A picture of Alys Robi

Before Celine Dion, there was Alys Robi, Canada’s first enormously popular recording artist. This international forties nightclub diva saw her career collapse and end in tragedy. The extraordinary story of Alys Robi and her comeback – Let Me Sing Again - is told on Life and Times.

Alys Robi shared the stage with the world’s biggest stars such as Nat King Cole and Jack Benny and was taught to dance by Sammy Davis Jr. Although her musical career was a triumph, her personal life took a tragic turn. On the brink of achieving stardom in Hollywood, Alys Robi sank into a depression after a disastrous love affair. She was put into a Quebec City mental hospital. But after surviving a lobotomy and electric shock treatments, Robi returned to Montreal for a courageous comeback.

This year, Alys Robi marks her seventieth anniversary in show business and Let Me Sing Again documents the success and turbulence of her life. It is the story of a woman who was ahead of her time. In the documentary, Alys Robi takes viewers to the forgotten world of Montreal’s vaudeville era and to the glittery nightclubs of the thirties and forties, and later to the war years when she entertained Canadian troops both at home and abroad.

Below is a video of Alys Robi singing, a great singer!

After six years in a mental hospital, Alys Robi struggled to come back. Let Me Sing Again deals with the anguish of being banished from the mainstream, only to be welcomed into a then marginalized gay community. The saga of Alys Robi is unique in the annals of Canadian entertainment history; it is the story of a brave and tenacious woman who has become a legend. This documentary features the music of Alys Robi and interviews with people who have known her during her long career.

1. Because psychiatrists frequently cause harm, permanent disabilities, death – death of the body-mind-spirit.

2. Because psychiatrists frequently violate the Hippocratic Oath which orders all physicians “First Do No Harm.”

3. Because psychiatrists patronize and disempower people, especially their patients.

4. Because psychiatry is not a medical science.

5. Because psychiatry is quackery, a pseudo-science which lacks independent diagnostic tests, testable hypotheses, and cures for “schizophrenia” and all other types of alleged “mental illness” or “mental disorder”.

6. Because psychiatrists can not accurately and reliably predict dangerousness, violence, or any other type of human behaviour, yet make such claims as “expert witnesses”, and with the media promote the “dangerous mental patient” myth/stereotype.

7. Because psychiatrists have caused a worldwide epidemic of brain damage by promoting and prescribing brain-disabling treatments such as the neuroleptics, antidepressants, electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroshock), and psychosurgery (lobotomy).

8. Because psychiatrists manufacture hundreds of “mental disorders” classified in its bible called “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (a modern witch-hunting manual); such “mental disorders” and “symptoms” are in fact negative, class-and-culturally-biased moral judgments for dissident ways of coping with personal problems and alternative ways of perceiving, interpreting or being in the world.

9. Because psychiatrists, blinded by their medical model bias, fraudulently pathologize and label people’s serious life or existential crises as “symptoms” of “mental illness” or “mental disorder” such as “schizophrenia”,”bipolar affective disorder”, and “personality disorder”.

10. Because psychiatrists compound this fraud by falsely claiming, without scientific proof, that these “mental disorders” are caused by a “biochemical imbalance” in the brain, genetic factors or “genetic predispositions”, despite the fact that there are no genetic factors in “mental illness”.

11. Because psychiatrists frequently misinform their patients, families and the public by claiming that brain-disabling procedures such as the neurotoxins (e.g.,”antipsychotic medication” and “antidepressasnts”), electroconvulsive brainwashing (electroconvulsive therapy/”ECT”), psychosurgery (lobotomy) and other behaviour modification-mind control procedures are “safe, effective and lifesaving”.  The exact opposite is tragically true.

12. Because psychiatrists routinely deceive or lie to patients, prisoners, their families, and the public.

13. Because psychiatrists routinely and willfully violate the medical-ethical principle of “informed consent” by misinforming or not informing their patients about the numerous toxic, disabling and frequently permanent effects of the neuroleptics such as memory loss, tardive dyskinesia, tardive psychosis, parkinsonism, dementia (all signs of brain damage), and death.

14. Because psychiatrists routinely threaten, intimidate or coerce many patients – particularly women, children, the elderly, and prisoners – into consenting to health-threatening/brain-damaging “treatment” such as the antidepressants, neuroleptics, electroconvulsive brainwashing, and hi-risk experiments.

15. Because psychiatrists frequently fail to fully inform psychiatric inmates and prisoners about existing safe and humane, non-medical alternatives in the community such as survivor-controlled crisis centres, drop-ins, self-help or advocacy groups, diet, massage, wholistic medicine, affordable supportive housing, and jobs.

16. Because psychiatrists are sexist in frequently stereotyping women in crisis as “hysterical” or “over-emotional”, blaming women whenever they voice real complaints and assertively express their feelings and emotions, prescribing massive doses of tranquilizers and antidrepressants to disproportionately large numbers of women, and in sexually assaulting women in their offices and institutions.

17. Because psychiatrists, particularly white male psychiatrists, are homophobic – the American Psychiatric Association (APA) once labelled homosexuality as a “mental illness” or “mental disorder” – and have used forced electroshock on lesbians, trying to coerce them into adopting a heterosexual life style.

18. Because psychiatrists are ageist in prescribing tranquilizers, antidepressants (“medication”) and electroconvulsive brainwashing for disproportionately large numbers of elderly people – a form of elder abuse.

19. Because psychiatrists are racist in disproportionately incarcerating and drugging people of African descent, aboringal people, other people of colour and labelling them “psychotic” or “schizophrenic”.

20. Because psychiatrists routinely violate people’s civil rights, human rights and constitutional rights such as imprisoning innocent people without court trial or public hearing (“involuntary commitment”), and subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishments or tortures such as forced drugging, electroconvulsive brainwashing, psychosurgery, solitary confinement, “chemical restraints”, and 4-point or 5-point restraints.

21. Because psychiatrists masterminded the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people including disabled children, the elderly and psychiatric patients during The Holocaust in Nazi Germany, and “selected” hundreds of thousands of concentration camp prisoners for death (“T-4 euthanasia” program) – historical facts still missing in psychiatric textbooks and histories.

22. Because psychiatrists have willingly participated in and administered mind-control experiments in the United States and Canada since the early 1950s – its chief targets have been poor patients, women, dissidents and prisoners.

23. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is based on the 3 Fs: Fear, Fraud,and Force.

24. Because psychiatry is a form of social control or punishment – not treatment.

25. Because psychiatry, particularly institutional-biological psychiatry, is fascist – a direct threat to democracy, human rights and life.

To contact Don Weitz:   email:  dweitz@rogers.com

Source: http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2008/05/whats_wrong_with_research_in_p.html

Dynastic:

There are no independent psychiatric researchers.  Young academics are mentored by older academics; this isn’t optional, for either person.   In virtually no circumstance do they study something entirely of their own choosing, it is either an outgrowth of the mentors’ research, or is the mentors’ research.

Distant from reality:

Young academics almost never work outside of the university.  Theirs is all selection bias.  The only patients they see are the ones the university gives them: either Medicaid/indigent on the inpatient unit, or patients of the disposition to want to be involved in clinical trials.  Academics are like government economists: “we haven’t had two consecutive quarters of declining GDP, so we’re not in a recession.”  Regular psychiatrists are the management at Wal Mart: “I’m not sure what this is called, but no one is buying anything.”

Groupthink:

Academic psychiatrists are nearly all on the same page, and refer to one another as if they have a relationship, even when they’ve never met.  (“Chuck Nemeroff is doing some good work on…”)  It’s pointless to list the other characteristics of groupthink here, except to highlight one: the purpose of groupthink is not to promote an ideology, but self-preservation, and this is unconscious. They don’t realize that their lives are devoted to preserving the group, yet young researchers are brought on who connect with the group; peer reviewers– and journal editors– come from the group; grant reviewers, and NIMH people themselves came from, and support the group.

An example of groupthink preservation is the referencing of studies.  Academics support their propositions with previous studies; however, no one checks the accuracy of these studies.  No one has the time, and the group necessarily must trust the work of others in the group.  Even if an error were to be found, it would be described as an isolated error.  A cursory stroll through this site alone suggests just how “isolated” such errors really are.

Financially isolated:

Medicine is a market.  Buyers and sellers.

Academics make a salary, but their survival at university depends on the grants they can bring in.  That means their market, their customers, are funding agencies, not patients.  It doesn’t mean they don’t care about patients, it means that the service they provide is  nuanced and directed towards Pharma or the NIH.

If the funding agencies are stacked with people who like antiepileptics for bipolar; if the grant goes to Pfizer who is looking to create a bipolar indication, etc, etc, that’s the research that can be expected.  I’m not even worried that the results will be… predestined.  I’m worried that such pressures direct what kind of research, what kind of questions get asked, at all.

Too much data

We’re busy talking about bias and hidden results and skewed statistics and nonsense.  So we call for more studies, as if they will somehow be better studies, despite no other structural changes being made.  The reality is that we have information inflation: new studies have less value because they get lost; and old studies completely disappear, as if somehow their validity is temporal.

There are a quadrillion studies already conducted in psychiatry. There is plenty of data that can be analyzed, meta-analyzed, pooled, parsed.  If all current research ground to an immediate halt, and researchers just looked back at what we already have, we would save billions of dollars in future research and future bad treatments, and we would learn so much.

Outcomes Research Is Purposefully Avoided, or Ignored:

You might think in a field with nothing but outcome studies (e.g. Prozac vs. placebo) I might not be able to make this claim, but I do.

Most studies are short term.  The few long term studies that exist (e.g. Depakote for maintenance) are either equivocal (e.g. Depakote for maintenance) or show no efficacy (e.g. Depakote for maintenance.)  And they are ignored.

But these outcomes are distractions.  The question isn’t is Depakote good for maintenance bipolar.  The question is, is there any value to the diagnosis of bipolar?  In other words, if you called it anxiety, or personality disorder, or anything else, and then treated them ad lib, would the outcome be different?  Is there value to the DSM?  You might argue the diagnosis leads us to the treatment, but in most cases, meds are used across all diagnoses, and more often than not a diagnosis is created to justify the medication.

Are hospitals valuable?  You would think that by now we’d have a clear answer to this, the most expensive of maneuvers.   I can say, however, that reducing the length of stay from several months to 5-7 days has not affected the suicide rate.  I’m not saying they are or are not valuable, I am saying that I don’t know– and that’s the problem.  It is 2008 and there are more studies on restless leg syndrome then there are on hospital vs. placebo.  You know why?  See above.

Are one hour sessions associated with better outcomes than 2 minute med checks?  I know 2 minute med checks sound bad, what I want to know is if they are actually bad.  Higher suicide rates?  More days absent from work?  More divorce?  More sadness?

The system is completely ad hoc, with each party yelling loudly to protect their fiefdom. It allows everyone to declare themselves an expert without having to prove it. Tell a Depakote academic you’re suspicious about the utility of the drug, and he won’t tell you you’re wrong, he will tell you you don’t understand. Try it.  He will evade the existing data (“not enough people,” “studies are difficult to conduct,” “we know from clinical experience,” “more work is needed”) and rely on appeal to authority.  Appeal to authority is the signal you’re being bullshitted.

Outcomes research will never be conducted in psychiatry because its existence depends on not knowing the answers.  It will eventually be conducted on psychiatry.  You can’t tell you’re an idiot, someone has to tell you.

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The book review on the book entitled “Shock Therapy” by David Healy, Edward Shorter and (Max Fink)

at this URL:

ect.org/book-review-shock-therapy-by-david-healy-edward-shorter-and-max-fink/

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A book review on Wendy Funk’s book about her experiences with psychiatry and  electroshock.  Wendy is an electroshock survivor who lives in Canada.   Read the article at this URL:

http://www.ect.org/news/wendyfunk.html

————

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/137089_mentalhealth29.html

Dr. Keith Hoeller is editor of the “Review of Existential Psychology & Psychiatry” in Seattle, USA.

GROUPS

MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL (MFI) – website: mindfreedom.org

David Oaks, executive director – email: oaks@mindfreedom.org

Over 100 groups all over the world who are peacefully fighting the many psychiatric violations and human rights violations. People can join and find out the news about psychiatry oppression and read the many email lists for members. Global news, national news, electroshock news. I am a member of MFI. A good place to start for MFI info:

MindFreedom International – 454 Willamette, Suite 216 – PO Box 11284 – Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA
PHONE: 541-345-9106 – USA TOLL FREE 1-877-MAD-PRIDE FAX: 541-345-3737

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Dr. John Breeding – Austin, Texas, head of the group – The Coalition for the Abolition of Electroshock in Texas. The Coalition has a website: endofshock.com

Read Leonard Roy Frank’s “Electroshock Quotationary” on this website. Over 100 pages of ECT history and stories from ECT survivors, not to be missed, excellent info on ECT. Leonard is an ECT survivor and activist from San Francisco, USA.

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Dr. Peter R. Breggin – New York State psychiatrist who has a huge website: www.breggin.com

His website is a wealth of info on the damage caused by electroshock and psychiatric for kids and adults.

He has written many books most notably: “Toxic Psychiatry”, “Talking Back to Prozac”, “Electroshock: Its

Brain Disabling Effects”. On Dr. Breggin’s website he has a list of all his books and studies on ECT etc.

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ECT.org – Juli Lawrence an ECT survivor in the USA has a big website all about info on ECT 101. A forum for

ECT survivors to speak and connect, ECT lawsuits, famous ECT patients, ECT legislation etc.

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CANADA

Coalition Against Psychiatric Assault – CAPA in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Co-founded by Dr. Bonnie Burstow and Don Weitz. Webiste: capa.oise.utoronto.ca CAPA blog: capacanada.wordpress.com

Dr. Bonnie Burstow and Don Weitz have been exposing the damage caused by electroshock for many years.

Contact Don Weitz – email – dweitz@rogers.com

Had a huge protest in Toronto against electroshock on Mother’s Day in Toronto, 2007.

Articles on electroshock and psychiatric drugs, antipsychiatry links etc.

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The International Campaign to Ban Electroshock (ICBE) website: icbe.wordpress.com

Sue Clark-Wittenberg, director of the ICBE, her husband Steven Wittenberg is the assistant director of the ICBE. The ICBE has no funding but runs on private donations from organizations and private citizens.

The ICBE has a successful electroshock protest in Ottawa, Ontario this Mother’s Day, May 11th, 2008 on Parliament Hill. Had national coverage on cbc.ca website and local news and a radio show in Toronto.

contact the ICBE: 2005.sueclark@gmail com or call 613-721-1833 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Sue has two three other websites as well:

psymedfraud.wordpress.com – Psychiatry – A Medical Fraud – exposing psychiatry – youtube.videos,

contains list of anti-ECT activists, antipsychiatry groups, etc.

suzyo.wordpress.com – The Sue Clark Story

geociites.com/sueclark2001ca/1.html – Sue Clark’s Psychiatry Home Page, exposing psychiary’s many

psychiatric assaults and human rights violations, etc.

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Dr. Thomas Szasz, the psychiatrist of the famous book called “The Myth of Mental illness”

Dr. Szasz’s website: www.szasz.com

Dr. Szasz’s blog: szaszblog.blogspot.com

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Stop Shrinks website: www.stopshrinks.org

________________________________

Lunatic’s Liberation Front – website: www.walnet.org/llf/

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Peter Lehmann’s Publishing

website: www.peter-lehmann-publishing.com/links.htm

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Critical of Psychiatry Websites