THE TOTALITARIAN POWER OF DSM
Levine says those doing the prescribing are by definition authori-tarians: They “demand unquestion-
ing obedience” and any resistance to their diagnosis and treatment can result in the patient – the “anti-
authoritarian” to be labelled “non-compliant with treatment,” increasing the severity of their diagnosis, and consequently, psychiatrists “jacked up their medications.”
“…authoritarians financially mar-ginalise those who buck the system, they criminalise anti-authoritarianism, they psychopathologise anti-author-itarians, and they market drugs for their ‘cure’.”12
Consider that already in Australia there are recommendations to adopt a criminal offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing psychologi-cal harm.” And to strengthen Health Care Complaints to deal with the issues relating to “deliberately, reck-lessly or indifferently interfering with psychological health or access to qualified medical [psychiatric/psy-chological] treatment.”
Therefore, should you agree with this article, disagree with a DSM diagnosis, dispute psychiatry’s dam-aging treatments or even demand comprehensive information to satisfy informed consent needs, you could be arrested for denying “mental health care” that by psychiatric de-cree is needed.
This totalitarian thinking is evident in the 2011 draft ADHD Clinical Practice Points (ADHD CPPs)
currently being written by the Na-Council (NHMRC). The recommen-dations include that parents who don’t “medicate” their ADHD child could be referred to child protection services. The ADHD CPPs state: “As with any medical intervention, the inability of parents to implement strategies may raise child protec-tion concerns.” The recommendation shows the authoritarian influence of
Australian psychiatrists over govern-ment, especially considering that in the US federal law bans school per-sonnel from forcing parents to drug school-aged children as a requisite for their education.
Psychological Assessments Australia sells DSM-based “mental health screening” tools for those with
a reading level of 3-17. The ADHD/DSM-IV Scales are marketed as a “5-10 minutes administration time; parent-completed, teacher-complet-ed, adolescent self-report.” You can purchase an ADHD screening kit for $726.00, which includes a “manual” and 25 report forms for parents, teachers and children.
Then there’s the Behaviour Rat-ing Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version for ages 2½ to 11. These cost up to $638.14 Or “The Anger Regulation and Expression Scale” – a “comprehensive, self-report measure of angry thoughts, emotions, and behaviours in youth aged 10 to 17 years.” The Complete Scoring Software Kit is $484.15
Today, DSM runs to nearly 900 pages and it is estimated it could earn its owner, the American Psychi-atric Association, $100 million.
Today Australia, like countries the world over, are bearing the brunt of DSM’s legacy: As Dr. Jureidini, says: “If you can attract people to the idea that their distress is an illness you increase drug sales.”16
There were over 22 million gov-ernment-subsidised prescriptions for mental health-related medications in 2009, accounting for 11% of all subsidised prescriptions. More than 400,000 ADHD prescriptions a year are written, and their use has soared by 300 per cent over the past seven years, sparking debate about use and conflicts of interest. 50% of children under 12 who live in residential care are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs. 44% of Aboriginal children in residential care are on drugs such as Ritalin, Strattera and Zoloft.
While we may laugh at the absurd diagnoses Ned Kelly might suffer, the number of people, especially children, being drugged is Australia’s shame. It is putting them at grave risk. Thomas Szasz says psychia-try is “not science. It’s politics and economics… Behaviour control. It is not science. It is not medicine. It’s an epidemic of psychiatry that we are dealing with. We don’t have an epidemic of mental illness, we have an epidemic of psychiatry.”
ing obedience” and any resistance to their diagnosis and treatment can result in the patient – the “anti-
authoritarian” to be labelled “non-compliant with treatment,” increasing the severity of their diagnosis, and consequently, psychiatrists “jacked up their medications.”
“…authoritarians financially mar-ginalise those who buck the system, they criminalise anti-authoritarianism, they psychopathologise anti-author-itarians, and they market drugs for their ‘cure’.”12
Consider that already in Australia there are recommendations to adopt a criminal offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing psychologi-cal harm.” And to strengthen Health Care Complaints to deal with the issues relating to “deliberately, reck-lessly or indifferently interfering with psychological health or access to qualified medical [psychiatric/psy-chological] treatment.”
Therefore, should you agree with this article, disagree with a DSM diagnosis, dispute psychiatry’s dam-aging treatments or even demand comprehensive information to satisfy informed consent needs, you could be arrested for denying “mental health care” that by psychiatric de-cree is needed.
This totalitarian thinking is evident in the 2011 draft ADHD Clinical Practice Points (ADHD CPPs)
currently being written by the Na-Council (NHMRC). The recommen-dations include that parents who don’t “medicate” their ADHD child could be referred to child protection services. The ADHD CPPs state: “As with any medical intervention, the inability of parents to implement strategies may raise child protec-tion concerns.” The recommendation shows the authoritarian influence of
Australian psychiatrists over govern-ment, especially considering that in the US federal law bans school per-sonnel from forcing parents to drug school-aged children as a requisite for their education.
Psychological Assessments Australia sells DSM-based “mental health screening” tools for those with
a reading level of 3-17. The ADHD/DSM-IV Scales are marketed as a “5-10 minutes administration time; parent-completed, teacher-complet-ed, adolescent self-report.” You can purchase an ADHD screening kit for $726.00, which includes a “manual” and 25 report forms for parents, teachers and children.
Then there’s the Behaviour Rat-ing Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version for ages 2½ to 11. These cost up to $638.14 Or “The Anger Regulation and Expression Scale” – a “comprehensive, self-report measure of angry thoughts, emotions, and behaviours in youth aged 10 to 17 years.” The Complete Scoring Software Kit is $484.15
Today, DSM runs to nearly 900 pages and it is estimated it could earn its owner, the American Psychi-atric Association, $100 million.
Today Australia, like countries the world over, are bearing the brunt of DSM’s legacy: As Dr. Jureidini, says: “If you can attract people to the idea that their distress is an illness you increase drug sales.”16
There were over 22 million gov-ernment-subsidised prescriptions for mental health-related medications in 2009, accounting for 11% of all subsidised prescriptions. More than 400,000 ADHD prescriptions a year are written, and their use has soared by 300 per cent over the past seven years, sparking debate about use and conflicts of interest. 50% of children under 12 who live in residential care are being prescribed antipsychotic drugs. 44% of Aboriginal children in residential care are on drugs such as Ritalin, Strattera and Zoloft.
While we may laugh at the absurd diagnoses Ned Kelly might suffer, the number of people, especially children, being drugged is Australia’s shame. It is putting them at grave risk. Thomas Szasz says psychia-try is “not science. It’s politics and economics… Behaviour control. It is not science. It is not medicine. It’s an epidemic of psychiatry that we are dealing with. We don’t have an epidemic of mental illness, we have an epidemic of psychiatry.”
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