We strenuously object to what we see as a scientific community that’s somewhat akin to the Pharisees of the Bible. Many scientists believe that their word is the end-all to scientific arguments—until they’re proven wrong, and they often are. People in our society are just beginning to wake up to the fact that they really need to become their own advocates in terms of taking care of their health. We’re sold foods that sicken us, and then given prescription medications to address the symptoms of the chronic, often life-threatening conditions that arise as a result of having poisoned ourselves.
While we acknowledge that much of this is due to a profit motive, it is not our intention to wax conspiratorial; many of these people are dedicated and well-intentioned, and are simply “going with what they know”—it’s just that they just don’t know enough.
This attitude on the part of scientists and other learned individuals includes many in the healthcare community, both in the areas of physical and mental health. While there are many open-minded practitioners out there, the industry in general is far too quick to attach labels to conditions and behaviors and “rubber stamp” not only conditions, but sufferers as well.
People who have been branded with such labels as addict, alcoholic, bipolar, are often widely stigmatized. If someone is unfortunate enough to have run afoul of the criminal justice system, they are often further branded as a convict—a label that can literally ruin someone’s life, even if they’re determined to correct their ways.
Children are branded as ADD, ADHD, and the like, and are quickly put on regimens of pharmaceuticals that can damage them in the long term. Even carrying the label of someone with “mental health issues” can be harmful in a variety of ways.
All of these labels are singularly disempowering and militate against the efforts of those who are trying to heal. If it appears at times that science, medicine, and the mental health community are determined to diagnose everyone with some sort of pernicious malady, this is largely correct. Some of these “labels” have insidious political agendas behind them, but it is not our purpose to address these here. Let it be known that we are not here to stigmatize anyone, and that we strenuously object to institutions which attempt to do so. What we ARE saying is that unresolved trauma is a serious and unrecognized public health issue that has proliferated in recent decades, and that addressing it should be a matter of the upmost importance.