Originally published August 1 2013
Are chemical imbalances really to blame for psychological distress?
by Zack Blake
(NaturalNews) Imagine waking up one morning to find your kitchen sink overflowing onto the kitchen floor. What would rational friends think if your response were to order a daily truckload of mops as a remedy to keep the floor dry, as opposed to turning off the faucet? As it turns out, using psychiatric medication to treat psychological disorders may make just as much sense. That's because psych meds address chemical imbalances (symptoms) rather than "shutting off the sink faucet."
Though modern western culture commonly embraces the ideology that psychological disorders are caused by chemical imbalances, some professionals say it's a bona fide misnomer. Rather, chemical imbalances are merely symptoms caused by an underlying problem. Check out their hard-hitting statements:
"[While] there has been no shortage of alleged biochemical explanations for psychiatric conditions... not one has been proven. Quite the contrary. In every instance where such an imbalance was thought to have been found, it was later proven false... biochemical events (are) the result of your psychological distress, not the cause."
Prozac Backlash, Joseph Glenmullen, MD (Harvard Medical School clinical instructor in Psychiatry)1
"No biochemical, neurological, or genetic markers have been found for Attention Deficit Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Depression, Schizophrenia, anxiety, compulsive alcohol and drug abuse, overeating, gambling or any other so-called mental illness, disease, or disorder."
Commonsense Rebellion - Taking Back Your Life from Drugs, Shrinks, Corporations, and a World Gone Crazy, Bruce Levine, Ph.D., clinical psychologist and member of the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry advisory council2
"In forty years of pseudo-scientific research, 'biological psychiatry' has yet to validate a single psychiatric condition/diagnosis as an abnormality/disease, or as anything 'neurological,' 'biological,' 'chemically-imbalanced' or 'genetic.'"
Pediatric neurologist Dr. Fred Baughman Jr., 2001 statement to the Parliamentary Assembly in Europe3
If these experts are right, the pharmaceutical industry is playing the role of "mop-maker," raking in millions of dollars on "mops," loving the fact that precious few pay any thought to the open faucets. Or to the troublesome fact that the "mops" being sold incidentally cause other problems for which the mop maker happens to offer other products (which cause other problems). These other problems are called side effects, for which pharmaceuticals are notorious.4 No wonder this industry is so successful at creating lifelong customers!
But is Big Pharma really making that much off their defective mops?
In 2011, $31.3 billion was spent in the USA alone on anti-psychotics, anti-depressants, and ADHD medication.5 That's a lot of money. Granted, it's a splash in the pan considering that just the top 5 pharmaceutical companies reported 2011 total revenue of $244 billion,6 but perhaps it's still a decent incentive to maintain the current business model. (Note that the NFL is only a $9.5 billion industry.)7
Is pill-popping for mental disorders really that prevalent?
Indeed it's increasingly prevalent.
• From 1995 to 2005, anti-psychotic treatment visits among children under 18 grew 800%. (Page 4 of the Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Report, 2011)8
• From the 6-year period of 1988-1994 to 2005-2008, the rate of anti-depressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 500%. (Table 95 of the CDC report, "Health, United States, 2010")9
• About 1 in 10 Americans over 12 are on anti-depressant medication. (CDC's 2011 NHCS Data Brief)10
• In a 2012 analysis of Texas foster children, nearly 2/3 of the 13-17 year-olds received psychotropic medication (63.51%). Over 25% of 4-5 year-olds were medicated as well (26.14%). (Page 3, Texas Health and Human Services Commission report)11
Turn off the faucet.
Sources for this article include:
1 http://www.amazon.com
2 http://books.google.com
3 http://www.ritalindeath.com
4 http://www.cchrint.org
5 http://www.imshealth.com (pg 29)
6 http://money.cnn.com
7 http://www.thedailybeast.com
8 http://www.toxicpsychiatry.com
9 http://www.cdc.gov
10 http://www.toxicpsychiatry.com
11 http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us
http://science.naturalnews.com
http://science.naturalnews.com
About the author:
Zack Blake
Zack Blake
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