Click image to watch
Also visit CCHR’s Psychiatric Drug Side Effects Database: The
only easy way to search a summary of all psychiatric drug warnings
and studies in the world. http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/
A survey of nearly 1300 child psychiatrists indicates that insomnia is a major problem among children in mental health treatment and at least a quarter of these patients are given drugs to “help” them sleep. [Read the full article here.]
The sleep medications prescribed ranged all over the drug spectrum, including sedating medications for Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), antidepressants like trazodone, and antipsychotics. Apparently, use of psychiatric drugs for insomnia symptoms in children is a common clinical practice.
Why is this bad? Take, for example, trazodone (brand name Desyrel), an antidepressant. In 2004 the FDA ordered pharmaceutical companies to add a “black box†warning to all antidepressants because the drugs could cause suicidal thoughts and actions in children and teenagers. Guess what some of the other potential side effects of trazodone are? That’s right, insomnia and nightmares.
[Editorial Comment] When I couldn’t sleep as a child, I recall being read a bedtime story. Guess what I do now? I get up and read for a while.
There are no less than 13 sleep related disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):
Psychiatrists fraudulently diagnose insomnia as a “mental illness” for which they can prescribe harmful and addictive drugs to children. Let others know how bad this is. Get the Facts. Fight Back.
Placebos used in thousands of clinical trials conducted over the last few decades may have compromised study results, rendering the studies scientifically invalid.
A placebo is a supposedly inert substance given to a group of participants in a clinical drug trial so that the drug’s effects in a group of participants can be compared to a group of participants who did not get the drug. The word “placebo” is from Latin, literally “I shall be acceptable or pleasing,” from placere “to please.”
In a paper published in the Annals of Internal Medicine [“What’s in Placebos: Who Knows? Analysis of Randomized, Controlled Trials” October 19, 2010 vol. 153 no. 8 532-535] it is revealed that no regulations govern placebo composition, and the composition of placebos can influence trial outcomes.
It was found that the composition of placebos was seldom described in randomized, controlled trials of pills or capsules. Because the nature of the placebo can influence trial outcomes, placebo formulation should be disclosed in reports of placebo-controlled trials.
Sometimes placebos are described as sugar pills. Well, we all know how sugar can influence behavior. One example: in a trial involving AIDS patients the researchers used placebos containing lactose. AIDS patients tend to be lactose intolerant. Since the trial is hoping for a drug that works better than a placebo, if the placebo happens to influence a worse outcome, then that may make the drug look better.
Some studies are now showing that some psychiatric drugs are no more effective than placebos. One recent study stated that, “The magnitude of benefit of antidepressant medication compared with placebo … may be minimal or nonexistent, on average, in patients with mild or moderate symptoms.”
Another article said, “[The benefit of antidepressants] is hardly more than what patients get when they, unknowingly and as part of a study, take a dummy pill — a placebo. As more and more scientists who study depression and the drugs that treat it are concluding, that suggests that antidepressants are basically expensive Tic Tacs.”
If you are taking these drugs, do not stop taking them based on what you read here. You could suffer serious withdrawal symptoms. You should seek the advice and help of a competent medical doctor or practitioner before trying to come off any psychiatric drug.
The real problem, however, is that psychiatrists, and now non-psychiatric doctors, are fraudulently diagnosing life’s problems as an “illness,” stigmatizing unwanted behavior or study problems as “disease,” and prescribing harmful and addictive psychoactive drugs as so-called “treatment” when they know that their own studies show that these drugs are no more effective than a placebo.
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.
Click here for more information about the alternatives to psychiatric drugging.
New research suggests that some children successfuly fake the symptoms of ADHD in order to get drugs or gain special privileges in school.
According to a research paper published in Psychological Assessment [“Detection of Feigned ADHD in College Students” Volume 22, Issue 2, June 2010, Pages 325-335], “Significant motivations and incentives exist for young-adult students to seek a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). With ADHD information readily accessible on the Internet, today’s students are likely to be symptom educated prior to evaluation. This may result in false-positive diagnoses, particularly when students are motivated to convey symptoms.”
Faking these symptoms is easy, given the subjective nature of psychiatric diagnosis. And who hasn’t had an occasional period of attention deficiency, particularly when tired or hungry, as can be frequently observed among students in an early morning class.
ADHD is a fraudulent diagnosis. Yes, people can have problems in life, and yes, people can have study difficulties; these are not, however, some mental illness caused by a deficiency of psychotropic drugs in their brains. These are symptoms of things like being lazy, tired or hungry, or eating lots of sugar instead of proper nutrition, or some real existing medical condition that has gone undiagnosed and untreated, or simply not having been taught to read. There are hundreds of conditions that could cause these symptoms — one has to conduct legitimate tests until the real condition is found and handled. There are no medical tests for so-called ADHD, because it isn’t a real illness. It is simply an excuse to produce and sell drugs. The fact that these drugs are harmful and addictive just means that psychiatrists are producing patients for life in order to ensure a continuing stream of income.
Click here to find out the alternatives to psychiatric drugs.
A former vice president and associate general counsel for the British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline was just indicted by the U.S. Justice Department on charges of making false statements and obstructing a federal investigation into illegal drug marketing. [Read the full article here.]
Lauren C. Stevens of Durham, N.C. is accused of lying to the Food and Drug Administration by denying that Glaxo had promoted the antidepressant Wellbutrin for off-label use as a weight loss treatment.
Doctors are free to use any approved drug for any use they see fit, but pharmaceutical companies are prohibited from marketing the drugs for uses that have not been approved by the F.D.A.
In October GlaxoSmithKline had agreed to pay $750 million to settle civil and criminal complaints that it sold defective drugs, including the antidepressant Paxil, manufactured in Puerto Rico.
While psychiatrists cry about “reducing stigma,” it is their labels and treatment that initially create the stigma. And now, they are pushing depression drugs for people who want to lose weight.
[Editorial Comment: Talk about creating stigma — “you must be depressed if you want to lose weight;” give me a break!]
People are labeled “mentally ill” with diagnoses that are completely subjective and then subjected to dangerous and addictive mind-altering drugs in order to change their behavior. It’s pretty clear where the “stigmatization” is coming from. It’s coming from the mental health monopoly that stands to profit at the sake of people seeking help.
Click here for more information about the harmful effects of Wellbutrin (buproprion HCL) and Paxil (paroxetine).
Click here for more information about psychiatric fraud.
Click here for more information about the alternatives to psychiatric drugging.
This searing documentary exposes how devastating—and deadly—psychiatric drugs can be for children and families.
Psychiatrists claim their drugs are safe for children?
Once you hear what eight brave mothers, their families, health experts, drug counselors and doctors have to say instead, you will come away convinced of one thing…
Psychiatrists are DEAD WRONG.
Watch the Dead Wrong documentary now online at http://www.cchr.org/.
Order the DVD to show to your family and friends.
THE STAMP: Psychiatric Disorders Fuel $80 Billion Drug
Industry
Click the image below to view the video online.
October 29, 2009 — First-time, second-generation antipsychotic use in children and adolescents is associated with rapid and significant weight gain as well as varied adverse metabolic changes, new research shows. “These medications are not benign and can have side effects that can have potential long-term complications that are associated with endocrine and cardiovascular illness,” said principal investigator Christoph U. Correll, MD.[http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/711526]
November 13, 2009 — More research appears to confirm recent results of a large, prospective cohort study that the use of atypical antipsychotics (AAPs) increases the risk of significant weight gain and varied metabolic changes in children and adolescents with mental illness and behavioral disturbances. According to Dr. Panagiotopoulos, a growing body of evidence in adults demonstrating that AAPs cause significant weight gain, hyperlipidemia, and insulin resistance has raised concerns among the medical community in general, and the psychiatric community in particular, about whether these drugs may increase the risk of premature cardiovascular disease in children and adolescents. [http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/712079]
February 24, 2010 — A significant proportion of children younger than 18 years in at least 1 state Medicaid population received a second-generation antipsychotic for conditions that have no published evidence supporting their use. “Clearly, behavioural problems, including oppositional and conduct disorders and hyperkinetic-hyperactivity symptoms, were frequently seen among the children treated with second-generation antipsychotics,” the investigators write. [http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/717544]
October 27, 2010 — GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay an eye-popping $750 million and will plead guilty to a criminal charge to settle a U.S. government investigation of manufacturing deficiencies at a former plant in Puerto Rico. The investigation largely concerned the manufacture of defective pills including the Paxil antidepressant at Glaxo’s plant in Cidra, Puerto Rico, between 2001 and 2005. U.S. authorities found that some tablets could split apart or had inappropriate amounts of active ingredient, posing safety risks. [http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2010/10/27/gsk-to-pay-750m-to-settle-charges-over-adulterated-drugs/?blog_id=14&post_id=35066]
October 28, 2010 — Anna Nicole Smith’s psychiatrist was convicted of conspiring to fake names on prescriptions. Psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich was convicted of conspiring with Howard K. Stern to fraudulently prescribe Vicodin. [http://www.sacbee.com/2010/10/28/3140863/jury-acquits-smiths-doctor-in.html]
Forest Labs Settles Some Psych Drug Suicide Suits
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an article on Saturday and Sunday, October 30 and 31, 2010, describing fallout from Forest Pharmaceuticals’ guilty plea to illegally marketing antidepressants to children.
“A month after its Earth City [St. Louis, Missouri]Â subsidiary pleaded guilty of illegally marketing antidepressants to children and adolescents, Forest Laboratories is now settling a string of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits from the parents of children who took the drugs Celexa and Lexapro.”
“Fifty-four lawsuits, mostly involving suicides and attempted suicides by teenagers in various parts of the country, accuse the New York-based pharmaceutical company of concealing a negative pediatric study on Celexa, duping physicians about the drug’s clinical trials, and targeting children in aggressive promotions of Celexa and a sister drug, Lexapro.”
“In vivid detail, the complaints allege that children under the influence of Celexa and Lexapro committed acts of suicide and violence.”
Read the full article here http://www.stltoday.com/business/article_c569f2c4-58a7-5432-a939-ff22e90583e5.html and thank the author, Jim Doyle, for his reporting.
CCHR has known and publicized for years that psychiatric drugs can provoke violence and suicide, among many other disastrous side effects. The real problem, however, is that psychiatrists, and now non-psychiatric doctors, are fraudulently diagnosing life’s problems as an “illness,” stigmatizing unwanted behavior or study problems as “disease,” and prescribing harmful and addictive psychoactive drugs as so-called “treatment.”
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.
Click here for more information about the harmful effects of Celexa and Lexapro.
Click here for more information about psychiatric fraud.
Click here for more information about the alternatives to psychiatric drugging.
A psychiatrist in Israel was recently arrested for alleged fraud when it was discovered that he fraudulently diagnosed dozens of students with mental illness so that they could receive a stipend from the National Insurance Institute. [http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/psychiatrist-suspected-of-handing-out-fraudulent-diagnoses-to-haredis-1.319781]
Pfizer decided not to proceed with a clinical trial of its antipsychotic drug Geodon for children. The FDA had warned Pfizer that there was widespread overdosing of patients due to inadequate monitoring by Pfizer. Last September, Pfizer agreed to pay $2.3 billion to settle civil and criminal charges for improper marketing of drugs including Geodon. [http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/company-news-story.aspx?storyid=201006231755dowjonesdjonline000603]
Officials in Georgia recently committed to spend millions of dollars to help mentally ill and developmentally disabled people move out of state mental hospitals and receive services in the community. Georgia pays an average of $174,000 per year to house a person in a state-run hospital, compared with $47,000 for in-home services. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution had previously exposed that dozens of patients in Georgia’s psychiatric hospitals had died from abuse. [http://www.ajc.com/news/state-justice-department-reach-685948.html]
There are workable alternatives to psychiatry’s mind-, brain- and body-damaging treatments. With psychiatry now calling for mandatory mental illness screening for adults and children everywhere, we urge all who have an interest in preserving the mental health, the physical health and the freedom of their families, communities and nations, to find out for themselves. Something must be done to establish real help for those who need it.
