Monday, January 17, 2005

We don't live under NORMAL CONDITIONS

A documentary film about depression and suicide

There is a tendency afoot today to blame the epidemic sweep of clinical depression in the US on bad genes or screwy brain chemistry. But what if the causes of depression, suicide, or other mental illnesses, do not emanate from biology?

This artful documentary film brings six people together for three days of emotional, and at times heated, discussion about the sources of their despair.

Intermixed are hard-to-find facts which challenge the psychiatric industry's claims that depression is a biological disorder. Fundamentally about empowerment and the resilience of the human spirit, this surprisingly inspirational new movie will change the way you think about "normal."

The following informational text slates that are presented in the film are listed here with their sources:

  Title Source
In the U.S., 30,000 people kill themselves each year, one every 17 minutes.  National Center on Health Statistics
One million adolescents attempt suicide each year  Centers for Disease Control
Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among youth ages 15-24.  National Mental Health Association
As many as one-third of teenage suicides are gay/lesbian youth. Department of Health & Human Services
Identical quadruplets develop schizophrenia. A renowned geneticist proclaims them proof of a biological cause, discounting the girls environment which included a father who banged their heads together to stop them from crying, abused them sexually and mutilated their genitals with acid. Toxic Psychiatry, Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
In 1952 the American Psychiatric Association published the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual listing 60 types of mental disease. By the 1990s the 4th revision of the DSM listed 374 ways to be mentally ill.  DSMs
In 1967 several prominent psychiatrists wrote in a prominent medical journal that brain dysfunction was a cause of urban violence.  JAMA
In the 1970's government agencies funded psychiatrists who advocated psychiatric brain surgery for rioters and their leaders.  War Against Children, Peter R. Breggin
In the 1990's, the U.S. government conducted research on inner-city youth believed to be genetically pre-disposed to violence. The goal: to identify them at an early age and use drug treatment before they become criminals. In Genes we Trust, Barry Mehler
While 75 percent of all attempted suicides are women, 80 percent of all completed suicides are men. National Center for Health Statistics
In 1997 Prozac became the No. 2 overall selling drug in the U.S. bringing Eli Lilly 1 billion, 492 million dollars in revenue The Plymouth as reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Lilly and other drug companies fund research at institutes where their products are tested and provide speaking fees, consulting deals and free travel to the psychiatrists in charge of the studies. New York Post, 1998
Biopsychiatrists have long touted brain scan evidence as proof that schizophrenia is a biological disorder. Researchers recently discovered that the brain abnormalities are found only in neuroleptic-treated patients and are in all likelihood medication-induced. American Journal of Psychiatry
December, 1998
Estimates suggest that 5 million children take Ritalin for ADD, a "disease" that has never been proven to exist. There Is No Disease
Fred Baughman, Jr. M.D.
Since 1980 the number of private, for-profit psychiatric hospitals has more than tripled. Over 300,000 children and adolescents are placed in these hospitals each year. In Kentucky in 1990, 80% of the kids in one hospital were there with a diagnosis of "conduct disorder." Bedlam, Joe Sharkey

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