Mad In America, The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill

(I find much of this article to be true and educational. Though, I'm=20
not in agreement with the total condemnation of the Science of=20
Eugenics and the ridicule of Alchemy compared to quackery. I admit=20
that some aspects of the Science of Eugenics were completely absurd,=20
but for the most part the science has much to offer humanity. As for=20
Alchemy, the ancients were much smarter than any of us today. All=20
sciences stem from the Ancient's Art of Alchemy, which were combined=20
with magick and religion. I personally believe that we have=20
degenerated from higher civilization, and have advanced in many ways=20
again, but in others we are still far behind. Our Church Of The=20
Antichrist 999 is developing a form of Scientific Alchemy to help=20
humanity rise to The Providential Existence, along with many=20
technologies including Eugenics, which many cultures began with their=20
breeding techniques thousands of years ago. One such culture was the=20
Greek Spartans, who were warriors and great supporters of=20
homosexuality, whom Hitler studied and admired. The National=20
Socialists adopted much of their Eugenics Project from the u.s. and=20
added what they learned from the Spartans and their tribal ancestry.=20
The idea was to breed a superior race of Super Men, which is=20
completely possible and is part of the ultimate goal of our Church Of=20
The Antichrist 999. The Providential Existence, is a state of Super=20
Human Immortality in a New Golden Age of Humankind at The Ultimate=20
Apex of Human Civilization. The idea of individuals that are=20
genetically inferior and weak is a very rational idea, since we truly=20
are the sum of our genetic make-up! Though, we do support Spiritually=20
Egalitarian Beliefs. Also, the religious right has been using=20
psychology which was invented by jews, to promote and enforce their=20
moral-value system for many years. They then partnered with the drug=20
companies to create one of the most lucrative rackets the world has=20
ever seen. All psychology that gives diagnosis's and promotes drugs=20
is a sham! We have designed our own Church Psychology to undermine=20
the current quackery and scam artists authority and ability to profit=20
off of the weak of society, which truly face the hardships of the=20
religious right and rich class corrupt capitalism forced upon them,=20
forced into poverty slavery, while stripped and condemned of their=20
rights to true sexual fulfillment! Caesar 999)=20=20=20=20=20


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Mad In America, The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill=20=20
[email protected]=20

On Sunday September 28th from 10 AM PDT to 11:30 AM on Free Radio=20
Santa Cruz (www.freakradio.org on the internet or 96.3 FM in Santa=20
Cruz), Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad=20
Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill in=20
America will be interviewed by Jennifer Gosk.=20


Outline of Whitaker's Mad in America=20=20
by Robert Norse=20
=20=20
Mad In America: Chapter Outline

Preface

The World Health Organization has repeatedly found that people=20
diagnosed with schizophrenia in the U.S. and other developed=20
countries fare much worse than schizophrenia patients in poor=20
countries. In the poor countries, a high percentage of patients=20
recover and lead active social lives. In the U.S. and other developed=20
countries, most patients so diagnosed become chronically ill. An=20
understanding of this failure of modern medicine can be found by=20
tracing the history of medical treatments for madness to the present=20
day.

Part One: The Original Bedlam (1750-1900)=20

1. Bedlam in Medicine=20

A look at early medical therapies for madness in Europe and the=20
colonial U.S., and why those therapies were at times viewed as=20
curative. The early therapies included bleeding patients, putting=20
them in "tranquilizer chairs," spinning them, dunking them in water,=20
and even holding them underwater until they lost consciousness. Such=20
therapies arose, in part, because of a belief that "reason" was the=20
highest human faculty, and thus the mad, having lost their reason,=20
were "brutes" and needed to be treated as such.=20

2. The Healing Hand of Kindness=20

In the early 1800s, there arose a form of care in England and France=20
known as moral treatment, which emphasized treating the insane with=20
kindness and empathy, and avoiding medical remedies that "worked" by=20
weakening the patient. Moral treatment emphasized that mental=20
patients should be seen as part of the human family. This form of=20
care produced good outcomes for more than 30 years.



Part Two: The Darkest Era (1900-1950)

3. Unfit to Breed=20

The eugenics movement took hold in the U.S. in the early years of the=20
20th century. This "science" preached that insanity was a genetic=20
disorder, and that a gene for insanity was spreading throughout the=20
U.S. population at alarming rates. As a result, the humanitarian=20
attitudes common to moral treatment gave way to a belief, said to be=20
grounded in science, that the mentally ill were a threat to the=20
general well-being of the country. To counter this threat,=20
eugenicists argued that the mentally ill should be segregated in=20
asylums and forcibly sterilized. By the end of the 1920s, American=20
society had embraced involuntary sterilization of the mentally ill as=20
a progressive health measure, with the New York Times and numerous=20
other newspapers editorializing in support of it. The asylums were=20
also run on bare-bones budgets, a fiscal policy that was consistent=20
with eugenic notions that devalued the mentally ill.=20

4. Too Much Intelligence=20

After the fall of moral treatment in the late 1800s, American=20
psychiatry once again devoted itself to finding physical remedies for=20
psychotic disorders. Therapies of every kind were tried. These ranged=20
from water therapies like the continuous bath, in which patients were=20
kept in bathtubs for days on end, to gastrointestinal surgery.=20
Doctors also tried fever, sleep and referigeration therapies (this=20
last one involving cooling patients to the point they lost=20
consciousness.) Finally, in the 1930s, there arose a trio of=20
therapies--insulin coma therapy, metrazole convulsive therapy, and=20
electroshock--that all worked, as was freely acknowledged at the=20
time, by damaging the brain.=20

5. Brain Damage as Miracle Therapy=20

The fourth "brain-damaging" therapeutic that was embraced in asylum=20
medicine in the 1930s and early 1940s was prefrontal lobotomy. This=20
operation was pronounced safe and effective in numerous trials, and=20
in 1949 its inventor, Portuguese neurosurgeon Egas Moniz, was awarded=20
the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Many physicians who tried it concluded=20
that the operation could not possible harm the mentally ill, and=20
during the 1940s newspapers and magazines regularly wrote about=20
this "miracle" therapy for curing mental disorders. Today, this=20
operation is viewed as a mutilating surgery, and its rise and fall=20
provides a cautionary tale about the capacity of a society to delude=20
itself about the merits of its medical treatments for the mentally=20
ill.=20

Part Three: Back to Bedlam (1950-1990s)

6. Modern-Day Alchemy=20

In the early 1950s, chlorpromazine--marketed as Thorazine--was=20
introduced for the treatment of psychotic disorders. Initially,=20
physicians praised it for producing a "chemical lobotomy," and noted=20
that it also produced symptoms similar in kind to the encephalitis=20
lethargic virus. It was seen as a drug useful for quieting asylum=20
patients, and not as a "cure" for psychosis. However, over the next=20
decade, the drug underwent an image makeover (which was driven by the=20
pharmaceutical companies), and by the early 1960s chlorpromazine and=20
other newly introduced neuroleptics were hailed as "safe,=20
antischizophrenic" medications.=20

7. The Patients' Reality=20

Neuroleptics "worked" by blocking dopamine receptors (and not by=20
normalizing dopamine levels.) The drugs occupied 70% to 90% of all D2=20
receptors, and this hindrance of dopamine function retarded movement,=20
made people lethargic, and reduced visible symptoms of psychosis.=20
Patients often vigorously resisted these drugs, stating that they=20
induced great physical suffering and turned them into "zombies." In=20
addition, contrary to what the public has been led to believe about=20
the drugs' "efficacy," the research literature clearly shows that the=20
drugs made patients chronically ill, and impaired recovery.=20

8. The Story We Told Ourselves=20

Although there was ample evidence that chlorpromazine, haloperidol=20
and other neuroleptics were making people worse off, the story that=20
we told ourselves about the merits of the drugs was quite different.=20
The public was led to believe that those diagnosed with schizophrenia=20
had overactive dopamine systems, and that neuroleptics normalized=20
dopamine activity in the brain. By doing so, the drugs were said to=20
effectively knock down psychosis, and prevent relapse. However, every=20
element of that medical paradigm is easily proven false.=20

9. Shame of a Nation=20

Patient groups in the 1960s and 1970s often protested vigorously=20
against the use of the medications, and fought in court for the right=20
to forgo such treatment. What made their protests particularly=20
powerful was that they came at the same time that the Soviets were=20
using neuroleptics to punish dissidents. Although mental patients in=20
the U.S. did win the right to refuse drug treatment, they often had=20
to take the drugs in order to obtain social support services. They=20
won the battle but lost the war. Also in the 1970s, the head of=20
schizophrenia studies at the National Institute of Mental Health,=20
Loren Mosher, conducted an experiment that compared two-year outcomes=20
in patients treated with and without neuroleptics, and he, like=20
others, found superior outcomes for patients who weren't put on the=20
drugs. He was subsequently forced out of the NIMH for pursuing this=20
research agenda. The result of all this showed up in World Health=20
Organization studies conducted in the 1970s and 1980s: Whereas the=20
majority of patients in poor countries, where neuroleptics were much=20
less used, had favorable long-term outcomes, most patients=20
in "developed" countries became chronically ill, and suffered from a=20
very "poor quality of life."

10. Away from Nuremberg=20

In the late 1940s, American psychiatric researchers intent on=20
investigating the "biology" of psychosis began conducting studies in=20
which they gave mentally ill patients a variety of chemical agents--
LSD, amphetamines, methylphenidate--expected to worsen their=20
symptoms. This type of federally funded experimentation went on for=20
nearly 50 years, with more than 1,000 mentally ill patients ushered=20
into such experiements, including some people who'd come to emergency=20
rooms seeking help. In addition, the paper trail for these symptom-
exacerbation experiments shows that American researchers regularly=20
misled patients about their intentions.=20



Part Four: Mad Medicine Today (1990s =96 Present)=20

11. Not So Atypical=20

In the early 1990s, new "atypical" drugs for schizophrenia were=20
brought to market amid much fanfare, hailed as much more safe and=20
effective than the old neuroleptics However, those claims arose from=20
drug trials paid for by the pharmaceutical companies, and the FDA, in=20
its review of the data, concluded that the trials had been biased by=20
design, and that there was no good evidence that the new drugs were=20
better than the old.=20

12. Epilogue

In Finland today, researchers are reporting great results with care=20
that emphasizes social support and the selective use of neuroleptics.=20
Some patients appear to do better without the drugs, while others do=20
better on low doses. Any reform of care in this country will require=20
a willingness to explore alternatives like the Finnish program.




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