Brainpolice

Do you think he's out of his mind or does he make some very good points? I tend to agree with him. To clarify what his position actually is, it is not the claim that brain diseases don't exist, it's the claim that the bulk of contemporary psychiatric diagnosis do not constitute brain diseases and therefore are imaginary diseases made up to explain away undesired behaviors and put people on drugs.

In the absence of any objective medical evidence, much of contemporary psychiatric diagnosis, particularly as it relates to children, is kind of half-baked at best. Especially in the case of "recently discovered" (or invented out of thin air, in my view) things such as ADD. It seems like an excuse to put people on drugs and through theraputic programs. I'm willing to grant that a certain number of diseases of the brain have been discovered (ones that constitute an actual malfunction of the brain), but a lot of the ones that have popped up only in recent years warrant severe doubt.
Part of the problem is that mere eccentricity or behaviors outside of "the norm" are erroneously equated to mental illness. If your child is eccentric, they may very well be a genius, not a sociopath. What some psychiatrists are labeling as a "mental handicap" may actually be a blessing. I just don't trust the shrinks. I never have. Too many of them are taking advantage of their position as a means to control others and keep the medical-industrial-complex charade going.

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Jonesy

I agree with him completely. Exactly what I was talking about in the 'Ordered Disorders' thread. The undesired behavior is simply misunderstood. It can be dealt with by creating a suitable environment. Different creatures prosper in different environments. If my research is correct, these chemical compositions guide evolution in conjunction with the environment. Which means, many of the creatures we have (like cats), developed in part because of their environment, but also because their chemical compositions gave them different strengths and weaknesses.

In our society, we try to force everyone into uniformity. This is incorrect, as these chemical differences have proven. We should instead be trying to properly nurture different types of people. They, and human society, can benefit from the different sets of strengths.

gorillamom

I agree as well after working at Western State Mental Hospital. With children it all comes down to parenting and posative re-enforcments, not bullshit labels.

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The Clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands will stop
On what day or what hour.
Now is the only time we have,
So live it with a will,
Don't wait until tomorrow,
The hands may then be still.

ciaobox2007

after working at a state mental hospital, you don't think there is legitimate need for medication in some people?

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Brainpolice

Those with actual diseases of the brain, yes. But people who exercise untraditional and eccentric behavior but do not have any actual medically objective brain malfuction, no. The problem is that we've become a society that tries to medicate away either bad or simply unorthodox behaviors in the absence of any medical evidence that the person is truly "mentally ill". In the case of children it's especially stigmatizing and I think it screws such people up rather then actually helps them since at such a point you're basically drugging kids up with no good reason to.

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gorillamom

Depends on what their condition is. The State still relies on the MMPI test which is very, very inacurate so they can medicate these people whether they need it or not. They are the pharmasutical experiments.

__________________

The Clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands will stop
On what day or what hour.
Now is the only time we have,
So live it with a will,
Don't wait until tomorrow,
The hands may then be still.

gorillamom

And the worst part about that is it will damage them for life. How will they ever be able to function and work as well as being a contributer to society. They won't and will be a burden to tax payers. I know, they did that to me with antidepressants. I was not given a choice. Be in pain or fell good and forget about the cause of the pain.

__________________

The Clock of life is wound but once,
And no man has the power,
To tell just when the hands will stop
On what day or what hour.
Now is the only time we have,
So live it with a will,
Don't wait until tomorrow,
The hands may then be still.