Science of Psychiatric Drugs

Medical organizations and the media dismiss the experts and the large body of research telling of fetal harm from exposure to SSRIs during pregnancy.

The research literature reveals that antidepressant use in pregnancy poses considerable risks to the fetus and the long-term health of the child. These risks include preterm birth, birth defects, abnormal brain development, and behavioral abnormalities in early childhood.

A new study reveals that withdrawal symptoms from antidepressants can last years, disrupting lives and relationships.

Augmenting with antipsychotics was no better at reducing suicide than adding antidepressants, but led to increased risk of death from other causes.

The New Yorker's story on Laura Delano and psychiatric drug withdrawal is a glass-half-full story: It addresses a problem in psychiatry and yet hides the deeper story to be told. A story of how her recovery resulted from seeing herself within a counter-narrative that tells of the harm that psychiatry can do.

SSRI exposure in utero “alters the offspring’s brain structure,” causing a hyperactive amygdala and fear circuits, leading to anxiety and depression.

Persistent antidepressant withdrawal is a debilitating experience, but little research exists about its prevalence and treatment.

The Vermont Longitudinal Study, led by Courtenay Harding, belied conventional beliefs about schizophrenia by showing remarkably good outcomes for patients discharged in the 1950s and '60s.

American psychiatry, the NIMH, the larger medical community, and mainstream media have betrayed the American public by failing to make this scandal known.

Lancet Psychiatry, a UK-based medical journal, recently published a study that concluded brain scans showed that individuals diagnosed with ADHD had smaller brains. That conclusion is belied by the study data. The journal needs to retract this study. UPDATE: Lancet Psychiatry (online) has published letters critical of the study, and the authors' response, and a correction.

Older adults are often prescribed antipsychotics off-label for behavioral control in the hospital. But there’s no evidence for antipsychotics helping, and a great deal of evidence of harm.

Mental health nursing has a key role to play in helping people discontinue the drugs, writes Timothy Wand.

We interview Dr. Stuart Shipko, a psychiatrist and author who has a particular interest in the side effects and withdrawal effects of SSRI antidepressants and the need for informed consent when prescribing.

The studies are of short duration and are riddled with methodological issues like unblinding and failure to assess withdrawal.

A large-scale study reveals that antidepressant use is linked to faster cognitive decline in dementia patients, raising concerns about their widespread prescription.

Those using antidepressants long-term were more likely to experience withdrawal and to have severe withdrawal symptoms.

Millions of people are trying multiple antidepressant drugs without success, and psychiatry labels them “treatment resistant.”

Antidepressants were more effective for depressed patients who were more “optimistic.” Still, only 30% responded to SSRIs.

During the past twenty years, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and American psychiatry have adopted a "medicalized" approach to preventing suicide, claiming that antidepressants are protective against suicide. Yet, the suicide rate in the United States has increased 30% since 2000, a time of rising usage of antidepressants. A review of studies of the effects of mental health treatment and antidepressants on suicide reveals why this medicalized approach has not only failed, but pushed suicide rates higher.

After a meta-analysis of RCTs of antidepressants was published in Lancet, psychiatry stated that it proved that "antidepressants" work. However, effectiveness studies of real-world patients reveal the opposite: the medications increase the likelihood that patients will become chronically depressed, and disabled by the disorder.

A study spanning two decades finds that antidepressant use is associated with a 44% increase in osteoporosis risk and a 62% higher chance of fractures.

Using genetic analysis, a new study finds that antidepressants—not depression—are responsible for a significant rise in type 2 diabetes risk.

That is the truth about withdrawal syndrome: It’s like a 50-50 chance that you’re going to have a problem. If you’re in the unlucky half, you’re gonna be really unlucky.

Serum lithium levels lower than those considered therapeutic still conveyed increased risk.

Psychiatry has long turned a blind eye to the full scope of harm associated with TD. New TD drugs "work" by further impairing brain function.