Conference on Stopping the Psychiatric Abuse of Children
Huffington Post, September 27, 2009
Dr. Peter Breggin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-peter-breggin/conference-on-stopping-th_b_301272.html

Millions of our children are being labeled with false and stigmatizing psychiatric diagnoses. Then their brains are being blunted and disabled by psychiatric drugs.

Want to find a way to do something about the plight of our children at the hands of drug companies and misguided mental health professionals? Want to learn more about what our children really need from us?

In less than two weeks, you can attend the annual meeting of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.icspp.org) at the Renaissance Syracuse Hotel. The two-day conference takes place on Friday and Saturday, October 9-10, 2009 in Syracuse, New York. It features international experts on the adverse of effects of psychiatric drugs and better ways of helping children and families.

The public is welcome. For the sake of our children, please attend.

This year's conference comes at a tragic turning point in the psychiatric abuse of children. In the past, the main threat has come from the widespread use of stimulant drugs like Ritalin, Dexedrine, Adderall, Focalin, and Concerta for children labeled with ADHD. These drugs work by crushing spontaneous behavior. Frequently this leads to depression, as well as insomnia, anxiety and psychosis. The stimulants suppress the growth of children, cause abnormalities in their brains, induce sudden cardiac death, and predispose children to cocaine abuse in young adulthood.

As bad as this is, the situation of our children has recently become even more desperate. In the past year, the FDA has unleashed a crisis of epidemic proportions by approving lobotomizing antipsychotic drugs for the control of behavior in children. Diabetes. Pancreatitis. Pathological obesity. The abnormal growth of breast tissue and even lactation in young boys and girls. Heart disease. Permanently disfiguring tics and other abnormal movements (tardive dyskinesia). Agonizing muscle spasms that also defy treatment and last indefinitely (tardive dystonia). These are a few of the drastic disorders caused by antipsychotic drugs such as Zyprexa, Risperdal, Abilify, Seroquel, Geodon, and Invega.

The antipsychotic drugs work by flattening the emotions and causing docility, so that the children no longer make trouble, at least for a while. With their frontal lobe function suppressed, the kids become more robotic in their behavior, and their mental and emotional growth is stunted. Often these drugs will turn them into lifelong mental patients whose enslaved brains will continue to deteriorate under toxic assault.

Great speakers and workshop presenters will cover these and many other subjects about psychiatry and about how to help children and families in distress with caring and effective psychological, education, and social approaches.

Stephen A. Sheller is one of the lead attorneys in two of the largest billion-dollar settlements ever made as a result of civil and criminal actions brought by the federal government against drug companies Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Both legal actions involved psychiatric drugs. I will be honored to introduce attorney Sheller at the conference.

As the Founder Emeritus of ICSPP (I've passed the mantle onto younger professionals), I will be making two presentations, one on how to inspire the psychiatric reform movement and another on better approaches to helping children and families.

Attorney James Gottstein from Alaska is the world's most active civil rights attorney on behalf of psychiatrically abused children and adults.

Graham Dukes, a physician and a lawyer, is a leading expert on international drug regulation.

Critiques of ADHD and better approaches to children and families will be presented by many experts in psychiatry, pediatrics, psychology, and education.

Registration can be made on-line (www.icspp.org) or at the meeting at the Syracuse Renaissance Hotel, Friday and Saturday, October 9-10, 2009. Tickets are available for one or both days. For hotel reservations, call 315-479-7000.

If you care about our children, this is the place for you to be. It's always a great and inspiring conference. Even if you don't know anyone else at the conference, you will feel at home. You will meet many new friends with similar concerns.

Our children need our protection and support in these dire times.


Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in Ithaca, New York. The observations made in this column are scientifically documented in his medical book, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition (2008) as well as his popular book, Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Crime and Suicide (2008). Dr. Breggin's website, loaded with scientific information and interesting radio and TV reports, is www.breggin.com.

On Dr. Breggin's website you can purchase a bonus edition of ICSPP's new book, The Conscience of Psychiatry: The Reform Work of Peter R. Breggin, MD (2009).