A Dribbling, Suicidal Mess – Until I Kicked the Pills

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In this piece for The Sunday Times, Oliver Thring tells the story of Katinka Blackford Newman, a woman who became psychotic after taking antidepressants and who now investigates the links between antidepressants, suicide and violence. On Wednesday, the BBC’s Panorama will broadcast “A Prescription for Murder?” prompted by Blackford Newman’s research.

“After a few doses Blackford Newman had become psychotic. She began raving incomprehensibly, unable to stop moving because of a painful and frightening condition called akathisia. Her vision blurred and she started hallucinating.

‘I was looking down on myself from above,’ she says today. ‘I could see blood spurting out of my stomach.’ Confused but strangely calm, she picked up a kitchen knife and slashed her own arm.

She began believing she had stabbed her children to death and that her movements were being broadcast to the nation. When she turned on the television, she thought everyone on it was talking about her. Her horrified family took her to a private hospital in central London, where she told psychiatrists that she had ‘made a suicide pact with God’. They increased her medication.”

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5 COMMENTS

  1. More courageous advocacy providing hope that those prescribed SSRIs may be better informed.
    Of utmost importance: – a chance for patient and prescriber to be aware of the most dangerous of the psychotropic drug induced toxicities – AKATHISIA.

    The Court Transcripts – (Dolin v GSK) Chicago 2017 reveal how the dangers of SSRI induced akathisia had been allegedly hidden from prescribers and their patients by the both SSRI manufactures and the drug regulators.

    AKATHISIA.
    1 in 5 of patients taking SSRIs will have clinically significant akathisia.
    As high as 50% with antipsychotics.

    The suffering of the patient and that of their loved ones is profound.

    The intense and increasing agitation, pacing, iatrogenic change in behaviour and personality, aggression and acute neurotoxicity-induced self harm, violence against self or others predispose to incompetent and erroneous misdiagnosis of serious mental illness (SMI) where none exists.

    Such failure of basic differential diagnosis may result in detention and enforced “medication” with more of the same classes of drugs that induced this life threatening adverse drug reaction. (ADR).

    There appears little medical interest in the potential to prevent akathisia and its incumbent risk of iatrogenic suicidality and completed suicide by using genomic sequencing tests to identify those who have an impaired ability to metabolise prescription psychoactive drugs.

    Thank you Katinka.

    TRM 123. Retired Consultant Physician.

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  2. Golly..my story echoes hers so closely it is scary.

    I think this is a very valuable article, and hope that the documentary is screened here in Australia, ‘cos doctors here simply won’t listen if you say their drugs are causing really weird and dangerous stuff. Plus, they made me take Olanzapine and Ambien (Stilnox) as well as antidepressants. Deadly.

    Everyone should be made to read this piece BEFORE they take a single dose.

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    • Hi mik,

      It must have taken great courage for Katinka Blackford Newman to come out and tell her story publicly. Its obvious that she is telling the truth because the events took place – and she wouldn’t be saying how extreme the experience was, if it wasn’t true.

      But even after Panoramas “Prescription For Murder” leading UK Psychiatrists are attempting to deny the reality of these medications.

      These drugs are often given out as convenience drugs to people, when non drug methods would work just as well. I am qualified to say this as I have experienced a number of Akathisia induced suicidal hospitalizations and my recovery came about through carefully tapering from my “medication” and moving to practical non drug methods.

      Prior to me taking control of my own “situation”, my Diagnosis had been as Severe as is possible to receive, and I had been disabled for several years.

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  3. AKATHISIA

    Drug induced Akathisia is accepted by the FDA as a significant suicidal risk factor and
    Drugs like SSRI s cause Akathisia in a lot of the people that take them.

    Reading the reactions to BBC s Panorama “Prescription for Murder” 26 July 2017 Documentary, I notice that “Medical Experts” are claiming that there is no clear evidence that SSRIs cause Violence, and that if there were a connection this would be reflected in the statistics.

    In Ireland the antidepressant Suicide Homicide link is definitely showing up in the Statistics, but it is being officially suppressed like crazy. I experienced drug induced Akathisia and suicide attempts in the past in Ireland and this was suppressed on my records leaving me at the risk of future exposure and fatality.

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