If I have mental illness, I want doctors to prove it

I AM MAD, a proud member of the mad community. Of course, madness exists – it’s normal, it’s as old as mankind, and it’s in every family. But if I have a disease in my brain called “mental illness”, I want the doctors to prove it. The brain is the most complicated organ in the body, yet doctors diagnose mental illness just by looking at you, and then you are labelled for life.

I’ve been diagnosed with unipolar depression, bipolar or manic depression, dysphoric elation – whatever that’s supposed to be – and paranoia. I’ve been told that I have a chemical imbalance in my brain that shows I have a mental illness. Yet not one of these fellows even took my pulse. They did it by sitting looking at me and talking to me.

Mental illness redefined

The American Psychiatry Association is now in the middle of a historic and controversial revision of its bible. The fifth and highly anticipated edition, DSM-5, has sparked dissension among psychiatrists and generated more than 8,000 public comments on topics ranging from sexual- and gender-identity issues and anxiety disorders to mind-body problems.

Critics say some of the new entries broadly extend some definitions of mental illness and lower thresholds for some existing disorders, which will result in higher rates of diagnoses. That, they argue, “could result in massive overtreatment with medications that are unnecessary, expensive and often quite harmful,” Dr. Allen Frances, chairman of the DSM,-IV task force, wrote in the Psychiatric Times.

Popping pills can kill

Recent statistics show that prescription drug abuse killed more than 37,000 people across the country in 2009, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s just a fraction of the estimated seven million Americans suspected of abusing their medications

Shy children now candidates for dangerous psychiatric drugs

New guidelines for mental illness turn shyness in children from a personality trait into a mental disorder that warrants drug treatment. Drug companies already target children, who fidget too much in class or have trouble concentrating on their homework, with stimulant drugs for treating attention deficit disorder. Now children who sit too quietly or are more withdrawn than their peers will also be targeted with medication for social anxiety disorder or depression.

Judge Agrees Prozac Turned Teen into Murderer

Antidepressant Caused a Stimulant-like Syndrome Leading to Manic-like Behavior, Suicidality and Violence— Judge Robert Heinrich listened to expert psychiatric testimony for the defense by Peter Breggin, MD and issued his opinion regarding the sixteen-year-old who stabbed his friend to death, “His basic normalcy now further confirms he no longer poses a risk of violence to anyone and that his mental deterioration and resulting violence would not have taken place without exposure to Prozac.” Consistent with Dr. Breggin’s testimony, the judge observed, “He has none of the characteristics of a perpetrator of violence. The prospects for rehabilitation are good.”

This is the first criminal case in North America where a judge has specifically found that an antidepressant was the cause of a murder.

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