LAW PROJECT FOR PSYCHIATRIC
RIGHTS, INC.
(PsychRights)
(907) 274-7686 Phone ~
(907) 274-9493 Fax
CONTACT:
Jim Gottstein
907 274-7686
PsychRights Joins
Scientific Panel's Call For Investigation of
Psychiatric Organization's Mass Deception
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Yesterday a panel of eminent scientists called on Congress to investigate
the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and its powerful allies, the
pharmaceutical industry, regarding the continuing practice of improper
"diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders" based on financial
incentives rather than the best interest of the patients.
These scientists, which include the former Chief
of Schizophrenia Research at the National Institute of Mental Health, other
psychiatrists and psychologists, concluded that the APA continues to advocate
use of ineffective drugs to treat serious mental illness when the larger body
of scientific knowledge proves there is no evidence to support such
treatment. Due to the large amount of
money contributed to the APA and its members by the pharmaceutical industry,
however, the APA has refused to change its outdated practices. See,
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mindfreedom/hungerstrike1.shtml#final.
The Scientific Panel ended by charging the APA with being the handmaiden
of the pharmaceutical industry:
In sum, the APA's
statements reflect less the "pace of science" than the pace of commerce:
they blur with the pharmaceutical advertising themes saturating our media. This
is because the APA is not an independent organization. One third of its
operating budget comes from the drug industry. Drug companies dominate its
professional meetings to advertise drugs. In addition, the drug industry funds,
directs, and analyzes many drug studies (Healy, 2003), and psychiatric journals
publish so-called scientific reports of these drug studies that are
ghost-written by industry employees or marketing firms. Psychiatric drug
experts with no significant ties to industry can hardly be found. Industry
largesse binds many psychiatric practitioners to the industry (Editorial,
2002).
Jim Gottstein, VP/COO of the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights
(PsychRights) said, "this is a classic example of
medical professionals allowing the promise of easy money to interfere with good
medical practices." Mr. Gottstein
continued by saying, "If the media investigated the APA and its financial
ties to the pharmaceutical industry there is no question but that it would find
the best interests of patients taking a back seat to greed."
Don Roberts, the President of PsychRights, added "The tragedy of all
of this is that current psychiatric treatments are making people worse, not
better. The Law Project for Psychiatric
Rights joins in the Scientific Panel's call for an investigation into this
dishonesty."
The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights is a non-profit, public interest
law firm dedicating to attacking unwarranted court ordered psychiatric drugging
by exposing the faulty science that underlies the practice. See,
http://psychrights.org/. # # #