Dr. Peter Breggin's Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education & Living Newsletter |
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April-May 2012 - Volume 3, Issue 4-5 |
In This Issue New Study Confirms Electroshock (ECT) Causes Brain Damage German Medical Association Apologizes for Nazi Era Doctor Atrocities DSM 5: Debate and Resistance Continues Many Psychiatric Drug Studies Never Published in the Scientific Literature Could it Have Been Different? by Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education & Living EmpathicTherapy.org 1-607-272-5328 Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education & Living 101 East State St. #112 Ithaca, NY 14850 607-272-5328 |
Dear [Contact.First Name], We had a great Empathic Therapy conference in April with over 200 attendees. We will be presenting the next Empathic Therapy Conference in 2013, again in Syracuse, New York State. An exceptional group of speakers have already agreed to present with up to the minute topics. Read more details about our upcoming conference and presenters here, and mark your calendars now! Very best, Ginger Breggin, Editor New Study Confirms Electroshock (ECT) Causes Brain Damage by Peter R. Breggin, MD first published in the Huffington Post, April 9, 2012 A new study shows ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) causes brain damage? That's not what you will find in the many promotional press releases published in the mainstream media. As usual, biopsychiatric press releases always come out before the research articles are easily available, making critical analysis impossible until the wave of false promotional euphoria has passed. The Bloomberg News headline crowed: "Shock Therapy's Effect on Depression Discovered, Researchers Say." The Huffington Post news headline, posted March 20, 2012 declared "Shock Therapy's Effect On Depressed Brain Explained by New Electroconvulsive Therapy Study." Time Healthland's article was titled "How Electroconvulsive Therapy Works for Depression." Fox News' headline for the Reuters news story they carried said: "Study shows how electrotherapy may treat depression." The media coverage was unquestioning and wholly positive. ECT is touted as the best treatment for depression and we are told that science has finally, after more than 70 years, found out how it works. The method used was bilateral ECT -- the most grossly damaging and most commonly used form of the treatment. Both electrodes are placed over the temples, overlapping the frontal lobes of the brain. The most intensive surge of electricity hits the memory centers in the tip of the temporal lobes and affects the highest human functions in the frontal lobes. The title of the research paper actually tells the story: "Electroconvulsive therapy reduces frontal cortical connectivity in severe depressive disorder." The specific area is the "dorsolateral prefrontal cortical region." This is the same area assaulted by surgical lobotomy. It contains nerve trunks connecting the rest of the brain with the frontal lobes -- the seat of our capacity to be thoughtful, insightful, loving, and creative. Think of what it takes to be a person; all of that requires the unimpaired functioning and connectivity of the frontal lobes of your brain. Using a functional MRI in nine patients, the authors of the study conclude, "Our results show that ECT has lasting effects on the functional architecture of the brain." The result of these lasting effects is "decrease in functional connectivity" with other parts of the brain. In other words, the frontal lobes are cut off from the rest of the brain. The authors call this "disconnectivity." Does this sound familiar? It is a "lasting" frontal lobotomy. Read more here. German Medical Association Apologizes for Nazi Era Doctor Atrocities Professor of bioethics Art Caplan, PhD reports “the German Medical Association has issued a remarkably blunt and straightforward apology, more than six decades after the end of World War II, for the role it played during the Holocaust in the mass murder, sterilization and barbaric medical experiments done on Jews and many other groups. The apology, made Wednesday at the Bundesärztekammer (German Medical Association) meeting in Nuremberg, makes no excuses. Unanimously adopted by the delegates of the Physician's Congress, the declaration says that contrary to popular belief doctors were not forced by political authorities to kill and experiment on prisoners but rather engaged in the Holocaust as leaders and enthusiastic Nazi supporters.” Read more of Professor Caplan's commentary on MSNBC.com here. DSM 5: Debate and Resistance Continues One of the most recent chapters in the debate over the expansion of various psychiatric diagnoses in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders –DSM V—is an unsigned editorial just published in the journal Lancet. The Mail Online reports “…experts argue that grief does not require psychiatrists and that 'legitimizing' the treatment of grief with antidepressants 'is not only dangerously simplistic, but also flawed.' The debate follows a decision by the American Psychiatric Association to classify grief as a mental illness in a bid to allow to doctors to be more flexible about how early patients can be treated for depression after the death of a loved one.” Read more of the Mail Online article here. An editorial, published in Investors Business Daily, addressed the continually widening definition of autism related conditions. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has just declared Autism an epidemic after reporting in March that 1 in 88 children now have autism. Relevant social, economic and statistical issues of Autism Spectrum Disorder are examined by Paul Sperry in his Viewpoint piece for IBD: Mr. Sperry states in part: “Before the 1990s, when only 1 in 2,500 were diagnosed as autistic, symptoms were obvious. Kids with classic autism didn't speak or make eye contact. They hit themselves. They soiled themselves. Many even ate broken glass. Now more than half of autism cases fall under the mildest range of the spectrum, known as Asperger's disorder. These kids fidget. Or brood. Or they may pick their nose and eat only yellow foods. But they are high-functioning students who will be able to hold jobs as adults. And they shouldn't be labeled mentally disabled..." Mr. Perry continues "A growing body of scientific research has found that the rise in autism diagnoses is not due to a true increase in the incidence of the cognitive disorder, but rather to a widening of the definition and increased screening by schools and doctors, who are rushing to diagnose and medicate socially awkward or difficult kids. According to recent studies that control for changes in the diagnostic criteria, the rate of autism has actually been stable over time. And the number of language disorder cases have fallen as autism cases have risen, suggesting one disorder has simply been substituted for another. In other words, there is no autism epidemic. The problem is mostly statistical.” In addition to the moral issues of assigning lifetime psychiatric labels to young children, the economic and social costs are examined in this article. See the whole article here. Many Psychiatric Drug Studies Never Published in the Scientific Literature Dr. Breggin has written for decades about the selective publication of psychiatric drug studies.* The studies that do get published in the scientific literature are prodrug and journals will often turn down papers that do not have any positive findings. These practices lead to a “skewed view on a drug’s effectiveness,” according to psychologist and researcher John M. Grohol, PsyD, Founder and Editor In Chief of PsychCentral online. Dr. Grohol offers a summary of the current status of this problem, including links to recent news articles in Reuters and the Wall Street Journal. He concludes: “If more companies take it upon themselves to ensure all negative results also find a way to publication (whether in a journal or not really isn’t as important as simply providing the information and making it available through some public means), this problem will likely be resolved. And if the companies don’t want to take it upon themselves to do so, the FDA should make it a new requirement before accepting any new drug applications from the company.” Read his complete blog here. *See some of Dr. Breggin's discussions of this issue in his medical text Brain Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, Second Edition (2008) as well as in various of his scientific papers, available here. Empathic Therapy Conference DVD set for sale The The first ever Empathic Therapy Conference, held April 8-10, 2011, was a marvelous success with exciting, informative and innovative speakers from around the world. The DVD set of the first Empathic Therapy Conference is now available. Filmed speakers include: Peter R. Breggin, MD: What is Empathic Therapy Alberto Fergusson MD: Guided Self-Rehabilitation of Psychotic Street People Howard Glasser: Inspiring Greatness Richard Gottlieb MSW: Psychotherapy for People with Traumatic Brain Injuries or Stroke Mathy Downing, Karl Protil JD, Peter Breggin MD and others: Personal, Legal and Medical Perspective of Psychiatric Drug Tragedies Kathryn Douthit PhD: Therapeutic Approaches to people with Dementia The DVD set has these and many more speakers. These lectures will be exceptional teaching tools for professors and academicians. Professional therapists, counselors, social workers, nurses and others in the related fields will be both informed and inspired. And we have heard from many psychiatric survivors, patients and families who have found these lectures to be both healing and very useful in their own journey of recovery and regaining well being. The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy is charging only $79 for over 14 hours of video from one of the most highly praised reform conferences ever held. Could it Have Been Different? by Mary Ellen Copeland, PhD
*************** Thanks for reading through our newsletter. Watch for the announcement about Dr. Peter Breggin's upcoming book: Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and Their Families. Those of you who wish may order your copy now at a special pre-publication price. Order here. Very best regards, Ginger Breggin, Editor WARNING -- Most psychiatric drugs can cause withdrawal reactions, sometimes including life-threatening emotional and physical withdrawal problems. In short, it is not only dangerous to start taking psychiatric drugs, it can also be dangerous to stop them. Withdrawal from psychiatric drugs should be done carefully under experienced clinical supervision. Methods for safely withdrawing from psychiatric drugs are discussed in Dr. Breggin's books, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Psychopharmaceutical Complex (New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2008) and Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2008). Peter R. Breggin, MD is no longer affiliated with the Center for the Study of Psychiatry, informally known as ICSPP and now ISEPP, which he founded and led from 1972-2002, and Dr. Breggin is no longer involved in its conferences. Copyright 2012 Peter R. Breggin, MD |
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