Tag Archives: Patrick McGorry

Australian Psychiatrist Patrick McGorry Aborts Controversial Antipsychotic Drug Trial on Kids Amid Protests

FORMER Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry has aborted a controversial trial of antipsychotic drugs on children as young as 15 who are “at risk” of psychosis, amid complaints the study was unethical.

The Sunday Age can reveal 13 local and international experts lodged a formal complaint calling for the trial not to go ahead due to concerns children who had not yet been diagnosed with a psychotic illness would be unnecessarily given drugs with potentially dangerous side effects.

DSM 5 in Distress—Seven Questions For Professor Patrick McGorry

a dark cloud surrounds the silver lining of having one psychiatrist in a position of almost unopposed influence. Professor McGorry has developed the messianic blind spot that is so common in visionary prophets. His zeal has made him an unreliable evaluator of scientific evidence, allowing him to defend absolutely indefensible positions with the convincing, but inaccurate, force of a true believer. A review of Professor McGorry’s public statements shows his willingness to ignore any evidence contrary to his belief, to change stated views back and forth when he regards this to be necessary or convenient, and to unfairly attack those who point out the fallacies and inconsistencies in his comments. His are the skills of a prophet and rainmaker, not those of a policy maker or a program developer or a sober reviewer of scientific evidence.

‘Former Australian of the Year’ Psychiatrist Patrick McGorry Accused of Conflict of Interest

PSYCHIATRISTS, psychologists and patients’ groups say there is a growing backlash against the federal government’s mental health reforms and have accused its expert adviser, former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry, of a conflict of interest.

Several mental health specialists have told The Sunday Age the focus on early intervention for adolescents and young adults has been ”massively oversold” by the ”McGorry lobbying machine”.

They claim he used his position on the government’s mental health expert working group to recommend funding for programs he founded.

Australia’s Outrageous Mental Health Agenda Under Attack from Leading U.S. Psychiatrist

While the United States unfortunately leads the world in labeling its children with mental ‘disorders’ which cannot be scientifically proven to exist as medical conditions, Australia seems determined to take over the [dishonorable] title. And they just might do it. For poised to carry them into the winners circle is none other than psychiatrist and former “Australian of the Year” Patrick McGorry. The scam is called “pre-psychosis risk syndrome” which simply translates as this: Despite the fact there is not one proven scientific or medical test to prove any child has a mental “disorder,” Patrick McGorry maintains he can determine who will develop one. That’s right. He can determine who will develop a mental disorder before they develop a mental disorder that cannot be medically proven to exist. If that sounds a little crazy to you, rest assured, you’re not alone. In fact, the logic is so backwards that McGorry’s plan has come under fire from U.S. psychiatrist Allen Frances, who chaired the committee that produced the psychiatric diagnostic bible of “mental disorders” used the world over, ‘The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) IV. That is called being attacked from altitude. And from your own profession nonetheless.

US expert slams Patrick McGorry’s psychosis model

PATRICK McGorry’s model of early diagnosis of psychosis, favoured by the federal government and the Coalition in their mental-health policies, has come under attack from a leading US psychiatrist, who warns that predicting psychosis is unreliable and could lead to patients being wrongly medicated.

Allen Frances, who chaired the committee that produced the current diagnostic bible for psychiatry, the DSM-IV, has warned that Professor McGorry’s Early Psychosis Intervention Centres do not have a reliable early diagnosis tool.

Professor Frances, an emeritus professor at Duke University in North Carolina, fears early diagnosis could lead to people without psychosis being put on medications that have serious side-effects, including massive weight gain.

He has also attacked the Gillard government’s plans to spend $222 million expanding Professor McGorry’s EPIC program by another 16 centres as a “vast untried public-health experiment”.