Body: | Mental Illness And Diagnostic Brain Imaging Systems:
CT, MRI, SPECT, PET, EEG, QEEG, fMRI
Neuroscientists and psychiatrists admit they cannot find the cause of
mental illness with brain-imaging techniques.
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Brain imaging systems are very crude devices in that they merely measure blood flow in the brain which is assumed to correspond with electrical activity of the neurons in the brain. They cannot measure what is being thought or if there is a problem with thinking patterns.
They are of no use in determining the cause of mental illness. Mental illnesses are rooted in the spirit, not the physical brain.
The brain is a mere interface between the spirit and the body. The body is dead without the spirit. The spirit will continue to exist and think after the death of the body.
Introduction:
1. Brain imaging systems are assumed to measure total electrical
current inside the brain by measuring blood flow. They can also pinpoint
where the current is flowing in the different parts of the brain. What and
fMRI cannot do, for example, is tell you anything about what is the person
is actually thinking. Brain imagery is based upon the theoretical
relationship between neuronal activity and regional blood flow. What is
measured is the amount of blood flow in parts of the brain. The theory then
translates the amount of blood flow into electrical activity, which is then
used to determine where we do our thinking. The theory: Blood flow
increases in areas of the brain where neuronal activity increases. But an
fMRI does not directly measure electrical activity in different parts of
the brain, it simply measures blood flow.
a. This is what EEG (Electroencephalography), QEEG (Quantitative
Electroencephalography), PET (positron emission tomography), MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
machines do. They measure electrical activity but cannot interpret thought
and emotion.
b. An ammeter: Ammeter is used by electricians to tell the flow
of electricity (current) inside a single wire or a group of wires. For
example, ammeters can be used to measure the flow of electrical current
inside a trunk phone wire that can service 10,000 different phone lines.
Now the ammeter can easily measure the total current, even isolate which
phone lines are being used and which are not, but it cannot tell you what
is being communicated!
c. A light meter: A light meter can measure the amount of
electricity in a fibre optics wire, but it cannot interpret the
intelligence being communicated.
d. A disk drive light: On most computers and laptops, where is a
little light that goes on when the disk drive is reading or writing
information. When it is on, you can tell something is happening, but you
cannot tell WHAT is happening.
Technically, an fMRI measures the change in magnetization between
oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood and then assumes a correlation to
electrical activity. It is a rather crude device and of no value in
determining thinking patterns or even if thought has its origin in one part
of the brain.
The general public are mislead to believe by mental health
organizations that mental illness can be seen in brain scans. The truth is
that Neuroscientists and psychiatrists admit they cannot find the cause of
mental illness with brain-imaging techniques, but they expect some day to
find the proof!
Brain imaging systems can distinguish between normal and abnormal
brain circuitry as in epilepsy. But this is a physical problem with wiring,
not a spiritual problem of the mind. This sharply contrasts with the fact
that there are no differences in the brains of schizophrenics, except those
changes from psychiatric drug induced chemical imbalances.
"Epilepsy: The most important use of EEG continues to be in the
diagnosis of seizure disorders. No other brain abnormality has an
electrophysiologic pattern as distinctive as epilepsy (Duffy 1988).
Epilepsy is found in approximately 0.3"k-0.6% of adults in the general
population (Anderson et al. 1999). The presence of spikes (defined as a
potential with a duration less than 70 msec), sharp waves (duration of
70-200 msec) and polyspikes, frequently followed by a slow wave, are often
seen interictally in epileptic patients (Aminoff 1986; Goodin and Aminoff
1984)." (Textbook of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, Yudofsky,
Hales, 2002 AD, p 205)
Biological Psychiatrists view man as nothing more than a pile of
chemicals and that the cause of mental illness is a broken brain. They
believe that the key to understanding mental illness is brain imaging. They
are wrong.
This is what EEG (Electroencephalography), QEEG (Quantitative
Electroencephalography), PET (positron emission tomography), MRI (magnetic
resonance imaging) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)
machines do. They measure electrical activity but cannot interpret thought
and emotion.
Stated simply: The error of Biological Psychiatrists is that you can
cannot determine the cause of mental illness by using fMRI. This is like a
Macintosh computer user x-raying the Mac CPU to determine why the Mac
software keeps crashing.
While science fiction often shows machines that can "read the
thoughts of the mind". Such is impossible and no technology is even
remotely capable of mind reading.
A. Understanding Brain imaging systems:
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Brain imaging systems
Mental Illness and Brain imaging systems: CT, MRI, SPECT, PET, EEG, QEEG, fMRI
Brain imaging systems are very crude devices in that they merely measure electrical activity of the neurons in the brain. They cannot measure what is being thought or if there is a problem with thinking patterns.
Brain imaging systems merely measure electrical current like a "smart meter" but they cannot read thoughts. A household smart meter cannot tell you what the electricity is doing inside. They tell you how much power, not what the power is doing!
Watching Bill O'Reilly
Hair dryer running.
Surfing net for Jazz music.
Searching for a local church on line.
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Trying to understand the mind by examining the brain, is like pulling the CPU chip (main brain) out of a computer and looking at the transistors, resisters and diodes to understand Windows XP. The CPU could be running a wide variety of programs, just like the brain can think a wide range of thoughts. If the computer crashes, it is never the CPU's fault, but a bug in the software. Likewise a "nervous breakdown" is not caused by chemical imbalances in the brain, but the spirit.
A disk drive light: On most computers and laptops, where is a little light that goes on when the disk drive is reading or writing information. When it is on, you can tell something is happening, but you cannot tell WHAT is happening. "The light is on, but no idea what is happening in the home!"
Ammeter is used by electricians to tell the flow of electricity (current) inside a single wire or a group of wires. For example, ammeters can be used to measure the flow of electrical current inside a trunk phone wire that can service 10,000 different phone lines. Now the ammeter can easily measure the total current, even isolate which phone lines are being used and which are not, but it cannot tell you what is being communicated!
Brain imaging systems are like a passive inductive ammeter that merely measures electricity between neurons, not the thoughts.
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B. No proof of mental illness in the brain:
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Neuroscientists and psychiatrists admit they cannot find the cause of mental illness with brain-imaging techniques.
Take special note of phrases like: "not as yet been able", "impressive amount of experimental data", "have the potential" "possibility of symptom localization in schizophrenia", may eventually provide the basis"
"These exciting investigational achievements through laboratory and
brain-imaging research, however, have not as yet been able to provide an
innovative new basis for the comprehensive diagnostic categorization of
classic psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and unipolar
depression. Indeed, we have not yet even achieved incremental validity. In
other words, there is as yet no definitive evidence that any psychiatric
laboratory test or brain-imaging mea-sure can provide a comprehensive and
clearly incremental improvement to the existent approach to the clinical
diagnosis of classic psychiatric illnesses (Morihisa 1991)." (Textbook of
Clinical Psychiatry, Hales, Yudofsky, 2003 AD, p 250)
"Functional brain imaging refers to a class of techniques that
non-invasively measure correlates of neural activity. Positron emission
tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are the
two technologies most commonly used today to study the human brain "in
action." The explosion of information about human brain function occurring
in the last decade has resulted in large part from these two techniques. In
particular, fMRI has gained rapid acceptance because of the widespread
availability of MRI scanners and the lack of radioactive exposure. The
advent of neuroimaging techniques for probing in vivo human brain function
undoubtedly represents a major milestone in the scientific endeavor of
understanding the relationship between mental disorders and the brain. The
development of the specific tools employed in brain mapping, although
fairly recent, has already produced an impressive amount of experimental
data, whose potential informational content is most likely being
underexploited at the present time (Van Horn and Gazzaniga 2002)."
(Textbook of Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 163)
"As for psychiatry, it ought to be clear that, except for the
diagnoses of neurological diseases (which are treated by neurologists), no
psychiatric diagnosis is, or can be, pathology-driven; instead, all such
diagnoses are driven by nonmedical-that is, economic, personal, legal,
political, and social-considerations or incentives. Accordingly,
psychiatric diagnoses point neither to patho-anatomic or
patho-physiological lesions, nor to disease-causative agents, but to human
behaviors and human problems, and to the fallible attempts of fallible
moral agents to cope with problematic human behaviors." (The Medicalization
Of Everyday Life, Thomas Szasz, 2007 AD, p 36)
"Brain Imaging: Whereas the proposed neuroendocrine tests largely
provide an indirect measure of brain activity (e.g., through central
effects on endocrine function), brain-imaging techniques have the potential
for providing a more direct window on the functioning of the living human
brain." (Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, Hales, Yudofsky, 2003 AD, p237)
In summary, despite the fact that the physiological and biochemical
processes linking the neural activity and the hemodynamic response have not
been clarified yet, the empirical relationship between these parameters
appears both reliable and reproducible in a variety of con-texts."
(Textbook of Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 165)
"fMRI is highly sensitive to picking up changes in activity;
however, there is a large amount of intersubject variation, and the
specific alterations associated with psychiatric illness are an evolving
field. Multimodal imaging through the combination of fMRI, PET, and
electromagnetic measurements (electroencephalography,
magnetoencephalography) offers the promise of identifying both neuronal and
chemical changes related to brain function." (Textbook of
Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 171)
"The development of brain-imaging techniques such as CT, MRI, SPECT,
and PET have enhanced our understanding of schizophrenia. This technology
is allowing us to explore the nature and pattern of brain deficits and
examine the possibility of symptom localization in schizophrenia."
(Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, Hales, Yudofsky, 2003 AD, p 426)
"Nevertheless, the evolving alliance between brain imaging,
molecular genetics, and the cognitive (Carter 2001) and basic neurosciences
raises the possibility of identifying dysfunctional neural networks in
psychiatric illnesses that may eventually provide the basis for enhanced
diagnostic, prognostic, and treatment approaches in diseases such as
schizophrenia and depression (Morihisa 2001)." (Textbook of Clinical
Psychiatry, Hales, Yudofsky, 2003 AD, p 251)
"Compared with the large number and rapid pace of fMRI studies in
psychiatrically healthy subjects, the use of brain imaging in psychiatric
illness is more restrained."(Textbook of Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg,
Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 170)
"Even if it is known [based upon accepted theory which is wrong]
that there are major alterations in brain function (e.g., such as in
schizophrenia), pinning them down with brain imaging is not easy. "
(Textbook of Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 170)
C. Thinking and emotions activate almost the entire brain:
Modern Psychiatry is looking for specific areas of the brain that
control specific emotions. This is neo-phrenology and it is wrong. Emotions
have their origin in the human spirit. The brain is merely the physical
interface between the spirit and the body. All thoughts and emotions
trigger large areas of the brain in many different areas.
"Our findings demonstrate that there is no single "God spot" in the
brain located in the temporal lobes. Rather our objective and subjective
data suggest that RSMEs [religious/spiritual/mystical experiences] are
complex and multidimensional and mediated by a number of brain regions
normally implicated in perception, cognition, emotion, body representation,
and self-consciousness." (The Spiritual Brain, Mario Beauregard Ph.D.,
Neuroscientist, 2007, p272)
"We learned two valuable things from our studies. The results of the
two studies, taken together (QEEG and fMRI), dispose of the notion that
there is a God spot in the temporal lobes of the brain that can somehow
"explain" RSMEs [religious/spiritual/mystical experiences]. The results of
our fMRI and QEEG studies suggest that RSMEs are neurally instantiated by
different brain regions involved in a variety of functions, such as
self-consciousness, emotion, body representation, visual and motor imagery,
and spiritual perception. This conclusion correlates well with subjects'
descriptions of RSMEs as complex and multidimensional." (The Spiritual
Brain, Mario Beauregard Ph.D., Neuroscientist, 2007, p274)
"The main goal of this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
study was to identify the neural correlates of a mystical experience. The
brain activity of Carmelite nuns was measured while they were subjectively
in a state of union with God. This state was associated with significant
loci of activation in the right medial orbitofrontal cortex, right middle
temporal cortex, right inferior and superior parietal lobules, right
caudate, left medial prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulated cortex,
left inferior parietal lobule, left insula, left caudate, and left brain
stem. Other loci of activation were seen in the extra-striate visual
cortex. These results suggest that mystical experiences are mediated by
several brain regions and systems." (Mario Beauregard and V. Paquette,
"Neural Correlates of a Mystical Experience in Carmelite Nuns,"
Neuroscience Letters 405 (2006): 186-90)
D. Understanding brain-imaging techniques:
"Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Correlates of Neural
Activity: It has been known for over 100 years that blood flow to the brain
increases in a regionally specific manner, according to mental activity.
The father of modern psychology, William James, was aware of observations
relating regional brain pulsation to mental activity (James 1890). Paul
Broca, known primarily for his observations on the effects of left frontal
lesions on language, performed several experiments relating regional brain
temperature to cognitive function (Raichle 1998). It was not until the
1950s, however, when Seymour Kety and Louis Sokoloff developed the
autoradiographic technique for quantitatively measuring regional blood
flow, that specific cognitive functions could be directly mapped in the
living brain (Kety 1965). Both PET and fMRI rely on the empirical
relationship between neuronal activity and regional blood flow. Stated
simply, blood flow increases in areas where neuronal activity increases,
and most cognitive neuroscience studies implicitly assume the validity of
this relationship. It is easy to see the link in terms of an increased
metabolic demand. The activation of a neural circuit is a complex net-work
of electrochemical processes that requires energy. The most demanding
processes, in terms of energetic expenditure, are related to synaptic
(rather than spiking) activity, including the mechanisms of exocytosis, the
re-uptake of neurotransmitters, and the restoration of ionic
concentrations. The principal energy currency in the brain, as well as in
the entire organism, is the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecule, whose
characteristic phosphate bonds allow the storage and release of energy in a
highly efficient manner. To replace the ATP degraded by the increased
metabolic demand, a novel contribution of glucose and oxygen is necessary,
which is mediated, in ways still largely unknown, by a vascular response
that in-creases the delivery of arterial blood to the activated region.
This vascular or hemodynamic response to neural activity (i.e., a variation
of regional cerebral blood flow [rCBF]) is the quantity that is actually
measured in the majority of brain activation studies with both fMRI and
PET/SPECT (Arthurs and Boniface 2002; Jueptner and Weiller 1995),
represents an indirect assay of neural activity (Villringer and Dirnagl
1995). It is important to note that the hemodynamic response lags behind
the actual neural activity by a few seconds. It is also blurred in the
spatial (as well as in the temporal) domain, compared with the underlying
neural activity, imposing fundamental limits on the spatiotemporal
resolution of blood flow methods. A special caveat should be mentioned
concerning the interpretation of rCBF results. The measurement of task-
related variations of rCBF, although reflecting a change in population
synaptic activity, does not provide any clear indication about the sign of
the latter, whether excitatory or inhibitory; however, hypotheses have been
proposed for and argued against a bias favoring excitatory contributions
(Heeger et al. 1999; Tagamets and Horwitz 2001; Waldvogel et al. 2000). The
construction of specific inferences about the actual state of activity
(actively ex-cited or actively inhibited) of brain regions, characterized
by an increase in rCBF during an experimental task, necessitates the
integration of information from different sources (electrophysiology,
neurochemistry, cytoarchitectonics, etc.). In summary, despite the fact
that the physiological and biochemical processes linking the neural
activity and the hemodynamic response have not been clarified yet, the
empirical relationship between these parameters appears both reliable and
reproducible in a variety of con-texts. Simultaneous recordings of neuronal
spiking, field potentials, and fMRI suggest that the mean field potential,
which represents a weighted average of the input signals of a local neural
population, is linearly related to the signal change measured with fMRI
(Logothetis et al. 2001)." (Textbook of Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg,
Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 165)
"Role of Functional Brain Imaging: Functional brain imaging in
psychiatry is used primarily as a research tool to elucidate both normal
and abnormal brain circuitry. Because of the wide-ranging psychiatric
pathologies in both cognitive and affective function, nearly every
cognitive process is potentially a target for these techniques. Memory,
mood, attention, language, and motor function constitute some of the large
domains of cognitive neuroscience, all of which, based on functional brain
imaging experiments, are undergoing rapid revision. The translation of
these basic research findings to the psychiatric field depends, in large
part, on the use of brain imaging in carefully controlled cohorts. Compared
with the large number and rapid pace of fMRI studies in psychiatrically
healthy subjects, the use of brain imaging in psychiatric illness is more
restrained. There are two reasons for such restraint. First, fMRI is
changing the conceptualization of most of the aforementioned cognitive
processes; therefore, the definition of "normal" is unclear. The second
reason, however, is more insidious and relates to the information explosion
from imaging studies. A single fMRI study on an individual will yield
hundreds of megabytes of data. Because measurements are obtained
simultaneously throughout thousands of points in the brain, fMRI is said to
have a large number of degrees of freedom. This type of measurement is
quite different from a mood rating on the Hamilton Rating Scale for
Depression (Ham-D); it is also quite different from a physiological
measure, such as salivary cortisol or dexa-methasone suppression. Each of
these latter measures generates one (or a few) numbers. With these numbers,
the state of a person's pathology is reduced to a very small number of
parameters, which makes statistics straight-forward. The situation with
brain imaging is orders of magnitude more complex. Even if it is known
[based upon accepted theory] that there are major alterations in brain
function (e.g., such as in schizophrenia), pinning them down with brain
imaging is not easy. Because imaging yields so many measurements throughout
the brain, there are thousands of ways in which a dysfunctional brain might
appear different from a normal brain. Thus, at this time, the most
productive use of imaging may be to test specific hypotheses concerning the
dysfunctions in specific neural circuits or brain areas." (Textbook of
Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 170)
"Diagnostic imaging has been referred to as the "holy grail"
application in psychiatry. For a brain-imaging task to be useful
diagnostically, it must meet the same requirements as any medical
test-namely, sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity, which measures the
ability of a test to detect the presence of a disorder, is usually
characterized by a low rate of false negatives. Sensitivity, however, is
not generally a problem with functional brain imaging. If any-thing, fMRI
is too sensitive because there are so many possible ways in which a brain
scan might appear "abnormal." This results from the statistical likelihood
that some number of points in the brain will appear different from a given
reference. Thus, the main difficulty in using functional brain imaging for
diagnosis is in specificity. A highly specific test has a low rate of false
positives. Of course, sensitivity and specificity are interrelated and
depend on the criteria for distinguishing normal from abnormal. Like any
diagnostic test, brain-imaging differences depend on the demonstration that
a specific cohort of patients differs statistically from a control group.
Until recently, the majority of brain-imaging studies in clinical
populations have been limited by small sample sizes. Cohorts of 10-20
subjects per group are typical, and sizes larger than this are the
exception. Historically, the small sample sizes were attributable to the
expense of PET, but the small sample sizes have been carried through to
fMRI studies, where cost is not the rate-limiting factor. Paradoxically,
the greater volume of data collected with fMRI has made it easier to
demonstrate statistical significance with a smaller number of subjects, so
there has not been a strong impetus to perform large-sample clinical
studies. The result is that the majority of functional studies of
particular disorders have found statistically different activations in
specific brain regions; however, because of the small sample sizes, it has
not been possible to determine appropriate parameters of "normality." Brain
imaging in psychopharmacology can be categorized both by modality (e.g.,
functional magnetic resonance imaging or positron emission tomography) and
by purpose (e.g., activation or receptor mapping). Activation studies,
which indirectly measure neuronal activity vis-a- vis changes in cerebral
blood flow, have become widely used with fMRI technology. fMRI allows the
rapid detection of regions of activity in the brain, but because
systems-level knowledge of brain circuits is currently in its infancy, it
remains primarily a research tool. fMRI is highly sensitive to picking up
changes in activity; however, there is a large amount of intersubject
variation, and the specific alterations associated with psychiatric illness
are an evolving field. Multimodal imaging through the combination of fMRI,
PET, and electromagnetic measurements (electroencephalography,
magnetoencephalography) offers the promise of identifying both neuronal and
chemical changes related to brain function." (Textbook of
Psychopharmacology, Schatzberg, Nemeroff, 2002 AD, p 171)
E. Memory happens in every part of the brain:
The Christian believes that man consciously survives death with his
memories and self identity in the spirit world long after his physical
brain is destroyed. This is seen in the story of the rich man and Lazarus,
who both died and entered the spirit world without their brains, but had
their memories intact. (Luke 16:21)
"Memory is not a discrete capacity and remembering is not an
isolated act. Virtually everything we do or think partakes of our
rememberings, an interpretation consistent with the inability of
experimental psychologists and neuroscientists to localize memory in any
particular area of the brain. The activity we call "memory" requires the
whole brain, because it pertains to the perceptions and behavior of the
whole person." (The Meaning of the Mind, Thomas Szasz, 1996 AD, p 49)
F. Hearing voices? Its your own voice talking to yourself!
Neuroimaging has proven that when schizophrenics claim to hear
voices... they are hearing their own voice!
"Some observations obtained in the course of recent neuroimaging
studies of schizophrenics support the interpretations I am suggesting. Let
us recall that Julian Jaynes claimed that the experience of hearing voices
(auditory hallucination) is "just like hearing actual sound." (The Origin
of Consciousness, Julian Jaynes, chapter 4) If that were so, the
cerebral-physiological processes accompanying the hallucinating person's
experience would be similar to those accompanying normal hearing; which is
exactly what researchers using neuroimaging technics to study brain
activation in hallucinating patients expected to find. Instead, they found
changes in the region of the brain activated during speaking. "Broca's area
is a surprise," commented Jerome Engel, a neurologist at the University of
California at Los Angeles, "since that's where you make sounds, not where
you hear them. I would have expected more activity in Wernicke's area,
which is where you hear." (Scientists trace voices in schizophrenia, D.
Goleman quoting J. Engel, New York Times, Sept 22, 1993 p C2) ... This
suggestion is supported not only by the neuroimaging evidence cited, but
also by the familiar clinical observation that when a (hearing) person who
has auditory hallucinations is engaged in oral activity, such as eating or
speaking, his imaginary voices become less noticeable or stop altogether."
(The Meaning of the Mind, Thomas Szasz, 1996 AD, p 126, 127)
G. SPECT and depression: Daniel Amen
In 1999 AD, Daniel Amen published his book, "Change Your Brain Change Your
Life" which, true to typical junk pop psychology, actually claimed to be
able to see insanity and mental illness and depression from simple SPECT
(Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) brain scans: "Using the new
imaging technology, these patients and their families we're able to "see"
the underlying brain problems that were driving their emotional and
behavioral symptoms". Knowing that SPECT measures blood flow in the brain,
not thought, mood or emotion, even fellow chemical psychiatrists snorted
with indignant protests of junk science! Amen has his own unique and
unorthodox way of dividing up the brain "some brain researchers would
separate the systems differently than I". In the spirit of Phrenology, he
also assigns distinct functions to each of his five parts of the brain:
"The deep limbic system, at the center of the brain, is the bonding and
mood control center. ... The basal ganglia, large structures deep within
the brain, control the body's idling speed. ... The prefrontal cortex, at
the front tip of the brain, is your supervisor, the part of the brain that
helps you stay focused, make plans, control impulses, and make good (or
bad) decisions. ... The cingulate is part of the brain that runs
longitudinally through the middle part of the frontal lobes, is the part of
the brain I call your "gear shifter." It allows you to shift attention from
thought to thought and between behaviors. ... The temporal lobes,
underneath the temples and behind the eyes, are involved with memory,
understanding language, facial recognition, and temper control." Amen's
treatments almost always prescribes psychiatric drugs but also "targeted
behavioral, cognitive, medicinal, and nutritional prescriptions to optimize
its function" As a psychiatrist licensed in nuclear brain imaging, Amen
sees almost 10,000 patients a year which means he is making millions every
year. He has also run over 1300 infomercials on PBS selling his DVD's for
$50. However, for legal reasons gives the warning that contradicts the
central thesis of his income: "an abnormal SPECT scan is not an excuse for
bad behavior." Really? I thought you told me my "depression, anxiety
problems, aggression, attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder"
behaviours are because of bad brain function and I am in no way
responsible? You said "psychological problems are in reality brain
problems, and that through new imaging techniques we can see many of them"
Doctor Amen, if I can see where my brain is broken with your SPECT scans
then my bad behaviors cannot be any more my fault than a flu virus! The
foundational thesis of his book, that you can see mood and emotion defects
in SPECT scans, had never been tested with real clinical trials. His
follow-up book, "Healing the Hardware of the Soul" is just more of the same
quackery. As a graduate of Oral Robert's univeristy, Amen should know that
choice, mood and emotion all have their origin in the human spirit not the
physical body. " (Change Your Brain Change Your Life, Daniel Amen, 1998 AD)
Conclusion:
Diagnostic Brain Imaging Systems provide no proof of mental illness.
This is admitted by the top specialists in the neuroscience field.
"Of course, psychiatrists and neurologists have long maintained that
psychiatry and neurology are "the same." Far from being based on new
scientific discoveries, this claim represents a return to the
neuropsychiatry of the nineteenth century, that is, the period before
neurology and psychiatry became separate disciplines. Taking this claim
seriously would require that medical schools merge the two departments and
abolish either neurology or psychiatry. I know of no neurologist or
psychiatrist who supports such a policy." (The Meaning of the Mind, Thomas
Szasz, 1996 AD, p 99)
"Even the identification of differences between the brains of
individuals with and without a particular disorder does not indicate that
mental illness is biological. Differences should emerge when studying the
nervous systems of people with wildly different personalities or people who
engage in behaviors deemed abnormal and those who do not, but such
differences alone do not illustrate a failure of biology. The separate
neural patterns for thinking in a native or secondary language can be
identified (Kim, Relkin, Lee, and Hirsch, 1997), but such findings do not
illustrate the normality or abnormality of either behavior. Bentall (2003)
offers an excellent summary of the issue by stating: "The problem seems to
be that we have no clear empirical criterion for deciding whether
biological deviations from the norm are pathological and hence evidence of
disease. Indeed, it seems that we regard such deviations as evidence of
pathology only when the characteristics that they are seen to cause are
regarded as undesirable." (p. 315)" (The Journal of mind and behavior, Guy
A. Boysen, v28, p 157-173)
"The psychoneural translation hypothesis [PTH] recognizes that
mental processes (e.g., volitions, goals, emotions, desires, beliefs) are
neurally instantiated in the brain, but it argues that these mental
processes cannot be reduced to and are not identical with neuroelectric and
neurochemical processes. Indeed, mental processes-which cannot be localized
in the brain-cannot be eliminated. The reason that mental processes cannot
be localized within the brain is that there is actually no way of capturing
thoughts merely from studying the activity of neurons." (The Spiritual
Brain, Mario Beauregard Ph.D., Neuroscientist, 2007, p150)
Since many Neuroscientists and Biological Psychiatrists view man as
nothing more than chemicals, they deny the existence of the human spirit
that God created in His image to animate the body. Based upon their
atheistic, non-Christian bias, they wrongly predict that in the future,
such proof will be found in the brain for mental illness. Based upon the
Bible, we predict otherwise. Christians winning the predictions war!
Mental processes like thought, emotion and feelings are seen in fMFI
to activate almost the entire brain, not a single area.
Mental illnesses are related to the spirit, which exists independent
of the physical body including the brain. The brain is the go-between
between the body and the spirit. The spirit consciously survives the
physical death of the brain.
Brain imaging systems can distinguish between normal and abnormal
brain circuitry as in epilepsy. But this is a physical problem with wiring,
not a spiritual problem of the mind. This sharply contrasts with the fact
that there are no differences in the brains of schizophrenics, except those
changes from psychiatric drug induced chemical imbalances.
Measuring electrical activity in the brain with Diagnostic Brain
Imaging Systems cannot differentiate between the axe-murder thoughts of a
psychopath and the intense prayers of Christians to God that the world
accept the salvation, hope and peace that Jesus Christ offers everyone for
free!
By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.
Send us your story about your experience with modern Psychiatry
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