Category Archives: Blog

New Online course for mental health professionals: “Depression: A Trauma-informed Psychology”

I am happy to announce that my latest online pre-recorded mental health course,    “Depression: A Trauma-informed Psychology” is now available.

You can access this course and full course information – and my other mental health courses – on my website by clicking here.

This course is primarily for mental health professionals – for example, psychotherapists, counsellors, psychologists, social workers, medical doctors.

It is also suitable for anyone wishing to deepen their understanding of depression.

CPD Cert issued upon completion, accruing 15 CDP points.

The following are my current mental health courses for mental health professionals. All courses and course information available through my website, by clicking here.

  • Depression: A Trauma-informed Psychology
  • Bipolar Disorder: A Trauma-informed Psychology
  • Trauma and the Wounded Self
  • Making Sense of Body Dysmorphic Disorder
  • Depression, the DSM and Truth

New online depression course for 2020: “Understanding and Recovering from Depression”

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I am pleased to say that I am launching a new online course on depression in 2020, entitled Understanding and Recovering from Depression.

While this course is primarily for people who struggle with depression, mental health professionals will likely find the material insightful and useful in their work with people struggling with depression, as will people who want to understand depression better, for example, so they can be better able to support loved ones who suffer with depression.

If depression is an issue for you in your life, you will likely find much within this course that can help you.

Currently (early January 2020) there are over five hours or audio-visual modules and presentations within this course. The slides that I created for these modules are also included.

I will be adding more material pretty much on a weekly basis going forward.

Would you like to check out some of the material on this course?

Here are two of the many presentations on the course that are in this course:

1. Overcoming Fear, Terror and Dread in depression (18-minute video)

2. Depression, Self-empowerment and the Tennis Court (39-minute video)

Here is the link to the course again:- Understanding and Recovering from Depression (online course)

 

 

Depression is well established within the public mind as a reality

Depression is now well established within the public lexicon and the public mind as a reality, a real thing. A Google search for depression yields over a billion results. More than one million Google searches for depression are carried out each month. Articles on depression regularly appear in the media. It might therefore seem strange to even question the assertion that depression is real. 

Many celebrities now talk openly about their personal experience of depression. For example, actress Kristen Bell has spoken publicly about her depression. She has publicly stated that a brain chemical imbalance runs in her family, and that this is why she developed depression:

Medical authorities uniformly assert that depression is real – a legitimate medical illness

Medical sources that are widely assumed to be trustworthy and authoritative consistently claim that depression is real, a real medical illness. Here are some examples of this:

The World Health organisation:

 

The American Psychiatric Association:

The Royal College of Psychiatrists (UK):

The  National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, USA):

 

Mental Health America:

 

Trusting these seemingly authoritative sources, mental health professionals and the public understandably assume these and similar assertions to be true, and operate from that position.

However, something does not exist simply because people and/or groups say it does, no matter how apparently authoritative and trustworthy they are believe to be. 

Claiming that something is real does not make it so: Evidence is required – evidence-based

As a general rule, asserting that something exists does not of itself demonstrate that it exists. In order for something to be accepted as real, as a fact, confirmatory evidence is required.

This is perhaps even more relevant in situations where there is considerable trust, since high levels of trust can lull us into complacency regarding our instinctive need to check things out, to be sure that what we are being told is indeed correct.

High levels of trust – the medical profession are one of the most highly trusted professions worldwide – can also lead us to assume that those we trust have no vested interest, objective, and that their words can be taken as correct and true without a need to test their veracity.

I learned years ago that these were risky assumptions to make, particularly in relation to psychiatry. As I discuss elsewhere, psychiatry is far from objective, being heavily invested in its own priorities. For example, the repeatedly-stated assertion that so-called psychiatric disorders are fundamentally biological in nature is based not on the fact that such claims are true – they are not. 

So, to check the veracity to mainstream psychiatry claims that depression is a real medical illness, it is better to look to objective sources, that have no gain from and no vested interest in claiming depression to be a medical illness.

Since the type of illness that depression is most commonly claimed to be is a brain disorder, let us check with sources that are authoritative and reliable regarding brain disorders – neurology sources.

What do objective authoritative medical sources say?

1. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (USA)

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is, as the name implies, America’s national institute of neurological disorders, officially backed by the American government. 

Prominent on this Institute’s website is the most comprehensive list of brain and neurological disorders I have ever seen in 35 years as a physician.

So comprehensive is this list that it contains dozens of brain disorders so rare that I have never seen a case, and many others than I have never heard of. Rare those these brain disorders are, their place on this list is justified, since they meet the criteria for a brain disorder. That’s why they are on this list.

Depression – claimed to be a very common medical condition – is not included in this list.

Why? Simple really. What doctors refer to as depression does not meet long-established medical criteria for a brain disorder or a medical illness.

In the screenshot below of brain and neurological disorders on the neurological disorders list on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke website, the yellow arrow indicates where depression would be listed:

2. The WebMD website:

The WebMD website is a trusted source of medical information worldwide, consistently ranking in the top three most trusted sites for medical advice.

As the following diagram illustrates, the webMD website contains a  list of brain diseases: 

On the left hand side of the above image, several known brain diseases are mentioned – infections, trauma (physical brain trauma), strokes, seizures and tumours as ‘some of the main categories of brain diseases’.

Although depression – a claimed brain disorder – is asserted to be far more common than any of these brain diseases, there is no mention of depression here – or any other psychiatric diagnosis – as a brain disease. This is because depression is not a known and scientifically verified brain disorder.

On the right hand side of the above diagram, there are seven categories of brain disease: infections; seizures; trauma (physical brain trauma resulting from physical brain injury); tumours, masses and increased intracranial pressure; vascular conditions; autoimmune conditions’ and neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimers disease.

Given that, according to proponents of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – the DSM, the foremost psychiatric diagnostic guide book, often referred to as ‘the psychiatrist’s bible’ – approximately 50% of the population would be diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder of the DSM was fully implemented, psychiatric diagnoses are made far more frequently than any of the seven diagnostic categories listed on this diagram of the WebMD website brain disease list. 

Yet there is no category for mental illness with the WedMD list of brain diseases. Nor is there a single reference to depression or any other psychiatric diagnosis as being a brain disease. Because they are not known verified brain diseases/disorders.

3. The Brain Foundation (Australia):

As the following statements from their website affirm,  The Brain Foundation is an independent objective organisation:

The (Australian) Brain Foundation explicitly focuses on neurological disorders, brain disease and brain injuries, as the diagram above clearly illustrates. 

The Brain Foundation website contains a list of brain diseases and disorders, organised in user-friendly fashion in alphabetical order. If depression is a known and scientifically verified brain disease/disorder, then of course depression would be included in this list. 

The following screenshot from the Brain Foundation website includes brain diseases/disorders beginning with the letters ‘B’ through to ‘F’. No mention of depression under ‘d’ here. Several of the conditions listed under ‘d’ occur far less commonly than depression is claimed to occur. 

Depression is not included in this list because it is not a known and verified medical brain disorder.

Depression is real, but not as we know it

Depression is not real, in the sense that what doctors refer to as depression does not meet the medical criteria for a medical illness or brain disorder.

The experiences, beliefs and behaviours that are regularly re-framed by doctors as ‘depression’ are very real,and often excruciating. 

These experiences should be addressed in their own right, rather than being erroneously lumped together as a medical illness that does not exist. 

Depression is real – that is, the underlying experiences, beliefs and behaviours are very real

The following are some of the experiences, beliefs and behaviours that are commonly present within people who become diagnosed as having depression:

Wounded sense of self; hopelessness; powerlessness; much wounding, and many consequences of wounding including various defense mechanisms such as hyper-vigilance and avoidance; great fearfulness; many needs not met in their life, with little confidence that they can get their needs met; unfinished emotional business; easily hurt; much emotion and distress; frequent overwhelm; greatly reduced sense of self, including self-confidence; self-expression; self-belief; self-generated security; great self-doubt, that permeated across most areas of their life; fear of risk, including fear of risking taking the steps they meed to make to progress their life.

Conclusion:

As a medical illness, depression is not real. Depression is not a thing. It is not a known and verified medical illness.

However, the individual experiences, beliefs and behaviours themselves – that doctors collectively refer to as depression – these are very real and often excruciating and highly problematic.

A way forward:

Since what is referred to as depression is not a real medical illness, acting as if it is a real medical illness has many obvious limitations.

A way forward involves working with the individual experiences, beliefs and behaviours, not with the notion of ‘depression’. 

I have been working in this way for twenty years. Working in this way opens up many avenues of potential within the work that cannot become available when seeking to address something that does not actually exist – ‘depression’ – as if it does exist.

Regularly getting it wrong at first base in this manner, it is not surprising that the potential within mainstream mental health services for progress and recovery can become significantly limited. 

Depression: Its True Nature

If you would like to delve deeper into what depression really is – as opposed to what ‘depression’ is regularly asserted to be – my online course for mental health professionals – Depression: Its True Nature – for mental health professionals may be of interest to you. 

I also have a course on depression for non-professionals – including people diagnosed with depression – which you can access at Depression: Its True Nature – for the general public.

Depression is real – but not as we know it

As I have set out within this article, depression is real, but not in the way in which it is commonly understood. 

The experiences, beliefs and behaviours are real, valid and often very distressing. However there is no scientific basis for extrapolating that these experiences, beliefs and behaviours constitute a thing called ‘depression’.

New online depression course for 2019: ‘Addressing fear and dread in depression: A psychological approach’

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Psychological factors in depression merit greater attention

Depression has become widely understood as a primarily biological medical condition. 

Yet, the majority of the nine depression criteria have strong emotional and psychological aspects. This is pretty obvious when one considers these nine criteria:

A diagnosis of depression is considered appropriate when five of these nine criteria are deemed to have been present for a period of two weeks.

One of the concerns I have had about the prevailing medical approach to the experiences and behaviours that come to be diagnosed as depression is the inadequate attention placed upon the emotional and psychological aspects of depression within this approach. Much of my work over the past twenty years has been directed at rebalancing this inequity.

New course for 2019 

With this in mind, early in 2019 I will be launching my new course, Addressing Fear and Dread in Depression: A Psychological Approach. 

Who this course is for

This course is for anyone diagnosed with depression for whom fear, dread and a recurring feeling of impending doom are repeated or constant experiences.

Two central themes

Two central themes will run through this course:

  1. Understanding fear and dread in depression. The usual explanation is merely that they are features of depression. This does not provide any in-depth explanation. My course will set out in detail how this fear, dread and impending sense of doom comes about and excalates over the years.
  2. Addressing fear and dread in depression. Medical interventions such as antidepressants may for some people diminish this pervasive sense of fear, dread and foreboding. However, many people who take medication report that they continue to feel repeated or constant fear and dread. 

In my course, I will be providing and setting out the methods and techniques that I employed to  help dozens of people diagnosed with depression to overcome fear and dread. 

If you would like to know when this course becomes available

This course will become available early in 2019.

If you would like me to update you when the course becomes available – and access a video introduction to the course – click here.

Best wishes,

Terry.

Dr. Terry Lynch.

 

Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2018: Prices of my mental health courses reduced by 50% for limited period

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About Black Friday and Cyber Monday:

Traditionally, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving falls annually on the fourth Thursday in November, and the following day has become widely known as Black Friday.

Being the first day after the last major American holiday before Christmas, Black Friday has unofficially become known as the unofficial beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

The common use of the term ‘Black Friday’ dates back to 1966, when Philadelphia police used this term to describe the major traffic jams and overcrowding in stores that occurred on the day after Thanksgiving. The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was first coined in 2005. It is traditionally the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

In 2018, Black Friday occurs on November 23rd and Cyber Monday happens the following Monday, November 26th.

Traditionally, Black Friday refers to instore prices reductions and Cyber Monday to online reductions.

My courses, 50% price reduction:

In keeping with the spirit of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, all of my courses are available at a 50% price reduction between now and the end of November 2018.

But first, some of my credentials:

 

Official appointments:

 

Some of the talks I have given:

 

 

And some testimonials:

Now, back to my mental health courses:

My courses, 50% price reduction:

30-day no quibble money-back guarantee applies to all courses.

Continuing professional development (CPD) applies to my courses for mental health professionals.

Courses for the general public:

1. Depression: Its True Nature:

This is a comprehensive course on depression, setting out a far more extensive understanding of the experiences and behaviours that come to be collectively referred to as ‘depression’ than the prevailing medical understanding.

Here is a link to the full course information and 50% price reduction: Depression, its true nature (general public). 

Some testimonials from people who have undertaken this course:

Carole: “I am blown away with what I have learned so far.”

John: “Fantastic course, brings enlightenment to a very confused profession!”.

Natalie: “It is the most fruitful course I ever did in my life. Thank you for being honest, you gave me hope for humanity.”

Margaret: “Absolutely superb; really helped me sort out the misinformation I have amassed over the years. I am enjoying your course on depression so much. It is giving me an understanding that I have never had before even with constantly reading and researching on mental ill-health.”

David: This is excellent. Great work Terry, thanks”.

Andrea: “Most interesting”.

Anne: “I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart . . . This course has been tremendously helpful in understanding my child and myself. And I have downloaded it and will refer back to it over time. And treasure the contents of this enlightening and revealing course on this overwhelming condition called ‘depression’.”

Here is a link to the full course information and 50% price reduction: Depression, its true nature (general public). 

2. Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code:

A comprehensive and detailed explanation of bipolar disorder.

Unlike the common understanding of bipolar disorder, in this course I explain the degree to which the prevailing medical understanding is correct, and I provide a comprehensive account of the emotional and psychological aspects (including trauma), aspects that are regularly overlooked within the prevailing approach to bipolar disorder.

Here is a link to the bipolar disorder course for the general public:  Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code (general public).  

Here are some testimonials from people who have undertaken this course:

Doug: “Since watching your Cracking the Code course on Bipolar disorder, I have been able twice to prevent episodes of manic psychosis. The short version is that I was able to recognize that I was using daydreaming/fantasy as an escape from (previously unidentified) anxiety that arose from trauma triggers. So instead of continuing to daydream/fantasize, I applied coping techniques for anxiety (e.g., What’s the worst possible thing that could realistically happen? Plan for that.) Thank you so much for your great, life-saving information!”

Joseph: “I am really enjoying your ‘Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code’ course”

Deirdre: “I am enjoying the course. It is making a lot of sense and helping me to understand things better. I look forward to tuning in for future presentations.”

Antoinette: “Thank you Terry this is a wonderful resource.”

John:“The information and continuing revelations are a blessing.”

Here is a link to the bipolar disorder course for the general public:  Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code (general public).  

Courses for mental health professionals:

1. Working Therapeutically With Clients With A psychiatric Diagnosis:

Currently over 17 hours of audio-visual material, more added several times a month.

There is a considerable amount of misinformation surrounding the psychiatric diagnoses within the training of non-medical mental health professionals. This misinformation is corrected within this course. A comprehensive understanding of the main psychiatric diagnoses – incorporating trauma and the emotional and psychological aspects.

Here is a link to the full course information and 50% price reduction:  Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis (for mental health professionals)  

CPD applies.

Certificates of Attendance/Completion issued when required.

Here are some testimonials from mental health professionals who have undertaken this course:

Deborah: “I have found the course very useful and informative. It has given me ideas on how I work with clients, although I have over the last few years I have come to my own understanding of how trauma and challenge in people lives thwarts a healthy sense of self and emotional awareness and regulation. I have long since moved away from the medical model and prefer to support people in their humanity’. Your course has highlighted and reinforced this to me and to be more aligned with my views even though these often go against mainstream opinion including some of those in the mental health professions. Thank you.”

Swee Eng: “The information given is so helpful”.

Margaret: “I am learning so much from your course, thank you. So much of what you are saying I have thought but dismissed as lack of knowledge on my part. I am overwhelmed and shaking from what I have learned, and thirty years in the dark. I now see a chink of light.”

Maria: “This is a very interesting case study” (in relation to one of the many case studies included in this course).

Wanda: “The importance of agency and self-efficacy makes me think of a young client I work with who is v low on both and v depressed. I would love to see an integrated set of services for young people whereby they are assisted in developing their talents or capacity “to do” (manage life) in addition to therapy”.

Margaret: “Thank you for your valuable presentations and research Terry”.

Here is a link to the full course information and 50% price reduction:  Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis (for mental health professionals)   

2. Depression: Its True Nature (for mental health professionals)

A comprehensive course on depression for mental health professionals. CPD applies. Over 17 hours of audio-visual material, plus the slides used in the presentations.

Here is a link to the information on this course and the 50% price reduction: Depression: Its True Nature (for mental health professionals)  

Here are some testimonials by mental health professionals who have undertaken this course:

“A ground-breaking new course for all mental health professionals” – Lucy Johnstone, UK clinical psychologist, author and trainer, September 2016, stated in a tweet, @Clinpsychlucy

Robert: “Thanks Terry very insightful and I look forward to revisiting and reflecting over the material in months ahead”.

Yi Ling (Singapore): “Thanks Dr. Lynch. You made the learning easy and the references were very helpful. I have learnt so much and I look forward to other courses.”

Evelyn: “Very informative course and as a psychotherapist, invaluable insight”.

Julie: “I very much enjoyed the course on Depression. For me I found the last sections on Wounding etc very helpful. It has given me an added dimension of understanding and also confidence. I found as I was listening to you speaking I could apply it to certain Clients which has been so helpful. Definitely had some “a ha!” moments! So I just wanted to give you that feedback and thank you for putting together such a comprehensive course on a subject that is so misunderstood. A course like this has been badly needed I feel.”

Thomas: “I just finished the depression course and want to congratulate you on the course, content and delivery. I enjoyed every minute of it and it has been most thought provoking”.

Carole: “Highly recommended course. Transformational and worth every cent. Looking forward to the next one!“

Claire: “. Your work is a massive achievement, a revelation and has personally validated my personal experience of mental emotional distress in the past and provides massive hope for the future and my career”.

Anne: “I finished the ‘True Nature of Depression’ course this evening. To be honest I did not want it to end. I don’t think anything I can say could properly do justice to the mind-boggling breadth of area you cover in the three sections. As someone who has been involved in education for most of my own career I have never come across a better designed course to get across so successfully, such a potentially complex subject.

The truth about the prevailing view that you encapsulate so powerfully is actually quite devastating so it has been greatly appreciated that it is delivered with such true warmth in your face to face delivery.

Thank you so very much for it all.

I do want to go over certain parts again and that is a great thing that I can do that. There is a great deal for me to reflect on both professionally and personally re my own mental health situation in view of what you present.”

Nicole: “Insightful and thought-provoking”.

Kathy: “I finished your course Depression, its true nature about a week ago. I have never come across such a course before and found it excellent. You challenge the prevailing viewpoint repeatedly but always backed up by rigorous and thorough research. You tell the truth but do so in a courageous, respectful and dignified manner. Most of all, you offer real HOPE of recovery to those in mental distress. I respect and admire your work very much and am very glad to know you. I will recommend you (and have already) to anyone interested and open to alternative viewpoints of mental health states”.

Andrew: “A highly worthwhile undertaking! – Thank you very much Terry for an intriguing and insightful course backed up by solid evidence. A huge amount of work obviously went into compiling the course, backed by immense knowledge and experience, and I would recommend it to anyone who is open minded enough to begin to question the medical orthodoxies around depression.”

Anne: “I knew from your previous work that this course would be good but to say it has exceeded any expectations I had is a serious understatement.”

Valerie: ” A highly impressive course”.

Donal: “Terry, I am really enjoying the course. Full of detail and brave argument. As I complete each section there is a sense that no stone is left unturned.”

Patrick: “I’m learning a lot from this course.”

Alastair: “Course is highly interesting”.

Mark: “This was a very comprehensive course, thank you”.

Here is a link to the information on this course and the 50% price reduction: Depression: Its True Nature (for mental health professionals)  

3. Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code:

A comprehensive course on bipolar disorder for mental health professionals. CPD applies. Over 11 hours of audio-visual material, plus the slides used in the presentations. More material added regularly.

Here is a link to the information on this course and the 50% prices reduction: Bipolar Disorder: Cracking The Code (for mental health professionals) 

Here are some testimonials from people who have undertaken this course:

Alastair: “I enjoyed the course immensely. It is a most refreshing mixture of neglected common sense coupled with wisdom. Thank you very much indeed.”

Valerie: “Wow! The course you provided on bi polar was absolutely awesome. It’s really opened my eyes.’

Chris: “Many thanks for providing such an interesting and helpful course. I have found your meticulous unpacking of received medical ideas extremely useful as also your provision of a very important and enjoyable psychological alternative approach.”

Rebecca: “I found your course very thought provocative and useful”. 

Serena: “Loved it. Thank you. What I also love about the course is being able to go over aspects of the course again, whenever I want”.

Anne: “Thank you so very much for producing this course. It is hard to put into words how incredibly useful all your presentations were. You have finally made sense of what bipolar disorder is in a world that has no idea. The title is very apt.”

Claire: “This course is by far the most useful thing I have ever encountered about bipolar disorder in over twenty years.”

Mark: “I am really enjoying your ‘Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code’ course”.

Patricia: “This course is excellent, and I’m finding it both interesting and inspiring”.

Maureen: “A very interesting course”.

Here is a link to the information on this course and the 50% prices reduction: Bipolar Disorder: Cracking The Code (for mental health professionals) 

If you have any questions about any of this, email me at terry@doctorterrylynch.com (copy and paste this email address if emailing me).

 

Prescribed drug dependence: psychiatry’s appalling response to alarming research findings

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(NB: This article cannot be seen as giving specific medical advice to any individual.This article should not be taken as advising any person to make any change in their psychiatric medication.)

For three decades, it has been clear to me that governments and the public alike have made – and continue to make – a very serious error in trusting mainstream psychiatry with the emotional and mental health care of the general public. 

Mainstream psychiatry has fooled the public – and perhaps themselves – into believing that (a) they are the most expert professionals in mental health, and (b) their primary interest is the public good. 

Neither of the above is true.

Most mainstream psychiatrists have a grossly inadequate understanding of the emotional and psychological worlds of the masses of people they claim to understand, in addition to their exaggerated and frequently deluded view of the brain and claimed (but scientifically unverified) brain abnormalities.

MAINSTREAM PSYCHIATRY IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

THE MAIN PRIORITY OF MAINSTREAM PSYCHIATRY IS NOT THE PUBLIC WELLBEING. 

THE MAIN PRIORITY OF MAINSTREAM PSYCHIATRY IS MAINTAINING AND ENHANCING ITS OWN POSITION AT THE PINNACLE OF THE GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH PYRAMID.

GOVERNMENTS OWE IT TO THE PUBLIC TO INITIATE INDEPENDENT INQUIRIES INTO MENTAL HEALTH, INCLUDING THE WIDESPEAD ASSUMPTION THAT PSYCHIATRY SHOULD LEAD THE WAY IN GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH.  

IT IS HIGH TIME THAT GOVERNMENTS THAT BACK PSYCHIATRY’S DOMINANT POSITION IN GLOBAL MENTAL HEALTH WOKE UP TO THESE REALITIES. 

Over the years, I have come across dozens of examples of psychiatry’s incompetence, ignorance, bias, delusional thinking, and cunning.

Yet another classic example of this occurred in October 2018.

 

Background:

As I described in my 2018 Kindle book publication ‘Prescribed Drug Dependence’, mainstream psychiatry has systematically underplayed the drug-dependency potential of the substances they prescribe so frequently and with such enthusiasm and conviction.

Based on people’s experiences of taking the substances, it has been clear to me for the past twenty years that the much-promoted SSRI antidepressants frequently cause drug dependence and withdrawal problems.

Because it would reflect very badly on psychiatry to be seen as prescribing substances that – like illicit street drugs – regularly cause drug dependence and withdrawal problems, mainstream psychiatry has vehemently and consistently resisted significant withdrawal problems being associated with the substances we call SSRI antidepressants. 

 

New research

Research on antidepressant drug withdrawal effects was published in October 2018 by British psychologists John Read and James Davies: Read-Davies research 

 

These were the key findings of this research:

More than half experiencing withdrawal effects; almost half of those experiencing withdrawal describing them as ‘severe; withdrawal effects commonly lasting several weeks or months.

These are very significant findings.

To those of us who have been honest about the withdrawal problems caused by antidepressants, these findings come as no surprise. 

The media reaction to this research:

Because these results are so signficant – and perhaps because the vast majority of psychiatrists and GPs have been rubbishing people’s concerns about antidepressant drug dependence and withdrawal problems for three decades – these research were picked up by mainstream media:

 The Mail:

The Guardian:

The Times:

The Independent:

Sky News:

BBC News:

News of this research reached Denmark:

So, the mainstream media rightly took this research very seriously. 

 

What about mainstream psychiatry? What was psychiatry’s reaction to this research?

 Wendy Burn, President of the Royal College tweeted, ‘Good to see more research in this important area’, a rather underwhelming reponse to the Mail’s headline, ‘Doctors must wake up to patients hooked on depression pills’:

Wendy Burn’s comment – ‘Good to see research in this important area’ seemed disingenuous to me.

I replied directly to Royal College of Psychiatrist’s President Wendy Burn.  In my tweet, I ensured that the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Simon Wessely (the previous President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists) and Carmine Pariante, a prominent spokesman for the Royal College of Psychiatrists were notified about my tweet:

In my tweet, I was making the point that this research came not from the prescribers of these substances – psychiatrists and GPs – but from two very conscientious psychologists.

I was also asking an important if rather obvious question: Why were psychiatrists not undertaking such research, given that drug prescribing comes under their remit and responsibility?

Wendy Burn is quite active on Twitter, generally posting tweets and retweeting many times a day. So is Carmine Pariante and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Simon Wessely is also quite active on Twitter. Though notified about my tweet by me, not one of them bothered to reply.

I looked through the tweets and replies sent by Dr. Wendy Burn over the following days. I found just two tweets – or rather, retweets; Wendy Burn apparently did not see this research as important enough to comment further.

I believe that Wendy Burn’s true position – and the position of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, of which she is currently president, the college’s most senior representative – reveals itself in the two tweets – out of the hundreds of tweets about this antidepressant withdrawal research – that she chose to retweet.

Wendy Burn’s first retweet, in which the author plays down the signficance of antidepressant withdrawal and dependence, instead using the favoured medical term, ‘discontinuation syndrome’ rather than the more truthful ‘withdrawal syndrome’:

Wendy Burn’s second retweet was of a tweet in which antidepressant drug dependence is downplayed: 

 

The President of the Royal College of Psychiatry’s ambivalent reaction to these research findings – findings that essentially point to a major public health issue of doctor-initiated prescribed drug dependence – contrasts sharply with her often-expressed enthusiasm for ideas and notions that coincide with the ideology of psychiatry, the hoped-for desire of mainstream psychiatry for mental health problems to be fundamentally seen as biological, such as this one: 

There is no indication to suggest that the Royal College of Psychiatrists intend to take this research seriously.

The American Psychiatric Assocation’s reponse:

News of this research spread to the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). This was picked up by the American Psychiatric Association , who tweeted:

UK psychologist John Read, one of the two main of this research, was magnanimous in his response to this tweet by the American Psychiatric Association:

Within hours however, the American Psychiatric Association deleted their own tweet:  Some people on Twitter had the foresight to take screenshots of the American Psychiatric Association’s tweet:

 

This screenshot illustrates that the American Psychiatric Association’s tweet is now unavailable:

John Read then asked the American Psychiatric Association directly why they removed their tweet:

The American Psychiatric Association did not reply to John Read.

Nor did they reply to others who also asked the American Psychiatric Association to explain why they deleted their own tweet hours after publishing it:

A survivor of psychiatry – Twitter handle @angpeacock1111 – correctly describes how important this sequence of events is:

 

Why would the American Psychiatric Association delete this tweet and refuse to explain why?

This is an example of the duplicity and cunning that is endemic within mainsteam psychiatry globally. 

Clearly, someone within the American Psychiatric Association felt it approriate to respond and tweet about this important research.

It would appear that this decision to flag this decision was subsequently – a few hours later – overrided by more powerful voices within the American Psychiatrric Association, arrogant and poweful voices that also felt that the public did not deserve an explanation for their radical change of mind in relation to their tweet about this research.

Agreeing with this research – as they did in their tweet – would raise serious questions about the correctness of prescribing these substances to vast numbers of people. 

The unexplained removal of this tweet had nothing to do with the public interest, and everything to do with prioritising the image of psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association. 

Prescribed drug dependence: such a major issue, consistently swept under the carpet by psychiatric drug prescribers

Why did it take two psychologists – John Read and James Davies – to carry out this research?

Where are the prescribers of these SSRI antidepressant substances – psychiatrists and GPs – doctors who have reassured the public for decades that there are no signficant withdrawal problems associated with these substances?

Why have the enthusiastic prescribers of these substances – psychiatrists and GPs – who have continually informed the public that there is no need to worry about withdrawal problems, not carried out research such as this decades ago, before these drugs were unleashed upon an unsuspecting and trusting international public?  

Why are the prescribers not on top of this issue, taking the lead – as any responsible profession would – in relation to the substances they prescribe so widely? 

Why do the prescribers seem to want to know little or nothing about the major issue of prescribed drug dependence, as evidenced by the underwhelming response of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the American Psychiatric Association to this important new research?

Mainstream psychiatry’s refusal to take such findings seriously and address the issues that arise inevitably leaves the vast numbers of people who experience severe antidepressant withdrawal problems alone, unsupported, virtual outcasts, leaving these people with little option but to support each other as best they can, through internet and other groups.

This is yet another scandal.

How many more scandals will mainstream psychiatry be allowed to get away with by our governments, who have ultimate responsibility for the health and welfare of nations’ citizens?

When will governments do what they should have done decades ago – initiated an independent inquiry into mental health, including the practice and ideology of psychiatry, which falsely informs the public that its practices are scientifically valid and trustworthy??? 

Or will governments merely continue to wrongly assume that psychiatry is the ultimate source of mental health knowledge, wisdom and leadership, a deluded position that bears no relation to the facts?

Thirty years in this field has taught me that it is a waste of time trying to encourage mainstream psychiatry to drop its biases.

Change will only come when forces outside of mainstream psychiatry join and insist upon an independent review of how emotional and mental health is understood and addressed. 

Dr. Terry Lynch.

https://doctorterrylynch.com/courses/

Understanding the psychiatric diagnoses: Inconsistencies and contradictions abound within the prevailing medical view

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29th August 2018:

The world of mental health is regrettably characterised by the assertion of ‘facts’ by supposedly authoritative sources, many of which are unfounded and unverified scientifically.

The result is the mass misinformation of an unsuspecting public who assume that the words of supposed mental health experts are accurate and trustworthy.

I originally wrote this article five days ago, on 24th August 2018.

Today I came across another blatant example of what I was talking about in this article – a 2018 article on bipolar disorder on the popular Healthline website. Here is an edited screenshot:

As you can see, this article was reviewed by psychologist Timothy J. Legg PhD and passed as correct and accurate.

This experienced psychologist apparently does not know that bipolar disorder is NOT a verified brain disorder. 

It would seem that Dr. Legg has completely bought into what he has heard from his psychiatrist colleagues on this.

Now, read on – everything I have written below in relation to depression applies equally to bipolar disorder.

It really is high time that mental health professionals committed themselves solemnly to truth – to ascertaining the truth, and them passing on (only) truth to the public, who rely so much on the words of mental health professionals.

24th August 2018:

I have been a physician for 35 years, a psychotherapist for 17 years. I have written four mental health books, created a mental health academy. I provide a recovery-oriented mental health service, primarily for people who have been previously given a psychiatric diagnosis.

For the past 30 years I have also been a keen student and observer of all things to do with mental health. My role as a physician facilitated my being in a position to study the medical approach to mental health in great detail. I have long since arrived at the conclusion that the medical approach to mental health – as practiced primarily by psychiatry and GPs/family physicians – is seriously flawed. 

Over the years I have read hundreds of books and articles (and listened to hundreds of radio/TVshows, podcasts etc) on mental health – written by psychiatrists, GPs, other mental health professionals, mental health groups and other individuals -on various aspects of mental health, particularly in relation to the psychiatric diagnoses, including depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, eating disorders, personality disorders, schizoaffective disorders and other psychiatric disorders.

Perhaps because I have psychologically removed myself from the brotherhood of medicine – within which one does not dare criticise the brotherhood, its ideologies and modus operandi – I can regular see major flaws of logic, untruths, contradictions, inconsistencies and poor/absent science in what I read/listen to that emanates from within the prevailing medical view of emotional and mental health. 

An example:

As illustrated in the following screenshot from a July 2018 article published in Psychiatric Times, according to the prevailing medical view, depression is the world’s largest health problem: 

(here is a link to this article)

Also in the screenshot above, you will see that depression is referred to as a disease. If depression is a disease, what kind of disease or disorder would it be? According to medical sources, depression is a brain disease.

People reading such statements by authoritative medical sources will understandably assume them to be true and accurate.

Let’s see how true and accurate this statement is.

Depression is classified by medical authorities as a ‘mental disorder’

Depression is regularly referred to by doctors and medical authorities as a mental disorder. For example, the American government-backed National Institute of Mental Health, arguably the most influential mental health institute in the world, describes depression as a ‘mental disorder’:

(Here is a link to this article) 

Also according to the National Institute of Mental Health, there is no doubt that all so-called ‘mental disorders’ – of which depression is considered to be one – are brain disorders:  

(here is a link to that article on the website of the National Institute of Mental Health):

Summarising this article thus far:

According to medical authorities, depression is the world’s largest health problem, the most disability-creating disease of all worldwide. Depression is a mental disorder, and since all mental disorders, depression is a brain disorder. 

Testing the ‘depression is a brain disorder’ assertions: 

The American government-back National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) contains the most extensive list of brain disorders I have even seen in 35 years as a medical doctor.  This list contains dozens of brain disorders I have never seen, and many that I have never heard of – but the place of these disorders on this list is justified as they meet the medical criteria for a brain disorder.

The NINDS website contains a user-friendly alphabetically-organised access to their list of brain and neurological disorders:

On their site, I clicked ‘D’ for ‘depression’. Below is a screenshot of some of the brain and neurological disorders that begin with ‘D’: 

If ‘depression’ really is a brain disorder, it would obviously be included in this list (Bipolar disorder doesn’t appear on this list -under ‘B’ – either). Since all brain disorders are listed in alphabetical order, it is easy to identify where depression should be included in this list:

  

Depression is not included anywhere on this list. Depression is not included, because depression is NOT a known brain disorder. This is the plain and simple explanation for the omission of depression on this most extensive list of brain and neurological disorders, on the website of one of the world’s most authoritative neurological institutes, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Depression does not appear on the list of brain disorders on the website of the Australia-based Brain Foundation  either. Below is an edited screenshot of the ‘brain disorders’ page of the website of the Brain Foundation:

Clicking ‘D’ on this page  on the Brain Foundation website takes us to here (the yellow arrow points to where depression would appear alphabetically (in reverse aphabetical order) if depression really is a known brain disorder): 

Depression does not appear in the list of brain diseases in the WedMD website either. Here is an edited screenshot of the the main ‘Brain Diseases’ section of the WebMD site (WebMD is currently rated the second most popular source of medical information  on the internet):

You will notice that, on the list of brain disease categories on the right hand side of the screenshot above, there is no mention of anything relating to psychiatric/mental disorders (The third heading in this list – trauma – refers to physical brain trauma such as head injuries).

Depression does not feature anywhere within this list of brain disorders, for the simple reason that depression is not a known brain disorder. 

In other words . . . 

The widely-made claims that depression is a brain disorder are untrue. 

Linking this to the beginning of this article . . . 

I began this article with a screenshot and quote from the Psychiatric Times in July 2018. In this article, it was unequivocally stated that (i) ‘depression is the world’s largest health problem’, and (ii) depression accounts ‘for more disability that any other disease worldwide’, a statement that clearly implies that depression too is a brain disease. Here’s that screenshot again:

Where does all this leave us?

Summarising all this: We are repeatedly told by supposedly authoritative medical sources that depression is the worlds largest heath problem, and that depression, like other so-called ‘mental disorders’, is a brain disorder. 

But the truth is that depression is not an established brain disorder, so all such claims are false, regardless of how apparently authoritative the sources of such assertions seem to be.

Depression is not a scientifically verified medical illness either.

What we are left with then is the bizarre situation whereby the so-called ‘disease’ that causes the most health disability of all on a worldwide scale is not actually a disease at all.

How can this be?

This is just one of many bizarre situations that characterise the prevailing medically-dominated global approach to mental health. 

Such bizarre situations occur because, fundamentally, there are many serious fundamental flaws in the ‘logic’ and ideology of psychiatry.

Inconsistencies, contradictions and lack of scientific evidence are frequent occurrences within the prevailing approach to mental health globally.

This is a serious situation. 

(There are no known brain chemical imbalances either, regardless of how many times you may have heard this about depression) 

If you would like to inform yourself about the truth in relation to depression, my 17-hour online course ‘Depression: Its True Nature’   has 3 principle components:

(i) a setting out of the prevailing understanding of depression

(ii) a detailed critique of the prevailing view of depression

(iii) a setting out of an understanding of depression that matches the experiences and behaviours that come to be called ‘depression’, honouring and explaining the strong emotional and psychological aspects.

Here is a link to the course information:- Depression: Its True Nature

Until the end of August 2018, the course is available at a 50% price reduction, as is my bipolar disorder course, Bipolar Disorder: Cracking The Code and my courses for mental health professionals, including Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis.  

If you have any questions about the course of feedback about this article, you can email me at terry@doctorterrylynch.com (copy and paste this email address to email me).

Dr. Terry Lynch.

www.doctorterrylynch.com

Keynote Speaker, William Glasser International Biennial Conference, Columbia, June 2018.

Guest Speaker, Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy Annual Conference, October 2018.

Keynote Speaker, Samaritans Annual Conference, 2015.

Mental health professional, physician, psychotherapist, best-selling mental health author, provider of recovery-oriented mental health service.

Member of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy (formulated A Vision for Change (2006), Ireland’s official mental health policy document).

Member of the Implementation Group for A Vision for Change (2006-9), the Second Monitoring Group for A Vision for Change (2009-12), and the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) Expert Advisory Group on Mental Health (2006-8).

All of my mental health courses at 50 per cent price reduction until end August 2018

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Updating all courses and creating more:

I began creating mental health courses for the general public and for mental health professionals in 2016. To date, I have created five detailed and comprehensive courses.

My intentions in creating these courses are:

1. To provide a clear picture of the current prevailing approach to the psychiatric diagnoses

2. To critique the current prevailing approach to mental health and the psychiatric diagnoses

3. To provide an understanding that honours the emotional and psychological aspects of the psychiatric diagnoses to a far greater extent than the current prevailing approach includes.

I have just begun to review the material on these courses and to update the course material as appropriate.

Over the coming 6-12 months I intend to create further courses on aspects of the psychiatric diagnoses.

Fifty per cent reduction on all courses until end August 2018:

From now until the end of August 2018, all of my online courses are available at a 50% price reduction. This includes all updates and further material that may be added to these courses. My courses and how to access the course information and prices reduction are detailed below:

Courses for the general public:

Depression: Its true nature:

Link to course information and price reduction:- Depression: Its true nature – general public, end summer 2018 sale.

Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code:

Link to course information and price reduction:- Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code, general public, end summer 2018 sale.

Courses for mental health therapists:

Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis:

Link to course information and price reduction:- Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis course, end summer 2018 sale.

Depression: Its True Nature :

Link to course information and price reduction: Depression: Its True Nature – mental health professionals, end summer 2018 sale.

Bipolar disorder – Cracking the code:

link to course information and price reduction:- Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code – mental health practitioners. end summer 2018 sale

Email me at terry@doctorterrylynch.com if you need any further information.

Just Published – First book in new series – ‘The Systematic Corruption of Global Mental Health’. £0.99 Kindle introductory price

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I am delighted to announce that I have just – within the last 24 hours – published on Kindle the first of a new series of books.

Book title:

‘The Systematic Corruption of Global Mental Health: Book One – Prescribed Drug Dependence’

Price:

Introductory price on Kindle: £0.99.

Book rankings on Amazon:

This morning (02 August 2018) as I write this, a little over 12 hours after becoming available to the public, this book is ranked on Amazon.co.uk at no. 2 in ‘Psychiatry’ category, no. 5 in ‘Medicine’ category and no. 11 in ‘Medical Sciences A-Z’ category. 

On Amazon.com.au (Australia) it is currently ranked no. 1 in ‘Mental Health’ category, no. 2 in ‘Psychiatry’ category, and no. 8 in ‘Medicine and Nursing’ category. 

Links:

Below are links to this book on Amazon sites:

Amazon.co.uk.

Amazon.com.

Amazon.com.au.

Amazon.ca.

Reviews matter

If you do purchase this book, I would be very grateful of you would write a review on Amazon – a sentence or two is enough.

Book Series Title:

The title of this book series is ‘The Systematic Corruption of Global Mental Health’.

I will be working hard on this important project. 

If you have any comments, I’m happy to hear them. You can email me at terry@doctorterrylynch.com 

 

 

Anxiety, glorifying the brain, false cause logical fallacies and the American Counseling Association

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The notion that the brain is the holy grail in relation to emotional and mental health has been a dominant theme for over half a century within mental health globally.

This notion sounds attractive and alluring. It is widely promoted by the psychiatric wing of the medication profession, and has been taken on board as factual by many other professions and bodies.

On 25 June 2018, a blog was published on the website of the American Counseling Association entitled ‘Anxiety and the Brain’, written by Deb Del Vecchio-Scully, counsellor.

According to this article, ‘the root cause of anxiety is found in brain waves and how effective or ineffective they are working’.

Regrettably, the author of this article has fallen into the common trap of assuming and referring causality to the brain – the brain as the master.

This is a cause-correlation  (or, false cause) logical fallacy – assuming that when two phenomena occur concurrently, one causes the other, when such conclusions have not been established as correct.

The notion that emotional and mental health issues arise from the brain is now erroneously accepted as a given, as a fact.

It is disappointing and worrying to see the American Psychological Association give a thumbs up to this fallacy.

Brain imaging studies have demonstrated that changes in brain activity occur after the person’s reaction – i.e. the brain is reflecting the person’s reaction, not creating it: 

Clink here to see the article in which this image appears.

Rather than being the master, the brain is here being the servant of the being. 

The maintenance of the illusion that in such circumstances the brain is the master is essential for the maintenance of psychiatry’s dominant position in global mental health – which is why this fallacy is repeatedly emphasised from within psychiatry.

One might have thought that the counselling professions would question this assumption rather than unquestioningly accept it as a known fact.

It is high time that, in the public interest, the counselling professions became more courageous and questioned the assumptions that govern global mental health, rather than sheepishly accepting medical pronouncements on mental health that originate from self- and group-interest, that hinder real progress in global mental health.

Those who assume that the brain is the answer and that neuroscience is and will continue to be the main source of answers and progress might reflect upon the 2015 words of Thomas Insel MD, former Director of the American National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), arguably the most influential mental health organisation in the world:

 

Click here to access this article 

Dr. Terry Lynch.

www.doctorterrylynch.com  

Dr. Terry Lynch mental health courses:

Online courses for mental health professionals:

Working therapeutically with clients with a psychiatric diagnosis, online course – https://goo.gl/duxz9j  

Depression: Its true nature  – https://goo.gl/28DhfY  

Bipolar disorder: Cracking the code. https://goo.gl/Kz9M5u  

Online courses for the general public:

Depression: Its true nature – https://goo.gl/gzD9MR

Bipolar disorder: cracking the code – https://goo.gl/3BV93F

Dr. Terry Lynch Books:     

Links to these books:- https://doctorterrylynch.com/my-books/  

Selfhood: A Key to the Recovery of Emotional Health, Mental Wellbeing and the Prevention of Mental Health Problems (2011) – 23 Five-star reviews on www.amazon.co.uk  

Depression Delusion: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance (2015) – Foreword by Robert Whitaker.

Beyond Prozac: Healing Mental Distress (2004) – Best seller in Ireland in 2001, reaching no. 3 in non-fiction best sellers.

Keynote Speaker, William Glasser International Biennial Conference, Colombia, June 2018.

Guest Speaker, Irish Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy Annual Conference, October 2018.

Keynote Speaker, Samaritans Annual Conference, 2015.

Mental health professional, physician, psychotherapist, best-selling mental health author, provider of recovery-oriented mental health service.

Member of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy (formulated A Vision for Change (2006), Ireland’s official mental health policy document).

Member of the Implementation Group for A Vision for Change (2006-9), the Second Monitoring Group for A Vision for Change (2009-12), and the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) Expert Advisory Group on Mental Health (2006-8).