Episodes
Friday May 24, 2019
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 05.22.19
Friday May 24, 2019
Friday May 24, 2019
This hour with my guest, author Jeffrey Masson PhD, was so stunning, I am going to do a series of shows with him, much as I did in 2015. Jeffrey shook the psychoanalytic world when his book Assault on Truth showed that Freud knew that his patients had been sexually abused but hid the truth to further his career. Then, having been trained as a psychoanalyst, he took on the entire psychotherapy establishment, observing that no one can be taught empathy and that licensing professional talkers was doing more harm than good. Then, having endured enough attack on himself, he turned to writing bestselling books about animals including When Elephants Weep and Dog’s Never Lie About Love. (The animal behavioral establishment railed against him for humanizing dogs.) In this wonderful hour, we talk about life, about birds and trees, and energy and courage, about how and why some people see through shams into the truth. We both loved our time together; I hope you will, too. Jeff lives in Australia, so this is a real opportunity to hear this thoughtful, courageous man.
Thursday May 16, 2019
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 05.15.19
Thursday May 16, 2019
Thursday May 16, 2019
One day before this Dr. Peter Breggin Hour, marvelous psychologist Michael Cornwall PhD sent me information about a device newly approved by the FDA to pass electric current through the brains of children to treat them for supposed ADHD. The laudatory hooey written by the FDA, which you will hear on the show, is beyond belief. The entire study lasted only 4 weeks with a mere 30 or so children being afflicted with the Orwellian device. Nonetheless, within the four weeks, children were already experiencing adverse effects such as headache and fatigue. What will happen to them after months or years of exposure, we can only imagine, because the study lasted a mere 28 days. I felt so outraged, I had to do something, and so I called Michael on an emergency basis to please come on the show that you can now listen to here. We look with passionate outrage at this atrocity from a variety of moral, educational, scientific and societal perspectives. I conclude that we will be inflicting “mini-lobotomies” on epidemic proportions on our children under the cover of psychiatry.
Thursday May 09, 2019
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour –05.08.19
Thursday May 09, 2019
Thursday May 09, 2019
This radio program brings together leaders in the reform movement in North America to abolish electroshock treatment (ECT). This Saturday May 12 at noon in Toronto at Queens Park, there is a shock protest and a hunger strike taking place against ECT. This amazing hour begins with my interviewing Bonnie Burstow, PhD, a leading Canadian, researcher, teacher and writer in criticizing psychiatric oppression. She is joined by Connie Neil, an 80-year-old Canadian shock survivor who plans to participate in the hunger strike. Stephen Ticktin, a Canadian psychiatrist and devoted international activist then comes on the air with us. He is followed by Don Weitz, a Canadian survivor of insulin coma shock, who has for decades been a leading psychiatric reformer. Each of them will be at the shock protest. Finally, we are joined by an anonymous American shock survivor.
Shock treatment is a crime against humanity that is defended by all the force that can be leveraged by psychiatry, including the shock and drug manufacturers, the psychiatric and medical associations, the media, federal insurance programs including Medicare, and the FDA.
From the human stories to the politics and the details about how shock causes damage—this is an extraordinary hour. It was for me a great moment, having so many old friends and reform-minded colleagues together on the air. When the show started, I had no idea how amazing it would become. It is disillusioning to hear that such a dreadful abuse as ECT has recently found FDA approval but it is inspiring to hear the progress being made in the courts, including my research and forensic work. Most inspiring is how survivors of shock treatment like Connie and Don, continue to fight back along with honorable professionals, like Bonnie and Stephen.
Thursday May 02, 2019
The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour –05.01.19
Thursday May 02, 2019
Thursday May 02, 2019
Today, Wednesday, May 1st, is your introduction to a remarkable psychiatrist on The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour. I am often asked, “Are there any other psychiatrists like you?” By psychiatrist like me, they usually mean psychiatrists who care so much about their patients that they do psychotherapy and avoid giving them drugs. They might also mean a psychiatrist who will fight for patient rights. Well, there are not enough psychiatrists like that, but they do exist and more and more of them are surfacing. Today’s guest is psychiatrist Gail Tasch from Wisconsin–and today she “came out” on the Dr. Peter Breggin Hour. There is much to be gained from this hour, including the effectiveness of treating newly admitted inpatients without starting them on drugs or by starting them on minimal drugs or by reducing some of the medications they were admitted on. Working within the conventional psychiatric system, Dr. Tasch manages to help people. Also, we can learn from her journey from more traditional psychiatry into the reality that drugs are dangerous neurotoxins. An enlightening, lively hour.