The New Year brings us another harmful\u00a0psychoactive antidepressant – Brintellix (vortioxetine hydrobromide).<\/p>\n
The mechanism of the antidepressant effect of vortioxetine is not understood, although it is theorized to be related to serotonin in the brain.<\/p>\n
It has the same pattern of debilitating side effects as any other antidepressant, including addiction and suicidal thoughts and actions.<\/p>\n
Developed by the Danish company\u00a0H. Lundbeck A\/S and\u00a0marketed by Takeda Pharmaceuticals, it is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) drug. It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September, 2013. Its sales to date have not been inspiring, possibly related to its\u00a0initial review by the\u00a0National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)\u00a0in the U.K.\u00a0which said, “there was no convincing evidence to show that vortioxetine was any more or less effective than other antidepressants.”<\/p>\n
Lundbeck and Takeda are making a new push to increase sales by submitting additional clinical trial data to the FDA and to NICE. You may now start seeing TV commercials for it.\u00a0Don’t be fooled; there has been no change in the drug itself or its devastating withdrawal and side effects.<\/p>\n
We must recognize that the real problem is that psychiatrists and\u00a0other medical practitioners\u00a0fraudulently diagnose life’s problems as an “illness” and stigmatize unwanted behavior\u00a0as\u00a0 “diseases.” Psychiatry’s stigmatizing labels, programs and treatments are harmful junk science; their diagnoses of “mental disorders” are a hoax – unscientific, fraudulent and harmful.<\/p>\n