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| Patrick McGorry |
This will take some explaining...but I shall be brief.
Back in January 2008, a paper appeared in the General Archives of Psychiatry [
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2008;65(1):25-27]
The paper, entitled,
"Back to the Future - Predicting and Reshaping the Course of Psychotic Disorder" was written by Patrick D. McGorry, Alison R. Yung, Andreas Bechdolf and Paul Amminger.
The authors write:
Similarly, in psychotic disorders an early prepsychotic stage is known to exist, one in which much of the collateral psychosocial damage is known to occur.
This earliest stage could, in retrospect, be termed the prodrome—the precursor of the psychotic stage. It is a case of "back to the future" because we can only apply the term prodrome with certainty if the definitive psychotic stage does indeed develop.
It's unnerving to see a paper written by a bunch of psychiatrists who base a theory they have on a Hollywood movie script, a science fiction one at that!
Come forward in time to the present day and we can see that McGorry's Hollywood style theory has been accepted by the Australian government, in fact they have thrown over $2 billion dollars into the project.
So, at some point between 2008 and the present day, I think it safe to say that McGorry must have been space-hopping in his time-travelling Delorean and can now show the world how a definitive psychotic stage does indeed develop. Nope, no evidence of that.
In layman's terms, a prodome is an early symptom/s that might indicate the start of a disease before specific symptoms occur. Some examples might be when you or I wake in the morning with a slight runny nose and just a minor headache, that could be deemed as the onset of the flu or, at the very least, a cold. An upset stomach may also indicate the onset of diarrhea, a body alarm that tells us not to bother wearing the white trousers or dress to work.
We can create our own mini-prodomes in easy scientific experiments. Sniff some ground pepper and you'll more than likely sneeze, we can nip this in the bud by...well, by not sniffing the pepper in the first place. We could fill a glass full of Pepsi and drink it straight down - chances are we may belch. Again we can intervene this by not drinking the Pepsi in the first place.
Simple experiments with simple solutions.
McGorry's early intervention program for spotting the prodome of "mental diseases" is somewhat different though. There are no physical tasks to undertake that will provide an outcome. We know we will belch if we drink a pint of Pepsi straight down, same way we know what the outcome will be if we sniff a pinch of ground pepper. If we touch a naked flame we know we will get burned.
McGorry has convinced the Australian government to part with $2 billion by predicting if a child will develop a mental disorder. No physical test [drinking Pepsi or sniffing pepper] has shown this. We are expected to believe that it will happen because, well, because Paddy McGorry says so.
McGorry et al own words;
"...we can only apply the term prodrome with certainty if the definitive psychotic stage does indeed develop." show us an admittance that his early intervention program is either based on guesswork or, since it was written, McGorry has concrete proof, for example, that a 3 year old will develop a mental disorder when he is 11.
We know not to touch a naked flame if we don't want to get burned, we know not to sniff pepper if we don't want to sneeze, we know not to drink a pint of Pepsi if we don't want to belch. That is our own brain telling us the possible outcome of the said events. [
Apologies for repeating this point but I think the Aussie government are in danger of falling into a delusional trap]
McGorry, on the other hand, has sold his theory to the Australian government, a theory that is no doubt welcomed with open arms by the pharmaceutical industry. To prevent hay fever we can take a pill... or so they say. There's even pills to prevent the onset of gout and a vast array of other illnesses, these are normally given to patients who have periodically suffered, they are, in essence, preventative measures to help the patient because of his/her history with that particular disease.
McGorry claims he can also intervene but his 'science' will treat patients who have no prior history, instead they have a future of developing some mental disorder. It would appear that McGorry has the ability to travel into the future then come back to the present day and prevent an event from occurring. The likely prevention will be in the shape of a pharmaceutical pill, a pill that corrects a possible chemical imbalance that not even the pharmaceutical industry can prove exists, again it's based on theory.
One thing that isn't based on theory is the side-effects that these drugs can cause. Addiction, aggression, homicidal and suicidal thoughts, akathesia... the list goes on. The arguments of the pharmaceutical industry and those that grant licences to these drugs [medicine regulators] is that the benefits of ingesting these products outweigh the risks.
To recap:
A child will, in later years, develop a mental disorder caused by a chemical imbalance that cannot even be proven in the present day. This can be intervened with antidepressant/antipsychotic drugs, drugs that have shown throughout time can cause pretty horrific side-effects. Clinical trials have shown that healthy subjects have had suicidal thoughts during the testing of these drugs.
Based on all of the above, the Australian government are fully supporting the possibility of something that may or may not occur. Presently they do not offer support to those who have suffered as a result of taking these types of medications - even though there is physical proof of the damage.
One has to ask why.
Maybe the declaration of interests in McGorry and Co's 2008 published study can throw some light on
why?
Drs McGorry, Yung, and Amminger have received financial support from Janssen Cilag Pty Ltd provided through unrestricted investigator-initiated research grants for prodromal clinical trials. Dr McGorry has also received grant support and consultancy fees from a range of other pharmaceutical companies for research and other ventures unrelated to the content of this article.
Prosecution rests M'Lud.
Fid
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'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
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