Gene Theory For Depression Is Now Discredited

Main Category: Depression
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry;  Mental Health
Article Date: 24 Jun 2009 - 4:00 PDT

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A study that attempted to replicate the "seminal" study that laid the foundation for psychiatry's "serotonin theory" of depression, claiming a genetic- serotonin impairment underlying depression, has been debunked by the data from 14 similar studies claiming a genetic underpinning to depression.

The study, reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association, "found no evidence of an association between the serotonin gene and the risk of depression, no matter what people's life experience was." The real risk for depression is NOT BIOLOGICAL:  Dr. Merikangas, the senior author said the findings show that "a major stressful event, like divorce, in itself raised the risk of depression by 40 percent."

Dr. Kenneth Kendler, a prominent authority on psychiatry and human genetics at Virginia Commonwealth University, says that the new study "really takes the wind out of its sales" referring to the widely accepted claim that depression is linked to a genetic predisposition.

"I think what happened is that people who'd been working in this field for so long were desperate to have any solid finding," Kathleen R. Merikangas, chief of the genetic epidemiology research branch of the National Institute of Mental Health and senior author of the new analysis, said in a phone interview. "It was exciting, and some people thought it was the finding in psychiatry, a major advance."

Psychiatry is replete with invalid biochemical assumptions--that are, upon examination, contradicted by the data and life experience.  But not before those false assumptions have spurred the use of extremely toxic, harmful interventions that have caused patients irreparable physiological and mental harm.

Indeed, the  "chemical imbalance" theory is the cornerstone for prescribing serotonin boosting drugs for depression, and dopamine depleting drugs for schizophrenia. The literature is flooded with biased, scientifically invalid reports by psychiatrists who receive large sums of money from psychoactive drug manufacturers.

Serotonin-enhancing antidepressants have never been shown to be effective for most people the treatment of clinical depression--but they have caused serious toxicity--including serotonin syndrome which is often misdiagnosed and has a high risk of death--e.g., Libby Zion and Andy Warhol.  See: Video about Yankee Scatman, Leslie Cohen, who died from undiagnosed serotonin syndrome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egfXW74LMi8

The other major unproven assumption underlies the use of neuroleptics (a.k.a. antipsychotics) to treat schizophrenia: the "dopamine theory" which assumes--again, without evidence--that schizophrenia is caused by high levels of dopamine which require life-long dopamine-depleting drugs.  Among the dozens of severe adverse effects caused by both the old and new neuroleptics is Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, which has killed countless patients.

The myths crafted by psychiatry in collusion with drug manufacturers about the clinical superiority and cost-effectiveness of  the atypical antipsychotics--which were deemed "very safe & effective" was shattered by the results of the NIMH-sponsored CATIE schizophrenia outcomes study, which documented the drugs' intolerable effects and lack of clinical efficacy.

Indeed, the CATIE results forced psychiatry's leading schizophrenia researchers to acknowledge that the drugs offered no improvement over the old cheap neuroleptics (at low doses) and they cause profound physical harm. Psychiatrists gave themselves a pass saying they were "beguiled" by the promise and industry's aggressive marketing!  See: here.

However, empirical findings have not caused institutional psychiatry or its practitioners to change the failed, lethal, paradigm of care which remains welded to Big Pharma's marketing agenda--the flow of cash continues to dictate psychiatry's prescribing practices.

Worse still is that psychiatry in tandem with drug manufacturers have expanded the market for antidepressants and antipsychotics for healthy children whose physical and mental health are seriously harmed by these toxic drugs.

 In light of the compelling indisputable evidence that there is no genetic predisposition for depression or other mental problems, there is no rationale for mental health screening initiatives--unless, we are prepared to rectify life's adversities from children's and pregnant women's lives.

Quetion: Will the Obama administration put a stop to an ill conceived, and now thoroughly unsupportable policy of screening followed by drugging of children for presumed depression?

Source
AHRP

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