act or failure to act on the part of a parent or caretaker that results in death, serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, or exploitation;
  • An act or failure to act that presents an imminent risk of serious harm.

Screening for Mental Health, Inc

beststartforkids Uncategorized

Douglas Jacobs, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, is the Founder and President of Screening for Mental Health. He is a consultant to McNeil Pharmaceuticals and Pfizer.[1] He devised the idea of a national Depression Screening Day, which was held in 1991, funded by a grant from Eli Lilly.

Thousands of sites in hospitals, corporations, and universities around the country provided free depression screening, which involved people answering a modified version of the Zung Self-Rating Scale, a subjective questionnaire lasting less than five minutes. [2] By 1998, more than 60 million prescriptions for antidepressants had been written for 10% of the American population, including half a million children.[3]

Jacobs had strong endorsement from the APA. “The American Psychiatric Association is an original sponsor of National Depression Screening Day, endorsing the idea from its very beginnings in 1991,” said Jacobs.[4] No wonder. Jacobs is also the Chair of the APA work group that formulated its Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Patients With Suicidal Behaviors.[5]

He produced a “Model for Suicide Assessment” which was supported by Novartis.[6]

  • In an interview in April 2008 about antidepressants causing sexual dysfunction Jacobs disputes both this and that exercise has been proven as an effective alternative to taking suicide-inducing antidepressants. The real motive behind broad scale mental health screening was clear when he stated that the real problem is that not enough people are taking SSRI antidepressants.[7]
  • A photo taken in honor of “National Depression Screening Day” on October 18, 2001, shows Eli Lilly presenting SMH with a further check for $500,000.[8]
  • In 2002, The Wall Street Journal reported how the group was helping Wyeth Pharmaceuticals to market “Depression in College: Real World, Real Life, Real Issues,” a 90-minute forum designed to introduce students to the antidepressant Effexor (made by Wyeth). “The nation’s 15 million college students are an important market for drug companies looking to build antidepressant sales,” WSJ reported. Wyeth joined with Pfizer (Zoloft) and Eli Lilly (Prozac) to help underwrite the National Depression Screening Day to also take place at campuses. It promptedThe Boston Globe to report “the biggest drug dealer on campus” is Big Pharma.[9]
  • Up to 2008, SMH had received nearly $5 million from pharmaceutical companies. Lilly gave them $124,000 in 2007 and $100,000 in 2008.[10]According to a 2006 article IRS records show the group received $2,823,425 in donations from major pharmaceutical companies and $5,974,217 from the US Department of Health and Human Services.[11]
  • Ten of its psychiatric researchers have been exposed during the past year for failing to disclose millions of dollars in pharmaceutical payments.[12]
  • In 2006, Pharma’s investment in the group paid off. The Department of Defense (DoD) began funding the spuriously called “Military Pathways”—a program whereby veterans and Defense personnel and their families can “self assess” their mental health. On October 8, 2009, SMC announced further funding from the DoD. “Military Pathways is a program of the non-profit Screening for Mental Health([R]) and is fully funded by Force Health Protection and Readiness, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Health Affairs,” SMC’s press release stated.[13]
  • Today, year-round screening is available 24 hours a day and takes less than four minutes to answer 10 questions. The computer analyzes the touch phone responses and the caller is told how depressed he is.[14]
  • Its website today shows how it has branched out to target everyone for screening: Colleges, the Military, Primary Care/Specialty Care Providers, Youth Programs and the Workplace as well as a general screening “For the public.” In 2006 alone, it conducted nearly 600,000 screenings at 12,000 facilities.[15]
  • The free online depression-screening test is copyrighted to Pfizer.[16]

Board members of SMH include,

  • More on Douglas Jacobs: In March 22, 2006, he testified on behalf of McNeil Pharmaceuticals and its stimulant Concerta to the Food and Drug Administration’s Pediatric Advisory Committee investigating stimulants causing cardiovascular effects and the need for a “black box warning.” Jacobs was one of the two “Sponsor” (drug company) presentations.[17] An apologist for Concerta, he said he reviewed the FDA’s studies relating to suicide and tried to claim that the suicide attempts were “proof of lack of response of dose response” and “The majority of cases of suicidal ideation and attempts were not in the severe category and can be explained by multiple alternative explanation” and “do not support a causal link between the suicide events and Concerta.”[18]
  • Concerta and other methylphenidate products carry an FDA warning that they cause “psychiatric events such as visual hallucinations, suicidal ideation, psychotic behavior, as well as aggression or violent behavior.” The FDA ordered drug makers to strengthen warnings about risk of heart irregularities, stroke and these “psychiatric events.”
  • In September 2008, the FDA cited Johnson and Johnson (owner of McNeil) for “false or misleading” data that “overstate[d] the efficacy of Concerta” and omitted key facts. Under its web page, entitled “After School,” it “presents claims about the impact of treatment with Concerta on after school activities. Specifically, the page states: “Adolescence is a time of greater independence and responsibility. For most teens, the after-school hours are filled with plenty of activities, including:
    • sports
    • clubs
    • part-time jobs
    • socializing with friends
    • household chores
    • and, of course, homework

    “ADHD can have an impact on all of these activities, so you want to be sure your teen’s medication is doing its job.”

  • FDA pointed out, “This presentation is misleading because it asserts improvement with Concerta in a broad array of adolescent after school activities, such as athletics, clubs, and performance in part-time jobs, when this has not been demonstrated by substantial evidence.”[19]
  • Leonard Freedberg M.D.: psychiatrist in private practice andfounding partner of Newton-Wellesley Psychiatry in Newton, MA and Harvard Faculty member.[20]
  • Dr. Jefferson Bruce Prince, Harvard Medical School, Consultant for Abbot, AstraZeneca, Cephalon, McNeil Pediatrics, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, Ortho-McNeil, Novartis, and Shire; speaker’s bureau for Janssen, Ortho-McNeil, Eli Lilly, and Forest Labs, and has received honoraria from Abbott, Cephalon, Novartis, and Shire and list significant financial interest or other affiliation in GSK, Shire, Organon, Lilly Research Labs, Alza Pharmaceuticals and Celltech.[21]
  • Jerrold F. Rosenbaum, Chief of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital: Consultant or on the Advisory Boards for Bristol-Myers-Squibb, Cyberonics, Eli Lilly, Forest Labs, Organon Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, GSK, Somerset Pharmaceuticals, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Sepracor and Wyeth, Speaker’s bureau for Forest, Janssen, Organon, Eli Lilly, Wyeth and Forest Labs. Significant financial interest or other affiliation with US Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Sanofi, Lichtwer Pharma, Parke-Davis, Janssen Pharmaceutica & Research Fdn, Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc.[22]
  • James Henry Scully, Medical Director and CEO of the APA, with 30% of its funding from pharmaceutical companies.[23]

See Signs of Suicide, part of Screening for Mental Health.

[1] http://www.signsofsuicide.org/corporate_officials.htm.

[2] Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash, (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000), pp. 228-229.

[3] Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash, (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000), p. 15.

[4] http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/36/14/10.2.full.

[5] http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/mental-behavioral-health/depression/holistic-treatment-special/is-medication-best.

[6] http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/38/4/12.1.full.

[7] http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/mental-behavioral-health/depression/holistic-treatment-special/is-medication-best.

[8] Evelyn Pringle, “Bush’s Mental Illness Screening Squad On the Move,”Scoop, 10 July 2006.

[9] Alex Beam, “”The Biggest Drug Dealer on Campus,” The Boston Globe, Oct. 17. 2002; Paul Glader, “From the Maker of Effexor: Campus Talks on Depression,” Wall Street Journal, 10 Oct. 2002.

[10] http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/2246-the-healthcare-bills-sops-to-the-mental-health-industry;http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/04/just-say-no-to-the-mothers-act/.

[11] “TeenScreen ‘Under Intense Criticism Nationally’,http://www.ahrp.org/cms/content/view/106/31, 11 Mar. 2006.

[12] http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/health-care/2246-the-healthcare-bills-sops-to-the-mental-health-industry.

[13]http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Screening+for+Mental+Health,+Inc.+Awarded+Department+of+Defense…-a0209134793.

[14] Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash, 228-229.

[15] http://www.mentalhealthscreening.org;http://www.surgistrategies.com/hotnews/mental-health-screening.html.

[16] Evelyn Pringle, “Bush’s Mental Illness Screening Squad On the Move,” Scoop, 10 July 2006.

[17] http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/ac/06/minutes/2006-4210m_Minutes%20PAC%20March%2022%202006.pdf;http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/DOCKETS/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4210t_01_Draft%20-%20Transcript%200322fda.htm.

[18] http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/DOCKETS/ac/06/transcripts/2006-4210t_01_Draft%20-%20Transcript%200322fda.htm.

[19]http://www.pharmcast.com/WarningLetters/Yr2008/Sept2008/JJ0908.htm.

[20] http://www.nwpsych.org/staff.html.

[21] http://www.signsofsuicide.org/corporate_officials.htm.

[22] http://www.signsofsuicide.org/corporate_officials.htm.

[23] http://www.signsofsuicide.org/corporate_officials.htm;http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/washington/12psych.html?_r=1.

Say No to Mental Health Screening – Julian Whitaker, M.D.

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In the last four weeks: Have you had trouble sleeping, that is, trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early?  Have you had less energy than you usually do? Has doing even little things made you feel really tired?  Has it often been hard for you to make up your mind or to make decisions?  Have you often had trouble keeping your mind on your schoolwork/work or other things? Have you often felt grouchy or irritable and often in a bad mood, when even little things would make you mad?  Have you gained a lot of weight, more than just a few pounds?  Have you lost weight, more than just a few pounds?

These are a few of the questions being asked to adolescents in a mental health screening program used in schools across the nation.  If a child answers ‘yes’ to these or a set number of other equally inane questions, they’re considered likely to be depressed-or worse.

Loaded Questions

Since when are issues with sleeping, energy, and feeling tired indicative of a mental illness?  What kid-or adult for that matter-hasn’t at one time or another in the last four weeks felt indecisive, unfocused, grouchy, or irritable?  And the questions about weight are just plain nuts.  Adolescents are expected to have growth spurts!

The screening also includes more ominous questions: Have you thought seriously about killing yourself?  Have you tried to kill yourself in the last four weeks?  Have you EVER in your WHOLE LIFE tried to kill yourself or made a suicide attempt?

One thing for certain, if they’d never given thought about suicide, they will now.

Bogus Screening Tests

The push for nationwide mental health screening for schoolchildren began in 2002 during the Bush administration and has been gaining ground ever since.  At the forefront of the movement today is Columbia University’sTeenScreen, which aims to “Expand early detection of mental illness by mainstreaming evidenced-based mental health checkups as a routine procedure in adolescent health care, schools, and other youth-serving settings.”

Evidence based?  There is nothing scientific about it.  According to a study by Dr. David Shaffer, the Columbia psychiatrist who started TeenScreen, the screening tool “…would deliver many who were not at risk for suicide, and that could reduce the acceptability of a school-based prevention program.  [It] would result in 84 non-suicidal teens being referred for further evaluation for every 16 youths correctly identified.”

This means more than four out of five children will walk away falsely labeled as suicidal or mentally ill.  And other screening tests have even higher false-positive rates, up to 94 percent.  Obviously, any instrument this insensitive is worthless-unless you happen to be a drug company waiting in the wings for new customers to start on psychotropic drugs.

Drug Company Collusion

Although TeenScreen insists that this program is financed only by private foundations, individuals, and organizations-and not pharmaceutical companies-there’s been a push by state and federal governments and drug companies to institute mental health screening dating back more than a decade.

Even if there are currently no direct financial ties, Marcia Angell, M.D., Harvard Medical School professor of ethics, believes that programs like TeenScreen are “just a way to put more people on prescription drugs” and increase sales of antidepressants.

This is the worst of all possible worlds.  First, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and related SSRI antidepressants work no better than placebo.  But even more sinister, rather than decreasing risk of suicide, they actually increase it.  These drugs are required by the FDA to carry a black-box warning label stating this fact. Psychotropic drugs also raise risk of violent behavior.  A large number of the school shootings and other violent crimes that have swept the country in recent years were related to the use of psychiatric drugs.

A Bogus Medical Specialty

This is just another example of what’s wrong with psychiatry.  Psychiatric “diagnoses” are simply clusters of human behavior that shrinks label as disease. Here are some of the “mental disorders” that your child may suffer from, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV): mathematics disorder, reading disorder, disorder of written expression, general anxiety disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, intermittent explosive disorder, nightmare disorder.

These labels are simply illustrations of the wide range of normal feelings, emotions, and aptitudes.  But, according to psychiatrists, each and every one of them is a disease with one “solution”: a powerful, dangerous, psychiatric drug.

How to Protect Your Children…

You should under no circumstances allow your children to participate in school-based mental health screenings.  Do not be mislead by doublespeak from school boards, psychiatrists, counselors, or teachers.  Despite their veneer of identifying and helping those at risk, mental health screenings are little more than fishing expeditions, casting a broad net and reeling in millions of new psychiatric drug users.

Write a note to your child’s teacher clearly stating that you refuse permission for the child to participate in any type of mental health screening.  Include in the note the admonition that if the child undergoes screening without your knowledge, you will sue.

That’s exactly what the parents of Chelsea Rhoades, a high school student from Indiana, did.  Fifteen-year-old Chelsea was pulled out of class, told to sign a form, and given the TeenScreen assessment.  Next thing she knew, she was told she had obsessive compulsive disorder for cleaning and social anxiety disorder, and she was recommended for further treatment.  The lawsuit claimed that the school had violated the parents’ rights by failing to obtain their consent and for diagnosing their daughter without “due care.”  The parents won.

…And Other Children

Another thing you can do is to urge your congressmen to support H.R. 2218, the Parental Consent Act of 2009.  Introduced in April in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Ron Paul [R-TX], H.R. 2188 would forbid federal funds from being used for any mental health-screening programs without the express, written consent of their parents or legal guardians.  This bill has been referred to the House Education and Labor Committee, so it is likely not on your congressman’s radar at the moment, but it’s still worth bringing to his attention.

Julian Whitaker, MD, is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Emory University Medical School in Atlanta, GA. In 1979, he founded the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach, CA, which is now the largest alternative medicine clinic in the U.S. Dr. Whitaker is the author of the monthly newsletter Health & Healing, which has reached more than 3 million households since 1991. He has also written 13 books and is host of the popular health talk radio program, The Dr. Whitaker Show. An outspoken proponent of complementary medicine, Dr. Whitaker is also founder of the nonprofit Whitaker Health Freedom Foundation.

Are all psychiatric drugs too unsafe to take?

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Are all psychiatric drugs too unsafe to take?
Monday, November 24, 2014 by: Peter Breggin
Tags: psychiatric drugs, mental health, withdrawals

(NaturalNews) Psychiatric drugs are more dangerous than you have ever imagined. If you haven’t been prescribed one yet, you are among the lucky few. If you or a loved one are taking psychiatric drugs, there is hope; but you need to understand the dangers and how to minimize the risk.
…
Antipsychotic drugs, including both older and newer ones, cause shrinkage (atrophy) of the brain in many human brain scan studies and in animal autopsy studies. The newer atypicals especially cause a well-documented metabolic syndrome including elevated blood sugar, diabetes, increased cholesterol, obesity and hypertension. They also produce dangerous cardiac arrhythmias and unexplained sudden death, and they significantly reduce longevity. In addition, they cause all the problems of the older drugs, such as Thorazine and Haldol, including tardive dyskinesia, a largely permanent and sometimes disabling and painful movement disorder caused by brain damage and biochemical disruptions.

Risperdal in particular but others as well cause potentially permanent breast enlargement in young boys and girls. The overall risk of harmful long-term effects from antipsychotic drugs exceeds the capacity of this review. Withdrawal from antipsychotic drugs can cause overwhelming emotional and neurological suffering, as well as psychosis in both children and adults, making complete cessation at times very difficult or impossible.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/047784_psychiatric_drugs_mental_health_withdrawals.html#ixzz3YdpSXWWG

The Psychiatric Drugging of Infants and Toddlers

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APRIL 20, 2010

An American Phenomenon
The Psychiatric Drugging of Infants and Toddlers
by EVELYN PRINGLE
The United States has become the psychiatric drugging capital of the world for kids with children being medicated at a younger and younger age. Medicaid records in some states show infants less than a year old on drugs for mental disorders.
The use of powerful antipsychotics with privately insured children, aged 2 through 5 in the US, doubled between 1999 and 2007, according to a study of data on more than one million children with private health insurance in the January, 2010, “Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.”
The number of children in this age group diagnosed with bipolar disorder also doubled over the last decade, Reuters reported.
Of antipsychotic-treated children in the 2007 study sample, the most common diagnoses were pervasive developmental disorder or mental retardation (28.2%), ADHD (23.7%), and disruptive behavior disorder (12.9%).
The study reported that fewer than half of drug treated children received a mental health assessment (40.8%), a psychotherapy visit (41.4%), or a visit with a psychiatrist (42.6%) during the year of antipsychotic use.
“Antipsychotics, which are being widely and irresponsibly prescribed for American children–mostly as chemical restraints–are shown to be causing irreparable harm,” warned Vera Hassner Sharav, president of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, in a February 26, 2010 InfoMail.
“These drugs have measurable severe hazardous effects on vital biological systems, including: cardiovascular adverse effects that result in shortening lives; metabolic adverse effects that induce diabetes and the metabolic syndrome,” she wrote. “Long-term use of antipsychotics has been shown to result in metabolic syndrome in 40% to 50% of patients.”

Read the rest of this article here:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/04/20/the-psychiatric-drugging-of-infants-and-toddlers/