Lately, it seems that not a day passes without the media proclaiming yet another sensational breakthrough in the search for the physical origins of mental illness. But beyond all the fanfare and media hype, is there a single shred of hard, empirical evidence to substantiate the existence of "a gene for alcoholism," or "the brain chemistry behind schizophrenia"? More to the point, in fact, is it scientifically sound to limit the search for the roots of mental illness to processes occurring within the body, while dismissing socioeconomic, familial, and experiential influences as, at best, mere "triggering mechanisms"? And, if not, what harm is being done by psychiatry's current obsession with these somatic chimeras? This groundbreaking book offers answers to those questions and more. While Dr. Ross and Professor Pam clearly assert from the outset that biological psychiatry "is dominated by a reductionist ideology which distorts and misrepresents much of its research," this is by no means a raw polemic voiced by an overzealous opposition. Instead, it is a reasoned discourse based on a clear-sighted and methodical examination of the professional literature. Contributors to this volume include distinguished researchers and clinicians from the fields of psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and psychopharmacology. Their common purpose in coming together was to alert the mental health community to the ideological blind spots and conceptual errors in the basic logic and methodology of biological psychiatry, to demonstrate the need for a more scientifically based psychiatric practice, and to suggest alternative approaches to understanding and treating mental illness. Readers will find their arguments stimulating, provocative, and highly persuasive. Among the cutting-edge issues they explore are: the historical origins of biological psychiatry; genetics and mental illness; the current state of psychiatric training; psychopharmacology and drug therapy; the public health, legal, and ethical implications of biological psychiatry; and the funding, power, and politics of research. This book is essential reading for all mental health professionals. It also has many important things to say to health care administrators, political analysts, and public policy-makers. Of related interest . . . INSANITY The Idea and Its Consequences Thomas Szasz In this provocative book, Dr. Thomas Szasz, one of the most celebrated and controversial psychiatric thinkers of our time, presents a carefully crafted, systematic analysis of the precise character and practical consequences of the idea of mental illness. His findings and opinions have captured the attention of organized psychiatry and given everyone concerned with the human condition a better understanding of this almost universally misunderstood "disease." 1990 (0-471-52534-0) 432 pp. CRUEL COMPASSION Psychiatric Control of Society's Unwanted Thomas Szasz Cruel Compassion is the capstone of Thomas Szasz's critique of psychiatric practices. Reexamining psychiatric interventions from a cultural-historical and political-economic perspective, Szasz demonstrates that the main problem that faces mental health policymakers today is adult dependency. He gives us a sobering look at some of our most cherished notions about our humane treatment of society's unwanted and about ourselves as a compassionate and democratic people. 1994 (0-471-01012-X) 260 pp.

Pseudoscience in Biological Psychiatry: Blaming the Body

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Ross, Colin A.

Pam, Alvin

Mental Health

John Wiley&Sons

This account of multiple personality disorder (MPD) and related dissociative disorders presents the latest findings leading to a new model of MPD and a new therapeutic approach to its treatment. The book examines the large cluster of symptoms and dysfunctions associated with MPD, focusing on diagnosis, clinical features, and the relationship of MPD to other diagnoses. Data and clinical evidence are presented for a widely-accepted, but as yet unproven hypothesis that MPD arises as a dissociative strategy for coping with severe childhood trauma, usually involving physical or sexual abuse.

Multiple Personality Disorder: Diagnosis, Clinical Features, and Treatment

Wiley-Interscience

Based on a conference, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, March 1987. DNLM: 1. Agoraphobia.

Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia: A Comprehensive Guide for the Practitioner

Walker, John R.

Norton, G. Ron

Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.

In recent years the subject of satanic ritual abuse (SRA) has incited widespread controversy focused primarily on whether or not such abuse actually occurs. Much like child sexual abuse, SRA was initially dismissed as an isolated or even imaginary phenomenon. Although there is increasing evidence that ritual abuse does take place, clinicians working with individual patients cannot be sure whether they are dealing with fact or fantasy. Dr Colin Ross, an expert in the treatment of dissociative disorders, has encountered more than three hundred patients with memories of alleged satanic ritual abuse. In this book, he provides a well-documented discussion of the psychological, social, and historical aspects of SRA and presents principles and techniques for its clinical treatment.
Although Dr Ross has found no evidence of a widespread Satanic network he is open to the possibility that a certain percentage of his patients' memories may be entirely or partially historically accurate. In treatment, he recommends that the therapist adopt an attitude hovering between disbelief and credulous entrapment.
Dr Ross has encountered memories of SRA primarily among people who suffer from multiple personality disorders, and the principles of treatment he outlines here focus on such individuals. Treatment is described in terms of both general principles and specific techniques, with case examples. Ross's recommendation that the same interventions be used regardless of the percentage of memories that are historically accurate bridges the gap between those who adopt a `believer' stance and those who take a false-memory stance.
This is the most detailed and comprehensive account of SRA from a clinical perspective available to date. As reports of SRA continue to escalate, it will be a valuable resource for all practicing therapists and psychiatrists.

Satanic Ritual Abuse: Principles of Treatment

Loftus, Elizabeth F.

Psychology & Counseling

Univ of Toronto Pr

In BLUEBIRD: Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by 
Psychiatrists, Dr. Ross provides proof, based on 15,000 pages of documents obtained from the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act, that the Manchurian Candidate is fact, not fiction. He describes the experiments conducted by psychiatrists to create amnesia, new identities, hypnotic access codes, and new memories in the minds of experimental subjects. 
The funding of the experiments by the CIA, Army, Navy, and Air Force is proven from CIA documents and the doctors' own publications. BLUEBIRD proves that there was extensive political abuse of psychiatry in North America throughout the second half of the twentieth century, perpetrated not by a few renegade doctors, but by leading psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacologists, neurosurgeons and medical schools.

Bluebird: Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists

Medical Books

Manitou Communications, Inc.

Spirit Power Drawings lays the foundation of a new science. According to Colin A. Ross, M.D. this new science is a marriage of science, religion and psychiatry. It is an ancient way of knowing that has been lost by modern industrial man. Industrial man has "lost touch" with nature, the senses have been closed up and two profound dissociations or disconnections have emerged. According to his philosophy, spirit is a general property of matter. He calls this energy, Spirit Power. His new science is based on a form of knowledge that is deeper, more ancient, more sensual, intuitive, and more rooted in the natural world. The experiential foundation of the new science is communicated through text and drawings. The drawings communicate a vision of human life and the natural world that Dr. Ross has explored in poetry, fiction and essays. Out of this vision comes an understanding of mind, body, the natural world, and the human spirit.

Spirit Power Drawings: The Foundation of a New Science

Manitou Communications

Songs For Two Children is a 1000-line poem written in iambic pentameter couplets. The poem is addressed to his two oldest children. In it Dr. Ross explains his theory of human energy fields and the role of dissociation in western civilization. The Songs reveal the need for a change in our civilization, to a more spiritual approach in which religion and science are integrated. Dr. Ross proposes a new science of human energy fields that could help put human beings back in touch with nature, in a measurable, concrete way that is at one and the same time spiritual and measurable.

Songs for Two Children

Trauma model therapy. Trattamento per il trauma, la dissociazione e le comorbilità complesse

Halpern, Naomi

Giovanni Fioriti Editore

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