Sunday, September 25, 2016


Proven Wrong About Many of Its Assertions, Is Psychiatry Bullsh*t?

Some psychiatrists view the chemical-imbalance theory as a well-meaning lie.
Photo Credit: Olena Yakobchuk / Shutterstock
In the current issue of the journal Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Australian dissident psychiatrist Niall McLaren titles his article, “Psychiatry as Bullshit” and makes a case for just that.
The great controversies in psychiatry are no longer about its chemical-imbalance theory of mental illness or its DSM diagnostic system, both of which have now been declared invalid even by the pillars of the psychiatry establishment.
In 2011, Ronald Pies, editor-in-chief emeritus of the Psychiatric Times, stated, “In truth, the ‘chemical imbalance’ notion was always a kind of urban legend—never a theory seriously propounded by well-informed psychiatrists.” And in 2013, Thomas Insel, then director of the National Institute of Mental Health, offered a harsh rebuke of the DSM, announcing that because the DSM diagnostic system lacks validity, the “NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories.”
So, the great controversy today has now become just how psychiatry can be most fairly characterized given its record of being proven wrong about virtually all of its assertions, most notably its classifications of behaviors, theories of “mental illness” and treatment effectiveness/adverse effects.
Among critics, one of the gentlest characterizations of psychiatry is a “false narrative,” the phrase used by investigative reporter Robert Whitaker (who won the 2010 Investigative Reporters and Editors Book Award for Anatomy of an Epidemic) to describe the story told by the psychiatrists’ guild American Psychiatric Association.
In “Psychiatry as Bullshit,” McLaren begins by considering several different categories of “nonscience with scientific pretensions,” such as “pseudoscience” and “scientific fraud.”
“Pseudoscience” is commonly defined as a collection of beliefs and practices promulgated as scientific but in reality mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method. The NIMH director ultimately rejected the DSM because of its lack of validity, which is crucial to the scientific method. In the DSM, psychiatric illnesses are created by an APA committee, 69 percent of whom have financial ties to Big Pharma. The criteria for DSM illness are not objective biological ones but non-scientific subjective ones (which is why homosexuality was a DSM mental illness until the early 1970s). Besides lack of scientific validity, the DSM lacks scientific reliability, as clinicians routinely disagree on diagnoses because patients act differently in different circumstances and because of the subjective nature of the criteria.
“Fraud” is a misrepresentation, a deception intended for personal gain, and implies an intention to deceive others of the truth—or “lying.” Drug companies, including those that manufacture psychiatric drugs, have been convicted of fraud, as have high-profile psychiatrists (as well as other doctors). Human rights activist and attorney Jim Gottstein offers an argument as to why the APA is a “fraudulent enterprise”; however, the APA has not been legally convicted of fraud.
To best characterize psychiatry, McLaren considers the category of “bullshit,” invoking philosopher Harry Frankfurt’s 1986 journal article “On Bullshit” (which became a New York Times bestselling book in 2005).
Defining Bullshit
What is the essence of bullshit? For Frankfurt, “This lack of connection to a concern with truth—this indifference to how things really are—that I regard as of the essence of bullshit.”
Frankfurt devotes a good deal of On Bullshit to differentiating between a liar and a bullshitter. Both the liar and the bullshitter misrepresent themselves, representing themselves as attempting to be honest and truthful. But there is a difference between the liar and the bullshitter.
The liar knows the truth, and the liar’s goal is to conceal it.
The goal of bullshitters is not necessarily to lie about the truth but to persuade their audience of a specific impression so as to advance their agenda. So, bullshitters are committed to neither truths nor untruths, uncommitted to neither facts nor fiction. It’s actually not in bullshitters’ interest to know what is true and what is false, as that knowledge can hinder their capacity to bullshit.
Frankfurt tells us that liar the hides that he or she is “attempting to lead us away from a correct apprehension of reality.” In contrast, the bullshitter hides that “the truth-values of his statements are of no central interest to him.”
Are Psychiatrists Bullshitters?
Recall establishment psychiatrist Pies' assertion: “In truth, the ‘chemical imbalance’ notion was always a kind of urban legend—never a theory seriously propounded by well-informed psychiatrists.” What Pies omits is the reality that the vast majority of psychiatrists have been promulgating this theory. Were they liars or simply not well-informed? And if not well-informed, were they purposely not well-informed?
If one wants to bullshit oneself and the general public that psychiatry is a genuinely scientific medical specialty, there’s a great incentive to be unconcerned with the truth or falseness of the chemical imbalance theory of depression. Bullshitters immediately recognize how powerful this chemical imbalance notion is in gaining prestige for their profession and themselves as well as making their job both more lucrative and easier, increasing patient volume by turning virtually all patient visits into quick prescribing ones.
Prior to the chemical imbalance bullshit campaign, most Americans were reluctant to take antidepressants—or to give them to their children. But the idea that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance that can be corrected with Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants sounded like taking insulin for diabetes. Correcting a chemical imbalance seemed like a reasonable thing to do, and so the use of SSRI antidepressants skyrocketed.
In 2012, National Public Radio correspondent Alix Spiegel began her piece about the disproven chemical imbalance theory with the following personal story about being prescribed Prozac when she was a depressed teenager:
My parents took me to a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She did an evaluation and then told me this story: “The problem with you," she explained, “is that you have a chemical imbalance. It’s biological, just like diabetes, but it’s in your brain. This chemical in your brain called serotonin is too, too low. There’s not enough of it, and that’s what’s causing the chemical imbalance. We need to give you medication to correct that.” Then she handed my mother a prescription for Prozac.
When Spiegel discovered that the chemical imbalance theory was untrue, she sought to discover why this truth had been covered up, and so she interviewed researchers who knew the truth. Alan Frazer, professor of pharmacology and psychiatry and chairman of the pharmacology department at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center, told Spiegel that by framing depression as a deficiency—something that needed to be returned to normal—patients felt more comfortable taking antidepressants. Frazer stated, “If there was this biological reason for them being depressed, some deficiency that the drug was correcting, then taking a drug was OK.” For Frazer, the story that depressed people have a chemical imbalance enabled many people to come out of the closet about being depressed.
Frazer’s rationale reminds us of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s book Manufacturing Consent, the title deriving from presidential adviser and journalist Walter Lippmann’s phrase “the manufacture of consent”—a necessity for Lippmann, who believed that the general public is incompetent in discerning what’s truly best for them, and so their opinion must be molded by a benevolent elite who does know what’s best for them.
There are some psychiatrists who view the chemical imbalance theory as a well-meaning lie by a benevolent elite to ensure resistant patients do what is best for them, but my experience is that there are actually extremely few such “well-meaning liars.” Most simply don’t know the truth because they have put little effort in discerning it.
I believe McLaren is correct in concluding that the vast majority of psychiatrists are bullshitters, uncommitted to either facts or fiction. Most psychiatrists would certainly have been happy if the chemical-imbalance theory was true but obviously have not needed it to be true in order to promulgate it. For truth seekers, the falseness of the chemical imbalance theory has been easily available, but most psychiatrists have not been truth seekers. It is not in the bullshitters’ interest to know what is true and what is false, as that knowledge of what is a fact and what is fiction hinders the capacity to use any and all powerful persuasion. Simply put, a commitment to the truth hinders the capacity to bullshit.

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Reglan & Tardive Dyskinesia

Those who have ever suffered from a condition known as gastroparesis - literally, a partial paralysis of the stomach, which prevents food from moving through the digestive tract - may have been treated with a drug called metoclopramide. This drug has been available in generic form since 1982, and is sold in the U.S. under the brand names Maxolon and Reglan (among others). This drug has also been used to treat heartburn and acid reflux as well as nausea and vomiting (including those associated with cancer treatments), and has been prescribed for women to stimulate lactation or to treat migraine headaches.

Metoclopramide is a dopamine receptor antagonist. This means it essentially inhibits the delivery of electro-chemical messages from the brain to certain parts of the body (dopamine is the chemical that carries these messages, and the receptors are those parts of cells that act as receivers). Although its use as an anti-psychotic or neuroleptic drug has been limited, the mechanism is the same; as a result, this medication has been implicated in various movement disorders, including parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia.

Brief History

Metoclopramide was first developed in Europe in the mid-1960s. As mentioned earlier, it is a dopamine antagonist, or inhibitor; like the anti-psychotic drugs implicated in tardive dyskinesia, it operates on the specific dopamine receptor identified as D2, which controls specific muscle functions as well as certain feed-back mechanisms.

Prior to 2000, patients suffering from acid reflux disease and gastroparesis were treated with a drug known as Cisapride. Like several other drugs implicated in tardive dyskinesia and other movement disorders, Cisapride was the invention of the Belgian pharmaceutical company Janssen Pharmaceutica (a division of Johnson & Johnson), which marketed it in the U.S. under the trade name Propulsid. Since 1982, the drug has been available in generic form, and is In January 2000, the FDA issued warnings that Cisapride was found to cause cardiac arrhythmia in certain patient, and the drug was withdrawn from the U.S. market six months later. It is still used by veterinarians for the treatment of hairballs in house cats, however.

Among human patients, metoclopramide - an older medication that was considered "safer" than Cisapride - made a comeback after several years of having taken a backseat to the latter.

Metoclopramide and Dyskinesia

In 2004, a research team that included medical scientists from the FDA and the Veteran's Administration published their study that came up with the following conclusion:

"Well-described TD risk factors were common in metoclopramide- associated TD reports. Given the Cisapride market withdrawal and associated increased metoclopramide utilization, the incidence of TD may increase accordingly. TD risk factors relative to the intended benefit and duration of use should be considered in metoclopramide prescribing."

This study found that patients treated with metoclopramide at greatest risk for developing symptoms of tardive dyskinesia were older women who had been on the drug for an extended period of time (although it was also noted that women made up 67 percent of patients for whom the drug was prescribed). Additional risk factors included:

Diabetes
"Organic" brain dysfunction/atrophy
Psychosis
Substance abuse
Genetic predisposition
It was not until 2009 that warnings were widely circulated.

Metoclopramide Today

Because of the disproportionate influence pharmaceutical corporations have on government agencies, it is unlikely that metoclopramide will be withdrawn from the market. Currently, 23 drug companies continue to manufacture and market metoclopramide, and two million Americans are still prescribed this drug for various digestive disorders. However, the FDA has ordered manufacturers to include a "black box" warning with the medication's packaging.
Tardive Dyskinesia Diagnosis

The movement disorder known as tardive dyskinesia is actually a collection of symptoms that can mimic other types of disorders such as conditions related to the side effects of antipsychotic (neuroleptic) medications and congenital disorders. Accurate diagnosis can be challenging as there is no single test for tardive dyskinesia. The diagnostic process may involve more than one physician and requires the review of a thorough medical history, a physical examination and a neuro-psychological evaluation in order to determine whether one is indeed suffering from tardive dyskinesia or a different neurological disorder. The diagnostic process is complicated further by the fact that tardive dyskinesia symptoms can come and go, or may be more apparent at some times than at others. An accurate diagnosis may require several office visits.

Tardive Dyskinesia Symptoms and Related Disorders

Those with tardive dyskinesia engage in repetitive, involuntary movements without purpose. These may consist of any or all of the following:

Movement of the lips and tongue (grimacing, smacking, pursing, sticking out the tongue)
Rapid blinking
Impaired finger movement or "fluttering"
Rapid movements of the arms
Toe tapping, moving the leg up and down
Twisting and bending of the torso (in extreme cases)


There are also other similar, but unrelated movement disorders which are sometimes mistaken for tardive dyskinesia:

Dystonia: Dystonia is characterized by sustained muscular contractions which can result in the entire body twisting into abnormal and sometimes painful positions. It is usually congenital, but can occur as a result of injury, a bacterial infection, lead poisoning or drug side-effects. However, while most types of dystonia may pass, the tardive variety is usually irreversible.
Akathisia: This particular condition manifests itself as a compulsive need to move about, driven by inner feelings of anxiety or even terror. This is sometimes related to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, but is most often caused by drugs that block dopamine receptors (dopamine being the neurotransmitter that carries instructions from the brain over the nervous system). Unfortunately, this condition is often misdiagnosed as a psychological problem, leading to the prescription of yet more drugs, thus exacerbating the problem.
Tourettism: This is similar to Tourette's Syndrome, a set of tic disorders that range from facial jerks and spasms to sudden uncontrollable exclamations. In most cases, the only way to determine if such symptoms are indeed true Tourette's syndrome or related to tardive dyskinesia is to obtain a thorough medical examination and review of psychiatric history.
Myoclonus: Myoclonus is exceedingly rare, consisting of involuntary muscle twitching. It is actually a symptom of several neurological disorders, including multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, epilepsy and tardive dyskinesia.


According to Dr. John Kane, writing for the American Psychiatric Association, these diseases can be distinguished from tardive dyskinesia by their outward appearance plus the muscle groups involved. True tardive dyskinesia is characterized by slow movements of the orofacial muscles, limbs and digits. Occasionally tremors may occur, but rapid, jerky, spasmodic movements are absent.

Diagnostic Process

Following a complete physical exam and neuropsychiatric evaluation, the physician may wish to run several tests to rule out pathogens, environmental toxins or genetics. The doctor may order a blood cell count and well as screening for serum electrolytes (ions that regulate various bodily functions) and copper and ceruloplasmin (the protein that carries copper in the bloodstream, enabling the metabolism of iron). The thyroid may be tested as well as connective tissues, and the patient may undergo medical imaging tests (MRI or CAT scans) of the head in order to rule out the presence of a tumor.

In the next step of the diagnosic process, the physician will attempt to elicit tardive dyskinesia symptoms by having a conversation with the patient, or providing distractions that tend to bring out such symptoms. During this process, the doctor will make careful notes of what parts of the patient's body show signs of tardive dyskinesia. Sometimes, the results will not be conclusive, and will require another examination in order to confirm the symptoms.



Tardive Dyskinesia Symptoms

Little research has been done on the movement disorder known as tardive dyskinesia (TD), which affects approximately 20 percent of patients who have been treated for certain psychoses with medications known as dopamine antagonists. The symptoms are a side effect of medications that are ostensibly targeted at the specific dopamine receptor involved in emotion and lower cognitive function, but wind up affecting those involved in the function of voluntary muscle control.

Diagnosing Tardive Dyskinesia

Part of the difficulty in diagnosing tardive dyskinesia lies in the fact that its symptoms are similar to other types of disorders, including Tourette syndrome. In fact, one variety of tardive dyskinesia, known as tardive tourettism is so similar that only careful study of the circumstances surrounding the onset of the disease can determine which condition is actually present.

Other similar disorders include tardive dystonia, akathisia and myoclonus. The first differs from other types of dystonia (muscle spasms and uncontrollable movements in the torso) in that the tardive variety is permanent and is drug-related as opposed to being caused by genetics, injury or infection or environmental toxins.

Akathisia is more internalized and accompanied by inner anxiety. It is also more generalized, involving the entire body. Myoclonus manifests itself most often as brief, jerky contractions of a particular muscle group. However, the term actually refers to a symptom that may be the result of any number of neurological disorders. Usually, a differential diagnosis is required in order to determine what strain of tardive dyskinesia is present.

Characteristic Symptoms

Regardless of the variety of the disease, tardive dyskinesia is characterized by sudden, uncontrollable movements of voluntary muscle groups. Signs of classic tardive dyskinesia normally consist of coordinated, constant movements of the mouth, tongue, jaw, and cheeks. The patient may move their jaw laterally or up and down, as if chewing. The tongue may suddenly protrude or move about in a squirming, twisting manner. Repeated lip smacking and puffing of the cheeks may also be present. Severity of the condition is indicated by the frequency of these movements or spasms. In extreme cases, the tongue may move well over 60 times a minute.

In some cases, tardive dyskinesia patients may experience movement in the limbs and digits. Interestingly, these involuntary movements are more pronounced when the patient attempts to relax; emotional arousal or agitation causes these movements to decrease. Symptoms can disappear completely when the patient is asleep.

Risk Factors and Treatment

There is no cure for tardive dyskinesia although the condition can be managed in some cases. Those who are at great risk for developing tardive dyskinesia are those who have been treated with dopamine antagonists for four years or longer; according to a study from the Yale University School of Medicine. Risk factors can also be aggravated by the use of alcohol and tobacco. Post menopausal women are also at greater risk because of lower estrogen levels.
Tardive Dyskinesia Introduction & Overview

Tardive dyskinesia is a condition that may develop in patients who use metoclopramide, a drug sold under brand names such as Reglan in the United States. When a patient has been taking certain prescription drugs over a long period of time, often in high dosages, involuntary, repetitive tic-like movements can result, primarily in the facial muscles or (less commonly) the limbs, fingers and toes. The hips and torso may also be affected.

Dyskinesia refers to the involuntary nature of muscular movements or the difficulty in performing voluntary muscular movement. Tardive means a condition has the tendency to appear late. Symptoms of tardive dyskinesia can develop and persist long after use of the medication causing the disorder has been discontinued. Tardive dyskinesia can appear similar to other types of disorders, most notably Tourette's syndrome.

History

Tardive dyskinesia was first identified in 1964. By the early 1960s, symptoms associated with tardive dyskinesia were apparent in approximately 30 percent of psychiatric patients treated with antipsychotic medications, linking the development of the condition to these drugs. The development of tardive dyskinesia is commonly linked to metoclopramide use. The drug metoclopramide (sold today under the brand name Reglan, among others) was developed in Europe in the mid-1960s and became available for use in 1982. In early 2009, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about metoclopramide, informing the public of research that suggests the use of metoclopramide is the most common cause of drug-induced movement disorders. A 2004 study found that older women treated with metoclopramide were at an increased risk for developing symptoms of tardive dyskinesia.

Dopamine

Research indicates that tardive dyskinesia results from damage to the systems that use and process dopamine. Dopamine is a biochemical substance produced in numerous areas of the brain. It functions as a neurotransmitter, working with the brain to regulate movement and emotion within the body.

Dopamine is significant when it comes to pleasurable sensations. When dopamine receptors are blocked, the dopamine remains in the synapse (where nerve impulses are transmitted and received) for a longer period of time. This creates a sense of "false euphoria," which is why some narcotics are so addictive. The fact that dopamine remains in the synapses for an extended period may also hold clues to what causes the onset of tardive dyskinesia in certain patients. When neurons can no longer hold dopamine, Parkinson's disease may result.

Metoclopramide is a dopamine receptor antagonist and inhibits the delivery of electro-chemical messages from the brain to various parts of the body. The drug has been implicated in the development of several movement disorders, including tardive dyskinesia.

Other Factors

The development of tardive dyskinesia has often occurred in patients who have been treated for digestive and gastrointestinal disorders with medications such as metoclopramide (Deglan®, Maxolon® or Reglan®).

Other risk factors appear to be age (certain older patients are more likely to develop tardive dyskinesia), gender (the condition is more common in females), mental retardation, a history of substance abuse and a traumatic head injury. According to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 31 percent of all tardive dyskinesia patients are over 55 years of age and have been taking medications for three months or longer. Tardive dyskinesia is also caused by the side effects of certain psychoactive drugs such as anti-depressants, "dopamine antagonists" (drugs that block dopamine receptors, used to treat disorders of the nervous or circulatory system).

Treatment

The best treatment for tardive dyskinesia appears to be prevention, either by lowering the dosage of a medication known to cause this condition or switching the patient to a different drug. Tetrabenzine, a medication that reduces levels of dopamine, has been of some use in treating tardive dyskinesia symptoms. Many kinds of "anti-Parkinsonian" drugs such as Aricept and Miraplex appear to offer some benefit as well.

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Thank Those in Europe who Visited. Wed. 30 Mar. 2016.

Russia  1408
Ukraine  794
Saudi Arabia  426
France  409
Iraq  329

Germany  300
Turkey  215
United Kingdom  148
Netherlands  145

Sunday, March 6, 2016

CRUELITY to MENTAL PATIENTS- thrown out to DIE!

HOME / Science : The state of the universe.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus


In the late 1950s, three men who identified as the Son of God were forced to live together in a mental hospital. What happened?

On June 16, 1930 construction for the hospital had begun. Albert Kahn was the architect that had designed the building. Kahn had his own design firm in Detroit, Michigan. The hospital was opened a year after construction had begun. Over the course of the first year the hospital had admitted 922 patients. The estimated cost of living was about eighty cents per day. At the end of World War II The Ypsilanti State Hospital had built two new wards with over 4,000 patients. After adding the two wards, this still brought the hospital over capacity. In 1991, Governor John Engler cut all funding for state hospitals. The Ypsilanti State Hospital was the first to be shut down.[1] The forensic center stayed open until 2001, but when the hospital closed this left many patients homeless. They were left with nothing; most of the patients had lost contact with family and friends too. 

I live in the Tenderloin, in Mercy Senior Housing. [EXTENDANCHOR] am 66 Years old, my Family were Mental Health Professionals.

Do Not Accept Historical Revisionist Propaganda to Belie the Catastrophic Ruin to America caused by Corporate Greed, and Yes, the Horrors of Homelessness is A MONSTER caused by Reagan's Handlers. Read this Piece from about Carters Set Up Mental Health Community Housing: REAGAN REVOKED THIS LAW UPON TAKING OFFICE!


When the Governor of Michigan Shut [EXTENDANCHOR] Ypsalanti State Hospital 10, SEVERELY MENTAL PATIENTS WERE DUMPED on the DETROIT SKID ROW, Were Murdered for Their Monty before Winter, another 5, Were Found Drowned in the River next spring….
America was NOT a nice place. Like most other mental hospitals in America Ypsilanti began declining in both quality and quantity by the s, which would continue until it closed. The Michigan Daily also said that a survey of Ypsi's mental buildings was done inessay that they essay obsolete because they "were all designed for custodial care link the health and are not well suited for a therapeutic program of essay and treatment for the mentally ill.
Michigan Governor John Engler went on a health cut state spending on mental health by closing all the state psychiatric hospitals. Ypsilanti Regional Psychiatric Hospital was one of the first to go, closed inthough the "C-Building," and the various service buildings on the property obviously stayed in partial use until early March of under the health CFP, essay, "Center for Forensic Psychology"—meaning it was a hardcore detention facility that housed the State of Michigan inmates who were either unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity, or who pleaded innocent to murder by reason of insanity.
Governor Engler's biography on michigan. Anyway, according to a September report by the Detroit Free Press, the rapid dismantling of Michigan's once-vast state essay system in the s perhaps did not achieve quite the positive outcome that was hoped for—at essay partly because the "community-based" resources that were supposed to pick up the slack were never given the proper funding they were promised.
As the state hospitals closed, tens of thousands of patients who didn't have family to make sure they got proper care were literally turned out on the streets, "with a bus ticket to Detroit, and one bottle of pills," as the local saying goes.

 




In the late 1950s, psychologist Milton Rokeach was gripped by an eccentric plan. He gathered three psychiatric patients, each with the delusion that they were Jesus Christ, to live together for two years in Ypsilanti State Hospital to see if their beliefs would change. The early meetings were stormy. "You oughta worship me, I'll tell you that!" one of the Christs yelled. "I will not worship you! You're a creature! You better live your own life and wake up to the facts!" another snapped back. "No two men are Jesus Christs. … I am the Good Lord!" the third interjected, barely concealing his anger.

Frustrated by psychology's focus on what he considered to be peripheral beliefs, like political opinions and social attitudes, Rokeach wanted to probe the limits of identity. He had been intrigued by stories of Secret Service agents who felt they had lost contact with their original identities, and wondered if a man's sense of self might be challenged in a controlled setting. Unusually for a psychologist, he found his answer in the Bible. There is only one Son of God, says the good book, so anyone who believed himself to be Jesus would suffer a psychological affront by the very existence of another like him. This was the revelation that led Rokeach to orchestrate his meeting of the Messiahs and document their encounter in the extraordinary (and out-of-print) book from 1964, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.


Although by no means common, Christ conventions have an unexpectedly long history. In his commentary to Cesare Beccaria's essay "Crimes and Punishments," Voltaire recounted the tale of the "unfortunate madman" Simon Morin who was burnt at the stake in 1663 for claiming to be Jesus. Unfortunate it seems, because Morin was originally committed to a madhouse where he met another who claimed to be God the Father, and "was so struck with the folly of his companion that he acknowledged his own, and appeared, for a time, to have recovered his senses." The lucid period did not last, however, and it seems the authorities lost patience with his blasphemy. Another account of a meeting of the Messiahs comes from Sidney Rosen's book My Voice Will Go With You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson. The renowned psychiatrist apparently set two delusional Christs in his ward arguing only for one to gain insight into his madness, miraculously, after seeing something of himself in his companion. ("I'm saying the same things as that crazy fool is saying," said one of the patients. "That must mean I'm crazy too.")

These tales are surprising because delusions, in the medical sense, are not simply a case of being mistaken. They are considered to be pathological beliefs, reflecting a warped or broken understanding that is not, by definition, amenable to being reshaped by reality. One of most striking examples is the Cotard delusion, under which a patient believes she is dead; surely there can be no clearer demonstration that simple and constant contradiction offers no lasting remedy. Rokeach, aware of this, did not expect a miraculous cure. Instead, he was drawing a parallel between the baseless nature of delusion and the flimsy foundations we use to construct our own identities. If tomorrow everyone treats me as if I have an electronic device in my head, there are ways and means I could use to demonstrate they are wrong and establish the facts of the matter—a visit to the hospital perhaps. But what if everyone treats me as if my core self were fundamentally different than I believed it to be? Let's say they thought I was an undercover agent—what could I show them to prove otherwise? From my perspective, the best evidence is the strength of my conviction. My belief is my identity.
Milton Rokeach's The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.

In one sense, Rokeach's book reflects a remarkably humane approach for its era. We are asked to see ourselves in the psychiatric patients, at a time when such people were regularly locked away and treated as incomprehensible objects of pity rather than individuals worthy of empathy. Rokeach's constant attempts to explain the delusions as understandable reactions to life events require us to accept that the Christs have not "lost contact" with reality, even if their interpretations are more than a little uncommon.

But the book makes for starkly uncomfortable reading as it recounts how the researchers blithely and unethically manipulated the lives of Leon, Joseph, and Clyde in the service of academic curiosity. In one of the most bizarre sections, the researchers begin colluding with the men's delusions in a deceptive attempt to change their beliefs from within their own frame of reference. The youngest patient, Leon, starts receiving letters from the character he believes to be his wife, "Madame Yeti Woman," in which she professes her love and suggests minor changes to his routine. Then Joseph, a French Canadian native, starts receiving faked letters from the hospital boss advising certain changes in routine that might benefit his recovery. Despite an initially engaging correspondence, both the delusional spouse and the illusory boss begin to challenge the Christs' beliefs more than is comfortable, and contact is quickly broken off.

In fact, very little seems to shift the identities of the self-appointed Messiahs. They debate, argue, at one point come to blows, but show few signs that their beliefs have become any less intense. Only Leon seems to waver, eventually asking to be addressed as "Dr Righteous Idealed Dung" instead of his previous moniker of "Dr Domino dominorum et Rex rexarum, Simplis Christianus Puer Mentalis Doctor, reincarnation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Rokeach interprets this more as an attempt to avoid conflict than a reflection of any genuine identity change. The Christs explain one another's claims to divinity in predictably idiosyncratic ways: Clyde, an elderly gentleman, declares that his companions are, in fact, dead, and that it is the "machines" inside them that produce their false claims, while the other two explain the contradiction by noting that their companions are "crazy" or "duped" or that they don't really mean what they say.

In hindsight, the Three Christs study looks less like a promising experiment than the absurd plan of a psychologist who suffered the triumph of passion over good sense. The men's delusions barely shifted over the two years, and from an academic perspective, Rokeach did not make any grand discoveries concerning the psychology of identity and belief. Instead, his conclusions revolve around the personal lives of three particular (and particularly unfortunate) men. He falls back—rather meekly, perhaps—on the Freudian suggestion that their delusions were sparked by confusion over sexual identity, and attempts to end on a flourish by noting that we all "seek ways to live with one another in peace," even in the face of the most fundamental disagreements. As for the ethics of the study, Rokeach eventually realized its manipulative nature and apologized in an afterword to the 1984 edition: "I really had no right, even in the name of science, to play God and interfere round the clock with their daily lives."

Although we take little from it scientifically, the book remains a rare and eccentric journey into the madness of not three, but four men in an asylum. It is, in that sense, an unexpected tribute to human folly, and one that works best as a meditation on our own misplaced self-confidence. Whether scientist or psychiatric patient, we assume others are more likely to be biased or misled than we are, and we take for granted that our own beliefs are based on sound reasoning and observation. This may be the nearest we can get to revelation—the understanding that our most cherished beliefs could be wrong'
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The Three Christs's of Ypsilanti