The Brain-Disabling Principle

The brain-disabling principle states that as soon as toxicity is reached, the drug begins to have a psychoactive effect that is, it begins to affect the brain and mind. Without toxicity, the drug would have no psychoactive effect. 

On occasion, research studies directly confirm the brain-disabling principle, but without intending to do so and without acknowledging it. In some ways, this is the most objective kind of research in that the researchers are unaware of the principle that they are testing. The following three studies involve the second-generation or atypical neuroleptic risperidone (Risperdal), which is widely prescribed to children and adults. 

Studies such as these three involving risperidone completely confirm the brain-disabling principles of psychiatric treatment. There should no longer be any scientific doubt about the correctness of the brain-disabling... 

In the previous edition of this book, this subtitle was one of the brain-disabling principles, but I have removed it from the principles because, even if some future psychiatric disorder proves to have a genetic or biological basis, the current treatments in use will nonetheless remain toxic and cause brain disability. 

The deactivation effect is the essence of what is euphemistically called the antipsychotic effect. Consistent with the brain-disabling principles of psychiatric treatment, this lobotomy-like impact is the sought after, primary, and supposedly therapeutic effect. Any specific antipsychotic effect is very speculative compared to the obvious and almost unvarying lobotomy-like deactivation effect. 

In 1983, in Psychiatric Drugs Hazards to the Brain, I devoted considerable time to confirming the brain-disabling principle of neuroleptic treatment by pointing to its effects on a variety of diverse populations. I also discussed other confirmatory sources in the literature. The material in... 

In summary, consistent with the brain-disabling principles of biopsychiatric treatment presented in chapter 1, the neuroleptic or antipsychotic drugs produce a lobotomy-like deactivation syndrome characterized by emotional indifference or apathy, reduced spontaneity, and docility. This is the primary or therapeutic impact of all neuroleptic drugs including Haldol, Risperdal, Zyprexa, Geodon, and Seroquel. 

Van Putten and May (1978) found that 47% of their patients developed akinesia and that most of these became depressed. Confirming the brain-disabling principle, as these patients became depressed, they were rated as improved in their schizophrenia, probably because they became relatively inactive, retarded, withdrawn, and even mute. 

Khorram et al. (2006) found that conventional antipsychotics caused a dose-dependent increase in the volume of the thalamus compared to normal volunteers. The thalamic volumes returned to normal when the patients were switched from the older antipsychotic drugs to olanzapine. However, the doses of olanzapine are not provided. The authors conclude, Antipsychotic medication could contribute to the wide range of thalamic volumes reported in schizophrenia (p. 2007). In other words, the drugs and not the disorder are causing the brain structure abnormalities. This, of course, confirms the brain-disabling principles of neuroleptic effects. 

That one of the author s children thought he was improved by deactivation confirms the brain-disabling principles. At least from this child s viewpoint, it was a relief to have her father become subdued and withdrawn. 

Confirming the brain-disabling principle, lithium has the same subduing effects on psychiatric patients as on normal volunteers. Speaking of individuals successfully treated with lithium, Dyson and Mendelson (1968) observed the following ... 

This excerpt illustrates the brain-disabling principle that the evaluation of treatment success depends upon the observer s attitude toward the drug-induced mental disability. In these instances, the spouses are described as missing their partners vitality and sexuality. On the other hand, the doctors label these valued attributes hypomanic in order to justify the brain-disabling effect of their treatments. 

Clonidine, an antihypertensive drug, also has been used in the treatment of mania. Sudden withdrawal can produce a rebound hypertensive crisis. Consistent with the brain-disabling principles, it can produce a variety of psychiatric symptoms, including sedation, vivid dreams or nightmares, insomnia, restlessness, anxiety, and depression. More rarely, it can cause hallucinations. Unfortunately, this drug is too commonly used as a so-called mood stabilizer in children. When mistakenly prescribed with stimulants, it causes an elevated risk of cardiac arrhythmia and cardiac arrest in children. 

At the June 1985 Consensus Conference on ECT, critics and advocates of ECT debated the issue of efficacy. The advocates were unable to come forth with a single study showing that ECT had a positive effect beyond 4 weeks. Many studies showed no effect, and in the positive studies, the improvements were not dramatic. That the treatment had no positive effect after 4 weeks confirmed the brain-disabling principle since 4 weeks is the approximate time for recovery from the most mind-numbing effects of the ECT-induced acute organic brain syndrome or delirium. 

The 1990 APA task force report noted that low-dose unilateral ECT is often less effective than forms of ECT that deliver more electrical energy. This observation tends to confirm the brain-disabling principle that so-called therapeutic efficacy is a function of the degree of treatment-induced damage. 

Getting hung up is a manifestation of stimulant-induced compulsive behavior that includes overfocusing and stereotypical or repetitive behavior. Consistent with the brain-disabling principles, Kramer et al. (1970) identified these abnormal compulsive behavioral reactions as the sought-after effect in children and adults ... 

Table 11.5 provides descriptions of stimulant adverse reactions from the clinical and research literature that are consistent with the brain-disabling principle. A broad array of stimulant side effects in fact provides the primary effects of the drug. 

Stimulant-induced reduced metabolic rate and reduced blood flow in the brain make a mockery of the concept that the medications are treating a disorder of the brain. Consistent with the brain-disabling principles of biopsychiatric treatment, the stimulants cause gross malfunctions in the brain that are then mistaken for improvement. 

Not only do the stimulants damage and disable the brain, but scientific research has also demonstrated how these physical disabilities are manifested in behavior changes. The stimulants impair behavior by crushing spontaneity and inducing compulsive behaviors. The less spontaneous, more compulsive children are seen as improved when in fact they are biologically and mentally impaired. The effect of the stimulants provides a clear-cut illustration of the brain-disabling principles described in chapter 1. 

FRONTIER RESEARCH IN ANESTHESIOLOGY CONFIRMS THE BRAIN-DISABLING PRINCIPLE... 

What is needed To begin with, mental health professionals, physicians, and the public must become more skeptical, perhaps even cynical, and certainly more sophisticated about what psychiatric drugs and electroshock really do to the brain, mind, and person. Awareness of medication spellbinding and the brain-disabling principles of psychiatric treatment is key to this understanding. Psychiatric drugs do not cure mental disorders. Instead, their primary or essential effect is to cause brain dysfunction and compromise mental and emotional acuity. 

This book is aimed at professional audiences, but it is hoped that it is written with sufficient clarity and explanation to be read by nonprofessionals. The current edition has been very thoroughly revised, but the basic scientific thrust remains essentially the same. The past several years have confirmed the brain-disabling principle of psychiatric treatment, and many of the author s seemingly controversial conclusions have become more widely accepted. 

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