Too many people have been screened and labeled with a false diagnosis (1). Far too many have died from the use of psychiatric drugs which were prescribed after they agreed to be screened. Antidepressant drugs carry FDA-mandated warnings stating that taking them could cause increased suicidal thinking and behavior (2). Many psychiatric drugs are known to cause violence, hallucinations, addiction, heart attacks and sudden death. (3)
And yet, thousands of people do not know these facts. They have been deceived so well, convinced by a billion-dollar marketing campaign that feelings equal disease and that psychiatric treatment helps. This October 5th is National Depression Screening Day, an event concocted by psychiatric interests and drug companies to find more customers for their drugs.
Richard Hughes and Robert Brewin, authors of The Tranquilizing of America, warned that although psychotropic drugs may appear to 'take the edge off' anxiety, pain, and stress, they also take the edge off life itself...these pills not only numb the pain but numb the whole mind. In fact close study reveals that none of them can cure anything and all have side effects, some horrific. Yet due to their addictive and psychotropic properties, many believe that they cannot deal with life without them.
When people are screened for depression, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, or any other psychiatric disorder, they are being given a false diagnosis. These "disorders", more than 350 of them, are cataloged in a book crafted and published by the American Psychiatric Association, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders. This psychiatric "billing bible" has been widely discredited by the field of Medicine. These "disorders" are not discovered or researched from proven facts, tests, or any scientific data; they are simply voted on by psychiatrists and then used to label those who answered questions a certain way on fraudulent screening tests.
On May 11, 2006, Dr. Julian Whitaker, MD was interviewed by Pam Killeen from the Crusader (4). Dr. Whitaker stated, "Psychiatry is not science; it's observations of human behavior, without any scientific backup. For example, diagnosing someone with a 'chemical imbalance' is a fabricated diagnosis. They have no evidence whatsoever of any chemical imbalance. They can't measure it; they can't find it. So, there's no chemical imbalance that's measurable."
Dr. Whitaker also said, referring to the list of "mental disorders", "...psychiatric evaluations aren't based on science – period! They're just made up, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual is growing with more and more fabricated 'mental illnesses'. Pretty soon, we're not going to find a normal person anywhere in the country...unless they're drugged."
The dictionary defines depression as "sadness; gloom; dejection". It is an emotion, a feeling, not a disease. Psychiatry has preyed upon people's emotions, turning these feelings into a fabricated illness to get more people into profitable psychiatric treatment.
Depression is really only a symptom of a physical disease or some other condition, such as loss of a loved one, brain tumor, vitamin deficiency (5). People who submit to screening on Oct. 5th are taking a great risk because they are not being tested by medical doctors for any possible physical condition or genuine disease that could contribute to certain behavior. Depression is listed as one of the symptoms of several physical diseases or conditions. Someone who is screened and told (fraudulently) that their symptoms are caused by a depression "disorder" are not then likely to seek out true medical care. This could prove very dangerous since an undiscovered physical disease left unhandled could be fatal.
Screening = a clever, fraudulent scheme for marketing drugs
People who are opposed to mental health screening are outraged because the survey used in screening has been written by psychiatrists with financial ties to drug companies, thus creating a booming psychiatry-pharmaceutical industry. Signs of Suicide, a similar program to TeenScreen has been developed and promoted by a corporation called Screening for Mental Health (SMH), Inc. On this site http://www.signsofsuicide.org/ is evidence that pharmaceutical companies have given MILLIONS in grants to the SMH in order to forward the program testing of adults and children for suicide risks, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism in schools, colleges, and the workplace, and the military.
Pharmaceutical companies want to support screening programs because they stand to make Billions on the sale of drugs to the people who will be screened. Eli Lilly alone poured in $2,157,925.00 (amongst others) into Screening for Mental Health Inc. from 2001 to 2004.
Good News for Depression
The good news about help for depression has been hidden. Without support of the billion-dollar psycho-pharmaceutical industry, the facts on depression are not written on the front pages of the news, or on TV. People should be informed of the very successful and scientific methods that are being used now to help people with these problems.
In Dr. Whitaker's aforementioned interview with Pam Killeen, she asked this very direct question: "If a patient suffering with a mental illness comes to see you, what type of improvements could they experience?"
Dr. Whitaker: "In my practice, we see a lot of people who see their energy levels increase, or their happiness ratio increase, when they get healthier. Just increasing and improving health will do wonders for the majority of people who have been labeled as being mentally ill. This goes for people who are experiencing fatigue, who may be depressed. Very often, we find that they have hormonal imbalances, nutritional deficiencies, or lack exercise. We help them solve these areas of depletion in their lives. We help them increase the quality of their lives and they feel better. We see it all the time. I have had nearly 40,000 people come through my clinic, and I have never started anyone on an antidepressant medication."
Mary Collins is a 72-year-old grandmother living in New Hampshire. She attained a BA in English Literature with a minor in History in 1954 from Millsap's College in Jackson, Mississippi and was involved in education for over 20 years.
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
I'm so glad I saw your article. I wasn't aware of the national screening thing, but I agree, it's horrible. I've struggled, myself, with depression this past year and found out what a bad thing these drugs can be. After losing my mom to cancer (within a week of finding out she had it) when I was 7 months pregnant with my youngest son my doctor told me we might want to use some anti-depressants after I had the baby. I did give them a try, but HALF of the pill knocked me out!! I tried twice, but just couldn't function on them...and with a newborn and a 2 1/2 year-old to care for! Since I just couldn't lay down and sleep I just walked around in a daze. When I told the doctor I couldn't take them anymore I asked him "do half the population just walk around feeling like this?" He told me that you have to build it up in your system & get some tolerance to it first. Don't get me wrong, I love my doctor-he's a great guy, but I don't think they TEACH them other alternatives to drug treatment. So since then, I've just been trying to shake it by telling myself to! That's not working! Also, I know a couple different gals that went to their doctors for something completely unrelated to depression and came out with a prescription for anti-depressants, going "but I don't FEEL depressed!"
Now I have HOPE that I can find my old self in here without the help of drugs! (which I didn't think made sense anyway!)
Thanks so much!
by
kfooce (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments) on Wednesday, Oct 4, 2006 at 9:04:21 AM
Not to say that education equals expertise, but when reading an article about psychiatry written by someone without any higher education in the field, red flags start going up. It is one thing to say that people are over-medicated and quite another to say that medication is wrong all the time. The first can be clearly supported, while the latter is simply reactionary. In fact, there have been several studies done ascertaining brain chemical levels and the role they play in the creation of mood. While physical health including exercise, is a necessity in helping mental health (an artificial duality used only in this discussion), not everything is so easily cured.
In addition, using the dictionary to define depression as an emotion misses a major point: what is emotion but a chemically induced reaction to perceived reality?
by
David Teachout (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 21 comments) on Wednesday, Oct 4, 2006 at 11:54:45 AM
hasn't been paying attention to what's been going on in this country for the last six years.
What are you supposed to feel when your pension plan goes unfunded, your job is outsourced, your kid is killed in a war based on lies, and you find out that big corporations and the rich don't pay any taxes? Joyful? Elated? Euphoric?
What I've found in my personal life is that the harder I work to fight injustice and support democracy, the better I feel. Cindy Sheehan lost a son in Iraq and instead of sinking into depression and despair, channeled that grief into building opposition to the war.
A REAL mental illness might be knowing what is going on in the world, blocking it all out, and going about your life as if nothing at all were happening. I think that would be called schizophrenia. And in a case like that I wouldn't rule out medications or even a milder form of shock therapy like a good shaking and a bucket of ice water on your head.
Wake up America! Don't get depressed, get organized!
--Mark
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Wednesday, Oct 4, 2006 at 7:39:37 PM
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