There Is No Such Thing As Mental Illness

[Shanti]

I love this guy. He is a very good, eloquent speaker and really puts it out there. He has another video about Children and mental illness and you can really see his speech power come out in that one! His name is Stefan Molyneux and he's been named one of the top 10 most influential people in alternate media. He isn't a Phd or doctor, but he does refer to a lot of them and shows their names.

 

[Shanti]

Here is his "Theory of Mental Health" videos. These talk alot about the children diagnosed and the school system. A lot about society and what's "normal".

 

 

 

 

 

It's a shame that media like this, truth, is the "alternative" media, and the lies are the mainstream. I pray this does a switch soon. People are starting to wake up and the tides are turning.

[Barbarannamated]

Nashville MD missed memo that the chemical imbalance theory was an urban legend

 

 

 

From website:

What is Chemical Imbalance in the Brain?

Chemical imbalance in the brain is the same concept as electrolyte imbalance of the body (glucose, sodium, potassium, calcium, etc); in the brain, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, nor-epinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, endorphin, etc., are not in sync with your body’s needs. It is a real medical condition.

Certain medications contain the chemicals needed to correct the brain’s imbalances. The good news is that it can be treated.

 

Doctor,

I've had my electrolytes measured in routine labwork. How do you measure serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, dopamine, etc? What are the 'normal' levels (Reference Ranges)? Do they differ by age, gender, etc., and what time of day should they be measured? Should I be fasting? How often do you monitor levels? What other labwork will be done (thyroid, Vitamin B and D levels, etc.)?

[Shanti]

Excellent post Barb. I like the note to the doctor!

 

I've been watching more of Stefan Molyneux's videos and he is the most insightful man I've seen! He really has a connection to higher guidance in these philosophies and theories of his. Here is a link to his Youtube page.

[bruno2016]

Nashville MD missed memo that the chemical imbalance theory was an urban legend

 

 

 

From website:

What is Chemical Imbalance in the Brain?

Chemical imbalance in the brain is the same concept as electrolyte imbalance of the body (glucose, sodium, potassium, calcium, etc); in the brain, serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, nor-epinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, endorphin, etc., are not in sync with your body’s needs. It is a real medical condition.

Certain medications contain the chemicals needed to correct the brain’s imbalances. The good news is that it can be treated.

 

Doctor,

I've had my electrolytes measured in routine labwork. How do you measure serotonin, acetylcholine, GABA, dopamine, etc? What are the 'normal' levels (Reference Ranges)? Do they differ by age, gender, etc., and what time of day should they be measured? Should I be fasting? How often do you monitor levels? What other labwork will be done (thyroid, Vitamin B and D levels, etc.)?

 

Really good post! Since coming off drugs, I have been doing more and more research into them and their history. I just ordered Irving Kirsch's book and Robert Whitakers book. Seems like people blindly accepted these lies!

[alexjuice]

That Drugs aren't the solution to the problem doesn't mean there is no problem whatsoever. All these problems, these 'mental illnesses', they all predate psych medications.

 

To say 'there is no such thing as mental illnesses' is a sloppy way to make our point based on how the population understands the term. That is, if the goal is to win people over to our point of viewi

 

John Nash didn't hide in an attic (essentially) for the entire prime of his adulthood believing that aliens were communicating their elaborate plans with him because he wanted to. He didn't give up his promising career to live some more interesting attic life. There was clearly something wrong. It doesn't matter what you call it.

 

I'm as anti-everything as the next guy, but I think this kind of debate is a debate we will lose and lose looking radical. Argue there is 'no such thing as chemical imbalance' and we can win. Argue there is 'no such thing as mental illness' and... we'll be taken about as seriously as the Church of Scientology.

 

No offense to anyone, guys. But I prefer a more measured approach. I want to win the debate which first requires enterance to the debate. Unfortunately, hyperbole this distant from 'the mainstream' will prohibit that, IMO.

 

Also, the fact that there is no test or gene explaining OCD doesn't mean there is no such thing as OCD, whatever you want to call it. It may not be an illness or a mental illness but that's beside the point. It is a real thing, a real problem and it exists to anyone with eyes.

 

My cousins' wife mother died last year. She was basically Howard Hughes. She hadn't left her home in over a decade. Her husband's life was essentially dedicated to helping this woman get through each day without adding to the horde of garbage she refused to dispose of. My cousin and his then-fiance eloped because his wife knew her mom wouldn't be able to leave the home to attend the wedding and that missing it would cause her tremendous psychic pain.

 

Are we really going to say to my cousin's wife, after watching her mother drift into her own reality, that there was nothing at all wrong with her? I promise she (and all the people like her) are going to tune us out. Though she'd be receptive to the more subtle "chemical imbalance theory is inaccurate and propagated by profit-hungry Pharma firms."

 

That's my take.

 

Alex

[summer]

I agree with your take, Alex. To speculate that mental illness doesn't exist, is the same as saying a chemical imbalance does.

 

How someone who is truly mentally ill gets well, is another thread.

[Barbarannamated]

I hate the term 'mental illness'. Here's my reasoning: 'they' try to claim this chemical imbalance 'just like electrolytes, diabetes, etc.' Ok. We know that's BS. However, they use this vague 'mental' terminology in diagnosis but treatment is 'just like any medical disease'. So cal it a psychoneuroendocrine disorder or even psychosocial or neuropsychosocial. Just lose the MENTAL! That word has absolutely no positive connotations.

[alexjuice]

Sure. I agree with you -- I hate it -- but I'm pretty educated about these things and understand how the point could be argued (though I think it needs to be argued by someone who would get at least a modicum of respect by the mainstream; someone with credentials, the snootier the better). I think about the public though and from there the objection emerged. From my experience Joe Public associates 'mental illnesses' with problems that he has witnessed. So it's hard, I think, to say there is no such thing and get traction.

 

I guess it depends where the debate is being held. I think claiming "there is no such thing as mental illness" means one thing, and could be argued, in a venue where the audience is attuned to the technical differences which would underlie such an argument, say a symposium in a hall at Johns Hopkins.

 

But if the debate is held in the court of public opinion, and we run round saying this, people will think we're loony. At least, that's how I think Joe Public will respond (it's how they respond to the scientologists).

 

So that would be my objection to using that language widely.

 

Alex

[Barbarannamated]

Yes. That's definitely something to distance from. I won't claim to know details about Scientology, but Tom Cruise put this whole thing back so far with his rants.

[Barbarannamated]

You could do a superb debate! I suspect you are the type that could slide zingers into a discussion so that they go undetected until later time when other person mentally replays the discussion and says to himself 'did he really say that and I missed it?' BAZINGA!

[alexjuice]

I don't think I'm the man for the job. But thanks. That's one of the tough things for me to deal with. I was a pretty loony person on Drugs and did a lot of things that really disqualify me from spokesmanship, I think.

 

We've got a lot of talent in development here, on this board. I think Alto and cine and Rhi and you as well, Barb, would be up to the job in my book.

 

Honestly, the best contribution I could probably make is to try to raise money someday. That's such a big disadvantage for our side. You can't win the fight if the other side basically owns the mainstream media AND has a warchest that is thousands of times in excess of your resources.

 

Alex

[Shanti]

Alex, I totally agree with you. I think it is too extreme to say mental illness doesn't exits. In some other videos from this same guy, he does acknowledge that there are definitely conditions and he gives some advice of how to heal without medications, such as CBT. He did go too extreme on this one and I see your point that this is the polar opposite of the problem. Two sides of the same dualistic coin. However, as the Buddha says, sometimes when there is extremity, you have to go the other extreme and THEN find the balance that is Truth.

 

If I can find some of his more balanced videos again I'll post them here.

[Shanti]

Here is one of his other videos I'm watching now. It gets into detail of the changes and harm to the brain physiologically.

 

[Jemima]

Many moons ago when I was a therapist, there were a number of books on this topic by Thomas Szasz which are still available. Check it out on Amazon, and be sure to take a look also at The Manufacture of Madness. http://tinyurl.com/Myth-of-Mental-Illness