About Dr. Jeff Rubin
Jeffrey Rubin grew up in Brooklyn and received his PhD from the University of Minnesota. In his earlier life, he worked in clinical settings, schools, and a juvenile correctional facility. He has published research-based articles in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, The American Psychologist, Counseling and Values, and The Journal of Humanistic Psychology. More recently, he authored three novels, A Hero Grows in Brooklyn, Fights in the Streets, Tears in the Sand, and Love, Sex, and Respect. Currently, he writes a blog titled From Insults to Respect that features suggestions for working through conflict, dealing with anger, and supporting respectful relationships.
Contacting Dr. Rubin about any aspect of this blog can be done easily by utilizing the “Comment” section that appears at the bottom of each post. You can also contact Dr. Rubin at:
2940rubin@gmail.com
You can learn about Dr. Rubin’s novels by clicking HERE.
Thanks, Dr. Jeff!
PLEASE, keep making known. WE need positivo representatives of the profession and you are doing all of us a favor.
Daniel Araoz, Ed.D. IL&PA Clinical Psychologist
Daniel, I very much appreciate your kind words of support. I hope to hear some additional comments from you regarding other posts.
Warm Regards,
Jeff
I agree a lot with you, Jeffrey. There are too many ‘mental health illnesses’, suiting the Pharaohs of the Pharmaceutical companies. But I’ve had a severe mental illness, lasting a short time, alongside clinical depression lasting 4 years. I argue a mental illness diagnosis could be made of everyone who has been, and will be, born, by some diagnostician somewhere. Are Pentecostal christians all suffering from Schizophrenia? In our capitalist IT societies we have become suspicious individuals, fending for ourselves in an evermore pressurised world, leading to hopelessness, alienation and trust lessens. Long hours mean they have little time to enjoy their families, let alone keep diaries, etc,, which can help retain good memory, and wad off dementia. And that says nothing of endemic sensory impairments, causing such sufferers to be poddibly misdiagnosed as mentally ill. No wonder people feel ‘depressed’, or misunderstood as being bipolar, etc, as they are all probably trying to get a feeling of happiness, as they are lonely. I could go on about welfare cut threats, privatising mental health services, etc, which puts extra pressure on the poor. If only our society could step back, and allow an army of mentally well ‘dads and mums’ army to be trained to befriend anyone needing it……this may help prevent possible slippage into mental Ill health, save on health services bills, keep these poor folk away from harmful side effects of probably not needed drugs (sanitised as ‘medication’), and the losers will be the real drug pushers who produce these possibly life destroying dangerous drugs. But they could gain by hiring staff instead to find better ways to treat cancer, say.
[…] problems, not people. One of the attendees at the summit, Jeffrey Rubin, has proposed that we classify concerns that clients bring to therapy, not disorders they have. […]
[…] problems, not people. One of the attendees at the summit, Jeffrey Rubin, has proposed that we classify concerns that clients bring to therapy, not disorders they […]
Jeff Rubin,
While I agree with the essence of your article on medical materialism (which I struggled against throughout my career), I’m puzzled at why you would cite Insel who led NIMH down a destructive path pointing towards his own biological and mechanistic biases, often directing research away from alternative healing approaches or paying lip service to it, while supporting his own biological psychiatric and pharmaceutical industry propaganda and fictions. Yes, he did expose the DSM for what it is. But that says little about the true nature of his thrust in the impasse he created in “mental health” and effective treatment of psychological issues, especially with one of his apologists (as cited in the recent NYT announcement of Insel’s move to Google) E. Fuller Torrey whose prima facie objective was to institutionalize all who fit the parameters of a psychotic diagnosis and, through his proxy the euphemistic Treatment Advocacy Center, sends representatives around the country to promote laws that incarcerate or remove those classified as “mentally ill” from society.
Hi Jasenn Zaejian,
Much thanks for giving me a piece of your mind for what I wrote in this week’s post. My only defense is that the only thing I had known about Dr. Insul when I wrote it was from a single blog post that someone I know directed me to.
Thanks, also, for bringing up the issue of involuntary treatment. I’m on your side about this. I have met Dr. Torrey when he debated Szasz a few years ago. I looked into his eyes when I discussed involuntary treatment with him, and I came away from this feeling that for him, it wasn’t about making the most money on this issue. He seemed to sincerely believe that involuntary commitment was humane. It saddened me to hear him speak, but he seems to me to genuinely care about those he thinks he’s helping.
I’ve followed Torrey since I worked in NY in the 80’s. He puts on a good persona of caring. But has reportedly inflated statistics, cited deceptive statistics, and was once quoted in a conversation with his cohort, an advertising executive, agreeing with the ad exec’s statement that if they conflate mental illness with violence…which they started doing in numerous articles and speeches based on opinion, not research, they would be able to accomplish their goal of medicating anyone with reported symptoms, as well as having the grounds for locking them up in forensic hospitals. When NAMI, associated with him (I believe he was associated with its creation), was uncovered to be covertly funded by the pharmaceutical industry, by a Senator’s investigation, he rapidly dropped all relationships to NAMI and went on to create the Treatment Advocacy Foundation, financially supported by the Broad foundation. One of the Broad foundation’s agencies they support does pharmaceutical research. Torrey uses volunteers and paid employees to go around the country and promote forced hospitalization and medication over objection at county and state agency including any county or state that are discussing the implementation of coercive outpatient commitment laws. Do you see how it is all about money. The psychiatry profession have manipulated the courts that they have the answer. And is why NY Law School Mental Disability Professor Perlin writes about his concept of “sanism.” in institutions and in the courts.
I very much appreciate your concern about these issues, Jasenn. In my opinion, unless someone breaks the law, is charged and convicted, he or she should not be sent to a prison or a psychiatric lock-up. Dr. Torrey disagrees. To promote my position, I have written about this topic, and arranged debates. I arranged the Szasz-Torrey debate in Baltimore, calling both Szasz and Torrey, negotiating the contract, etc. and set up 5 other debates on this issue, four of them included Szasz on the panel. It’s a frustrating position to advocate for because although in some settings involuntary treatment occurs less often and for a shorter period of time since I began working on this, it nevertheless continues, despite my 35 years of effort.
My solution —to being frustrated at the degree of sadistic attitudes in professionals, including my disgust at the deceit and rigidity of the APA on the torture issue, in dealing with people with problems, (not to mention my experience of the otiose consciousness of many who practice in this field, since I got earned my degree and started practicing in 1978, accumulated 10 years of training in psychotherapy, post Ph.D., and training in neuropsychology, worked in hospitals, clinics and private practice-as a clinical and neuropsychologist/researcher, dept. director, consultant, taught in grad school and published 4 non-fiction books, etc.,— was to recently inactivate all my licenses and let this profession go in the dustbin of history, and my history, and write fiction, a much less frustrating and much more enjoyable activity e.g., my most recent: https://www.createspace.com/4819181
Jasenn, it’s interesting how we have traveled a very similar path. Like you, I worked in a clinic and hospital, taught graduate school, and, after many years of this, I now have also turned to writing novels. However, I have not given up entirely on the profession. The vast majority voted at the last APA convention to put a stop to any members participating in torture. Moreover, I continue to write my blog that raises challenging questions, and provides alternative ways to think about how to provide more humane alternatives to those seeking mental health services.
Wishing you well,
Jeff
Nor should psychiatric or regular hospital ERs and Urgent Care facilities be allowed to force mind drugs on patients without patient consent. Only in extremely violent or those who may be a danger to themselves should psychiatric meds be administered.
I am Peer Bridger at University of New Mexico Psychiatric Center and a Kendra’s Law supporter. I’m also a Wellness Recovery Action Plan, WRAP facilitator in training, a Certified Peer Support Worker in training, and in recovery for over 18 months now. I am a drug treatment non-responder with MDD and severe anxiety/agoraphobia lasting 2.5 years with 20+ Rx medicine trials, 2 suicide attempt survivor, and Electroconvulsive Therapy advocate. I fully and totally support your views Dr. Rubin. Evidenced based, team mental wellness care is is a MUST in this country.
btw, Wellness Recovery Action Plan, aka WRAP, Mary Ellen Copeland’s method (see The Copeland Center Tucson, AZ), is an excellent tool for maintaining mental wellness and for writing very specific Psychiatric Advanced Directives. Once written a mental health patient can get their document notarized and have a copy put in all their healthcare providers Medical Records. My primary care doctor and psychiatrist, my son, UNM Psychiatric Center, and my supporters all have a copy. A copy is also hidden outside my home in the event of an psychiatric emergency.
Thank you for all you’ve done and all you do now.
Hi CHRISTIANE LOCASCIO,
Much thanks for taking the time to express your opinion. There is much that I agree with you. Like you, I support the right of individuals to refuse psychiatric drug treatment, and from the little that I know, I think Wellness Recovery Action Plan, aka WRAP, Mary Ellen Copeland’s method has a good deal of merit going for it.
At one point you wrote “Only in extremely violent or those who may be a danger to themselves should psychiatric meds be administered.” I have done a great deal of research on this topic and I think the drugs, in the long run, even in the cases you described, make matters worse. I’m also very much opposed to the use of ECT.
I hope that just because we disagree on a few issues this won’t discourage you from continuing your interest in this blog. All opinions are welcome.
My Best,
Jeff
Were any of the Szasz-Torrey debates video or audio recorded?
Yes, I personally audio recorded their debate, and I believe Dr. Richard E. Vatz of Towson University arranged to video record it. As I recall there was a video camera set up throughout the debate. Dr Vatz, once I arranged the contracts with Szasz and Torrey, made all of the arrangements at Towson University where the debate took place. I have the audio for my own personal use, and I don’t think I can release it without going through some pretty complicated legal stuff involving contacting Torrey and the family members of Szasz. But Professor Vatz might have made some arrangements with both debaters at the time it took place to be able to share it under some circumstances. The debate was called “Mental Illness: What is it and what should we do about it?” If you are very interesting in getting a copy, I suggest contacting Professor Vatz.
Yes. APA only took this issue up because their deceit and lies were exposed by a James Risen and other reporters. One of the primary reasons I dropped psychology as a profession, in addition to the APA pretense, occurred when I taught grad school for a few years, most recently, as an adjunct. I had 2-4 courses a trimester, clinical practicums, personality, existential psychotherapy, etc. What amazed me: the curriculum was almost identical to what it was when I was a student in the 70’s, with the exception that innovative people in the field, who developed innovative and effective approaches, like Reich, Laing, Loren Mosher, the Perls, Jonathan Pierrakos, etc. were sanitized from the curriculum or left as a footnote. (not to mention the fact that I was paid about the same rate per hour I paid the person to clean my house)I originally trained as a gestalt therapist for a few years and trained in orgonomy and core energetics, as well as more traditional approaches. including many seminars at the Jung Institute in NY, cognitive behaviorism, and having studied with Viktor Frankl and Rollo May in grad school. Seeing only lip service or no mention of these folks in the current curriculum for doctoral students was a major turnoff. And by the way, communicating with you through this blog is a pain in the neck, compared to direct email
Regards,
Jasenn
How do you see Buddhism and psychotherapy with eastern mysticism as being helpful to running a For-Profit endevavor with PostAcute.org?
I am a Christian, a struggling Catholic who believes in one true God and also sense that non-profits offer more than do For-Profits.
Hi Rick Nicholson,
In seeking to reply to your first question I am unable to answer because I never heard of PostAcute.org, let alone know anything about it. With regards to which offers more, non-profits or for-profits, it depends. I suspect that as a general rule, very wealthy people get more from for-profits. However, I went to the University of Minnesota, which is a non-profit organization while both my sons went to for-profit universities, and as far as I can tell from visiting their for-profit universities and discussing their personal experiences, the University of Minnesota provided more good stuff.
Hi Dr. Rubin,
thank you very much for your publication “Does “Antipsychotic” Treatment Reduce Risk of Death?” with seem to solve I could not find out.
I was aware of De Hert et al. 2010 review of Tiihonens 2009 FIN11 cohort study:
Tiihonens 2009 FIN11 cohort study suggested that antipsychotic use decreased all-cause mortality. De Hert et al. 2010 showed incomplete reporting of data e. g. “A number of methodological and conceptual issues make the interpretation of these findings problematic, including incomplete reporting of data, questionable selection of drug groups and comparisons, important unmeasured risk factors, inadequate control for potentially confounding variables, exclusion of deaths occurring during hospitalization leading to exclusion of 64% of deaths on current antipsychotics from the analysis, and survivorship bias due to strong and systematic differences in illness duration across the treatment groups”.
This seems to correspond with Osborn et al., 2007; Weinmann et al., 2009.
However I never found a critical review of Jari Tiihonens other studies.
I would like to draw your attention to Bergström et al. 2018 reposting 97,3 % medicated “at some point” in Finland.
Tiihonen et al. 2018 seems to report approx. 40% “No use ” of antipsychotics.
It seems to me your have found an explanation to these conflicting number:
However, the vast majority of the patients said to be in the “no antipsychotic group,” and probably all of them, actually were on these drugs at various points throughout the study. While they were hospitalized, they were almost certainly on the drugs, according to one team of researchers who had engaged in a similar study using the same data set, and many were hospitalized multiple times. What the researchers actually meant by labelling the group the “no antipsychotic group” were patients who didn’t take them each time they were released from the hospital. Thus, each time they left the hospital, they were suffering from withdrawal reactions.
Bergstrøm et al. 2018 shows reduced SMR from 3.4 to 2.9 reducing antipsychotics:
Tomi Bergström, Jaakko Seikkula et al. 2018 sammenlikner alle 108 Open dialogue pasienter med alle 1763 FEP pasienter i Finland over et tidsrom av 19 år. Open dialogue (OD) bruker nevroleptika for 20% av pasientene i begynnelsen, standard behandling (CG control group) 70%. 97,3 % av CG gruppen får nevroleptika på et eller annet tidspunkt. Ved avslutning bruker med OD 36% av pasientene nevroleptika for CG er det 81%. Uføretrygding, reinnleggelse og pasienter under behandling halveres med OD. Standardiserte dødstall (SMR) synker fra 3,4 til 2,9 med OD
Thank you again for you investigation,
I have published a summary of studies I found interesting here: http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/mortality-references.html you can find links to the studies mentioned.
Sincerely
—
—
Walter Keim
Netizen: http://walter.keim.googlepages.com
Is it possible to enforce access to information in Bavaria?
http://wkeim.bplaced.net/files/enforce_access_to_information.html
Hi Walter. Thanks for your comment, and I am pleased to hear you found something helpful in my post. Also, I found the article you mentioned about Open Dialogue helpful, so, you see, we are both being helpful to one another, a sublime situation.
My Best,
Jeff
Dear Dr. Rubin, I’d like to begin by thanking you for making this forum freely available to users and subscribers of your web letters to which I subscribe. The latest one regarding the use of anti-depressants to assist the afflicted with this malady is one I wish to address here. I am again beginning another episode of depression as the state of the nation (at least, within my immediate sphere) is particularly distressing for me. I am in the later stages of life now and do not see positive interpersonal changes, as a general observation. However, given that earlier in man’s history there were very personally taxing and challenging conditions, I feel that I must demonstrate personal mettle and “bite the bullet” when affronted, at least in a minor manner (not physical attacked, e.g.). Nonetheless, others may be undergoing similar affects and since there are so many varieties of people some are more demonstrative and lack control such that they are prone to lash out at others. This kind of person incites a defensive posture in me, as the “fight or flight” response is likely to be at the forefront of the encounters. Thus, for someone such as myself that is not involved in talk therapy (humanist or CBT), medications for depression, as little relief as they may provide, may be the best resolution available to therapists as can currently be expected. Again, thank you for your posts and your guidance continues to be appreciated.
Hi Bill J. Adams,
Your kind words of thanks is very much appreciated. I spend countless hours thinking about what I can write for each of my post that might be helpful and it always puts a smile on my face when I get a comment such as yours.
You go on from here to say you are again experiencing another episode of depression with the state of the nation being particularly depression to you. I share with you waves of feelings at the way events now sit. My guess is that both of us are built this way, and I’m not sure if I would, if I could, just get rid of it.
Steven Pinker, has written some books (Enlightenment Now being his most recent, and Our Better Angels also is worthwhile) impressively demonstrates to me that the human condition has, in the long run, been making some positive strives. I spend some time experiencing my melancholy periods, and that is part of my life that I have learned to live with, and sometimes I can see some positives come upon the deeper reflection that these periods provide, though there are dead ends as well, but I guess all of life problems are not going to be solved by me.
With regards to the use of medications for depressions, you no doubt have read my thoughts about the pros and cons of this approach, and I am completely supportive of people making their own choices in these matters.
My Best,
Jeff