Mental Health Labels And Medication-Do Not Make A Person Whole Again

Mental Health Labels And Medication-Do Not Make A Person Whole Again
Anecdotes from a psychologist
By Louis Wynne, PhD

Most of my work these days involves examining claimants for disability. These are not restricted just to people with "psychological disabilities," but cover the entire range of accidents, chronic illness, addictions, etc. In other words, I see a lot of people whom most psychologists would not ordinarily see.

For each claimant I receive a packet of materials from other physicians including psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, and master's level counselors--in other words, people who will be considered qualified to make judgments on the "at risk" or the “mental illness” status of kids in schools if the health care bill now in congress passes into law. A huge majority of the claimants have, among other "diagnoses," the diagnosis du jour: bi-polar disorder.

The level of incompetence with regard to how these "diagnoses" are reached is breathtaking. For example, I have just completed an examination on a woman who has been "diagnosed" as paranoid schizophrenic--a condition with which I have some familiarity due to my sojourn for 4 years at the New Mexico State Hospital. This woman is no more paranoid schizophrenic than you are. What she is is mildly retarded and a habitual user of alcohol and marijuana. There is also the possibility of head injury.

I have literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of these examples. But, to keep it short, let me offer this illustrative anecdote. A couple of months ago, one of these patients at the end of the examination asked me why I had not asked him any "psychological questions." I asked him what he meant, and he said that I had not asked him anything about how he felt or what he thought. I agreed, and I told him that I didn't need to ask him how he felt since I had asked him to tell me in some detail what had happened to him. In other words I was prepared to make the inference that if the same history had happened to me, I'd feel pretty much the same way that he was feeling. But, further, I had asked him about real events in his past: head trauma, drug abuse, and family happenings from which I might infer that he was an unwanted child and therefore highly likely to emit behaviors that would get him labeled as mentally ill. It is worth mentioning that few if any of these patients have ever been asked about head trauma.

It scares the hell out of me that these master's level counselors would be authorized under the new health care act to impose such labels and to have these labels recognized and legitimized by the US government. Further, that these labels would be used as justification for the forced drugging of children and teens. I do not know of any medications that can make whole again people such as those I see every day.