To: National Desk
Contact: Marla Filidei of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights,
800-869-2247
LOS ANGELES, July 24 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Congress heard testimony
yesterday from a psychiatrist promoting the validity of psychiatry's
billing bible, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM), in a push to mandate costly mental health insurance. Missing from
the hearing were any of the medical experts who could challenge the
psychiatrist's testimony.
The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a mental health
watchdog, says if Congress continues to allow psychiatrists to go
unchallenged in these hearings, it will be a mistake that could cost
taxpayers and the government billions of dollars.
CCHR warns that if parity passes, psychiatrists would have unlimited
billing potential for all 374 ''disorders'' listed in their cash cow, the
DSM, despite the fact that there is no scientific or medical evidence to
substantiate these disorders. Psychiatrists can bill for mathematics
disorder, nicotine use, caffeine intoxication, conduct disorder,
expressive writing disorder, and even ''Phase of Life Problem.''
Expert testimony not heard by Congress included Dr. Fred Baughman, Jr.,
a neurologist for 35 years, who has discovered and described real
diseases. According to Dr. Baughman, ''The proposed parity law does not
include a proper and equitable definition for psychiatric disorders. If
these disorders are, indeed, the same as medical disease, then
psychiatrists should be able to establish that a physical abnormality
exists, using a test such as, but not limited to, blood or urine test,
x-ray, brain scan or biopsy. If none of their 'disorders' meet this test,
then clearly there is no physical abnormality. My advice to Congress?
Don't show psychiatrists the money, until they show you the scientific
proof.''
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the cost of parity to be $5.4
billion for the federal government and $23 billion for the American people
over the next 10 years. ''The government and the public have a right to
demand physical proof for these disorders before a multi billion dollar
mandate is forced upon them,'' says Baughman.
The DSM has come under increasing attack for its lack of scientific
veracity. Studies by Professors Herb Kutchins from the California State
University, and Stuart A. Kirk from the University of New York, found,
''...there is ample reason to conclude that the latest versions of DSM as
a clinical tool are unreliable and therefore of questionable validity as a
classification system.''
Dr. Loren R. Mosher, former Chief of Research at the National Institute
of Mental Health's Center for the Study of Schizophrenia, states: ''DSM IV
is the fabrication upon which psychiatry seeks acceptance by medicine in
general. Insiders know it is more a political than scientific
document...DSM IV has become a bible and a money making best seller -- its
major failings not withstanding.'' But the real issue, he says, is ''What
do the (DSM) categories tell us? Do they in fact accurately represent the
person with the problem? They don't and can't, because there are no
external validating criteria for psychiatric diagnoses. There is neither
blood test nor specific anatomic lesions for any major psychiatric
disorder.''
Psychologist Paula Caplan, who served as a consultant to some of the
committees approving disorders for the DSM III Revised, writes candidly:
''The low level of intellectual effort was shocking. Diagnoses were
developed by majority vote on the level we would use to choose a
restaurant. You feel like Italian, I feel like Chinese, so let's go to a
cafeteria. Then its typed into the computer.''
According to Dr. Suriff, a clinical psychologist at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Boston, ''The (DSM) manual is also taken too
seriously by the rest of society -- including the government, the courts,
the hospitals, and insurance companies.''
Bruce Wiseman, the U.S. President of CCHR states, ''No mental health
parity law can rely on the DSM. There is no scientific or medical evidence
to substantiate these disorders as real physical diseases or illness.
Psychiatrists have a vested interest in promoting the DSM simply because
it represents unlimited billing potential for them.''
But Congress taking it seriously could ''break the bank,'' says
Wiseman. ''We currently face a budget deficit that may reach $100 billion
by the end of 2002, a jobless rate at an eight year high of 6 percent, a
continuing stock market slide, falling business investment for the fifth
consecutive quarter and persistent corporate bankruptcies and corporate
layoffs. The last thing that mandated mental health parity could represent
is responsible fiscal management, especially when it is based on a
diagnostic manual that is no more scientific than reading tea leaves.''
To view CCHR's report on Mandated Mental Health Parity, visit:
http://www.psychassault.com/parity analysis cover.htm
CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology to
investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights.
For more information contact Marla Filidei at 800-869-2247
http://www.usnewswire.com
