The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 01.16.19

Repeat of 04.12.17. Robert Whitaker calls himself a journalist but I believe he is one of the most important scientists in the world today based on his scientific analyses of the flaws in what passes for research in psychiatry. He is also an insightful social critic. More than that, he is a major figure in the promotion of genuinely therapeutic approaches. For this hour, Bob and I especially examine the larger psychological, moral and social damage done to individuals and institutions, and to society itself, by what Bob calls “the psychiatric narrative.”

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 01.16.19

My guest Kim Witczak represents consumers on the FDA committee that makes recommendations to the agency about drug approval.  Kim lost her husband to suicide while he was taking the antidepressant Zoloft.  She is a remarkable example of surmounting tragedy to make a real contribution to society.   Kim is also a fountain of information about shenanigans and trends at the FDA and its partners in the pharmaceutical industry.   She has genuine insider information.  One striking new phenomenon at the FDA is fast-tracking drugs for “treatment-resistant” depression.  In other words, after patients have been poisoned with neurotoxic drugs and made worse, the FDA will help industry come up with new and more neurotoxic drugs to further overwhelm the already injured patients.   This is apparently an agency-wide trend at the FDA, which has recently approved ECT for “treatment-resistant depression.”  Instead of “First, do no harm,” the new motto of psychiatry, the FDA and the drug companies has become “Do more harm!”  You can keep up with many of these issues by subscribing to my free Frequent Alerts on www.breggin.com.  And remember you can call into my program to make a comment or to ask a question by phoning 888 874 4888 every Wednesday live at 4 pm NY Time.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 01.09.19

My guest Michael Fontaine is a Professor of Classics who, every time he comes on my radio show, creates an hour of conversation that is incredibly interesting and closely related to modern life.  He informs us about homosexuality in ancient times on the part of both adult males and females and about the segregation of the sexes that made romantic love difficult.  He describes what Plato’s Symposia were really like (drinking parties).  He briefly reads an amazing theory presented by a comedian at the Symposia about the theory of human split-aparts searching for wholeness.  We talk movingly about dogs and faithfulness in ancient and modern times.  As he does every time he is on my show, Michael came up with a new example of ancient literature ridiculing psychiatric pretensions.   He joins me in talking about romantic love in our time and the loneliness of young people on college campuses, something he is trying to create solutions for.  Michael Fontaine is a fountain of kindness, wisdom and intellectual entertainment.  For background on the show, see my website, www.breggin.com, the section on Frequent Alerts, for my two new blogs on love, “How Love Can Reformat Our Lives” and “Are Emotional Disorders Really Disorders of Love?”  Remember, 4-5 pm on Wednesdays, you can listen live on www.prn.fm and call in live at 888 874 4888.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 01.02.19

This January 2, 2019 “Dr. Peter Breggin Hour” is one of my shows I most wish everyone would hear.  It’s about “Love in the New Year.”  I talk about what love is and what it is not: How love “Wipes clean the slate” and “Reformats our lives.” How “Love centers our mind and heart as one” and how “Love obliterates the familiar limits and restraints within which we have lived and imagined.”  Those were snippets I read briefly from an essay which I will be putting up on www.breggin.com in my free Frequent Alerts within the next few days.  

My final unexpected caller was my friend Pinar Miski, a psychiatrist who helps to teach my most intensive course.  On the air, she added her own marvelous perspective on expanding love beyond personal relationships to creativity, nature, art and basically all of existence.  From every caller, we get the message not to confuse love with lost or painful relationships, or with the corruption of too many institutions that claim to promote love.  You can make love the center of your life. 

Please give this show a chance to improve your life.  Listen to it on the archive.  And remember, you can call in and talk with me live every Wednesday 4-5 pm New York time at 888 874 4888 while you simultaneously listen to it live on www.prn.fm.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 12.26.18

The last show of 2018 was amazing.  Although it was Open Mic Wednesday (the last Wednesday of the month), it became focused on the FDA’s recent rescue of electroshock (ECT) by declaring it so safe that the agency approved it without testing for “drug-resistant depression.”  This is a catastrophe, as one of my callers noted, because it unleashes the treatment on so many more people.  Currently given to hundreds of thousands, ECT can now be given to tens of millions of people struggling with grief and hopelessness (“depression”) who get worse rather than better on psychiatric drugs.  

But why would the federal government through the FDA save such a horrendously damaging treatment?  The explanation, I suggest on the air, may be found in an astonishing new movie, The Minds of Men, which examines the history of federal support for “treatments” such as electroshock and lobotomy.  The movie by two young filmmakers, Aaron and Melissa Dykes, presents a huge amount of information that was previously unknown to me about government and foundation involvement in funding mind control over many decades. We already knew that the CIA had funded horrendous ECT experiments on unknowing patients in Canada and we already knew about my discovery of Justice Department funding psychosurgery experiments.  But the Minds of Men researches far more deeply into this dark past which surely remains with us in the present—maybe even driving the FDA’s rescue of ECT.  The covert government did it before—why would it stop supporting ECT now?

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 12.05.18

My guest Sarah Price Hancock survived more than 100 ECT and dozens of psychiatric drugs as well as psychiatric hospitalizations to go on to become a certified rehabilitation counselor.  She is an inspiration to the millions of people who have been damaged by psychiatry and need to recreate productive, satisfying lives for themselves.   I cannot exaggerate my appreciation of her courage, determination, and intellect, and the spiritual strength demonstrated by her recovery.   Of course she still has injuries, but they have not stopped her from having a good life and, indeed, from fighting back effectively as a reformer in the field of mental health.   This is a favorite show of mine, made so by the wondrous Sarah Price Hancock, who shows us how to surmount some of the worst trauma routinely inflicted on Americans--psychiatric treatment.

 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 11.28.18

Today is open mic day, devoted to callers, as always on the last Wednesday of the month at 4-5 pm NY time. The  focus is on my new blog, “Are Emotional Disorders Really Disorders of Love?” https://breggin.com/frequent-alert-70-are-emotional-disorders-really-disorders-of-love/  But I also answer some interesting, important questions about psychiatric drug withdrawal.  What do you think about my premise that psychological and spiritual health depends on being willing and able to feel and express love, and to receive it as well?  A related premise is that all good therapies and all good routes to a better life depend on becoming a greater source of love and a more able recipient of love.  I know I’m going “out on a limb,” but it is a limb on the tree of life.   Listen to the show every Wednesday at 4 pm live on www.prn.com, call in live to ask a question or to give an opinion on 888 874 4888.  And find the archive for past shows on www.breggin.com. 

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 11.21.18

Richard Lawhern PhD became an activist in the field of pain treatment and opiates in response to his wife’s suffering with physical pain.  An information analyst by training, he is now among the most scientifically informed and thoughtful individuals in the entire field. Have you been told that over-prescribing doctors are the cause of most addictions and many opioid overdose deaths?   No so. Have you heard the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) claims that Americans are massively over-prescribed addictive pain-killing medications?  The CDC is wrong.  Do you fear the harmful effects of opiates more than you fear psychiatric drugs?  You’ve been misled.  This is a fascinating and highly informative interview packed with information you are not likely to get anywhere else.   Listen to my interviews and commentaries every Wednesday at 4-5 pm NYT time on www.prn.fm and call in live to ask questions or offer opinions on 888 874 4888.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 11.14.18

One of my favorite guests and favorite psychologists, Michael Cornwall PhD talks with me and you about the meaning of dreams.  Starting with Carl Jung's little-known approach to dreams, which is remarkably practical, we discuss dreams in everyday life and in psychosis from both our perspectives.  Michael brings a remarkably informed viewpoint as a person with lived personal experience and as a therapist who has spent decades helping people, including those whom others give up on and push aside with diagnoses and neurotoxic drugs.   As always with Michael, a thoughtful and interesting discussion filled with wisdom.  

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour – 10.31.18

A great show:  My last Wednesday of the month open lines for callers, where my audience becomes my guests.  I am beginning each of these last-of-the-month shows with a pithy Dr. Breggin's Keys to Life, and do believe that if you put into practice today's advice, it will change your life.  Then we go on to several  encouraging, hopeful calls from people who have triumphed over psychiatric drugs or helped their family members do so.  I also answer a few tough questions about psychiatric drug withdrawal.  This show is a good way to learn from me because I'm challenged throughout to relate to and to help each person who calls in.  Remember the show is live every Wednesday at 4 pm NY time on www.prn.fm and you can call in live during that hour on 888 874 4888.