Introducing a New Column

Abstract

This feature is dedicated to you, the principled professional, and to the organization that represents you, the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (www.ICSPP.org). You need and can benefit from the support of other professionals and you can take satisfaction in supporting an organization that speaks for you. This initial "Politics, Practice & Breaking News" will examine why principled professionals need ICSPP and its journal, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, and conclude with breaking news about a recent malpractice victory against that psychiatrically induced plague of brain damage, tardive dyskinesia (TD). Also in this issue of EHPP, please see my Special Report on page 77 concerning the release and interpretation of previously supressed data on Paxil-induced suicide in adults. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT ARE YOU FACING? You're a therapist who doesn't think that depression is biological or genetic and you know you can help people overcome their sad feelings by talking with them enthusiastically about how to understand and to improve their lives. You're a school counselor, teacher, or pediatrician who doesn't think that ADHD is a valid disorder, you would do almost anything to avoid drugging a child, and you know that attention and discipline problems can be addressed by working with teachers and parents on improved approaches to the child. You're a social work, nursing, or psychology instructor in a university and you want to present your students a more skeptical view of biological psychiatry and the DSM-IV, and you'd also like to offer a more positive view of ethical human services. You're a psychiatrist, attorney, or survivor of psychiatric abuse, and you'd like to stop involuntary treatment, and to foster genuinely noncoercive, welcoming alternatives for people who need a temporary safe haven while dealing with extremes of emotional distress. You're a professional who would like to find a journal that publishes independent research and commentary. Whether you are teaching or practicing psychological, social and educational interventions, you are surrounded by political pressures and bombarded with antagonistic propaganda from the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Complex. Your clients and students wonder if they have biochemical imbalances and ask about the latest drug that's bounced across their TV screen as a smiley face. Your department or clinical director looks at you askance for your beliefs and hints that your tenure may be limited. Every day you find yourself calculating how much you dare to practice, to teach, and to speak in a principled fashion. And your fears are not exaggerated. You know colleagues who've been called on the carpet by their professional societies or fired from their jobs for acting on principle in defiance of the Psycho-Pharmaceutical Complex. THE PSYCHO-PHARMACEUTICAL COMPLEX The Psycho-Pharmaceutical Complex is a multibillion dollar pyramid with the pharmaceutical industry astride its peak. Beneath the weight of industry, we find layers of related interested groups: powerful political lobbying groups financed by the drug companies and by the mental health establishment; the U.S. Congress and federal agencies; giant health care insurers; professional associations such as the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Psychological Association; universities and medical centers; and drug company-controlled consumer groups such as CHADD and NAMI. Staring up at these looming interest groups, the average practitioner is likely to feel like a weekend hiker trying to take on Mt. Everest. Yet the principled professional still has a lot going for him. In private practice he can offer ethical, voluntary, drug-free human services. If he keeps a relatively low profile, cares about his patients or clients, and adheres to sound professional principles, he will be able to help people and to obtain new clients by word-of-mouth. …