Posted on 08/06/2007 7:18:11 AM PDT by Lennyq
WHO KILLED REBECCA RILEY?
By Fred A. Baughman, Jr., MD, Neurologist, Child Neurologist
Author: The ADHD Fraud—How Psychiatry Makes “Patients” of Normal Children
www.Trafford.com
June 21, 2007
Neurologists, such as myself, diagnose and treat real diseases of the brain. Psychiatrists do not. They only claim to. A disease is a physical abnormality evident macroscopically (lump on the head visible to the naked eye) , microscopically (cancer cells on a ‘Pap’ smear) or by chemical assay (high blood sugar in diabetes). If there is no such objective abnormality, the individual is normal, disease-free. It is fascinating to behold the charges brought by behavioral pediatrician-ADHD authority, Larry Diller in his attack upon child psychiatrist-bipolar disorder authority, Joseph Biederman of Harvard (Bipolar Madness, San Francisco Chronicle, June 18, 2007, p. D-5). Is ADHD any more legitimate than bipolar disorder or any other psychiatric disorder/disease? It is not.
The December 13, 2007 death of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley of Hull, MA, has triggered high nervousness throughout psychiatry, all mental health, and the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Diller tells us Rebecca was diagnosed “bipolar disorder” at 2 ½ years of age and begun on 3 psychiatric drugs--Seroquel, an antipsychotic, among them. Incredibly, Rebecca’s parents have been charged with murder while her brother and sister continue, court-ordered, on these same deadly poisons for these same bogus diagnoses. Diller writes of “bipolar disorder” as “a purported psychiatric illness,” impugning it’s legitimacy. Strangely, Diller neglected to mention that Rebecca was also diagnosed with ADHD—the “disease” he is an authority on. Writing of “bipolar disorder,” Diller asks: “Can or should children that young be diagnosed with a disorder that ostensibly lasts a lifetime?” Dr. Diller, are children with ADHD any less likely to be told that their “disease” will last a lifetime? Hardly! Is ADHD any more real and legitimate a disease than “bipolar,” “Asperger’s,” “conduct,” or “oppositional defiant disorder,” or any other contrivance from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. For an idea of how real Dr. Diller thinks ADHD is see p. 7 of his book Running on Ritalin where he writes: “Before 1990 I needed perhaps one pad of a hundred forms every nine months; by 1997 I realized it was one every three months.” If he did not think ADHD was a real disease would he be writing 400 prescriptions a year for it? For all of Dr. Diller's objections to the “bipolar” diagnosis, Rebecca Riley, at 2 ½ was said by her psychiatrist to have ADHD as well—ADHD that was her first diagnosis! But make no mistake, both ADHD & bipolar disorder are dangerous, deadly diagnoses—dangerous and deadly not because they are real diseases/ physical abnormalities posing real physical risks (there are none) but because of the dangerous, deadly medications invariably prescribed for them and for every contrived, fraudulent psychiatric “disease”/ “disorder”/ “chemical imbalance.”
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution (January 11, 2007) has documented 364 deaths in Georgia’s state mental hospitals in the five years, January, 2002 through mid-December 2006. Two-thirds were said to have died of natural causes, 115 were deemed suspicious. The greatest number of these--36 –died from choking on food, vomit or foreign objects a side effect of antipsychotic/neuroleptic-induced bulbar palsy. Mind you, these are in-patient deaths only, in only one state. Between 1990 and 2000, 186 deaths related to the use of methylphenidate/Ritalin were reported FDA/MedWatch program. The actual numbers of drug-caused deaths can never be known because that is the way the pharmaceutical industry and their friends in government want it. It is estimated that the number of deaths and adverse drug reactions otherwise, voluntarily reported to FDA-MedWatch represents one to ten percent of the actual number. Dr. Diller has confessed to my colleague and friend, Sue Parry that there has never been validation of ADHD as an actual disease. If that is the case, is he any more scientific or moral than Dr. Biederman—prescribing addictive, dangerous, deadly amphetamines to upwards of 400 children per year who he knows to be medically/physically normal. Nor does this set him apart from all the rest in pediatrics, psychiatry, family practice and neurology who are happy to use the APA-DSM diagnostic scheme that allows them to make patients of normal children—children in whom the first and only abnormality is the intoxication/poisoning by their first and each subsequent drugs.
Rebecca Riley died at 4 years of age. Angel Trantham of Sheridan, Arkansas, whose records I have just finished reviewing was 14 when court-ordered into psychiatric care, and fifteen going on 16 when she died, not just a victim of ADHD and bipolar disorder but of the countless psychiatric drugs she ingested and was injected with over the final eight months of her short, tragic life. Like Rebecca, and like all psychiatric patients, Angel had no real disease when at “diagnosis.” Her first and only abnormalities/diseases were the drugs coursing throughout her body and brain. The disease labels in psychiatry are nothing more than a parody-sham to justify the for-profit drugging/poisoning.
Should you, the reader, doubt what I say, you owe it to yourself to read the letter I received from the former President, Bernard S. Alpert, MD of the Medical Board of California, the state agency created to protect Californians when they seek medical care.
On May 28, 2002, I wrote Dr.Alpert, MD, President of the Medical Board of California (MBC): “Every time parents or a patient is lead to believe that their child’s emotional/behavioral problem is a “disease” due to an abnormality within their body or brain, they have been lied to, their informed consent rights wholly violated…”
On June 14, 2002, Dr. Alpert, responded: "As you outline in your letter, there is tremendous professional support for categorizing emotional and psychological conditions as diseases of the brain. In published materials, some quoted in your letter, you will find that support from chairs of psychiatry departments, the American Psychiatric Association and professors of major medical schools. It is clear that the psychiatric community has set their standard, and while one might disagree with it, that standard becomes the legal standard upon which the Board (CMB) must base its actions."
Unbelievably, what Dr. Alpert, speaking for the Medical Board of the State of California, is saying here, is that whatever the majority do, even lie to every patient, knowingly violating their informed consent rights, that that becomes the unassailable, legal “standard of practice. ” And, so it goes with state medical boards across the country—part of the problem, not part of the solution.
It should be abundantly clear by this point that there is no such thing as a psychiatric disorder/disease/chemical imbalance of the brain—that this is a total, one hundred percent lie, meant, knowingly--by design--to make “patients” of normals of all ages then to poison them--for profit. It cannot be called “treatment”—the drug was their first and only abnormality. Unlike the rest of medicine, no psychiatric drug targets a diagnosed abnormality to make it normal or more nearly so. No! it is not just Dr. Biederman or just the child psychiatry department at Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital that is doing this, it is the entire psychiatric profession lead by all of psychiatric academia—the APA and the NIMH. It is the entire medical profession--neurologists, pediatricians, GPs, FPs—it is psychologists and teachers, aided and abetted by the Congress, the White House and every last health care agent and agency of the federal government—all of them bought and paid for by the obscenely wealthy, all-controlling, world-wide pharmaceutical industry. No, Dr. Diller, it is not just Dr. Biederman.
“IOW, if we can’t detect it with our present tests, it doesn’t exist”
Yep, so, wonder if they were saying the same thing before microscopes were invented.
You hit the nail on the head.
“if this author doesn’t believe in biochemical brain diseases, what mechanism does he suggest for the behavior of people who have demonstrable mental illnesses? Bad spirits? Dementors? Karma?”
I got it, I got it!
The cause? Vitamin Deficiencies. Just ask Tom Cruise.
(sarc, of course)
Are you a psycharitist? We wonder, How was your ox gored?
Not if you do your research.
Why do many assume that someone’s assertions are “tainted” without even looking into it below surface level ?
Here, I’ll help you out...
http://www.freedommag.org/english/vol38i/page30.htm
“Interviewer: I’m not a doctor or a neurologist. But I know I will talk to doctors who tell me that, 70 percent of the time, they’re confronted with symptoms, and we don’t find biological markers before diagnosis or prescription.
Baughman:There are a lot of ... busy family practitioners, busy pediatricians, busy general internists, who, under the pressure of time, do make diagnoses and do prescribe, based primarily on history. But when it comes to diagnosing something that’s serious—and if we’re talking something abnormal about a child’s brain or something abnormal about an adult’s brain—that has lifelong consequences. A diagnosis of ADHD, most psychiatrists will tell you, is going to require lifelong psychotropic medication, usually Schedule II control psychostimulants, amphetamines, of which Ritalin is one. That’s an extraordinarily serious diagnosis. ...”
or this:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/medicating/interviews/baughman.html
“Baughman:You’ve got to demonstrate the characteristic confirmatory physical abnormality before you obligate that patient to lifelong treatment. I can suspect diabetes based on the history, but I’ve got to confirm it. I’ve got to know whether the blood sugar is 420 or 800. ... I can’t ever start insulin treatment or any oral anti-diabetic treatment without confirmatory evidence.”
or how about this for being discredited by association:
“Interviewer:But the charge that the psychiatrists and the pharmaceuticals have joined together in a joint common mercenary interest is quite a charge. How can you say that?
Baughman:I’m not the only one saying this. In October 1995, in the DEA background paper on methylphenidate, which is Ritalin, the DEA says that they have been contacted by the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), that had expressed concern about the financial ties of Ciba-Geigy, then the manufacturer of Ritalin, to CHADD. They noted that CHADD had received over $775,000 from Ciba-Geigy, I think up through 1994, and eventually the figure went over $1 million. The INCB charged CHADD with being a vehicle for marketing a controlled substance directly to the public in violation of the Controlled Substances Act of 1971, and international statute by which all countries, all signatories, agreed.
Ciba-Geigy confessed at that point that CHADD was their conduit to the public. CHADD personnel and NIMH personnel were regularly in-house at the Department of Education office of Special Education authoring ADHD materials. I think CHADD made a grant, I believe, of $700,000-some to the Office of Special Education to make a video about ADHD. Then when John Merrow, in his video production in about 1995 ... pointed out the financial ties between the Ritalin manufacturer, Ciba-Geigy and CHADD, I think that money was then given back by the Department of Education, back to CHADD. “
Search is your friend, my friend.
Uh huh. I’ll ask you the same question I’ve asked everyone.
In what study, by anyone, are there specific proofs of “normal” brain chemistry, the proper ratios or levels of whatever chemicals make up a “normal” brain, and then how “diseased” brains such as those diagnosed with schizophrenia, differ from those “normal” brains.
I’ll be waiting for your response.
Not really.
Psychiatry is claiming they have physically defined “normal”. Where is that study ?
I’d seriously consider any “fact” shared by a Xenu-phile.
I would encourage you to do the same. (Or are you a scientologist? If so, that’s great, but disclosure would seem to be in order.)
Outstanding post. Thanks.
I am not a scientologist. I am roman catholic. I have no interest in promoting any religion. I read the doctors book and their is nothing about scientolgy in there. The scientologist’s may have hired him because they agree with his point of view.
Let me try this again.
My point, that being that if Baughman is a scientologist then his opinion is rightfully suspect, is based on what I know of scientology, NOT Dr. Baughman.
He could be a rocket scientist for all I know, and frankly, I don't care what his credentials are. My point remains, regardless if we're talking about an accredited neurologist or Tom Cruise.
IF (I don't know and I don't care to search to find out) the good dr is a scientologist, he loses credibility based on the utter lack of such in a religion that believes that housed in and around each one of us are alien souls that were stashed around volcanos and blown up with hydrogen bombs by some intergalactic ruler named Xenu 75 million years ago, a religion that is rumoured to have been created out of whole cloth based on a bet between a science fiction author and his occultist friend, a religion that by many accounts effectively fleeces its followers out of countless millions each year.
Again, to reiterate, my point is based on what I know of scientology, not Dr. Baughman. If the man has no direct association or membership in the COS, his opinions carry just a bit more weight than otherwise.
You are welcome. I post this in the hopes that I can spread the news of the danger of these drugs. If you can please repost this on other sites.
I have done a great deal of research and writing on this subject, and you are right - the studies and data aren’t there. Periodically reports appear in the MSM that that the genetic basis of ADHD has been identified or that clear physical markers have been found. A little digging, however, reveals that the MSM is exaggerating what the researchers are claiming or that the study was obviously flawed (The Castellanos study and the reporting on it incorporated both of these phenomena).
Unfortunately most people (and I was like that before I started investigating) tend to assume that because of the many well funded “prestigious” voices on the side of ADHD industry that there must at least be some arguable basis for their views. Unfortunately, what is actually happening is a vast, uncontrolled pharmacological experiment - mainly on children - that is driven by careerism, agendas, money, but not much science. Worst of all, no one has any idea what the long term consequences to children are of giving them psychiatric meds.
And you might benefit from reading books, journals, and papers on psychopharmacology or acquiring credentials to attend one of the annual meetings of the Society for Neurosciences. Exploring the serious scholarly literature on these issues would show you that indeed the neural/chemical pathways implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia, major depression, and bipolar disorder are well characterized. And plenty of assays have been done of normal brains. The particular drugs and dosages used to treat these ailments are also widely and successfully used. I don't know who the "numerous people" are whom you've asked about this, but the research does exist. Whether or not you're willing to go to the National Library of Medicine and dig it out is another question.
I'm not disputing that outside influences--a horrible upbringing, abuse, neglect, bad training, severe trauma, etc.--can cause behaviors that are unacceptable. What I'm saying is that whether the origin of the illness was outside of the patient or was internal (like the genetic flaw that predisposes to schizophrenia or depression), the result is a change in brain chemistry which can actually be seen in PET scans.
I'm not in any way disputing what you're saying about this child and the abuse she clearly suffered. I agree that drugs are far too often prescribed for children who just need good parenting. I'm not even addressing this case in particular. I'm just saying that many major mental illnesses, like schizophrenia, can and should be treated with medications as well as therapy.
Then you and I differ immensely.
If you can’t distinguish the message from the messenger, if facts do not stand alone from their delivery mechanism, you close your mind to anything outside your comfort zone and facts become just a belief to you, then that’s called situational relativism and is no way to discover truth of a fact or not.
If the messenger makes you ignore any further information proving the facts, then you are no better than a willing follower for anyone who can convince you by words and not by facts.
You don’t know what this man credentials are or what his research affiliations are; but you are willing to accept blindly someone’s assertions that he’s a Scientologist and dismiss everything he says or writes accordingly.
And no, FWIW, he is not a Scientologist but he has been affiliated with CCHR, http://www.cchr.org/index.cfm/5258, an organization started by Scientology but joined by many non-Scientology types.
What does that association mean ? That they, Baughman and Scientology, share a desire to propagate these truths, and no more.
Why should that invalidate anything he says ?
From the CCHR website:
Mental health can be created, but only through:
* Effective mental healing delivered in a calm atmosphere characterized by tolerance, safety, security and respect for people’s rights
* By restoring individuals to personal strength, ability, competence, confidence, stability, responsibility and spiritual well-being
* Using highly trained, ethical practitioners who are committed primarily to their patient’s and patient family’s well being
This description bears no resemblance to mental treatment under psychiatry today. Psychiatry does not produce mental health, but rather mental ill health and millions of ruined lives.
At CCHR we work to help bring about an environment for mental healing that is based upon human dignity and decency. As a result of our work, millions have avoided the ravages of psychiatric treatment.
Gak, those are really scary beliefs, aren’t they ?
Baughman’s work has been picked up by many other oranizations, as reported here:
http://christianmind.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html
Oh gosh, they are Christians! Does that mean he has no credibility to a Jew ?
Read this link:
http://christianmind.blogspot.com/2006_09_01_archive.html
It’s around, it just needs to get more mainstream.
Exactly. It’s been fraudulent for 40 years and it’s getting worse. Can you say Soma, everyone ?
Most people don’t go to the trouble to look up anything about it; they prefer to believe those raising the alarm are kooks and moonbats. I guess many feel that thinking is too hard. In the history of this world research cannot be any easier, but people still refuse to do it.
It’s only those who have been affected negatively by these things who research enough to see the truth. It has nothing to do with Scientology and everything to do with mental well-being.
Here we go again, another thread infested with idiots.
invasion of the scientologists.....
You mean like this ?
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/553844
And the conclusion ?
Conclusion: Given variable results on dopamine transporter levels in ADHD, the authors postulate that differences in DAT levels are unlikely to be the primary abnormality in ADHD and speculate that lower-than-normal DA release further characterizes individuals with ADHD. However, the finding of a positive correlation between DAT and inattention symptoms support the mechanism of action of stimulant medications.
Gee, I see the word “correlation” here associated with self-reported “inattention” symptoms. I don’t see any references to “normal”, other than those who self-reported as “normal”.
Again, it’s a behavioral diagnosis with researchers trying to find the science. I can’t find a single piece of research that says in essence “if DA levels are such, then a dosage y of drug x is indicated”.
The research you do find for ADHD ?
http://www.playattention.com/attention-deficit/articles/drug-updates-adhd-drug-methylphenidate-linked-to-chromosomal-changes/
“It was pretty surprising that all of the children taking methylphenidate showed an increase in chromosome abnormalities in a relatively short period of time,” El-Zein said.
Research for epilepsy ?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12651078&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus
This is great reporting on the potential conflicts of interest, but there isn’t a single word in the article explaining that epilepsy drugs are ones for which there is a narrow “therapeutic window” between the level needed for efficacy and the level that causes debilitating side effects. Epilepsy drugs are among the few drugs for which doctors test blood levels and titrate doses carefully. Furthermore, some epilepsy drugs such as phenytoin have zero-order kinetics, meaning that the body gets rid of the drug at a constant rate that is independent of the level of the drug in the body, making it very hard to maintain a therapeutic drug level. For these reasons it matters a lot whether the patient gets a particular dose of the drug, and 10% variations that are negligible with other drugs can be hugely important in treatment of epilepsy.
I ask again - show me a specific study that identifies “normal” in terms of specific ratios and levels of brain chemicals. What we see in the literature is unspecified “lower” or “higher” this or that, but there is no definitive science.
Welcome ... so nice of you to bring your idiocies with you.
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