<blockquote>
okiedokie: ... mental illness is a result of disease.
I have a friend who often reminds me, how do you know what you think you know?
Meantime, in another cyber galaxy not so long ago...
The
work of Jonathon Leo illustrates the problem with the genetic theory of schizophrenia. I wanted to highlight this statement...
<center>5 cases of chronic schizophrenia out of a group of 173 individuals (<font color=red>2.9%</font>)
is not much higher then the general population rate of 1%.</center>
and contrast it with this one...
<center>The cornerstone of Read's tectonic plate-shifting evidence is the 40 studies that reveal childhood or adulthood sexual or physical abuse in the history of the majority of psychiatric patients. A review of 13 studies of schizophrenics found rates varying from <font color=red>51%</font> at the lowest to <font color=red>97%</font> at the highest.</center>
I said then:
What I'm wondering is why do we hear so much about schizophrenia and the genetic link and so little about schizophrenia and the traumatic link?
<hr width=100% size=2>
<blockquote>[*]
Psychiatrists who say that so-called schizophrenia is a brain disease like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis, are distorting medical facts. They are making the so-called "schizophrenic" condition seem much worse than it is. What these psychiatrists do not tell the public is that while neurologists can determine with laboratory testing who has Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and multiple sclerosis, no neurologist can determine with laboratory tests who has schizophrenia and who does not. No one dies from schizophrenia, even when untreated, and people diagnosed with "schizophrenia" can recover on their own without treatment -- something no person with Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or multiple sclerosis has ever done.
Dr. Al Siebert</blockquote>
<hr width=100% size=2>
Not long ago I had a brief discussion with a psychiatrist who told me (and numerous others) that John Nash's recovery from schizophrenia was dependant upon his treatment with anti-psychotic medication. What she didn't know -- perhaps because her belief systems limited her perspective to the extent that she saw no cause for investigation -- was that John Nash stopped taking neuroleptic medication in 1970.
Reference: A Beautiful Mind
See also: Medical students are taught it's all in the genes, but are they hearing the full story?</blockquote>