The notion of "a chemical imbalance " is a fantasy promoted by the drug industry. There are no tests for chemical imbalances. But even if there were, there is no chemical balance against which to measure. The AP continues to deceive consumers on behalf of the drug industry and the psychiatrc industry. Bad enough. Why does the Washington Post print the garbage?
[From article]
"Moss told police he suffers a chemical imbalance that made him delusional and think he owned the home."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/24/AR2010122401800.html
Conn. renter shocks homeowner by selling his stuff
The Associated Press
Washington Post
Friday, December 24, 2010; 12:29 PM
Showing posts with label Chemical Imbalance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chemical Imbalance. Show all posts
December 25, 2010
January 24, 2010
Good Criticism, Bad Reasoning
Good Criticism, Bad Reasoning
Academic psychologist IRVING KIRSCH recognizes drug therapy is not a panacea. But he cites a PR fantasy of drug companies that has no evidence to support it. He says,
"Depression is not just the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain." (IRVING KIRSCH, "Antidepressants, the sad reality," New York Post, January 24, 2010) The American Psychiatric Association when challenged was unable to provide any evidence of "a chemical imbalance in the brain."
Psychiatrists do not measure brain chemistry. They take pictures. But even if they did scoop out brain matter and test it chemically there is no chemical balance to measure against. This is a fantasy of the drug companies to promote drug treatment and to provide false science to the art of psychiatry.
[Kirsch responds by email January 24, 2010]
I agree. I don’t know how the word ‘just’ slipped into this. I should have written that depression is not the result of a chemical imbalance, which is what I wrote in my book.
Regards,
Irving Kirsch
* * *
[January 26, 2010]
* * *
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/antidepressants_the_sad_reality_yj2IPLSkeQtpAd1Y5a977N
Antidepressants, the sad reality
Why they are a costly health care lie
By IRVING KIRSCH
New York Post
Last Updated: 4:42 AM, January 24, 2010
Posted: 1:00 AM, January 24, 2010
Academic psychologist IRVING KIRSCH recognizes drug therapy is not a panacea. But he cites a PR fantasy of drug companies that has no evidence to support it. He says,
"Depression is not just the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain." (IRVING KIRSCH, "Antidepressants, the sad reality," New York Post, January 24, 2010) The American Psychiatric Association when challenged was unable to provide any evidence of "a chemical imbalance in the brain."
Psychiatrists do not measure brain chemistry. They take pictures. But even if they did scoop out brain matter and test it chemically there is no chemical balance to measure against. This is a fantasy of the drug companies to promote drug treatment and to provide false science to the art of psychiatry.
[Kirsch responds by email January 24, 2010]
I agree. I don’t know how the word ‘just’ slipped into this. I should have written that depression is not the result of a chemical imbalance, which is what I wrote in my book.
Regards,
Irving Kirsch
* * *
[January 26, 2010]
See also chapter 4 of my book The Emperor's New Drugs. The chapter is entitled The Myth of the Chemical Imbalance and forcefully shows why the serotonin hypothesis cannot be true.
Irving
Irving Kirsch, PhD
Professor of Psychology
University of Hull
Cottingham Road
Hull, HU6 7RX
UK
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/antidepressants_the_sad_reality_yj2IPLSkeQtpAd1Y5a977N
Antidepressants, the sad reality
Why they are a costly health care lie
By IRVING KIRSCH
New York Post
Last Updated: 4:42 AM, January 24, 2010
Posted: 1:00 AM, January 24, 2010
October 7, 2007
Psychiatric Fantasy
Psychiatric Fantasy
On Friday July 6, 2007, while discussing the new "Dangerous Book for Boys,"
and how boys are being feminized, Tony Blankley said of boys, "There are
chemical imbalances." That notion is a creation of the PR flacks for the drug
companies and the psychiatric industry.
Researchers do not drill holes through the scull and test brain matter
chemically. They use photographs. But if they did actually do a chemical
analysis of brain matter there is no chemical balance, no standard to measure
against.
A few years ago a group from Mindfreedom went on a hunger strike
challenging the American Psychiatric Association to provide evidence of a
chemical imbalance. They were unable to so do. But they continue to promote the
fantasy, of a chemical imbalance.
It is unfortunate that an educated journalist like Blankley made that
comment and was not challenged by any of your erudite guests.
Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM
On Friday July 6, 2007, while discussing the new "Dangerous Book for Boys,"
and how boys are being feminized, Tony Blankley said of boys, "There are
chemical imbalances." That notion is a creation of the PR flacks for the drug
companies and the psychiatric industry.
Researchers do not drill holes through the scull and test brain matter
chemically. They use photographs. But if they did actually do a chemical
analysis of brain matter there is no chemical balance, no standard to measure
against.
A few years ago a group from Mindfreedom went on a hunger strike
challenging the American Psychiatric Association to provide evidence of a
chemical imbalance. They were unable to so do. But they continue to promote the
fantasy, of a chemical imbalance.
It is unfortunate that an educated journalist like Blankley made that
comment and was not challenged by any of your erudite guests.
Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM
June 25, 2007
Page Six as Lobbyist?
Page Six as Lobbyist?
Are the editors of Page Six doing PR for the drug companies and the
psychiatric industry? (Paula Froelich, "SECRET HELL OF OLYMPICS QUEEN," Page
Six, New York Post, June 23, 2007, page 10) On what evidence is the statement
"It turned out to be a chemical imbalance in her brain that caused her to
'become extremely lethargic
[...]'" based?
There is no such thing as a "chemical imbalance in the brain."
Psychiatrists do not do a chemical analysis of brain matter. They take
photographs. But even if they did scoop out brain matter and test it chemically
there is no standard for a chemical balance. This is a fantasy created by the
psychiatric industry and their mentors the drug companies to promote the false
notion that psychiatry is science based. It sounds good. It fools a lot of people.
But there is no science behind this nullity.
See also the efforts of civil rights activists from MindFreedom who
conducted a hunger strike to challenge the American Psychiatric Association to
provide evidence of their claim of a chemical imbalance. The APA could not
provide any. It is time to scrutinize these baseless claims of the boondoggle
called psychiatry, before everyone who has emotions and thoughts are medicated
into submission.
Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM
SECRET HELL OF OLYMPICS QUEEN
New York Post
Page Six
Paula Froelich
page 10
June 23, 2007 -- OLYMPICS skating legend Dorothy Hamill still has nightmares
about the tragic death of her ex-husband Dean Paul Martin - because, she reveals
for the first time, he crashed his plane minutes after learning she had secretly
married another man he'd warned her about.
"The wedding had been so impulsive that I hadn't had a chance to tell him
beforehand . . . I wanted to tell him in person - he deserved to hear it
straight from me. The fact that he had to hear it from somebody else, and
immediately before he was to command an F-4 in the air, haunts me to this day,"
Hamill says in her upcoming autobiography, "A Skating Life," due out this
October from Hyperion.
While there has never been any evidence that Martin crashed on purpose, Hamill
raises the possibility he was under extreme duress in his last moments. She says
she was told that as Martin waited for weather clearance on March 21, 1987, he
was asked by an acquaintance about her recent marriage to sports doctor Ken
Forsythe.
"He'd turned to her, his face in shock, and reacted incredulously, 'She did?' "
Hamill writes. Also haunting the athletic pixie was the warning Martin first
gave her after she started dating Forsythe. " 'He's no good Dorothy. Watch out
for this guy,"' she quotes Martin as telling her. She and Forsythe later
divorced, had a custody battle for their daughter, Alexandra, and were forced to
declare bankruptcy after some business ventures went bad.
"I was in the depth of a depression. I had hit rock bottom," Hamill writes. "I
kept up with [the antidepressant] Paxil, but I was supplementing it with glasses
of white wine. Not a good idea . . . To add to my misery, I started smoking." It
turned out to be a chemical imbalance in her brain that caused her to "become
extremely lethargic . . . sometimes so paralyzed I [didn't] want to get off the
couch."
[...]
Are the editors of Page Six doing PR for the drug companies and the
psychiatric industry? (Paula Froelich, "SECRET HELL OF OLYMPICS QUEEN," Page
Six, New York Post, June 23, 2007, page 10) On what evidence is the statement
"It turned out to be a chemical imbalance in her brain that caused her to
'become extremely lethargic
[...]'" based?
There is no such thing as a "chemical imbalance in the brain."
Psychiatrists do not do a chemical analysis of brain matter. They take
photographs. But even if they did scoop out brain matter and test it chemically
there is no standard for a chemical balance. This is a fantasy created by the
psychiatric industry and their mentors the drug companies to promote the false
notion that psychiatry is science based. It sounds good. It fools a lot of people.
But there is no science behind this nullity.
See also the efforts of civil rights activists from MindFreedom who
conducted a hunger strike to challenge the American Psychiatric Association to
provide evidence of their claim of a chemical imbalance. The APA could not
provide any. It is time to scrutinize these baseless claims of the boondoggle
called psychiatry, before everyone who has emotions and thoughts are medicated
into submission.
Roy Bercaw, Editor ENOUGH ROOM
SECRET HELL OF OLYMPICS QUEEN
New York Post
Page Six
Paula Froelich
page 10
June 23, 2007 -- OLYMPICS skating legend Dorothy Hamill still has nightmares
about the tragic death of her ex-husband Dean Paul Martin - because, she reveals
for the first time, he crashed his plane minutes after learning she had secretly
married another man he'd warned her about.
"The wedding had been so impulsive that I hadn't had a chance to tell him
beforehand . . . I wanted to tell him in person - he deserved to hear it
straight from me. The fact that he had to hear it from somebody else, and
immediately before he was to command an F-4 in the air, haunts me to this day,"
Hamill says in her upcoming autobiography, "A Skating Life," due out this
October from Hyperion.
While there has never been any evidence that Martin crashed on purpose, Hamill
raises the possibility he was under extreme duress in his last moments. She says
she was told that as Martin waited for weather clearance on March 21, 1987, he
was asked by an acquaintance about her recent marriage to sports doctor Ken
Forsythe.
"He'd turned to her, his face in shock, and reacted incredulously, 'She did?' "
Hamill writes. Also haunting the athletic pixie was the warning Martin first
gave her after she started dating Forsythe. " 'He's no good Dorothy. Watch out
for this guy,"' she quotes Martin as telling her. She and Forsythe later
divorced, had a custody battle for their daughter, Alexandra, and were forced to
declare bankruptcy after some business ventures went bad.
"I was in the depth of a depression. I had hit rock bottom," Hamill writes. "I
kept up with [the antidepressant] Paxil, but I was supplementing it with glasses
of white wine. Not a good idea . . . To add to my misery, I started smoking." It
turned out to be a chemical imbalance in her brain that caused her to "become
extremely lethargic . . . sometimes so paralyzed I [didn't] want to get off the
couch."
[...]
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