Dear Dr. Sharfstein,

On the June 24, 2005, Today Show, Tom Cruise, debating host, Matt Lauer, stated (among other things) there is no such thing as a “chemical imbalance.”  On the June 26, 2005 Today Show, Dr. Joseph Glenmullen observed that psychiatrists and other physicians regularly tell patients they are have “chemical imbalances” (of the brain) then stated that there is no such thing as a “chemical imbalance.”  Your response was, that health care insurances rarely cover/fund psychiatric care other than medication treatment.

In People Magazine, July 11, 2005, you were quoted: “We do not have a clean-cut lab test” suggesting that there is something to test for—an abnormality/disease.

I have discovered and described real diseases.  Such discoveries are the subject of the first, single, original case report of this disease/syndrome/abnormality or that.   Here is the citation for the one such syndrome I and my colleagues discovered/described in 1969.

Baughman, F. A., Jr., List, C. F., Williams, J. R., Muldoon, J. P., Segarra, J. M.:  The Glioma-Polyposis Syndrome.  New England Journal of Medicine, 281:1345-1346, 1969.

The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine had us submit pathological slides to validate the claims made in the report.

I have discovered, described and enlarged upon existing descriptions of other real diseases as well, but this is sufficient to make the point that for every real disease, there is just one, original case report. I request at this time that you provide me with the citation to the first case report/validation you have for any “mental illness” (we know there are real neurological diseases listed in the DSM IV).  Why not start with a few of psychiatry’s better known, more highly publicized “diseases”: OCD, ADHD, ODD, major depression, post-partum depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, panic disorder, conduct disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder.

If any of the above are real diseases, such original case reports must exist and should be readily at hand for purposes of a prompt response.

Sincerely yours,

Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD