The Aurora Colorado Tragedy

Posted on July 21, 2012 by cchrstl

The Aurora Colorado Tragedy – Another Senseless Shooting, Another Psychotropic Drug?

We are horrified, saddened and shocked over the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting that has left 12 dead and dozens more wounded (see full story here).

As the world’s leading mental health watchdog, CCHR has for decades investigated hundreds of similar acts of senseless violence in coordination with the press and law enforcement as well as in legislative hearings, such as those held following the 1999 Columbine massacre (ringleader Eric Harris was found to be under the influence of the antidepressant Luvox, Dylan Klebold’s autopsy reports were never unsealed).

And while there is never one simple explanation for what drives a human being to commit such unspeakable acts, all too often one common denominator has surfaced in hundreds of cases — prescribed psychotropic drugs which are documented to cause mania, psychosis, violence, suicide and in some cases, homicidal ideation.

It would be an injustice not to explore all possible reasons for the senseless tragedy, and so we once again present the facts about psychiatric drugs and violence — click here for the full story.

Between 2004 and 2011, there have been over 11,000 reports to the U.S. FDA’s MedWatch system of psychiatric drug side effects related to violence. These include 300 cases of homicide, nearly 3,000 cases of mania and over 7,000 cases of aggression. Note: By the FDA’s own admission, only 1-10% of side effects are ever reported to the FDA, so the actual number of side effects occurring are most certainly higher.

There have been 22 international drug regulatory warnings issued on psychiatric drugs causing violence, mania, hostility, aggression, psychosis, and other violent type reactions. These warnings have been issued in the United States, European Union, Japan, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Nearly every mass school shooting has involved a minor under the influence of such drugs, as well as many other highly cited cases.

In determining what would prompt James Holmes, identified as the 24-year-old gunman in the Aurora, Colorado shooting, to commit such a brutal and senseless crime, the press and law enforcement must ask the right questions, including: What, if any, prescribed psychotropic drugs Holmes may have been on (or in withdrawal from).

Help the press and law enforcement to ask the right questions; contact your local news media; contact your local law enforcement; contact your legislators; contact your local, state and federal officials. Tell them to ask the right questions!

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False Memory Syndrome

Posted on July 19, 2012 by cchrstl

Both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Riverfront Times this week carried stories about possible shenanigans at Castlewood Treatment Center, a private St. Louis facility specializing in the treatment of “eating issues involving post-traumatic stress often caused by sexual abuse.”

The Post-Dispatch says, “A third woman has sued Castlewood Treatment Center in west St. Louis County, saying she was brainwashed by staff members. During a three-month stay at Castlewood to treat an eating disorder in 2010, Brooke Taylor of St. Louis was falsely led to believe she had been sexually abused and had multiple personalities.”

With a third lawsuit filed against Castlewood for nearly the same reasons, we could quote the old saying, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” but we won’t; we’ll wait for the attorneys to wage words over that one.

The Riverfront Times says, “Taylor is the third former patient to accuse the center of planting false memories, and manipulating her into a long and expensive course of treatment. … Taylor’s suit … (says) that her memories were implanted through hypnosis and psychotropic drugs.”

Ah, we’ll bet you were wondering when we would get to the part about psychiatric drugs.

If you review the CCHR booklet about the side effects of psychiatric drugs, you will notice that some of the common side effects – of either taking or withdrawing from these drugs – are hallucinations, abnormal thoughts, nightmares, confusion, delirium, and delusions.

If you review the CCHR booklet about psychiatry and terrorism, you will notice that part of the process of brainwashing someone involves the use of mind-altering psychiatric drugs. In fact, the primary method of implanting false memories in someone involves the simultaneous use of pain, psychiatric drugs, and hypnosis.

OK, what are we saying here? Well, we’re not evaluating for any of the three victims who have filed lawsuits; nor are we accusing Castlewood of criminal behavior. But we are noticing that they were in a hospital for treatment, implying some amount of pain; and that the deadly combination of pain, psychiatric drugs and hypnosis, whether intentional or accidental, produces a known state of extreme suggestibility, and may even be accompanied by hallucinatory visions. We’re just saying…

There is even an expression for the condition. The psychiatric practice of implanting false memories, often called “false memory syndrome” or “repressed memory syndrome”, is not unusual. This is one of the fraudulent schemes perpetrated by some psychiatric and psychological practitioners to create new mental illnesses for which they can be reimbursed. Since the mid-1980’s, hundreds of criminal and civil cases have been filed based on false recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.

After a survey of more than 1,000 therapists, a San Diego psychologist concluded that psychologists and psychiatrists are “creating the very problem that they would then have to treat.” The result, he warns, is that they are “propagating a cottage industry of discovering child abuse in their patients.”

Fraud can only exist in the presence of tolerance. Wherever psychiatric fraud is taking place, it is occurring under the knowing eyes of psychiatrists who are either participating or allowing it to happen. Or who are just giving their patients psychotropic drugs that are known to cause hallucinations.

Find out. Fight back.

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Mary Richardson Kennedy’s Suicide

Posted on July 8, 2012 by cchrstl

The estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had three antidepressants but no alcohol in her system when she hanged herself in May, according to an autopsy report released Friday, July 6, 2012.

Mary Richardson Kennedy, 52, had trazodone, venlafaxine and desmethylvenlafaxine in her system when she killed herself in a barn at her family’s estate in Bedford, according to the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s report.

Trazodone hydrochloride, brand name Desyrel: The mechanism of Trazodone HCl’s antidepressant action in man is not fully understood; however, like all antidepressants of this type, suicidal thoughts or behavior are possible side effects, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.

Venlafaxine, brand names Dobupal, Efectin, and Effexor, is an antidepressant of the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) class. Like all antidepressants of this type, suicidal thoughts or behavior are possible side effects, according to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. Norepinephrine is a hormone secreted by the adrenal gland that increases blood pressure and rate and depth of breathing, raises the level of blood sugar, and decreases the activity of the intestines. Norepinephrine is very similar to its cousin, adrenaline. Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors boost levels of norepinephrine in addition to serotonin.

Desmethylvenlafaxine, brand name Pristiq, is a synthetic form of venlafaxine, with the same side effect warnings. Pristiq has also been implicated with higher rates of discontinuation syndrome (withdrawal adverse effects) than are seen with other similar antidepressants.

The fact missed by most is that psychiatric, mind-altering drugs have been found to be the common factor in an overwhelming number of acts of random senseless violence and suicide. The scientific research documenting the connection between violence, suicide and psychiatric drugs is overwhelming.

As usual, Mary Kennedy’s suicide was attributed to her “mental illness.” With three suicide-inducing drugs in her system at the time of her death, one wonders through which profit-motivated looking glass her death is being viewed.

Drugging millions of Americans with psychiatry’s mind-altering drugs has become one of the most dangerous and insidious situations facing American life — the corresponding increase in acts of violence and suicide are terrorizing our society.

Watch the CCHR documentary “Psychiatry’s Prescription for Violence.” Documenting the impact of a multibillion dollar psychiatric-pharmaceutical industry, this powerful and graphic video contains interviews with experts, parents and victims. Dramatic recordings of actual 911 calls made by desperate family members—and even by a killer himself—convey the chilling reality behind today’s headlines. Here is the shocking truth underlying the current wave of violence devastating our homes, schools and communities.

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Settlements and Lawsuits Galore

Posted on July 7, 2012 by cchrstl

We’ve mentioned the GlaxoSmithKline settlement this past week where GSK will pay a $3 billion fine, the largest health-care fraud settlement in U.S. history (to date) for illegally marketing psychiatric drugs Wellbutrin and Paxil for off-label use, and making false representations regarding their safety and efficacy, among other criminal and civil charges.

Of course, GSK’s gross profit for 2011 was over $32 billion, so they may be bleeding but they’re not dead yet.

The St. Louis Business Journal this week discusses the settlement’s impact in Missouri: GSK will pay $31.9 million to Missouri’s Medicaid program under the settlement.

Meanwhile, Missouri residents are being asked if they had any children who took Celexa or Lexapro between 2002 and 2009 and were under the age of 18 at the time, because they may have a claim against the manufacturer, Forest Labs.

Forest Labs, the manufacturer of the antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro, paid the government a settlement in 2010 because it illegally promoted Celexa for use in children and adolescents despite the fact it had not been approved for marketing in the United States. Forest Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Forest Labs, based in St. Louis, Missouri, also was penalized for only publicizing positive Celexa study results in adolescents to doctors, while choosing to withhold the negative results.

If your child took Celexa or Lexapro between 2002 and 2009 in Missouri, was under the age of 18 at the time he/she took it, and you paid for the prescriptions of Celexa or Lexapro for your child, you may qualify to be the next class representative in a class action in Missouri. Click here to find out more about this.

Click here for more information about Celexa and Lexapro side effects.

Of course, the real problem is that psychiatrists fraudulently diagnose life’s problems as an “illness”, and stigmatize unwanted behavior or study problems as “diseases.” Psychiatry’s stigmatizing labels, programs and treatments are harmful junk science; their diagnoses of “mental disorders” are a hoax – unscientific, fraudulent and harmful. All psychiatric treatments, not just psychiatric drugs, are dangerous.

It is vital that you, your family, and your friends and associates watch the video documentary “Making A Killing – The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging”. Containing more than 175 interviews with lawyers, mental health experts, the families of psychiatric abuse victims and the survivors themselves, this riveting documentary rips the mask off psychotropic drugging and exposes a brutal but well-entrenched money-making machine. The facts are hard to believe, but fatal to ignore. Watch the video online here.

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Knacking

Posted on July 4, 2012 by cchrstl

Recently I read this marvelous wordsmithing in the book Kraken by China Miéville:

“You have to persuade the universe that things make sense a certain way. That’s what knacking is.”

So, having a knack for something means, in this sense, making the universe work the way you imagine it should. Of course, the normal meaning of knack is a clever skill or special talent.

That may or may not have anything to do with CCHR or psychiatry, I just could not ignore the opportunity to pass it along.

On the other hand, we might observe that pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is knacking when they try to make their criminal activities go away by saying, “The complaint to which you refer concerns events in 1999, 13 years ago. It does not reflect what would be allowed in GSK today.”

The complaint, of course, is the US government’s allegations of criminal and civil charges against GSK resulting in the settlement announced this week, with GSK fined $3 billion for promoting off-label prescription of the antidepressant drug Wellbutrin, among other charges. (Read more about this here and here.)

Wellbutrin, generic term bupropion, is a newer antidepressant of the type Norepinephrine-Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors. As a short-acting antidepressant and amphetamine-like drug similar to Ritalin and Dexedrine, it is also marketed in slow-release form as Zyban for people trying to quit smoking. While Wellbutrin is not FDA-approved to treat ADHD, doctors still prescribe it for this.

The FDA approved Wellbutrin as an antidepressant in 1985 but because of the significant incidence of seizures at the originally recommended dose (400-600 mg), the drug was withdrawn in 1986. It was reintroduced in 1989 with a maximum dose of 450 mg per day.

It can cause seizures and at rates of four times that of other antidepressants. Fatal heart attacks in those with a history of heart-rhythm disturbances have occurred. Other side effects include agitation, insomnia, increased restlessness, anxiety, delusions, hallucinations, psychotic episodes, confusion, weight loss and paranoia. Teens have abused the drug by crushing and snorting it, causing seizures.

One might say that the continued production and prescription of Wellbutrin itself is criminal, although that was not one of the government’s allegations.

Click here for more information about the side effects, often called adverse reactions, of psychiatric drugs.

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The Florida Baker Act

Posted on June 24, 2012 by cchrstl

The Florida Mental Health Act, commonly known as the “Baker Act,” is a Florida statute allowing for involuntary “examination” (otherwise known as involuntary commitment) of an individual. It can be initiated by a court, law enforcement officer, physician, clinical psychologist, psychiatric nurse, mental health counselor, marriage and family therapist, or clinical social worker.

“Examinations” may last up to 72 hours (not counting weekends and holidays.)

The act was named for a Florida state representative, Maxine Baker, who served as chair of a House Committee on mental health and was the sponsor of the bill.

The nickname of the legislation has led to the term “Baker Act” as a verb, such as “he was Baker Acted” when an individual is forcibly committed. Use of “Baker Acting” as a verb has become prevalent as a slang term for involuntary commitment in other regions of the United States besides Florida.

The number of Miami-Dade students taken for involuntary psychiatric examination by school police has almost exactly doubled in the last five years. Read more about this here. At least 646 times this year, or more than 3 times per school day, Miami-Dade school police have handcuffed a student and taken him or her to a mental health facility under the Baker Act rules.

There were no “school police” when I was in school. What has changed?

Could it be related to the proliferation of addictive, violence-causing psychiatric drugs among school children? That might be too obvious to CCHR Supporters; but it is still a mystery to much of the society at large. Help us spread the word!

Click here for more information about involuntary psychiatric commitment.

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Prenatal Antipsychotic Exposure

Posted on June 17, 2012 by cchrstl

“Prenatal Antipsychotic Exposure” refers to the harm done to a child in the womb when a pregnant mother takes antipsychotic drugs. Apparently this is a relatively common occurrence. There has been a 170% increase over the last decade in antipsychotic use during pregnancy.

Information about this comes from a research article published April 2, 2012 in the Archives of General Psychiatry (“Prenatal Antipsychotic Exposure and Neuromotor Performance During Infancy;” Johnson, LaPrairie, Brennan, Stowe & Newport, doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2012.160.)

The study was conducted on 6-month old infants whose mothers had taken, or had not taken, antipsychotics during pregnancy. The results showed that infants whose mothers had taken antipsychotics during pregnancy had significantly lower scores on a standard test of neuromotor performance; meaning that the nerve development of these children had likely been significantly compromised by these psychiatric drugs. Are you surprised?

If this information incites your ire, consider doing something about it. Write your legislators, your government officials, your school boards, and your religious leaders; show the CCHR DVD documentaries to your family, friends and associates; donate to CCHR St. Louis so we can continue making this information available. If you need a DVD to show around, let us know.

For more information about the side effects of psychiatric drugs, go to http://www.cchrstl.org/sideeffects.shtml.

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Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill

Posted on June 14, 2012 by cchrstl

A June 9th article in The New York Times describes the rising number of high school students who are abusing ADHD drugs.

“At high schools across the United States, pressure over grades and competition for college admissions are encouraging students to abuse prescription stimulants, according to interviews with students, parents and doctors. Pills that have been a staple in some college and graduate school circles are going from rare to routine in many academically competitive high schools, where teenagers say they get them from friends, buy them from student dealers or fake symptoms to their parents and doctors to get prescriptions.”

“Observed Gary Boggs, a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, ‘We’re seeing it all across the United States.'”

“The D.E.A. lists prescription stimulants like Adderall and Vyvanse (amphetamines) and Ritalin and Focalin (methylphenidates) as Class 2 controlled substances — the same as cocaine and morphine — because they rank among the most addictive substances that have a medical use. (By comparison, the long-abused anti-anxiety drug Valium is in the lower Class 4.) So they carry high legal risks, too, as few teenagers appreciate that merely giving a friend an Adderall or Vyvanse pill is the same as selling it and can be prosecuted as a felony.”

“But abuse of prescription stimulants can lead to depression and mood swings (from sleep deprivation), heart irregularities and acute exhaustion or psychosis during withdrawal, doctors say. Little is known about the long-term effects of abuse of stimulants among the young. Drug counselors say that for some teenagers, the pills eventually become an entry to the abuse of painkillers and sleep aids.”

Read the full New York Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/education/seeking-academic-edge-teenagers-abuse-stimulants.html

For more information about the side effects of psychiatric drugs, go to http://www.cchrstl.org/sideeffects.shtml.

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Protect Yourself Against Misdiagnosis and Abuse

Posted on May 30, 2012 by cchrstl

Anyone diagnosed with a psychiatric (mental) disorder and/or their parent or guardian has the right to informed consent before any treatment is undertaken. Unlike diagnoses for medical conditions, psychiatrists do not have blood tests or any other biological tests to ascertain the presence or absence of a mental illness. It is important to know that according to one state government medical manual, “Mental health professionals working within a mental health system have a professional and a legal obligation to recognize the presence of physical disease in their patients” and to rule out any physical condition causing “a patient’s mental disorder.”

Psychiatrists rarely conduct thorough physical examinations to rule out medical conditions, thereby misdiagnosing the patient. This can result in inappropriate and dangerous treatment, added to the fact that the real underlying medical condition is left untreated. Treatment for alleged mental illness is also extremely expensive to you or to your insurance company.

Further, if a psychiatrist asserts that your mental condition is caused by a “chemical imbalance” in the brain or is a neurobiological disorder, you have the right to ask for the lab test or other test to prove the accuracy of that diagnosis.

Fill out this Psychiatric Diagnosis Abuse Report Form for your protection and provide it to your legal representative and insurance carrier to take further action.

You might also wish to prepare a Psychiatric Living Will. A Living Will lets you specify decisions about your health care treatment in advance. Should you be in a position where you are to be subject to unwanted psychiatric hospitalization and/or mental or medical treatment, this Letter of Protection from Psychiatric Incarceration and/or Treatment directs that such incarceration, hospitalization, treatment or procedures not be imposed, committed or used on you.

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Missouri Legislative News

Posted on May 28, 2012 by cchrstl

The 2012 Missouri state legislative session ended May 18. This means that all bills listed below as killed are now truly dead (for this year.) Bills that are listed as passed have been passed by both houses of the legislature but still need to be signed by the Governor. He has until mid-July to sign or veto all bills presented. For more information about each bill, including its full text, go to http://www.house.mo.gov/billcentral.aspx and search on the bill number (e.g. “SB 446”).

PRO-PSYCH BILLS KILLED for the 2012 session

SB 446
Specifies that drug courts may be funded by the county law enforcement restitution fund.

SB 500
Modifies state legal expense coverage of certain health professionals and modifies hospital patient safety policies. This act provides coverage under the state legal expense fund for any licensed doctor, therapist, dentist, podiatrist, optometrist, pharmacist, psychologist, or nurse who is hired on a contract basis to serve as a consultant for the MO HealthNet division or family support division of the Department of Social Services, or to serve as a consultant to the Department of Mental Health.

SB 518
Creates a mental health assessment pilot program for criminal offenders.

HB 1322
Authorizes the Director of the Department of Corrections to establish, as a three-year pilot program, a mental health assessment process.

HB 1456
Authorizes the Department of Corrections to establish a mental health assessment pilot program for certain criminal offenders.

SB 634
Requires insurer to provide coverage for eating disorders.

HB 1509
Requires all health insurance carriers and health benefit plans to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders.

SB 710
Establishes a Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. Includes treatment for impaired professionals.

HB 1122
Establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances.

HB 1193
Establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act to monitor the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances.

HB 1372
Changes the laws regarding the dispensing of controlled substances and establishes the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Act.

SB 768
This act authorizes circuit courts or a combination of circuits to create veterans treatment courts. These courts will dispose of cases involving substance abuse or mental illness of current or former military personnel. Treatment referrals by the court shall be through the Department of Defense health care, Veterans Administration, or community-based treatment programs. The court shall dismiss, reduce, or modify the charges against the participant upon successful completion of a treatment program. Community based treatment programs must use programs certified by the Missouri Department of Mental Health unless no certified program is located in the same county as the court. Community based programs shall receive state or federal funds for referrals from veterans treatment courts.

HB 1110
Allows a circuit court to establish a veterans treatment court to dispose of criminal cases which stem from substance abuse or mental illness of military veterans or current military personnel.

HB 1032
Adds a licensed professional counselor to the list of those authorized to conduct a full investigation into whether an individual is suitable as an adoptive parent.

HB 1082
Specifies that licensed professional counseling includes the diagnosis of mental, emotional, and behavior disorders and requires these counselors to complete certain educational coursework.

HB 1583
Authorizes the juvenile court to order psychiatric evaluations of a juvenile and to order admittance to a mental health facility upon the recommendation of specified evaluations.

 

ANTI-PSYCH BILLS PASSED for the 2012 session

HB 1318
Prohibits a state employee working in a maximum or medium security mental health facility from being required to work more than 12 hours in any 24-hour period, although the final version had the guts taken out of it by allowing it in a “work-force shortage.”

HB 1608
Repeals provisions and sections of law regarding unfunded and obsolete programs and establishes expiration dates for specified provisions. Includes some psych programs among those being axed:

The Student Suicide Prevention Grant Program (Section 161.235);

The requirement that licensed physicians providing obstetrical or gynecological care to a pregnant woman counsel all patients as to the perinatal effects of cigarettes, alcohol, and controlled substances and that the Department of Health and Senior Services establish a toll-free information line to provide information on resources for substance abuse treatment, establish protocols based on a risk assessment profile to be used by health care providers to identify high risk pregnancies, and conduct periodic tests on a sample of women or infants at the time of delivery. (Sections 191.727, 191.733, 191.735, 191.741, and 191.745)

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