breaking free

As human beings, we all seek to be free from suffering. We all seek to be free from oppression. We all react to what we experience. Some react in unconventional ways. Not all reactions are effective means, yet we react. We all are seeking to create order, a sense of purpose to our lives, though there are varying constructs of what life is, of what it means to be human. Some retreat from suffering or seek higher levels of consciousness through use of substances, but this often becomes destructive, much like a plane soaring to high altitudes only to crash and burn upon landing. Those who become labeled as mentally ill are often seeking to break free from severe oppression and suffering. Yet society seeks to stifle their experience. How dare they break free! How dare they act in ways we do not approve! So we drug and shock them hoping they 'come to their senses' or at least not be a 'bother' to us anymore. If we could only come to realize the transformative process, and support their liberation. If society could but realize its illness rather than ascribing so called illness to persons.

Experience and reactions.

We all react to what we experience. We all seek at some point to create order in life and at times control those events which are uncontrollable. We each have our stories of joys and sorrows, blessed memories and traumas. For some individuals, the way they experience the world has led them to despair, or led them to obsessive behavior as a reaction to the extreme chaos they have internalized. Those we label as mentally ill are those whose reactions to their experience society judges to be without value or problematic. This creates stigma, but if we understood these reactions, if we sought to understand the experience, we would find that these reactions may be the person's only way of dealing with the intense emotions, oppression, or other experiences they have had. As Laing stated, that what is termed insanity may be a sane response to an insane world. We lock people up for behaving in ways we do not like. We argue it is for their own good, and we claim that we can predict their behavior or judge them to be a harm to themselves or others when in reality we do not truly possess this capability, we can only hypothesize based on our own limited perceptions. We believe falsely that those labeled mentally ill are more prone to violence while our 'sane' ones continue to involve themselves in wars and conflicts.
-Dan L.Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Impact of Abuse

I have always had particular interest in the works of Dr. Alice Miller who discussed the role of childhood abuse and the development later of emotional disturbance, criminality, addiction, and further cycles of violence perpetuated on their children and others. I have argued that aggression breeds aggression.My article "Trauma Model of Psychological Distress" provided a timeline of when trauma occurs in childhood and the resulting impact in the teen years and into adulthood. The mental health establishment often ignores these important factors instead attributing emotional distress to solely chemical processes. Miller discussed the role of the enlightened witness which lessened the impact of the trauma. I strongly believe that this role is crucial and a buffer to the destructive social and familial forces that impact some children. This is a key part of the person developing resiliency. Even in the most serious emotional disturbances the potential for recovery (and discovery) is possible. It is not an easy process, but a possible one. It is sad that in our age we do not provide long term psychotherapy but focus on numbing people's minds and feelings. This is not recovery, it is repression which often leads to oppression.
-D.L.Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Oppressive Society

For the disadvantaged youth, what are the choices that the ruling oligarchy allows them? Go into military service and fight the wars for the rich so they can possibly receive the 'blessings' of the rich to pursue an education? Or become a slave to them by amassing student loan debt while the wealthy ones path is paved. There is no real opportunity.Efforts are rarely rewarded, but the good conformists are rewarded. Is it any wonder that many poor kids turn to the sale of drugs and crime? When we do not reward effort, the elite oppress, and opportunities are glim, some are willing to assume the risk and danger if only for a moment to be apart from poverty and struggle. And so it is with our homeless and those we often label mentally ill. They seek to be free from oppression, and thus many depart from the reality and standards of corrupt society. As Laing stated, madness may very well be a normal response to a society gone mad. For these persons, the elite drug them into submission, their experience is of no importance, and so they often wander the streets with little chance of recovery as first, no one seems to care, second, they are damaged by psychiatric drugs, and lastly, society refuses to change.
Where is our sense of humanity? Where is our compassion? Can equality truly exist? We are taught not to worry about such things, there is a pill for these worries. No need to change anything, its all in your brain. You have the money, you can be part of the game, and maybe win. If you don't have money, you lose. Whether this be education, health care, or other basic human rights.
-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

THE STATE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY

Through capitalistic greed and corporate power, the United States is slowly being sold out to foreign interests and powers. We are allowing our nation's assets to be given away. Our freedoms and rights are being eroded often under the guise that 'it is for our own good and protection." We lack choices in government, we are controlled by an oligarchic system, a rulin elite, where the very wealthy are the only players. Third party candidates stand no chance, for example in Pennsylvania, The McCain camp knows that the Libertarian candidate Bob Barr could take votes away and lead to an Obama win in Pennsylvania. However, rather than allowing choice, the Mccain camp is fighting for the removal of Barr from the ballot. So as it is in most political equations today, we are not given any real choices, and the politicians hold all the cards, and seek to keep it that way. With the current dynamics and a generation of apathy, we must seriously look at our future. The current institutions are decaying and eroding, and they are driving people mad. It is not that the systems will admit failure. If you do not like the system, too bad, we will force your conformity, hence a large proportion of American children labeled and drugged.
We must change our minds, and we must do it quickly.

-D.L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

I recall a story of Buddha Shakyamuni where one of his monks desired to go forth to teach to a cruel and harsh people. The Buddha tested him with various questions as to what he would do if various cruelty came upon him. The monk described how he would seek the good in them and be patient no matter the ways they sought to treat him. The Buddha eventually blessed him to proceed stating that maybe hw would reach a few. This is the true work of the therapist. The therapist must be strengths based, focusing on the potential of benevolence in all beings, to realize the delusions we all possess, and to patiently join with another, but to respect their autonomy.
-Dr. D.L. Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

The Mental Health Edge Radio Program

Dr.D.L.Edmunds will be speaking on the program THE MENTAL HEALTH EDGE on the topic of the impact of current psychiatric practice on children. The program will air Wednesday August 20 from 8 to 9pm EST on WTAN1340AM in Clearwater, Florida and can be heard on the internet at www.tantalk1340.com

Autonomy and Responsibility

If therapists are to truly respect the autonomy of persons they must allow the person to make decisions on their own, even if these are poor decisions. The therapist should focus the person on seeking their own solutions, taking responsibility for their own actions and choices. The therapist should not allow for overdependence and should not feel 'guilt' if the decisions of their client do not meet to their own or societal approval. If we think this way, then we are not respecting autonomy.
We must also consider that we cannot change the minds of others, only they can do that. -D.L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

THEORETICAL INFLUENCES IN MY WORK

Boszormenyi-Nagy developed contextual therapy and as a part of this was the concept of destructive entitlement. He felt that many patterns of thought that were problematic and strains in relationship had to do with issues of justice and that people felt a sense of entitlement. This does not mean that feelings of entitlement means that the person is entitled. However, from this destructive entitlement came patterns of revenge. He saw this concept in conduct problems, substance abuse, and as far reaching as world political conflicts. Nagy focused on building conceptions of fairness and believed that ethical conceptions formed a part of the therapeutic process. I have to some degree been influenced by the work of Boszoremenyi-Nagi, particularly this concept of the impact of destructive entitlement.
In my practice, I have sought to develop a synthesis of Nagy's ideas of the needs for ethical principles to be a part of the therapeutic process, while incorporating the ideas of Laing in that extreme states of mind can be understood. In addition, I have brought into practice the thought of existentialism having realized that many distressed person's dilemmas are often problems of meaning and purpose. I am also in agreement with Adlerian ideas on feelings of inferiority being a motivating factor of the development of some destructive behaviors. My friend and colleague, psychologist Jorg Dao from Germany brought forward to me a different way of looking at therapy. His idea is that the therapist does not seek to analyze or 'fix' the problem but to guide the person to identifying the problem clearly and finding their own answers. I believe that all persons have innate strengths and the potential to come to resolution of their own dilemmas. We need to respect the autonomy of the individual and realize the great resiliency that exists within human beings.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Our society does not reward effort and determination, rather we have often developed an idea of entitlement. Our universities are failing because of this. Professors are chosen based on issues of connections and political correctness. The education of our children as well because of this contagion of entitlement. Taxes skyrocket because of this idea. How far do we go to help those who have no desire to help themselves? Should we pay for the medical treatment of one who given knowledge of making poor health choices persists in them? We are a society that feels entitled, wishes not to take responsibility, and prefers to stay numb. Psychiatry provides the concepts to exonerate persons and society of responsibility, and gives them the drugs to escape and be numb, to never have to really address any dilemma. Is it possible we are headed in the direction of the Soviet era where any critical thought was suppressed, often through psychiatric means? Will our society awaken and take responsibility and ownership for its choices and actions? God only knows.

-D.L.Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Speaking Engagements and Consultation to School Districts- Special Education Departments

Dr.D.L Edmunds has received numerous requests for media interviews and speaking engagements. Dr. Edmunds has presented at professional conferences, school districts, parent organizations, and other organizations addressing mental health reform, existential approaches, relational approaches, spirituality, self transformation, ethics in practice, diversity, comparative religion, child development and other topics. Fees for speaking engagements within Pennsylvania and New York is $650. The fee for events in other locations within the US is $1000. Please see the website of ICHP for more information and to arrange a speaking engagement.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

In addition, Dr.Edmunds has provided consult to school districts in regards to behavioral assessments, individualized education plans, autism and developmental differences, drug free relational approaches for distressed children. To arrange a consultation, please contact via e-mail at:
DoctorEdmunds@DrDanEdmunds.com

HOW DID I COME TO CHALLENGE THE PSYCHIATRIC ESTABLISHMENT?

When I first began academic training as a counselor, I was not exposed to any critical works at all. Part of the training was to accept that mental illness was cased by biological processes, basically chemical imbalances, and that psychiatric drugs were the main avenue of treatment combined with psychotherapy which was seen to be of lesser importance. I did not initially challenge any of this. I like most of my colleagues fell into this pattern of thought. However, it was my experiences visting children's psychiatric facilities, seeing situations of children being abused by staff and staff seeking to cover it up, as well as seeing the devastating effects of some psychiatric drugs (such as a 9 year old with tardive dyskinesia), that many questions were raised in my mind and conscience. From this point, I became exposed to some critical works and began to do thorough research on psychiatric drug effects. Later, I began working with a number of children, some given serious psychiatric labels, and I soon realized that the system really was not listening to their experience, it was not even treating them as human beings. As I began to listen and learn of the experience of many of my clients, I developed a sense of great compassion and vowed that I would take a stand from within the system. This has often been at great cost, but I know that it is my duty to stand up for the vulnerable and to promote social justice and humane treatment.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

PSYCHIATRISTS PRESCRIBE PILLS, DO NOT MAK USE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

CHICAGO - Cartoons about the psychiatrist’s couch were recently the subject of a museum exhibition. Now, the couch itself may be headed for a museum.

A new study finds a significant decline in psychotherapy practiced by U.S. psychiatrists.

The expanded use of pills and insurance policies that favor short office visits are among the reasons, said lead author Dr. Ramin Mojtabai of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.



“The ’couch,’ or, more generally, long-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy, was for so long a hallmark of the practice of psychiatry. It no longer is,” Mojtabai said.

Today’s psychiatrists get reimbursed by insurance companies at a lower rate for a 45-minute psychotherapy visit than for three 15-minute medication visits, he explained.

His study found that the percentage of patients’ visits to psychiatrists for psychotherapy, or talk therapy, fell from 44 percent in 1996-97 to 29 percent in 2004-05. The percentage of psychiatrists using psychotherapy with all their patients also dropped, from about 19 percent to 11 percent.

Psychiatrists who provided talk therapy to everyone had more patients who paid out of pocket compared to those doctors who provided talk therapy less often. And they prescribed fewer pills.

'Aura of invincibility' around meds
As talk therapy declined, TV ads contributed to an “aura of invincibility” around drugs for depression and anxiety, said Charles Barber, a lecturer in psychiatry at Yale University and author of “Comfortably Numb: How Psychiatry is Medicating a Nation.”

“By contrast, there’s almost no marketing for psychotherapy, which has comparable if not better outcomes,” said Barber, who was not involved in the study.

The findings, published in Monday’s Archives of General Psychiatry, are based on an annual survey of office visits to U.S. doctors. Of more than 246,000 visits sampled during the 10 years, more than 14,000 were to psychiatrists. The researchers analyzed those psychiatrist visits.

Autism and Developmental Differences

Dr.D.L.Edmunds has developed one of few drug free relational programs for autistic and developmentally different children. Dr.Edmunds provides consultation to children, families, and school districts in Northeastern Pennsylvania and is available for phone consultation to those residing in other areas. Dr. Edmunds has worked with over 80 children with developmental challenges, developed a support group, was involved with a therapeutic equestrian program, and has delivered numerous lectures and seminars. His approach encourages autonomy, development of increased independent skills, the forging of emotional connections, and self advocacy. The program is not coercive and respects the dignity of the child. For more information, please see:
www.humanepsychiatry.info

WE ARE WHAT WE THINK

Problems in life are inevitable, we cannot escape them, we do have no choice in this. What we do have a choice in is how we wish to address these problems. We have the choice to decide to allow these problems to make us anger, bitter, depressed, anxious, etc. Our other choice is to become patient, to transform our minds towards total acceptance. When problems befall us we can also think of the causes that we may have created or misguided deeds or actions that may have led to our present experience. We must realize that birth, death, aging, and sickness are events we cannot escape. So many people indulge in various distractions and temporary pleasures to not have to think of these events. However, all pleasures lead to suffering. For instance, we may have one drink that is pleasant and relaxing, but multiple can cause us to become ill or hungover. We must begin to examine our minds. Even if we are not raging, we must examine the angry minds we possess. Simply being impatient is an angry mind, it is a mind based on not being able to come to acceptance, of seeking to change that which cannot be changed. One of my clients, age 14, commented that he felt he has always had 'anger problems' and that he feels that he has always 'had problems in my life." I discussed with him the root of his anger, patience, and the concept of total acceptance. I told him that he can change his mind to not look upon himself as the 'kid with problems' but realize that we all undergo problems, it is the human condition, and that he can transform his mind to accept this fact and develop patience and total acceptance.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

TROUBLED TEENS AND ISSUES OF MEANING

In many of the instances of troubled teens I have encountered in my work, I have noticed that a common theme is that they are lacking meaning and purpose. This does not imply that they must have a particular religiosity. What I am referring to is that they have become lost along the way, somewhat apathetic, and their zeal for life has been squashed. Many of these kids are solely of the attitude that 'whatever happens, happens." Because current psychiatric practice is focused on the medicalization of experience, it may be missing a key component to the resiliency and recovery of these troubled teens. Many of them I have worked with have been involved in numerous psychiatric programs, they go through the motions, or they become distrustful, questioning genuineness and sincerity in the system, and still on a quest for something more. The defiant interactions of these children are only fueled more by these problems inherent in current psychiatric practice. When persons feel they are unheard and become desparate, they often adopt a defiant stance. If we sought to create places of sanctuary, places of understanding, places where experience is heard, we may be on a better track to meeting the needs of troubled teens. I have been confused many times how that drug addicted teens are weaned off of street drugs only to be psychiatrically hospitalized and given prescribed drugs. I wonder what message we are sending.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

TIMELINE

Dr.D.L.Edmunds is the leader of the worldwide movement for a more humane mental health system. An existential therapist working mainly with children and teens, he has developed approaches focused on restoring relationships, developing meaning, and resolving conflicts. His focus has also been in regards to consciousness, extreme states of mind, developmental differences, and exploring the human condition. He has been a strong advocate for social justice issues.
1991- Edmunds serves as a legislative aide to State Senator Robert W. Schaffer. He later serves as the youngest registered professional lobbyist and involves himself in various political campaigns. He becomes a member of Students for Peace and Justice.He serves as a volunteer for the Larimer County Veterans Affairs Office.
1992- gains approval for the creation of a Youth Commission in Ormond Beach,FL. He serves as a campaign coordinator for a congressional campaign. Meets Martin Luther King III.
1993- volunteers with Peninsula Medical Center and as part of the REACH program for developmentally challenged children at St.Brenden's Catholic Church in Ormond Beach.
1994- organizes a student ministry at the University of Florida.
1995- completes coursework in Chinese Buddhism with Dr. Chih wa Chan as well as Comparative Religion and Christian Mysticism with Drs. Dennis Owen and Gene Thursby.
1996- is ordained as a deacon in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
1997- earns a BA in Comparative Religion, minor in Socilogy from the University of Florida. Receives ordination to the priesthood in Greek Old Calendar Orthodox Church.
1998- publishes journal article on the State of the Soul After Death in University of Scranton's Journal for Eastern Christian Studies.
1999- receives MA in Theology from the University of Scranton. Received into National Honor Society for Theological Studies.Begins doctoral program in Community Counseling at University of Sarasota.
2000- completes doctoral level coursework in Dispute Resolution via Nova Southeastern University. Spends a period attached to an Eastern Orthodox monastery.Begins practice as a therapist with a private agency.
2001- hosts local radio program addressing family issues and needs of children.
2002- begins autism support group and publishes articles on relational approaches.
2003- begins delivering lectures on autism and developmental differences as well as drug free relational approaches to ADHD.
2005- presents at ICSPP conference.serves as clinical coordinator for therapeutic equestrian program. Begins work as a psychological evaluator.
2006- delivers a number of speeches and presentations on human rights in the mental health system. Receives Doctorate of Education in Community Counseling from University of Sarasota. Publishes text- Children Our Treasure.
2007- appointed Dean of Faculty and Professor of Religion and Human Services for St. James Theological Seminary. Receives honorary Doctorate of Education.
2008- appointed as faculty and member of Advisory Board for European American University. Received as a clergyman in the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church. Performs ordination to minor orders of a person with Down's Syndrome. Begins work on development of Lazarus House project.

www.humanepsychiatry.info

The Forces That Drive Us Mad and Being Human Again

There are powerful social forces which are heeped upon us. We cannot escape them. Children are told to behave 'appropriately'. Yet, what is appropriate? What does this mean? It is a social construct, and the most powerful of these social forces is the family. From the earliest point, a child is taught what are the 'appropriate' responses- when and what to laugh at, when to cry and when not to, and often how to feel.The family defines what is 'appropriate' but is it? One family may condone violence, another abhor it. The dynamics of the family shape us for life. What has been the experience of the parents may be forced upon the child to be their experience. Hence why adolescence is often a turbulent time as the teen seeks to become autonomous and create an experience apart from their parents experience or what they have been told to experience. But what of those who are stifled to the point where they can experience nothing but what the other has told them to experience? Here lies some of the root of what we may term 'insanity'. Being that each seeks a level of autonomy, each seeks to have their own experience, when this does not arise, then the person must cast off the shackles of these familial and social forces, often to the extreme of departing from all accepted notions of reality or what is termed by the mainstream as 'acceptable'. Once again, what is 'acceptable'? The message can be contradictory. We may be taught through our familial faith to not harm another, yet we are exposed to the forces of violent society, the prevalent self centeredness and greed, and we may then ask, what is 'acceptable'? Is the 'acceptable' necessarily what we have been taught? Is it necessaerily what we have learned? What is it that we have learned? Is it possible that we may have to unlearn? Behavior results from our experience. If a behavior is deemed by some as maladaptive, it can only be seen in light of experience. But can we really know the experience of another? Will we only choose to judge the experience of another by our own experience? Will we invalidate the other because they do not share our perception of experience? Will we force them to have 'our experience' and thus behave as we do? Are we right? Are we wrong? Who is to say? Could there be commonality in our experiences that we can recognize? Can we journey with each other? To find what is 'acceptable' is to find our humanity, to find our inner being, to find those links of experience which remain in spite of the social forces that cause us to sway this way and that, and for some tear at their core being and identity. When we are free, we can experience the other, when we are free, we can be ourselves. If we are free, we can reshape these social forces, and they will not be storms, but unifying forces helping us to recapture our sense of what it means to be human and to truly love again. How do we be free? Must be become 'mad' to be free? But are the 'mad' really free or have they been driven to this barren place? We can only be free once we have come to a state of unlearning, of unknowing, a rebirth where we are not bound by blame and shame and the darkness of past traumas or of ideas we have learned and carried forward because it is all we knew.

TONGLEN MEDITATION

Tonglen is a Tibetan Buddhist meditation practice. Tonglen means 'giving and taking". It is a selfless meditation where the person envisions and takes in the suffering of another person and gives back compassion and thinking of the happiness of others. This is a practice in virtue and is very useful in our developing not only a greater sense of our own happiness, but further empathy for others. The practice is similar to homeopathy or vaccination in that we take in a small mount of poison that helps to innoculate us from future misery.


-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

ADHD, BIPOLAR,SCHIZOPHRENIA, PSYCHOSIS- Drug free psychosocial approaches and counseling

Dr. Edmunds is expanding his consultation to school districts, families, and organizations in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York.Please see the following sites for more information:
www.scrantoncounseling.com

www.humanepsychiatry.info

If I could but change your heart...

If I could but change your heart- to leave behind attachment and greed- If I could but change your heart- to love your fellow man and perform a good deed- If I could but change your heart- to accept with compassion all in need.

Talking with Papouli

To the town, he is the local 'crazyman' who wonders about, at times engaged in conversation with himself. An elderly man with olive complexion, he is seen by some as a hopeless reject. Tonight I sat with him who I refer to as 'Papouli'. We chatted about religion, politics, and his past in the Vietnam War. What a beautiful man, but with such a broken spirit. The psychiatrists and others have said here is a man beyond reason, a schizo with no hope. Yet, I approached him with compassion, and found our conversation most relevant and of interest. Here is a man who has seen the pain of the world and felt it too! We had a wonderful exchange and as he parted he thanked me and said thanks for being there and for a good conversation. Would many even dare speak to him? Would any dare to be his acquiantance, much less his friend? I do not see a crazy man but a man who knows suffering, a man who knows loneliness, a man who knows what man inflicts upon his fellow man. But in him, I see hope. In our conversation, he gives me the vision of what we must change to truly be human and to love again.

WHAT HAVE WE BECOME?

In today's American society, we form about 5% of the world's population yet 80% of drugs used for persons given the diagnosis of ADHD are prescribed in the US. Recently, it was reported that the psychiatrist Biederman was reported to have withheld information about his receiving vast amounts of financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies. This same Biederman has promoted the diagnosis of bipolar and it was his work that the psychiatrist for Rebecca Riley relied upon. Rebecca Riley died from the massive drug cocktail she received. She was only 4 years old. There has been increases in the use of untested anti-psychotic drugs in children. These drugs can cause diabetes, tradive dyskinesia, and even lactating breasts in males. Persons are rarely given informed consent and most are unaware of these dangers. Psychiatry has become one of the most greedy and dangerous forces in our culture. It is being looked upon as a new religion and a means to address the human condition. Yet, it ignores the human condition, it ignores person's experience. We have come to the point of pathologizing much of human experience. There has recently been suggested that compulsive shopping and internet addiction are now 'diseases' in need of drug treatment. Psychiatry has become a money making machine geared at social control. American society is becoming a drugged society, a numb society. As a result, America is plummeting within the world scene. Americans are becoming less motivated, less driven, apt to believe the lies told to them, led to believe that there is something wrong within their brains rather than seeing our society as disordered. There has become an apathy, an acceptance of this disordered society as 'the way things are'. Persons are giving away their freedoms, expecting that the State will protect them or that psychiatry's 'technologies" (drugs) will make able to cope with the societal trends. Rather, it is forcing them into compliance to a system needing radical change. People are being made into victims, taught to feel helpless. As Noam Chomsky states, "All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume." We have become a society which shuns individual responsibility. The rich become richer and ride the backs of the poor, yet the poor have accepted their slavery and become apathetic. There is no critical thinking, no questioning of the way things are. Rather than question, there is ready acceptance of what the 'experts' tell us. Some of the disadvantaged see no way to survive but to accept the fact of slavery. It has become profitable for schools, families, foster parents, and others to have a child labeled and drugged. It is a means to keep everyone in their place. Make the child sit down and shut up, so they may be 'educated'. But what has education become? Critical thinking is not part of our current education system, rather it is based on a rote system of once again keeping people in their place and having them continue to keep the machine operating. People are being treated as machines, without thoughts and feelings, merely dispensible objects that are really but a conglommerate of chemical processes, nothing more. We spend billions to intervene in the affairs of other nations and with the guise that this is for our own good, that we are being 'protected'. But if we were to use our own definitions of terrorism to apply to our own policies and actions, we would find that our governmental policies may be some of the worst terrorism of all. But let's play semantics- when we kill, it is war, when they kill, it is terrorism. Change the language and we can deny responsibility and make it 'justifiable.'
When do we decide to wake up? When do we decide to no longer be controlled? When do we decide that we must again think critically? When do we decide to be human again?

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Making peace with teens and creating sanctuary within a family

How do we make sense of the troubled teen? Particularly those who enter the world of addiction, whose family relationships are torn, and who are often seen associating with 'negative' peers? Many will assume that these teens can be easily identified by their style of dress or maybe by their class, but these struggles can be found in many families. Behavior can be seenn but not experience. What the child may interpret as their experience may be very different from the parent and vice versa. What may have been gravely traumatic to the child may not have been seen as such by the family. In our society today which causes us immense stress and pressure to survive (if we are poor) or attain more (if we are well to do) has diverted attention away from understanding experience. Society has now sought to medicalize experience where any thoughts and feelings, any part of our human condition need not be understood but numbed by a pill. We are a numb society responding to societal pressures. These pressures become unleashed on our children. A parent may fear that their child will endure hardship that the parent may have endured so the parent seeks to force and coerce the child 'out of love' to achieve and do what the parent desires. The teen in a state of exerting autonomy feels threatened and thus rejects in toto the guidance of the parent and seeks after peers who will understand their experience and their pain. As I mentioned that we are taught to be a numb society, some teens choose to numb their emotional pain by illicit drugs. This idea has been instilled by our society. The teen may not realize the self destructive course they are taking because they have convinced themselves that they are free. But it is not freedom they possess, for freedom comes with responsibility, rather they have traded one slavery for another. Parents must take the time to understand the world and experience of the teen, to build communication which seeks to understand their desire for autonomy and which respects their experience. An overprotective stance and coercion leads to the breakdown of communication which is vital for any relationship to survive. We often distrust children, we do not allow them the ability to make decisions and when they are poor ones to see the logical consequences. Why is it that adults assume they possess the wisdom when adult society has engaged in numerous conflicts costing many lives? Could children make the right decisions or better decisions if we solely gave them support and listened and journeyed with them rather than seeking to take away their autonomy they so desparately desire? We all seek to be free. When we seek to create the identity and destiny of the teen, we will fail. They will not be able to develop an identity of their own but will grapple with who they are, meaning, and their purpose. We must allow them to find themselves as we as adults function as coaches in this game of life. We cannot think we can play the game for them or can manipulate the results. When we can become involved with children again in a relationship of trust and respect, then it is possible that what is seen as troublesome behavior will diminish. When the child feels validated, supported, heard, and able to have a voice, they will in turn give the same to the parent. We must be cautious of what we model. If we seek to coerce and manipulate the child to meet our desires as adults, we will have manipulative children. Our methods of communication will be the childs methods. If we focus our time on the mundane, we will find children to do likewise or seek to rebel against this system. Because of the imbalance in power, the child's rebellion is never successful but mostly self destructive but they rarely recogbize this. We can restore sanctuary to families, but it is up to each to take ownership and responsibility for creating it.

Dan L. Edmunds,Ed.D.
Dunmore,PA
www.humanepsychiatry.info

LAZARUS HOUSE UPDATE AND THANKS TO ARCHBISHOP JOHN KERSEY

First, I must say how thankful I am to be a clergyman of the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church and to have a supportive and loving Archbishop. Archbishop John Kersey has greatly supported my efforts for a humane mental health system and the Lazarus House project is now mentioned at the Church website at
http://www.liberalcatholics.org
The Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church is an indepedent catholic body respecting freedom of conscience and seeking to share and live Divine Love.
Lazarus House needs to raise funds towards becoming a reality. We need your help. Lazarus House will be a safe and loving environment for distressed people where they can reduce dependency on psychiatric drugs and feel respected and heard. Please contact me if you can help.
DoctorEdmunds@DrDanEdmunds.com

Dan L. Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

LAZARUS HOUSE: SUPPORT FOR PERSONS LABELED WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

I am collaborating with Connie Shuster of Artists for Recovery in establishing a residence in Philadelphia that will offer a safe and supportive environment for people undergoing serious emotional distress. It will be a place where they can be heard and validated and focus on inner discovery. It will also help in reducing dependency on psychiatric drugs. We greatly need support to make this happen. Please contact me or Connie if you would like to help this effort. See the website below for contact info:
http://www.geocities.com/stnektarios/DISTRESS5.html

http://www.artistsforrecovery.com

http://www.DrDanEdmunds.com

Scranton, Pennsylvania and Human Rights

As a resident of the Scranton metro area, it has been exciting for me to see the expansion of our efforts for a more humane mental health system locally. In addition, I was informed that the Institute for Religion and Public Policy will be locating to the Scranton area. It is great to see efforts for the promotion of human rights flourishing in the Scranton area.

Dan L.Edmunds,Ed.D.
www.humanepsychiatry.info

Creating a Sanctuary to Safely Come Off Psychiatric Drugs

Connie Shuster of Artists for Recovery is working on a great project in Philadelphia. The project will be similar in scope to Soteria and provide distressed persons a safe and supportive residential environment in which to come off of toxic psychiatric drugs. This is a huge undertaking. I am pleased to support Connie's efforts and hope others will support this project. If you can assist or would like more information about the development of LAZARUS HOUSE, please contact me via the ICHP website:
http://www.humanepsychiatry.info

Dan L. Edmunds,Ed.D.

IS COMPASSION A RADICAL IDEA?

At times and by some, when I have shared ideas about a more humane and compassionate mental health system I have been looked upon as a radical. These are not radical ideas but common sense ideas. They are ideas based on our human potential to love and be benevolent. Force and coercion never solve problems, it only creates more trauma. I sadly see this in the children's mental health system where children are vulnerable and have no voice. I have seen the abuses firsthand. Mental health services have become not about mental health and well being but about control through drugs. If a person shakes and convulses because of the drugs, too bad, we will force you because we 'know what is best for you' Giving people a sense of empowerment and choice and building a relationship is what truly helps in recovery, the Soteria project proved this. But there is much money to be made in drugs, compassion does not pay. We want a quick fix or we want not to be troubled by disturbing people. Sedate them, what value do they have anyway? This is how our present society operates. I see this in some families where they seek to create their model child through technology (drugs) but destroy the child and his spirit in the process. What is normal? As Laing statedn normal man has killed millions of his fellow normal men. Hopefully in time we can come to the realization that compassion is not a radical idea, it is rather a noble idea and the best quality of being human.

Dan L. Edmunds,Ed.D.

A FEW REFLECTIONS FROM MY PAST WORK WITH VETERANS GIVEN THE DIAGNOSIS OF 'SCHIZOPHRENIA'

I recall my interactions with a number of veterans living together in a group home. A number carried a diagnosis of 'schizophrenia'. I served as a chaplain for some of these individuals and many of them became my friends. I fondly remember Joe in particular. He had been in the Vietnam War and came back with serious emotional scars. He would often repeat at times, 'the shock was awful and tremendous'. I would later learn that he had been subjected to electroshock 'treatments'. Joe used to come to the chapel and we would sit and have coffee. Joe enjoyed coversation and I invited him to help set up for services and to participate as an altar server. Joe always was helpful. There were times that Joe would have some unusual behaviors but I tolerated them, and sought to know his experiences and who he was as a person. I recall one of the more unusual experiences was finding Joe in the middle of the road, kneeling, and looking towards the sky. I stopped my car and asked Joe what he was doing in the road. "I am praying." I jokingly said, 'well, I hope you are praying not to get hit by a car." Joe laughed and I took his hand and led him back to his home. I told Joe that if he wanted to pray that his room would be a far better setting. I saw the immense power in joining in, building a relationship, and seeking to understand. I remember as well that there as a veteran who frequently could annoy others and be disruptive when there was a religious service. He would ask me, "can I have some wine" and repeat this as a mantra. Though I was not sure if he was allowed to have the wine, I agreed to give him a cup at the end of the service if he would agree to respect the others. He was very respectful and together we shared a cup of wine. From there, we began a conversation, and he also began to be more kind to to the others in the group home.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrdanEdmunds.com
www.HumanePsychiatry.info

WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT A SYSTEM GONE 'MENTAL'

A PLAN FOR TREATING THE INSANITY IN THE MENTAL HEALTH SYSTEM- WHAT WE MUST DO


First, we must stop looking through the eyes of a medical model, where we see children as broken and disordered and attempts are made to attributing their behaviors and emotions solely to a malfunctioning brain. There is no evidence supporting the psychopathology of a number of disorders. The linkage between the pharmaceutical companies and psychiatry needs to be evaluated as well as the information that is disseminated via the research and materials provided by pharmaceutical company money. One such example is CHADD, the 'support' group for parents of children diagnosed with ADHD that has received a great deal of his funding from the pharmceutical companies. The goal should be to examine the underlying factors of a child's behavior, looking at the child with dignity and respect, and seeing the child as one in conflict rather than a person who is disordered. Such stigmatization remains indefinitely, and labels can often become a self fulfilling prophecy and will follow our children for years to come and shape the way that they view themselves and also the way others view them, particularly the educational system. We cannot look to solely the most cost effective solution when our children's lives are at stake. Indeed, providing a prescription may control aspects of behavior and be though to have a 'therapeutic effect' but never gets to the root cause, and whereas it is far less expensive to medicate than to provide ongoing psychotherapy, it is appropriate and compassionate counsel that will make the difference. Second, the realm of psychotherapy must return to its orginal roots. The word psychotherapy literally means the healing of the soul. We must return the soul to therapy, encouraging therapists to instill within themselves the principles of compassion and empathy that are crucial for any therapeutic relationship to blossom forth. Therapists need to be compassionate and creative, and willing to give additional time and effort to see that a child's needs are met and to also provide community linkages and ongoing support within their environment and to encourage the least restrictive setting for our children. The coercion of parents and families into forced 'treatments' needs to be eliminated. Third, the educational system must be willing to accomodate to meet the various learning styles of children and not seek to place them in a box of rote learning or limit them to one particulat style. Some children may falter in a visual setting and need a hands on approach, whereas others may need other methods of encouraging their effective learning. We must return time, attention, and individuality to the classroom. Fourth, parents need to continue to take an active role in the lives of their children, providing ongoing guidance, validating emotions and not taking a dismissive, disapproving, or hands off approach. Rather, parents must be involved in helping the children develop their own sense of being, and being able to assess themselves. Parents need to avoid nagging their children and becoming entrapped in the propaganda that their children are disordered and need drugs to function. Fifth, our society must change in it attitudes. We are a society where we try to find our answers to ailments within a simple pill. We are a society that has unfortunately lost sight for the welfare of our children. We are a societry where we are prosperous, yet greed often blinds us. Such disorders such as ADHD can be looked upon as a social construct. 90% of Ritalin sales are in the US. This tells us that there is something to be examined within our society that needs correction. Somewhere along the line we have failed our children. This is not to lay blame on any particular individual but to understand that our children are in crisis, and it is up to all of us to take the steps for change. We need to rely less on psychiatry and its devices to solve our problems and more on what we can do within ourselves- to take a holistic approach, to understand the child as a whole person- physical, emotional, and spiritual, and to examine in each of these areas where there may be difficulties that can be alleviated. We need to rely less on others dictating the course of our own and our children's lives and develop workable plan within our own family structure. Nothing will ever be perfect, but even in the most serious disturbances, love and compassion can heal much. We must realize that in some situations within society and within our own lives, we may never be able to evoke complete change. This is the cause of much distress, not problems themselves but how we respond to them. To battle those things beyond our control can lead us to emotional distress, but if we seek live as principled individuals, we can make a difference. What we model to our children and to others has a lasting impact.


Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrdanEdmunds.com
www.HumanePsychiatry.info

Recovery

I am deeply inspired by the work of British psychologist Rufus May. Here is a gentleman suffering psychiatric abuse, diagnosed as schizophrenic and given no hope and fed the lie that he must always takepsch drugs yet recovers and becomes a psychologist! How does biopsychiatry explain such occurrences? I am pleased to support Dr. May and his work to truly understand those undergoing extreme states of mind.

Respect for Autistics Program

In the desire to offer support to autistic and developmentally different children, I have initiated a consultation program to school districts and families in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York that focuses on relational approaches and encourages self advocacy, self determination, and helps the person be able to navigate through the mainstream. Please view the ICHP website for more info or contact me at DoctorEdmunds@DrDanEdmunds.com to arrange a consult.

KEPT IN THEIR PLACE

We are controlled in this country by a ruling elite, whether we wish to recognize it or not. The elite have their paths paved for them. The middle class struggle to survive and are burdened and the elite seek to make them slaves to the system. For example, a middle class young person will be burdened with student loan debt possibly until the day they retire, the elite do not face this. The elite have created this system to keep people 'in their place'. For the poor, the elite have sought to entice them with financial incentives if they will go along with the sad debacle of having their children labeled as 'crazy' or to be shipped off to fight the wars that the elite have created and benefit from. Some are more than willing to submit to this system, to receive the governmental handouts and to abdicate their freedom as well as any responsibility for themselves or their children. The elite seeks to keep this nation ingorant and stupid. Our educational system has become not about learning at all but rather regurgitation of information as the elite would have it. There is no present presidential candidate or any poltiician for that matter that can really save us from the mess we are in. Our only real hope is for people to flee from ignorance and to awaken to the real situation we are in, and for there to exist a true effort to restore social justice. Is it too late?
We must examine the inherent dynamics within families and within society where individuals enact violence upon one another to obtain their own particular selfish interests. This violence may be subtle and may even be said to be done because of love, but underlying it is selfish interest and desire. People are looking to fit a particular model of what it is to 'fit the norm'. Be it cosmetic surgery or psychiatric drugs, we are seeking to escape the actual realities of the human condition. We seek distractions and entertainments. We do not truly want to face the human condition. We only seek to try to escape it. Those who do not fit to our desires are made to be scapegoats, or they are shuffled away, or their freedom is taken away from them. We do not seek to udnerstand them nor do we want to understand them. In families, there can often be one child who is designated 'the problem' and all the dysfunction and turmoil of the family is laid upon this child. They will be the one drugged into submission or sent away so that the family can continue to pursue their selfish interests.
Can we once again become people of compassion? Can we once again be people of understanding? Can we accept what it means to be human? Can we be a human family?

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

CHILDREN IN THE MIDST OF CONFLICT

When children have experieced abuse and abandonment in early childhood, this often becomes a 'seared in' memory and halts emotional development to the point where the trauma occurred. They may be seen to have a more 'infantile' mind. These feelings of abandonment are often furthered by demeaning words and condescending language used with the child. Each times this occurs, the child begins to look at themselves as a 'non-entity'. They experience existential death. The external conflict that children see amongst their parents becomes an internal conflict for them, the internal conflict then manifests itself externally (usually as aggression). The child becomes devoid of trust, and those who draw near often becomes the persons who this internal conflict is unleashed upon. It is not that the child is devoid of any feeling for the person seeking to connect with them, it is rather that every connection had strings attached or every connection has been severed. The child becomes anxious and afraid of loss, of even losing themselves, if they are to try again to embark on the process of building a trusting relationship. Laing (1969) stated that 'if there is anything the schizoid individual is likely to believe in, it his his own destructiveness. He is uanble to believe that he can fill his own emptiness without reducing what is there to nothing.' It will be common then for these children to question whether they deserve 'happiness' and many times question if they even 'deserve to exist'. The children who have undergone the trauma of abuse and abandonment lack an identity of their own, they appear as a construct of others and often are conformist. They do what they feel will earn them the praise of others. But in reality this is based on their own fears and their negative perceptions of themselves. These children are prone to be seen as manipulative, but this is because they are seeking to exercise control over some aspect of their lives when prior they had absolutely no control. They strive for ideals they cannot be met. Often their intense desire to control or to engage in certain activities in reality is a crying out for their real desire- to have an actual loving and trusting relationship. But these children do not know how to respond to an outpouring of love. They feel that they do not have a voice, are not heard. It is easier for them to feel hated than engulfed by love, particularly when they have seen love to be about control. They desire autonomy and feel they will lose it in the process of building a true relationship. These children may begin to also de-personalize, they may not be prepared to relate to other persons. They may be perceived as lacking empathy, however this is not that it is not there or could not be there, rather it is their fear that blocks their emotional expression of empathy.
These children are often very hurt so they feel they must hurt others.
What do we do? How do we reach such a child? It requires a patient approach. We must allow the child to vent their frustrations. We must share our understanding that we know they are hurt. We must journey with them as they relate their experience of trauma. We do not judge them or withdraw. Even when their emotional expressions may cause us to be afraid, we continue to reach out. We need to be able to forge relationship know matter what and to help the child come to an understanding of life's impermanency, yet we can still strive for happiness now. The trauma is past and does not need to haunt us. We can encourage this child to explore their own sense of self and engage in activities that give them a positive sense of self worth apart from others. Caregivers and others need to make themselves emotionally available, to look at emotional expression as a time for intimacy and teaching. We need to be able to understand the behaviors, even that which are annoying to us, as a means of communication, and when the child is in the 'right space', to communicate with them and help them process those feelings that were behind whatever incident occurred.
We may be prone to drug the child because the behaviors are seen as 'out of control' or 'disturbing', but whereas this may cause the problematic behavior to lessen, we may be making a grave mistake. We may be subduing the very process by which the child is able to release the tension and pain. We may be numbing but not looking a tthe root cause. Unless we see the behavior, how can we truly know what to do? If we cannot allow the child to express their distress, how will we truly know of their distress?
To be simple, our means of reaching this child is this- to be with them unconditionally.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

BEING DEVELOPMENTALLY DIFFERENT

The causation of autism remains in the realm of theory and is speculative. There exists many approaches towards how individuals and society regard autistic individuals. Autism is an umbrella term. It is not a disease, nor is it really an 'entity' in itself. Rather, it is a description of how a person acts and how they relate to their world. Autism is thus very much a part of who the person is. Many programs (such as ABA) seek to alter the autistic person and make them something other. The question is what exactly are we seeking to make the autistic person into and how exactly are we going to make that change? Are we solely seeking to coerce and force a person to behave as a 'typical' person would? Are we programming the person to act in ways that the majority would find more acceptable? Are we assuming that the autistic person is not to be valued? Are we assuming that the autistic person has no innate strengths because they may be developmentally different?
Are we assuming that these individuals lack communication because they may not speak? Are we assuming the likes and dislikes of the autistic person? Are we assuming that they lack intellect?
The attitudes that we put forward are readily understood and perceived. Because an autistic person may lack verbal communication does not mean they do not communicate. It is for the non-autistic persons to be able to learn the language. And it is hear that I given an analogy of what our relationship and help to autistic persons should be. If I am from India and speak Hindi, and I move to England, should I be expected to give up my culture, my language, my identity and adopt all that it means to be 'English'? However, if I do not learn English and something about what life is like in England, I may indeed have some challenges within that society. Therefore, those who wish to help the autistic person should not be set on the notion that they must change the person or force them to be 'typical' but rather accept their developmental difference and guide them into understanding something about the majority who are unlike them, so that they can be able to navigate through society with lesser challenges.
It is necessary for us to see beyond the label. It is necessary for us to understand the autistic person's experience and not come to assumptions based solely on what we may conclude from our limited observation. We must respect the autonomy of autistic persons, allowing them to advocate for themselves, and not bore them with rote exercises that frustrate them or with conceptions that they are a nuisance and that part of who they are must be eradicated. We can begin to join in with them, we can help to forge emotional connections. The autistic person may struggle with their conceptions of bodily space, they may experience sensory challenges that make the mainstream world a confusing place to be. Those in the helping professions must keep sight of compassion and patience and be able to help the autistic person explore and navigate through the world at their own pace. We cannot overwhelm. But because an autistic person may face the challenges I mention does not mean that they lack understanding, often they understand very well, it is us non-autistic persons who do not understand but think that we do. We can only understand by being with and joining with those who know firsthand what it is to be developmentally different.
We can seek to be guides and facilitators, to provide a voice when one may be lacking a voice, to journey with, not to coerce or change.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

PROBLEMS WITHIN THE FOSTER CARE SYSTEM

I am very pleased to have been invited to attend a meeting with representatives of the foster care/ child protective agencies in the State of Florida to discuss the dismal failure of this system. The majority of children in this setting are not being placed with relatives but in highly restrictive placements. In addition, a vast number of these children are being given psychiatric drugs that carry risk of suicidality, mania, and/or permanent neurological damage. The system is not understanding the experience of these children but solely looking at a glimpse of their behavior after being ripped from their natural families and then assigning a diagnosis and drugs. There is an obvious financial incentive to take this unfortunate line of action with these children. It is my hope that vast reform and change can be implemented in this system for the well being of young people.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

FROM NY TIMES: ANTI-PSYCHOTIC DRUGS OFFER NO BENEFIT IN CURBING AGGRESSION

Drugs Offer No Benefit in Curbing Aggression, Study Finds
By BENEDICT CAREY



The drugs most widely used to manage aggressive outbursts in intellectually disabled people are no more effective than placebos for most patients and may be less so, researchers report.

The finding, being published Friday, sharply challenges standard medical practice in mental health clinics and nursing homes in the United States and around the world.

In recent years, many doctors have begun to use the so-called antipsychotic drugs, which were developed to treat schizophrenia, as all-purpose tranquilizers to settle threatening behavior — in children with attention-deficit problems, college students with depression, older people with Alzheimer’s disease and intellectually handicapped people.

The new study tracked 86 adults with low I.Q.’s in community housing in England, Wales and Australia over more than a month of treatment. It found a 79 percent reduction in aggressive behavior among those taking dummy pills, compared with a reduction of 65 percent or less in those taking antipsychotic drugs.

The researchers focused on two drugs, Risperdal by Janssen, and an older drug, Haldol, but said the findings almost certainly applied to all similar medications. Such drugs account for more than $10 billion in annual sales, and research suggests that at least half of all prescriptions are for unapproved “off label” uses — often to treat aggression or irritation.

The authors said the results were quite likely to intensify calls for a government review of British treatment standards for such patients, and perhaps to prompt more careful study of treatment for aggressive behavior in patients with a wide variety of diagnoses.

Other experts said the findings were also almost certain to inflame a continuing debate over the widening use of antipsychotic drugs. Patient advocates and some psychiatrists say the medications are overused.

Previous studies of the drugs’ effect on aggressive outbursts have been mixed, with some showing little benefit and others a strong calming influence. But the drugs have serious side effects, including rapid weight gain and tremors, and doctors have had little rigorous evidence to guide practice.

“This is a very significant finding by some very prominent psychiatrists” — one that directly challenges the status quo, said Johnny L. Matson, a professor of psychology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, co-author of an editorial with the study in the journal Lancet.

While it is unclear how much the study by itself will alter prescribing habits, “the message to doctors should be, think twice about prescribing, go with lower doses and monitor side effects very carefully,” Dr. Matson continued, adding:

“Or just don’t do it. We know that behavioral treatments can work very well with many patients.”

Other experts disagreed, saying the new study was not in line with previous research or their own experience. Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, said that Risperdal only promotes approved uses, which in this country include the treatment of irritability associated with autism in children.

In the study, Dr. Peter J. Tyrer, a professor of psychiatry at Imperial College London, led a research team who assigned 86 people from ages 18 to 65 to one of three groups: one that received Risperdal; one that received another antipsychotic, the generic form of Haldol; and one that was given a placebo pill. Caregivers tracked the participants’ behavior. Many people with very low I.Q.’s are quick to anger and lash out at others, bang their heads or fists into the wall in frustration, or singe the air with obscenities when annoyed.

After a month, people in all three groups had settled down, losing their temper less often and causing less damage when they did. Yet unexpectedly, those in the placebo group improved the most, significantly more so than those on medication.

In an interview, Dr. Tyrer said there was no reason to believe that any other antipsychotic drug used for aggression, like Zyprexa from Eli Lilly or Seroquel from AstraZeneca, would be more effective. Being in the study, with all the extra attention it brought, was itself what apparently made the difference, he said.

“These people tend to get so little company normally,” Dr. Tyrer said. “They’re neglected, they tend to be pushed into the background, and this extra attention has a much bigger effect on them that it would on a person of more normal intelligence level.”

The study authors, who included researchers from the University of Wales and the University of Birmingham in Britain and the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, wrote that their results “should not be interpreted as an indication that antipsychotic drugs have no place in the treatment of some aspects of behavior disturbance.”

But the routine prescription of the drugs for aggression, they concluded, “should no longer be regarded as a satisfactory form of care.”

SOCIAL DIVISIONS

Within society today we see 4 social divisions-
the ruling oligarchs- that is the few who maintain power and control over the system of things.
The privileged class.
The oppressed.
and the controlled.
The controlled are those who have accepted handouts from the elites and do not think ciritcally or engage in any active resistance but mrely accept the status quo. The oligarchs and privileged keep the oppressed class in a situation where it is difficult to overcome (for isntance, the privileged have their educations paid for, the oppressed must struggle with lifetime debt to be able to enter college). The oligarchs want to keep everyone in their place. The controlled remain in their place without question. It remains up to the oppressed to unite together and become active in the political process to be able to overcome the current system of things.

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT IN REGARDS TO PURE STUPIDITY

I recently received an anonymous comment that stated that persons 'need stimulants' to live a 'normal life'. First- what does this 'normal' possibly mean? To conform means we need a highly addictive narcotic? A few shots of whiskey at the end of the day may make me feel a bit more mellow, do I need this for a 'normal' life? The comment goes on to say that if we do not give stimulants to a person with this 'admitted;y vague disease' (at least they recognize that), that the person will become a future drug addict and all other assorted grim things. Has this person read the recent study from University of Buffalo that shows in the long term NO difference between drugged or non drugged kids other than the fact that the drugged kids had growth suppression and other adverse events or Lambert's study stating that stimulants themselves actually lead to a rise in addictive behavior, not to mention the addictive nature of stimulants in themselves? Then this person continues on that I need to have 'compassion'. This has been the entire theme of my work, to offer a more compassionate mental health system. Lastly, this person suggests that I hang out with unmedicated "ADD' people as if this is some dreadful thing. Well, I do. Everyday. Is there a problem with this? Whose problem is it?

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

A JOURNEY WITH

I had the experience of encountering a young man who had been given the diagnosis of 'schizophrenia'. He had been through years of therapy and had been through multiple psychiatric hospitalizations. Mental health professionals spoke of him only in clinical terms and I found this disturbing. His chart was reams and reams of paper painting the picture of an immensely helpless and hopeless character. The scholl system sought to exile him as well. I tossed aside all the clinical records, they only reported on his behavior, not his experience. It is the experience that is the 'soul' of the person. Psychiatrists never really spoke to the young man, they deffred to his parents, or spoke at him, judging his behavior and assign their labels. I embarked on becoming his therapist and in this did not want to judge his behavior, I wanted to know the person. So our sessions involved a process of my merely listening, of connecting. I did not seek to judge him, label him, or dismiss his experience. I only sought to join him where he was at. He began to relate to me his pain, his feelings of isolation and aloneness. He shared with me about the voices he heard and the beings he saw. I would converse with him about these beings, treating them as real as he was before me. Over time, I saw that these things were fragments of himself, they were dreams he had, hopes he envisioned, people he wanted to meet who never arrived. He had immense fear, and I journeyed with him in understanding the roots of this fear. I stood by him as he sought out new ways of living and coping. I understood the circumstances which led to his 'madness' and set forth some new possibilities, but at his pace, at his comfort level.
He has overcome a lot, and we continue to have periods of conversation though we do not see each other as frequently. We forged a bond as two persons with very different experiences, but each seeking to understand the human condition, each seeking to know about this thing we call life.


-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

THE HUMAN CONDITION

When we look at those who are labeled delusional, we must realize and understand that society itself is delusional. The difference is that in one situation the majority has accepted the delusion whereas with the one labeled so, it is the delusion of one.
It is often when one faces the sense of feeling alone or being alone in this world, of seeking to define a sense of self before realizing their existence itself, that angst arises. Mental distress arises from not finding any point or purpose to existence and then feeling that in this, the person stands alone. The person then must seek to define or be defined. Being defined means to be labeled.
What ultimately is the human condition? Has psychiatry and psychology truly answered the questions about it? Has it really offered solutions? People remain troubled and in spite of research and studies and psychiatric inquiry, little has changed, in fact, it has become worse. Because we have not really looked at the human condition, we have not faced the things that would lead persons to a better existence, instead we have developed systems based on self-interest, seeking not to understand the human condition and do something about, but to create a sense of 'groupthink', to solely make persons more amenable to the oppressive environments they encounter. We see it in schools, where children are stifled and drugged if they dare not comply with the demands of a system that has become less and less about learning and more about how to think. We see it in the divisions between class. It is all around us.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
International Center for Humane Psychiatry
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

HOW OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM DRIVE OUR CHILDREN 'MAD'

Sitting in a meeting for a child, the first topic of the special education director was 'well, we need to get this child back on medication". After an explanation of the flaws of the MTA study and the recent study of University of Buffalo showing no difference in the long term between drugged kids and those not subjected to drugs as well as growth suppression and adverse events amongst the drugged, this did not sway any opinion. Rather, this person stated he had 'connections' to the psychiatrist and would see to it that this was accomplished. Of course, when the topic of the child's behavior being communication and my awareness of what his current distress is about, this conversation was basically ended. Instead, it became a conversation on how to force the child into compliance to a situation that he finds uncomofrtable and distressing. But in this, the special education director found that if he could shirk repsonsibility and out it upon another to create a behavioral assessment that this would also be positive. Once again, blame the brain, blame the child, but exonerate yourself from examining the situations which have led the child to distress. And if that does not work, warehouse the child somewhere where he will not be a bother to anyone. This is the sad state of affairs under which we operate. As Laing had noted once that children in the UK had a higher chance of entering a mental institution than college and that it could be the way we educate children that is driving them mad.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.

10 REASONSTO SAY NO TO PSYCHIATRIC DRUGS

1. Premium Non Notre...or...Do no Harm.

* Drugs create altered states of mind by artificially increasing or decreasing neuro-functioning, and this causes harm to neuroconnections (e.g. downregulation, upregulation, tardive dyskinesia, EPS, Allostatic load, etc…) See reference list.

2. Use least intrusive method possible when treating.

* It is less intrusive to conduct psychotherapy than to administer a psychotropic mood and thought altering drug that always carries negative side effects. Drugs “work” by causing brain pathology and disrupting the normal neurotransmitter functioning and levels. See reference list.

3. Psychotherapy is MORE EFFECITVE than Drugs, especially in the long run.

* Psychotherapy is more effective than medication, especially in the long run, and psychotherapy plus medications show no greater benefit than therapy alone.(There are numerous studies showing this effect, most notably: Effectiveness of Psychotherapy: Michigan State Study. Seligman, M., **Consumer Reports, 1995.)

* Even exercise shows greater benefits for symptom reduction than anti-depressant medications. (Mercola, J., British Journal of Sports Medicine, April 2001: 35: p.114-117.)

* Psychotherapy can work better than drugs even for insomnia. (U.S. News and World Health Report, December 3, 2004. Visit www.behavioralhealth.typepad.com)

* Recovery rates are almost 3 times better in unindustrialized countries than in the U.S., where we use psychotropic drugs to “treat” patients. It is quite simple as to why we suffer more by attempting to suppress our suffering with technology. Freud stated “civilization is the root of our neurosis.”

Harrison, G., Hopper, K., Craig, T., Laska, E., et al. (2001). Recovery from psychotic illness: a 15- and 25- year international follow-up study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 178, 506-17.

Hopper K. & Wanderling J. (2000). Revisiting the developed versus developing country distinction in course and outcome in schizophrenia: results from ISoS, the WHO collaborative follow-up project. International Study of Schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 26(4), 835-46.

Hopper, K., Harrison, G., Aleksander, J., & Sartiorius, N. (2004, In Press). Recovery from schizophrenia: An international perspective. Madison, Connecticutt: International Universities Press, Inc.

Indian Journal of Medical Research, August 2004; WHO studies published in 1992 and 1996; US SAMHSA; Washington Post.

Jablensky, A., Sartorius, N., Ernberg, G., Anker, M., Korten, A., Cooper, J. E., Day, R., Bertelsen, A. (1992). Schizophrenia: Manifestations, incidence and course in different cultures, a World Health Organization ten country study. Psychological Medicine Monograph Supplement 20, 1-95.

Leff, J., Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A., Korten, A., & Ernberg, G. (1992). The international pilot study of schizophrenia: five-year follow-up findings. Psychological Medicine, 22, 131-145.

Murphy, H. B. & Raman, A.C. (1971). The chronicity of schizophrenia in indigenous tropical peoples: Results of a 12 year follow-up survey in Mauritius. British Journal of Psychiatry, 118, 489-97.

* Psychological interventions are at least as effective as pharmacological treatments for depression (Antonuccio et al., 1995; DeRubeis et al. 1999.)

* Even for people diagnosed Schizophrenic (no or minimal drug usage references):

Alanen, Y.O.; Ugelstad, E.; Armelius, B.A.; Lehtinen, K.; Rosenbaum, B.; and Sjostrom, R., Eds. (1994) Early treatment for schizophrenic patients: Scandinavian psychotherapeutic approaches. Oslo, Norway: Scandinavian University Press.

Alanen, Y.O.; Lehtinen, V.; Lehtinen, K.; Aaltonen, J.; and Rakkolainen, V. (2000) The Finnish model for early treatment of schizophrenia and related psychoses. In: Martindale, B., Bateman, A., Crowe, M., and Margison, F., Eds. Psychosis:

Psychological approaches and their effectiveness. London: Gaskell. (The centerpiece of their approach is rapid in-home family and social network intervention to avoid hospitalization and medicalization.) Ciompi, L., Duwalder, H.-P., Maier, C., Aebi, E., Trutsch, K., Kupper, Z., & Rutishauser, C. (1992). The pilot project "Soteria Berne": Clinical experiences and results. British Journal of Psychiatry, 161(suppl. 18), 145-153. (A replication of Mosher and co-workers Soteria Project in California. Similar results-about 2/3rds of newly diagnosed psychotics recovered without neuroleptic drug treatment)

Lehtinen, V. et. al. (2000). Two-Year Follow-up of First Episode Psychosis Treated According to an Integrated Model: Is immediate neuroleptisation always needed? European Psychiatry, 15(5): 312-320. (44% of the randomly assigned subjects received no neuroleptic drug treatment-vs. 6% of the controls- over the two-year period and their outcomes were comparable or better than those treated with drugs.)

Matthews SM, Roper MT, Mosher LR, and Menn AZ. (1979) A non-neuroleptic treatment for schizophrenia: Analysis of the two-year post-discharge risk of relapse. Schiz. Bull. 5: 322-333. (Soteria treated patients-as compared with hospital treated-had a significantly lower rehospitalizaton rate over two years despite few being neuroleptic maintained. First cohort analysis)

Mosher, L.R. & Bola, J.R. (2000) The Soteria Project: Twenty-five Years of Swimming Upriver. Complexity and Change, 9: 68-74. (Soteria patients-43%- who received no neuroleptics over the two year follow-up period did substantially better than those who did. As a group the Soteria treated patients had better outcomes than a control group that received "usual" hospital and drug treatment. The subgroup of "poor prognosis" subjects treated at Soteria had better outcomes than the Soteria group as a whole. First combined cohort analysis)

Mosher LR & Menn A Z (1978) Community residential treatment fornschizophrenia: Two-year follow-up. Hosp Comm Psych 29: 715-723. (Better psychosocialoutcomes for Soteria treated 1st and 2nd episode patients compared with control subject receiving "usual" treatment. First cohort.)

Mosher LR, Vallone R, and Menn AZ .(1995) The treatment of acute psychosis without neuroleptics: Six-week psychopathology outcome data from the Soteria project. Int. J. Soc. Psych. 41: 157-173. (2nd cohort: as was true of the 1st cohort, at six weeks the Soteria group had improved as much without meds as the hospital group-all of whom received neuroleptics.)

Tuori, T. et al (1998) The Finnish National Schizophrenia Project 1981-1987: 10 year evaluate on of its results. Acta. Psychiatrica Scandinavica 97: 10-18. (In the presence of comprehensive "need adapted"psychosocial treatment, drugs are unneccesary for the most part and may, in fact, prevent recovery.)

4. No Evidence for Biological Basis, so Why Use Biological Intervention?

* "There is no definitive lesion, laboratory test, or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify mental illness." in Surgeon General's report on mental health December, 1999.

* “psychiatry is the only medical specialty that…treats disorders without clearly known causes…including disabling diseases such as schizophrenia.” In American Psychiatric Association. (1998). Textbook of Psychopharmacology.Washinton, DC: American Psychiatric Press, AND American Psychiatric Association. (1999). Textbook of psychiatry. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press. (Texts used by Psychiatry Students)

*"Brain Disease Hypothesis for Schizophrenia Disconfirmed by All Evidence" by Al Siebert, PhD., Ethical Human Sciences and Services, Vol 1, No. 2 1999

* “there are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction...After years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of ADHD remain largely speculative." Nov. 1998 National Institute Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on ADHD concluded (see quote above).

* Leo, J. & Cohen, D., Broken Brains or Flawed Studies: A Critical Review of Neuroimaging Research, In The Journal of Mind and Behavior, Winter 2003, Volume 24, Number 1, pp 29-56

* Joseph, J. (1998). The equal environment assumption of the classical twin method: A critical analysis. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 19, 325-358.


* Joseph, J. (1999). A critique of the Finnish Adoptive Family Study of Schizophrenia. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 20, 133-154.

5. Psychotropic Drugs Create, not correct, Chemical Imbalances & Disorders.

* Psychotropic drugs create potential permanent Downregulation and Upregulation: increasing the susceptibility to having the very symptoms or problem they are attempting to reduce. Dr. Peter Breggin, MD, Harvard Graduate, Psychiatrist and Researcher, Breggin, P. & D. Cohen. (2000). Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medication. New York: Perseus Books. Also see Grace Jackson, M.D.(2005) Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A guide to Informed Consent.

* Untreated Initial Psychosis: Relation to Cognitive Deficits and Brain Morphology in First-Episode Schizophrenia, by Ho, Alicata, Ward, Moser, O'lLeary, Arndt, and Andreasen, American Journal of Psychiatry 2003; 160:142-148. This studies' "results suggest that large-scale initiatives designed to prevent neural injury through early intervention in the prepsychotic or early psychosis phase may be based on incorrect assumptions that neurotoxicity or cognitive deterioration may be avoided.

6. Many Psychotropic Drugs Increase Risk of Suicide-Aggression.

* Taking almost all of the SSRI antidepressants increase the patient’s risk of having and acting upon suicidal thoughts, agitation and akathisia. Dr. David Healy, MD, medico-legal expert witness/researcher, former Director of North Wales Dept. of Psychological Medicine and Secretary of British Association of Psychopharmacology, author of over 120 peer reviewed articles and 12 books.

7. We Don’t Really Know If The Drugs Are Safe or Risks All Known.

* “Our current drug approval system has demonstrated that we don’t always understand the full magnitude of drug risks prior to approval of products.”

Dr. Steve Galson, director of FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research,reported in the N.Y. Times, Nov. 6, 2004, in FDA’s Drug Safety System Will Get Outside Review.

* Since 1997, almost two dozen prescription drugs have been taken off the market due to serious side effects–some causing numerous deaths. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/hazard/)

* Whitaker, R., The case against antipsychotic drugs: a 50-year record of doing more harm than good, Medical Hypotheses, Volume 62, Issue 1 , 2004, Pages 5-13.

8. Drugging your problem is MORE Expensive.

* Psychotherapy is Less Costly Than Drugs, basically because suppressing the problem does not help you work through, solve, HEAL, AND because therapy produces natural brain changes (Antonuccio et al. 1997; Cuijpers, 1997; Smith et al, 1997.) Especially since psychological treatments can be successfully delivered in a group format or even as bibliotherapy with minimal therapist contact.

* Pharmacotherapy alone increases vulnerability to depression relapse (Hollon et al, 1991; Segal et al, 1999) and there is virtually no evidence of antidepressant efficacy in children (Ambrosini et al, 1993; Hazell et al., 1995.)

9. Drugs simply do not work.

* Greenberg et al in 1992 outlined how effects of medication were significantly smaller than normally reported.

* Approximately 75%-90% of sugar pills were EQUALLY EFFECTIVE as SSRI-Antidepressant drugs, and that when the sugar pill-placebo gave a side effect,there was NO CLINICAL DIFFERNCE BETWEEN THE DRUG AND THESUGAR PILL. (J. Moncrieff & I. Kirsch, July 16, 2005, British Medical Journal, doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7509.155 2005;331;155-157 BMJ.

* Kirsch, I,. & J. Thomas, at el, The Emperor's New Drugs: An Analysis of Antidepressant Medication Data Submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration,, In Prevention & Treatment, Volume 5, Article 23, posted July 15, 2002.

10. Saying Yes to a Psychotropic Drug is almost Never an Informed Choice.

CALLS TO END STIGMA OF SCHIZOPHRENIA LABEL- FROM GLASGOW, SCOTLAND SUNDAY HERALD

Calls to end stigma of schizophrenia ‘label’
By Adam Forrest


Word is a disease in itself, patients and experts say


IT IS a label that feels like a life sentence, dooming sufferers to a life of verbal abuse and second-class-citizen status.

Ron Coleman, diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1982 and treated with electro-shock therapy and drugs, has cited his own nightmare experience in the psychiatric system to call for the term to be dropped altogether.

The 49-year-old from Fife said: "I lived the schizophrenia label instead of living as a person. People treat you as if you're a piece of crap, talk to you like a non-person. I got people battering on the door, shouting psycho' and throwing things at the window. I spent 10 years in a drug-induced, zombied haze.."


"I still hear voices, but I've found a way of living with them. It was only when I turned away from psychiatric medication that my life totally turned around. Since then I've got married, had kids, got a house and love going to work every day."

A growing number of mental health experts in Scotland agree that cases like Coleman's demonstrate the need to scrap the term schizophrenia, since it has, they believe, become a stigmatised and scientifically redundant category.

"It's a loaded, dated label and it can be difficult to see beyond," said Eddie McCann, senior lecturer in mental health at Napier University. "It gives the impression that it is a perpetual state, but people do get better and lead fulfilling lives.

"The label is connected to approaches dating back almost 100 years ago. We have to think about new categories based on different types of distress. Drugs have a place, but there are huge possibilities for therapeutic work."

Traditionally, advocates of the schizophrenia diagnosis argue that the illness is a deteriorating condition arising from increased activity in the brain of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Yet the success of behavioural therapies and counselling at the Scottish Hearing Voices Network in Dundee suggests that it may be traumatic experiences and other social factors that lead to the development of psychoses.

"The idea that you've got a brain disease from which you'll never recover is just not true," said Paul Hammersley, a cognitive-behavioural therapist leading the Campaign for Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label (CASL). "The claim that there is a medical condition called schizophrenia doesn't stand up to scrutiny. It's an appallingly stigmatising diagnosis. It can ruin lives."

Coleman added: "It's clear to me that hearing voices was created by my experience of abuse, not biology, not this thing we call schizophrenia, which itself disables people."

In Japan, the term schizophrenia has been replaced with the term "integration disorder", although some believe stigma would soon become attached to any new label. Instead, there is growing support for splitting the symptoms into new sub-categories including sensitivity, anxiety, trauma-related and drug-induced psychosis, since these may point toward more nuanced methods of recovery.

Andrew Moskowitz, senior lecturer at Aberdeen University's department of mental health, said: "When it was first proposed almost 100 years ago, it was called the group of schizophrenias. There's a long-standing belief in sub-groups. The challenge is in re-classifying an individual's symptoms so you can actually help them."

Yet Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of the mental health charity Sane, believes the word is still necessary to raise awareness and attract funding. "While we recognise that the term can act as a stigmatising label," she said, "without identifying this condition as a serious illness, how can there be any hope of researching it and providing better treatments?"

But Paul Hammersley is adamant that such reluctance is unhelpful. "If schizophrenia is a flawed concept, then we have to question what we're raising awareness and money for," he said.

Dr Andrew Gumley, senior lecturer in clinical psychology at Glasgow University and a consultant at Gartnavel Hospital, said the term schizophrenia told doctors and carers very little about the best modes of recovery. "Scotland has been really strong about new approaches, and there's a growing recognition that there needs to be an individualised understanding of recovery," he said.

ZOLOFT DANGEROUS REPORTS HARVARD PSYCHIATRIST JOSEPH GLENMULLEN

At a hearing that began Thursday morning, Dr. Joseph Glenmullen of
Boston testified that since those trials, FDA studies of the side
effects of antidepressants, including Zoloft, culminated in a 2005
warning that children and teens taking the drugs can experience
aggressiveness and hostility.

The so-called "black box" warning, because it appears in a black box at
the top of use instructions, is "the highest level of warning the FDA
issues," Glenmullen said. "It's just short of removing the drug from the
market."

Defense attorney Roy Black also led Glenmullen through a transcript of
the 1999 trial in which expert witnesses for the prosecution called
Zoloft a safe and effective treatment for depression.

That might have been the general knowledge about the drug at the time,
Glenmullen testified, but Zoloft "is neither effective nor is it
entirely safe for use among children and adolescents based on the FDA
warnings we have now."

FEAR

Fear leads to great emotional turmoil. Other so-called mental disorders also often arise from a sense of fear. A fear of individuals, a fear of society, a fear of having been hurt and maybe being hurt again, a fear of life, a fear of death, a fear of not understanding who we are or maybe even being afraid of discovering who we are or what we were, a fear of the uncertainty surrounding what we may become. A fear of persons, a fear that maybe we are not a person, or our identity as a person. A fear of challenges, a fear of not knowing the answers, or maybe a fear of not understanding the question, or even a fear of not knowing what questions to ask. A fear of not being loved, or maybe a fear of not knowing what love really is, or what it could be, or what we have been told that it is. A fear of being controlled, a fear of our freedom being taken away. A fear of what others may do to us, or have done to us, or will continue to do to us.
This is the human condition, we all have levels of fear, some more, some less. We all have the desire for security, for safety, for solace. If we begin to understand this, we will then begin to understand life, we will be able to connect with others, and realize that the only way out of this fear is for us to journey together. Life is a journey, it is filled with moments where we stray into thorns, yet it is filled with moments of delight. To truly describe day, we must see night. To truly describe that which is beautiful we must have something to compare it to. Thus, we have the conditions of suffering. We would not know joy fully, unless we had something to compare it to.

AGENTS OF OPPRESSION

I recall working with a young man who had undergone sexual trauma at the age of 4. He lived in a chaotic family with an aggressive, addicted father. There was little positives spoken to this young man. He had an extensive history of psychiatric hospitalizations. What I began to note was that within the hospital setting he was able to 'conform' and was discharged in only a few weeks, but problems would erupt again once sent home leading to further hospitalizations. In one instance, this young man stayed in the home of those outside his family. Though there remained some challenges, he apeared calmer and more able to communicate.
I recall a similar instance with another child. The step-father was abusive both verbally and physically. The mother often because of her own fear would 'cover' for the step-father's actions. The child in one on one settings never created any disturbance. However, his behaviors in the home were often 'disturbing'. I was pleased that during my work with him he was not hospitalized at any point nor on psychiatric drugs. However, I was aware that he had a prior history of this many times over. In both of these situations, I saw the fmaily dynamics as oppressive and detrimental and tried my best to help the children navigate through the challenges with the system doing little to collaborate in meeting these children's needs.
In light of these two situations, and hearing of others from colleagues, I determined that it was the home, the family dynamics that was the catalyst for making these children 'mad'. When apart from these dynamics, they were able to conform to the rules of the institutions because they were forced to do so. But really what were the psychiatrists accomplishing for them? They merely subdued them with drugs, forced their compliance, and returned them to the same oppressive environment which led to their being hospitalized in the first place. It became evident that the psychiatric establishment could really care less, for each admission added to their coffers. The family was pleased to create a scapegoat rather than addressing the core problem and to ahve a place to send the 'disturbed child' to so that they could continue in their own self-interest.

PROBLEMS WITH A MEDICAL MODEL- THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PSYCHOTHERAPIST AND A PSYCHIATRIST

The medical model was derived to address physical ailments of the body. In order to attempt to gain credility, psychiatrists adopted this same model to utilize with events related to the human soul, of how people live, cope, adapt, and find meaning. It is interesting how the term 'psyche' means 'soul' yet is not present within the current psyxhiatric establishment. The medical model thus reduces human experience to categorization and mere chemical processes, there is nothing explored or examined beyond this.
I believe it is important to differentiate the roles of psychiatrist, psychologist, and psychotherapist.

First, all require a certain level of educational training. However, ot should be noted that the psychiatrist and the psychologist do not necesaily know how to conduct psychotherapy or are even remotely interested in doing so. The psychiatrist iperates solely under the medical model, prescribes drugs or in some instances makes use of electroconvulsive 'therapy' to address a categorization of behaviors that the psychiatrist subjectively views as maladaptive. Psychiatry has no cures and does not purport otherwise. Psychology is basd on research of animal and human behaviors, and is intertwined as well into the medical model for its categorizations. It is more focused on subjective tests to assess human actions. Psychotherapy literally means 'healing of the soul', and in the right sense is a partnership between two individuals where the psychotherapist employing empathy and relaitonship seeks to help the other to develop meaning in life, understand their experiences, and develop a life map that will lead them to a greater sense of fulfillment.

ISSUES OF POWER

One of my clients had posed to me some interesting thoughts. He expressed to me that he felt that in the past mental health professionals saw him 'as a dollar sign'. He told me he did not feel I viewed him in this way, however suggested that if I did not have a professional relationship I would probably not associate with him or others who are disadvantaged. It is unlikely I would encounter him outside of a professional relationship but I cannot say I am one who is an elitist.
This caused me to think about the issues of power and class and how they impact the therapeutic relationship. Within the current psychiatric establishment, the psychiatrist is almighty and holds all the power as well as the supposed knowledge to 'fix life' for the person. The problem is that much of what has led to individuals being oppressed, distressed, and disadvantaged was created by those in power. So, it is evident that those in power prey on the vulnerable, and only become more powerful.
It is necessary to eliminate hierarchies and the sense of power and control vested only in the psychiatrist or therapist. There must exist mutual understandings and sharing on an equal level.


-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com

SANCTUARY PROJECT

I am currently working on the development of a project to help individuals (adolescents and adults) undergoing extreme states of mind to be able to feel safe and supported and to limit the dependency on toxic psychiatric drugs. For more information see my website at www.DrDanEdmunds.com
I continue my work with drug free approaches for children who have been given the diagnosis of "ADHD".

DIAGNOSING JESUS

According to Fox News, psychiatrists are the least religious of all physicians. It is interesting to note that psychotherapy literally means, 'healing of the soul', yet the current psychiatric establishment lacks a soul. It does not concern itself with udnerstanding spiritual issues or the human condition, but rather is focused on subjective diagnosis and suppression of behavior through drugs.
If Jesus Christ were to undergo a psychiatric evaluation, what diagnosis would be formulated? It is likely that Christ would fall into many of the criteria that psychiatrists have laid out for so called mental disorder.
The proclamation of Himself as the Son of God- delusional thinking? narcissism?
time spent in the desert tempted by the devil- visual and auditory hallucinations?
The Agony in the Garden of Gethesemane- anxiety issues?
after the Crucifixion- Post Traumatic Stress?
overturning the money changers tables- intermittent explosive disorder?
challenging the Pharisees- some oppositionality, possibly anti-social traits?