Is Psychiatry owned by the drug companies?

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, December 3. 2010

Is Psychiatry owned by the drug companies?

A Ghostwritten Psychiatric Book Hints at a Much Larger Problem: The Story That Is . . . and Isn't Told in Psychiatric Textbooks

Today, Psychiatry contains two camps: The psychopharmacologist "Biological Psychiatrists," and what I can only term "Whole person" Psychiatry. I practice the latter - or try to.

What makes my life difficult is that, with the growing dominance of the Pharmacology shrinks, "best practices" become redefined in favor of medicine treatments. We do have remarkable medicines nowadays but they do not really "fix" anything and, in my experience, are widely over-used.

I will get to the DSM personality disorder flap when I get the chance. Since I think the DSM is sort of silly anyway, it's hard for me to get excited about the topic.

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Our Essays, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss at 12:02 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Except for the seriously troubled (bad depression, anxiety, etc.), psychiatry is a crock, a waste of money, something akin to a religion.

The vast majority of people going to "whole person" services are the "worried well". They keep the shrink profession afloat, talk about their troubles and fears for $200 an hour, then go home to a home, family, and job the next day, mildly depressed or anxious members of society, gettining the same relief as going to the spa for a massage.

#1 stuckinsd on 2010-12-03 15:29 (Reply)

Pretty to think so, Stuckinsp. However, you are quite wrong about that. You have never experienced serious mental pain, I suspect.

#1.1 Dr. B on 2010-12-03 16:02 (Reply)

Good pschiatrists and psychologists help people develop clarity -- of understanding, of perspective, of options -- where they otherwise are not able to do so, for whatever underlying reason.

Of course, some people are beyond help (cough).

#1.2 D on 2010-12-03 16:44 (Reply)

So what's Obamacare doing to psychiatric care?

#2 Rick on 2010-12-03 16:02 (Reply)

There is a phenomenally detailed expose of the psychotropic drug industry at http://www.cchr.org/videos/marketing-of-madness/introduction.html

At that website, after each video segment plays, the links to remaining clips appear in the display window, and are visible only after you move cursor to the left side of the window, over the category titles. 'A very strange way to catalogue the video clips.

This video series should be viewed by everyone - it would immediately cause the entire psychotropic drug industry to vanish.

#3 Lone Ranger on 2010-12-03 20:49 (Reply)

unfortunately it may be easier to convince someone to pop a pill instead of what he/she really needs to do--which is to seek therapy via the "whole person" treatment camp vs. the biological psychiatry. if said person can't even get out of the house or his pajamas and remains zoned out in front of the computer all day neglecting key adult responsibilities, chances are it'll be difficult to get him to a shrink's office. maybe some drugs would provide the boost to get to the next step. seems to me most effective treatment for mental health problems is combo drug/talk.

also, have there been any studies done on what percentage of bloggers have the soon to be removed narcissistic personality disorder?

might be interesting.

#4 sortofanonymous on 2010-12-03 22:00 (Reply)

Psychiatry has been a mixed bag at best and a failure at worst. Drugs have substantially helped many people with psychological problems. The problem that most people in the psychiatric field have with drugs is that they seriously cut into their $150 an hour racket.

#5 GoneWithTheWind on 2010-12-04 15:29 (Reply)

There are nuances about side-effects, elusive or difficult diagnosis, and sequelae to having a mental illness that I would enjoyably discuss with people who knew what they were talking about. But I'm going broadside instead.

I've got over three decades and thousands of patients as a psychiatric social worker on an acute psychiatric emergency unit that says this thread is collectively talking out its ass. Drop the narrative of what you wish were true and get the facts. Schizophrenia is a real disease, you can measure its brain effects, and you can give people medicine that in hours (Invega) stops them from hearing voices. Or realise that the CIA hasn't implanted a chip in their head that whispers they're a faggot. Or somewhat longer with depression, enables them to get out of the bed where they have been soiling themselves and unable to eat. Or no longer have to touch every doorjamb 6 times before passing through. Not because of attained insight, and not zombified into submission, but because the medicine works.

Medications don't treat all conditions, maybe never will. And while nothing is a cure (though deep-brain or vagus nerve stimulation might prove out), that is also true of most other branches of medicine as well.

I don't make a dime off pharmaceuticals, BTW.

#6 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2010-12-05 23:35 (Reply)

Psychiatric drugs suppress symptoms, that's how they "work."

While I laud your dedication to your field and to your patients, I must disagree that psychotropics are somehow salutary toward one's health. They are very strong, mind-numbing toxins (hence their ability to knock out powerful delusions) that succeed only in depressing brain function.

It is a sign of psychiatry's defeatist philosophy that this is termed a "success." No cure, only "managing" mental illness with chemical agents known to shorten life span.

This is why biopsychiatry is on its way out.

#7 hank on 2010-12-08 20:24 (Reply)

Dr. JB, thanks for the tip on this book. Medication-driven psychiatry has been a concern for this ornery LCSW for quite some time. There is something to be said for it - symptom management can be a good thing (I can attest to that from personal experience) - but to think of it as a solution is pushing things much too far. In fact, thinking of any approach in these juvenile disciplines we call "mental health professions" is pushing things much too far. (I constantly get into trouble by comparing our collective knowledge base to medicine just before William Harvey.)

But there are some honest folk out there. I've recently begun to study works by Richard P. Bentall, such as his latest Doctoring the Mind (NYU Press, 2009) and his earlier Madness Explained, which address the issues of (a) what really works and (b) the liabilities of the pharmacological approach honestly and dispassionately.

#8 Michael J Kubat (Link) on 2011-01-07 12:18 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Friday, December 3. 2010

Is Psychiatry owned by the drug companies?