A Bit On Fuller Torrey
A few people have written or commented on the recent Fuller Torrey post, damning him or praising him. What's interesting to me is that the favorable responses generally come from family members of the mentally ill while the con-side is generally represented by patients themselves. Interesting dynamic.
Regular readers know that I take issue with his Treatment Advocacy Center's distorted rhetoric. I also have trouble buying his cat-shit-causes-schizophrenia hypothesis (given the number of felines in my world since I was in the womb I ought to be the most schizophrenic guy on the planet!). I do not, however, question the man's dedication--he's spent a lifetime grappling to improve things for the mentally-ill--nor do I question his heart.
Posted by Philip Dawdy at June 30, 2006 12:03 AM
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Typing straight from my notes, don't be too relieved.
Torrey pretty much talked about equality of bipolar and schizophrenia.
He claimed "direct proof" from a 1966 study(2) that "51% of bipolar and schizophrenic people had a cat from birth to age 10."
He also claimed that the most sensitive population to "most prone" to schizophrenia were ones with HIV. I would like to see the stats on that.
He wasn't just talking schizophrenia, he was talking bipolar that night.
