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Mental Health Industry Facts

  • In 1995, Dr. Rex Cowdry, then director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), testified before a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, saying: “[W]e do not know the causes [of any mental disorder]. We don't have the methods of 'curing' these illnesses yet.” This state of affairs hasn’t changed since.

  • In February 2006, when the Journal of Abnormal Psychology celebrated its 100 years of publication, a journal editor, Tim Baker, professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin, said that psychology had yet to provide a standard definition of what is normal or abnormal behavior, stating: “To what extent is abnormal behavior something that is merely unusual. To that extent does it have to be problematic in terms of having harmful consequences to the individual or to people around the individual? It’s a somewhat fuzzy concept.”

  • The U.S. loses approximately $100 million (€78.7 million) to healthcare fraud, with a large percentage of this due to fraudulent practices in the mental health industry.

  • One of the largest health care fraud suits in U.S. history was in mental health, yet it is the smallest sector within health care.

  • A study of U.S. Medicaid and Medicare insurance fraud, especially in New York, over a 20-year period, showed psychiatry to have the worst track record of all medical disciplines.

  • 40% of U.S. psychiatrists are sued for malpractice during the course of their career, helping to drive up doctors’ insurance premiums.

  • Studies show that at least 10% of psychiatrists admit to sexually abusing their patients. A U.S. study reported that 1 out of 20 clients who had been sexually abused by their therapist was a minor, the average age being 7 for girls and 12 for boys. The youngest child was three.

  • The World Psychiatric Association (WPA) produced a “Mental Disorders in Primary Care” kit to induce primary care physicians to diagnose mental illness. Today, general practitioners prescribe between 75% and 80% of antidepressants that are resulting in massive suits because of their serious side effects.

  • A review of acts of violence in U.S. schools since 1998 reveals that 38% of children and teens responsible for these crimes were taking psychiatric drugs. The relationship of psychiatric drugs in the remaining school shootings has not been publicly disclosed or the student’s records are sealed.

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