Neurologists are trained to deal with the structural issues of the nervous system - things like tremour and paralysis, spinal cord injuries, that sort of thing. Psychiatrists are the only MDs trained in which medications affect behavioral and mental illnesses. There is a push for and a great need for a different class of doctors - neuropsychologists - who address and treat the problems of both and how they interact. The main driving factor for more neuropsychologists in the increase in autism diagnoses. Autism is another affliction where it's hard to separate the physical malfunctions in the brain from the behavioral fallout.

I think it's hard to get med students to go for double-specializations though, and that is essentially what is needed to be a neuropsychologist.

I would be a lot happier if my bipolar and autistic husband and my autistic sons were being evaluated and treated by someone with both trainings. In the meantime, we wind up being ping-ponged between specialists who don't always have a full understanding of what's going on.

Psychiatry is not a sham, but I hope the clinical research being done expands what training is required so people are diagnosed more quickly and properly and receive appropriate and less harmful treatments sooner. My husband was misdiagnosed for almost 30 years. My sons' diagnoses were changed, too. It does get frustrating.....

Hugs....

Thanks cliff.

I called a neuropsychologist and they didn't even treat bipolar disorder.

What an extraordinary article.

I see this guy is an Australian psychiatrist, working in Australia, not sure why they appropriated the title of the 2002 book "Mad in Amarica"

Sensational articles are what they are, sensational. There are plenty of other articles that point out some of his basic premises are wrong.

It seems his main beef is with ECT which he feels should be given to no one because it doesn't work. (it's in one of his other articles) Hmmm..I think a few members here would disagree.

His other beef is that psychiatrists shouldn't say "drugs are “only ever” prescribed after a friendly discussion between the caring doc and the grateful patient" He says people are not told any of the side effects or issues that can be caused by the medications. That's true. My experience is that doctors generally don't, whether it be treatment for blood pressure, GERD or whatever, lack of time or whatever - I guess they expect you to read the leaflet.

He talks about people being thrown to the floor etc and given drugs. Well again that's true. For a minority. But did you know there are some doctors who will pump you full of drugs, slam you on a table and cut your leg off without asking you? Yeah, they are surgeons and they've just saved your life after you were cut out of a car smash.

Another thing he says is that psychiatrists claim that mental illness is down to a chemical imbalence in the brain. Well all of the personality disorders are thought to be down to childhood experiences which leads to inappropriate learning and emotional responses. So that's a huge area that they don't think is down to a chemical imbalence. I think the view on Autism is that it is structural. So again another huge section of mental illness.


But it's hard to tell what he means because this looks like a set of rants against various psychiatrists, slights over having papers rejected or edited, etc.

But people will make up their own minds.

If your own experience is that you work in partnership with your psychiatrist, that treating bipolar with medications has made your life better then I suspect anything saying psychiatry is a sham and it doesn't work won't change their positive view. Equally others with different views won't change their minds by reading my response.

Is psychiatry perfect? Far from it. But then I can't think of many medical fields that are. That needs to be adressed but to throw the whole thing away seems a bit extreme

Good points, fish. I thought it read as if it was pretty biased myself, but still. Definitely food for thought.

The biggest issues for me re conventional psychiatry are;

1. Off label use (tends to start in the US and sometimes spreads)
2. Lack of patient awareness of long term issues with the newer atypical anti-psychotics causing diabetes and massive weight gain
3. That benzos are still being prescribed long term despite evidence re lack of effectiveness and cognitive impairment after long term use. (US issue).
4. Diagnosis of infants and children, for example an 18 month old with bipolar on the basis of "ianappropriate genital touching" and treating with things like abilify (US only)

Alot of helpful meds start out as off label in my opinion, fish. Rexulti for bipolar is off label and I like it better than I have anything else I've tried.

Kitty, true and in many cases that is valid, but Gabapentin is being used off label for bipolar and evidence shows it doesn't do anything. Also I wonder if the use of the newer anti-psychotics for Bipolar 2 and unipolar depression might be overkill. Life savers for BP1 - maybe overall more harmful to those who aren't subject to psychosis?

@ Seamus - would you like to talk about your personal experience of bipolar? What treatment you use to control your bipolar - assuming you are bipolar?

You forgot they should discuss with their doctor before taking alterative treatments on top of their meds to ensure there are no interactions, like people that take anti-depressants and St John's Wort.

I probably wouldn't trust individual case stories on the internet because;

1. Generally you only find positives - people generally don't write to say I tried this and it did nothing.
2. Remember that suppliments / herbal remedies is a multi-billion pound industry - more than enough to cause people to create shill sites.
3. Individual case studies aren't scientific - we all know the placebo effect is very real so chances if people believe it will work for them then to a degree it will.

We also need to remember Seamus that bipolar is episodic. You in theory quit meds, go onto some alternative treatment and be fine for 6 months, maybe more. And then it all goes horribly wrong.

Here we go again....

When Pdocs use the term "chemical imbalance in the brain" they mean it differently than most people picture it.

Emotions are controlled by the levels of different chemicals in your brain, such as Serotonin, Dopamine, Glutamate, Norepinephrine and Cortisol. At any given moment, dozens of chemical messengers, or neurotransmitters, are active. Some of these neurotransmitters go between individual cells, while others are broadcast to entire brain regions.

Some of these neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine, are also hormones or have some effect in releasing hormones in the body. Adrenaline, cortisol, melatonin, and other hormones can affect your mood or even influence the health of your brain.

Imbalances in neurotransmitters are present in many conditions, including schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and Parkinson’s disease. Some medications target these receptors to allow your body to receive more or less of certain chemicals, while some drugs act similar to these chemicals to invoke similar responses in your body.

So Pdocs use medications to regulate what your body has stopped doing naturally, because when that happens it causes an illness or disease or disorder. Psychiatrists study and treat Emotional Diseases and Disorders, Neurologists study and treat Medical/physical Diseases and Disorders. There are some who do both. My last 2 Pdocs have been Double Board Certified in Psychiatry and Neurology because I have concurrent Mental Illness and Neurological Illness.

ECT is not a 3rd world torture treatment. Its not some evil treatment that was thought up in some basement in the 1930's and has never been changed and leaves people a drooling idiot.

ECT is used as a last point Therapy for severely depressed and suicidal people. It is a very serious step to take....but when you have no will to live, when you don't even care to take a breath when your eyes open in the morning, it is the only thing left. I know this because I have done 3 cycles of ECT. For 3 months, every Mon, Wed, and Fri. I did ECT. It didn't kill me, it didn't wipe out the 11 years I spent in University or all of the knowledge I gained in those three Degree programs. I didn't forget I had children. What it did do was save my life.

ECT gave me the will and want to live again. I've not had a Suicidal situation in 8 years since I finished ECT in 2010. Prior to that I'd had 5 Inpatient Psych stays for 5 Suicide attempts over a 15 yr. period. No, ECT is not something you should run to if you've not tried everything else. But if you've been BiPolar for 29 years like I have, and used virtually every med available and done every Therapy that exists, it was my saving grace. And it didn't hurt, I wasn't in pain, I was put under general anesthesia and never remembered any of it. The actual Grand Mal Seizures I have from my Seizure Disorder are worse than ECT was.

You know anyone can write an article about what they think of Dr.'s or Pdocs or any profession. It can be as completely ridiculous as they want it to be. The fact is BiPolar Disorder is a Mental Illness, one of the worst and there is complete medical fact and proof that be treated by a Psychiatrist for medication and seeing a Therapist for talk Therapy along with other forms of Therapy is the proper treatment. Its that simple.

People can write what they want....if someone is silly enough to read it and risk their health over an opinion, well that's on them, and I hope they don't tank their progress when they figure out how wrong they were.

Seamus, you have a lot of opinions about BiPolar and how it should be treated or not. Yet you refuse to answer anyone when they ask you if you are actually BiPolar, so what's the deal, because the game is getting old.

Are you BiPolar or not?

@Jeane

You are praising...

“unbiased and subjective thinking...that is refreshing.”

Awesome. But unbiased and subjective are antonyms...just saying...but I digress. Sigh. Sure do wish I could come on here and depend on people who are so opinionated, to actually have a bipolar diagnosis, on the Bipolar board.

I don't want to get off topic here. The article posted was indeed interesting if not a frightening take on what psychiatry actually is, but I would like to have clarification on something. Is this site NOT for those with bipolar disorder? I didn't expect to have to sift through responses and determine who is a fellow sufferer and who isn't. Being a student or clinician or a family member of a bd person is not the same as having a discourse with people who share an actual diagnosis. We've got some pretty strong opinions from some folks who might not even have bd on here, and I'm not sure if that is helpful. At least for me. It's like being an addict and talking to a drug counselor who has never been a user or addict. There is a disconnect. Credibility comes with experience in our little sphere of the universe, and I don't understand why someone who DOESN'T have bd wants to come on here and give their opinions about meds, or alternative treatments - whatever. It comes off as judgmental, and that is the one thing I want to explicitly avoid on here. @OlderCPer I thought your response was very eloquent and important. Thank you for posting.

Your welcome Nemo15.

Over the past couple weeks we seem to have an influx of folks who don't actually have BP....and many of us share your sentiment that this is not the place for them to be, nor do we care for their comments and ridiculous speeches when they don't walk the walk we do.

I guess its just not been clearly decided how to deal with it.

Take care,
Kat

Jeane,

You come here to the BiPolar Support Board, having never been to a Pscyhiatrist in your 73 years of life. You post opinions about what it's like to be BiPolar when you're not BiPolar. You talk about treatments, that you have no knowledge about.

You don't know what it's like to be BiPolar, sorry you can't, you don't know what it's like to walk in our shoes each day, to go through the struggles we do, to face the fears and adversity that we do every day of our life. You don't know how bouncing between Poles can make you just want to be dead, just so it will stop. You've not spent time in Psych Wards or changed medications so many times, trying to find the right perfect cocktail that will give you the stability you crave so badly. You've not had to get used to Therapist after Therapist....In 29 years of BiPolar I've had 17 Pdocs and over 25 Therapists. It's hell finding the right Pdocs/Tdocs that work with you well.

Yet you act like you have this right to be here and pass out advice on treatment and managing a BiPolar life and have all your opinions. And seem confused why that irritates people.....

There is a Board for "Friends and Family of BiPolar Patients" and that's generally where people like you would go to post. Because when you post all your stuff here, acting like you know what a BiPolar person lives like.....it tends to be offensive to those of us who actually DO live a BiPolar life, why you don't understand that is a bit baffling.

i came here in 2010, misdiagnosed, but made so many amazing and wonderful friends that i stuck around.

this really, really sucks. i feel unwelcomed, which i have never once felt in 8 years.

later DS BP. it's been real.