Peter Breggin

Last updated
Peter Breggin
Born (1936-05-11) May 11, 1936 (age 87)
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Harvard College
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
Known forCriticism of biopsychiatry and psychiatric drugs
Scientific career
FieldsPsychiatry, psychotherapy
Website www.breggin.com

Peter Roger Breggin (born May 11, 1936) [1] is an American psychiatrist and critic of shock treatment and psychiatric medication and COVID-19 response. In his books, he advocates replacing psychiatry's use of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy with psychotherapy, education, empathy, love, and broader human services. [2]

Contents

Breggin is the author of many books critical of psychiatric medication, including Toxic Psychiatry, Talking Back to Prozac and Talking Back to Ritalin. His most recent book, Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry, discusses his theory of medication spellbinding (in which patients are said to do worse after treatment but fail to see this or recognize why), [3] the adverse effects of drugs and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the hazards of diagnosing and medicating children, Breggin's theory of a "psychopharmaceutical complex", and guidelines for psychotherapy and counseling.

Breggin's latest book is Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey which is critical of the global COVID-19 response and explores who profits from the pandemic. [4]

Breggin now lives in the Finger Lakes, Central New York and practices psychiatry in Ithaca, New York.

Education and early career

He graduated from George W. Hewlett High School in 1954 and was inducted to their Hall of Fame in 2001. [5] Breggin graduated from Harvard College in 1958 then attended Case Western Reserve Medical School. [6] His postgraduate training in psychiatry began with an internship year of mixed medicine and psychiatry at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. Breggin completed a first year of psychiatric residency at Harvard's Massachusetts Mental Health Center in Boston, where he was a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School, and finished his final two years of psychiatric residency at SUNY. This was followed by a two-year staff appointment to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he worked to build and staff mental health centers and education. Breggin has taught at several universities, obtaining faculty appointments to the Washington School of Psychiatry, the Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling, and the George Mason University Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Breggin has worked in a private practice since 1968.

As an undergraduate Breggin had volunteered at the state mental hospital, leading the volunteer program and co-authoring a book "College students in a mental hospital". He recalls at the age of 18 witnessing electroconvulsive therapy being practiced then in the 'shock room' and finding it barbaric. After becoming a psychiatrist in the early 70s, he also campaigned against any return of the crude brain procedure known as lobotomy. Breggin reports that he was threatened and insulted with psychiatric terms at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in 1972, by leading ECT advocate Leo Alexander, and won damages for libel and slander. [7]

Career and distinctions

Breggin practiced psychiatry in Washington, DC and Bethesda, Maryland for nearly thirty-five years. [8]

In 1972, he founded the Center for the Study of Psychiatry, which was known as the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology until 2011, when it was renamed the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry. [9] In 1979 "Electroshock: Its Brain-Disabling Effects" was published. [10]

Breggin is a life member of the American Psychiatric Association and an editor for several scientific journals. His opinions have been portrayed both favorably and unfavorably in the media, including Time magazine [11] and The New York Times . [12] [13] He has appeared as a guest on shows including Oprah , 60 Minutes , 20/20 , and Good Morning America . [14]

Breggin was invited many times "to testify before federal agencies and the U.S. Congress, and he has been an expert on psychiatry drug adverse effects for the Federal Aviation Agency (FAA). He has also testified many times at FDA hearings". [14]

He later ran The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education and Living, a 501(c) organization. [15]

In 2002 he moved to Ithaca. In 2010, he and his wife Ginger formed a new organization devoted to speaking out against "the hazards of contemporary biological psychiatry" and promoting more "caring and empathic approaches to personal conflict and suffering". A documentary about his life, "The Conscience of Psychiatry", was released in 2009. [14]

Research

Breggin studied mainly clinical psychopharmacology. He wrote dozens of other articles, several book chapters, and more than twenty books. He also co-founded a journal with David Cohen and Steven Baldwin, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry , where he published many of his own papers. Many of his articles discuss psychiatric medication, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drug approval process, the evaluation of clinical trials, and the ethics of psychiatric practice.

Breggin published one science fiction novel, After The Good War: A Love Story, in 1972. [16] It has a strong proportion of psychiatric subject matter.

Conventional psychiatry

His work focused on the negative side effects of psychiatric medications, arguing that the harmful side effects typically outweigh any benefit. Breggin also argues that psychosocial interventions are almost always superior in treating mental illness. He has argued against psychoactive drugs, electroshock (ECT), psychosurgery, coercive involuntary treatment, and biological theories of psychiatry.

According to Breggin, the pharmaceutical industry propagates disinformation that is accepted by unsuspecting doctors, saying "the psychiatrist accepts the bad science that establishes the existence of all these mental diseases in the first place. From there it's just a walk down the street to all the drugs as remedies." He points out problems with conflicts-of-interest (such as the financial relationships between drug companies, researchers, and the American Psychiatric Association). Breggin states psychiatric drugs, "... are all, every class of them, highly dangerous". He asserts: "If neuroleptics were used to treat anyone other than mental patients, they would have been banned a long time ago. If their use wasn't supported by powerful interest groups, such as the pharmaceutical industry and organized psychiatry, they would be rarely used at all. Meanwhile, the neuroleptics have produced the worst epidemic of neurological disease in history. At the least, their use should be severely curtailed." [17]

In his book, Reclaiming Our Children, he calls for the ethical treatment of children. Breggin argues that the mistreatment of children is a national (U.S.) tragedy, including psychiatric diagnoses and prescription of drugs for children whose needs were not otherwise met. He especially objects to prescribing psychiatric medications to children, arguing that it distracts from their real needs in the family and schools, and is potentially harmful to their developing brains and nervous systems. [18]

ADHD and Ritalin

The New York Times has labeled Breggin as the nation's best-known Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) critic. As early as 1991 he sardonically coined the acronym DADD, stating, "... most so-called ADHD children are not receiving sufficient attention from their fathers who are separated from the family, too preoccupied with work and other things, or otherwise impaired in their ability to parent. In many cases the appropriate diagnosis is Dad Attention Deficit Disorder (DADD)". Breggin has written two books specifically on the topic entitled, Talking Back to Ritalin and The Ritalin Factbook. In these books he has made controversial claims, such as "Ritalin 'works' by producing malfunctions in the brain rather than by improving brain function. This is the only way it works". [19]

Together with Fred Baughman, Breggin testified about ADHD to the United States Congress. In Congress Breggin claimed "that there were no scientific studies validating ADHD", that children diagnosed with ADHD needed "discipline and better instruction" rather than psychiatric drugs, and that therapeutic stimulants "are the most addictive drugs known in medicine today." [20] Baughman and Breggin were also the major critics in a PBS Frontline TV series about ADHD entitled 'Medicating Kids'. [21]

Breggin has been very critical of psychologist Russell Barkley's work on ADHD, claiming that he exaggerates the benefits of stimulants and minimizes their hazards. [22]

SSRI antidepressants

In the early 1990s Breggin suggested there were problems with the methodology in the research of SSRI antidepressants. As early as 1994 in Talking Back to Prozac, he warned that Prozac was causing violence, suicide and mania. Breggin elaborated on this theme in many subsequent books and articles about newer antidepressants. In 2005, the FDA began requiring black box warnings on SSRIs, warning of an association between SSRI use and suicidal behavior in children, [23] and later extended it to young adults. New general warnings were added along with the aforementioned black box warnings. These warnings confirmed many of the adverse effects first emphasized by Breggin in Toxic Psychiatry with specific mentions by the FDA of drug-induced "hostility", "irritability", and "mania". In 2006, the FDA expanded the warnings to include adults taking Paxil, which is associated with a higher risk of suicidal behavior as compared to a placebo. [24]

In 1994, Breggin said that Eli Lilly and Company (maker of the antidepressant Prozac) attempted to discredit him and his book Talking Back to Prozac by linking him to the Church of Scientology and labeling his views as "Neo-Scientology". [25] Breggin denied any connection to Scientology. [25] Breggin later clarified that he was still in agreement with some of CCHR's anti-psychiatric views, supporting Tom Cruise's public stance against psychiatry. [26]

Electroconvulsive therapy

Breggin has written several books and scientific articles critical of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). He claims "... the damage produces delirium so severe that patients can't fully experience depression or other higher mental functions during the several weeks after electroshock." He was one of nineteen speakers at the 1985 NIH Consensus Development Conference on ECT. The Consensus panel (of which Breggin was not a member) found that ECT could be a useful therapy in some carefully defined cases. [27]

Expert witness

Breggin testified as an expert witness in the Wesbecker case (Fentress et al., 1994), a lawsuit against Eli Lilly, makers of Prozac. Ultimately, the jury found for Eli Lilly. According to Breggin, this was because the plaintiffs and defendants had secretly settled behind closed doors. [28] The Supreme Court of Kentucky concluded that the Wesbecker trial had been secretly settled by Eli Lilly before going to the jury in return for plaintiffs presenting a weakened case that was bound to lose. Trial Judge Potter was empowered by the Kentucky Supreme Court to change the verdict from a jury verdict in favor of Eli Lilly to "settled with prejudice" by Eli Lilly. [29] [30] [31]

In South Carolina, Breggin testified on behalf of Peggy S. Salters, a psychiatric nurse who sued her doctors and Palmetto Baptist Hospital in Columbia after ECT left her incapacitated in 2000. A jury found in favor of her and awarded her $635,177 in actual damages. [32]

In 2002, Breggin was hired as an expert witness by a survivor of the Columbine High School massacre in a case against the makers of an anti-depressant drug. In his report, Breggin noted that "... Eric Harris was suffering from a substance induced (Luvox-induced) mood disorder with depressive and manic features that had reached a psychotic level of violence and suicide. Absent persistent exposure to Luvox, Eric Harris probably would not have committed violence and suicide." [33] However, the argument was rejected by the judge, and the lawsuit was eventually dropped with the stipulation that the makers of Luvox donate $10,000 to the American Cancer Society. [33] In 2005, he testified as the medical expert in a trial in which a jury "returned a malpractice verdict against a shock doctor in favor of the injured patient". His testimony as a witness helped to win against the adherents of shock treatment and psychosurgery and it was announced as harmful. [34]

On September 16, 2011, in Winnipeg, Canada, a provincial judge cited Breggin's testimony in concluding that Prozac caused a sixteen-year-old boy to knife a friend to death, noting that, "Dr. Breggin's explanation of the effect Prozac was having on C.J.P.'s behavior both before that day and in committing an impulsive, inexplicable violent act that day corresponds with the evidence." [35] About the boy, Judge Robert Heinrichs determined, "His basic normalcy now further confirms he no longer poses a risk of violence to anyone and that his mental deterioration and resulting violence would not have taken place without exposure to Prozac." [36]

On November 20, 2012, a New York State Supreme Court jury awarded $1.5 million malpractice verdict to the family of a man who committed suicide while taking psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants. [37] Dr. Breggin was the expert witness for the family. [38]

Criticism

In 1987, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) brought a complaint against Breggin with the board of the State of Maryland. NAMI was upset about remarks he made on The Oprah Winfrey Show on April 2, 1987. On the TV show, Breggin stated that mental health clients should judge their clinicians in terms of their empathy and support; if they failed to show interest in them and tried to prescribe drugs during the first session, he advised such clients to seek assistance elsewhere. He also pointed out the iatrogenic effects of neuroleptic drugs. He was defended by a diverse group of psychiatrists and others who defended his right to publicly state his critical opinion. [12] Breggin was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Maryland medical board. [13]

Publications

Books

List of books
YearTitlePublisherNotes
2021Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the PreyPre-Order/Ebook ISBN   9780982456064
2016Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed PersonsRoutledge ISBN   1138984167
2014Guilt, Shame, and Anxiety: Understanding and Overcoming Negative EmotionsPrometheus Books (5 Jan. 2015) ISBN   978-1616141493
2014Talking Back to Prozac: What Doctors Aren't Telling You About Prozac and the Newer AntidepressantsOpen Road Integrated Media, Inc. ISBN   1497638771
2013Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and their FamiliesNew York: Springer Publishing Company ISBN   978-0826108432
2011Empathic Therapy by Peter R. Breggin MD, film on DVDStudio: Lake Edge Press ASIN   B00KWLKBLA
2009Wow, I'm an American! How to Live Like Our Nation's Heroic FoundersLake Edge Press ISBN   978-0-9824560-1-9
2009The Conscience of Psychiatry: The Reform Work of Peter R.Lake Edge Press (August 25, 2009) ISBN   978-0982456002
2008Medication Madness: A Psychiatrist Exposes the Dangers of Mood-Altering MedicationsNew York: St. Martin's Press ISBN   978-0312363383
2008Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Psychopharmaceutical Complex, Second EditionNew York: Springer Publishing Company ISBN   978-0826129345
2007Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Medications, Second EditionCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books ISBN   978-0738210988
2005Electroshock Treatment over Four Decades: The Case AgainstMorgan Foundation Publishers: International Published Innovations ISBN   1885679025
2003The Central Intelligence AgencyCengage Gale ISBN   0737717262
2002The Ritalin Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell YouCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books ISBN   978-0738204505
2002Dimensions of Empathic TherapySpringer Publishing Company
2001The Anti-Depressant Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won't Tell You About Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and LuvoxCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books ISBN   978-0738204512
2001Talking Back to Ritalin, Revised EditionCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books
2000Reclaiming Our Children: A Healing Solution for a Nation in CrisisCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books ISBN   978-0738204260
1999Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why To Stop Taking Psychiatric MedicationsCambridge, Mass.: Perseus Books
1998The War Against Children of Color : Psychiatry Targets Inner City YouthCommon Courage Press ISBN   1567511279
1998Talking Back To RitalinCommon Courage Press
1997Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Role of the FDANew York: Springer Publishing Company ISBN   978-0826194916
1997; new paperback edition 2006The Heart of Being Helpful: Empathy and the Creation of a Healing PresenceNew York: Springer Publishing Company ISBN   978-0826102744
1997Enough Is EnoughAddison Wesley Publishing Company ISBN   0201328100
1996Psychosocial Approaches to Deeply Disturbed PersonsHaworth Press
1994The War Against ChildrenNew York: St. Martin's Press
1994Talking Back to ProzacNew York: St. Martin's Press
1992Beyond Conflict: From Self-Help and Psychotherapy to PeacemakingNew York: St. Martin's Press ASIN   B01FEOK6LY
1991Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy and Love Must Replace the Drugs, Electroshock, and Biochemical Theories of the "New Psychiatry"New York: St. Martin's Press ASIN   B017RC8FZA
1983Psychiatric Drugs: Hazards to the BrainNew York: Springer Publishing Company ASIN   B01FIXS0ZK
1980The Psychology of Freedom : Liberty and Love As a Way of LifePrometheus Books, Publishers ISBN   0879751320
1979Electroshock: Its Brain-Disabling EffectsNew York: Springer Publishing Company ISBN   978-0826127105
1972After The Good War: A Love StoryNew York: Popular Library ISBN   978-0812814927
1971Crazy from the SaneCarol Publishing Corporation ISBN   0818401028
1962College Students in a Mental Hospital: Contribution to the Social Rehabilitation of the Mentally IllNew York, Grune & Stratton,

Books with co-authors

Articles

Scientific Papers [39]

Psychology, Life, and Overcoming Negative Emotions [39]

Peer-reviewed publications

1. Breggin, Peter. "The Psychophysiology of Anxiety". The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease , 139, 558–568, 1964.

2. Breggin, Peter. "Coercion of Voluntary Patients in an Open Hospital". Archives of General Psychiatry , 10:173–181, 1964. Reprinted with a new introduction in Edwards, R.B. (ed):Psychiatry and Ethics. Buffalo, Prometheus Books, 1982, and in Edwards, R.B. (ed): Ethics of Psychiatry. Amherst, New York, Prometheus Books, 1997.

3. Breggin, Peter. "The Sedative-like Effect of Epinephrine". Archives of General Psychiatry ,12, 255–259, 1965.

4. Malev, J.S.; Breggin, P.R. et al. "For Better or for Worse: A Problem in Ethics". International Psychiatric Clinics, 2(3), 603–24, 1965.

5. Breggin, Peter. "Psychotherapy as Applied Ethics". Psychiatry, 34:59–75, 1971.

6. Breggin, Peter. "Lobotomy: An Alert". The American Journal of Psychiatry , 129:97, 1972.

7. Breggin, Peter. "Psychosurgery". JAMA , 226:1121, 1973.

8. Breggin, Peter. "The Second Wave of Psychosurgery". M/H (Mental Health), 57:10–13, 1973.

9. Breggin, Peter. "Therapy as Applied Utopian Politics". Mental Health and Society, 1:129–146, 1974.

10. Lundy PJ and Breggin, Peter. "Psychiatric oppression of prisoners". Psychiatric Opinion. 11(3):30–7, 1974.

11. Breggin, Peter. "Psychosurgery for Political Purposes". Duquesne Law Review, 13:841–862, 1975.

12. Breggin, Peter. "Psychiatry and Psychotherapy as Political Processes". American Journal of Psychotherapy , 29:369–382, 1975.

13. Breggin, Peter. "Madness is a Failure of Free Will; Therapy Too Often Encourages It". Psychiatric Quarterly , 53:61–68, 1981. Originally published (in French) in Verdiglione A (ed): "La Folie Dans La Psychoanalyse". Paris, Payot, 1977.

14. Breggin, Peter. "Electroconvulsive therapy for depression". The New England Journal of Medicine , 27;303(22):1305–6, 1980.

15. Breggin, Peter. "Electroshock Therapy and Brain Damage: The Acute Organic Brain Syndrome as Treatment". Behavior and Brain Sciences, 7:24–25, 1984.

16. Breggin, Peter. "Neuropathology and Cognitive Dysfunction from ECT". Electroconvulsive Consensus Development Conference Programs and Abstracts, pp. 59–64, 1985. Sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health and the NIH Office of Medical Applications Research. Bethesda, Maryland, June 10–12, 1985 at the National Institutes of Health.

17. Breggin, Peter. "Neuropathology and Cognitive Dysfunction from ECT". Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 22:476–479, 1986.

18. Breggin, Peter. "Brain damage from nondominant ECT". The American Journal of Psychiatry , 143(10):1320–1, 1986.

19. Breggin, Peter and de Girolamo, G. "Ellettroshock: Tra Rischioiatrogeno e Mito Terapeutico". Quaderni Italiani di Psychiatrica, 6:497–540, 1987.

20. Breggin, Peter. "Precious the Crow". Voices (journal of the American Academy of Psychotherapists), 23:32–42, Summer 1987.

21. Breggin, Peter. "The Three Dynamics of Human Progress: A Unified Theory Applicable to Individuals, Institutions and Society". Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry, 21(1–3):97–123, 1988–89.

22. Breggin, Peter. "Addiction to Neuroleptics?" The American Journal of Psychiatry , 146(4):560, 1989.

23. Breggin, Peter. "Dr. Breggin replies". The American Journal of Psychiatry , 146(9):1240, 1989.

24. Breggin, Peter. "Brain Damage, Dementia and Persistent Cognitive Dysfunction Associated with Neuroleptic Drugs: Evidence, Etiology, Implications". Journal of Mind Behavior, 11:425–464, 1990.

25. Breggin, Peter. "Psychotherapy in the Shadow of the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Complex". Voices (journal of the American Academy of Psychotherapists), 27:15–21, 1991

26. Weinberg MH and Breggin, Peter. "The homeless mentally ill". The American Journal of Psychiatry , 148(5):690–1, 1991.

27. Breggin, Peter. "A Case of Fluoxetine-induced Stimulant Side Effects with Suicidal Ideation Associated with a Possible Withdrawal Syndrome ('Crashing')". International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 3:325–328, 1992

28. Breggin, Peter. "Parallels Between Neuroleptic Effects and Lethargic Encephalitis: The Production of Dyskinesias and Cognitive disorders". Brain and Cognition , 23:8–27, 1993.

29. Breggin, Peter and Breggin, Ginger Ross. "A Biomedical Programme for Urban Violence Control in the US: The Dangers of Psychiatric Social Control". Changes: An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 11(1) (March):59–71, 1993.

30. Breggin, Peter. "Psychiatry's Role in the Holocaust". International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 4:133–148, 1993. Adapted from a paper delivered at "Medical Science Without Compassion" in Cologne, Germany and published in the conference proceedings.

31. Breggin PR. "Genetics and crime". Science , 262(5139):1498, 1993.

32. Breggin, Peter. "Encephalitis lethargica". The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences , 7(3), 387, 1995.`

33. Breggin, Peter. "Campaigns Against Racist Federal Programs by the Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology". Journal of African American Men, 1(3), 3–22, Winter 1995/96.

34. Breggin, Peter. "Should the Use of Neuroleptics Be Severely Limited?" Changes: An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 14:62–66 March 1996.

35. Breggin, Peter and Breggin, Ginger Ross. "The Hazards of Treating 'Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder' with Methylphenidate (Ritalin)" Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 10:55–72, 1996.

36. Breggin, Peter. "Psychotherapy in Emotional Crises without Resort to Psychiatric Medication". The Humanistic Psychologist, 25:2–14, 1998.

37. Breggin, Peter. "Analysis of Adverse Behavioral Effects of Benzodiazepines with a Discussion of Drawing Scientific Conclusions from the FDA's Spontaneous Reporting System". Journal of Mind and Behavior , 19:21–50, 1998.

38. Breggin, Peter. "Electroshock: Scientific, ethical, and political issues". International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 11:5–40, 1998.

39. Breggin, Peter. "Does clozapine treatment cause brain disease?" Archives of General Psychiatry , 55(9):845, 1998.

40. Breggin, Peter. "Psychostimulants in the treatment of children diagnosed with ADHD: Part I—Acute risks and psychological effects". Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 1:13–33, 1999.

41. Breggin, Peter. "Psychostimulants in the treatment of children diagnosed with ADHD: Part II—Adverse effects on brain and behavior". Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 1:213–241, 1999.

42. Breggin, Peter. "Psychostimulants in the treatment of children diagnosed with ADHD: Risks and mechanism of action". International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 12 (1), 3–35, 1999. (Simultaneously published version of #24 and 25)

43. Breggin, Peter. "Empathic self-transformation and love in individual and family therapy". Humanistic Psychologist, 27:267–282, 1999.

44. Breggin, Peter. "Treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder". JAMA, 281(16):1490–1, 1999.

45. Breggin, Peter. "What psychologists and psychotherapists need to know about ADHDand stimulants". Changes: An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, 18:13–23, Spring 2000

46. Breggin, Peter. "The NIMH multimodal study of treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: A critical analysis". International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 13:15–22, 2000. Also published in Ethical Human Sciences and Services.

47. Breggin, Peter. "MTA study has flaws". Archives of General Psychiatry , 58:1184, 2001.

48. Breggin, Peter. "Empowering social work in the era of biological psychiatry". The annual Ephraim Lisansky lecture of the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 3:197–206, 2001.

49. Breggin, Peter. "Questioning the treatment for ADHD". Science , 291(5504):595, 2001.

50. Breggin, Peter. "Fluvoxamine as a cause of stimulation, mania, and aggression with a critical analysis of the FDA-approved label". International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 14: 71–86, 2002. Simultaneously published in Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 4, 211–227, 2002.

51. Breggin, Peter. "Psychopharmacology and human values". Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 43: 34–49, 2003.

52. Breggin, Peter. "Suicidality, violence and mania caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): A review and analysis". International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 16: 31–49, 2003/2004. Simultaneously published in Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 5:225–246, 2003.

53. Breggin, Peter. "Re: Mud Splatters". British Medical Journal , October 14, 2004.

54. Breggin, Peter. "Recent U.S., Canadian and British regulatory agency actions concerning antidepressant-induced harm to self and others: A review and analysis". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 7, 7–22, 2005. Simultaneously published in the International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine, 16, 247–259, 2005.

55. Breggin, Peter. "Recent regulatory changes in antidepressant labels: Implications for activation (stimulation) in clinical practice". Primary Psychiatry, 13, 57–60, 2006.

56. Breggin, Peter. "Court filing makes public my previously suppressed analysis of Paxil's effects". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 77–84, 2006.

57. Breggin, Peter. "How GlaxoSmithKline suppressed data on Paxil-induced akathisia: Implications for suicide and violence". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 91–100, 2006.14

58. Breggin, Peter. "Drug company suppressed data on paroxetine-induced stimulation: Implications for violence and suicide". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 255–263, 2006.

59. Breggin, Peter. "Intoxication anosognosia: The spellbinding effect of psychiatric drugs". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 201–215, 2006. Simultaneously published in the International Journal of Risk and Safety and Medicine, 19, 3–15, 2007.

60. Breggin, Peter. "ECT damages the brain: Disturbing news for patients and shock doctors alike". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 9, 83–86, 2007.

61. Breggin, Peter and Breggin, Ginger Ross. "Exposure to SSRI antidepressants in utero causes birth defects, neonatal withdrawal symptoms and brain damage". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 5–9, 2008.

62. Donald Marks; Breggin, Peter; and Braslow, Derek. "Homicidal ideation causally related to therapeutic medications". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 134–145, 2008.

63. Breggin, Peter "Practical Applications: 22 Guidelines for Counseling and Psychotherapy". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 10, 43–57, 2008.

64. Breggin, Peter. "Antidepressant-induced suicide, violence, and mania: Risks for military personnel". Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 12, 111–121, 2010.

65. Breggin, Peter. "The FDA should test the safety of ECT machines". International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 22, 89–92, 2010.

66. Breggin, Peter. "Psychiatric drug-induced Chronic Brain Impairment (CBI): Implications for longterm treatment with psychiatric medication". International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 23: 193–200, 2011.

67. Breggin, Peter. "The Rights of Children and Parents in Regard to Children Receiving Psychiatric Drugs". Children & Society, 28, 231–241, 2014.

68. van Daalen-Smith, Cheryl; Adam, Simon; Breggin, Peter; and LeFrançois, Brenda A. "The Utmost Discretion: How Presumed Prudence Leaves Children Susceptible to Electroshock". Children & Society, 28, 205–217, 2014.

69. Breggin, Peter. "The biological evolution of guilt, shame and anxiety: A new theory of negative legacy emotions". Medical Hypotheses, 85, 17–24, 2015.

70. Breggin, Peter. "Understanding and helping people with hallucinations based on the theory of negative legacy emotions". Humanistic Psychologist, 43, 70–87, 2015.15

71. Breggin, Peter. "Rational Principles of Psychopharmacology for Therapists, Healthcare Providers and Clients". Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 46, 1–13, 2016.

72. Breggin, Peter. "Extreme psychospiritual states versus organic brain disease: Bringing together science and the human factor". Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 59, 686–696, 2019.

73. Breggin, P. and Stolzer, J. "Psychological Helplessness and Feeling Undeserving of Love: Windows into Suffering and Healing". The Humanistic Psychologist, June 2020, 48 (2). InPress.

74. Breggin, Peter. "Moving past the vaccine/autism controversy – to examine potential vaccine neurological harms". International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 1 (2020) 1–15 1 DOI 10.3233/JRS-200052 IOS

See also

Related Research Articles

Anti-psychiatry, sometimes spelled antipsychiatry without the hyphen, is a movement based on the view that psychiatric treatment is often more damaging than helpful to patients, highlighting controversies about psychiatry. Objections include the reliability of psychiatric diagnosis, the questionable effectiveness and harm associated with psychiatric medications, the failure of psychiatry to demonstrate any disease treatment mechanism for psychiatric medication effects, and legal concerns about equal human rights and civil freedom being nullified by the presence of diagnosis. Historical critiques of psychiatry came to light after focus on the extreme harms associated with electroconvulsive therapy or insulin shock therapy. The term "anti-psychiatry" is in dispute and often used to dismiss all critics of psychiatry, many of whom agree that a specialized role of helper for people in emotional distress may at times be appropriate, and allow for individual choice around treatment decisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electroconvulsive therapy</span> Medical procedure in which electrical current is passed through the brain

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) or electroshock therapy (EST) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders. Typically, 70 to 120 volts are applied externally to the patient's head, resulting in approximately 800 milliamperes of direct current passing between the electrodes, for a duration of 100 milliseconds to 6 seconds, either from temple to temple or from front to back of one side of the head. However, only about 1% of the electrical current crosses the bony skull into the brain because skull impedance is about 100 times higher than skin impedance.

A psychiatric or psychotropic medication is a psychoactive drug taken to exert an effect on the chemical makeup of the brain and nervous system. Thus, these medications are used to treat mental illnesses. These medications are typically made of synthetic chemical compounds and are usually prescribed in psychiatric settings, potentially involuntarily during commitment. Since the mid-20th century, such medications have been leading treatments for a broad range of mental disorders and have decreased the need for long-term hospitalization, thereby lowering the cost of mental health care. The recidivism or rehospitalization of the mentally ill is at a high rate in many countries, and the reasons for the relapses are under research.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Healy (psychiatrist)</span> Irish-born pharmacologist

David HealyFRCPsych, a professor of psychiatry at Bangor University in the United Kingdom, is a psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, scientist and author. His main areas of research are the contribution of antidepressants to suicide, conflict of interest between pharmaceutical companies and academic medicine, and the history of pharmacology. Healy has written more than 150 peer-reviewed articles, 200 other articles, and 20 books, including The Antidepressant Era, The Creation of Psychopharmacology, The Psychopharmacologists Volumes 1–3, Let Them Eat Prozac and Mania: A Short History of Bipolar Disorder.

Biological psychiatry or biopsychiatry is an approach to psychiatry that aims to understand mental disorder in terms of the biological function of the nervous system. It is interdisciplinary in its approach and draws on sciences such as neuroscience, psychopharmacology, biochemistry, genetics, epigenetics and physiology to investigate the biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Biopsychiatry is the branch of medicine which deals with the study of the biological function of the nervous system in mental disorders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder controversies</span> Controversies surrounding the topic of ADHDs nature, diagnosis, and treatment

Despite the scientifically well-established nature of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), its diagnosis, and its treatment, each of these has been controversial since the 1970s. The controversies involve clinicians, teachers, policymakers, parents, and the media. Positions range from the view that ADHD is within the normal range of behavior to the hypothesis that ADHD is a genetic condition. Other areas of controversy include the use of stimulant medications in children, the method of diagnosis, and the possibility of overdiagnosis. In 2009, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, while acknowledging the controversy, stated that the current treatments and methods of diagnosis are based on the dominant view of the academic literature.

Mental disorders are classified as a psychological condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological and often social functioning of the individual. Individuals diagnosed with certain mental disorders can be unable to function normally in society. Mental disorders may consist of several affective, behavioral, cognitive and perceptual components. The acknowledgement and understanding of mental health conditions has changed over time and across cultures. There are still variations in the definition, classification, and treatment of mental disorders.

The Ritalin class-action lawsuits were a series of federal lawsuits in 2000, filed in five separate US states. All five lawsuits were dismissed by the end of 2002. The lawsuits alleged that the makers of methylphenidate and the American Psychiatric Association had conspired to invent and promote the disorder ADHD to create a highly profitable market for the drug. The lawsuit also alleged that CHADD deliberately attempted to increase the supply of Ritalin and ease restrictions on the supply of Ritalin to help increase profits for Novartis.

Child and adolescent psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and their families. It investigates the biopsychosocial factors that influence the development and course of psychiatric disorders and treatment responses to various interventions. Child and adolescent psychiatrists primarily use psychotherapy and/or medication to treat mental disorders in the pediatric population.

Management of depression is the treatment of depression that may involve a number of different therapies: medications, behavior therapy, psychotherapy, and medical devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citizens Commission on Human Rights</span> Scientology-related organization

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) is a nonprofit anti-psychiatric organization established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Its stated mission is to "eradicate abuses committed under the guise of mental health and enact patient and consumer protections." It is regarded by most non-Scientologists as a Scientology front group whose purpose is to push the organization's anti-psychiatric agenda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Depression in childhood and adolescence</span> Pediatric depressive disorders

Major depressive disorder, often simply referred to as depression, is a mental disorder characterized by prolonged unhappiness or irritability. It is accompanied by a constellation of somatic and cognitive signs and symptoms such as fatigue, apathy, sleep problems, loss of appetite, loss of engagement, low self-regard/worthlessness, difficulty concentrating or indecisiveness, or recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

Linda Andre was an American psychiatric survivor activist and writer, living in New York City, who was the director of the Committee for Truth in Psychiatry (CTIP), an organization founded by Marilyn Rice in 1984 to encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) machines.

Late-life depression refers to depression occurring in older adults and has diverse presentations, including as a recurrence of early-onset depression, a new diagnosis of late-onset depression, and a mood disorder resulting from a separate medical condition, substance use, or medication regimen. Research regarding late-life depression often focuses on late-onset depression, which is defined as a major depressive episode occurring for the first time in an older person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lehmann (author)</span>

Peter Lehmann, D. Phil. h.c., is an author, social scientist, publisher, and an independent freelance activist in humanistic anti-psychiatry, living in Berlin, Germany.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to psychiatry:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. Impastato</span>

David John Impastato was an American neuropsychiatrist who pioneered the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the United States. A treatment for mental illness initially called "electroshock," ECT was developed in 1937 by Dr. Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini, working in Rome. Impastato has been credited with the earliest documented use of the revolutionary method in North America, administered in early 1940 to a schizophrenic female patient in New York City. Soon after, he and colleague Dr. Renato Almansi completed the first case study of ECT to appear in a U.S. publication. Impastato spent the next four decades refining the technique, gaining recognition as one of its most authoritative spokesmen. He taught, lectured widely and published over fifty articles on his work. He called on ECT practitioners to observe the strictest protocols of patient safety, countered resistance to ECT from both the medical and cultural establishments, and met later challenges to electroconvulsive therapy from developments in psychopharmacology. Impastato would live to see ECT recommended by the American Psychiatric Association for a distinct core of intractable mental disorders. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took longer to respond to the treatment's potential. But in 2016 the FDA drafted guidelines for ECT similar to those of the APA, as well as proposing regulations for treatment with Class II and Class III devices. Though still not free of controversy, electroconvulsive therapy is the treatment of choice for an estimated 100,000 patients a year in the United States.

Psychiatry is, and has historically been, viewed as controversial by those under its care, as well as sociologists and psychiatrists themselves. There are a variety of reasons cited for this controversy, including the subjectivity of diagnosis, the use of diagnosis and treatment for social and political control including detaining citizens and treating them without consent, the side effects of treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, antipsychotics and historical procedures like the lobotomy and other forms of psychosurgery or insulin shock therapy, and the history of racism within the profession in the United States.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a controversial therapy used to treat certain mental illnesses such as major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, depressed bipolar disorder, manic excitement, and catatonia. These disorders are difficult to live with and often very difficult to treat, leaving individuals suffering for long periods of time. In general, ECT is not looked at as a first line approach to treating a mental disorder, but rather a last resort treatment when medications such as antidepressants are not helpful in reducing the clinical manifestations.

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