Diseases Made to Order

Allow us to explain in more detail.  We in Psychiatry package together groups of common human behaviors and experiences (depression, shyness, anxiety, childhood enthusiasm) then label those packages as a disease.  We vote on these "diseases" to get them into the psychiatric billing bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), so that we can build consensus as we seek to legitimize these labels.

Where we find a man acting strangely, we will propose a mysterious disease as the cause for his behavior.   We will speak of this "disease" as an assumed fact.   Rather than providing proof of the disease, we will point back to the symptoms and say, "There must be a disease."

We market these labels as "diseases" for which we can give powerful drugs and electro-shock.  One of our tools has been public relations efforts designed to confuse mental troubles with actual disease.  Think back to the old metaphor of "mentally" ill, and try to think when you started thinking there was a real disease present; " real disease"  implies physically missing or defective tissue.

Mad In America See excerpts from this book online... No More ADHD Help a friend keep their child off the powerful stimulants given for "ADHD"

Show Me Your Blood Test In spite of our inferences to the contrary, there is no test showing someone is "afflicted" with one of our 374 labels in the DSM-IV.   The reason there is no test is simply that our "diseases" are non-existent diseases.  The term "Disease" implies that there is some damaged, defective or missing tissue.  In the case of psychiatric "diseases", there is no definition of the disease in terms of the tissue that is missing or damaged.  This is because the disease is imaginary, or pretend. We in psychiatry have tried to use the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory or the Rorschach test, but both of these tests require subjective interpretation on the part of the psychiatrist, and the answers provided by the subject vary from day to day.  There is hope, for we may implement a test that involves tea leaves. Do You Float? Here is an example of how we label our "patient." If a teen frequently gets nervous talking in public, we may label him with "Selective Mutism Disorder".  We are "experts", and we have "expert judgment" to bolster our labelling efforts.  You might wonder how one proves he does not have "Selective Mutism Disorder"?  Fortunately for us, there is no test and so it is a case of 'your word against ours'. However, if we accused you of being a witch you would have a defense; a witch will float if you throw her in the river. (Or is it sink?) To elaborate on our public relations strategy, I will point out that we seed the media with phrases like "Science now believes..." and "Psychiatrists are hopeful...".  We realize that hope is not proof; not proof of a biological defect causing a Mathematics Disorder (DSM, p.50), or Caffeine-Related Disorder. (DSM,p.212)  But we find if we get the message out widely, the public starts to believe the lie. Why Johnny's Got a Buzz One of the inevitable effects of our well thought out strategy is that your child is not safe with us.  If he fidgets in line or calls out in class, we will label him and quickly drug him into obedience.  We use drugs in the same class as cocaine to make him sit still and be quiet.  We have manufactured a great disease in this "ADHD", as is witnessed by the six million kids in the U.S. we stifle with these powerful stimulants. If you refuse to accept our diagosis, we will have "Child Protective Services" take your child from you until you cooperate with us.  Use of force is a time tested strategy for persuasion. Don't Look in our "Medicine" Cabinent The details of our services can be a bit chilling.  Drugs with powerful side effects and questionable efficacy may be followed by a severe withdrawal; Electro-Convulsive "Therapy" which runs 400 volts across the brain is given to 100,000 people each year; a year they may not remember from the all too frequent brain damage and memory loss. How we Escape We in Psychiatry run the risk of being exposed when the public gets wind of our criminal acts.  The news is full of psychologists and psychiatrists who have been charged and covicted of having sex with their patients. Yet, our public relations campaigns help convince the public we should not be resisted.  Who can stand against us?  If tradition holds that one innocent gets stoned to death each year, who is brave enough to denounce that injustice. Our greatest threat is individuals who do their own investigation.  After all, even if told a thousand times, a lie is a lie.

1998,  126,000 prescriptions for [the common "ADHD" drug] were issued in the United Kingdom.

2000,  "more than one in ten children [in the U.S.] between the ages of six and 14 studied were receiving the drug."
-May, 13, 2000, BBC News article on a study presented to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Paediatrics.
-lead author, Dr. Jerry Rushton.