[Miles]

DR. HAROLD KOPLEWICZ
Founder and Director of the New York University Child Study Center; Director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Bellevue Hospital Center; Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 1997. Frequently used on television news shows for comments on “mental illness” issues.

[u]The Lie</u>:

“…attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a brain condition.” - Austin American-Statesman, 21 July, 1996

[u]Facts</u>:

· The National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in 1998, after 31 scientific presentations concerning ADHD and its treatment, concluded, “There are no data to indicate that ADHD is due to a brain malfunction….”

· The Journal of Mind and Behavior in 2003 reported: “We found most subjects diagnosed with ADD or ADHD had prior medication use, often for several months or years. This substantial confound [unable to be separated] invalidates any suggestion of ADHD-specific neuropathology.”

[u]The Lie</u>:

“Essentially, these diseases are no-fault brain disorders. They are familial, they run in families….” June 12, 2002 Insight on the News

[u]Facts</u>:

· Six months later, however, Dr. Koplewicz stated on Today: “Unfortunately, little can be said about diagnosis that is hard and fast. There is no gold-standard medical test for depression or, for that matter, any other mental illness. That’s the Holy Grail of psychiatry. Many parents have asked me to do a brain scan on a child to determine what’s wrong. Today we can do any number of scans and lab tests to diagnose cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and other physical illnesses. We haven’t gotten there yet for mental illness.”

[u]The Lie</u>:

“It’s essentially DNA roulette. Your parents give you a certain set of genes that put you at risk for certain psychiatric illnesses.” - 6 June 2005 World News Tonight.

[u]Facts</u>:

· Bruce Levine, Ph.D., psychologist and author of Commonsense Rebellion said: “Remember that no biochemical, neurological, or genetic markers have been found for attention deficit disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, compulsive alcohol and drug abuse, overeating, ****************, or any other so-called mental illness, disease, or disorder.”

· Psychiatrist David Kaiser says, “...[M]odern psychiatry has yet to convincingly prove the genetic/biologic cause of any single mental illness.…”

[u]The Lie</u>:

“…there’s no science linking these antidepressants to suicide or increased depression…” - 22 March 2004, World News Tonight.

“The take-home message is that the medication (Prozac) works, that suicide risk is minimal, and that the positive effects of the medicine outweigh the risk.” – 2 June 2004 World News Tonight.

[u]Facts</u>:

· On July 1, 2005, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory about the potential increased risk of suicide in adults taking antidepressants (such as Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.) This extended the earlier warning that the drugs could cause suicidal behavior in children.

· In July 2005, the British Medical Journal reported: “…recent studies show that SSRIs [antidepressants such as Prozac] have no clinically meaningful advantage over placebo [sugar pill.]”

· “All of the newer antidepressants can stimulate the brain…Stimulating the brain leads to anxiety, agitation, irritability, insomnia, disinhibition (loss of self-control), emotional lability (instability), akathisia (agitation with hyperactivity), hostility, aggression, and mania. Especially in people who are already depressed, these over-stimulated reactions can lead to a severe worsening of depression or to transformation of the depression into mania. These effects can cause suicide and violence toward others.” – Dr. Peter Breggin, Toxic Psychiatry

[bn7]

Miles,

Are you a member of the Church of Scientology?

[Miles]

bn7:

No.

Mles