Preface

The Case Against Psychiatry began as notes I wrote after attending the annual Mood Disorders Symposium at Johns Hopkins University in 1988. During the following days, months, and years I repeatedly re-read those notes, added ideas as they occurred to me, and read many books and articles about psychiatry.  In the process I attended the Mood Disorders Symposiums at Johns Hopkins in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, as well as other programs.  Over time my notes became a large unpublished manuscript.  In the 1990s I published excerpts from that manuscript as pamphlets using the pseudonym or pen name Lawrence Stevens.  This book is updated and expanded versions of those pamphlets and four additional essays: The Myth of Psychiatric Diagnosis, Why the Myth of Mental Illness Lives On, Why Psychiatry is Evil, and The Future of Anti-Psychiatry Activism.
      In these essays I have assembled the most credible witnesses against psychiatry I could find.  I am therefore as much an editor as an author.  In every case where I can remember the source of facts or an idea I have given the writer or speaker credit.  This approach enabled me to write a more convincing and compelling case against psychiatry than would have been possible by simply stating my personal opinions.
      In recommended reading or videos at the end of some essays I have listed books, articles, and videos, all of which I have read or watched in their entirety, on the subject of the essay, and web sites I recommend, for readers who wish to learn more.

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"[M]odern psychiatry has no rational or scientific basis." - Dr. Niall ("Jock") McLaren, an Australian psychiatrist, in his YouTube.com video, "DSM-5: Critical Review - Part 1" 2011) at 0:22

"I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." -Thomas Jefferson, September 23, 1800

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Contents

Does Mental Illness Exist?

Schizophrenia: A Nonexistent Disease

The Myth of Biological Depression

The Myth of Psychiatric Diagnosis

Why the Myth of Mental Illness Lives On

Psychiatric Drugs: Cure or Quackery? (HTML)
Psychiatric Drugs: Cure or Quackery? (PDF booklet)

Psychiatry’s Electroconvulsive Shock Treatment:
A Crime Against Humanity

The Brain Butchery Called Psychosurgery

The Case Against Psychotherapy

Unjustified Psychiatric Commitment in the U.S.A.

Is Involuntary Commitment for “Mental Illness” or “Dangerousness” a Violation of Substantive Due Process?

Why Psychiatry Should Be Abolished as a Medical Specialty(HTML)
Why Psychiatry Should Be Abolished as a Medical Specialty(PDF)

Suicide: A Civil Right

Psychiatric Stigma Follows You Wherever You Go
for the Rest of Your Life

Why Psychiatry is Evil

The Future of Anti-Psychiatry Activism


copyright 2020
Permission to reproduce is granted
provided the reproduction is accurate
and proper credit is given

The author is a volunteer (pro bono) attorney for the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (psychrights.org) and may be reached at wayneramsay (at) mail (dot) com

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