Sir – The profit-driven aspect of psychiatry dictates that mental illnesses need to exist and need to continue to exist. After all, if psychiatry ever cured anyone, the profession would go out of business.

So it is that documentaries are made and media articles are written that speak of epidemics of a given psychiatric label which may be linked to a given demographic.

This is what psychiatrists have done with youth depression, which has been the focus of a recent documentary and consequent media articles.

There has been an unscientific codification of behaviours and emotions which have been classified as mental ‘disorders.’ It’s a marketing strategy.

There can be no doubt children and adolescents do experience mental troubles but the psychiatric habit of labelling these difficulties as so-called mental ‘disorders’ is misleading and can result in young people becoming life-long psychiatric patients.

The most extraordinary, bizarre and dangerous aspect of the psychiatric industry is the use of mind-altering drugs that can create the very difficulties for which the drugs were supposedly prescribed.

Antidepressants are consistently linked to the suicides of young people.

Coroner’s inquests have regularly reported how a young person was prescribed antidepressants before taking their own lives.

Suicidal behaviour and suicidal ideation are known effects of these drugs. If a parent was fully informed of this, it’s unlikely they would agree for their children to take the drugs.

And remember; mental illness is worth a lot of money. Since the year 2000, NHS antidepressant prescribing in England alone across all age groups has cost £5.4 billion. In view of the life-threatening dangers of the drugs, that represents an impressive marketing strategy that has thoroughly duped well-meaning teachers, parents and politicians.

If psychiatrists keep moving the parameters to ‘diagnose’ youth depression, there will inevitably be a bigger market to keep the psychiatric industry profitable.

However, it’s not an epidemic. It’s business but it’s at the expense of young lives.

Brian Daniels

National Spokesperson

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (United Kingdom)