Psychiatrists and the pharma industry are to blame for the current ‘epidemic’ of mental disorders
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Published 2015-05-11
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Filmed at the Emmanuel Centre on 12th november 2014.
Drug pushers. We tend to associate them with the bleak underworld of criminality. But some would argue that there’s another class of drug pushers, just as unscrupulous, who work in the highly respectable fields of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. And they deserve the same moral scrutiny that we apply to the drug pedlar on the street corner. Within the medical profession labels are increasingly being attached to everyday conditions previously thought to be beyond the remit of medical help. So sadness is rebranded as depression, shyness as social phobia, childhood naughtiness as hyperactivity or ADHD. And Big Pharma is only too happy to come up with profitable new drugs to treat these ‘disorders’, drugs which the psychiatrists and GPs then willingly prescribe, richly rewarded by the pharma companies for doing so. In the last decade the use of antidepressants in the UK has doubled and in 2012 50 million prescriptions had been written for them. It’s a similar story for hyperactivity: the use of Ritalin has tripled with 800,000 prescriptions written by 2012. Even worse, argue the critics, the scientific and ethical flaws in the research behind some of these drugs have purposefully not been published. Meanwhile the real underlying causes of behavioural problems and human misery are often left untreated.
That’s the view of those who object to the widespread use of the ‘chemical cosh’ to treat people with mental difficulties. But many psychiatrists, while acknowledging that overprescribing is a problem, would argue that the blame lies not with themselves. For example, parents and teachers often ramp up the pressure to have a medical label attached to a child’s problematic behaviour because that way there’s less stigma attached and allowances are made. And psychiatrists and the pharma companies also take issue with those who argue that the ‘chemical imbalance’ theory of mental disorder is a myth. ADHD is a real condition, they say, for which drugs work. Research shows that antidepressants really are more effective than just a placebo, especially in cases of severe depression. Scientists are now working on a completely new kind of antidepressant for people who have endured incurable depression and anxiety for decades – with promising results so far. Human suffering will never be eradicated but evidence shows that pharmaceutical drugs have improved the lives of millions around the world.
All Comments (21)
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I'm a survivor of the mental health system. I was locked into a psych ward at 13 and my last and final therapist occurred at the age of 49. This therapist was beyond abusive. I'm 51 now and I can still have a good life and I'm determined
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i lost count of number of diagnoses I have had. I have taken every pill in psychiatry there is for my condition. all I searched was a meaning for my life. still struggling full-time. i hope I find peace one day. these pills take away your emotions, your values, your identity, your purpose in life and leaves you dependent upon a psychophatic institution.
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Antidepressants work like this. Someone takes them because he or she is depressed. The psychiatrist asks him:" how do you feel now?" The patient responds:" I don't know, I don't feel anything anymore!" The psychiatrist: "see, they work!" Moral of the story: if you put a bandaid on a wound, the wound is still there but you can't see it. It's not because you can't see something it's not there. It's not the bandaid who heals the wound, it's te body.
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One of the biggest causes of alleged mental illness is the rising costs of just trying to live in today's society.
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Everything that makes us human ends up being pathologised.
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I have worked in big pharma and all I can say, that will shine light onto this issue, is that big pharma favours employing those with sociopathic tendencies for its directors. The consequence is that while there may be many good and honourable scientists in the pharma industry, those leading it are really salespeople and marketers being scientists only in name.
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This was my experience of being pushed antidepressants when I was at a dressing change with the nurse. Frustrated and upset with a non healing leg wound that was repeatedly infected and was not being treated as it should have been leaving it stinking and painful, the overwhelmed nurse fetched a GP into the room. She stood in the doorway as the nurse summarised why I was upset then paused for a moment before saying, "I could give you a prescription for anti depressants?" Approximately 90 seconds elapsed between her appearing and her offering me, (a patient she hadn't seen before and hadn't even looked at my notes yet,) antidepressants. I have to admit I lost my temper, I called her lazy and irresponsible and told her I knew exactly why I was depressed, it was this wound that stank, constantly leaked, was very painful and wouldn't heal. I didn't need antidepressants, I needed my leg fixed. Turned out the antibiotics I was given were the wrong type for the bacteria that had colonised the wound. An IV drip of the correct antibiotic and some oral doxycycline and it was fixed and I was no longer depressed. I could work more hours, the pain had gone and I could go out without worrying if ppl could smell my leg wound. If ppl know why they're depressed why would drugs be the first option? Why do we not attempt to fix the cause? Depressed because your spouse died? Why not bereavement counselling? Depressed because your drowning in debt and worrying about losing your house? Why not refer to Citizens Advice Bureau? What about the therapeutic lifestyle changes that have proven benefits to mood like exposure to pre noon sunlight daily, correcting the balance of omega 6s and 3s? Vitamin D3 supplementation? Strengthening social bonds?
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Healing the wounds of my childhood was the most powerful work I have ever done.
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The doc told my wife these antidepressants would help you with pain ,well because of those drugs she had alot pain and a mental breakdown, ended up at a behavior center and put on more of them ,she came home with no emotion , no expressions and alot of physical problems. She wished she only had the one pain after that , I have witnessed the side effects of these drugs on her and noticed some were exactly the same uncontrollable movements as her niece who has autism and is medicated with the same drug. I had to ween her off because the docs wouldn't and now she has stopped the uncontrolled movements and is talking like a human being again and feeling the love. Don't be fooled by these drugs or by anyone who tells you they will help you or you will regret it ! Listen to the people with experience and not the the person making money from the peoples misery because then your part of the problem.
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Kinda funny that the guy arguing for drugs is ceo of a pharma company lol
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This video misses the whole point. Depression is just a symptom that has many known causes (too much stress, too little money, too little social contact, poor nutrition, feeling unable to change your future - they are the main ones). To heal the patient you need to treat the cause. Antidepressants work for situational depressed people BUT after 8 months max, the benefits decline. Whats left is an altered body which is not calibrated as nature intended. As a long term taker 13 + yrs I am learning the hard way how harmful these drugs are to take in the long run. Doctors ask patients to come off in 3 weeks when it takes 3 months for these biological systems to readjust - no wonder crippling anxiety and a return of depression is what often follows. If you go on these drugs and are off within 2 years you are one of the lucky ones. Depression is very rarely a life-long sentence, if it becomes a lifelong illness - you can put 90% of the blame on the drug for creating this abnormal brain function.
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Everyone who's had a hard childhood or that has been sexualy abused will meet the criteria for "borderline " that in itself is evil. . You were abused, now let's say you have a flawed personality. Better yet ,it's a disorder that makes people look at you as non human ,and their will always be a stigma. ALWAYS.
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I am left with permanent neurological injuries from 20 years of psych drugs i never needed, now even off them 10 years still have nervous system damage.
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So glad I found this. I’ve been poly drugged for almost 15 years, all because I was suffering from ptsd from an abusive marriage. Never told how dangerous or addictive they were, and when I tried to come off I ended up in the worst hell I could have ever imagined, and considered suicide every day. Of course my psych just added more meds. Now I’m unable to get off of them, and unable to think properly, and to top it off I have tardive akasthsia. It’s absolutely horrific, and nobody knows how to help me. Fun fact- go to the hospital because of it, and not being able to find help anywhere, they admit you to the psych ward, and try to push the same drugs that caused it!! Psychiatrists seem to have no idea what they are really doing to patients, and leave you high and dry suffering in the end.
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Psychiatrists are the worst. Shame on them. They destroyed my life. Please avoid antidepressants. Save your mind by self care
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It used to be that pastors, teachers, friends and family were our counselors and people only sought psychologists for severe cases. Now is the opposite. Friends, family, pastors, teachers have no clue what is really going on with people because people are not going to them and instead rushing to the professional therapist who is detached from that person’s daily life and only making judgment calls based on theory, what the client is saying and what the industry wants.
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Don’t take these medications!!! Go to a nutritional psychiatrist. Please. The answer is nutrition not chemicals.
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Any debate about psychiatry talks about medication ; and a myriad of other bs Never talks about the fact that people are denied REAL HELP with basic needs
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What shall we blame for crippling sadness and madness? Don't blame the disconnection between people. Don't blame crony capitalism. Don't blame trauma and abuse. Don't blame unending growth on a finite planet and the resulting ecological nightmare. Don't blame sociopathic politicians and their interests in the arms industries. Instead, blame our brains and the curious mass malfunctioning that seems to be rampant these days.
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These men have hurt far more people than they have helped.good to see them admitting that they are dealers of bad drugs
