Psychiatry is a 'mental illness' video

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Fai

One who wants to be many
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPOrD6xfDNo&feature=related

I'm not sure how many of you saw this video, but I personally find it baffling. Especially in the comments on how people are so anti-psychiatry. I understand the cult-religion of Scientology openly bashes Psychiatry saying that psychiatrists "make" them sick with their drugs that 'do nothing'.

This is a bit upsetting in terms of how it'll effect the job if at all.

What's your take on this video? (I do realize I'm in the Psychiatry sub-forum, but after hearing Thomas Szaz's view of psychiatry I'd like to hear an opinion from others)

EDIT: I have no idea why these psychiatrists, who chose to pursue this field, are bashing psychiatry. It's really hypocritical...

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I haven't seen this specific video yet, but there's plenty of anti-medical backlash propaganda.

If you've read my several other posts, you'll see that I will not defend bad psychiatry and that it pisses me off. I am currently upset with some of the trends going on in the profession today.

That said, much of the antipsychiatry info out there is pure bull. For example, Scientology often pulls in a guy name Gary Null, a known denier of the existence of HIV, as a point-man to point out that psychiatry is bull.
 
I haven't seen this specific video yet, but there's plenty of anti-medical backlash propaganda.

If you've read my several other posts, you'll see that I will not defend bad psychiatry and that it pisses me off. I am currently upset with some of the trends going on in the profession today.

That said, much of the antipsychiatry info out there is pure bull. For example, Scientology often pulls in a guy name Gary Null, a known denier of the existence of HIV, as a point-man to point out that psychiatry is bull.

HIV is real, too? :eek:
 
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I love how in the Scientology videos, it mentions Null and then has a little title below his name "Professor of Science, Farleigh Dickinson."

Their program isn't exactly reputable, though I'd hate to brand the students there because I'm sure there are good ones out there.

By the way, I saw the video. It's just the scientology video I already saw.

I will say that out of all of it, about 50% of it is actually true, but some of it is stuff that was going on 50 years ago. Medicine back then was in the dark ages. The other stuff is grossly distorted or majorly taken out of context. E.g. they named some psychiatrists who were child molesters, then try to make a blanket assessment that all psychiatrists are like that. Some of it is just completely not true but because no one is specifically pointed out as the culprit, no specific person could sue over the video for liability.

I was thinking of getting the same video, then adding comments to it showing what portions of it are not true but I just don't got the time.

About Gary Null (a guy featured in this video over and over as if he's an expert).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Null

Null was raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, with his two brothers. He holds an Associate Degree in Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. He received a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute & University, a private distance-learning college in Cincinnati, Ohio.[4] Null's thesis was entitled "A Study of Psychological and Physiological Effects of Caffeine on Human Health." His credentials and the rigorousness of his Ph.D. program were questioned by Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch.[5] Null is a New York State Certified Dietitian-Nutritionist.[6]

Null attacks many facets of mainstream medicine, arguing that physicians have an economic interest in promoting rather than preventing sickness. In the 1970s, Null co-authored a series of articles on cancer research for Penthouse, beginning with one entitled "The Great Cancer Fraud."[7] In Penthouse, Null accused the medical community of "suppressing alternative cancer treatments to protect the medical establishment's solid-gold cancer train." In place of standard medical therapy, Null advocated alternative cancer treatments such as hydrazine sulfate. In 1999 TIME wrote of Null's conspiracy claims: "From a young reporter this is to be expected. But two decades later, Null, 54, is still warning of a variety of medical bogeymen out to gull a trusting public."[8]
In addition to his promotion of alternative cancer treatments, Null has argued that HIV is harmless and does not cause AIDS.[8] In his book AIDS: A Second Opinion, Null questioned the role of antiretroviral medication and instead advocated a range of dietary supplements for HIV-positive individuals. His book was criticized as "massive, irresponsible and nearly unreadable" by Salon.com,[9] and Null was cited as a prominent proponent of AIDS denialism by Seth Kalichman in Denying AIDS, his book on the phenomenon.[10]
In 2009, Null was the keynote speaker at a rally opposing mandatory H1N1 influenza vaccination during the 2009 pandemic, leading the state health department to dismiss Null's claims about the vaccine as "not scientifically credible."[11]
[edit]Radio and video work

Null broadcast a syndicated radio talk show, Natural Living with Gary Null, for more than 27 years. His show was broadcast first on WBAI, then on the VoiceAmerica Network and over the Internet on the Progressive Radio Network. Null's show subsequently returned to WBAI, leading to protests from ACT-UP New York and other AIDS activist groups concerned by Null's promotion of AIDS denialism.[12][13]
Null has made several self-funded and self-published documentary films on public policy issues, personal health, and personal development. Null's videos have been aired by PBS during pledge drives, but concern arose within PBS over the videos' sensational claims. Ervin Duggan, the president of PBS, expressed concern that by showing Null's videos, the network was "open[ing] the door to quacks and charlatans."[14] Null implied that his problems with PBS may have been an attempt to silence him, saying: "The guardians of the gates of orthodoxy at PBS... you don't know who their friends are."[8]
[edit]Dietary supplements and vitamin poisoning

Null owns Gary Null & Associates, a company which markets dietary supplements, as well as a health-food store in New York City.[15] In 2010, Null claimed that he was sickened and nearly killed by his own dietary supplements.[1][3][2] He filed suit against a contractor involved in producing the supplement, "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", claiming that the supplement contained 1,000 times the labeled dose of Vitamin D and that it had led to the hospitalizations of 6 consumers poisoned by excessive doses of the vitamin.[1] Null reportedly suffered severe pain and kidney damage from "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", but continued consuming the supplement in the belief that it would relieve his symptoms.[1]
The New York Post noted that Null's near-death experience with his own supplement brand was "not exactly a ringing endorsement."[1] The Los Angeles Times wrote that Null's experience "should give pause to anyone lured by the extravagant claims of many supplements makers", and noted that it was common for dietary supplements to contain doses "wildly different than those indicated on their label" as a result of weak regulation.[3] Null's attorney cast the alleged vitamin poisoning as an isolated incident, saying: "We don't want anything to affect the physical well-being of anyone or the reputation of the company."[2]

I'm finding some inappropriate sadistic satisfaction in finding this guy who's made a profession out of finger pointing at real medicine get sickened by his own products.

Although I am a bit jealous. After all, this guy got to work with Bob "The Gooch" Guccione!
In the 1970s, Null co-authored a series of articles on cancer research for Penthouse, beginning with one entitled "The Great Cancer Fraud."
 
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This is the thing that cracks me up about Scientology. They accuse psychiatry of diagnosing people with things that don't exist and then giving at best innocuous and at worse harmful treatments with the goal of making money.

The funny thing is that this is exactly what Scientology does. They recruit members and insist that they attend these "auditing" sessions in order to extract the dead alien souls from their auras. They charge a pretty penny for this service. From what I understand, there's no real endpoint to these "treatments". You keep needing them indefinitely. Apparently L. Ron Hubbard, the author of Dianetics and founder of Scientology, is widely quoted as having said, "If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion."

Maybe they just don't like competition.

Having said that, I agree with Whopper. There is plenty enough out there to give us a bad name. Misdiagnosis of bipolar, polypharmacy, telling people they have "chemical imbalances" when there's no real evidence to suggest that term has any meaning. But still, our role is a needed one and needs to be done with honor and integrity for the good of our patients.
 
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Wow I didn't even think a percent of it was true <__> Soley because I think Scientologists have some sort of mental illness of their own (and I mean that jokingly).

To Whopper - So by the 50% being true, that'd be back when they had lobotomy and inhumane treatment of patients, right? Yes I know One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is just a movie but it was startling to see patients being lobtomized like that (and ECT looked pretty scary, too). I figure that 50% being true decades ago was in the 40s where psychiatric hospitals were worse than prison. (I by no means sound like I think Psychiatry is like how it's portrayed in movies.)

Although, it is a shame that some psychiatrists are just drug-happy and "try to make the job easier" by misdignosing. But I'm sure every field has drug-happy and money-hungry doctors like that. I can see why you don't defend that and no one should either.

Also lmao that Null guy is really, really upsetting to just read about. I wonder what else he thinks isn't real that's truely killing people off today.

To Sunlioness - That is a shame. Actually, when I was dignosed with GAD I was told that I had a chemical imbalance and needed SSRIs to correct it. I believed it, too. My doctor explained serotonin and beta-blockers/SSRIs to me.

But, I'm glad that Psychiatry is still needed because it's upsetting to see people who actually suffer from mental illnesses being treated poorly/misdignosed from their true disorder.
 
To Whopper - So by the 50% being true, that'd be back when they had lobotomy and inhumane treatment of patients, right? Yes

I think you got the gist of it, yes. If you look at medicine and how it was conducted decades ago, of course it's going to seem barbaric by today's standards.

It wasn't until the 80s where people started associating being overweight, eating a high fat diet, and smoking as (edit: un)healthy. In fact some doctors were even saying smoking was healthy further back in the 50s. Does that make all of medicine BS because there were advances showing certain medical practices were wrong? Of course not.

If you read the history of psychiatry, people were put into asylums as they were known back then for decades with little hope. Back in the day, there was no real treatment for schizophrenia. If someone had it, many of them, for all intents and purposes, didn't get better but couldn't be let into society because they could not care for themselves or were dangerous.

Add to the equation that these people were shunned by society, they had no voice to advocate for themselves, and had no political clout (no money, no attention, etc), and you had a situation where asylums were treating these people no better than animals in several occasions. States didn't want to fund these people. Several of them were on the order of one doctor for literally thousands of patients.

Meds that treated schizophrenia didn't come out until a few decades ago, and while they worked, they did have major side effects. Due to advancement of medications, schizophrenics could actually now look forward to the odds of being hospitalized only on the order of weeks instead of for the rest of their lives provided they keep up with treatment.

It wasn't until the 60s to 70s where schizophrenics were actually given patient rights. This is in large part due to the civil rights movement. The same advancements that occurred for people of color also occurred for psychiatric patients in asylums. It's just that most people don't know about them because they aren't psychiatrists.

And that's where the video is actually true but taken out of context. Yes, psychotic patients were often not treated well, but the premises the video takes are completely false.

1) Mental illness such as schizophrenia does exist. 2) The people with the disorder weren't treated well. 3) Improvements were made.

Yet the video makes it out as if psychiatry is stuck in those days. In reality, it actually was psychiatrists in many of those cases that actually caused those improvements. For example, asylums are funded by the state. Most states do not want to fund mental illness and as a result led to asylums being poorly managed. Often times its psychiatrists and the family members of the mentally ill fighting for more treatment opportunities and respect for the mentally ill.

One could, for example, make a video that only showed every single bad police act ever done, then make the assertion that as a profession, police officers should be banned.

Of course, such an assertion would be ridiculous to the public, but that's because the public understands what a police officer does, and that they are people and can make mistakes, but the profession is needed by society. People don't understand psychiatry, and the video, done by people that have decided to make psychiatry their villian (by their religion, if you want to call it that), is made with the full intent of exploiting and misleading the public based on their lack of knowledge.

I've said this several times in the past. The mentally ill, like several other underprivileged groups are more likely to be exploited. I welcome the effort of any group that wants to advocate for them and at the same time expose bad doctors. The problem here is Scientology, or their sham front group CCHR that made this video aren't that. They're trying to make themselves out to appear that, but they're not that. They're more on the order of a whacko stalker ex-lover trying to take down a guy by exaggerating or outright lie about everything he's done.
 
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Scientology hates psychiatry/psychology because the fields rejected Hubbard's theory of Dianetics. Rumor also has it that he suffered from paranoid delusions and felt that psychiatrists were "out to get him."
 
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