Joanna Moncrieff is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mental Health Sciences at University College London, and is a practising psychiatrist. She is the author of a book The Myth of the Chemical Cure - A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment, and The Bitterest Pills. I quote from these books. I also quote from a book by Peter Breggin: Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, published in 2008. He is a psychiatrist in the US.
Moncrieff (page 237):
Psychiatric drug treatment is currently administered on the basis of a huge collective myth; the myth that psychiatric drugs act by correcting the biological basis of psychiatric symptoms or diseases. We have seen that for the three main classes of drugs used in psychiatry there is no evidence to substantiate this view. Instead, the evidence suggests that these drugs induce characteristic abnormal states that can account for their so-called therapeutic effects.
Moncrieff is referring to what she calls her 'Disease-Centered Model', as distinct from her 'Drug-Centered Model'(see page 8 of her 2013 book The Bitterest Pills). She sees her 'Drug-Centered Model' as perfectly acceptable (see page 18 of the same book). She implies that the 'Drug-Centered Model' justifies her use of drugs. This is very muddled, illogical and unscientific thinking. By contrast, Breggin regards these models as false and does not distinguish between them, and neither should Moncrieff. He has never prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, except to withdraw someone from drugs. For his treatments he employs caring and psychology.
Breggin (page 1):
All psychiatric treatments - drugs, electroshock, and lobotomy - work by disrupting the function of the brain and mind, creating effects that are then interpreted (or misinterpreted) as improvements. Medication spellbinding is a brain-disabling effect that renders individuals unable to perceive the degree of their drug-induced impairment and causes individuals not to attribute any change in themselves to an adverse drug effect and often makes individuals believe they are doing better than ever, when they are doing worse; and in the extreme, drives them into compulsive activities that harm themselves and others.
Moncrieff (page114):
There is now clear evidence from MRI studies that both older and newer neuroleptic drugs cause atrophy of the brain within a year. In addition, long-term treatment is associated with the development of a condition, tardive (persistent) dyskinesia (TD), characterised not only by involuntary movements, which may be relatively trivial in themselves [they are not trivial], but also by generalised cognitive decline and possibly by other behavioural indications of brain dysfunction. The implications of this scenario should not need spelling out. The long term use of neuroleptic or antipsychotic drugs appears to damage the brain. Since we know that some cases of tardive dyskenesia are permanent, this damage may not always be reversible on stopping the drug. The evidence points to the possibility that the use of these drugs has created an epidemic of iatrogenic [due to treatment] brain damage, as Peter Breggin and other voices in the wilderness have been suggesting for a long time.
Breggin (Page 64)
Jeste et al. (1993), in an ongoing prospective study, found that 26% of middle-aged and elderly patients developed TD (tardive diskinesia) after 12 months. Reviewing the literature on neuroleptic withdrawal, the authors found "that almost 60% withdrawn from neuroleptics did not relapse over a mean period of 6 months." They concluded, "It seems feasible to discontinue neuroleptic medication from a select population of older schizophrenic patients, if it is done carefully with adequate monitoring and follow-up." They also experimented with brief 2-week placebo-substituted withdrawal in their own group of patients, both younger and older patients, and found it relatively benign; none relapsed or required resumption of neuroleptics. They concluded, "Given the heightened risk of TD in older patients, it seems that a trial of neuroleptic withdrawal is warranted in this population." I (Breggin) would add that the same is true for ALL ages: Take as many as possible off these drugs.
If a trial period of withdrawal is merited in middle-aged and older patients, then Breggin is right to say it is valid for anyone whatever their age. In fact Breggin would refuse to start someone taking neuroleptic drugs.
On page XII of her book The Bitterest Pills, Moncrieff says: that antipsychotic drugs are "toxic chemicals that change the way the body functions" and "modify normal processes of thinking and feeling"; that in the 1980s the drug companies launched a new range of antipsychotics "with the mantra that the drugs help to reverse a 'chemical imbalance' or stop an underlying process of neuro-degeneration". Moncrieff rejects this disease-centered model. (See page 8 of The Bitterest Pills) but uses her Drug-Centered Model.
Moncrieff admits that she has difficulty with language such as terms like 'mental illness', 'patient', 'treatment', 'antipsychotic'. I can't think why she doesn't go the whole hog and use more real terms with a human touch, like breakdown, client, helping a person with unusual thoughts, and drug. The trouble is that she is a lecturer at London University teaching students. She is thus forced into teaching the disease-centred 'model' as well as the drug-centred 'model'. (See page 8 of her book The Bitterest Pills). Unlike her American counterpart, Peter Breggin, she has her feet in two philosophies. She should get out of the University, and start to practise in a similar fashion to Breggin with a kinder non-drug approach. Although she warns against the dangers of drugs, she is a supporter of the drug-centered 'model'. Giving such mixed messages, the drug companies must love her. WHAT SHE SHOULD BE THINKING IS THAT BOTH 'MODELS' DON'T 'MODEL' ANY PROCESS. THEY ARE BOTH UNSCIENTIFIC WITH NO TEST TO JUSTIFY THEM. SHE WAS WRONG TO DESCRIBE THE TWO APPROACHES OR WAYS AS 'MODELS'. AND SHE SHOULD PROCLAIM THE THIRD WAY TO HER STUDENTS; THE BREGGIN WAY.
Breggin in his long years of practise (he is 77) has never prescribed drugs to help a client with thought difficulties, and has never had a case of suicide, has been an expert witness in many court cases, and talks to clients as his therapy. If Moncrieff knows that by following the drug-centered way, she damages precious brains that have taken millennia to evolve, why on earth does she persist in holding to it? She probably cites Breggin more than any other psychiatrist. Why doesn't she listen to him, and follow him?
Breggin (Page 25)
Although the fact seems to have been lost on most medication prescription writers, the dopamine-blocking capacity of all the newer antipsychotic drugs means that their adverse effects will include the worst effects of the older neuroleptics, including the production of tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome...... It also helps to account for their primary effect of deactivation. In addition, the newer antipsychotic drugs pose even greater risks of causing potentially life-threatening disorders, including marked obesity, elevated cholesterol, and potentially lethal diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and pancratitis.
Breggin (Page 52)
There is now general agreement that mild to severe depressions that may lead to suicide may happen during treatment with any depot [long-acting intramuscular] neuroleptic (antipsychotic drug), just as they may occur during treatment with any oral neuroleptic.
The psychiatrists play with fire.
Breggin (Pages 2-4 - Four Brain-disabling Principles)
1.All bio-psychiatric treatments share a common mode of action: the disruption of normal of normal brain function.
2.All bio-psychiatric interventions cause generalized brain dysfunction.
3.Bio-psychiatric treatments exert their therapeutic effect by impairing higher human functions, including emotional responsiveness, social sensitivity, self-awareness or self insight, autonomy, and self-determination. More drastic effects include apathy, euphoria and mania, and lobotomy-like indifference.
4.Each bio-psychiatric treatment produces its essential or primary brain-disabling effect on ALL people, including normal volunteers, and patients with varied psychiatric diagnoses.
Breggin (Page 67)
Physicians understandably find it painful to face the damaging effects of their treatments. Too often, it is difficult for them to confront the damage done to patients by other physicians as well. In addition, physicians may consciously seek to protect themselves or their colleagues from criticism or malpractice lawsuits by failing to acknowledge or to record obvious symptoms of TD. I have seen many hospital and and outpatient records in which obvious, severe cases of TD have gone either unrecognized or undocumented, sometimes by several physicians in succession. For example, the nurse's notes may make clear that the patient is in constant motion, yet the doctor's physical examination or progress notes will give no indication of the disorder (i.e. the physicians are careful to avoid the responsibility for their actions). Even official discharge summaries may fail to record TD in patients who have been demonstrating the disorder throughout the period of hospital or clinic treatment. Even when the TD diagnosis has been made during the hospitalization and can be found buried inside the chart, the diagnosis may not be put in the discharge summary, even though it is critical for for future physicians to be warned about the patients condition in order to avoid further exposure to neuroleptics. This denial of the obvious is mirrored within the profession itself, which has been very remiss in recognizing or emphasizing the seriousness of the problem (for an analysis of this history of denial, see Breggin, 1983b; Brown et al., 1986; Cohen et al., 1990; Wolf et al., 1987).
Breggin (Page 72)
Fatigue to the point of exhaustion almost always accompanies tardive disorders of any severity. Patients often become exhausted by the movements, by the effort to hide them, and by increased difficulty associated with carrying out daily activities. The primary impact on the brain itself may also produce fatigue. Although the disorders tend to disappear in sleep, they can make it difficult to fall asleep, adding to the exhaustion. Having to contend with the physical pain associated with tardive akathisia (inner torment) and with tardive dystonia (muscle spasms) can also wear a person down. Because of the fatigue, as well as any motor disabilities, patients are often unable to continue working. Many give up recreational activities, such as bike riding, walking and swimming. As a result they gain weight and feel sluggish.
Breggin (Page 54)
In conclusion, the neuroleptics cause an enormous amount of physical and emotional suffering, including anguish and and psychosis. Frequently, the drugs produce a feeling of deadness and depression, AND THEY CAN CAUSE SUICIDE. Often the suffering is associated with extrapyramidal reactions, such as parkinsonism, dystonia, and akathisia. The result in most cases is a profound state of iatrogenic (caused by the treatment) helplessness and denial. The patient is emotionally devastated without realizing what has happened. Many times the patient becomes spellbound, failing to recognize their degree of impairment, failing to attribute their mental collapse to the drug, sometimes believing they are doing better when they are in fact worse, and on occasion, especially when driven by akathisia, committing compulsive suicide, or violence.
Breggin (Page 67)
It is difficult to determine the total number of TD cases. Van Puten (as cited in Lund,1989) estimated 400,000-1,000,000 in the United States. My own earlier estimate is higher, ranging in the several millions (Breggin, 1983b). It is no exaggeration to call TD a widespread epidemic and possibly the worst medically induced catastrophe in history.
Conclusions
1.The diseases or adverse effects, erroneously called side effects, caused by antipsychotic drugs, are usually ignored by psychiatrists.
2.Diagnosis is dangerously SUBJECTIVE at the discretion or whim of psychiatrists.
3.All diseases of antipsychotic drugs appear to have a common root cause, the so-called theropeutic effect, that is the blocking of HEALTHY dopamine from HEALTHY receptors in the brain.
4.The drug-centered 'model' and the disease-centered 'model' are defunct. Whichever you are ruled by will lead to the same irreparable damage of brains. Both are unscientific without a diagnostic test, unrelated to the symptoms, which rely on the use of powerful drugs to numb the brain by blocking dopamine.
5.So what can anyone do to fight the evil system of powerful drug companies and psychiatrists, nurses who do the psychiatrists bidding, and a legal profession content to go along with the psychiatrists, all under the protection of the Mental Health Act?
No comments:
Post a Comment