Behaviorism and Mental Health

Alternative perspective on psychiatry's so-called mental disorders | PHILIP HICKEY, PH.D.

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Protecting the Children

November 3, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

 

I’ve recently read an article called Safeguarding a Generation of Children from Over-diagnosis and Prescription of Psychotropic Drugs.  It’s written by Dave Traxson, who works as an Educational Psychologist in the UK, and is posted on the  DxSummit website, an online platform for rethinking mental health, a forum in which the concepts underlying pharma-psychiatry are questioned and challenged.

Here are some quotes from the article:

“I view the trend towards mass medication of children with mind altering and potentially toxic drugs and ‘drug cocktails’ as a form of psycho-economic imperialism. By that I mean that young peoples’ developing minds are being colonized, using biochemicals, for huge commercial profit and in effect, increased social control. This has resulted from carefully constructed ‘business plans’ in boardrooms which some years ago saw the population of children in the western world as a great market expansion opportunity. The pharmaceutical companies have reaped the huge financial rewards of this rich and very bitter harvest ever since.”

“…the use of psychotropic drugs will result in young people who will end up returning to the repeated pattern of using psycho-pharmaceutical interventions whenever they face a problem in life, thereby continuing this very profitable vicious cycle of pharmaceutical dependency.”

“More and more psychologists in Britain have principled concerns about labeling a still developing child in such a pejorative way and the harm done to them by the internal attributions of abnormality that may well result. Rather than a within child biomedical explanation of the difficulties experienced, they prefer a more holistic and socially contextualised hypothesis that includes a range of the complex web of interacting factors that usually explain challenging behavior.”

I strongly recommend this article.

At the present time, the criticisms against psychiatry are mounting in both frequency and intensity.  The widespread drugging of the population – including very young children – is being exposed for what it is: profitable drug pushing.  And psychiatrists are being exposed for what they are: overpaid drug pushers.

Pharma-psychiatry has no valid response to our criticisms.  So they have adopted two broad strategies.  The first is what in political circles is called spin.  This consists essentially of three elements:  deny or minimize the accusations; deflect the criticism; and attack the critics.  We’ve seen lots of this.

The second broad strategy is ride out the storm.  Pharma-psychiatry has been the subject of criticism for decades, but in the past has always managed to marginalize its critics and continue expanding its business.

But this time it’s different.  The attacks on psychiatry have reached a point where they can no longer be dismissed.  But we need to maintain the momentum.  We need more articles like the one by Dave Traxson.

At present almost any magazine that you pick up in a waiting room will contain at least one psycho-pharma ad.  We see pictures of beautiful, smiling people – the epitome of functionality, success, vitality, and vigor.  And how did they get like that?  By eating pills.  These are powerful messages.  People are still being swayed, psychiatrists are still writing the prescriptions, and pharmaceutical companies are still reaping huge profits.

.Neither psychiatry nor its pharma allies are showing any indication of backing off.  They’ve been onto a good thing for fifty years, and as far as they’re concerned, it’s full speed ahead.   On June 18, 2013, Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, President of the APA stated:

“We have the…moral high ground. We must not be defensive or even timid…”

This man was elected by the APA members and presumably reflects their views on these matters.  They still believe that, with spin and deception, they can ride the storm.

We need to convince them otherwise.  Please spread the word.  Keep up the pressure.  They’re not going to stop until they’re made to stop.

Filed Under: A Behavioral Approach to Mental Disorders Tagged With: dealing with problems of daily living, expansion of psychiatric turf, pharmaceutical industry, Psychiatric "spin"

About Phil Hickey

I am a licensed psychologist, presently retired. I have worked in clinical and managerial positions in the mental health, corrections, and addictions fields in the United States and England. My wife Nancy and I have been married since 1970 and have four grown children.

 

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The phrase "mental health" as used in the name of this website is simply a term of convenience. It specifically does not imply that the human problems embraced by this term are illnesses, or that their absence constitutes health. Indeed, the fundamental tenet of this site is that there are no mental illnesses, and that conceptualizing human problems in this way is spurious, destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing.

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