He was used in drug trials conducted to gain the FDA endorsement for the drugs so they could be prescribed to children; doing so would change their status from being "off-label" to approved for pediatric use in treating early on-set schizophrenia; so billing Medicaid would not be fraud. The drugs used on my son were NOT approved for use in children; the drugs are known to cause brain damage and to literally SHRINK BRAIN tissue; among other horrifying effects. At seven years old, my son was able to do triple digit addition in his head; he had an IQ of 146, and an 8th grade level vocabulary. He liked puzzles and put together 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzles by himself. He loved to draw. Isaac and Nathan would spend hours building with Legos and Knex or mining gold and diamonds in the yard. He never used his fingers to count--ever. Last December, he needed to use his fingers to count the seven days remaining until Christmas.
At times, he is acutely aware of how much he has lost. I am grateful that he does not dwell on it. He is in some ways, at times, emotionally very "grown-up." But as far as day to day functioning, the ability to schedule appointments, and take care of the business side of life, he needs a lot of help. He does not socialize much, and isn't really interested in "making friends," but can be very friendly, occasionally. The more aware he becomes, the more he remembers, the less he has wanted to be around people. I can't say that I blame him. It is sad that his awareness, his recovery and improved functioning ultimately led to him experiencing a crisis last year although completely understandable. Instead of being recognized for what it was: awareness of an overwhelming sense of loss, and grief over the fact he does not have the abilities he had in second grade. His crisis was perceived by "mental health professionals," as a sign that he needed more of the same sort of "treatment" which had already caused him so much harm.
I am outraged how he was AGAIN assaulted by unethical "mental health professionals" whose erroneous perceptions and inefficacious drugs were used as weapons; that have ultimately caused further decline, due to their traumatic impact on his brain and entire parasympathetic nervous system. This could not have happened without the culture of control, utilizing unethical treatment practices which permeates Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health. A typical "mental health" agency, CWCMH, uses psychiatric drugs as the primary 'treatment method.' Some employees use coercion and abuse their power and authority by threatening people with a psychiatric diagnosis with a court order if they complain about the negative effects of neuroleptic drugs.
Neuroleptic and other psychiatric drugs can and do cause brains to malfunction, why would anyone believe the drugs are "treating" "brain diseases" and/or "chemical imbalances" which do not exist---if they do in fact exist, they remain undiscovered, after 50 years of diligent searching by bio-psychiatry's devotees. Why would anyone believe causing brain damage is going to effectively treat or be at all therapeutic? Yet, there are those who believe teratogenic drugs are 'necessary medical treatment' and are only refused, because the person with the psychiatric diagnosis 'lacks insight and don't know what's good for them.' This claim is usually supported with the mythology that a psychiatric diagnosis is in itself evidence the individual has a Brain pathology that is incurable but must be treated with the drugs. Which by the way, actually cause iatrogenic diseases and disabilities.
How can so many people with college educations and Medical degrees believe that lying to patients and their families, educating the general public by lying about what is and is not known about "mental illnesses" and the people who are given psychiatric diagnoses, will cause society to treat people better, and stop discriminating against people with a psychiatric label?
Traditional bio-psychiatric practice relies two major errors of attribution. The first is classifying a patient's symptoms as evidence of disease or defect, in the absence of empirical evidence to support the claim, i.e. validity. The second, is that iatrogenic injuries and illnesses caused by the teratogenic drugs are attributed to the psychiatric diagnosis itself. The patient's protests of negative effects are dismissed. Because after all, so the circular reasoning seems to be, what does a psychiatric patient know, they have a brain disease or a chemical imbalance...
As the "authority" in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses, it is psychiatry that has ensured those given a psychiatric diagnosis are stigmatized, and discriminated against. It begins with what is claimed about the nature of mental illness, what is told to the world, the patients, and their families that a psychiatric diagnosis means. Once given a diagnosis of schizophrenia, treatment is done to, not necessarily 'for' the patient...Compliance with psychiatric treatment is the main goal, and 'psycho-education' is the 'Evidence-Based' practice which teaches family members how to coerce and manipulate a loved one 'for their own good' in support of the psychiatric professionals to maintain treatment compliance. The primary end-point for 'successful treatment' for the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the bio-disease paradigm, is treatment compliance; not safety, effectiveness or any real world outcome.
Psychiatric patients are marginalized and discriminated against by their family members who believe and trust "the professionals" who teach them to manipulate, coerce and control their loved one in distress; instead of understand, support, protect and assist them when they are in crisis. The "professionals" claim these tactics are justified and necessary to gain the all important control of the patient; so the patient learns how very important it is to take the drugs and be treatment compliant. It is in this way that people who diagnosed are then effectively invalidated by their "mental health providers," who then teach their families and communities to use the very same control methods; claiming it is what the patient "needs"!
A person who experiences being invalidated repeatedly, is traumatized by these experiences. Instead of learning to care for and about themselves more effectively; they learn to invalidate themselves. They learn they are not important enough to care about. What they feel, and what they think is reduced to being a symptom of their "disease"; instead of simply being evidence of their humanity. The ultimate invalidation is psychiatry claiming patients "lack insight" if and when they do not want to be a compliant psychiatric any longer. Are we so naive to believe that the only reason patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia do not want to take neuroleptic drugs is due to a lack of insight? I'd be willing to bet that noncompliance is more often than not due to the fact these teratogenic drugs DO NOT WORK for the majority of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Psychiatric survivors have for decades been telling about the abuse and harm that they have endured being BULLIED by psychiatry. Some have been disabled; and were never informed of the risks. Psychiatry claims that the people who are diagnosed who claim the drugs do not help them; or claim the drugs make them sick and cause them harm are given additional diagnoses: oppositional defiant disorder, anosognosia, treatment resistant, and ironically, these patients are labeled as "paranoid" because they are rightfully suspicious and disrespectful of psychiatric authority!
My son, continues to pay a steep price for being victimized by psychiatric bullies. I know I was bullied by my son's psychiatrists who were aided and abetted by public servants all of whom ignored the law and the ethical codes of conduct for their chosen professions. Psychiatrists who bully their patients are criminals. Psychiatric practice relies on subverting the truth about the diagnoses it "validates" in a quasi-democratic process. Diagnoses are conferred, not made through conducting a scientific investigation; conferred absent
Doctors who determine who is "sick" and in "need of medical treatment" by consensus then use toxic drugs to "treat" patients/victims, but fail to Inform or gain Consent for "treatment" are conducting experiments on Humans, not providing ethical medical treatment. The scientific Evidence Base does not support neuroleptic drugs as a 'first line' treatment for schizophrenia; nonetheless, it is public policy and the Law in most states. Being "legal" does not in fact make this a valid, therapeutic, ethical or even a
Having a medical license does not make bullying of vulnerable people and their families a valid or ethical way to provide medical treatment. Medicine is based on science---Attitudes, actions and behaviors that in any other context would be recognized as abusive, coercive and manipulative are not magically transformed simply because college educated, licensed medical professionals are exhibiting the behaviors. The nature of subterfuge, manipulation and coercion are still what they are: dishonest methods used to gain control over others. Relying on the respect given to medical experts, psychiatry lobbied for and gained the legal authority to Court Order individuals. Obviously, there is no ethical duty or legal obligation to comply with the Rules of Evidence when obtaining Court Orders for Involuntary Treatment---it would require empirical evidence of disease, not a consensus of subjective opinions
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