LAW PROJECT FOR PSYCHIATRIC
RIGHTS, INC.
(PsychRights)
(907)
274-7686 Phone ~ (907) 274-9493 Fax
Richard Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S. The
Surgeon General
Office of the
Re: What Would you Testify Under Oath if
Subpoenaed To Do So?/Are Mental Illnesses Biologically-Based
Brain Diseases
Dear
Dr. Carmona:
I
am writing to request a response to the Pasadena Hunger Strikers' July 28,
2003, call for you to provide valid scientific evidence establishing "mental
illnesses are biologically-based brain diseases."[1] As you know, the claim that mental illnesses are
biologic brain diseases underpins the virtually exclusive reliance on
psychotropic medications in the treatment of people diagnosed with mental
illness. This claim also underlies the
forced medication of tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people
each year through court orders and, many times that, through other coercive
means.[2]
If
you were required to answer under oath, what would you say?
Both
NAMI and the APA have responded[3],
but the Hunger Strikers are now into Day 20 of their Fast for Freedom in Mental
Health and have yet to hear from you. NAMI did not respond substantively, but the
APA did, citing to a report issued by your predecessor:
The
answers to your questions are widely available in the scientific literature,
and have been for years. I suggest you begin your review with Surgeon General
David Satcher's report, "Mental Health: A Report
of the Surgeon General."
However,
a panel of impeccably credentialed professionals appointed to review the APA's response found the following with respect to your
predecessor's report:
Mental
Health: A Report of the Surgeon General (1999) is explicit about the absence of
any findings of specific pathophysiology:
p. 44: "The diagnosis of mental disorders
is often believed to be more difficult than diagnosis of somatic,
or general medical, disorders, since there is no definitive lesion, laboratory
test, or abnormality in brain tissue that can identify the illness."
p. 48: "It is not always easy to
establish a threshold for a mental disorder, particularly in light of how
common symptoms of mental distress are and the lack of objective, physical
symptoms."
p. 49: "The precise causes (etiology) of
mental disorders are not known." (emphasis
added).
p. 51: "All too frequently a biological
change in the brain (a lesion) is purported to be the ‘cause’ of a mental
disorder … [but] The fact is that any simple association – or correlation –
cannot and does not, by itself, mean causation."
p. 102: "Few lesions or physiologic
abnormalities define the mental disorders, and for the most part their causes
remain unknown."[4]
Twenty
days ago, the Freedom Fasters began their hunger strike in an attempt to get
you, the American Psychiatric Association and NAMI to acknowledge the simple
truths to fair, reasonable and legitimate questions. Both the APA and NAMI as much as admitted
they had no evidence supporting their public pronouncements. Now it is up to you to respond to the Freedom
Fasters. What would your response be
under oath? Isn't it your responsibility
as the Surgeon General of the
Sincerely
James
B. Gottstein, Esq.
VP-Operations/Chief
Operating Officer
cc: e-mail: rcarmona@osophs.dhhs.gov
fax: (301) 443-8590
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Coalition International