The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 08.28.19

This open  mic Wednesday, which is always the last show of the month, turned into an extraordinary interview with my first caller.  I began the hour talking about the importance of self-determination, autonomy, independence, personal sovereignty and the dreadful “R—Word,” responsibility.   I described how all of us are tempted to let others take over at times while we lapse into some degree of helplessness .  I outlined the potentially deadly results when psychiatry takes over for people who feel or act helpless.   Then Julie called in and told the story of how she was taken over by psychiatry, put on drugs for decades, and finally developed kidney disease from lithium but was lied to about it.  But Julie is a powerful being and she managed to throw off the disabling impact of psychiatry suppress and to begin rebuilding her life.  Her story of retaking control of herself fit seamlessly into my introduction about taking charge of one’s own life. The conversation between Julie and me provides a marvelous opportunity to see with dramatic clarity the harm that psychiatry does in robbing people of their sense of personal sovereignty and free will—and how individuals can nonetheless find their own power, throw off the yoke, and begin to build lives for themselves.  A very strong hour!

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 08.21.19

A kind, gentle and thoughtful conversation with Beatrice Birch, an art therapist who founded Inner Fire, a non-drug, small residential “proactive healing community” in Vermont.  Her program’s mere existence makes me hopeful!   Beatrice has a caring, spiritual approach based on love which is, I am sure, the heart of healing.   She leaves behind the psychiatric framework, identifying participants as “guides” and “seekers.”  True healing comes through loving, healing relationships which by their very nature are health-giving to all involved, including those who offer and those who seek help.  She works with a psychiatrist to help her "seekers" withdraw from psychiatric drugs, relying on a variety of alternative approaches.   Her comparisons between drug therapy and true healing are worth listening to on this Dr. Peter Breggin Hour. 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 08.14.19

This the 4^th appearance of journalist and scientist Patrick Hahn on the Dr. Peter Breggin Hour.  He is an extraordinary analyst of the history of psychiatry and its current manifestations.  His new book, Madness and Genetic Determinism has a much broader and more dramatic sweep than the title suggests.  We talk about the era of Moral Therapy, Fried Fromm-Reichmann and Chestnut Lodge, and Loren Mosher’s Soteria House, as well as the utter failure of psychiatric genetics.  This is a show that anyone will enjoy and learn from about the good and the bad in psychiatry.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 08.07.19

Scientist Thomas Moore joins me to talk about psychiatric drugs both in a very general way about why they do so little good and so much harm, and in very specific ways about drugs that affect the neurotransmitter GABA including Ambien, Sonata, and Lunesta, as well as Lyrica and Neurontin and all the benzodiazepines.  Find out if there is such a thing as sleep driving and sleep sex caused by Ambien and similar drugs. If you or a loved one are taking these sedative drugs for sleep or anxiety or other purposes, this discussion may provide you information that you can usefully pursue further.   A valuable hour!

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 08.01.19

On Open Mic Wednesday, always the last Wednesday of the Month, I spend the first 15 minutes talking about suffering in relationship to love.   I spoke off the “top of my head” and the “bottom of my heart.”  Then I talked with six interesting callers about difficult matters in life such as recovery from medication injury, psychiatric drug withdrawal, how to help a grown son who stopped years of psychiatric drugs all at once, and how to help a fifteen year old son who has been hospitalized and heavily medicated.  It may help you think about how to talk with people in difficult psychiatric situations.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 07.24.19

The martyrdom of America’s children is the theme of this hour.  I begin without a guest describing the great new documentary HBO film, “I Love You, Now Die,” about the Michelle Carter case—the 17-year-old girl who supposedly texted her boyfriend to death and got convicted of murder.  The HBO film is worth watching for the insights it gives into the horror that so many young people go through growing up today, from psychiatric diagnoses and drugs to the isolation of social media which separates them from their parents and other adults.  The film truly tells the untold story behind the fake one, often in my words.  I also mention another important documentary in which I am also featured, “The Minds of Men,” already seen by nearly 2 million people.   Then psychologist Michael Cornwall joins me and we talk about SPAC!—our new organization to Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children.  Our focus is on the latest assault on the brains and human rights of children: The FDA’s baseless approval of putting electrical stimulation through the brains of innocent children labeled with ADHD.  We predict that electrifying children will become a new plague upon them, one that can afflict any child who proves troublesome or looks distressed.   Finally, Michael and I talk about what children really need and it has nothing to do with disrupting and ruining their normal brain function.   If you want to talk to Michael Cornwall, the director of SPAC!,  you can email him at spacvictory@outlook.com.

 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 07.17.19

Once again Jeffrey Masson and I have a drama filled show about both psychoanalysis and psychiatry, and how both in different ways have betrayed the trust given them by society and by their patients.  Jeff provides intimate details about his discovery that Freud, and then his psychoanalyst daughter named Anna Freud, hid the truth that women were being abused by men.  Instead, they told their patients and the world the lie that the abuse of children never happened and was all a fantasy called the Oedipus Complex.   Jeff enlightened me about Dr. Asperger, viewed as an authority on autism, who curried favor with the Nazis by sending toddlers and young children to cruel deaths at the hands of organized medicine and psychiatry during World War II.   I add some details on the murder of mental patients by psychiatry as a prelude to the Holocaust.  The recent series of three  shows with Jeffrey are worth listening to as a group.  They touch on the evil perpetrated by mental health professionals in power and, in sharp contrast, on the love we share with animals.   Jeff has written great books on both animals and humans. 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 07.10.19

A magnificent conversation with journalist and scientist Robert Whitaker, author of Mad in America and Anatomy of an Epidemic.    Bob and I unleash our imaginations and thoughts over the range of psychiatric issues from the way the drug companies and organized psychiatry have imposed an entirely false narrative on the world to how doctors end up telling life-destroying lies to their patients like “you have a biochemical imbalance and need drugs.”  This Dr. Peter Breggin Hour will inspire you to open your minds about and maybe even to inspire you to voice your own opinions about evildoing in the world.   And maybe you don’t need any inspiration from me and Bob, in which case I hope you will simply bask in the enjoyment of a very thoughtful and ultimately uplifting conversation.   Join us!   

And also, watch me on the HBO two-part documentary “I Love You, Now Die.” The first part aired last night (July 9, 2019 at 8 pm NY time) and the second part tonight (July 10, same time).  It’s about the Michelle Carter case of the girl who supposedly texted her boyfriend to death and it gives me, and a number of other, the opportunity to comment on important issues about psychiatry and life in America today. 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 07.03.19

My guest Jeffrey Masson PhD may be the greatest writer ever about the emotions of animals.   What Jane Goodall is to chimpanzees in the wild, Jeff is to our dogs and to the whole broad spectrum of animal life in relationship with human life. Always science based, he writes artistically about their relationships with us.  Today’s show is all about animals and especially about dogs and what we as a species have learned from our co-evolution with them.  What emotions do they have that we share?  Do they have unique emotions?   Can we feel things they cannot feel?  What have we learned from them about love, trust, and forgiveness.  Recently an article has come out describing how dogs are the only non-human creatures who have learned to move their eyebrows to show their emotions and always in relation to us.   Dogs and humans, Jeff suggests, are “one species,” having evolved together.   I do not think I’ve ever had a conversation on or off the air in which so many new ideas and nuances about human and animal life have come out.  For me, this show is a treasure!   Please share this hour with me and Jeff.   

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 06.19.19

July 11, 2019 is World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day or W-BAD.  My guest is Wayne Douglas, co-founder of the event.  You will learn more about these dangerous, addictive drugs that are still widely prescribed beyond their recommended guidelines, often causing addiction, and frequently leaving long-term users with permanent cognitive problems.  They can contribute to suicide and violence.  Wayne Douglas may inspire you to find a group in your city to join in spreading life-saving information about these drugs. If you have been harmed by the “BZs” you will find companionship and inspiration through joining the reform movement.  You can find out how to connect at www.w-bad.org