25 REASONS WHY PSYCHIATRY MUST BE ABOLISHED

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25 GOOD REASONS WHY PSYCHIATRY MUST BE ABOLISHED

by Don Weitz

1. Because psychiatrists frequently cause harm, permanent

disabilities, death - death of the body-mind-spirit.

 

2. Because psychiatrists frequently violate the Hippocratic Oath

which orders all physicians " First Do No Harm. "

 

3. Because psychiatrists patronize and disempower people, especially

their patients.

 

4. Because psychiatry is not a medical science.

 

5. Because psychiatry is quackery, a pseudo-science which lacks

independent diagnostic tests, testable hypotheses, and cures

for " schizophrenia " and all other types of alleged " mental illness "

or " mental disorder " .

 

6. Because psychiatrists can not accurately and reliably predict

dangerousness, violence, or any other type of human behaviour, yet

make such claims as " expert witnesses " , and with the media promote

the " dangerous mental patient " myth/stereotype.

 

7. Because psychiatrists have caused a worldwide epidemic of brain

damage by promoting and prescribing brain-disabling treatments such

as the neuroleptics, antidepressants, electroconvulsive brainwashing

(electroshock), and psychosurgery (lobotomy).

 

8. Because psychiatrists manufacture hundreds of " mental disorders "

classified in its bible called " Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders " (a modern witch-hunting manual); such " mental

disorders " and " symptoms " are in fact negative, class-and-culturally-

biased moral judgments for dissident ways of coping with personal

problems and alternative ways of perceiving, interpreting or being in

the world.

 

9. Because psychiatrists, blinded by their medical model bias,

fraudulently pathologize and label people's serious life or

existential crises as " symptoms " of " mental illness " or " mental

disorder " such as " schizophrenia " , " bipolar affective disorder " ,

and " personality disorder " .

 

10. Because psychiatrists compound this fraud by falsely claiming,

without scientific proof, that these " mental disorders " are caused by

a " biochemical imbalance " in the brain, genetic factors or " genetic

predispositions " , despite the fact that there are no genetic factors

in " mental illness " .

 

11. Because psychiatrists frequently misinform their patients,

families and the public by claiming that brain-disabling procedures

such as the neurotoxins (e.g., " antipsychotic medication "

and " antidepressasnts " ), electroconvulsive brainwashing

(electroconvulsive therapy/ " ECT " ), psychosurgery (lobotomy) and other

behaviour modification-mind control procedures are " safe, effective

and lifesaving " . The exact opposite is tragically true.

 

12. Because psychiatrists routinely deceive or lie to patients,

prisoners, their families, and the public.

 

13. Because psychiatrists routinely and willfully violate the medical-

ethical principle of " informed consent " by misinforming or not

informing their patients about the numerous toxic, disabling and

frequently permanent effects of the neuroleptics such as memory loss,

tardive dyskinesia, tardive psychosis, parkinsonism, dementia (all

signs of brain damage), and death.

 

14. Because psychiatrists routinely threaten, intimidate or coerce

many patients - particularly women, children, the elderly, and

prisoners - into consenting to health-threatening/brain-

damaging " treatment " such as the antidepressants, neuroleptics,

electroconvulsive brainwashing, and hi-risk experiments.

 

15. Because psychiatrists frequently fail to fully inform psychiatric

inmates and prisoners about existing safe and humane, non-medical

alternatives in the community such as survivor-controlled crisis

centres, drop-ins, self-help or advocacy groups, diet, massage,

wholistic medicine, affordable supportive housing, and jobs.

 

16. Because psychiatrists are sexist in frequently stereotyping women

in crisis as " hysterical " or " over-emotional " , blaming women whenever

they voice real complaints and assertively express their feelings and

emotions, prescribing massive doses of tranquilizers and

antidrepressants to disproportionately large numbers of women, and in

sexually assaulting women in their offices and institutions.

 

17. Because psychiatrists, particularly white male psychiatrists, are

homophobic - the American Psychiatric Association (APA) once labelled

homosexuality as a " mental illness " or " mental disorder " - and have

used forced electroshock on lesbians, trying to coerce them into

adopting a heterosexual life style.

 

18. Because psychiatrists are ageist in prescribing tranquilizers,

antidepressants ( " medication " ) and electroconvulsive brainwashing for

disproportionately large numbers of elderly people - a form of elder

abuse.

 

19. Because psychiatrists are racist in disproportionately

incarcerating and drugging people of African descent, aboringal

people, other people of colour and labelling them " psychotic "

or " schizophrenic " .

 

20. Because psychiatrists routinely violate people's civil rights,

human rights and constitutional rights such as imprisoning innocent

people without court trial or public hearing ( " involuntary

commitment " ), and subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishments or

tortures such as forced drugging, electroconvulsive brainwashing,

psychosurgery, solitary confinement, " chemical restraints " , and 4-

point or 5-point restraints.

 

21. Because psychiatrists masterminded the mass murder of hundreds of

thousands of vulnerable people including disabled children, the

elderly and psychiatric patients during The Holocaust in Nazi

Germany, and " selected " hundreds of thousands of concentration camp

prisoners for death ( " T-4 euthanasia " program) - historical facts

still missing in psychiatric textbooks and histories.

 

22. Because psychiatrists have willingly participated in and

administered mind-control experiments in the United States and Canada

since the early 1950s - its chief targets have been poor patients,

women, dissidents and prisoners.

 

23. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological

psychiatry, is based on the 3 Fs: Fear, Fraud,and Force.

 

24. Because psychiatry is a form of social control or punishment -

not treatment.

 

25. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological

psychiatry, is fascist - a direct threat to democracy, human rights

and life.

 

A note from the author:This statement is a slightly revised version

of the original written in Spring 1998. Feel free to add and publish

your own reasons. I am a psychiatric survivor and antipsychiatry

activist who has been involved in the psychiatric survivor liberation

movment for 24 years. I am also co-editor of " Shrink Resistant: The

Struggle Against Psychiatry in Canada " (1988), host-producer of the

antipsychiatry program " Shrinkrap " on CKLN radio (88.1 FM) in

Toronto, member of People Against Coercive Treatment (P.A.C.T.), and

member of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP).]

 

PLEASE SNOWBALL, COPY AND PUBLISH THIS STATEMENT INCLUDING THE NOTE.

NO COPYRIGHT OR PERMISSION REQUIRED.

 

The author, Don Weitz can be reached at his e-mail address:

dweitz