A little known but extremely relevant fact: The Campaign to “Stop the Stigma of  Mental Illness”  was launched by Big Pharma

With a seemingly altruistic agenda, the fact is the campaign to end the “stigma” of mental illness is one driven and funded by those who benefit from more and more people being labeled mentally ill—pharma, psychiatry and pharmaceutical front groups such as NAMI and CHADD to name but a few. For example, take NAMI’s campaign to stop the “stigma” and “end discrimination” against the mentally ill—the “Founding Sponsors” were Abbott Labs, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Pfizer, Novartis, SmithKline Beecham and Wyeth-Ayerst Labs. (For an in-depth look at this issue and the massive funding that Big Pharma pours into so-called patient’s rights groups —click here )

The fact is that the “stigmatization ” is coming from those that benefit from people being labeled/stigmatized with mental disorders that have no medical/biological evidence. Case in point, if you are rebellious, you are “stigmatized” with the label “oppositional defiant disorder.” If your kid acts like a kid he is “stigmatized” with the label “ADHD.” If you are sad, unhappy (even temporarily) you are “stigmatized” with the label “depressive” or “bi-polar disorder.” If you are shy you are “stigmatized” with the label “social anxiety disorder.” Moreover, you or your child are now stigmatized for life as this label, which is based solely on opinion, is now part of your permanent  medical record, despite the fact there is no medical evidence to prove you are “mentally ill.” This is not to say people don’t experience emotional or behavioral difficulties, it is simply that the “medicalization” of these issues by psychiatry is based on partnering with drug companies to sell the idea of disorders as medical conditions, justifying the administration of dangerous and potentially lethal drugs as “medicine.”

Next: Psychiatric Labels are the Problem >

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