Tag Archives: mental health recovery

Ten facts about depression. Some may surprise you.

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Depression is, we are told, one of the commonest medical illnesses globally.

As a medical doctor with over thirty years experience, I am aware that much myth, mystery and misinformation surrounds what we have come to call “depression”.

In the pdf that accompanies this blog, I set out ten facts about depression. Many – perhaps most – of these facts are not commonly understood as facts in relation to depression. This is primarily due to the fact that misinformation has regrettably been regularly churned out regarding depression for over 40 years, a pattern that needs to stop.

By becoming aware of the real facts in relation to depression, you will (a) empower yourself regarding your own understanding, and (b) help towards changing the weight of information regarding depression towards truth, simply be becoming aware of these truth and, if and when feels appropriate, discussing these truths and facts with others.

To access these ten facts about depression, simply sign up to my mental health newsletter (you can unsubscribe any time you wish) through the form below, and you will have immediate access to the “ten facts” pdf.

Drug companies abandon psychiatry

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Did you know that many major drug companies have either ceased their involvement in psychiatric research altogether or considerably reduced their involvement?

This is not a development that reflects well on psychiatry, which is why it has received so little publicity.

But it is a profoundly significant development, for a number of reasons. Not many years ago, psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry were cosy bedfellows, “partners”.

Not any more.

I wrote about this development, why it has happened, and its major significance, in my 2015 book Depression Delusion: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance, foreword by Robert Whitaker.

To receive a free extract about this major development, subscribe to my newsletter updates through the form at the end of this blog. You can unsubscribe any time you like.

Best wishes,

Terry.

Dr. Terry Lynch.

Physician; psychotherapist; best-selling mental health author; provider of recovery-oriented mental health service; member of Expert Group on Mental Health Policy (2003-6) that formulated A Vision for Change, Ireland’s official mental health policy document.

 

Psychiatry’s precarious position – between a rock and a hard place

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What exactly is psychiatry’s place in the world of mental health? 

Proponents of mainstream psychiatry – including the majority of psychiatrists and GPs – have for over 50 years persuaded both themselves and the majority of the general public that psychiatry’s place at the pinnacle of the mental health pyramid is entirely justified.

 But, is psychiatry’s “expert” position in mental health really justified?       

Actually, if the truth be told, psychiatry occupies a very precarious position, sitting somewhere between neurology and neurosurgery on one side, the medical specialities that treat known brain disorders, and the various so-called “talking therapies” on the other side. Maintaining this position into the future greatly depends upon the general public continuing to be misled regarding psychiatry’s actual position and place in mental health.

Between a rock and a hard place: psychiatry’s actual position in mental health

If you would like to understand psychiatry’s actual position, and the great deception of the general public that has been going for decades regarding psychiatry’s position, download a FREE extract from my 2015 book, Depression Delusion: the Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance –  foreword by Robert Whitaker, described as “truly remarkable” by psychologist Dr. Phil Hickey in his review of this book on the Mad in America website in 2015 – simply by subscribing to my newsletter updates at the end of this blog (from which you can unsubscribe at any time).

Best wishes,

Terry.

Dr. Terry Lynch,

physician, psychotherapist, author, recovery-oriented mental health provider

https://doctorterrylynch.com/                                                                        info@doctorterrylynch.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coming soon: Online Mental Health Academy. First course: “Depression training for people who work in mental health”

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After much thought, I have decided to create a series of courses in mental health.

In essence, my partner psychotherapist Marianne Murphy and I are creating a mental health school, a Mental Health Academy. Marianne and I will work together to create and deliver these courses.

This Academy will be designed for online participation. Our courses will be available online. We will also be running courses at various venues.

These courses will cover a wide range of topics. In these courses we will set out a comprehensive understanding of psychiatric diagnoses like depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, OCD, eating disorders and personality disorders. We will also address anxiety, suicide, self-esteem and many other emotional and mental health issues.

These courses will address a glaring gap in understanding of and training in mental health – the gap in understanding of the emotional and psychological aspects of mental health, including the range psychiatric diagnoses.

A clear understanding of the medical approach to these diagnoses will also be a core part of these courses.

These course will reflect what I have learned through 30 years of involvement in mental health.

I have reflected upon I have learned during 30 years as a medical doctor; 15 years as a psychotherapist; 9 years on Irish Government-appointed high-level mental health groups,
including 3 years (2003-6) on the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy which formulated “A Vision for Change”, Ireland’s official mental health policy document; 25 years researching emotional and mental health, including psychiatric diagnoses; 15 years providing a recovery-oriented mental health service; 3 decades of seeking to deepen my understanding of emotional and mental health; 3 books on mental health including 1 best-seller, many more to come; 3 decades of working with people in great distress and learning from every one; twenty years of connection with some of the most inspiring people in mental health globally; and  what I have experienced and learned in my own journey through the twists and turns of my life.

And from this breadth of knowledge and experience, these courses will be created.

Our courses will be specially constructed for different audiences including therapists and other mental health professionals, people who have received a psychiatric diagnosis, and other interested people including family members and others who for their own reasons wish to increase their understanding of emotional and mental health and psychiatric diagnoses.

We are currently working on our first course, working title “Depression training for people who work in mental health”.

This course will help those who work in either a professional or voluntary capacity (including trainees) with people diagnosed with depression to understand depression more deeply and to respond more effectively and with greater confidence.

I expect this course to be available in about 3 months or less. Further courses will be created on an ongoing basis.

Marianne and I are very excited about this new development. I envisage the development and delivery of these courses becoming a core part of my work into the future.

We will update people on the progress of these courses through our newsletter. If you have not already done so, I invite you to subscribe to our newsletter at https://doctorterrylynch.com/

When you subscribe to our newsletter, you will also receive two free chapters of my books:

One chapter from Selfhood: A Key to the Recovery of Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health and the Prevention of Mental Health Problems, 2011, chapter title: “Boundaries and personal space”.

One chapter from my latest book Depression Delusion Volume One: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance, 2015, chapter title: “The medical profession and the brain”.

Our intention is to create comprehensive courses in which the needs of participants will be addressed.

If you have ideas regarding what you would like these courses to cover, please feel free to contact me and let me know, at info@doctorterrylynch.com .

While we will endeavour to cover all bases, we would love to hear your ideas, just to ensure we don’t leave out any important material.

Please share this information with anyone you think would like to know about it.

Best wishes,

Terry.

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Mental health features prominently in Cork Film Festival (6th-15th Nov 2015)

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Hats off the the Cork Film Festival

In its 60th year, the Cork Film Festival runs from Nov 6th to Nov 15th.

The organisers have not forgotten mental health. In fact, the festival explicitly recognises the importance of mental health under the category “Illuminate”, which also features as a main tab on the festival’s website.

Three films feature in the Illuminate section of the Cork Film Festival this year. Emotional and mental issues and the dilemmas and challenges involved feature as important themes in each film. These will be screened towards the end of the festival, on the 12th, 13th, 14th Nov.

Each screening will be followed by a discussion involving a panel and the audience on mental health including aspects that surfaced within the film. I will be on the panel for the 3rd film, (“Hedi Schneider is Stuck”, Triskel Arts Centre, Tobin St., Cork, 1.30 pm, Saturday). I understand that West Cork psychiatrist Pat Bracken is on the panel for one of the Illuminate films. Full details of the Illuminate screenings at  http://www.corkfilmfest.org/illuminate/   Full festival catalogue at http://www.corkfilmfest.org/2015/

Great to see mental health respected and involved in this manner at the Cork Film Festival. I would encourage people to vote with their feet and support such initiatives.

The more such initiatives are actively supported, the stronger the winds of progress and change in mental health become.

 

 

 

 

 

Mental Health & Happiness Summit: all day today

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Every year for the past few years, the William Glasser Institute hold a Mental Health & Happiness Summit on World Mental Health Day, 10th October. This summit consists of a series of hour-long talks and conversations with people in the mental health sphere. The talks occur consecutively throughout the 24-hour period of World Mental Health Day.

Here is a link to the list of speakers and times, including time zone differences. http://www.mentalhealthandhappiness.com/MHHsummit2015-speakers.html

I’ve had a long association with late US psychiatrist William Glasser and the William Glasser Institute. I have been involved in the Mental health & Happiness Summit in 2014 and again in 2015.  My conversation with Nancy Buck was wide-ranging, covering many aspects of emotional and mental health, psychiatric diagnoses, recovery, and happiness.

I believe the system works by clicking the image of the speaker you might like to hear, at the time of that talk. Clicking the speaker before or after that speaker’s appointed time won’t bring you to their talk, as another speaker will be talking at other times.

It is fitting that William Glasser’s wife Carleen is the first speaker.

 

Podcast: Dr. Terry Lynch, guest on The Peter Breggin Hour, 7th Oct 2015.

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For a quarter of a century, I have been a big fan of US psychiatrist Peter Breggin and his tireless work to change global mental health from a system based on falsehoods and flawed science to an approach based on truth, real science, empathy and humanity.

My relationship with Dr. Peter Breggin has grown from first seeing him on Irish television 25 years ago and reading his classic book Toxic Psychiatry to being an ally and comrade in the vitally important struggle to redress the global understanding of and approach to emotional and mental health. I contributed a comment or two and an endorsement to Peter’s important 2012 book Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and Families. Peter wrote a wonderful endorsement of my 2015 book Depression Delusion Volume One: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance, referring to my book as “an inestimable service to humanity”.

I was pleased to be Peter Breggin’s guest on his weekly radio show, The Peter Breggin Hour, on 7th October 2015. Here is a link to the podcast of our conversation:

http://drpeterbregginshow.podbean.com/e/the-dr-peter-breggin-hour-%E2%80%93-100715/

We discussed many topics including my new book  Depression Delusion Volume One: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance and why I wrote it; a better way to understand depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), eating disorders; antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs; psychiatry; psychiatric diagnoses; brain chemical imbalances; counselling and psychotherapy; recovery; and many other important themes.

I was previously Peter’s guest in 2012. During our conversation both Peter and I agreed that we would not leave such a long period of time before we chatted again on his show.

 

www.recoveringfrompsychiatry.com – a highly recommended website

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I just came across the website http://recoveringfrompsychiatry.com/ , having watched Laura Delano’s Youtube video “Recovering from Psychiatry -Reflections on life, death and suicide”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1&v=zY1nJzmohJg .

I highly recommend both the video and the website. The content of both represents where mental health understanding and responses need to go, if we are really serious about addressing the emotional and mental health crises that face so many so-called “developed” countries.

It is time for Western societies to work towards replacing psychiatry – which has little or no real scientific underpinning, despite what you might have heard, and contains a great deal of flawed science and logic – with an understanding of emotional and mental health that is accurate, compassionate, and unbiased. Medication should play a part, but not the over-riding dominant part it currently plays. Psychiatry’s biases  have made it extremely unlikely that  the solving of these crises will come from that direction, unless it undergoes radical surgery.

Psychiatry simply does not have neither the knowledge nor the objectivity to look naively at emotional and mental health, that is, to see it for what it actually is rather than what they interpret and proclaim it to be. There are too many vested interests involved.

The public need to wake up to these realities. Websites like this one will help awaken the sleeping giant that is public opinion from its slumber, and contribute significantly to a growing public demand for the much needed and long overdue change in the mental health paradigm.

 

 

 

Dr. Terry Lynch is Dr. Peter Breggin’s radio show guest on 7th Oct 2015.

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I have had a long association with American psychiatrist and author Peter Breggin. His classic book “Toxic Psychiatry” was transformative for me in my search for truth in mental health, and contributed to my ceasing to work as a typical GP in 2000 to find a better way of understanding and working with people experiencing emotional and mental health problems.

Since then, we have become friends and comrades in the drive for paradigm change in mental health, from a  biologically-dominated paradigm that is severely flawed both logically and scientifically, to a paradigm that is grounded upon people’s experiences (rather than upon doctors’ interpretation of them); that first seeks to make sense of experiences and behaviours rather than reflexly set out to medically pathologize them; that recognises that recovery is not only possible, but a human right.

I will be Peter’s guest on his radio show, The Peter Breggin Hour, on Wednesday 7th October 2015, starting 4 pm Eastern time (9 pm Irish/UK time). Here is a link to the live show:  http://www.breggin.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=285

Among other things, we will be discussing my new book Depression Delusion Volume One: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance, which Peter has described as “an inestimable service to humanity”. As President John F. Kennedy once said,

“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Belief in myths allows the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

The show is live, a podcast will be available shortly after the show.

Here is a link to my interview on Peter’s show  on 26th September 2012. This turned out to be an interesting and wide-ranging conversation on mental health, depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, recovery, etc. http://drpeterbregginshow.podbean.com/2012/09/

 

 

 

 

“Paths to recovery” – Mental health discussion and Q & A session with Dr. Terry Lynch, Brian McNulty and Dr. Mike Watts: 7-9 pm Monday 5th Oct 2015, at Limerick Institute of Technology campus, Moylish, Limerick.

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I am looking forward to this evening of discussion about mental health, part of Limerick Mental Health Awareness Week. I believe that this will be informal evening of discussion.

Brian McNulty is the author of “Embracing Sanity – One Man’s Footsteps: A Memoir”. In this book, Brian recounts his story. Brian is now off all prescription medication for six years, prescribed for bipolar disorder, a psychiatric diagnoses that psychiatrists insist needs medication for life. Brian is living proof of the inaccuracy of the mainstream medical position on this, as are many others I know and have worked with over the past 20 years.

I have known Mike Watts for over 15 years, and I am delighted that Mike will be involved in this discussion. Mike has been a great mental health campaigner in Ireland for several decades. I believe that Mike recently received a Doctorate (PhD), and that his thesis was on the topic of Recovery.

In the mental health sphere, I wear a number of hats – author, mental health activist, physician, psychotherapist. To date I am the author of 3 books on mental health, “Depression Delusion Volume One: The Myth of the Brain Chemical Imbalance” (September 2015), “Selfhood: A Key to the Recovery of Emotional Wellbeing, Mental Health and the Prevention of Mental Health Problems” (2011) and “Beyond Prozac: Healing Mental Distress” (2001 + 2005 [2004 in UK]). The first draft of my next book, working title “Depression: Its true nature” is already written, estimated publication date April 2016.

I take my role and responsibility as a mental health activist (and whistle-blower) for much-needed change very seriously.

So it should be a good night.

Well done to all involved in the Limerick Mental Health Awareness week. They have done great work in organising a week full of events. Here is a link to the week’s events in Limerick. https://www.facebook.com/LimerickMentalHealthAwareness/photos/pb.103569396467021.-2207520000.1443416616./523063881184235/?type=3&theater