MindFreedom Hunger Strike

[Guest guest]

MindFreedom Hunger Strike

 

Idea Introduced By: Mickey Weinberg, LCSW

 

Scientific Panel: Fred Baughman (MD), Peter Breggin (MD), Mary Boyle (Ph.D),

David Cohen (Ph.D), Ty Colbert (Ph.D), Pat Deegan (Ph.D), Albert Galves (Ph.D),

Thomas Greening (Ph.D), David Jacobs (Ph.D), Jay Joseph (Ph.D), Jonathon Leo

(Ph.D), Bruce Levine (Ph.D), Loren Mosher (MD), Stuart Shipko (MD) and others

signed on to this as it progressed.

 

 

Hunger Strike Panelist: Vince Boehm, Krista Erickson, David Gonzalez, David

Oaks, Dawn Rider, Hiromi Sayama, Mickey Weinberg (LCSW), others fasted and

participated in various ways as this progressed and sites were set up to talk

with the strikers.

 

 

The Debate: Is Mental Illness a real biological/ neurological/ chemical

disease which needs treatment to make it go away, or a made up label to increase

the multi billion dollar industry in order to legally sell psychiatry's

authority and their drugs? Are Psychiatric drugs a way to numb up the pain of

society without having to fix real causes, or is it better to do some thing real

about many of life's hard and complicated social ills and issues of human rights

by doing some thing real to fix them. Are drugs better for society and health

or are drugs another cause of societal and health problems.

 

 

 

Time line: This idea initially began a few years before it actually happened,

there was much strategic planning that went into this.

 

June 4, 2003, The first letter was sent to this planning group from the

Department Of Health and Human Services from Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D. it

referred Fred Baughman, MD to psychiatric textbooks.

 

June 5, 2003 Dr. Baughman sent a letter in response to the leadership of the

American Academy of Neurology and Child Neurology Society faulting them for

their collusion with the American Psychiatric Association APA, American Academy

of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry AACAP, American Academy of Pediatrics AAP,

American Academy of Family Practice AAFP, about the marketing that psychiatric

conditions/diagnoses are brain/neurological, disorders/diseases/chemical

imbalances,... to make " patients " of normal individuals, elicit, and justify

their treatment with drugs or " chemical balancers " . He stated diagnoses is

the first, and most important duty of every physician, (1) to determine whether

or not a physical abnormality is present, (2) to determine which

abnormality/disease it is. Neurology is the challenging science of diagnosis of

abnormalities/diseases of the brain/nervous system. Lay persons/patients are

easily confused and deceived when it comes to the language of

medicine...what I am speaking about here is a systematic, organized effort to

deceive them regarding the fundamental issue of whether or not they are

diseased/abnormal or disease-free/normal...our legitimate responsibility to

psychiatric patients and to our psychiatrist colleagues is that of excluding the

presence of organic-disease or real disease. Knowing all of this, it is a

betrayal for any physician...to represent to patients, and to the public, that

wholly subjective, psychiatric, constructs/conditions, are actual diseases of

the brain-neurological diseases-the purpose being to make " patients " of normals.

Nor can it be denied that this is what is going on, in the US, on a massive

scale...the " invented diseases " industry rakes in billions of dollars.

 

July 28, 2003 a certified letter was sent to the directors of the American

Psychiatric Association APA, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill NAMI, and

the Office of the Surgeon General OSG it included their original statement which

included seven specific request to provide reliable and validity based

scientific evidence to be reviewed by a scientific panel based on scientific

methods. It explained that members of MindFreedom would gather from their homes

both nationally and internationally and at a base of operations for a hunger

strike until the demands were met. It set out the fact that psychiatry has

unprecedented authority to confine individuals to institutions and administer

procedures involuntarily, including electro convulsive therapy or ECT

electroshock. The APA, NAMI, and the OSG promotes trust in the general

population by leading it to believe there is reliable and valid evidence that

meets the mainstream standards of science when this is not true. Other

mental health leaders then follow by example. One can commonly hear " major

mental illnesses " , " proven biological diseases of the brain " and " chemical

imbalances " when these are not accurate to describe the true causes of our

societies difficulties and pain that are being labeled and treated. This

eliminates any real help, choice, or solutions that could be given to solve

these problems and allow for any real recovery. This power is a basic

infringement on one's human rights and dignity. Because the legitimate

critiques of contemporary psychiatry's theories and research have largely been

ignored or dismissed they asked for scientific evidence based on the following

standards: (1) measures used are relevant, valid and reliable (2) Subject

populations are selected by a sample method that is free of bias (3)Confounding

variables are controlled for and (4) Causation is distinguished from

correlation. They asked that if this could not be done that there was a public

admission made to at least two of the major media such as the New York Times,

Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio, CNN,

etc. They asked for this information, to support their claims, to be in the

form of cited material that could be found and understood.

 

Hunger Strikers Request or Questions:

1. Evidence That Clearly Establishes the validity of " schizophrenia "

" depression " or other " major mental Illnesses " as biologically-based brain

diseases.

2. Evidence For A Physical Diagnostic Exam such as a scan or test of the

brain, blood, urine, genes, etc that can reliably distinguish individuals with

these diagnoses (prior to treatment with psychiatric drugs), from individuals

without these diagnoses.

3. Evidence For a Base-line Standard of a neurochemically balanced " normal "

personality, against which a neurochemical " imbalance " can be measured and

corrected by pharmaceutical means.

4. Evidence That Any Psychotropic Drug can correct a " chemical imbalance "

attributed to a psychiatric diagnoses, and is any thing more than a non-specific

alterer of physiology.

5. Evidence That Any Psychotropic Drug can reliably decrease the likelihood of

violence or suicide.

6. Evidence That Psychotropic Drugs do not in fact increase the overall

likelihood of violence and suicide.

7. Finally, that they reveal publicly evidence published in mainstream medical

journals, but unreported in mainstream media, that links use of some psychiatric

drugs to structural brain changes.

 

 

August 12, 2003 They received a letter from the APA, it stated " The answer to

your questions are widely available in the scientific literature, and have been

for years. I suggest...Surgeon General David Satcher' report, " Mental Health, A

Report of the Surgeon General " ...Textbook of Psychiatry (3rd edition), edited by

Andreason and Black...The American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc.'s " Textbook of

Clinical Psychiatry " (4th edition) edited by Hales and Yodorfsky...American

Journal of Psychiatry and Archives of General Psychiatry. No specific citations

were given.

 

August 16, 2003 the strikers convened.

 

August 22, 2003 The Scientific panel replied to the APA: We are a panel of 14

academics and clinicians who have agreed to review any such reply for scientific

validity. No specific studies of any kind were cited with reference to any of

the questions above. In examining these sources, we found numerous statements

that invalidate that behaviors referred to as " mental Illnesses " have specific

biological bases. Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (1999) states:

" The diagnoses of mental disorders is...more difficult than diagnosis of

somatic, or general medical disorders, since there is no definitive lesion,

laboratory test, or abnormality in brain tissue " , pg 44... " It is not,,,easy to

establish a threshold...in light of how common symptoms of mental distress are

and the lack of objective, physical symptoms " , pg 48. " The precise causes

(etiology) of mental disorders are not known " , pg 49. " All too frequently a

biological change in the brain (a lesion) is

purported to be the cause of a mental disorder...(but) the fact is that any

simple association or correlation cannot and does not by itself, mean

causation " , pg 51. " Few lesions of physiological abnormalities define the

mental disorders, and for the most part their causes remain unknown " , pg 102.

In the third edition of Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry (1999) we find:

" Although reliable criteria have been constructed for many psychiatric

disorders, validation of the diagnostic categories as specific entities has not

been established " , pg 43. " Most of these (genetic studies) examine candidate

genes in the serotonergeric pathways, and have not found convincing evidence of

an association " , pg 51. In Adreason and Black's (2001), Introductory Textbook

of Psychiatry, we find: ...Much of the current investigative research in

psychiatry is directed toward the goal of identifying the pathophysiology and

etiology of major mental illness, but this goal has been achieved for only

a few disorders. (Alzheimer's disease, multi-infarct dementia, Huntington's

disease, and substance-induced syndromes such as amphetamine related psychosis

or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome) " , pg 23. " In the absence of visible lesions and

known pathogens,... " , pg 231. " Many candidate regions (of the brain) have been

explored (for schizophrenia) but none have been confirmed " , pg 450...Such

statements invalidate claims for specific, reliable biological causes or signs

of " mental illnesses " . In the judgment of the panel members, your reply fails

to produce or cite any specific evidence of any specific pathophysiology

underlying any " mental disorder " . In the panel's view, the questions posed by

the hunger strikers are serious and fair. If, as you state in your letter, " the

answers to (the above) questions are widely available in the scientific

literature, and have been for years " , then it behooves your organization to make

these answers and name their specific

sources...promptly.

 

September 16, 2003 The Scientific Panel wrote a letter to Bruce Spring, M.D.

concerning how inaccurate and flawed the twin studies really are.

 

September 25, 2003 the APA made a statement to the press, it said:... " It is

unfortunate that...individuals and groups persist in questioning the reality and

clinical legitimacy of disorders that affect the mind, brain, and behavior. One

recent challenge contended that the lack of a diagnostic laboratory test capable

of confirming the presence of a mental disorder constituted evidence that these

disorders are not medically valid conditions... " mental disorders " ...are mediated

by the brain(they) represent dysfunctions of the highest integrative functions

of the human brain including cognition, or thought; emotional regulation; and

executive function, or the ability of the brain to plan and organize

behavior...brain science has not advanced to the point where scientist or

clinicians can point to readily discernible pathologic lesions or genetic

abnormalities that...serve as reliable or predictive biomarkers of a...mental

disorder or mental disorders as a group...no gross

anatomical lesion such as a tumor may ever be found...will likely be proven to

represent disorders of...communication; or of disrupted neural circuitry...some

of the...medications...are effective...These medications...exert influence on

specific neurotransmitters, naturally occurring brain chemicals that effect, or

regulate, communication...control mood, complex reasoning, anxiety, and

cognition...anti-depressants...regulate the availability of neurotransmitters

such as norepinephrine in the synapses, or gaps, between nerve cells...the

conditions are defined by a variety of concepts. These include the distress

experienced and reported by a person...the level of disability from

population-based norms for cognitive processes, mood regulation, or other

indices of thought, emotion, and behavior....It is...likely that the maladaptive

expression of a risk gene will be shown to require " triggering " by certain

adverse environmental influences... traumatic events,

prenatal/obstetric complications, or other phenomena that act on and interact

with the brain...The lack of a laboratory-based test...does not diminish

the...evidence that mental and behavioral disorders exact devastating emotional

and financial tolls on individuals, families, communities, and our Nation. The

NIMH estimates the direct (clinical treatment and services) and indirect

(lost/diminished productivity and premature mortality) cost...to be some $160

billion annually in the United States...the...Global Burden of Disease study,

conducted by Harvard University scientists under the sponsorship of the World

Health Organization and the World Bank, found mental disorders, including

suicide, to rank second in societal burden, behind only cardiovascular

conditions, in established market economies such as the U.S. In the months and

years ahead, the APA, along with NAMI, the Nation's mental health research and

clinical communities, and the public at large...will not be

distracted by those who would deny that serious mental disorders are real

medical conditions that can be diagnosed accurately and treated effectively.

 

December 15, 2003 the Scientific panel responds to the APA: ... " We Ask That

You Produce scientifically-valid evidence for the following, or that you

publicly admit to media, government officials and the general public that you

are unable to do so. (1) Evidence That Clearly Establishes the validity of

'schizophrenia', 'depression' or other 'major mental illnesses' as

biologically-based brain diseases. (2) Evidence For a Physical Diagnostic

Exam-such as a scan or test of the brain, blood, urine, genes, etc.--that can

reliably distinguish individuals with these diagnoses (prior to treatment with

psychiatric drugs), from individuals without these diagnoses. " Without any

citations, your statements cannot be supported, qualified, or rejected. The APA

admits to the absence of " discernible pathological lesions or genetic

abnormalities " in mental disorders. This contradicts your statement of

" reproducible abnormalities " . Without evidence no basis exist to call emotional

distress, disturbing behavior, or unusual thoughts or perceptions

" neurobiological disorders " . This negates the sufferer's distress as reaction,

protest, or adaptation to his/her position in the personally relevant social

context. A person is understood in terms of personal history and social

circumstances. A neurobiological disorder is understood differently. The

choice of labels is of great consequence...blushing, and obviously physical

reaction, is not biologically caused. Its effective cause is acute

embarrassment. Biological processes make blushing possible, but the do not

cause blushing. Even total congruence between biological processes and

psychological events does not show that the former causes the latter.

Psychiatric research is far from showing any reliable connections between mental

disorders and biological measurement, much less...the nature of mental

disorders....hypertension...has yet to find the biological cause...it has

developed a very reliable

physical measurement for blood pressure. Psychiatry is the sole medical

specialty that treats only disorders with no biological markers. Hypertension

is a symptom of physical disease because it can degenerate into physical

diseases and even death. People diagnosed with schizophrenia or major

depressive disorder often are physically healthy, unless their social

circumstances and neglect interfere negatively, they may live long lives and die

of the same physical causes as other people. The APA confirms, mental illnesses

are defined by " a variety of concepts " ...precisely,...The APA should therefore

explain how sociological concepts-which easily define conditions such as

poverty, discrimination, or war-substantiate the existence of " neurobiological

disorders " . ... " compelling evidence exists for a strong genetic " component "

....might mislead some people...In fact, this research only involves counting

cases of schizophrenia (diagnosed according to behavioral criteria and

clinical judgment) and testing the probability that such cases would occur in

certain samples. The twin and adoption studies...are plagued by untenable

theoretical assumptions...and serious methodological problems. Any results that

remain after accounting for these...can be fully explained on non-genetic

grounds. (3) Evidence For a Baseline Standard was not addressed by the APA.

Neuroscientist have not established any normal baseline quantity for any known

neurotransmitters..., nor have they shown any chemical imbalance to correlate

with mental disorders diagnosed on unmedicated individuals. (4) Evidence That

Any Psychotropic Drug can correct a " chemical imbalance " ...The APA statement

simply states what is known, all mind and mood altering drugs have affects on

the brain. This includes illegal mind and mood altering drugs, though no one

suggest they correct chemical imbalances in the brain. Given the Food and Drug

Administration's impotent exercise of its mandate to

protect consumers from false advertising, pharmaceutical companies recklessly

advertise cartoons...in the absence of any scientific proof... it is ethically

and medically reprehensible for doctors to convey such messages to justify

prescribing drugs, and for the APA journals to publish such advertisement. (5)

Evidence That Any Psychotropic Drug reliably decreases the likelihood of

violence and suicide, was not addressed. (6) Evidence That Psychotropic Drugs

do not in fact increase the overall likelihood of violence or suicide, was not

addressed. (7) reveal publicly evidence published in main stream medical

journals, but unreported in mainstream media, that links use of some psychiatric

drugs to structural brain changes, not addressed. The APA Statement provides no

citations to any scientific literature. Associations devoted to research, and

treatment of genuine diseases readily provide consumers with scientific

references on the pathological basis of these

diseases...with an annual budget of $38 million...they should be able to

provide a one-page list of published scientific studies to support this claim.

The APA uses terms like " complex " ...when describing...mental and emotional

crises. Yet this language...is completely at odds with the biological model

that reduces the brain to a machine. Since the discovery of...neurosyphllis

nearly a century ago, this model has failed to explain the cause of a single

mental disorder. Yet this model dominates the mental health system...the APA

claims that money spent... " has greatly improved our ability to treat severe,

frequently disabling ...disorders effectively " ...relevant indicators show the

exact opposite. For schizophrenia, worsened relapse rates and increased numbers

of people on disability status characterize outcomes over the last 50 years.

For depression, increased incidence and prevalence are reported. Perhaps the

treatment is worsening the disorder. At best the

treatment is not helping: researchers now recognize that the most popular

psychiatric drugs, the SSRI antidepressants, rate only slightly better then

inert placebos...negative research findings...are commonly suppressed, and

adverse drug effects are massively under reported in psychiatric journals and to

the Food and Drug Administration. Rather than acknowledge the lack of

progress...the APA dismisses its critics as denying the reality of suffering and

impatience with the " pace of science " . A genuine science states hypothesis in

ways that allow them to be proven true or false. For a century now psychiatry

has put forth hypothesis after hypotheses that are not falsifiable. Today,

despite no (evidence)..., the APA still continues to claim that emotional

disorders are genuine neurobiological disorders...because the APA is not an

independent organization. One third of its operating budget comes from the drug

industry. Drug companies dominate its...meetings to

advertise...drug industry funds, direct, and analyzes many drug studies,

psychiatric journals publish so-called scientific reports of these drug studies

that are ghost-written by industry employees or marketing firms. The hunger

strikers asked the APA for the " evidence base " that justifies the biomedical

model's stranglehold on the mental health system. The APA has not supplied any

such evidence,...one final question: on what basis does society justify the

authority granted psychiatrists, as medical doctors, to force psychoactive drugs

or ECT electroshock treatment upon unwilling individuals, or to incarcerate

persons who may or may not have committed criminal acts? We urge members of the

public, journalists, advocates, and officials reading this to ask for

straightforward answers to our questions from the APA. We also ask Congress to

investigate this mass deception.

 

 

Possible side effects of these drugs: Drug induced stuttering, Weight gain,

Dizziness, Sleeplessness, Restlessness, Anxiety, Diabetes, Smoking; Alcohol; and

Caffeine can affect these drugs, Racing heart, Heart disorders, Suicide risk in

children, Increased risk of pregnancy while changing from old to new, White

Blood Cell Disorders, Convulsions and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, Life

threatening inflammation of the Pancreas, Illegal sales on the street, Illegal

creation of drugs, Illegal experimentation and addiction to drugs, Glaucoma,

Harmful food and drug interactions, Synergistic and Anti synergistic affects,

Unnatural and dangerous serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, Prescribing wrongfully,

Dyskyntonia, Sudden Deaths, Drug overdoses, Drug induced psychiatric symptoms.

 

Conclusion: Those of us who know the truth, own the truth, the truth is

that our mental health/psychiatric system is a multi billion dollar drug dealer

and does not work to meet real needs. You can shut us out, you can lock us up,

you can drug us up, you can burn our brains, will we go away? The answer is no!

We will stand and tell the truth one way or another until we are heard, listened

to, and honored for being on the opposite side of this corruption. We can not

put bandaids on all the worlds problems any more we must reconstruct the

psycho-social-court systems and do some thing real, to help real people, with

real problems.

 

Supporters: PsychRights, Safe Harbor, and many others members and non-members

nationally and internationally.

 

 

References:

MindFreedom Support Coalition International, David Oaks, 454 Willamette, Suite

216, PO Box 11284, Eugene, Oregon 97440, phone (541) 345-9106, Fax

(541)345-3737, or office or

http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike1.shtml

 

PsychRights, James B. Gottstein, Esq., 406 G. Street, Suite 206, Anchorage,

Alaska 99501, phone (907) 274-7686, Fax (907) 274-9493, or jim

or http://psychrights.org/education/HungerStrike/TheDebate.htm

 

Written By: Janie Lee, M.Ed., 545 Dixon Smith Rd., Eubank, Kentucky 42567,

mama_jane_4_2000

 

 

 

Slavery by means of coercion and force are wrong, it hurts our society and keeps

slavery going. Do you want it to stop? Do you want to help fight poverty,

abuse in all forms, corruption, and drugs? Just ask me what " we " can do- People

Helping People, Together We Can,

People of Courage, Janie Lee, M.Ed.

IES-Matters/

 

 

 

 

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