March 19, 2010
Wortis, J., and Stone, A. The addiction to drug companies. Biol. Psychiatry 32:847-849, 1992:
“The overall influence of the industry is to emphasize drug treatment at the expense of other modalities: psychotherapy, social approaches, nutritional, herbal, and natural remedies, rehabilitation, general hygienic measures, non-patentable drugs, or other alternative approaches. It focuses attention on disorders that are treatable by drugs, and may promote over diagnosis. It reinforces the practice of dealing with disease by treatment of symptoms, and diverts interest from prevention.”
Fred Baughman, MD:
Wortis, et al, leave several points to be clarified. Talking of "industry" they should make clear that they speak of the pharmaceutical industry of which psychiatry is an arm--in no way independent.
Saying industry focuses 'attention on disorders,' it must be acknowledged that a 'disorder' is '“a disturbance of function, structure, or both,” the equivalent of an objective abnormality/disease,' and that there are no physical abnormalities/disorders/diseases in all of psychiatry. Diseases are the province of all medical specialties other than psychiatry. That psychiatrists go to medical school and get an MD degree is an anomaly for once they enter psychiatric training they cease to practice medicine.
That psychiatry treats symptoms only is a function of the fact that they never diagnose physical abnormalities/disorders/diseases or with their objective 'signs. By process of elimination all that psychiatry has to deal with are the subjective symptoms of emotional and behavioral problems of everyday life.
The absolute fraud of psychiatry is that they claim the diagnostic entities they invent in the DSM Committee are abnormalities/disorders/diseases when none of them are—not one. This makes a lie of their entire peer-reviewed literature—that with all diagnosis and treatment based on the claim they diagnose and treat diseases.