Our dear friend and colleague, Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., died on July 21, 2021 at her home in Rockville, Maryland. Paula was a tireless advocate for those who have been harmed by the conventional mental health industry, especially women and veterans. She has touched the lives of countless people and we can still hear the echoes of her forceful message.
It is fitting that we dedicate this conference to her, given that she spoke for those who have been branded as defective with "mental illness" labels. For decades, Paula stood toe-to-toe with the powerful and entrenched orthodoxy. One of her most notable achievements was when she served on the DSM task force in an attempt to ensure its scientific foundation and to remove the long-standing biases against marginalized and minority groups. She eventually resigned from the task force over that orthodoxy's resistance to change. Still, her voice of justice reverberated throughout the mental health professions and the lay public.
In 2019, ISEPP presented Paula with the ISEPP Lifetime Achievement Award. It states:
Dr. Paula J. Caplan has worked for decades as a dissident psychologist who has courageously challenged the false claims of psychiatry. Since the 1980s she has painstakingly exposed the damaging effects of psychiatric diagnoses. She served on the DSM Task Force in an attempt to ensure its scientific foundation, eventually resigning from it in protest when it became clear that committee members were only interested in maintaining the status quo of regulating natural human behavior. She widely published these diagnostic dangers in her book They Say You’re Crazy: How the World’s Most Powerful Psychiatrists Decide Who’s Normal, and in the award-winning Off-Off-Broadway play “Call Me Crazy.” She has also spoken out about how women have been harmed by the system’s misogyny and veterans’ screams of war trauma are silenced. Dr. Caplan’s efforts give consumers of mental health services a true understanding of psychiatric diagnoses and treatment, ensuring the principle of informed consent is maintained. Her activism has shown a bright light and brought to public notice the terrible harms suffered by so many who seek help from the traditional mental health system. Dr. Caplan’s many efforts have immeasurably benefited mental health professionals and the consumers of mental health services. The distinctive life and achievements of Dr. Caplan reflect great credit upon herself and makes her more than deserving of this award for lifetime achievement.
CAMPP (ISEPP's action committee) just released "Prescripticide", a new 12-minute video about how psychiatric drugs increase the risk of violence and suicide. Please view this video and share it as widely as possible so it goes viral!
The Destructive Propaganda of the Mental Health Industry:How Did We Get Here? Where Are We Going?
Coming this fall to a computer screen near you! The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry (ISEPP) will be having their first ever virtual conference to be held this fall. Be on the lookout for more information about registration and participation in this new digital format.
Since the dawn of civilization, the human species has struggled with the Different, the Unusual, the Eccentric, the Mad, the Crazy, the Psychotic, sometimes kindly, many times with great cruelty. This conference will address the question: “How did we allow biological psychiatry take a strangle hold of this struggle?”
There will be presentations exploring how the so called “medical model” has insinuated itself into virtually all aspects of our culture from the “Medication of Normal” to a brain model of all behavior. Our schools, our courts, our every day life has felt the impact. Join us this fall as we critically examine how Big Pharma, Psychiatry, and the FDA influence our lives and our thinking.
Mad in Sweden: Dr. Mary Vieten Interviewed About Her Role in the Film Medicating Normal
Effects of Children’s Screen Time During COVID—19 - Jeanne Stolzer, Ph.D. Paper Version: Screen Time
Chronic Pandemic Stress Disorder, CPSD, A Unique Challenge for Avoiding Massive Anxiety and Depression in Our New World - Brian Sheen, Ph.D. Paper Version: CPSD
From His Friends and Colleagues: In Memory of Bertram (Bert) P. Karon, Ph.D.
The following are tributes by friends and colleagues of Bertram (Bert) P. Karon, Ph.D., in memory of his courageous and noble dedication to improving the lives of those labeled and stigmatized with mental illness diagnoses.
ISEPP's Hank McGovern has come out with a book on suicide prevention. Check it out at Amazon. Hank speaks from personal and professional experience. Take a look at his recent interview below with Michele Paiva, ISEPP's marketing guru.
The book has received 5 stars out of 47 reviews so far. From one review: "The author artfully uses the dramatic frame of a suicide note and a tumultuous, well-drawn childhood to take readers through his quest for meaning, peace, and balance...His encapsulations of various therapies, particularly rational emotive behavior therapy, are soulful and illuminating, and emphasize the power of practical, positive action and behavior...Overall, this is an evocative, intriguing, self-exploration...sometimes overwhelming, yet compelling..."
ISEPP was joined by allied sister agencies in demanding ethical guidance from five leading professional mental health member organizations regarding serious problems with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM). Ever since its publication in 2013, mental health experts and international organizations have decried the DSM's lack of validity. Applying an invalid diagnostic system to people is unethical and harmful. Still, it continues to reign as the official diagnostic system and there has been no attempt to rectify this problem.
In an Open Letter sent Tuesday, August 15, 2017, ISEPP spelled out how this places mental health practitioners in an ethical double bind. They must knowingly use an invalid and potentially harmful manual to help people in need, as health insurance companies require a DSM diagnosis for services to be reimbursed. But if they abide by their ethical standards and refuse to use the invalid manual, people in need will not be able use insurance benefits to afford services and they will go without help. Either choice will place the practitioner squarely in conflict with their prime ethical mandate of "do no harm."
The following agencies joined with ISEPP in this Open Letter:
Watch this wonderful video that says it all about the purpose of The Warfighter Advance non-drug, non-clinical, non-pathology program for responding to those veterans and military members who have been traumatized. Remember, The Advance is run by ISEPP's Mary Vieten, Ph.D., ABPP, along with other ISEPP members, and ISEPP is it's fiscal sponsor while they wait out the process of becoming their own non-profit organization.
Our dear friend and colleague, Paula J. Caplan, Ph.D., died on July 21, 2021 at her home in Rockville, Maryland. Paula was a tireless advocate for those who have been harmed by the conventional mental health industry, especially women and veterans. She has touched the lives of countless people and we can still hear the echoes of her forceful message.
ISEPP was joined by allied sister agencies in