The Reckoning in Psychiatry Over Protracted Antidepressant Withdrawal

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Medically-induced harm—affecting tens of millions of people worldwide—has taken the field decades to take seriously.
Ad for Paxil/Seroxat

How Academic Psychiatry Minimized SSRI Withdrawal

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If academic psychiatry is evidence-based, why did it take two decades to recognize SSRI withdrawal as widespread and chronic among patients?

Hearing Veteran Narratives is Key to Suicide Prevention

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Current suicide assessment practices of the VA are reductive and do not allow for the individual’s narrative to be heard.
Zyprexa Papers

Big Pharma Meets Big Diagnosis, Big Courts, and Big Psychiatric Hospitals

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Gottstein’s book is The Pentagon Papers of the traditional mental health system, because he exposes a mind-blowing number and variety of cold-blooded, calculating actions on the part of Eli Lilly in trying to hide what it knew to be the devastating effects of its hugely profitable Zyprexa.

Wendy Dolin – Making Akathisia a Household Word

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An interview with Wendy Dolin who talks about the work of MISSD, the Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention and Education Foundation in Memory of Stewart Dolin, a non-profit founded to raise awareness of the tragic consequences of drug-induced akathisia.
Zol Dolinsky death with dignity

Zel Dolinsky: I Have a Right to “Death With Dignity”

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Researcher Zel Dolinsky once taught at medical school and worked as a medical writer in the pharmaceutical industry. In his last emails, he told of how the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs led him to choose to end his life.

In Memory of Julie Greene

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With deep regret, Mad in America announces another loss in our contributor community. Julie C. Greene, writer and antipsychiatry advocate, lost her battle with kidney disease on November 29 at her home in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Julie had been an MIA blogger since 2014, including several pieces on the dangers of lithium.

People Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder at Increased Risk for Parkinson’s

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Increased Parkinson's risk could be related to lithium, antipsychotic, and antiepileptic drug use.

UN Expert Calls for Major Shift in Suicide Prevention Efforts on World Mental Health...

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On World Mental Health Day, UN expert Dainius Pūras calls for a shift away from medical solutions toward a rights-based approach to make life “more liveable.” He calls for states to address societal determinants of mental health, promoting autonomy and resilience.

Non-Gender Affirmative Treatment Detrimental to Mental Health

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Gender identity conversion efforts impact psychological distress and lifetime suicidality in transgender people.
trapped in mental health services

Mental Health Services Turned My Daughter’s Crisis into a Way of Life

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My world turned upside down when my daughter nearly died from a serious suicide attempt. After several years as her caretaker I began to wonder: What can we do to change the way our mental health services are organized so they won't turn a crisis into a way of life for already distressed and vulnerable people?

Clinical Trials Show Antidepressants “Not Beneficial in the Long Term”

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Clinical trials also consistently fail to measure and report long-term harmful effects.

Researchers: “Antidepressants Should Not be Used for Adults with Major Depressive Disorder”

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A new review, published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, concludes that antidepressants should not be used as the risks outweigh evidence for benefits.
mania

Antidepressant-Induced Mania: When My Mind Became a Literal Hell

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The amount of anxiety I felt on these medications — and for a couple of years after — was unfathomable. I felt as though I was trapped in an air-tight vat, constantly gasping for breath. And my thoughts were guided by my state of constant worry and panic.
iatrogenic harm symptoms

For the Record

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Here and now, I am Ativan-free and slowly tapering off Wellbutrin after 25+ years. Unable to work due to the severity of iatrogenic injury, I sometimes think of myself as a healing journeywoman. When the terrain is especially rough, I reflect on the words: "The best revenge is living a happy, healthy life." When circumstances and symptoms permit, I’m doing just that.

Children Taking ADHD Drugs More Likely to Take Antidepressants as Teens

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Adhering to a commonly prescribed medication for ADHD in children is associated with higher chances of being prescribed antidepressants in adolescence.

Exposure to Antidepressants in the Womb Linked to Autism

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Researchers, publishing in Toxicology Research, review the evidence that antidepressant exposure in the womb is linked to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in humans.

Exposure to Antidepressants in the Womb Linked to Autistic Behavior in Mice

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Researchers experimenting on mice found that exposure to fluoxetine (Prozac) in utero resulted in behaviors considered in animal studies to be analogous to autism in humans.

“Dad, You Were Right”: I Got Better When I Stopped Treatment

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Through all the years that I was a mental patient, my parents were excellent advocates who constantly questioned what the docs were doing, even though my own faith in psychiatry was unwavering.... Amazingly, what cured me was not some type of “treatment,” but getting away from drugs and therapy.

Withdrawal Symptoms Routinely Confound Findings of Psychiatric Drug Studies

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Researchers examine how rapid discontinuation can mimic the relapse of mental health symptoms and confound psychiatric drug studies.

The Effects of Antidepressant Exposure Across Generations: An Interview with Dr. Vance Trudeau

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Dr. Vance Trudeau discusses his study's finding that antidepressants may have far-reaching, adverse effects that last up to three generations.
harmful effects drugs withdrawal

Lasting Damage from Prescribed Drugs

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There is a large-scale failure to appreciate the risks involved in taking drugs that alter brain function on a long-term basis. The fact that it has taken single-minded and dedicated campaigners, many of them users of the drugs concerned, to bring these effects to the attention of the scientific and professional community is shameful.
sales rep bribes doctor

Kick Big Pharma Out of the Classroom

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School-based strategies such as the “talk to your doctor” campaign about any childhood problem have been extremely effective in helping the pharmaceutical industry to marginalize traditional child-rearing practices and replace them with advice from mental health “experts” and the use of dangerous drugs. These campaigns are reminiscent of now-illegal vintage tobacco ads in which doctors endorsed cigarette smoking.

How “Mental Health Awareness” Exploits Schoolchildren

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Imagine being a parent at a meeting with educators to discuss Johnny's academics or behavior. Suddenly, your child’s teacher is telling you that he needs to see a doctor for an assessment of a suspected “mental disorder,” which usually leads to a prescription for medication. Warned of “the risks against failing to intervene,” you will likely acquiesce.

New Study Finds Limited Effectiveness for Antidepressants After Stroke

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The researchers found that although antidepressants had a slight short-term effect on reducing the likelihood of depression diagnosis, there was no long-term improvement, nor any improvement in motor functioning.