A psychiatrist in Israel was recently arrested for alleged fraud when it was discovered that he fraudulently diagnosed dozens of students with mental illness so that they could receive a stipend from the National Insurance Institute. [http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/psychiatrist-suspected-of-handing-out-fraudulent-diagnoses-to-haredis-1.319781]
Pfizer decided not to proceed with a clinical trial of its antipsychotic drug Geodon for children. The FDA had warned Pfizer that there was widespread overdosing of patients due to inadequate monitoring by Pfizer. Last September, Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal charges for improper marketing of drugs including Geodon. [http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-news-story.aspx?storyid=201006231755dowjonesdjonline000603]
Officials in Georgia recently committed to spend millions of dollars to help mentally ill and developmentally disabled people move out of state mental hospitals and receive services in the community. Georgia pays an average of $174,000 per year to house a person in a state-run hospital, compared with $47,000 for in-home services. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had previously exposed that dozens of patients in Georgia’s psychiatric hospitals had died from abuse. [http://www.ajc.com/news/state-justice-department-reach-685948.html]
There are workable alternatives to psychiatry’s mind-, brain- and body-damaging treatments. With psychiatry now calling for mandatory mental illness screening for adults and children everywhere, we urge all who have an interest in preserving the mental health, the physical health and the freedom of their families, communities and nations, to find out for themselves. Something must be done to establish real help for those who need it.