Tag Archives: psychiatric drugs and violence

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.

 

Gun violence: Gun lobby may not by the only vested interest group

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For many years, serious questions have been raised about the possible role of psychiatric medication in violent crimes, including mass shootings. The number of such incidents where the individual was either on psychiatric medication, had very recently been commenced on medication, had a change in dosage or had stopped medication (usually suddenly) is considerable.

Psychiatry’s answer to this issue is to generally blame the diagnosis – ie, that such violence is a feature of the diagnosis with which the person had been labelled.

But is that good enough? Does psychiatry not owe it to the public it serves to actively investigate – openly, fully and honestly – whether there may indeed by real links between psychiatric drugs and violent crime?

So why doesn’t psychiatry generally engage fully with this extremely important question?

It comes down to psychiatry’s almost inevitable lack of objectivity on such matters. Official findings that would link psychiatric drugs to violent crime would be catastrophic for mainstream psychiatry on so many levels. It does not therefore surprise me at all that mainstream psychiatry appears to have little enthusiasm for addressing this issue openly and comprehensively.

It doesnt surprise me, but it is not good enough.

Many experts have been expressing deep concern about possible links between psychiatric drugs and violent crime for decades now, including psychiatrists Peter Breggin, David Healy and physician/researcher Peter Gotzche, co-founder of the highly respected Cochrane Collaboration.

But because mainstream psychiatry repeatedly “reassures” politicians and the public that such concerns are unfounded, this issue does not get properly investigated. It is high time that this changed.

Here is a link to a recent 4-minute TV interview with US psychiatrist Dr. Peter Breggin, one of the world’s foremost experts on psychiatry, psychiatric drugs and their adverse effects. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feoLOs121bQ&feature=share

When it comes to properly investigating mass gun and other violence, the gun lobby may not be the only group with major vested interests.