Month: September 2013

Nosology

Posted on by cchrstl

Nosology

While not directly related to Schnozology, Nosology is still an interesting term.

Nosology: The branch of medicine concerned with the classification of diseases. [from Greek nosos disease + Greek logos word]

We caught the term being used in the July 2013 issue of Reason magazine, in an article by Gary Greenberg, a practicing psychotherapist, titled “Overselling Psychiatry;” here is the quote: “Doubts like Frances’, on the part of both respected professionals and confused laypersons, are inevitable given the way the APA conducts nosology, the science of disease classification.”

Here are some additional quotes from this article to give the context:

“Allen Frances, former head of the Duke University School of Medicine’s psychiatry department … was chair of the APA task force for DSM-IV … [and] has been warning everyone who will listen that the newest DSM revision [DSM-5] will turn even more of human suffering into mental illness and thus into grist for the pharmaceutical mill.”

The DSM, of course, is the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the fifth edition (DSM-5) having been released this past May. Despite a growing consensus of people who see the DSM for what it is — a purely subjective work of no scientific substance or authority — it is still accepted in the legal system as being a scientific work that catalogs descriptions of mental symptoms as if they were real medical diseases.

“…many critics have pointed out that these disease categories do not exist in nature…”

In 1984 the results of a survey of 20,000 Americans indicated that, “In any given year, more than 20 percent of Americans qualified for a DSM-III diagnosis.”

Extrapolating this result to say that 20 percent of the population is mentally ill, as is the current marketing cry of the mental health industry, is the height of fraudulent statistical hubris, as the DSM itself has no basis in fact.

“… doctors using DSM checklists were all too likely to find disease everywhere they looked. There was no governor in the mechanism, no way to say this person was sick and that one was simply unhappy…”

“‘The tendency [is] always strong,’ John Stuart Mill wrote in 1869, ‘to believe that whatever receives a name must be an entity or being, having an independent existence of its own.’ … this tendency had led all the stakeholders in nosology — scientists, regulators, editors, doctors, drug companies, and, of course, patients — to take the labels not as arbitrary descriptions but as the names of actual diseases.”

The moral of this tale, to spell it out, is that psychiatric labels are junk science; psychiatry is junk science; psycho-pharmaceuticals are junk science.

See a competent, non-psychiatric health professional for your troubles. Insist on full disclosure of lab tests, diagnoses, drug actions and drug side effects, and exercise your fully informed consent before accepting treatment.

While we do not provide medical advice, we do provide educational materials so that you can Find Out yourself about these things. Select a downloadable booklet from www.CCHRSTL.org that catches your interest and let us know what you think about it. Forward this newsletter to everyone you know and recommend they subscribe.

Psychiatric Medicaid Fraud

Posted on by cchrstl

Psychiatric Medicaid Fraud

In an August 28, 2013 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the appeals judge held that psychiatrists commit Medicaid fraud when they submit Medicaid claims for off-label prescriptions for psychiatric drugs to children for uses that are not approved by the FDA or supported by certain specific pharmaceutical references.

In the words of the court, “…the federal government generally will not pay for medications prescribed for purposes not approved by the FDA or ‘supported’ by any of several pharmaceutical reference books (called ‘compendia’). …Medicaid can only provide reimbursement for ‘covered outpatient drugs.’ …Covered drugs do not include any drugs ‘used for a medical indication which is not a medically accepted indication.’ …’medically accepted indication’ is a statutorily defined term that refers to a prescription purpose approved by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act…or ‘supported by’…the American Hospital Formulary Service Drug Information, the United States Pharmacopeia Drug Information…and the DRUGDEX Information System.”

Basically, the appeals court reinforced the common-sense position that Medicaid fraud occurs when a doctor submits a Medicaid claim for a prescription written for off-label use, as many psychiatric drugs are prescribed.

The original lawsuit, ex rel Watson v. King-Vassel, was brought under PsychRights’ Medicaid Fraud Initiative Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth by Dr. Toby Watson, a Wisconsin psychologist, to support the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights‘ effort to try and stop the tremendous harm caused by off-label psychiatric drug prescriptions to poor children on Medicaid for uses that have no recognized scientific support.

Starting on January 1, 2014, all low-income, non-elderly and non-disabled individuals will be eligible for Medicaid, courtesy of the Affordable Care Act. The Federal Government will provide 100% of the cost of newly eligible people between 2014 and 2016, 95% of the costs in 2017, 94% of the costs in 2018, 93% of the costs in 2019, and 90 percent matching for subsequent years. The bottom line — expanding Medicaid in this manner will also expand Medicaid fraud. Ensuring that psychiatric drugs are available for all citizens, access to Community Mental Health Centers is being emphasized.

Need we say that all psychiatric drugs are harmful? Find out why!

Report Medicaid fraud in Missouri to Missouri Medicaid Fraud & Compliance.

Navy Yard Shooter on Psych Drugs

Posted on by cchrstl

Navy Yard Shooter on Psych Drugs

We now know that Aaron Alexis, the 34-year-old man accused of killing 12 people in a gun rampage at the Washington Navy Yard September 16, was taking psychiatric drugs known to cause violence and suicide.

The New York Times reported that Alexis had been prescribed Trazodone (brand name Desyrel), an antidepressant that carries an FDA black box warning for suicide, and is documented to cause mania and violent behavior.

Lawmakers and other government and military officials refuse to give credence to evidence showing that psychiatric drugs cause violence, ensuring that mass shootings will continue.

You can help by contacting your local, state and federal officials and asking them to investigate the connection between violence and psychiatric drugs. You might also consider contacting the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to express your opinion.

The FDA’s MedWatch system reveals that between 2004-2011, there were 14,656 reports of psychiatric drugs causing violent side effects. You can read FDA information about Trazodone here. The FDA admits that less than 1 percent of all serious events are ever reported, so the actual number of harmful side effects is most certainly higher.

Psychiatrists, in both their research for drug manufacturers and in their public statements, cover up the very serious risks of psychotropic drugs. This is misleading to the FDA and it is lying to patients. It places millions of people at risk when psychiatrists prescribe dangerous, suicide-inducing drugs for subjective disorders that cannot be medically proven. The FDA should not be approving drugs for any condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until these “disorders” can be substantiated by some form of blood test, x-ray or other physical test — which they can’t.

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Shift Work Disorder

Posted on by cchrstl

Shift Work Disorder

Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorder, also called Shift Work Disorder, classified in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition) under “sleep-wake disorders”, is a way for the psycho-pharmaceutical industry to sell drugs to people who work nights or rotating shifts and who may experience difficulty adjusting to this sleep-wake rhythm. The implication that this is some kind of mental illness or disorder is most invalidating and simply untrue.

I myself worked a rotating night shift once upon a time, and it was pretty obvious that any sleep-wake discomfort I experienced was simply that and not any kind of mental illness. I found my own way of getting enough sleep without drugs.

“If you work non-traditional hours and struggle to stay awake at work, you may be experiencing excessive sleepiness.” However, for those who buy in to the psychiatric pill-pushers, they can get NUVIGIL® (armodafinil), an addictive, stimulant-like psychiatric drug for adults who cannot stay awake due to “shift work disorder.” Of course, like many psychiatric drugs, possible side effects are headache, nausea, dizziness, insomnia, depression, anxiety, hallucinations, suicide, and aggression. Note that this drug is not a cure for any condition, and is only used to make a person stay awake while working. Of course, the manufacturer warns the user not to drive or operate machinery while taking the drug, so one is not really sure what benefit it could possibly have in any case.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries tried to get the FDA to approve Nuvigil for bipolar depression symptoms, but the results from the “Final Phase III Study of Patients with Major Depression Associated with Bipolar I Disorder” failed to show that it was more effective than a placebo.

The precise mechanism through which armodafinil is thought to promote wakefulness is unknown, but they think it has a similarity in action to amphetamine and methylphenidate, with some kind of effect in the brain involving dopamine and other chemicals. But they want you to try it out and let them know if it works. What do you think?

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U.S. Probes Psych Drugs on Kids

Posted on by cchrstl

U.S. Probes Psych Drugs on Kids

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) carried this report August 11, “U.S. Probes Use of Antipsychotic Drugs on Children,” sub-titled “Federal health officials are reviewing antipsychotic drug use on children in the Medicaid system.”

Concerned that psych drugs are being over-prescribed to very young children, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is reviewing antipsychotic use in the Medicaid system for children under 18 years old. These drugs include Abilify, which is widely prescribed to children for a range of behavioral symptoms. Other drugs in this category include Risperdal, Seroquel, and Zyprexa.

The DHHS has this to say specifically about this review: “We will determine the extent to which children ages 18 and younger had Medicaid claims for atypical antipsychotic drugs during the selected timeframe. On the basis of medical record reviews, we will also determine the extent to which the atypical antipsychotic drug claims were for off-label uses and for indications not listed in one or more of the approved drug compendia.”

Quotes from the WSJ article: “Medicaid spends more on antipsychotics than on any other class of drugs. Abilify, made by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., appears on lists of the top 10 drugs paid for by Medicaid in various states.”

“The number of people under age 20 receiving Medicaid-funded prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs tripled between 1999 and 2008.”

“Children on Medicaid are prescribed antipsychotics at four times the rate of privately insured children.”

“Of particular concern is use of the drugs on foster children in the Medicaid system.”

Contact Daniel R. Levinson, Inspector General, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, at dan.levinson@oig.hhs.gov, and let him know what you think about the psychiatric drugging of children with harmful and addictive antipsychotics.

Abilify and other antipsychotic drugs have caused a potentially fatal condition called neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Patients who develop this may have high fevers, muscle rigidity, altered mental status, irregular pulse or blood pressure, rapid heart rate, excessive sweating, and heart arrhythmias (irregularities). Body temperature regulation—disruption of the body’s ability to reduce core body temperature—has been attributed to antipsychotic agents such as Abilify.

According to the U.S. consumer advocacy group Public Citizen after reviewing information about clinical trials of Abilify, “…nothing in these five trials can lead one to believe that aripiprazole (Abilify) is a meaningful advancement in the treatment of schizophrenia.”

Of course, we recognize that the real problem is that psychiatrists fraudulently diagnose life’s problems as an “illness”, and stigmatize unwanted behavior as “diseases.” Psychiatry’s stigmatizing labels, programs and treatments are harmful junk science; their diagnoses of “mental disorders” are a hoax — unscientific, fraudulent and harmful. All psychiatric treatments, not just psychiatric drugs, are dangerous.

It is vital that you, your family, your friends and associates, watch the video documentary “Making A Killing — The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging”. Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of psychiatric abuse victims and the survivors themselves. This riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine. The facts are hard to believe, but fatal to ignore. Watch the video online here. Forward this newsletter to everyone you know and recommend that they watch this video.

Bradley Manning under psychiatric treatment

Posted on by cchrstl

Bradley Manning under psychiatric treatment

Various news reports have been discussing 25-year-old former intelligence analyst Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, who was convicted of disclosing reams of classified information through WikiLeaks.

Apparently Manning was receiving psychiatric treatment while he was deployed in Iraq during 2009-2010.

Then when Manning was detained for nine months in the Quantico, Virginia maximum security brig he continued to receive psychiatric treatment. Reports say that Manning licked his cell bars while sleepwalking as a side effect of the drugs he was being given. A few months before Manning arrived at Quantico, another inmate of the brig had killed himself while under the same psychiatrist’s care.

After being sentenced to 35 years in prison, Manning was transferred to the prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. One expects that psychiatric treatment for Manning will be continued there. One news report we saw said that Manning had received both anti-depression and anti-anxiety drugs.

While we express no official position regarding his actions, we certainly have an official position on his psychiatric “treatment.”

According to psychiatric thinking, the “solution” for everything from the most minor to most severe personal problem is strictly limited to: 1) Diagnosing symptoms using the scientifically discredited Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; 2) Assigning a mental illness label; 3) Designating a restrictive, generally coercive and costly range of harmful treatments.

As decades of psychiatric monopoly over the world’s mental health reflects, this unilateral approach leads only to upwardly spiraling mental illness statistics, continuously escalating funding demands — and away from any cures.

What do we mean by “cure?” For the individual a cure means nothing less than complete and permanent absence of any overwhelming physical or mental trauma. For the society it means the rehabilitation of the individual as a consistently honest, ethical, productive and successful member.

Psychiatry cannot and never has produced a cure. Trusted with the care for our mentally disturbed, psychiatry has failed utterly to provide any humane solutions to their plight. Psychiatrists are failed medical practitioners who have betrayed their pledge to help patients in order to legally push their own dangerous psychotropic drugs.

In a significant departure from medical diagnosis, psychiatric diagnoses are devoted to categorization of symptoms only, not the observation of actual physical disease. None of the diagnoses are supported by scientific evidence of biological disease or a mental illness of any kind.

Psychiatry would prefer to say or imply that only brain-based, mental “illnesses” can affect irrational behavior or thinking, that they need long-term, if not life-long care, and that they are incurable. These falsehoods have been so successfully disseminated throughout the mental health system and amongst the public, that countless numbers have become trapped as lifelong patients of psychiatric and psychological services. These falsehoods must be exposed.

The psychiatric profession has been gradually but steadily undermining the foundations of our culture — individual responsibility, standards of achievement, education and justice. The bottom line, stated by Dr. Thomas Szasz, is that “psychiatrists have been largely responsible for creating the problems they have ostensibly tried to solve.”

The rehabilitation of criminals is a long-forgotten dream. We build more prisons and pass even tougher laws in the belief that these will act as a deterrent. In the 1940’s, psychiatry’s leaders proclaimed their intention to infiltrate the field of the law and bring about the “re-interpretation and eventually eradication of the concept of right and wrong;” with the consequence that today, because of psychiatric influence, the justice system is failing.

For more information about how this occurred, and how psychiatry’s ideologies and actions have contributed to today’s failing criminal rehabilitation and increasing crime rate, download and read the CCHR booklet “Eroding Justice — Psychiatry’s Corruption of Law — Report and recommendations on psychiatry subverting the courts and corrective services.”