The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

My guest Dr.Bonnie Burstow is a dedicated lifelong Canadian activist in the psychiatric reform movement. She is taking the campaign against electroshock "treatment" (ECT) to a new level--organizing professionals to stand up against this brain-damaging procedure. Dr. Burstow and I discuss ECT, including what the existence of this barbaric "therapy" says about psychiatry as an institution.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Today's show focuses on the most disturbing and enlightening events in the sordid history of psychiatry. Experts at the Nuremberg Trials agree with my conclusion that the Jewish Holocaust might never have occurred without German biological psychiatry blazing the way with the systematic murder of mental patients. With American and European complicity, German psychiatry developed the precedent and methodology for mass murder using "Euthanasia" Centers, gas chambers and cremation. Germany biological psychiatry showed Hitler how the unthinkable could be done without anyone in the Western world protesting. What are the implications for modern biological psychiatry? When you've listened, to read my scientific article with all the citations and documentation, please click here: http://breggin.com/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_details&gid=157&Itemid=37

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

How do we live successfully in "This catastrophe called life?" Drawing inspiration from existential psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, as well as his own Greek background, Alex Pattakos PhD helps us struggle and triumph by finding meaning in life.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

A psychiatrist convinces you to put your marvelously intelligent, delightful, artistic and athletic 11-year-old child on Zoloft to treat her test anxiety. In less than a year, she dies by suicide. Mathy Downing tells the unforgettable story of the death of her daughter, Candace. I provide commentary about antidepressants and about the Downing's malpractice case in which I was a medical expert. Play this hour for anyone who thinks that antidepressants are good for children.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Could Paxil drive a young college student to commit 9 bizarre armed robberies—at local stores where people knew him and his family? Could 8 years in jail become an equally astonishing period of personal growth? I first met Kevin McShane as an expert in his criminal case and now he’s been out of jail for four months. It’s his first appearance as a psychiatric reformer. You will never forget what Kevin has to teach us.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Imagine that your life becomes so desperate that NYC doctors try to push you into a lobotomy. Imagine that you finally meet a therapist who confronts you with personal responsibility, that you get it, and that you go on to graduate school to become a self-determined and enlightened psychotherapist. That's Dr. Faye Snyder's story, and her honesty on my show influenced me to talk about my own childhood in a way I've never done before in public.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

Practical, straightforward advice on how to raise peaceful and respectful children with my very experienced and clear-thinking guest, Gary Unruh, LCSW. Any parent, as well as anyone who relates to or works with children, may benefit from this lively and passionate discussion.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

If you come upon the unconscious victim of a car wreck who suddenly awakens in a panic, what should you do? If you're sitting beside a loved one or patient coming out of anesthesia and he or she becomes violent... or if your friend, parishioner or patient threatens suicide... how should you respond? What can any of us do if someone we care about starts acting very disturbed or "crazy" in our presence? My guest Doug Bower is well-qualified to talk about this with me. He's a PhD counselor, an ordained Methodist minister and a registered nurse. We focus on how to handle emergencies without resort to psychiatric drugs.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

My guest is Dr. Gerald Porter, Dean of the School of Natural Arts and Sciences at the renowned Bastyr University. Dr. Porter is one of the most thoughtful persons I know. Join the two of us as we talk about "what helps us to heal ourselves and others," "embracing human spiritual diversity," and encouraging alternative or complementary health practices. As these radio discussions often do, we move easily from the theoretical to the practical in regard to living life to the fullest.

The Dr. Peter Breggin Hour

My guest Jon Rappoport and I start out talking about how psychiatric diagnoses and drugs suppress human beings, and then we look deeper into what’s essentially good and important about all of us—our spiritual nature, individuality, imagination, free will and personal freedom. These are not existential abstractions; they are the essential stuff of our lives, to be protected, nurtured and shared with others.