The professions that are supposedly in charge of mental health in America have become a danger to our citizens and a sad joke to many, even to those who practice in this field.
Paula Caplan, a clinical and research psychologist is one of those brave enough to question the over diagnosis of mental health in America.
Ms. Caplan tells the story of a young mother who had become quite sleep deprived while caring for her dying grandmother every night while working full-time every day. When this overworked mother had to abruptly find a solution for her son’s day care, her heart began
to race, and she ended up in the emergency room.
The doctor who saw her did a quick assessment and declared she had bipolar disorder. She was committed to the psychiatric ward and put her on psychiatric medication. The fact that she was severely exhausted and upset did not enter into this “diagnosis.”
Over the next ten months this young woman lost her friends, her marriage and her fortune. She was isolated and unhappy. And because of the psychiatric drug she took for six weeks, she developed an eye condition that could destroy her vision.
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated instance of what unfortunately passes for mental health in America.
Statistically, one half of all Americans are given a psychiatric label sometime during their lifetime.
For instance: Paris Syndrome.
Apparently, this one applies mostly to Japanese tourists visiting France. The
symptoms, according to the psychiatric “experts” include hallucinations,
depression, anxiety, feelings of persecution and more. Not too long ago we
would have called this culture shock.
But psychiatrists, eager to market their drugs, have managed to twist a variety of normal human reactions into mental illnesses. Take Florence Syndrome. The signs of this “mental disorder” are disassociation, fainting and dizziness caused by the sensory overload of
overwhelming beauty. This condition is most often caused by visual art, and as
its name suggests, is common in Florence, Italy.
Apparently psychiatrists find this condition dangerous enough to treat with antidepressants.
Psychiatric diagnosis is an unregulated field and often physical causes of stress are completely ignored.
The psychiatric bible, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) pronounces that a person can be diagnosed as bipolar after a “manic” episode lasting a week or less. This applied to the young woman mentioned earlier, who was under so much
stress in her life that she had racing thoughts, talked quickly, was distracted
easily and was intensely focused on certain goals (in this case, caring for her
family). According to her doctor, she met the requisite four of the eight
criteria for a diagnosis of bipolar.
Psychiatrists rarely agree on how to label the same patient. This is not surprising since the editors of the DSM routinely use improperly conducted and poorly evaluated studies to support their claims.
With scientific evidence lacking to back psychiatric labels, it makes good sense to do one’s own research to help a family member or friend under stress. Nutrition and a shoulder to cry on go a lot further and have no dangerous and deadly side effects. This is more than
can be said for psychiatric drugs.
http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/mental-health-abuse/psychiatric-labels/caplan-wash-post
http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2012/07/04/around-the-world-in-9-mental-illnesses#.T_WWcfLmAJY.email
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/7914746/Scientists-investigate-Stendhal-Syndrome-fainting-caused-by-great-art.html