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MENTAL
HEALTH PARITY:
OPENING THE DOOR TO PATIENT ABUSE, DEATHS AND FRAUD
LOS
ANGELES - The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR),
a 33-year psychiatric watchdog, says that if unlimited mandated
mental health parity is passed, there will be more widespread
patient abuse and fraud. Already, the mental health industry
defrauds the government up to $40 billion per year; between
1950 and 1990, the total number of inpatient deaths exceeded
the number of Americans killed in 10 wars, including World
Wars I and II, and the Vietnam and Korean Wars; today, there
are up to 150 restraint deaths per year in psychiatric institutions
and, as The New York Times exposed this week, 960 people died
between 1995 and 2001 in New York group homes for the mentally
ill-all without accountability.
"Mental
health parity amounts to a blank check for a mental health
industry that cannot police itself, frequently abuses patients
and rips off the health care system. Costs of psychiatric
care run a staggering 300% more than other health care services,
with a greater percentage of this going to brain-damaging
psychiatric drugs," says Bruce Wiseman, U.S. President
of CCHR.
In
a compelling article in The Washington Times last December,
CCHR co-founder Thomas Szasz, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry,
wrote, "Advocating 'parity for mental illness' is a hoax.
The supporters of 'mental health parity' do not want parity
for mental patients: They do not seek equal 'legal treatment'
by legislators and courts for mental patients and medical
patients. What they want is parity for psychiatrists: They
seek equal 'monetary treatment' by health insurance companies
for psychiatrists and other physicians."
"Parity"
will only saddle the nation's companies with a financial burden
in times of economic stress. Recently President Bush told
Congress, "If we restrain spending…if we react responsibly,
we can return to a balanced budget." The Congressional
Budget Office estimates "parity" to cost $5.4 billion
for the federal government and $23 billion for the American
people over the next 10 years. It is estimated to raise insurance
premiums more than 11%.
Nor
will "parity" provide effective treatment. As a
growing number of psychiatrists state, psychiatrists have
become "drug pushers." Today, antipsychotics (neuroleptic)
sales have reached $5.5 million and antidepressant sales are
$12.5 billion in the U.S. America accounts for 70% of the
world consumption of antidepressants, 60% of antipsychotics
drugs, and 80-90% of one stimulant prescribed to children,
known as "kiddy cocaine."
American
psychiatrists discriminate in their treatment of "schizophrenia,"
pushing drugs despite many studies showing that relapse rates
have been better for non-drugged patients. In a study over
eight years, the World Health Organization found that patients
in three poor countries-India, Nigeria, and Colombia-fared
dramatically better than U.S. patients and four other developed
countries; 64% of the patients in the poor countries were
without symptoms and functioning well. The difference? Only
16% of the patients were maintained on neuroleptics in the
poor countries. In rich countries, the figure was 61%.
While
psychiatrists cry about "reducing stigma," it is
their labels and treatment that initially create the stigma.
Psychiatrists drug what they cannot even define: A commentary
on schizophrenia in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-II), says, "Even if it had tried, the
[APA] Committee could not establish agreement about what this
disorder is; it could only agree on what to call it."
The
main groups pushing for parity receive huge funds from special
interest groups who profit from the drug model psychiatry
is foisting off on the public. These same groups orchestrated
the "anti-stigma" campaign, says Wiseman: "Who
is doing the stigmatizing here? Millions of children and adults
are being told there is something 'wrong' with their brain,
though no one can prove it. They are labeled 'mentally ill'
with diagnoses that are completely subjective and then subjected
to dangerous and addicting mind-altering drugs in order to
change their behavior. It's pretty clear where the 'stigmatization'
is coming from. It's coming from the mental health monopoly
that stands to profit at the sake of millions of Americans."
To
view CCHR's full report on Mandated Mental Health Parity,
visit: 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
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