Are you a skeptic?

by Norman

Video by Lexicomic
More videos at www.youtube.com/user/lexicomic

Generally I avoid publications which are openly sceptikal or skeptical or how it goes. But that is to throw the baby out with the bathwater just as much as they could be.

A recent publication of 'Skeptical Inquirer' dated September/October 2008 caught my attention and I'm glad. There is an article on stimulating the vagus nerve with an expensive gadget supposedly to relieve depression (but tests do not support that); an article on bipolar disorder/manic depression where diagnosis rate has shot up out of all proportion to the reality of the situation, in other words criteria for diagnosis have 'softened'.

Medication can produce significant side-effects, and may actually decrease the likelihood of recovery. On page 43 the article states (in relation to mood stabilising drugs) 'Indeed, these findings indicate that not receiving treatment works better than pharmaceutical intervention. Similarly, University of Illinois researchers recently found that only 5 percent of medicated schizophrenia patients recover, but 40 percent of non-medicated patients recover (Harrow, Grossman, Jobe, and Herbener 2005; also see Harrow and Jobe 2007). In other words, schizophrenia patients are eight times more likely to recover if they are not on medications!'

In the late 1960's I attended classes at a London college taught by a psychiatrist on the subject of mental health. I recall him saying that 'spontaneous remission' occurred in about 50 percent of schizophrenia cases, i.e. without drugs or therapy. There seems to be some general consistency with the more recent research figure of 40 percent.

Along with some other volunteers I became involved with a research project at a large Victorian mental hospital with a progressive approach. Each volunteer visited one patient assigned to them with the aim of forming a relationship to see whether there was significant improvement. I did not look up the results - we all knew that there was an improvement, and even some staff who were sceptical could see for themselves.

I think we need to look more to sociological and human approaches rather than thinking the cure necessarily comes from a medicine bottle. Having said that, I will add a proviso that people bear in mind the previous article 'Battle for the Mind' on the work and views of William Sargant.