Over the years, I’ve been a vocal campaigner to ban the paradigm known as the Behavioural and Psyhcological Symptoms of Dementia (BPSD). This harmful labelling of normal human responses to a diagnosis of dementia, or to poor care, harm and neglect, was developed with funding from J&J who has had many legal challenges over misleading the industry and public. J&J are not alone. Frankly, I’ve even been bullied by academics for challenging BPSD!
BPSD was implemented into dementia care decades ago by psychiatry – without evidence based research to support it. Although some have changed the label of BPSD to Changed Behaviours, Unmet Needs, Responsive Behaviours, and so one, it continues to ensure poor care, and harmful practices includign physical and chemical restraint. More than ever before, we need to consider banning the use of even the word ‘behaviours’ as a trigger for medication or ‘care’. Many academics and clinicians have built long high profile careers on this topic, which has made it much harder to challenge.
Some years ago, my tribe moved from the global dementia advocacy groups, to the mental health and racism activists. They are at least two decades ahead of dementia activism or advocacy, where although human rights and dementia as a disability are occasionally mentioned, post diagnostic support and services remain biomedical focused, supportign the notion there is no other thing to do that prepare for your end of life. Deficits and death, rather than strategies including disability support and rehabilitation to live with dementia are generally missing in action.
So, onto my blog today, highlighting an interview with a psychiatrist, Dr Ryan Sultan, “The ADHD Debate NO ONE in Psychiatry Wants to Have”. It is a fascinating interview, full of some stark admissions, most of which Dr Sultan attempted to have redacted afterwards. The saying, ‘never let the truth get in the way of a good story’ has a certain ring to it…
What is really notable in this interview, is that the majority of diagnoses in the DSM, not just ADHD, suffer from the same lack of validity and reliability problem. I’m not sure if BPSD is in the DSM, but it too suffers from the same problems, and like so many other psychiatric labels, is heavily funded by Big Pharma companies, and implementation of BPSD was done vigorously by many with serious conflicts of interest. But more on conflicts of interest by those purporting to provide best practice for another day.
Read Dr Roger McFillins blog published after this video went live.
My Debate with an ADHD “Expert” Who Couldn’t Prove It’s Real
A psychiatrist’s 2-hour confession followed by damage control via research assistant.
“You genuinely cannot make this up. I couldn’t have scripted a better exposure of psychiatric establishment arrogance if I’d hired Hollywood writers.
Dr. Ryan Sultan, a board-certified adult and child psychiatrist, Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, researcher with his own lab studying “mental health informatics” and “large public health datasets,” agreed to come on my podcast. This man has all the credentials. The Ivy League appointment. The NIH connections. The published papers. The works.
For over two hours, we sat across from each other discussing ADHD, the drugging of 7 million American children, and the complete lack of biological markers for this supposed medical condition. Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/DZAH0wQWvIE?si=tcJsr5A7C3sNY7IC ”
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