Truth or Fiction: What are Parents to Believe?

This post is the second in a series, from Kristina Kaiser Gehrki, that started with “When a Stranger Calls.” It explores the active role pharma-funded “patient advocacy” organizations play in creating and delivering school-based mental health education targeting children.

“The truth.” Dumbledore sighed. “It is a beautiful and terrible thing and should, therefore, be treated with great caution.” – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Parents in Fairfax County, Virginia tend to be affluent and well educated. The 2016 US Census found the median household annual income is more than $114K, and 60% of adults age 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Well-paying jobs and well-rated schools help attract families to the region. Every high school in the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) district has been “designated among the most demanding public schools in the country” and the county’s magnate program, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology, ranks in the top ten of all US high schools. Fairfax parents often spend money for private services (music lessons, tutoring, counseling, etc.) in anticipation they might improve their children’s academic and emotional wellbeing. Therefore, I was unsurprised to see a large turnout at the 5th annual FCPS Mental Health and Wellness Conference.

My work with FCPS spanned more than a decade. The district first hired me as an independent communication consultant. Shortly after, I was hired “in-house” as a central office communication specialist. Later I became a marketing teacher coordinator because I missed working directly with children. I am very familiar with the inner workings of FCPS from district headquarters to individual schools. However, I had never previously attended this annual conference.

Before I discuss the instructional content taught at the conference, it is important to convey some background info that helped spark its creation. For decades, the school district had draconian disciplinary policies ranging from silly to tragic. FCPS made the national news in 2009 when a high school at which I taught suspended and sought the permanent expulsion of a teenage girl who took her birth control pill at lunchtime. The FCPS disciplinary actions made the national comedy show, the Colbert Report. Another student was denied school attendance for nearly two months because she had her acne medication in her locker.

These FCPS disciplinary procedures received attention from the American Civil Liberties Union given that students who were suspected of wrongdoing were routinely interrogated by school administrators and police officers assigned to each school. When principals suspected students of possible wrongdoing, it was common practice to call students into the principal’s office, hold them for hours, deny them a phone call to their parents, and fail to explain any possible Miranda-type Rights. School administrators sometimes told students if they wrote and signed confessions of wrongdoing, the school district would “go easy on them.” Often the adults’ promises of leniency in exchange for students’ cooperation were never honored and many students who signed incriminating personal statements received the maximum district punishment allowable.

The consequences and related downward spiral for two other FCPS students punished for wrongdoing were tragic. The high school boys were suspended and expelled from their neighborhood schools and, understandably, struggled with the resulting shame caused by being ostracized and alienated from their friends. The Fairfax school district stated the boys could face possible arrest if they should ever step foot on their former school’s property at any time to include weekends. This meant the students, both football players and one who was described as a “model student,” could never again attend a sporting event, high school dance or any other social activity at their former school at which their friends would be. Both boys became depressed after their involuntary transfers and both later ended their lives. One of the sessions offered at the FCPS conference I attended was presented by the Josh Anderson Foundation, created in memory of one of these two FCPS students who died.

ADHD: A Sharp Increase in Diagnosis

Given FCPS' long history of severe punishments that failed to use restorative justice principles to help children learn and grow from mistakes, I really wanted to attend the session titled, "Resilience and Thriving: The Secret Power of Stress." But I just couldn't do it considering the ironic title in relationship to the district's not-so-distant past. Instead, I attended two other sessions both of which featured the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). The first was titled, “Community Resources for Families and Youth.” Instructors included the Executive Director of the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) northern Virginia office, a representative from CHADD’s northern Virginia chapter and another representative from an organization for foster and adopted children.

Some information parents and teachers learned in this session included:

•  ADHD is a serious disorder that has a neurobiological and neurochemistry basis.
• If financial means is a deterrent to have children assessed for ADHD and other DSM disorders, parents can ask the school system for screening/services and some external services are free or provided at discounted rates depending upon family income.
• ADHD diagnosis should not be based on children’s self-reporting of symptoms because “evidence” shows children’s perceptions don’t always correspond with the cognitive and functional disabilities professionals can best identify during objective assessment.
• If teachers share with school personnel their concerns about students possibly having a disorder like, say, ADHD, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act includes “Child Find” which federally mandates that schools locate, identify and evaluate all children with disabilities from birth to age 21.
• CHADD publicizes ADHD as a life-span disorder. The presenter at this FCPS session repeatedly stressed ADHD is also an adult disorder. CHADD has a poster illustrating this life-span disorder approach. 
• CHADD, which bills itself as the National Resource on ADHD, offers a Teacher-to-Teacher program purported to have “expert educators” to help teachers understand ADHD.

Some information parents and teachers did not learn from this session:

• CHADD’s 2013/14 report states it is “increasing service related programs such as Parent to Parent and Teacher to Teacher. These strategies are focused on increasing revenues…” 
• The number of US children and teens receiving a diagnosis of ADHD increased by 43% from 2003 to 2011. 
• The chances of a child being diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed ADHD drugs are related to the state in which the child resides. For example, children living in Kentucky are three times more likely to be labeled with ADHD than are children living in Nevada.
• Boys are three times more likely to be labeled with ADHD than are girls.
• 25% of children in preschool who have been diagnosed with ADHD are being given drugs and receiving no talk therapy or other behavioral interventions. 
• The United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) expressed concerns about CHADD’s active lobbying for the use of Ritalin for children labeled with ADHD while being heavily funded by the makers of Ritalin. INCB said this promotion of sales of an internationally controlled substance could be identified as covert advertising and charged CHADD with being a vehicle for marketing a controlled substance directly to the public in violation of the Controlled Substances Act of 1971. 
• Ritalin maker, Ciba-Geigy (now Novartis) admitted CHADD was their conduit to the public. CHADD and National Institutes of Mental Health personnel were regular visitors at the Department of Education office of Special Education authoring ADHD materials.
• American taxpayers are also funding CHADD given that two federal agencies, The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) each donated $500,000 or more to CHADD this year.

Before this session ended, I asked the instructor how CHADD was able to offer so many parent and teacher programs, some of which include free dinner. She said CHADD operated through donations and grants. Pharmaceutical companies were never mentioned.

The reality is CHADD’s top corporate donors are pharmaceutical companies. Shire Pharmaceuticals, makers of several ADHD drugs, contributed a minimum of $100,000 to $299,999 in 2018. In 2014 the US Justice Department announced Shire pharmaceuticals paid $56.5 million to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act as a result of its marketing and promotion of several drugs to include Adderall XR and Vyvanse, both marketed for ADHD. 

Next in line is Supernus Pharmaceuticals donating $25,000 to $99,999 to CHADD in 2018. Supernus began as a US subsidiary of Shire and is currently “developing multiple candidates in psychiatry to address significant unmet medical needs in the treatment of Impulsive Aggression (IA) and for the treatment of ADHD.” CHADD’s total pharmaceutical-related funding for 2018 is much more given that in 2009, CHADD took more than $1.5 million from pharmaceutical companies alone, roughly 36% of its total 2009 revenues. This includes pharma funds for advertising.

The third top CHADD corporate donor in 2018 is Akili Interactive, a company that develops video games marketed to help treat children diagnosed with ADHD. I’m including Akili’s $25,000 to $99,999 donation to CHADD as a pharmaceutical-related donor, however, because Shire is directly invested in Akili. In addition to the monetary investment, Shire worked closely with Akili to structure and launch the first clinical study of the Project: EVO™ billed as a cognitive measurement product in pediatric ADHD. This week in typical FDA and industry revolving-door fashion, Akili announced it has hired former FDA and Pfizer employee, Dr. Anil Jina, as head of medical affairs preparing to “launch its first digital medicine and drive the aggressive expansion of its pipeline.”

Educate Before You Medicate

Reading the description of the second session gave me some hope. Titled, “Educate Before You Medicate," the session description stated: “Prescription medication are being more widely used among children. However, medications alone will not improve the health of children. Learn about the proper use of common medications and lifestyle changes to help keep children healthy.” The instructor held a doctorate in pharmacy and his bio stated he is a healthcare consultant, entrepreneur and patient advocate.

We viewed the instructor’s PowerPoint which shared data about how to safely store medications, a brief overview of nutrition, and common prescription drugs that are sometimes abused by teens. I waited for some information about adverse drug effects, particularly data that pertained to children and teens, but this info wasn’t part of the presentation.

Some information parents and teachers learned in this session included:

• “Most medications used to treat mental illnesses such as depression, bipolar and others take an average time of 4 to 6 weeks before these drugs are the most effective.”
• Many mental illnesses have a biochemical basis.
• People need to stick with their medication plan and should not stop taking their medication.

Near the end of class, the instructor asked attendees for questions or comments. A parent started asking questions about psychiatric drugs and side effects, specifically inquiring about Zoloft. Out of respect for privacy, I won’t share the gender of this parent or their child’s. The worried parent shared frustrations about the teen’s deterioration. The parent’s frankness surprised me a little given that publicly discussing mental health topics is sometimes seen as a cultural taboo in the parent's country.

The instructor-pharmacist responded to the parent’s questions with something to the effect of “it’s important to discuss these issues and possible side effects with your doctor.” I understood the reasons for his response. Unfortunately, I also understand far too well that doctors are often unable or unwilling to recognize their pharmaceutical interventions have destroyed those they professed to help.

I raised my hand and mentioned akathisia, serotonin toxicity and the FDA Black Box suicide warnings on all SSRIs. I shared the RxISK.org website where adverse effects are reported by actual users. The instructor went over to his laptop and accessed the RxISK website. He then returned to the lectern and shared with the class the Walgreens pharmacy website. He said parents can learn more about individual drugs on this website, adding it was “more reliable” presumably because it was from Walgreens. I replied that I had nothing against Walgreens. (My daughter was a college freshman and worked in the Walgreens beauty department at the time of her death). I pointed out that the Walgreens website likely only contains the drug info provided by drug makers and not by actual drug consumers. If parents look for information about Zoloft on the Walgreens website the instructor provided, they will not learn about akathisia. Further, the FDA Black Box warning is not readily apparent on the Walgreens Zoloft homepage and users must click an additional link to find this warning. Parents and teachers will also not find akathisia info on the CHADD and NAMI websites the FCPS conference instructors praised as valuable resources.

During his presentation, the instructor promoted NAMI. When class ended, he encouraged us to take a NAMI handout before we left.

Some information parents and teachers did not learn from this session:

• US FDA Black Box warning info, suicidality as an adverse drug effect and Informed Consent was not part of the prepared instruction
• A significant percentage of NAMI’s funding is from pharmaceutical companies. Exact funding amounts are obfuscated given NAMI’s broad donation categories of “$5,000 or more.” However, a US Senate investigation into NAMI’s conflicts of interest determined NAMI took $23 million from pharma between 2006 and 2008. It is reasonable to assume this year NAMI collected more of the same. 
• NAMI’s 2017 annual report has a long list of pharmaceutical “corporate and foundation supporters.” They include Eli Lilly, AstroZeneca, Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals, Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Lundbeck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Allergan and PhRMA (a trade group for the pharmaceutical industry). 
• Pfizer heavily funded NAMI in 2009 when the company was busy illegally promoting the drug, Geodon, for non-approved use in children. Pfizer paid more than $2 billion in criminal and civil fines for pushing their antipsychotic drug onto pediatric, adolescent and geriatric patients for off-label uses. 

One Parent’s Search for Answers

After we left the session, the parent who bravely sought information about drug side effects started telling me about the child’s deterioration. I politely stopped the conversation and asked if it was okay if I tried to "guess" the sequence of events. I asked because I strongly suspected what was happening to this parent’s teenager is similar to what happened to mine. I thought if I could accurately tell this parent the “story” of their child’s demise before being told, it might better encourage the parent to seek out independent and accurate info that could save the teen’s life. I then recounted the adverse effects that ended with my daughter, Natalie’s, prescription-drug-induced death. The parent nodded in agreement as I was speaking.

The parent then shared their family’s lived experience. The teenager was prescribed Zoloft. After starting this SSRI, the teen changed dramatically and started self-harming. New drugs were added and the SSRI dose was increased. The teen subsequently attempted suicide. At the present time, it is unlikely this teen will be able to leave home for college. These symptoms were not part of the teen's original presenting challenges.

I recommended a list of books and online resources for the parent. I spelled out the word akathisia on a piece of paper so that the parent could seek critical mental health and wellness information upon returning home.

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making the Sorcerer's Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers. The stone will transform any metal into pure gold. It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal.

You know, the Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want! The two things most human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." Dumbledore – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

The third post in this series highlights actions parents, teachers and schools can take to improve and safeguard children’s well-being.

Kristina Kaiser Gehrki is a public health and safety advocate who believes our most important knowledge stems from personal experience. She holds degrees in strategic communication, journalism and education. Her teenage daughter, Natalie, died a prescription-drug-induced death after suffering SSRI adverse drug effects that were undiagnosed by her doctor and improperly treated with SSRI dose increases.

When A Stranger Calls (Part One)

Guest post from Kristina Kaiser Gehrki

Halloween Isn't the Scariest Day in US Schools

Most people don't realize the Celts brought the first Halloween tradition to America. What started out as turnip carving in Ireland, morphed into pumpkin carving in America. In typical US fashion, Americans turned Halloween into a booming business. Nearly 70% of Americans are celebrating Halloween today with retail spending reaching $9 billion. 

The American version of Halloween excess is steadily crossing back over the pond given nearly 50% of all UK residents are celebrating Halloween. But while this holiday trend isn't scary, another US trend invading the UK is cause for concern: compulsory mental health education for children. Starting in 2020, all English children will receive mental health education lessons purportedly "to tackle the rise in mental health issues." 

Last year, I spoke with an Ohio parent who shared concerns about her son's school health curriculum. It was an important topic I planned to write about for some time as it prompted reflection on my own experiences as an educator and parent. I've worked on several national programs that benefited children and taught in one of America's largest and highly-rated school districts. Helping students identify their unique talents and develop resiliency needed to live happy, productive lives was a worthy endeavour I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm all for effectively alleviating children's stress and suffering to improve their future outcomes. Why then does England's new mandatory mental health education set off alarm bells in my head? 

Identifying Students At Risk for Mental Illness

Shortly before I retired from teaching, I noticed several changes in my district's annual mandatory teacher training. There were new requirements regarding mental health and suicide prevention. Being the mother of a teen who died an akathisia-induced death, I was initially pleased to see my suburban Washington DC school district was focused on improving children's wellbeing. Regrettably, I soon learned that much of what teachers and students were being taught about mental health was woefully inadequate. Some information was misleading and false. 

During one mandatory Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) teacher-training session, a school social worker gave a lecture about self-harming behaviors. I raised my hand and shared it may also be important for school personnel to know what, if any, drugs children have been prescribed given that research finds an increased risk of developing self-harming behaviors among children taking SSRIs. I mentioned akathisia and some of the physical components children suffering from akathisia might exhibit in the classroom. This includes frequently getting out of their chairs to walk around the room, rocking back and forth and incessantly swinging their legs while seated. The school social worker responded that this information was "too complicated" for teachers and that, basically, once teachers made student referrals, "mental health professionals" would take it from there.  

The next school year began with more training in which critical information was omitted. Teachers were instructed to informally assess students who were "at risk" of mental illness and start an intervention by referring these students to the school counselor. The counselor could then meet with the student, call the parents, refer the student to the school psychologist, who might then refer the student for services outside the school district. During the 2016-17 school year, FCPS made 4,415 consultations with "outside providers." Specific data regarding these 4,415 referrals isn't provided, but judging from the teacher training info, it's logical to presume many of these students were referred to psychiatrists.

While I had always planned to return to my communication career after my own children went to college, my retirement from teaching came at a time when teachers were very stressed trying to successfully do more with less. Many class sizes were increasing and curriculum was expanded to meet the new state testing requirements. When discussing the subject of student mental health referrals, some teachers were worried they might miss possible signs of at-risk student behaviors. Others felt that teachers were supposed to teach subjects, not recruit subjects. 

This isn't to say teachers didn't want to do their best to help children. We chose teaching because we cared deeply about children, so much so that we didn't want to unwittingly do something that might hurt children by starting a referral process that could lead to possible misdiagnosis, a mental illness label and prescribed harm. Teachers are well aware that most parents dread receiving a phone call from their child's school. To receive such a call from a stranger might be particularly distressing, especially if it was prompted by a teacher's misperception. As a result, we sometimes found ourselves in a difficult Catch 22. 

Who's Checking the Children? 

Thinking about my previous conversation with the Ohio parent who expressed shock when her son's health class provided instruction that specifically mentioned brand-name drugs to include the SSRI Prozac (fluoxetine), I decided to attend the annual FCPS Mental Health and Wellness Conference last month. I wanted to see if what is happening in my home state of Ohio is also happening in school districts across America, and perhaps soon, across the globe. The district-wide conference provided parents and community members with an array of sessions to include:

•  "Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD): Signs, Symptoms and Why Testing is a  Good Idea"
•  "Educate Before You Medicate"
•  "The Neurobiology of Stress & Anxiety: What Teachers, Parents and Students Need to Know"

In addition to the break out sessions, time was built into the schedule so attendees could visit with many of the conference exhibitors and obtain their organization's information. Exhibitors included the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD). 

I left the conference with many treats to include free pens, notepads and refrigerator magnets emblazoned with organizational logos similar to what doctors receive from drug companies. In the days that followed, I began thinking about a horror flick I saw as a teenager titled, "When a Stranger Calls." The storyline is about a high school girl who is traumatized during an evening of babysitting. A deranged man repeatedly calls her and asks, "Have you checked the children?" The police try to help her and soon discover the disturbing calls are actually coming from inside the house.

Part two of this blog post will discuss the scary details of the conference sessions I attended. I won't share them today because doing so might adversely impact one's ability to have a happy Halloween. 

Kristina Kaiser Gehrki is a public health and safety advocate who believes our most important knowledge stems from personal experience. She holds degrees in strategic communication, journalism and education. Her teenage daughter, Natalie, died a prescription-drug-induced death after suffering SSRI adverse drug effects that were undiagnosed by her doctor and improperly treated with SSRI dose increases.

Harambe The Gorilla: Have We Got Our Priorities Wrong?

There's been a huge reaction to the story that broke earlier this week regarding Harambe the gorilla. The majority of people are outraged that such a beautiful animal was shot dead after a toddler fell into a gorilla exhibit at a Cincinnati Zoo.

Many people, including the 478,000+ supporters who have signed an online petition, are calling for the parents of the toddler to be prosecuted, citing 'parental negligence' amongst other things. Memes have been appearing all over social media accounts also calling for the heads of the parents and asking why the 17 year-old gorilla needed to be killed.

These same people, rightly or wrongly, are entitled to their opinions. One does, however, have to ask them one simple question. If it were your child that fell 12ft into a gorilla pen, would you just want to wait and see what happened?

Animal cruelty pulls at the heart strings - we see photos of badly treated dogs or cats and we are quick enough to let our feelings known by signing petitions or sharing posters and memes to our social media pages supporting the need for animal cruelty to stop ~ and rightly so.

I'm an animal lover, first and foremost. I'm also a lover of human beings.

Here's just one story that hasn't had nearly half a million people signing a petition or many more voicing their opinions on social media.

During the month of November, in 2012, 14-year-old Amy El-Keria (above) used her football scarf to hang herself in the Priory at Ticehurst in Sussex, UK.

Whilst at the Priory, Amy was forcibly sedated with medication on at least two occasions.

The author of AntiDepAware, Brian, followed the case closely, he writes...

"There were also several incidents where Amy was physically restrained by staff, sometimes for 15 minutes at a time. The last incident occurred the day before her death, when Amy was restrained by five members of staff for 15 minutes and orally sedated.

"The jury also heard that the Priory had a high reliance on agency staff, including some with no psychiatric experience, and insufficient time to read patients’ paperwork or clinical notes.

"On the day she died, Amy told a member of staff she wanted to kill herself. Later that evening, a member of staff found her door locked and realised Amy had decided to try to end her life."

Yet still we have no memes for Amy. We have no petitions calling for heads to roll at The Priory Hospital in Sussex.

Why?

Amy was a troubled young girl, she, like millions of other children world-wide, had been labelled - she was, according to those who treated her, mentally ill.

Her  mother, Tania El-Keria, said: "Amy was my most loved youngest daughter, sister, niece and granddaughter with her whole life ahead of her. She had a warm heart and a great sense of humour. She never liked to see people treated unfairly and would be the first to stand and say ‘that’s not right.

"For 14 years we kept Amy safe. In less than three months under the care of the Priory she was dead. The only thing that has kept me going since her death nearly four years ago has been the need to achieve justice for my Amy."

No public outcry. In fact, if the story managed to appear on the news feed of Facebook many people, including the majority of those who expressed an opinion about Harambe the gorilla, will have ignored it, not even bothered to click on the link where they would have learned so much about the way children are being mistreated by adults who are, apparently, there to help.

Amy wasn't shot but she did fall. She fell into the system and once in it there was no marksmen their to help fend off her immediate threat.

Our priorities really need looking at when we are outraged that a gorilla was killed because of parent neglect and yet we show no emotion or we refuse to read the story of the innocent 14 year-old Amy El-Keria.

Shame on you all.


Amy, aged 14 - http://antidepaware.co.uk/amy-aged-14/


Bob Fiddaman

Fort Hood Shooter - The 'Mental Illness' Excuse

34 year-old Ivan Lopez has been named as the gunman who shot and killed 3 people whilst injuring 16 before turning the pistol on himself at an army base in Fort Hood, TX.

Pro and anti gun lobbyists are actively debating on the social media networks as are the pro and anti medication lobbyists.

Reports are suggesting that Lopez was undergoing treatment for psychological and 'psychiatric problems' and that he was being treated for depression and anxiety. He'd previously been on tour to Iraq although, sources from within the army, suggested that he was not injured...ergo no head injuries.

Mainstream media are throwing around the two words that is music to the ears of the pharmaceutical industry and much of the field of psychiatry - "Mental Illness".

It's important to look at what those two words mean individually.

1. Mental - relating to the mind.

2. Illness - a disease or period of sickness.

If we combine the two words we get Mental Illness - a condition which causes serious disorder in a person's behaviour or thinking.

For years pharmaceutical companies and psychiatrists have been trying to prove that a mental illness manifests inside the brain but that is not what the definitions above tell us.

What the pharmaceutical industry and psychiatry has done here is make us all believe that the mind and brain are the same.

3. Mind -  the faculty of consciousness and thought.

4. Brain - an organ of soft nervous tissue contained in the skull of vertebrates, functioning as the coordinating centre of sensation and intellectual and nervous activity.

Key word here is 'organ'.

Any organ can fail and be treated, the liver, kidneys, the heart...even the brain. But here's the rub... Pharmaceutical companies and psychiatry have, for many years, being duping the public. Where we can visibly see [via modern technology] diseases of the liver, heart and kidneys, we have yet to see an actual "mental disease" of the brain.

It's simple really - I'm a former postman and door hanger at Land Rover and if I can spot the discrepancies then anyone can.

The brain is an organ, the mind is not.

Millions of prescriptions for mind altering drugs are written every day. What exactly is being treated?

Thoughts.

The white-coated mob are actually writing a prescription for an illness that exists in an organ that doesn't exist at all.

Remember, they are treating the mind and not the brain...two completely different things.

They will argue that it's the brain that gives you thoughts, I cannot debate that as it is true. But it's the brain that also tells us that we have pain in our toe, [gout] or we have pain causing rectal bleeding [stomach cancer]... in fact our brain tells us a whole host of things. Gout and stomach cancer are just two examples - we can see both by using x-rays, MRI Imaging or blood samples. We can't see 'mental illness' through any of these methods, nor would we attempt to scan the brain if someone had gout.

Prescriptions for powerful drugs are prescribed for thoughts of the mind - you cannot touch thoughts, you cannot see them [only if you are having them yourself].

A thought is the action or process of thinking - yet for decades modern medicine has been treating a 'thought' as if it were an organ.

To try and simplify matters here's an analogy.

The words I speak can be heard, they can be recorded and written down but they cannot be treated. No psychiatrist can catch my words, put them in a special container then treat them....yet this is what they claim they can do with mental illness - treat thoughts. It's absurd, it's the biggest confidence trick we have ever known and we have, largely, fallen for it.

So, when I see the media reports suggesting that the Fort Hood Shooter, Ivan Lopez, had a mental illness I refer to 1,2,3 and 4 [above]

Lopez, like so many other shooters [including children] was on medication... his thoughts were being treated. Chemicals, foreign to his natural brain chemicals, were being pumped into him on a daily basis...they had nowhere else to go because the thoughts that these chemicals are supposed to target just don't exist, they are not a mass, an organ, they are invisible, they are an action that leads to a process...

...and we fell for it.

Hook, line and sinker.

Regarding the situation with the military and the PTSD [another apparent thought disease treated with powerful drugs] that so many soldiers have been diagnosed with, here's something to watch. It's a video recently released by the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights [CCHR].

Now, there will be many [normally the pro-pill brigade] that will claim that the CCHR are nothing but a bunch of Scientologists with a hidden agenda. I kind of laugh when I hear this tried [and tired] and tested argument, it's been thrown around for years. To those who spew these kind of arguments I have this to say. If it were the agenda of the CCHR to convert everyone to Scientology then why don't they just come out and do that? Why create videos about the dangers of drugs when their agenda is to convert us all to Scientology?

It makes no sense whatsoever to attack a human rights movement who are standing up for human rights. It's about as logical as suggesting that thoughts can be targeted and treated by pharmaceutical drugs.

Here's the feature length documentary, The Hidden Enemy Psychiatry.

Bob Fiddaman

School Shootings and the Psychiatric Medication Link

The recent news of yet another school shooting saddened us all. I was moved by President Obama's speech to the public that has appeared and been viewed many times on YouTube.

There's a lot of speculation surrounding Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the recent massacre in Connecticut. Stories are surfacing that he had some form of personality disorder. If true, then the likelihood is that Lanza may have been on psychiatric medication. Of course, this is just speculation. Lanza, according to his aunt, has since been described as a "quiet, nice kid," 

There is, however, a link to the majority of school shootings and psychiatric medication. The pro-pill brigade refuse to lay blame on the medications, opting instead for the 'illness' that caused these people to become hostile and murderous.

One thing is for sure, the link, however small you may think it is, has to be investigated.

SSRi Stories is a website that has collated many stories over the years. To gauge the link between psychiatric medication and school shootings one can see that there is a problem that needs some serious investigation.

SSRi Stories starts with an incident in 1988 where Laurie Wasserman Dann "walked into a second grade classroom at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Illinois carrying three pistols and began shooting children, killing an eight-year-old boy - Nicholas Corwin - and wounding five others before fleeing. She entered a nearby house where she shot and wounded a 20-year-old man before killing herself. "

Dann was taking the antidepressant Anafranil [clomipramine] for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.