1. The Myth
A “mental illness” is a real disease. “Mental illnesses” are brain diseases.
1. The Reality
There is no litmus test to determine whether a person has a “mental illness” or not. We have found no “mental illness” virus, bacteria, or genes. “Mental illnesses” are not brain diseases by definition. When a physical cause for a “mental illness” is discovered in the brain, then it ceases to be a “mental illness”, and it becomes a neurological disorder.
2. The Myth
There are many “sick” people out there in the community who are not getting the treatment they need because of “stigma”.
2. The Reality
20 % of the US population are on psychiatric drugs, 11 % of the US population are on anti-depressants, if anything there is an epidemic in the over-diagnosis of psychiatric disorder. This untreated-people-in-the-community ruse is being used by pharmaceutical companies to expand their markets.
3. The Myth
“Stigma” keeps people who are “sick” from seeking much needed treatment.
3. The Reality
When people are forced into mental health treatment against their will and wishes, how can you speak of “stigma” preventing people from seeking treatment? You’ve got people who don’t want to be treated being treated. If they aren’t actively engaged in seeking treatment, the state can always impose treatment upon them, so much for “stigma” preventing anybody from receiving it.
4. The Myth
“Mental illness” is a lifelong debilitating condition from which people seldom recover.
4. The Reality
People can and do recover from serious “mental illness” labels.
5. The Myth
Commitment to a mental hospital is used as a last resort.
5. The Reality
People are sent to state hospitals because communities have not created more safe and effective community treatment resources and supports.
6. The Myth
‘Anti-psychotic’ drugs are medication.
6. The Reality
Neuroleptic drugs, the so-called ‘anti-psychotic’ drugs, are not medicinal in the slightest, and they are not particularly anti-psychotic. They can, in fact, given long term use, increase the psychotic symptoms they are credited with suppressing.
7. The Myth
Mental health treatment is safe.
7. The Reality
There are many mental health treatments used in standard psychiatric practice today that are physically harmful.
8. The Myth
Mental health treatment is improving.
8. The Reality
We have this 25-30 year mortality gap, and it has been growing for years, between people served by the mental health system and the general population. I wouldn’t call dying at a younger age an improvement.
9. The Myth
Drug treatment makes people better.
9. The Reality
Drug treatment has tended to destroy the physical health of people in mental health treatment. There are more and better ways to treat people in the mental health field, and we need to explore some of those other ways more fully.
10. The Myth
Neurological research is on the verge of great discoveries that will prove useful in treating people in the mental health system.
10. The Reality
We’ve been hearing the same sort of scientific breakthrough claims for hundreds of years now, and every time we hear them, we‘re more or less back where we started.
Filed under: Alternatives, Biological Psychiatry, Brain Damage, Conflict of Interest, Discrimination, Education, Force, Fraud, Human Rights, Mental Health Care, Oppression, Pharmaceutical Company, Psychiatric Drugs, Recovery, Research, self help, State Hospital, Violence | 25 Comments »
