It's easy to prescribe greed to these findings, but I'm not so willing to believe ALL psychiatrists are greedy. I wonder if there is a common consensus phenomenon here.

Years ago when I was first on Disability the psychiatrist I saw was almost eager to diagnose me Bipolar or schizophrenic. I wasn't either condition, but he wasn't happy with my diagnosis of Chronic Motor Tic Disorder and Depression. Instead, he constantly asked me if I was experiencing delusions of grandeur or hearing voices. EVERY time I visited him. Enough that I wondered what he was getting at. It was very unsettling. I can see how an insecure person might start wondering if they should be answering "yes" to those questions because he was so persistent. They might think "Does he know something that I don't?" I know I was more than curious about what aspect of me had him going on and on like that, but I'm far too self-aware to be manipulated in that way.

If the common consensus is that psychotic disorders are going untreated & undiagnosed and that more people suffer from psychotic disorders than are being treated, I could see how the psychiatric environment might foster the diagnosing of more patients as psychotic.

Douglas Cootey

☆ The Splintered Mind

The answer's in the dirt--maybe kids should play outside more, and mud pies and dirt clods are more than kids play--could be a natural form of treatment.If treatment was really needed.

"The researchers used antigens derived from the bacterium Mycobacterium vaccae, a generally benign and ubiquitous agent found in dirt. After vaccination, they found that the subsequent immune activation was temporally associated with increases in serotonin metabolism within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Treatment with the vaccine seemed to alter behavior in mice similarly as is typically seen with antidepressants."

Bacteria, Serotonin, and Depression: A Possible New Approach to Treating Mood Disorders.

Stephany, if the kids played outside in the dirt they might come into contact with thoughtfully disposed cat poop, and you know where that leads... :)

Childhood Bipolar, Depakote vs. Placebo Trial:

Journal of Clinical Psychiatry,

781-Double-Blind,Placebo-Controlled Trial of Divalproex Monotherapy in the treatment of symtomatic Youth at High Risk for Developing Bipolar Disorder.

Robert L. Findling,Thomas W. Frazier, Eric A. Youngstrom, Nora K. McNamara,Robert J. Stansbrey,Barbara L. Gracious,Michael D.Reed, Christine A.Demeter, and Joseph R.Calabrese.

Divalproex no better than placebo in treating 'at-risk' bipolar youths

18 May 2007J Clin Psychiatry 2007; 68: 781–788

"The results of a double-blind, randomized trial show that divalproex sodium is no better than placebo in treating young people who are at risk for developing bipolar disorder."

"The researchers report that, overall, both treatment groups showed similar and significant decreases in symptoms and improvements in psychosocial functioning.

"Youths with the highest family loading of psychiatric illness discontinued more quickly than youths with lower loadings," Findling et al writes in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. "These youths… appear to be in greatest need of intervention."