Science of Psychiatric Drugs

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.

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.

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

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

New research by Jim van Os and Peter Groot finds that using hyperbolic tapering to discontinue antidepressants reduces withdrawal effects.

A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry connects antipsychotics with damage to the brain in multiple areas.

Combining drugs and therapy also did not lead to better depression outcomes than therapy alone.

In an interview with MIA, Dr. Horowitz discusses his recent article on why tapering off antidepressants can take months or even years.

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

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

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.

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

The researchers theorized that this increased effectiveness was due not to “antidepressant” properties, but rather to the drug’s side effects, which include insomnia, drowsiness, and nausea.

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.

A new study finds that benzodiazepines—alprazolam (Xanax), lorazepam (Ativan), and diazepam (Valium)—are associated with an increased risk of suicidal events.

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

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

People with "serious mental illness" who stop taking antipsychotics are more likely to recover, even when accounting for baseline severity.

Researchers can’t predict the 15% who benefit from antidepressants, and the other 85% are unnecessarily exposed to the harms of the drugs.

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.

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.

Despite clear risks, benzos and z-drugs remain widely prescribed to the elderly. New research explores what helps—and what doesn’t—when trying to stop.

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.