Behaviorism and Mental Health

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

A Critical Look at Critical Psychiatry

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Critical Psychiatry Network is a group of British psychiatrists who are developing and promoting concepts that question and criticize the assumptions that underlie present-day psychiatric practice, not only in Britain, but also in the US and other developed countries. Critical Psychiatry challenges the notion that the various DSM “diagnoses” are biologically-based illnesses, and adduces a… Continue Reading

Childhood Bipolar Disorder

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Prior to about 1994, childhood bipolar disorder was virtually unheard of.  DSM-III-R (1987), in the section on manic episode, states, “…studies indicate that the mean age at onset is in the early 20s.  However…a sizable number of new cases appear after age 50.”(p 216)  Of course a mean age of onset in the early 20’s… Continue Reading

Dangerous People

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In the wake of the Connecticut mass murders of last month, a great deal of attention, official and otherwise, is being focused on the “mentally ill.”  Politicians of all persuasions are proclaiming that we need more funding for the so-called mental health services, and predictably, the various practitioners and centers are lining up with their… Continue Reading

Depression is Not a Brain Defect

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I’ve come across an article by psychologist Bruce Levine, PhD, How the “Brain Defect” Theory of Depression Stigmatizes Depression Sufferers. Dr. Levine convincingly debunks the brain defect theory, and also the notion that the illness theory destigmatizes depression. Here are some quotes:  “Americans have been increasingly socialized to be terrified of the overwhelming pain that… Continue Reading