Ep 858 ｜ The Disturbing Origins of Adderall ｜ Guest： Dr. Roger McFillin (Part Two)
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
161.80994
Summary
In this episode, Dr. Roger McFillan, a clinical psychologist, discusses the root causes of ADD and ADHD and how we should treat them. Dr. Mcfillan discusses the dangers of over-the-counter ADHD meds and how they can be misused and misdiagnosed.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
What are the origins of ADHD medication? Why are we prescribing stuff that doesn't even fix the
00:00:08.260
behaviors that are associated with ADD and ADHD? And what should we do to help ourselves or to
00:00:16.240
help our children who may be struggling with attention issues or behavioral issues? How do
00:00:21.820
we get to root causes and treat these problems in a healthy and actually productive way? That's
00:00:29.500
what we're going to discuss today with Dr. Roger McFillan, a clinical psychologist. This is part
00:00:34.740
two of a two-part conversation about ADD and ADHD, the problems with these diagnoses and how we treat
00:00:41.840
them. Go back and listen to part one, yesterday's episode, if you haven't done it already. This
00:00:46.540
episode is brought to you by our friends at Good Ranchers. Go to goodranchers.com. Use code
00:00:50.960
Allie at checkout. That's goodranchers.com, code Allie.
00:01:02.680
It was kind of like a joke in college, and maybe it still is now. You mentioned this,
00:01:08.900
that abuse of medicines, medications like Adderall is very common on university campuses. And I remember
00:01:16.020
that in college, it was like a joke that people would take someone's Adderall that was prescribed
00:01:22.120
to them. Thankfully, I never did that because I just have like a fear of being dependent upon anything
00:01:27.320
or addicted to anything. But I had friends who did, and they would joke about like, oh, yeah,
00:01:31.760
I stayed up all night to write my paper that I've been putting off. Or they would say, don't, you know,
00:01:37.540
don't start doing something like not study related after you've taken Adderall because you won't be able to
00:01:44.260
stop doing that. If you start cleaning your room or something when you're on Adderall, you won't be
00:01:49.160
able to stop cleaning your room. You'll be cleaning your room all night. It is crazy how just pervasive
00:01:54.840
it's gotten and how almost funny it's gotten that it is the same thing. It does sound like the same
00:02:01.380
thing as someone being on cocaine or some kind of stimulant that we all know is sketchy and that you
00:02:07.100
shouldn't engage in. And yet when it comes to these pharmaceuticals, people just kind of shrug their
00:02:11.860
shoulders and say, yeah, that's just what I needed to study or that's just what I needed
00:02:16.080
to get by. And there are all kinds of justifications for it. And I like I can sympathize with it again
00:02:22.820
as someone who, you know, I'm thinking about a million different things at once. I have a hard
00:02:28.280
time. I have to try really hard to stay organized and keep up with my schedule growing up. I was always
00:02:34.480
losing papers. I was losing pens. I was always amazed at people who kept the same school supplies all year
00:02:39.600
long. But, you know, I grew up and I figured out tools to, you know, be able to succeed in life and
00:02:46.740
to be a productive person without medication. And so while I can sympathize with it, at the same time, I
00:02:53.660
think our nonchalant attitude about just medicating kind of normal personality traits, as you're talking
00:02:59.940
about, has really scary long term implications and really unknown long term implications on the people who have
00:03:07.300
kind of fallen for that narrative. It's an experiment on the brain. There's no doubt about that. And so and so one of
00:03:15.860
the things that I think is really important to your listeners, so I want to speak to if somebody is a detractor to
00:03:21.760
that last statement, they'll say, well, we cannot compare somebody who's abusing the drug and taking higher doses to
00:03:27.440
those who have a legitimate condition. The truth of the matter is we have no idea how people are going to respond to
00:03:32.220
drugs. We're all so diverse. So people are going to respond differently to drugs. Some people will get
00:03:37.280
manic, potentially even develop psychosis, have increased energy, euphoria, while others will have
00:03:42.480
more enhanced focus. It will calm some others down, while others will create tachycardia, which is
00:03:47.860
increased heart rate. Heart rate can increase your blood pressure. There's just a varied reaction.
00:03:53.000
And so there's a large range in the dosage that psychiatrists or pediatricians are going to
00:03:59.420
prescribe because it is trial and error. The other thing that I think is really important for your
00:04:05.920
listeners to know is there can be legitimate reasons why someone's having a hard time focusing
00:04:12.280
and they are mislabeled as ADHD. So let me give you some really important examples. In the work that I do,
00:04:19.720
kids who have been abused or come from neglectful environments are going to have a difficult time
00:04:27.320
sitting still and focusing. It's a natural response to danger or traumatic events. We've seen this uptick
00:04:35.980
in girls who are kind of perfectionistic or worriers because they are internalizers and so they're having a
00:04:44.420
hard time focusing their attention on certain tasks that are non-stimulating and they retreat inward into
00:04:51.480
their minds. And so that's a legitimate problem with concentration, but the problem is worry or
00:04:57.500
perfectionism. Other things that are really important to know is we are in a unique period in human
00:05:04.120
evolution. This technological age where everyone has a smartphone is new. Our brains are neuroplastic.
00:05:12.860
That means they are very adaptable. We have evolved to be able to focus our attention on what is the
00:05:18.380
most relevant stimuli. So what is the most relevant stimuli? It's often what is engaging to our brain.
00:05:25.420
In life-threatening situations, obviously it's going to be situations that pose danger. In other
00:05:29.380
situations, it can be what creates something that's really interesting to us. So put kids on social media
00:05:36.140
and video games since they were very young. And we're in a period where toddlers are being raised
00:05:43.260
by smart pads and iPads and things like that, where they're watching television and other movies.
00:05:51.100
What does that do to the brain and our own ability to be able to focus to non-relevant stimuli? So
00:05:57.060
we're going to raise kids with iPads in front of them and then expect them to go into school
00:06:04.820
environments and focus on math or science or a teacher. So that's something that we have to
00:06:09.040
really look at is how the brain is adapting to this new technology. Again, the ethical question is,
00:06:14.680
does that mean it's a disorder? No. I think a lot of people would say that the brain is designed to
00:06:21.180
adapt to the most relevant of situations and there's a lot of diversity. So you as in the media
00:06:28.340
who likes to talk, obviously those skills served you well in your later career and you have a lot
00:06:34.180
of success. But let's think about people in the military or farmers or anyone who is in some type
00:06:40.700
of profession where you're using your hands and construction workers and so forth. We compare the
00:06:47.020
differences amongst a human population and strengths and weaknesses. It's very concerning for us to kind
00:06:53.280
of restrict about how somebody should be. That diversity is extremely important. So this is what
00:06:58.340
I was seeing in the schools when I was working in the schools. The kids that were getting identified as
00:07:03.580
ADHD from the school environment, predominantly boys, predominantly boys who were active, predominantly
00:07:09.700
boys who would later go to like low-tech programs. So that in itself is concerning. The other group of kids
00:07:15.700
that would often get identified with ADHD are ones who are having other mental health problems. And that could be
00:07:22.320
anxiety, depression, horrible home environments, getting bullied, things like that. It's very difficult to focus
00:07:28.300
in school when other things are capturing your attention. And that's how we're designed to be. So when we talk about
00:07:37.040
ADHD not being a real diagnosis, what I mean, it's not a discrete diagnosis. It should be a rule out. It's all it is
00:07:44.340
a constellation of symptoms that's being misapplied to more and more people driving high rates of drug use.
00:07:52.340
Right now, as we speak, we have an Adderall shortage in the United States, at least partially due to
00:08:00.020
I want to talk a little bit about the origin of ADHD treatments, which I heard on an episode of your
00:08:18.600
podcast, you had a guest, Patrick Hahn. He wrote a book called Obedience Pills, ADHD and the Medicalization
00:08:25.300
of Childhood. And he talks about Charles Bradley, 1937. He was a psychiatrist who administered,
00:08:34.180
and you can tell me if I am pronouncing these correctly, benzidine sulfate to problem children
00:08:42.060
at the Emma Pendleton Bradley home in Providence, Rhode Island. He was using, you're going to have to
00:08:47.860
pronounce this word for me. Let's see if I can do it. Bradley was using a pneumo, a pneumo encephalography,
00:08:57.300
pneumo encephalography to study children's brains. And basically, he found that putting the putting
00:09:03.780
them on this medication subdued them, it made them quiet and still. And so that was the precursor to a lot
00:09:12.460
of the medicalization that we see today, the precursor to things like Ritalin. And so, I mean,
00:09:18.820
this seems to be kind of the origin story of a lot of these medications today, that it started from
00:09:24.580
kind of like a faulty premise and an experiment that didn't actually go very well. And yet it's
00:09:29.640
been carried into the 21st century, has been advertised and marketed as a happy pill or a
00:09:36.300
compliance pill. It's kind of crazy that no one even asks, wait, what is the science behind this
00:09:42.740
and where did this all start? Well, I think that speaks to the historical context of this in the
00:09:47.780
industrial age. At some point, we needed to train factory workers. We needed to train obedient
00:09:55.020
capitalists for the American economy to function in the way that it did. We needed to have workers who
00:10:02.720
were going to show up on time, stay focused, listen to their direct manager or superior.
00:10:09.640
And we had to create environments where that system was going to function economically.
00:10:14.220
And that's why you see the US public school system evolve in the way that it did. It's why you have
00:10:20.600
bells. It kind of mimics a factory system. And so you're thinking about, I think it's the integration
00:10:29.440
of major industries and thought leaders in industry. So we know how this benefits the pharmaceutical
00:10:34.880
industry. But also, in a functioning society, you only have so many people in leadership.
00:10:41.200
You only have so many people who are actually running the company, making decisions. You need
00:10:46.340
a whole lot of people to be able to function on specific tasks that are not very stimulating.
00:10:55.060
And you have to be able to focus your attention and follow those rules. So there's beliefs that
00:11:00.920
this is part of a larger systemic system of trying to institute manners of means of control on the
00:11:09.820
population. And so we are evolving as a culture where we're seeing things that are also really
00:11:18.400
important. We're seeing less connection with nature, more social isolation. Our food source
00:11:24.500
is implicated in also having some difficulties with concentration and hyperactivity. I don't know
00:11:30.900
if you're aware of the impact of nutrient deficiencies or glyphosate, which is a pesticide that is
00:11:37.200
sprayed on our wheat crops or red dyes. These are chemicals.
00:11:43.260
I'm kind of starting to learn about this, actually. I think COVID kind of was an impetus for a lot of
00:11:48.800
people to start looking into how all the different parts of our system may be affecting us. So I don't
00:11:57.440
know. I don't know a lot, but I have definitely heard about red. What is it? Red 40, one of the
00:12:03.780
dyes. And I mean, a lot of the ingredients that we use here in the United States are illegal in other
00:12:08.220
parts of the world. And again, if you question it, it's kind of like you're some kooky, woo-woo
00:12:16.600
Yeah, it's really important that this should be probably a future podcast for you to get experts
00:12:21.080
in this area, but it's very clear science that these pesticides or these dyes or some of the other
00:12:27.040
things that we put in American food are going to create some of the symptoms that mimic the diagnosis
00:12:32.240
of ADHD. So it's a whole system that kind of works together. I call it the sick care system.
00:12:37.340
So we raise kids on horrible foods, sugars, dyes, pesticides. They're on screens and their behavior
00:12:46.740
is a problem entering into the school system. Then we have a drug for that. And then the later
00:12:51.400
problems with their health related to the lack of activity, a sedentary lifestyle, being in screens
00:12:58.440
and eating poor foods, then we have more drugs for that. And it all feeds off of itself. I'm just
00:13:03.400
saying that as parents, we need to be aware that these diagnoses are not legitimate and that you
00:13:11.440
could be missing other options to be able to assist your kid if they are having problems with attention
00:13:19.080
and hyperactivity. They include dietary changes, behavioral interventions. So another reason why kids
00:13:27.360
are going to have problems in school is if you don't have a very disciplined home. And some parents
00:13:33.000
really do need help, especially in modern society where there's so many two-parent income homes.
00:13:39.320
They're outside of the home. Their kids are in daycare during the day. They're under a lot of stress
00:13:43.980
because of the financial challenges that exist. And you come home and you have a two-year-old or a
00:13:49.080
three-year-old or a four-year-old. And those are critical periods of time for self-discipline and
00:13:54.460
emotion regulation skills to be developed. And you're just wiped out. So what do you do? You
00:14:00.240
pull out the screen or you scream and yell. And before you know it, you've developed situations
00:14:06.000
in your home where your kid's behavior is kind of controlling the entire environment. And then
00:14:11.460
you go into school and you see something similar. So the problem with the ADHD diagnosis, it doesn't
00:14:16.240
help people like me. It doesn't give me any information. It doesn't help me be able to identify
00:14:20.980
what are the legitimate problems that are affecting that kid in these specific environments.
00:14:26.860
Sometimes they're just not meant for the environment. The environment is the problem,
00:14:29.960
not the kid. And we have to be able to recognize what are those unique strengths and how do we create
00:14:34.960
learning environments that can be able to optimize who that kid's natural brain activity,
00:14:41.120
personality, and skills are so they can feel good about who they are and they can learn in a way
00:14:45.340
that's going to fit their talents. I think that human beings being individual is really
00:15:03.080
inconvenient for people and for systems that rely on everyone kind of learning the same way and acting
00:15:11.040
the same way. Something that you alluded to a few minutes ago. And also I think it can be confusing
00:15:15.880
for parents who say they have three kids. All the kids were raised the same way, but they've got one
00:15:20.700
child, one child who just won't listen, won't comply, won't behave. And so I think sometimes that
00:15:27.500
pushes parents to say, well, there must be something diagnosably wrong with this child because my other
00:15:34.200
kids aren't like that. Maybe forgetting, and maybe we all do at some point, that everyone's an individual.
00:15:39.720
It might be the parenting, it might not, it might be personality, but there are a lot of different
00:15:45.660
factors that don't mean that there is something that needs to be medicated in your child just because
00:15:51.380
they're not the same as either other students or the same as their siblings.
00:15:56.960
Yeah, there's a nice bell-shaped curve that exists across so many different attributes. And kids require
00:16:04.700
different things in order for them to thrive. And you know what, that's the way we want it to be.
00:16:08.400
Think about how beautifully integrated our entire society is, that you can have people who can
00:16:14.540
construct buildings and are mechanical while others are creating beautiful works of art.
00:16:22.560
And then you have scientists, and then you have media with incredible verbal skills and
00:16:28.200
asking incredible questions. And you just think about the diversity that exists for a society to
00:16:34.280
function. It's so perfectly integrated. And so that's why we have to be very resistant to the idea
00:16:41.260
of restricting or limiting how kids should behave and be. And that's why we're seeing movements around
00:16:49.140
homeschooling. Because when I look at the data, kids are in school too long. Our sleep is disrupted
00:16:57.280
because of the school day. So we don't have a schedule that fits the needs of kids' sleep.
00:17:02.100
They're not active enough. If you go back to the Bush era with No Child Left Behind, there was such an
00:17:07.680
emphasis on testing that a lot of schools started eliminating recess. And it's just really cool to
00:17:14.420
see other programs who are integrating a lot more activity. And then that decreases the diagnosis of
00:17:20.900
ADHD. The problem there is you need active kids to be able to be active. Social kids need to be able
00:17:27.460
to socialize. These things are critically important to development. And if we're not aware of that,
00:17:33.500
and we believe kids should only act one certain way, then what are we doing? We're creating a
00:17:39.180
generation of kids who are going to have mental and behavioral health problems. What do we currently
00:17:44.300
have? Generation of kids having mental and behavioral health problems.
00:17:47.580
Yes. I want to talk a little bit. We don't have very much time left, but I want to talk a little
00:17:54.180
bit about the marketing of these ADD medications that we did touch on when we were talking about the
00:18:00.040
teachers and the kind of messages that the teachers relate to parents that whether they're intended to
00:18:04.840
or not, they do guilt the parents into saying, wow, if I really love my child, if I really want to help my
00:18:09.980
child reach their full potential, that's really like the line that's used, reach their full potential,
00:18:14.700
then I'll give them this ADD medication or whatever. And you've talked about this before,
00:18:19.960
these advertisements that use that, that use that language, that your child will be able to become
00:18:27.280
their full self, will reveal their better self. And there's even advertisements that have been
00:18:32.040
analyzed over the years, like showing a child that once really struggled and stressed out mom to now
00:18:38.640
this child who's taking out the garbage voluntarily and who was thriving with their friends and they're
00:18:43.860
excelling athletically and academically, that's kind of what you're promised in some ways with these,
00:18:51.520
with these medications. And like what parent doesn't want that? What parent doesn't want this
00:18:57.380
child who is voluntarily and happily doing their chores? And we're told that's what Adderall is going
00:19:02.520
to do for your child. And to be honest, like I've heard some parents say things like that. I've heard
00:19:08.540
some adults. I'm thinking of a friend right now who's an adult. He would say he has ADHD.
00:19:13.060
And takes medication for it. And he would say, this helps me reach my full potential. I wouldn't
00:19:19.560
be able to function without this. I have such debilitating ADHD. This is how I'm able to thrive.
00:19:25.780
So like, what is, what's your response to all of that? Okay. I'm going to repeat some things that
00:19:31.500
I said the last time I was on there. So we really, we lay the foundation here with this is that
00:19:36.520
the pharmaceutical industry is the largest criminal organization, most lucrative criminal organization
00:19:43.580
in the history of the world. They lie. They have lied. They've, uh, they've withheld important data
00:19:52.400
from clinical trials. They're routinely sued and, and fined by the federal government. Their drugs are
00:20:00.840
just so lucrative that they can pay the lawsuits, that they can defend themselves, that they can pay
00:20:08.060
the fines. So their job is to make as much money as they can. They are beholden to their shareholders.
00:20:15.260
They are not beholden to us. With that being said, there's, there is truth. Remember, I've said that
00:20:21.580
stimulants are, they are cognitive enhancers. They are performance enhancing drugs. And there will be
00:20:28.900
a percentage of people who don't necessarily have the same adverse side effects. And for a period of
00:20:35.860
time, it's going to be really beneficial. Again, the question is what is the long-term risks of doing
00:20:43.160
that? The idea of things being, saving your life and, you know, kind of that, those hyperbolic statements.
00:20:50.740
I want to bring people's attention to a study that just recently came out regarding placebo for pain.
00:20:57.420
They took an opiate group and a, and a, and a placebo group for people who were experiencing
00:21:03.160
chronic pain. And the opiate group or the, the placebo group just helped perform the opiate group.
00:21:09.920
Other studies that are widely available, there was a really interesting study where orthopedic surgeons
00:21:16.760
were doing a arthroscopic knee surgery where they weren't sure if that improved the mobility or
00:21:23.340
outcomes. So they set up a group that they provided them the orthopath, the, um, arthroscopic knee
00:21:29.460
surgery. And then they took a group where they didn't know. So they were wheeled into a OR. They
00:21:35.420
were provided anesthesia. They woke up, they were told that they had the arthroscopic knee surgery.
00:21:40.440
And you know what, what they find is that the group that did not get the surgery has decreased pain,
00:21:47.120
increased mobility. They just feel better. So the point I want to make to people is that we are
00:21:54.020
creators of our own reality. What we choose to believe will become powerful. If you believe you
00:22:02.320
can't focus, which is very hard for you to determine, how can we compare one, one person to
00:22:07.940
another? These are internal experiences with complex causes. But once you identify yourself
00:22:12.920
to have an impairment, one that you can't identify that no medical professional is going to be able
00:22:17.840
to identify, this becomes your experience. So does that then impair your ability to learn the tools
00:22:23.500
or do the necessary work in order to focus? We know that attention is similar to, um, other attributes.
00:22:32.000
So if I go to the gym and I, and I work out, I can get stronger. I might not be, I might not be 250
00:22:40.140
pounds of pure muscle because I'm limited by my genetics, but I can maximize or optimize my potential.
00:22:45.620
And so when we think about attention or things of that nature, it's very critical that we think about
00:22:51.980
that in a similar way, because we do have a lot of tools, behavioral treatments, and work that can be
00:22:59.560
done that do improve the ability to focus. So you are a creator of your reality. So if you tell
00:23:03.720
yourself that this drug is changing your life, you're going to believe that that's going to be
00:23:07.320
your experience. You're going to share that with people. It might even enhance your, the outcomes.
00:23:13.360
But again, what is the dark side? It's what happens to this drug long-term, how the body and brain
00:23:19.180
adapts. And that's the thing around informed consent. So if parents are given this information and say,
00:23:25.280
hey, we're going to put your kid on a stimulant at age four, and we're uncertain what it's going to
00:23:31.440
do to their brain down the line. We have no idea about its effect, but they do mimic other stimulant
00:23:37.400
drugs that are highly addictive. And this is a drug that will create dependence down the line.
00:23:44.240
Here are all the negative consequences for this. Potentially, it's going to act on the reward centers
00:23:49.560
of the brain. So you start giving people that information, or you say, or we can provide these
00:23:54.900
other interventions. We can try to identify what your kid's unique talents and skills are.
00:24:00.040
We can try to put in an environment that allows him to explore and learn. And then we can have a
00:24:05.740
really good token economy behavioral system at home and assist you with parenting to be able to manage
00:24:11.020
who your kid is. Because right now, it might be a perceived weakness, and it might be difficult
00:24:16.180
to be able to parent a kid who is that active. But down the line, this might be a blessing,
00:24:23.160
and this might be exactly who they are meant to be.
00:24:39.000
And for parents who they're struggling either with a kid who is so different than their other
00:24:44.120
siblings or classmates or whatever, or has behavioral problems, or maybe has been placed on
00:24:49.120
medication. But now they're realizing, okay, I don't want to do this anymore. I want to figure
00:24:54.400
out something else. Is there a place that they can go just to get started? I think that's really
00:24:58.880
overwhelming and a little bit scary for parents to know what this route really looks like. What do
00:25:07.080
Yeah, it's very difficult for me to answer these questions because we're currently in a system where
00:25:12.880
someone like me is right now on the outskirts of what is typical. So I'm making statements that have
00:25:21.520
not been yet accepted mainstream in the medical system. So what I do is I try to prevent harm.
00:25:28.960
I try to get people to think about the experience differently. So instead of thinking about poor
00:25:36.960
concentration in a school environment or maybe an active kid as something that is really problematic
00:25:44.320
and detrimental to them down the line, reframe it and see what are their strengths? How can we set
00:25:51.200
an environment that responds to them? How can I work with teachers that can be aware of what my kid
00:25:57.440
needs? And how can I put them in environments with people who are much more tolerable for the variability
00:26:06.880
of human behaviors and especially kids' behavior? I think environment is key.
00:26:12.400
Now, the one thing I want to say is the potential exists that somebody's listening who has a child who
00:26:18.160
has really clear neurodevelopmental problems and is a special needs kid.
00:26:24.320
So if a stimulant medication can calm that person down and improve quality of life,
00:26:31.440
then that is always an option. And then you have to think about how that drug can be implemented in
00:26:38.480
a way that can maintain safety down the line. So things that used to happen in the past that are
00:26:44.640
not as frequent anymore are things like drug holidays. So putting somebody on a stimulant for a period of
00:26:50.720
time and then periods without being on the drug, like taking summers off, the reason they did that
00:26:56.320
was because of the concerns for dependence. And so the long-term use appears to be problematic.
00:27:02.800
So that's another way to think about it. But I'm going to say 99.8% of your listening population
00:27:11.280
likely shouldn't have children on stimulant drugs due to the long-term risks and should be considering
00:27:22.480
Well, thank you so much, Dr. McFillen. This is going to be, I'm sure it's going to stir some controversy,
00:27:28.640
but a lot of truth, if not all truth, stirs controversy. And there have to be people
00:27:34.800
people who are out in front of something before it becomes mainstream. It takes a lot of voices.
00:27:43.200
It takes a lot of strength. It takes a lot of persistence and perseverance. And as you have
00:27:47.920
experienced yourself, it's a big pharma in collusion with big tech and the messages that you are speaking
00:27:56.160
out against are protected. And it's all, uh, they're protected in the name of alleviating harm. When in
00:28:03.200
reality, that is what you are trying to do is alleviate harm rather than cause it. So, um,
00:28:08.640
okay. Where can people find you, follow you, all that good stuff?
00:28:14.320
Yeah, you can find me on Twitter at Dr. McFillen. So I'm very active on Twitter.
00:28:19.040
We have a website, uh, at Dr. McFillen or Dr. McFillen.com. There's a radically genuine
00:28:25.680
podcast where we have amazing guests and we continue to increase our audience. Thanks
00:28:31.760
to you. And a lot of the people who are, who are listening have now jumped on the radically
00:28:35.680
genuine podcast to get some of this alternative information. We also have a YouTube channel at
00:28:41.280
radically genuine, even though that YouTube channel was unfortunately terminated early on, there was a
00:28:48.800
big, um, widespread support, uh, with Joe Rogan and others to get that YouTube video, uh, channel
00:28:57.040
backup. And so we're going to be putting on resources on that YouTube channel to be able to
00:29:01.840
provide information. Listen, if you get anything from me, it's that I support your individual rights
00:29:08.240
to be able to make informed healthcare decisions. So I'm giving you the other side. There's a dark side
00:29:13.680
to a lot of these common psychiatric diagnoses and drugs that are provided as frontline treatment.
00:29:20.480
ones that most people are not aware of be aware. We have to be informed consumers. There is an
00:29:26.240
awakening that has occurred post pandemic, where we realize that just blindly accepting the medical
00:29:33.360
authorities recommendations have created significant harm. And a lot of us are trying to take back that
00:29:39.120
individual freedom. I'm concerned about the expert culture. Don't just accept my opinion. There's many
00:29:44.560
people like me, but be able to trust yourself and common sense. And I do believe a lot of people can
00:29:50.480
also do independent research and bring this information to their, their physicians or other
00:29:55.440
people that they trust, whether it's in the mental health system or within the medical system, we just
00:30:00.000
have to be better at giving accurate information. We are in a, a culture that is overestimating benefits
00:30:08.320
from potentially harmful medical interventions and we're underestimating the risks. And so I'm trying to
00:30:14.240
give accurate information and allow people to make informed decisions and consider what alternatives
00:30:20.320
exist. I think there's going to have to be a shift in the way we think about humanity.
00:30:24.720
Well, thank you so much. And thanks for your message. And I'm hopeful that you will be on the
00:30:28.640
Joe Rogan podcast at some point in the future. That would be amazing. I'm rooting for that. So
00:30:34.640
thanks so much for taking the time to come on. Thank you, Ali. I really appreciate it.
00:30:44.240
Hey, related bells and related bros. If you could please leave us a five-star review,
00:30:56.240
wherever you listen to relatable, that would mean so much to us. And it really does help the show.
00:31:01.800
Also, if you haven't subscribed to our YouTube channel, please do. Thanks.