Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging

This is a must watch in our current world. Most people simply don't have the where-with-all to question a doctor, when they most certainly should. Drugs for mental illnesses is a supremely important issue that a lot of us face today. The sheer number of people that these drugs kill and severely hamper the lives of each year is staggering.

Making a killing covers a lot of ground, and is absorbing the whole way through.

Question everything: especially religion, government and your parents.

This is a hugely relevant documentary considering the vampiric nature of our modern health care industry in the USA that leaves 45,000 citizens dead annually, and 50 million plus without any care at all, not to mention the tens of millions more who are unlucky enough to be paying health insurance as not part of a large business plan (b/c they can be dropped for any reason). This film reminds me of SICKO by Michael Moore.

OK, before I go further, yes, the voice of the video is like on Discovery Channel, you know, dramatic and exaggerating, and they do repeat information like a sneaky Goebbels technique, and do not present the other side - that maybe in some cases drugs can be effective and that in some cases they might help ease the pain in a divorce or trauma for a short time, which I believe is true. However, having been said, I totally agree with this film's guests that psychiatrists engage in unethical behavior on a routine basis in order to make money. Duh! Everyone knows that the medical industry has been swallowed hook line and sinker by pay- to-play industry.

This documentary also touches on how the DSM IV (now IV+) pathologizes almost every possible thing a human being can experience, and how it is used as a drug-dealers best friend to get paid by insurance companies. This is TRUE, in my view, from watching the film. It's even more true now that BIG Pharma and Insurance hold a literal death grip on the nation's health insurance reform.

I've read all the reviews here and can say that I'm still not convinced that they actually deal with the criticisms presented in this film, but just use bad names against it - "boring", "ditsy Scientology rant", "repetitious", "awful science and pure propaganda", and others. I'm a skeptic of Scientology, but now I know one reason why Tom Cruise loves it and has remained faithful to it. FYI, I'm NOT a Scientologist, but a professor of English and longtime practitioner of Nonviolent Communication. This film has a huge number of psychiatrists, consumer advocates, and people and children affected by psychiatric drugs. I've known for decades the relationship between psychiatry and legal drug pushing; since the crusades eliminating the midwives and public medical systems of women healers, this is a long, long history. For more info, see Coercion as Cure: A Critical History of Psychiatry by Thomas Szasz (a psychiatrist for over fifty years). There are many more books on this subject that are very well researched. He's on Amazon.com and Youtube, too. There's a great book too, by Ph.D. Jeffrey A. Schaler defending Szasz, in his book, Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics - overwhelmingly positive five star reviews. I HIGHLY recommend ALL psychiatrists reading this to buy and read both books.

Some mentioned University of Texas bioethicist Dr. Howard Brody as not being against the big pharma industry, but he's STILL talking about the "dark side of medicine" in this debate last Sept, 2010. Just Google his name.

Also, clearly from a cursory review of the CCHR, this group believes psychiatry is bad and has no good side, which I believe is short-sighted. Sometimes drugs can help someone cope with extreme mental states, but there are other therapies which can replace the drugs to help them get off them as soon as possible. The fact that psychiatrists 99% of the time tend to overlook these and only deal with drugs as a remedy, is a total tragedy and an outrage!!! Shame on you as a profession! I won't even touch on the use of psychiatrists in torture in Iraq and Guantanamo, which the movie didn't touch on because it was made earlier.

Thank you for bringing this to most people's attention and allowing this documentary to be viewed for free!

Obviously, the field is open for other documentarians to portray this issue in a more objective way, and with less propagandistic methods, which in the end, is much more convincing to those with the power to do something.

Blessings and well wishes to all!

OK. So it is the Scientologists again bringing to light social issues. - And that is why they get clobbered all the time. They don't shut up!

But..., the Scientologists have this video right. Over-drugging of psychiatric "medicine" is an epidemic catapulted into America and the world an aggressive pharmaceutical drug cartel. Marketing is key, science takes a back seat. (One positive point about this group is that at least it seems they are internationally coordinated and aren't siding with one country or the other.)

Ron Hubbard said in his description of Scientology that he merely pulled all the material for the religion from many other religious and philosophical sources. ... Well, now the Scientologists did it again with the making of their "Making A Killing" documentary of psychiatric drug abuse. - Please go to MadInAmerica.com for insight on how actual psychiatrists with a conscious are combating this deadly scourge of psychiatric medication overdose in their own industry. The Mad In America website is NOT the Scientologists, so you can feel better about that if that was keeping you from paying attention to this monumental issue.

Dr. Peter Breggin who is a regular on the nightly international Coast to Coast AM program with George Noory (great show) has a blog up there now on the Mad In America site titled "Psychiatry: The Brain is a Malignant Tumor!" There is another interesting blog currently found on this website that I liked too "How Psychiatry Evolved Into A Religion". Check it out!

I stopped watching this right at the criticism of DSM. To be diagnosed by DSM for depression : You have had an episode of depression lasting at least two weeks with at least five of the following symptoms: (1) You are depressed, sad, blue, tearful. (2) You have lost interest or pleasure in things you previously liked to do. (3) Your appetite is much less or much greater than usual and you have lost or gained weight. (4) You have a lot of trouble sleeping or sleep too much. (5) You are so agitated, restless, or slowed down that others have begun to notice. (6) You are tired and have no energy. (7) You feel worthless or excessively guilty about things you have done or not done. (8) You have trouble concentrating, thinking clearly, or making decisions. (9) You feel you would be better off dead or have thoughts about killing yourself. AND These symptoms are severe enough to upset your daily routine, or to seriously impair your work, or to interfere with your relationships. AND The depression does not have a specific cause like alcohol, drugs, medication side effect, or physical illness. AND Your depression is not just a normal reaction to the death of a loved one.

The documentary was saying everyone fits into these categories. Sorry but thats a lie. People should use their digression - If you fit this i would suggest first seeing a psychologist or talking to a friend to get some clarity on the reason why you may be feeling this way, however if you feel in desperate need for an escape go to the psychiatrist who will give you some drugs that will hopefully only be needed for a short period of time until your body naturally can cope on its own.

Psychiatrists are trained in medicine first so thats what they know - they will try and fix problems using medicine which isn't always the best way however sometimes is appropriate. The reason they prescribe so much is because thats what their job is - if you want someone to talk about your problems with go to a friend or family member however if it something out of their hands and you don't know how to handle it try a psychologist.

DSM is very good - if someone is prescribing you medication and not using DSM I would think critically about their motives and look into side effects and misuse of the drug.

This documentary is just so 1 sided its ridiculous - its actually an incredibly unscientific way of looking at what we know.

If I could give this film a zero out of 10, I would. I'm betting the two good reviews it got here were from Scientologists, considering that they produced this crap. I don't think psychiatry is without its faults, and I think the rest of the medical profession needs to demand more accountability from psychiatry and that hard data from repeatable research will, over time, determine which psychiatric treatments work and which don't. But I want data on that, and NOT from scientologists or their supporters! They're nutcases, and their assertions are neither plausible nor backed up by peer reviewed research. This is a jeremiad riddled with assertions, nothing more, and richly deserves contempt. But it certainly doesn't deserve your time or any of your money.