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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).

As a general rule, when psychiatrists say ‘we know’, read ‘we believe, and we want you to believe’. No. 1. – ‘brain disorders’

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When psychiatrist say ‘We know that . . .’, as a general rule, take this to mean ‘we believe that . . .’ 

Of the many problems that exist within mental health globally, one of the most significant and pernicious is one that most people do not even realise exists.

Presenting itself as the major source of solutions to emotional and mental health problems, mainstream psychiatry is in fact a creator of many of the problems within global mental health. 

While working as a GP over twenty years ago, it gradually dawned on me that, generally, when psychiatrists stated ‘we know‘, they often didn’t know – they believed.  

Here is one such example:

‘We know that mental disorders are brain disorders’

The American Government-backed National Institute of Mental Health is arguably the most powerful and influential mental health institution in the world. On their website, this institute unequivocally (mis)informs the public that ‘mental disorders are disorders of the brain’, and ‘Through research, we know that mental disorders are brain disorders’. Here is an edited screenshot from their website:  

 The National Institute of Mental Health does not know that mental disorders are brain disorders; they believe this, and they want you and everyone else to believe this too.  

The truth: Psychiatric diagnoses are not known brain disorders

Psychiatric diagnoses are not known brain disorders – and that is the simple truth. If they were known brain disorders, they would come under the remit of the acknowledged medical brain disorder experts – neurologists.

Brain disorders – such as multiple sclerosis, dementia, brain tumours, Parkinson’s Disease – have identified brain pathology that is specific to that disorder. No such brain pathology has been identified in relation to any psychiatric diagnosis – including depression; bipolar disorder; schizophrenia; obsessive compulsive disorder; schizoaffective disorder; personality disorder; eating disorders; anxiety disorders. 

There are no characteristic physical findings in any psychiatric diagnoses, as there is in, for example, Parkinson’s Disease, where people develop a characteristic tremor and their way of walking, known as a “shuffling gait” 

There are no brain or other tests that can be carried out that confirm the presence of a brain disorder in relation to any psychiatric diagnosis, as there are in multiple sclerosis, brain cancer and the majority of brain disorders.

There are no specific findings upon examination of the brain at post-mortem, as there is in dementia, for example.

The truth is therefore simple and straightforward: Psychiatric diagnoses – also referred to as so-called mental illnesses or mental disorders – are not known brain disorders.

Psychiatric diagnoses are not included in comprehensive lists of brain disorders

A reliable way of checking whether or not psychiatric diagnoses are known brain disorders is to examine authoritative sources that contain comprehensive lists of brain disorders. If psychiatric diagnoses were known brain disorders, then obviously they would be included in comprehensive lists of brain disorders.

So I checked out the website of the American National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The NINDS website contains an extensive list of neurological and brain disorders, the most comprehensive such list that I have seen in 35 years as a medical doctor.

As the following screenshot shows, pretty much the first thing you see when you access their website is their list of brain disorders:  

 Clicking on the ‘Disorders’ tab on the NINDS website opening page takes us  here: 

On the lower left hand side of the above screenshot, you can see a whole series of links in alphabetical order – links to the list of known brain disorders that begin with each letter of the alphabet. 

Of the main psychiatric diagnoses, schizophrenia would generally be considered to be towards  the most severe end of the spectrum. The experiences and behaviours that are collectively referred to as ‘schizophrenia’ are widely believed to be a known brain disorder.

Many authoritative medical sources unequivocally assert that schizophrenia is a brain disorder. The following screenshot from the website of the American Psychiatric Association is just one of many such examples:

According to the American Psychiatric Association, as illustrated in the first line of the above screenshot, it is a known fact: ‘Schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder’.

Given that the medical profession is one of the most trusted professions in the world, one might reasonably assume that these words of the American Psychiatric Association must be true, must be based on solid facts. Surely if the American Psychiatric Association says that ‘schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder’, this must be an established fact, right?

And if this is indeed an established fact, one should fully expect to see schizophrenia listed as a brain disorder in the extensive list of brain disorders on the website to the National Institute of Mental Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) I mentioned earlier.

So let’s check this out. Here is that screenshot of that extensive brain disorder list again, from the NINDS website ;-

I clicked the ‘S’, for schizophrenia. I arrived at the following page:

This is just a screenshot of the top of this webpage, which includes all known brain disorders beginning with ‘S’. There are 41 known disorders beginning with ‘S’ on this page. Since disorders are listed in alphabetical order, it is easy to identify where schizophrenia should appear on this list. Here’s the relevant screenshot:

If schizophrenia really is a known brain disorder, then it would definitely appear here, between the sixth entry, ‘schizoencephaly’ and the following entry, ‘Seitelberger Disease’. But there is no mention whatsoever of schizophrenia. 

This is the most extensive list of brain disorders I have ever seen. It contains many hundred brain disorders so rare that I have not heard of them in 35 years as a medical doctor – including seven of those listed in the above screenshot alone. Yet schizophrenia is not referred to at all, despite assertions that schizophrenia is not uncommon, affecting 1% of the population.

How can this be?

How can we make sense of this apparent contradiction – the American Psychiatric Association asserting unequivocally that ‘schizophrenia is a chronic brain disorder’, the National Institute of Mental Health stating that ‘mental disorders are brain disorders’, while its sister’s organisation – the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke – does not include schizophrenia or any other psychiatric diagnosis in its very comprehensive list of mental disorders?

Squaring this circle

The answer is simple: schizophrenia is not a known brain disorder, and this is why schizophrenia does not appear on this extensive list – and why there is no mention on this brain disorder list of depression; bipolar disorder/manic depression; obsessive compulsive disorder; eating disorders; anxiety; or any other so called mental disorder.

How about other lists of brain disorders?

Other lists of brain disorders similarly make no reference to schizophrenia or other so called mental illnesses. 

WebMD is a respected medical site, providing information for the public on a wide range of medical problems. The WebMD website includes a list of brain diseases, within which there is no mention of schizophrenia or any other so called mental illness.

The Australian Brain Foundation website also contains an extensive list of brain disorders – no mention of schizophrenia or any other so-called mental illness there either.

So what’s going on?

The medical profession want you – and everyone else – to believe that the experiences and behaviours that come to be collectively described as so-called mental illnesses are brain disorders.

They want you to believe this, not because it is true – it isn’t true – but because you and everyone else believing this strengthens their position at the top of the global mental health pyramid. 

Major benefits accrue to psychiatry as a consequence of being widely seen as the most expert mental group.

Psychiatry wants their dominant position in global mental health to continue. And this is why so many supposedly authoritative medical sources like those I have referred to here – the American National Institute of Mental Health and the American Psychiatric Association – are willing to misinform the public, asserting unequivocally that so-called mental disorders are known to be brain disorders, when the facts clearly state otherwise. 

Why this matters

Clearly it is wrong that the medical profession would misinform the public it serves in this manner. This systematic misinforming has resulted in the widespread misunderstanding of the experiences and behaviours of people who become diagnoses with various so-called mental illnesses.

A serious consequence of this misinformation is the failure of health authorities to adequately consider other ways of understanding these experiences and behaviours and the people who experience them.

Thus, millions of people around the world are deprived of opportunities to heal, to progress through their difficulties rather than having to settle for a compromised life, with much distress and despair. 

It is scandalous that they get away with this, but this is what happens when no one polices authority, when authorities – including medical authorities – are not held accountable, as they clearly should be, in the public interest.

 

Dr. Terry Lynch mental health courses:

Online courses for the general public:

Depression: Its True Nature – for the general public: 30% price reduction for limited period

Bipolar Disorder: Cracking the Code – for the general public. 30% price reduction for a limited period

Online courses for mental health professionals:

Working Therapeutically With Clients With A Psychiatric Diagnosis – online. 30% price reduction for a limited period

Depression: Its True Nature – for mental health professionals. 30% price reduction for a limited period

Bipolar Disorder: Cracking the Code – for mental health professionals. 30% price reduction for a limited period

Dr. Terry Lynch Books:     

  Click here for information about 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, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic.

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