Tag: Ablechild

The FBI’s Work in Mass Shootings Is Not Pretty

Written by AbleChild on March 31, 2023. Posted in Articles.

Over the past twenty years, the FBI has been tasked with finding out more about how to prevent mass shootings. The definition of “mass shooting” includes incidents where three or more people are killed, per federal statute definition.

Former FBI director James Comey was in charge of finding what — and who — led up to some renowned, rather horrific mass shootings, which included Sandy Hook (2012), San Bernardino (2015), and Las Vegas (2017). Comey was dismissed after four years by President Trump.

The shooting at Sandy Hook has been widely used as a prime example of the damage that most outlets and politicians tout as “gun violence.” A November 2013 report issued by the Connecticut State Attorney’s Office concluded that Adam Lanza acted alone and planned his actions but provided no indication why he did so, or why he targeted the school. A report issued by the Office of the Child Advocate in November 2014 said that Lanza had Asperger’s syndrome and as a teenager had depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder but concluded that these conditions had “neither caused nor led to his murderous acts.”

The FBI curiously made no headway into that, either. The FBI’s gaping investigation holes include 1) a failure to investigate the ties to the treating psychiatrist of Adam Lanza and 2) the internal corruption of the Newtown Police Department with Operation Juice Box. In a nutshell, Operation Juice Box involved selling long guns and drugs, from China, directly from the Newtown police station in Connecticut.

It is important to note that although Comey was not director at that time, he certainly had the ability to, at the very least, disclose to the public his investigative findings into the corruption plaguing the Newtown Police Department prior to and in the aftermath of the mass shooting.

The FBI’s and Comey’s failure to disclose to the public the two above factors led to the passage of arguably the most unconstitutional legislation in American history, such as massive spending on what may be called a “mental health industrial complex” and a gun grab from the American people.

A theme throughout all mass shootings is prior FBI involvement with the mass shooter, chain of custody issues, and misinformation of facts given to the public. These appear to add up to an FBI culture of protecting the public/private billion-dollar behavioral health business our government engages in.

Comey also failed to speak publicly about critical data that he uncovered about Sandy Hook, allowing lawmakers to target gun manufacturers rather than the police corruption and psychiatric drug link to the treating psychiatrist of the shooter. AbleChild’s work led to the arrest of Adam Lanza’s treating psychiatrist by Homeland Security.

Adding insult to injury, the FBI didn’t even protect the chain of custody of Adam Lanza’s body. An employee of the chief medical examiner’s office allowed a family member to view the body during the investigative process.

Let’s now take the San Bernardino shooting as an example. The FBI under the direction of Comey failed with investigative work into the details in the San Bernardino mass shooters; who exactly hired Syed Farook for a critical public health safety position? Instead of focusing on an internal corruption cell within the government, Comey came to the microphones and warned the public not to “over-index” the fact that the FBI had prior contact with Farook prior to the mass murders. He didn’t dispute the media’s claim that as an employee, the shooter’s motive came down to being forced to attend a Christmas party with coworkers. Comey’s FBI crime scene also oddly wasn’t protected after the initial search into the San Bernardino tragedy; the media were invited in, destroying the agency’s ability to gather additional evidence.

In the Las Vegas shooting, Sheriff Joe Lombardo held a press conference on the release of the LVMPD Criminal Investigative Report of the October 1 Mass Casualty Shooting. He said the ten-month investigation had revealed no evidence of conspiracy or a second gunman, and that the gunman’s motive had not been determined. Lombardo said, “[W]hat we have not been able to definitively answer is why Stephen Paddock committed this act.” A report published by the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit in January 2019 said that “there was no single or clear motivating factor” for the shooting.

Cofounder of AbleChild Sheila Matthews asserts, “Jim Comey, the former FBI director, appears to have misled the public on these mass shootings — and failed to share basic facts that not only could have saved lives, but changed the course of legislation that impacts our rights and freedoms.” She continued, “It is AbleChild’s hope that federal hearings are held on the FBI role in mass shootings and evidence collection laws are protected and passed to stop inside agencies such as the FBI from protecting Big Pharma and their distribution partner the behavioral health industry that operates as our mental health system.”

The FBI’s continued failure to decipher key signals in mass shootings seems to point to a deliberate effort to cover for the billion-dollar behavioral health industry, which manages to obtain millions of dollars in state and federal funding after every single one of these mass murders. Critical evidence that most shooters have been found to be on a cocktail of psychiatric drugs magically disappears from the FBI investigations and findings.

After the Virginia Tech shooting, FBI behavioral health analyst supervisor Special Agent Mary Ellen O’Toole said, “There is no typical shooter. They don’t fall within a set of traits and characteristics.” She goes on to say that “there may not be a single thing that can be done to prevent a mission-oriented person from committing an act of violence.” Really?

The bottom line is that the FBI enjoys a level of secrecy on so many levels. With this level of power, the Bureau has the ability to conceal toxicology reports and mental health treatment records that are pertinent to finding the actual common denominator that drive these “mission-oriented killings.”

Why does the FBI not disclose each shooter’s history of long-term mental health treatment? Is it because the public would question these treatments and possibly choose alternatives? Why would the FBI not focus on side-effects from drug treatment, which has evidence linking it to psychological damage and a risk of suicide and violence? This secrecy clearly demonstrates a lack of responsibility and accountability, which makes FBI agents appear to have aligned themselves with the political ideology that is being foisted on the public, without full disclosure of evidence. Compromised and without objectivity, the FBI is failing the American people and overall public safety.

The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail

Written by AbleChild on June 17, 2022. Posted in Essential Books.

If you are curious about how school curriculums came to be structured in a manner that puts the population of America in an intellectual slumber, this text is a must-read. The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America: A Chronological Paper Trail gives a very thoroughly documented history of the education system from the late 1800s to 1999.

Written by whistleblower Charlotte Iserbyt, a former official at the Department of Education during the years 1981-1982 of the Reagan administration, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America exposes the people, government organizations, corporations and domestic and foreign groups that orchestrated this elaborate but purpose-driven plan to ruin the education system through the years. One of the main premises of this plan was to draw it out very gradually so the American people aren’t likely to notice.

In the book, Iserbyt gives shocking details, gathered from her time in the Department of Education as well as the comprehensive research she did afterwards on her discoveries, which will open your eyes to this elusive plan. She shows why and how students are lacking the reading and math skills that allow them to think independently, and are instead being taught peripheral content that government entities, special interest groups and corporations want them to know. This book will also help you gain a better understanding of the true intentions politicians have when they are passing education reform legislation.

Based on the stark facts revealed in the paper trail that makes up The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, it seems that a pure education has become a near-impossibility in America. Originally published in 1999, the book was updated in 2011 with an important 16-page addition.

About the Author

Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt is a freelance writer and education professional and activist. She served as a school board director in Maine and co-founded Guardians of Education for Maine, an educational activism group. She served as Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), U.S. Department of Education, during the first Reagan Administration, where she first blew the whistle on a major technology initiative which would manipulate curriculum in America’s classrooms.

Iserbyt also served in the American Red Cross overseas during the Korean War. She has written articles that were published in Human Events, The Washington Times, The Bangor Daily News, and she has participated in Congressional hearings. Some of her other publications that exposed the Soviet and Communist doctrine infiltrating our classrooms include the 1985 booklet Back to Basics Reform or OBE: Skinnerian International Curriculum and the 1989 pamphlet Soviets in the Classroom: America’s Latest Education Fad. She was born in 1930 in Brooklyn, New York and died on February 8, 2022. Sons of Liberty did a remarkable tribute to her work following her death, the video can be viewed here.

Reviews

David Risselada, Author of “Not On My Watch” and “Psychopolitics in America: A Nation Under Conquest”:

“I have been reading and researching Iserbyt’s book Deliberate Dumbing Down of America for a while now. I was in a social work education program where I was told I wasn’t fit for the program because I opposed the notions of social justice and white privilege. This is when I found Iserbyt’s work. I have written two books myself and blog continuously on the dangers we face concerning operant conditioning and other change methods. In fact, a link to DDD is on my page as well as New Lies For Old and other essential reading. Thanks for what you do. It is definitely appreciated and there are those of us out here fighting the good fight.”

The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools

Written by AbleChild on June 16, 2022. Posted in Essential Books.

Driven by data, statistics and thorough research, this powerful exposé of the American education system shows how teachers are purposely trained to be academically inferior, so their teaching will follow suit. Most of these teachers are even outscored on SAT tests by their own students that are about to go to college. This is an eye-opening and comprehensive testament to how poorly educated American students are becoming.

In The Conspiracy of Ignorance: The Failure of American Public Schools, author Martin Gross exposes how weakened school curriculums have become, with only one in five students taking trigonometry, physics or geography while in high school. He points out noticeable things like how when you drive around town, it seems every parent has a “My Child Made Honor Roll” sticker on their car, alluding to the lowering standards of education that awards every child a trophy. These lower standards of teaching have infiltrated our system thanks to establishment powers-that-be that have slowly nurtured a system designed to promote ignorance. So-called “remedies” the government offers to fix education, such as federal funding and smaller class sizes, are rendered useless because they do not even address the issue of government control and establishment ideals that are the crux of the problem.

Not only does The Conspiracy of Ignorance reveal how teaching has been designed to produce low performing, poorly educated students, author Martin Gross also gives detailed instructions on how to fix the problem. He outlines what can be done to increase public awareness of this issue and see to it our children receive a level of education that will allow them to contribute to society and give them a fighting chance for the successful, happy and healthy life that they deserve.

About the Author

Martin L. Gross has written dozens of books around topics like psychiatry, psychotherapy, the medical care system, government spending and taxation. Several of his books became New York Times bestsellers, including The Government Racket: Washington Waste from A to Z, A Call for Revolution, The End of Sanity, The Medical Racket and The Conspiracy of Ignorance. Before all of this, Gross, who has also written novels, was a newspaper reporter and magazine editor. Gross has testified before Congress five times, and though he was an active Democrat in the 1950s and 1960s, he has most frequently been a guest on conservative television and radio shows. Gross’s books were very popular in the 1990s and enjoyed a revival after the Tea Party was born. He has also been a member of the faculty of The New School for Social Research and an Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Science at New York University. He passed away August 21, 2013, and is survived by his two daughters and two grandchildren.

Reviews

Booklist:

“Longtime institutional critic Martin Gross is always fluent, persuasive and uncranky. Now, in one of his best books, he takes aim at the public schools.”

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 25th Anniversary Edition

Written by AbleChild on March 23, 2022. Posted in Essential Books.

With over 100 years of mandatory schooling behind us now, we have seen the progression of issues such as illiteracy and learning disabilities in our children. Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, which is John Taylor Gatto’s radical treatise on how the formal education system is damaging our children and families, is a true eye-opener. This New Society Publisher’s bestseller was originally published in 1992, had a 10th anniversary edition published in 2002, and the most recent 25th anniversary edition was printed in 2017, with a foreword from Zachary Stayback, who is an Ivy League dropout and cofounder of tech startup career foundry Praxis.

Gatto, who spent 30 years teaching in the public school system before writing this book, is an advocate for education being central to the family, instead of being used to separate children from their families. In the book, Gatto makes a strong case that effective education should promote individuality and privacy instead of conformity. Gatto is an advocate for home schooling, and points out how back in the 1800s children’s skill levels were developed much earlier than they are now, and far beyond what our school systems consider acceptable nowadays. The book also introduces the idea that genius is a very common quality that is being suppressed in our society, and we have been made to believe that genius is a rarity.

Dumbing Us Down, which opens with a speech given by Gatto in 1991 when he was named “Teacher of the Year,” is known to be a fairly easy read. In the book, Gatto explains how the modern public school system is driving out the natural curiosity and problem-solving skills children are born with, and replacing it with rule-following, fragmented time, and disillusionment. Gatto encourages children to be their own teachers and in charge of designing their own education. And he makes a strong case for why the mass education system that has developed in America does not support democracy or any of the values the United States was taught as a result of the American Revolution.

While Gatto explains how the school system itself is setting children up for failure, he also believes there are many humane and caring teachers in our schools that are just caught in a faulty system. Another key takeaway from this extremely valuable and timeless text is Gatto’s concept that “the teaching function, in a healthy community, belongs to everyone,” and that we should not just be looking to education professionals to define “good teaching.”

About the Author

John Taylor Gatto was born in on December 15, 1935, in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as Cornell and Columbia in New York. Gatto then served in the U.S. Army medical corps at Fort Knox, Kentucky and Fort Houston, Texas. After his military service, Gatto completed graduate work at the City University of New York, Hunter College, Yeshiva, the University of California, and Cornell.

Before and during Gatto’s teaching career, he served in various other occupations, many of which involved writing. He wrote scripts for the film business, wrote for advertising, was an ASCAP songwriter, and eventually founded Lava Mt. Records, which is an award-winning documentary record producer. Gatto’s record company has completed a variety of big-name projects, including presentations of speeches from Richard M. Nixon and Spiro Agnew.

Gatto’s teaching career garnered him quite a few awards. He was named New York City Teacher of the Year three times, and then held the title of New York State Teacher of the Year. After leaving his teaching career after 30 years, telling the Wall Street Journal that he was “no longer willing to hurt children,” he moved on to become a much-sought-after public speaker on the topic of school reform. His speaking engagements took him across all 50 states in the U.S., and to seven foreign countries.

Gatto had also recieved other awards, such as the Alexis de Tocqueville Award for his contributions to the cause of liberty. From 1996 on, he has been included in the Who’s Who in America. He has authored a handful of other books, including A Different Kind of Teacher and The Underground History of American Education.

Gatto passed away on October 25, 2018. His obituary on the website for the Foundation for Economic Education stated that after three decades in the classroom, “Gatto dedicated the rest of his life to repairing the damage done by the public education system.”

Reviews

Meryn Callander, author and co-founder of the Alliance for Transforming the Lives of Children:

“Gatto presents a credible case for his belief that school is an essential support system for a model of social engineering that condemns most people to be subordinate stones in a pyramidal social order, even though such a premise is a fundamental betrayal of the American Revolution.”

The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children

Written by AbleChild on February 17, 2022. Posted in Essential Books.

Dr. Ben Feingold, the pediatrician and allergist who wrote Why Your Child is Hyperactive, is a champion for dietary solutions to manage behavioral issues in children. In 1979, he published The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children. This book was developed on the basis that certain chemicals, such as artificial flavors, and artificial colors and preservatives that are in food can be detrimental to children, causing behavioral issues and interfering with learning ability. Feingold’s argument is that most neurotransmitters that affect mood and learning ability are developed in the gatrointestinal tract, from the foods we ingest. This book offers an alternative to pharmaceutical medication that has garnered successful results for many parents and children over the years, in achieving the goal of reduced hyperactivity in children, and improvements in the ability to focus.

The introduction of many of these “problem chemicals” in our foods began towards the end of Word War II, and Dr. Feingold was the first to notice how these chemicals triggered behavioral and learning issues due to their allergy-inducing properties. Some of the other symptoms Dr. Feingold observed at this time in patients of his were hives, asthma, headaches, stomach issues, urinary issues and nasal congestion.

The main food groups that the Feingold Diet eliminates are: 1) Synthetic (artificial) colors and flavors and preservatives BHT and BHA and 2) Fruits, vegetables and various other types of foods that contain natural salicylates. There are two stages for the diet. First, these two food groups are eliminated. Second, about 4 to 6 weeks later, if the child is responding with positive behavioral changes, food from the second group (salicylate fruits and vegetables) can be slowly re-introduced. But foods from the first group of synthetic flavors, colors and preservatives are not re-introduced at any point.

The Feingold Cookbook brings to light the scientific evidence that indicate diet can affect behavior and learning ability in children, and introduces a list of forbidden foods. And since it can be a challenge for many families to implement the dramatic changes the Feingold Diet requires, The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children offers helpful suggestions for recipes that have been used by families that follow this diet. Today, the Feingold Association has increased the Feingold food list to thousands of acceptable brand names of foods and non-food products.

About the Author

Dr. Ben Feingold is a pediatric allergist who taught pediatrics at Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, and then moved to Los Angeles where he practiced pediatrics for 22 years. While in Los Angeles, Dr. Feingold served as chief of pediatrics at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, was an associate in allergy at the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, and an attending pediatrician at the Los Angeles County Hospital. His research has been a source of controversy and heavy discussion among certain bodies in government. But much of his research has been of much interest to the U.S. Senate and State of California. Dr. Feingold can be thanked for the removal of certain harmful substances from our food supply, as well as the increased safety in food production around the world.

Feingold’s research led to more research done by others, which suggested in 1980 that artificial food dyes might indeed adversely affect the behavior of children. In 1951, Dr. Feingold married his wife, Helene. Together, they wrote The Feingold Cookbook for Hyperactive Children, which was published in 1979, four years after Why Your Child is Hyperactive.

Dr. Feingold was born in Pittsburgh in 1900 and did his undergraduate and medical work at the University of Pittsburgh. He was an intern at Passavant Hospital in Pittsburgh, and then went on to serve as a fellow in pathology at the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1927, followed by a fellowship at the children’s clinic at the University of Vienna from 1928-1929.

Though Feingold is gone, the Feingold Foundation continues his valuable work and research, and you can find more information on their website.

Coping with Children’s Temperament: A Guide for Professionals

Written by AbleChild on September 21, 2021. Posted in Essential Books.

Pediatrician William B. Carey, and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, brought us this insightful must-have guide to temperaments in children. Instead of constantly growing frustrated with their child’s temper tantrums, impatience, irritability, self-centeredness and combativeness, Coping with Children’s Temperament: A Guide for Professionals gives parents, doctors, nurses, teachers, etc. an in-depth examination of temperament in children, what factors affects it, how it is affected, and how it develops over time. And while these behaviors are normal in children, incorrectly responding to and managing them can put the child at odds with their caregiver, which can lead to clinical problems over time.

Once we understand what is causing these behaviors, the book provides specific techniques for managing and preventing these behaviors in the future. Because while discipline may stop the behavior temporarily, it often does not solve the underlying problem. You will also learn the ways that your child’s temperament may be affecting you, which parents are often unaware of. Dr. Carey provides a wealth of research and helpful case studies to support his narrative. In the foreword to the book, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that this book “should revolutionize parenting for many readers.”

About the Author

William B. Carey is a pediatrician who graduated from Harvard Medical School and did his specialty training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He then remained in Pennsylvania for 3 years of primary pediatrics care. In his solo practice, Carey specialized in child development and behavior, with a focus on the differences in temperaments of children. He is well-known for a series of five temperament questionnaires he created with a team of psychologists, for children ages one month to twelve years old. These questionnaires are commonly used as a reference across the world, and have been translated into many different languages. Some of Dr. Carey’s other books include Development-Behavioral Pediatrics: Expert Consult and Prevention and Early Intervention.

They Say You’re Crazy: How the World’s Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal

Written by AbleChild on September 13, 2021. Posted in Essential Books.

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) IV is the official diagnostic “bible” used by the American Psychiatric Association and mental health professionals. But so much of the general population doesn’t know how these “illnesses” are determined, since they are not the same as medical diagnoses, which can be determined with the clear-cut scientific method. That is where psychologist and author Paula J. Caplan comes in with her book, They Say You’re Crazy: How the World’s Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal. Caplan is a former consultant to the DSM, and has served as an adviser to various related APA committees.

In total, there are 400 mental illness labels listed in the DSM IV. This includes everything from “self-defeating personality disorder” to “nicotine dependence” to “premenstrual dysphoric disorder”. “Homosexuality” was once listed in an earlier publication of the DSM as a mental illness, but not in the current DSM IV. This should be a cause for widespread concern, because since when can a disease stop being a disease?

Caplan gives an eye-opening look into the lack of scientific methods and evidence, bias and close-mindedness that was involved in the process of developing the DSM IV handbook. She questions whether the creators of the book have the authority to determine what is “normal” and “not normal.” She cuts through the mental health industry jargon to expose to the everyday laymen the danger of these official labels that are being put on people and dramatically impacting the course of their lives. She also points out how the book is very thorough in listing symptoms of these illnesses, but not treatments or solutions.

About the Author

Paula J. Caplan is a clinical and research psychologist, as well as an award-winning nonfiction author, playwright, actor, activist, advocate and director. She grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and then went on to graduate from the Radcliffe College of Harvard University. Following that, she attended Duke University, where she received her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology.

Caplan is currently an Associate at the Dubois Research Institute of the Hutchins Center at Harvard University, where she works on their Voices of Diversity Project. She is also a past fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. She is a former Full Professor of Applied Psychology and Head of the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education at the Ontario Institute for studies in Education. She was also a former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and former Lecturer in Women’s Studies at the University of Toronto.

Caplan has published a total of twelve books so far, which include Lifting a Ton of Feathers: A Woman’s Guide to Surviving in the Academic World, Bias in Psychiatric Diagnosis, Don’t Blame Mother: Mending the Mother-Daughter Relationship, and her most recent publication, Johnny and Jane Come Marching Home: How All of Us Can Help Veterans.

Reviews

Psychotherapist Bryan Knight, from Ezinearticles.com:

“Read Dr. Caplan’s book and weep for the thousands of people (mostly women, of course) whose lives have been damaged by being labelled with the stigma of a mental illness, when in reality their only problem was that, like [like psychiatrist and author] Dr. Siebert, they dared to be different. Or human.”

Reclaiming our Children: A Healing Solution for a Nation in Crisis

Written by AbleChild on August 20, 2021. Posted in Essential Books.

This is another groundbreaking and insightful book from psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin. In Reclaiming our Children: A Healing Solution for a Nation in Crisis, Breggin makes the case that society has, over time, begun to invest less and less in the support and attention that is given to children. Parents have become too busy, and as a result less involved in their children’s lives. Then children begin to seek that support they are longing for through behaviors such as violence, frustration, humiliation and anger.

Breggin felt moved to write this book after the events surrounding the shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. He was disturbed by the response of government, which used biological psychiatry as an explanation for mental states that lead to these events, and subsequently pushed psychiatric drugs as a solution. Biological psychiatry attributes a chemical imbalance in the brain as the cause of rebellion, violence and misbehavior in children, as opposed to what is going on in their environment and how they are responding.

Breggin does an excellent job of presenting evidence, through his own counseling experiences, that psychiatric drugs can lead to aggression, and potentially even be the cause, not the solution, to events like Columbine. He says that you cannot fix all these behaviors by trying to fix a child’s brain. Often, aggressive, violent and other unruly behaviors are often a response by the child to being mistreated, by their parents or others in society.

About the Author

Peter R. Bregg, M.D., is a a psychiatrist who is very well known for helping set the stage for modern criticism of psychiatric treatments and psychotropic drugging. He has promoted so much success in the field of mental health that he has acquired the nickname “conscience of psychiatry.” HIs reform efforts began in the 1970s, and resulted in almost a complete cease in the use of procedures like lobotomy and psychosurgery in the Western World. Then in the 1990s, he and his wife Ginger were able to stop a federal eugenics project that was planned on America’s inner-city children. You can find more details about this in the book he co-authored with Ginger, The War Against Children of Color.

Breggin has been a full-time consultant at NIMH, as well as for the FAA. He has published over 20 books and numerous scientific articles. Some of his books include Toxic Psychiatry, The Antidepressant Factbook, and Talking Back to Prozac. His latest book is Covid-19 and the Global Predators: We are the Prey. Dr. Breggin is also the founder and director of The Center for the Study of Emphatic Therapy, Education and Living. He attended Harvard, and currently resides in Ithaca, NY. Find out more on his website, www.breggin.com.

Reviews

Douglas A. Smith, from the organization Antipsychiatry.org:

“By giving the reader an understanding of children’s thinking, he illustrates the stupidity of the underlying assumption of biological psychiatry, namely, that children’s (and adult’s) problems are caused by abnormalities of their brains, which in turn, to the ignorant, justifies the use of psychiatric drugs.”

Gwen Broude, in the article Scatterbrained Child Rearing from Reason.com:

“It is trivially true that all of a person’s thoughts, emotions, and behavior are a product of what is going on in the brain. But when people begin to see every inconvenient behavior as a disorder, and when they then propose, on the basis of the so-called new brain science, that we fix the child by fixing his brain, we have got a problem. Breggin targets this recent tendency on the part of educators, psychiatrists, and policy makers to view children’s behaviors as dysfunctions when they depart from the norm and then to advocate medical treatments for those supposed dysfunctions.”

The Ritalin Fact Book: What Your Doctor Won’t Tell You

Written by AbleChild on July 30, 2021. Posted in Essential Books.

Peter R. Breggin, M.D. is an accomplished zealot for the overprescribing and misuse of psychotropic medications, that come as a result of the misdiagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in children. In the book, Breggin makes a strong case, which he backs up with pharmaceutical research and correspondence files that he has gained access to over the years due to being a medical expert in so many civil and criminal cases involving the drug. His reputation as a go-to medical expert has pegged Breggin as the “Ralph Nader of Psychiatry.”

This book will give you the most accurate and detailed information about psychotropic drugs prescribed for ADHD, and the information is presented in an easy-to-understand and straightforward manner. The drugs Breggin addresses that are being overprescribed and misused are Ritalin SR, Adderall XR, Dexedrine, Focalin, Concerta, Metadate ER and Cylert. Nearly 6 million children are taking one of these drugs, supposedly for ADHD. Breggin gives details about all the possible side effects and withdrawal symptoms of these medications. He says that not only do these drugs not help children with their learning and concentration issues, but they can cause other serious physical problems in children. Breggin also lays out different alternative approaches for treating children with hyperactivity or concentration problems that do not involve psychotropic drugs.

About the Author

The Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses

Written by AbleChild on June 22, 2021. Posted in Essential Books.

The Wildest Colts Make the Best Horses, is, as the title implies, a work that encourages the spirits of our young people and shines a more positive light on them. The book also has two subtitles. The first subtitle, The Truth About Ritalin, ADHD, and other “Disruptive Behavior Disorders” signals that the book really brings a lot of attention to the phenomenon of unrealistically high numbers of children being labeled with these kind of diagnoses, and prescribed potentially dangerous psychiatric medication. The second subtitle is What to Do When Your Child is Labeled By the Schools. The book offers a great deal of support for any adult that is caring for and looking to help a child in this type of situation.

This book is divided into three major sections:

Part 1: Recognition and Remembrance

Since society distorts the reality regarding the experience of children and schools, we need to recognize this and create a realistic picture of the situation to respond effectively.
Addresses the “Biopsychiatry” approach, which has led to the overmedicating of children with psychiatric drugs like Ritalin in the United States.
This section works to focus on ideas of who the child truly is and see the schools for what they really are.
Remembrance refers to training ourselves to be able to remember who our child truly is, which can be easy to forget in times of heightened stress and when the child is having a hard time emotionally or behaviorally.

Part 2: Information and Action

This section focuses on solutions – what action parents can take to help their child.
In our flawed society where no one tells us how to be parents, this book guides us on how to respond to these sensitive situations.

Part 3: On Counseling Children

This section is the heart of the book.
Does a great job of outlining and unpacking all of the conditioned thinking that has led our society astray.
Our society lacks support for both parents and children, and helping your children the way that is outlined in this book is very challenging in our culture today.
This section thoroughly examines important topics like fear, shame, crying and anger.
The author shares his own personal experiences as a parent.

About the Author

John Breeding, Ph.D., is a psychologist with over 25 years of experience who counsels adults children and families out of his private practice in Austin, Texas, and also around the world. He is the director of the non-profit organization Wildest Colts Resources, which focuses on helping adults working with young people having a hard time to offer non-drug treatment alternatives. He is also the director of Texans for Safe Education, a citizens group dedicated to fighting the growing role of psychiatry and psychiatric drugs in schools today.

Dr. Breeding is also experienced in other aspects of psychiatric oppression, including electroshock and psychiatric drugging of elders in nursing homes. He received his doctorate from the University of Texas. He has published several other books: Eyes Wide Open: Parenting and Life Mainfestos for the 21st Century, True Nature and Great Misunderstandings (On How We Care for Our Children According to Our Understanding, and Necessity of Madness and Unproductivity: Psychiatric Oppression or Human Transformation.

Reviews

Moira Dolan, M.D. The West News, Fall 1996:

“Are you the parent of a ‘wild colt’? Is your darling child identified as a ‘problem’ in school, or been the target of kindly professionals suggesting Ritalin? If so, you will discover your child in John Breeding’s new book….”

Chris Mercogliano, author of Making it Up as We Go Along, the Story of the Albany Free School and Co-Director of the Free School:

“Authors die for the perfect titles for their work. Well, John Breeding has come up with a doozy here. I wholeheartedly agree with Breeding and share his horror at what we are doing to our society’s wild colts. Breeding elects to focus mainly on today’s most popular designer label for children who don’t fit the mold, “Attention Deficit Disorder.” He emphatically repudiates any and every psychopharmaceutical approach to the behavioral management of children… Breeding knows what he’s talking about. So, parents out there, if the “psychiatric police” show up at your door, there is another way.”