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You are here: Home / Archives for chemical imbalance theory

Dr. Pies’ Non-Apology

February 5, 2021 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

INTRODUCTION On June 23, 2020, Awais Aftab, MD, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Case Western, interviewed Ronald Pies, MD, also a psychiatrist, and a professor at Tufts and SUNY. During the interview, Dr. Aftab stated: “I have followed the controversy surrounding ‘chemical imbalance’ with some interest over the years, including the multiple articles you… Continue Reading

Dr. Pies and The Chemical Imbalance Deception

January 21, 2021 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

INTRODUCTION For the past several years, the eminent and scholarly Ronald Pies, MD, psychiatrist, of SUNY Upstate Medical and Tufts Universities, has labored the point that psychiatry has never endorsed the simplistic chemical imbalance theory of “mental illness”.  As various anti-psychiatry bloggers, including myself, began to accumulate a great many instances of prominent psychiatrists doing… Continue Reading

Is Anti-Psychiatry Harmful?

January 13, 2021 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

INTRODUCTION On September 9, 2020, Jonathan Stea, PhD, Tyler Black, MD, and Joseph Pierre, MD, published a piece on MedPage Today.  The article is titled Why Anti-Psychiatry Now Fails and Harms. Dr. Stea is a clinical psychologist and adjunct assistant professor at the University of Calgary. Dr. Black is the psychiatric medical director of British… Continue Reading

Allen Frances: Still Spinning the Story

April 24, 2020 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

On March 4, 2020, the very eminent Allen Frances, MD, published an article in Aeon, which according to its About page is “a digital magazine, publishing some of the most profound and provocative thinking on the web. We ask the big questions and find the freshest, most original answers, provided by leading thinkers on science,… Continue Reading

The Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression: Where Is It Going?

February 13, 2020 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

The spurious chemical imbalance theory of depression is arguably the most destructive thing that psychiatry has ever done.  Worldwide, millions of individuals are taking antidepressants, often with a cocktail of other drugs, because they have been told the blatant falsehood that they need the pills to combat a brain illness – a “real illness just… Continue Reading

The Chemical Imbalance Theory.  Dr. Pies Returns, Again

July 22, 2019 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

On April 30, 2019, the very eminent and learned psychiatrist Ronald Pies, MD, published a piece in Psychiatric Times titled Debunking the Two Chemical Imbalance Myths, Again. Here’s the opening paragraph: “Like the legendary Count Dracula, who could be killed only by driving a stake through his heart, some myths seem almost immortal. For more… Continue Reading

My Response to Dr. Pies’ Response

November 30, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 12 Comments

On November 18, 2015, Dr. Pies sent his response to my November 17 article to MIA.  MIA posted it, and forwarded a copy to me.  It reads: “I have read Dr. Philip Hickey’s 8400+ word treatise, and I have only the following to say with regard to the two key points at issue: Notwithstanding my… Continue Reading

Dr. Pies Is Back

November 18, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 17 Comments

This morning, I received, by way of a forward from MIA, the following from Dr. Pies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   I have read Dr. Philip Hickey’s 8400+ word treatise, and I have only the following to say with regard to the two… Continue Reading

My Response To Dr. Pies

November 17, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 8 Comments

In the October 2015 issue of the Behavior Therapist (pages 206-213), Jeffrey Lacasse, PhD, and Jonathan Leo, PhD, published an article titled Antidepressants and the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression: A Reflection and Update on the Discourse, I thought the article had particular merit, and I drew attention to it in a post dated November… Continue Reading

Dr. Pies Responds

November 6, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 23 Comments

On November 5, Kermit Cole, Front Page Editor at Mad in America, forwarded to me the following email which he had received from Ronald Pies, MD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   From: Ronald Pies MD <[email protected]> Date: November 4, 2015 at 2:17:53 PM… Continue Reading

More on the Chemical Imbalance Theory

November 2, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 6 Comments

On October 23, 2015, Jeffrey Lacasse, PhD, and Jonathan Leo, PhD, published an interesting article on Florida State University’s DigiNole Commons.  The title is Antidepressants and the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression: A Reflection and Update on the Discourse.  Dr. Lacasse is assistant professor in the College of Social Work at Florida State University; Dr…. Continue Reading

Dr. Pies and Psychiatry’s ‘Solid Center’

October 22, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 9 Comments

Ronald Pies, MD, is one of American’s most eminent and prestigious psychiatrists.  He is the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times, and he is a Professor of Psychiatry at both Syracuse and Tufts. I disagree with many of Dr. Pies’ contentions, and I have expressed these disagreements in detail in various posts (for instance, here, here,… Continue Reading

Psychiatry and the Pressure to Prescribe

October 6, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 1 Comment

Hugh Middleton, MD, posted  an interesting article on Mad in America, October 1, 2015.  It’s called Hey; Don’t Just Shoot the Messenger!    Dr. Middleton is a British psychiatrist who  is a founding member of the Critical Psychiatry Network, and was a co-author of the cardinal paper, Psychiatry beyond the current paradigm. (2012). Dr. Middleton had… Continue Reading

Book Review:  Depression Delusion, by Terry Lynch, MD, MA

August 31, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 80 Comments

In this truly remarkable, and meticulously researched, volume, Dr. Lynch annihilates psychiatry’s cherished chemical imbalance theory of depression.  Every facet of this theory, which the author correctly calls a delusion, is critically analyzed and found wanting.  Example after example is provided of psychiatrists promoting this fiction, the factual and logical errors of which are clearly… Continue Reading

The Spurious Chemical Imbalance Theory is Still Alive and Well

April 27, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 37 Comments

On April 5, 2015, Scott Alexander, MD, a trainee psychiatrist, posted an article titled Chemical Imbalance on his website Slate Star Codex.  (The writer tells us that Scott Alexander is a blog handle and not his real name, but for convenience, I will refer to him as Dr. Alexander.) Dr. Alexander begins by noting that… Continue Reading

The Chemical Imbalance Theory:  Still Being Promoted

December 10, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 11 Comments

On November 28, Psychiatric Times published an article titled Psychiatric Diagnosis and Treatment of Somatizing Neuropsychiatric Disorders.  The authors are Daniel T. Williams, MD, and Alla Landa PhD, both from Columbia University Psychiatry Department. The article’s lead-in states: “Although the somatizing disorders cover a vast array of symptomatic domains across many medical specialties, this article… Continue Reading

Dr. Pies Still Spinning

September 8, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 13 Comments

On July 1, the very eminent psychiatrist Ronald Pies, MD, wrote an article for Psychiatric Times titled Positivism, Humanism and the Case for Psychiatric Diagnosis.  The article also appeared in Medscape on August 20. Dr. Pies begins by discussing websites “…that critically examine psychiatry.”  These websites, he tells us, “…vary from the viscerally enraged, to… Continue Reading

More Psychiatric ‘Myth’ Debunking

July 22, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 26 Comments

On July 15, I wrote a post called Psychiatry Debunks the ‘Myths.’  In that article I focused on the myth-debunking of Cognitive Psychiatry of Chapel Hill, but in researching the topic for that post, I came across a psychiatry resident named Shan (no last name) who blogs on a website called Exploratory Encephalotomy. With regards… Continue Reading

Psychiatry Debunks the ‘Myths’

July 15, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 84 Comments

Psychiatry has always had its share of critics, but in the past two decades these criticisms have increased in frequency and intensity.  Psychiatry’s underlying concepts are being denounced as spurious to the point of inanity, and its practices are being accurately and forcefully exposed as destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing. Psychiatry has no rational or logical… Continue Reading

Psychiatry DID Promote the Chemical Imbalance Theory

June 6, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 62 Comments

On April 15, Ronald Pies, MD, an eminent and widely published psychiatrist, wrote an article for Medscape.com.  The piece is titled Nuances, Narratives, and the ‘Chemical Imbalance’ Debate in Psychiatry. The main thrust of the article is that: “…the ‘chemical imbalance theory’ was never a real theory, nor was it widely propounded by responsible practitioners… Continue Reading

 

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