Posts Tagged ‘Prozac’

Treatment Resistant Depression is Apparently a Thing

Monday, February 6th, 2023

Psychiatrists like to fund research studies for so-called “Treatment Resistant Depression” (TRD). They say that if someone has been given antidepressant drugs but their symptoms haven’t improved, they may have treatment-resistant depression.

Of course, the treatments of choice for TRD are more psychiatric drugs, such as ketamine and esketamine (dissociative anesthetics), olanzapine (an atypical anti-psychotic drug) and fluoxetine (Prozac). Some claim that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT or shock treatment) “work” for this. Of course, all these “treatments” just knock your brain for a loop, so you don’t feel depressed, or much of anything anymore. None of these actually address the root causes for these symptoms, which psychiatrists conveniently forget to tell you.

One study suggests that between 29% and 46% of patients are still depressed after taking antidepressant drugs. Another study claims 20%-60% do not respond to psychiatric drugs. Well, we’ve known for years that not only is there no such “mental illness” as depression, but also that these mind-altering drugs don’t help.

People can, of course, experience symptoms commonly labeled as depression. In fact, there are hundreds of genuine medical conditions which can produce such mental symptoms — each of which has clinical tests and recognized medical treatments which do not involve psychiatric drugs.

While the fraudulent psychiatric “brain chemical imbalance” theory has been debunked for many years, it has been held firmly in place by the psycho-pharma public relations machine in order to sell more harmful and addictive psychiatric drugs. These drugs make patients for life since the drugs do not cure anything and have devastating side effects.

Psychiatrists have known since the beginning of psychopharmacology that their drugs do not cure any disease, and that antidepressants do not have any legitimate medical value. These are just public relations theories to support the marketing and sale of drugs. This is why the words “depressed” or “depressive” occur 77 times in various fraudulent diagnoses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), in a vain attempt to legitimize this so-called “disease.”

Troubled patients being misled about what causes their problems and being told that they need to take a psychotropic drug to “correct” this is a form of coercion. Giving patients such misinformation prevents their making an informed decision and has already resulted in many millions of people taking antidepressants or other psychotropic drugs with harmful side effects, erroneously believing these would “correct” something that simply never existed.

These drugs mask the real cause of problems in life and debilitate the individual, so denying him or her the opportunity for real recovery and hope for the future. This is the real reason why psychiatry is a violation of human rights. Psychiatric treatment is not just a failure — it is routinely destructive to the individual and one’s mental health.

If you know someone who has bought into these lies, suggest they investigate non-psychiatric, non-drug alternatives. Contact your local, state and federal representatives and demand that they stop government funding of these drugs.

Depersonalization – Another Fake psychiatric Disorder

Monday, March 29th, 2021

Are you feeling unreal? Are you a stranger to yourself? You may have “Depersonalization Disorder”!

ROFL, forgive me. Like we don’t already have a surfeit of fake diseases in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)! Oh, wait! It’s already in the DSM-5, as “Depersonalization/derealization disorder” (DDD).

There is increasing evidence that psychotropic drugs evoke an unbearable state of mind, such as feeling unreal, feeling detached, feeling like a stranger to oneself, not having sensations, or feeling like a walking cadaver — so much so that the person opts for suicide or violence as a means of relief.

Oh, wait again! This sounds just like some of the side effects, or adverse reactions, of various psychiatric drugs! Note that derealization means that the perception of the world and of external reality are altered. Sounds like a hallucination or delusion, which are known side effects of antidepressants.

For example, newer antidepressants have reported side effects of: abnormal thoughts; agitation; akathisia (severe restlessness); anxiety; confusion; delusions; emotional numbing; hallucinations; mood swings; panic attacks; paranoia; suicidal thoughts or behavior; violent behavior; withdrawal symptoms including deeper depression.

And since DDD is in the DSM, a psychiatrist can prescribe additional harmful and addictive psychiatric drugs for this diagnosis.

Psychiatrists do not know what causes these symptoms or how to cure it, and there are no clinical tests which can diagnose it. Diagnosis is based solely on opinion. Treatment is generally an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug, often in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) which is basically telling the patient what is wrong with them (evaluating for them).

There are whole organizations devoted just to DDD, providing a base for requesting research funds, getting articles published, and of course “treating” victims with more psychiatric drugs — when the actual treatment should include getting off the psychiatric drugs which are causing these side effects in the first place.

What about the person who experiences symptoms of so-called DDD without being on any drugs? Well, yes, Life can certainly include trauma needing some kind of relief; but it shouldn’t include drugs which can continue to cause these same symptoms, making the person a patient for life.

So What Actually Is The Condition Known As Depersonalization or Derealization?

A person’s inability to feel the reality of things stems directly from the introduction of some arbitrary consideration — something which has no basis in natural law or fact. This is often called “superstition.” For example, some person is feeling under the weather, and someone tells them “it’s all due to the lack of Prozac in your diet.” The person’s acceptance of this “solution” to their problem causes some unreality, since it is arbitrary and false. The introduction of any arbitrary thing into a problem or a solution invites further arbitraries to help “explain” it away. Eventually, one’s life becomes one exception after another, all arbitraries trying to correct the original misconception and on down the line.

One resolution is to trace back these arbitraries throughout one’s life and get the original one corrected. Obviously, psychiatric drugs cannot do this, as they merely deaden the nervous system to suppress symptoms and can never actually correct any arbitrary.

Recognize that the real problem is that psychiatrists fraudulently diagnose life’s problems as an “illness”, and stigmatize unwanted behavior 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.

Contact your public officials and tell them what you think about this.

New study throws into question long-held belief about depression

Sunday, October 26th, 2014

New Study Throws into Question Long-Held Belief About Depression

[The following Press Release is from the American Chemical Society ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: Wed Aug 27 2014. Read the original here.]

“Mice Genetically Depleted of Brain Serotonin Do Not display a Depression-like Behavioral Phenotype” [ACS Chem. Neurosci., 2014, 5 (10), pp 908–919]

“New evidence puts into doubt the long-standing belief that a deficiency in serotonin — a chemical messenger in the brain — plays a central role in depression. In the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, scientists report that mice lacking the ability to make serotonin in their brains (and thus should have been “depressed” by conventional wisdom) did not show depression-like symptoms.

Donald Kuhn and colleagues at the John D. Dingell VA Medical Center and Wayne State University School of Medicine note that depression poses a major public health problem. More than 350 million people suffer from it, according to the World Health Organization, and it is the leading cause of disability across the globe. In the late 1980s, the now well-known antidepressant Prozac was introduced. The drug works mainly by increasing the amounts of one substance in the brain — serotonin. So scientists came to believe that boosting levels of the signaling molecule was the key to solving depression. Based on this idea, many other drugs to treat the condition entered the picture. But now researchers know that 60 to 70 percent of these patients continue to feel depressed, even while taking the drugs. Kuhn’s team set out to study what role, if any, serotonin played in the condition.

“To do this, they developed “knockout” mice that lacked the ability to produce serotonin in their brains. The scientists ran a battery of behavioral tests. Interestingly, the mice were compulsive and extremely aggressive, but didn’t show signs of depression-like symptoms. Another surprising finding is that when put under stress, the knockout mice behaved in the same way most of the normal mice did. Also, a subset of the knockout mice responded therapeutically to antidepressant medications in a similar manner to the normal mice. These findings further suggest that serotonin is not a major player in the condition, and different factors must be involved. These results could dramatically alter how the search for new antidepressants moves forward in the future, the researchers conclude.

“The authors acknowledge funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at Wayne State University.”


The Bottom Line

Why are psychiatrists still prescribing drugs already proven to be ineffective and that have potentially devastating side effects? One might presume that there is so much money and time invested in developing this drug that they are desperate to find some way to use it and continue to reap its profits. Or one might presume that they really do intend to cause as much damage from these drugs as they can.

Behind the alarming reports of mental illness gripping our nation are drug companies inventing diseases. Disease mongering promotes nonexistent diseases and exaggerates mild conditions in order to boost profits for the pharmaceutical industry.

Click here for more information about psychiatric scams.

ADHD and Fluoride

Monday, March 10th, 2014

ADHD and Fluoride

A recently published scientific study links various developmental disabilities with fluoride poisoning.

[Lancet Neurol 2014;13:330-38; February 15, 2014; “Neurobehavioral effects of developmental toxicity”]

Here are some salient quotes.

“Neurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. …epidemiological studies have documented…developmental neurotoxicants” including fluoride.

“Strong evidence exists that industrial chemicals widely disseminated in the environment are important contributors to what we have called the global, silent pandemic of neurodevelopmental toxicity. The developing human brain is uniquely vulnerable to toxic chemical exposures, and major windows of developmental vulnerability occur in utero and during infancy and early childhood. During these sensitive life stages, chemicals can cause permanent brain injury at low levels of exposure that would have little or no adverse effect in an adult.”

“…studies of children exposed to fluoride in drinking water…suggests an average IQ decrement of about seven points in children exposed to raised fluoride concentrations.”

“Developmental neurotoxicity causes brain damage that is too often untreatable and frequently permanent.”

“The antisocial behaviour, criminal behaviour, violence, and substance abuse that seem to result from early-life exposures to some neurotoxic chemicals result in increased needs for special educational services, institutionalisation, and even incarceration.”

“Our very great concern is that children worldwide are being exposed to unrecognized toxic chemicals that are silently eroding intelligence, disrupting behaviours, truncating future achievements, and damaging societies.”

We might also point out that fluorine is a significant component of Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride, C17H18F3NO•HCL) and Paxil (paroxetine hydrochloride, C19H20FNO3•HCl•1/2H2O), both common psychiatric antidepressants with rather damaging side effects.

Admittedly, fluorine in chemical combination may behave differently than fluorine or fluoride (an ion of fluorine) alone, and there are those who argue that this difference is significant. The actual evidence, however, indicates otherwise. Regardless of any effect fluoride may have on teeth, it is a toxic substance and should be treated with caution, especially as a major component of a psychiatric drug.

See also the articles “Neurological Impact of Fluoride Toxicity“; “Fluoride Facts: The Inconvenient Truths“; “Chinese Studies Link Fluoride to Low IQ Scores“. For more detailed information, download the book “Directory of Somatopsychic Diseases and Conditions” containing 1400 assorted diseases, medical conditions, and toxins that either cause, exacerbate, or are associated with psychiatric illness.

Stress

Sunday, February 9th, 2014

Stress

Our research leading to the recent newsletter on Marijuana turned up many references to “stress” — the relief of stress by smoking pot; the stress caused by not having access to pot; the tension caused by opposing points of view on the use of pot; myriad stress-relief programs; the stress caused by adverse reactions, side effects and withdrawal symptoms of pot-smoking.

We thought it would be appropriate, therefore, to write about the subject of stress. It is obviously a term of great interest to psychiatry as well. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the billing bible of the mental health care industry, names it explicitly as a billable diagnosis.

  • Acute Stress Disorder (308.3, DSM-IV)
  • Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (309.81, DSM-IV)
  • Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders (an entire chapter in DSM-5); including various manifestations of PTSD, acute stress disorder, adjustment disorders, and reactive attachment disorder.

There are even “DSM-5 Self-Exam Questions” with which you can diagnose yourself for stress-related symptoms.

Then there is ICD-10, the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision. This is a coding of diseases and signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World Health Organization. ICD-10 has its own classification of various stressors such as phobias, anxieties, adjustment disorders, and so on. The deadline for the United States to begin using Clinical Modification ICD-10-CM for diagnosis coding is currently October 1, 2014.

Let’s go over the basics, the dictionary definitions of the word “stress.” There are many; here are some:

  • a state of mental tension and worry caused by problems in life or work
  • something that causes strong feelings of worry or anxiety
  • physical force or pressure
  • a constraining force or influence
  • the burden on one’s emotional or mental well-being created by demands or difficulties

[from Middle English stresse stress, distress, hardship, short for destresse which is from Anglo-French destresce, from Latin districtus, past participle of distringere to grip with force, to draw tight]

“Acute stress response” was first described by Walter Cannon in the 1920s as a theory that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system. The response was later recognized as the first stage of a general adaptation syndrome that regulates stress responses among vertebrates and other organisms (from Wikipedia.)

Here are some additional terms and phrases associated with the concept of stress that one might consider as either causes or symptoms:

  • suppression on one or more parts of one’s life
  • boredom
  • lack of a goal or purpose in life
  • exhaustion
  • overwhelm
  • physical or mental shock
  • exposure to someone antagonistic to oneself or one’s efforts
  • an accumulation in life of turmoil, distress, failure, pain, loss or injury

For comparison, here are some of the concepts encompassing opposites of stress (which we might generally just consider as an absence of stress):

  • survival
  • success
  • health
  • vitality
  • comfort
  • relaxation

We would like to make it very clear that STRESS IS NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS! It is the reaction to a stressor. It is not a deficiency of cannabis or Prozac, and cannot be fixed with a drug. It can only be fixed by finding and eliminating the causes of the stress. Notice we said “causes” plural; if you knew the one thing that was causing your stress, you would have already fixed it. Of course, there are many, many single things that, when found and fixed, could significantly reduce or eliminate those particular stressors.

Bodies also have their own forms of stress, for example chronic age-related diseases are linked to inflammation in the body; and oxidative stress occurs when the body is exposed to an excessive number of free radicals.

What’s keeping people from handling their stress?

Well, there are vested interests who want the general populace immobilized by stress. The psychopharmaceutical industry, for example.

Psychiatrists will not tell you that there are many safe and effective, non-psychiatric options for mental and emotional turmoil.

While life is full of problems, and those problems can sometimes be overwhelming, it is important to know that psychiatry, with its unscientific diagnoses and harmful treatments, are the wrong way to go. Their most common treatment, psychiatric drugs, only chemically mask problems and symptoms; they cannot and never will be able to solve life’s problems. Once the drug has worn off, the original problem remains, or may even deteriorate. Though psychiatrists classify their drugs as a solution to life’s problems, in the long run, they only make things worse.

According to top experts, the majority of people having mental problems are actually suffering from non-psychiatric disorders, which can cause emotional stress.

You can get a thorough physical examination from a competent medical—not a psychiatric—doctor to check for any underlying injury or illness that may be causing emotional distress.

It’s up to every individual to insist on it, and to insist on fully informed consent to any treatment.

Too Much Prozac Turns Minnows Into Killers

Friday, June 21st, 2013

Too Much Prozac Turns Minnows Into Killers

ABC News tells us about recent research on environmental exposure to drugs.

Fathead minnows, a common fish found throughout the Midwest, were subjected to traces of Prozac by a research group at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The result? The fish became edgy, aggressive and some even killed their mates.

Changes in the minnows’ behavior were seen in as low concentrations as 1 microgram per liter, equal to a single dose of Prozac dissolved in over 5,000 gallons of water. Water treatment centers are unable to completely filter out all of the contaminants excreted in human urine, so those contaminants can trickle down and affect the wildlife.

If fish become killers on Prozac, imagine what that psychiatric drug is doing to humans.

On October 15, 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. Fish were not mentioned at the time.

Many other side effects of Prozac in people have been documented, such as hallucinations, hostility, mood swings, panic attacks, paranoia, psychotic episodes, seizures, violent behavior, and withdrawal symptoms.

Would you want your fish, or your children, to be taking Prozac?

Feel free to forward this newsletter to others and recommend that they subscribe.

Psychiatric Clinic Sued for Negligence

Wednesday, October 31st, 2012

You may recall that in October 2009, Alyssa Bustamante, then 15 years old, strangled and stabbed to death 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, Missouri.

In February 2012, Bustamante was sentenced to life in prison for second-degree murder.

Bustamante was a client at Pathways Community Behavioral Healthcare and taking Prozac when she committed the crime. She had previously been hospitalized in 2007 at the Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center in Columbia for attempted suicide.

Olten’s mother, Patricia Preiss, is now suing the clinic for negligent failure to warn Preiss and her family about Bustamante’s violent tendencies. Similar claims are being made against Dr. Niger Sultana, a Pathways psychiatrist, and Ron Wilson, a Pathways counselor.

This lawsuit was filed the same day Preiss won a court judgment against Bustamante’s legal guardian grandparents for wrongful death.

The issue of Prozac causing violent behavior was raised at the sentencing hearing. As is common in such cases, the psychiatrist for the defense argued that Prozac can cause violence; and the psychiatrist for the prosecution argued that Prozac cannot cause violence. Psychiatric “expert” witnesses are widely criticized for providing testimony to suit their clients’ purposes.

Psychiatry’s increasing influence in criminal justice has produced only escalating crime rates internationally. Although incapable of either predicting future dangerousness or of rehabilitating criminals, psychiatrists still testify, in court on behalf of the highest bidder, asserting that offenders are not responsible for what they have done, but are instead “victims” of fictitious mental disorders. The result is rising crime, as lawbreakers are put back on the streets to wreak more havoc, unrepentant and uncorrected.

Yet during trials, in sentencing, in probation hearings, psychiatrists are still called upon for their opinions. And, sadly, these opinions are considered.

In further abuse, psychotropic drugs are then given to incarcerated youths and adults. Instead of rehabilitating the inmate so that he can become a productive member of society, these drugs make it even more difficult for him to escape the dwindling spiral of criminality and can induce continued violent behavior in prison. It is time to hold the psychiatrists and psychologists in our judicial and penal systems responsible.

Psychiatry has had the opportunity to prove itself but has instead proven to be a colossal failure. The cost to society has been catastrophic, not only in terms of money.

Psychiatry was posed as a solution and became a problem. The first step is to remove psychiatric influence from the courts, police departments, prisons and schools. Contact your local, state and federal officials and tell them what you think. Ask them to remove psychiatrists and psychologists as advisors or as counselors from courts, police forces, prisons and criminal rehabilitation and parole services.

Antidepressant Induced Violence and Suicide

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

In September 2009 a Winnipeg, Canada 16-year-old boy stabbed a friend to death. The teen, who had no criminal record, had been prescribed Prozac three months prior to the slaying.

The teen’s parents complained he was getting worse while taking the drug, only to have his doctor increase the dosage. He went from a loving, happy-go-lucky kid to a dark, depressed drug abuser. He began to act out violently and even tried to harm himself on several occasions.

Provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs cited the teen’s use of Prozac at the time of the slaying as a major factor. In a ruling given November 4, 2011 he said, “His basic normalcy now further confirms he no longer poses a risk of violence to anyone and that his mental deterioration and resulting violence would not have taken place without exposure to Prozac. …(Prozac) clearly affected his behaviour in an alarming way. He was simply not the same person.”

Violence and suicide are but two of the horrific side effects of Prozac and similar psychiatric drugs.

Watch the documentary Dead Wrong – How psychiatric drugs can kill your child featuring mothers who work alongside CCHR to expose the lethal risks of prescribing psychiatric drugs to kids.

Watch a short 5-minute introduction to the documentary here.

Do psychiatric drugs actually help in any way? Find out here.

Saturday, October 15th, 2011

Prozac for Pets

The FDA has approved a reformulated version of the much-prescribed SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride), but this one is just for dogs. Reconcile was created to treat canine separation anxiety. It is a once-daily, chewable, dog-treat-flavored drug that is supposed to be used “in conjunction with a behavior modification plan.”

Reconcile is manufactured for Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company.

Of course Prozac, even for dogs, has some pretty hefty side effects: “The most common adverse events reported in decreasing order of reported frequency are: decreased appetite, depression / lethargy, shaking / shivering / tremor, vomiting, restlessness and anxiety, seizures, aggression, diarrhea, mydriasis, vocalization, weight loss, panting, confusion, incoordination, and hypersalivation.”

On October 15, 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. The agency also directed the manufacturers to print and distribute medication guides with every antidepressant prescription and to inform patients of the risks. Dogs were not mentioned.

Many other side effects of Prozac in people have been documented, such as hallucinations, hostility, mood swings, panic attacks, paranoia, psychotic episodes, seizures, violent behavior, and withdrawal symptoms.

Would you want your dog, or your neighbor’s dog, to be taking Prozac on top of existing behavior problems, given the known link between violence and Prozac in people? In fact, Reconcile is specifically not recommended for the treatment of aggression.

Read the full article at http://www.anh-usa.org/prozac-for-pets/.

The newer antidepressants, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) emerged in the late 1980s/1990s, marketed as being capable of selectively targeting a chemical—serotonin—in the brain that was theorized to influence depression. This has remained a theory only, and is no more than a theory when considered for dogs. Serotonin (of which about only 5% is found in the brain) is one of the chemicals by which brain cells signal each other. SSRIs prevent serotonin from being naturally reabsorbed and thus create continued stimulation of cells.

Psychiatry has been targetting you and your children, and now it is targetting your pets.

In 1998 Alan I. Leshner, psychiatrist and former head of the National Institute of Drug Abuse stated: “My belief is that today, you [the physician] should be put in jail if you refuse to prescribe SSRIs for depression.”

Today, a physician, and now a veterinarian, can be criticized, bullied and treated like a “fringe” dweller for practicing traditional, workable, diagnostic medicine. The coercive undercurrent characterizing psychiatry is manifest in many ways, and wherever it meddles, it is destructive of certainty, pride, honor, industry, integrity, peace of mind, well-being and sanity. These are qualities that we must fight to preserve not only for ourselves, but also for our animal dependents.

For more information, download and read the CCHR booklet, “Psychiatric Hoax — The Subversion of Medicine — Report and recommendations on psychiatry’s destructive impact on health care.”