Biological psychiatry, sometimes referred to as bio-psychiatry, is a term used mainly by critics of mainstream mental health orthodoxy to describe what many believe are unproven and subjective diagnostic and treatment practices in the mental health field. References to biological psychiatry are used specifically by critics to denote the biological model of mental health, which they believe places undue emphasis upon unproven biological theories and drug treatment, rather than objective diagnosis of medical pathologies and psychological counseling.

Two of the most lucrative markets for psychotropic drugs are based on unproven biological theories of mental illness, such as the dopamine theory of schizophrenia and the serotonin-norepinephrine theory of depression, according to many critics. The same can be said of the market for ADHD drugs. Biological psychiatry has yet to describe the pharmacodynamics of the anti-psychotic compounds, benzodiazepines, Prozac, and lithium.

Much of the criticism centers on the fact that objectively defined pathological conditions have been found for only a select few mental illnesses. The diagnosis of conditions such as Alzheimer's, for example, where the effects of disease are readily evident, yet the underlying pathology that triggers the condition still has not been adequately explained.

Criticisms of mental health marketing practices and pharmaceutical treatments have seemingly had little impact on the growing solidarity between the pharmaceutical industry and the mental health professions. Instead, the influence of 'biological psychiatry' appears to actually be strengthening, as evidenced by of the growing political and economic clout of the industry.

Dr. Peter Breggin, a leading critic of biological psychiatry, has written several books in which he attempts to demonstrate the brain-damaging effects of "anti-psychotic medication," and the generally iatrogenic effects of subjecting children and adolescents (who do not manifest sufficient docility) to psychiatric drugs.

See also

• Anti-psychiatry
• New Freedom Commission on Mental Health

External links

• ADHD-Report.com - Resignation letter of Loren R. Mosher, M.D. President of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
• AntiPsychiatry.org - The Antipsychiatry Coalition
• BioPsychiatry.com - The Responsible parent's Guide to Healthy Mood-Boosters
• Breggin.com - Peter Breggin's home page
• NewMediaExplorer.org - Washington "under the Pharma Lilly"