We need a model of mental illness that attends to the biological, to the psychological, and to the social. We need leaders who address the current unmet needs of patients- who are not so enchanted with utopian grand designs for the distant future that they lose interest in the urgent problems of the present.
DSM 5, the NIMH, and the BPS (British Psychiatric Society) have all gone far wrong and all for the very same reason- each has prematurely promised a grandiose paradigm shift when none is remotely possible. Paradigm shifts emerge from new scientific findings- not from bloviating statements, however well intended.
Patients and practitioners are the collateral damage of this ridiculous controversy. Patients who need help may well lose faith in a mental health establishment that seems so confused and is so confusing. Practitioners are generally humble and competent and deserve leaderships that are not so arrogant and bumbling.
It is past time to have just one thing in mind in preparing diagnostic manuals or statements about mental illness that will be widely disseminated. Will this help or hurt our patients’ access to quality care?
So my plea to the American Psychiatric Association, to the National Institute Of Mental Health, and to the British Psychological Society -spare us your empty promises of premature paradigm shifts and instead help us take better care of our patients.
Natural approaches such and Qsciences and Q96 have more positive clinical science for brain/mood disorders than Pfizer and Lilly combined. 14 years of success buried under Prozac dollars is a pathetic reality of our drug culture. www.qsciencesinfo.com for a wake-up call and www.fixyourmood.com to remedy the situation. Email williamsickert@sbcglobal.com for the free report and clinical synopsis. The aforementioned paragraphs must stop; A hard pill to swallow?
Bill Sickert 