Yearly Archives: 2013
To Medicate Or Not To Medicate: That Is Not The Question
When a woman has a history of severe and relapsing mental illness, but is stable on her current treatment, and is planning a pregnancy or is postpartum, what is the best course of action for her and her baby?
Encouraging Words on Recovery from Benzos
Bliss Johns, author of Recovery & Renewal and founder of the Recovery Road Charity, gives an eloquent few words of encouragement for those still in...
Optimal Use of Neuroleptic Drugs: An Introduction
This post and the ones to follow will summarize my current thinking on the optimal use of neuroleptic drugs.
Alarming Report on Antidepressant Side Effects
Drawing on analysis of data from websites such as Paxilprogress.org, ehealthforum.com, depression forums.org, about.com, medhelp.org, drugLib.com, topic.com and survivingantidepressants.org, researchers from the University of...
Death Grip: Then and Now
From what I’ve learned, it seems that the minute you walk into a psychiatrist’s office or have the misfortune to be locked up on a ward is the minute you’re given a diagnosis and medication(s), and perhaps even electroshock. There is no “normal”; “normal” is not allowed. You have a “lifelong disorder” of whatever ilk, and it must always be medicated. This is the paradigm.
He Who Pays the Piper
A physician I know forwarded a pharmaceutical-funded article that states “psychiatric values” are “derived largely from the liberal-democratic tradition, borne of the 18th century European Enlightenment.” I cannot use the term “enlightenment" when it comes to prescribing drugs with serious medical side-effects and efficacy in the range of an enhanced placebo effect.
Ask Michael Moore About Psychiatric Drugs and Gun Violence
In Michael Moore's movie, "Bowling for Columbine," the question is repeatedly asked; "why are there so many gun murders in the United States compared to other countries?" But no answer is given. However, in Gary Null's recent film, "The Drugging of our Children," Mr. Moore says that it is quite possible Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold shot all of those students at Columbine for no other reason than they were given psychiatric drugs. He called for an investigation into the role of such drugs in the murders at Columbine, but does not appear to be following up. Now, there is an opportunity to ask him about it!!!
Hospital Stays for Juvenile Bipolar Jumped 434% from 1997 to 2010
A report from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project finds that hospital stays for a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children aged 5-9 increased...
Robert Whitaker on Psychiatric, Cultural, and Economic Trends
In this interview at a conference a few weeks ago, Robert Whitaker speaks of the ways that ill-informed medication trends can become features of...
Yoga and the Vagus Nerve
Monica Cassani explains that yoga can accomplish the same effect on the vagus nerve as implanted vagus-nerve stimulators.
Beyond Meds →
The Petition Against DSM-5
The International DSM-5 Response Committee, sponsored by Division 32 of the American Psychological Association — the Society for Humanistic Psychology — now has an online petition against the DSM-5. This is a truly international effort. Please support the petition by signing it at http://dsm5response.com
The 99th Mile: When Benzo Withdrawal Meets Parenthood
This is how it started: Pregnancy. Now, you may guess that a hormonal tsunami could turn my body into wreckage and you’d be right. I’m not the first woman to get pummeled by the swift waters of pregnancy and I won’t be the last. What you might not guess is that despite knowing this, a doctor specializing in these particular imbalances would proffer benzodiazepines as a cure for hormone induced insomnia. You might also be surprised that my first script would be written for an amount usually reserved for those having grand mal seizures.
The Truth is Often Ugly…
Beyond Meds' Monica Cassani is amused and befuddled by critics who slam psychiatry then advise having "a doctor to help them withdraw from drugs…as...
Resilience: its Psychology and Neurobiology
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica reviews the literature on psychological and biological findings on resilience, finding that secure attachment, the experience of positive emotions and having...
Richard Bentall on Treating Psychosis
Richard Bentall, clinical psychologist and author of Madness Explained presents new evidence for the limitations of anti-psychotic medication and of the psychiatric establishment.
Institute of...
“They Need to be Held Accountable”
Psychiatrists at the University of Minnesota forced a young man into a profitable study of antipsychotic drugs over the objections of his mother, who desperately warned that his condition was deteriorating and that he was in danger of killing himself. On May 8, 2004, Mary Weiss' only son, Dan Markingson, committed suicide. A petition to the governor of Minnesota now asks for an investigation.
Bullies Called Him Pork Chop
A beautiful short film about turning pain and trauma in to triumph instead of psychiatry. The film's concluding words: "Our lives will only ever...
Antipsychotics for Poor Kids Soar, Mostly for Behavior Problems
Cross-sectional analysis by the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University of 456,315 youths enrolled in Medicaid between 1997 and 2006 finds that the...
The Trouble with Twin Studies
As most readers are aware, it is widely believed that both within and without of psychiatry genetic factors play an important role in causing major psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression, ADHD, autism, anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twin studies provide the main pillar of support for this belief which is often, though mistakenly, presented as a scientific fact.
Confronting the Addiction Voice on the Road to Recovery
Part 1 of this series examined how the disease model of addiction intersects with the genetically based “mental illness” theory and practice of Biological Psychiatry. Part 2 analyzed the serious limitations and sometimes harmful effects of the domination of addiction treatment by the Twelve Step (disease model), and how Biological Psychiatry has both seized upon and expanded the culture of addiction in this country. What follows will be a presentation of some alternative methods for overcoming addiction problems.
Antipsychotics for Depression: Added Risk for Little Benefit
A review of research on antipsychotic medications as an adjunctive treatment for depression published this week in PLoS Medicine finds that the widespread practice...
Social Vacuum
I remember the feeling, one of not exactly isolation but otherness. A sense that not only did I not fit in many places where I used to, but also that I lacked the energy to even try — to, like an actor, wear the skin of the old me for an hour or even a few minutes so that others would not feel uncomfortable in my quivering and clearly perturbed presence.
AntiDepAware
AntiDepAware promotes awareness of the dangers of antidepressants, in particular to the problem of antidepressants "being prescribed to those who are not depressed, to...
The Systemic Crushing of Young Nonconformists and Anti-Authoritarians
Huffington Post’s “TED Weekend” asked several of their bloggers, including myself, to respond to Philip Zimbardo’s TED talk on “The Psychology of Evil.” Zimbardo’s message about the systemic sources of evil and the value of deviants is a good one, however, I questioned the effectiveness of his solution. I believe that our young anti-authoritarians — our potential heroes — have far less of a need for Zimbardo’s hero courses in their schools than a need for help in battling against the systemic, authoritarian aspects of the institutions that rule their lives.
About Being Paul Revere
A reader asked why more psychiatrists don’t speak up louder against psychiatric drugs. I’d like to think there’s someone in charge who could sound the alarm. It’s nice to imagine that working doctors have the power and freedom to speak up in a forceful and visible manner. If such a doctor exists, it’s not a psychiatrist who works in the trenches. A working doctor today is not in a position to be Paul Revere.
