Tag: psychiatric drugs

Benzodiazepine Awareness seeks to raise global awareness of iatrogenic benzodiazepine dependence, the dangers of its adverse effects and the associated withdrawal syndrome, which can last for years.

Jim Gottstein, president and founder of the organisation Law Project for Psychiatric Rights, talks about his own experiences with the psychiatric system, patient rights in mental healthcare and the recent trial between Wendy Dolin and the UK Pharmaceutical manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline.

Professor John Read of the University of East London talks about the overuse of psychiatric medications and the alarming growth in the prescribing of antidepressants, benzodiazepines and other psychoactive medications.

We discuss Doctor Moncrieff’s work to address the realities of psychiatric drugs and the groundbreaking RADAR study which focuses on antipsychotic drugs.

Professor Peter Gøtzsche is Director of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Denmark and discusses his background in research, his views on antidepressant prescribing and how pharmaceutical manufacturers have influenced mental healthcare.

We discuss Robert's 2010 book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, which is arguably the definitive account of the realities of psychiatric drugs and completely lays bare the astonishing rise in mental ill health despite the availability of psychiatric drugs.

Doctor Peter Groot from the User Research Center of the Maastricht University talks about Tapering Strips, which help users who want to withdraw from their psychiatric drugs safely and in a controlled way.

Doctor David Healy from Bangor University in Wales talks about prescribing practice, medicine safety and pharmaceutical regulation.

Doctor Lucy Johnstone talks about our reliance on the concept of diagnosis, how that doesn't fit well with psychological or emotional distress and how a predominantly biomedical view of tends to lead to a purely medication centred approach to mental healthcare.

Doctor Terry Lynch is a GP, psychotherapist, author and mental health educator. Ten years into his career as a GP, he became very concerned about the medical approach to emotional and mental suffering and was not prepared to remain silent.

Elaine has taken antidepressant and stimulant drugs for anxiety, she describes feeling humiliated and judged by her psychiatrists rather than helped.

Judy Meyer is a holistic mental health practitioner, mental health advocate and founder of the Alternative Health Revolution.

Sinead has taken antidepressant drugs for the last 16 years and attempted to withdraw on several occasions, she describes the challenges that she faced.

In this guest post for Shrink Rap, Dr. Maher critiques the ways psychiatry has changed over the years. While psychiatry used to be humanistically, psychodynamically oriented,...

Meghann describes starting antidepressant drugs for OCD at the age of 9, how she came to consider her withdrawal after 17 years and how she feels now, 2 years after finishing with the drugs.

From Vox Gibraltar: Many people confuse psychology with psychiatry. Too often, general practitioners recommend psychiatric treatment when psychological treatment or therapy could be just as effective without resulting...

Megan talks about her experience with anxiety and insomnia, her attempts to withdraw from her medications and how she approached her tapering more carefully to minimise withdrawal effects.

From Scientific American: Many autistic children are prescribed multiple psychiatric medications, which can lead to serious adverse effects and are often ineffective. "Multiple diagnoses lead to...

Tina talks about her experience with depression, her use of antidepressant drugs and how a change in her medication led to her withdrawal problems.

Nora tells us about the sudden and extreme adverse reactions that occurred immediately upon starting her antidepressant. She also tells us about the attitude of her doctors and how her life has changed since that short course of treatment.

From AARP: The family of Bobby Glenn Tweed recently settled a lawsuit with a nursing home over his wrongful death. Tweed was prescribed psychotropic drugs without...

We interview Dede who turned her withdrawal experiences into a force for good and now uses the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) to assist those in withdrawal from antidepressants or benzodiazepines.

Daryl, who was only 9 years old when he was taken into mental health services and medicated, talks about being made to take both antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs and he describes the lies told to him to justify treatment.

The American Psychological Association (APA) recently published a study finding that patients assigned to drug-only treatments were more likely to refuse treatment, and more likely to drop out before treatment completion, than patients assigned to psychotherapy only.

In this video from Business Insider, psychopharmacologist and psychiatrist Dr. Samoon Ahmad explains the impact of Xanax on the brain and discusses some of...