This young lady’s story/journey is so inspiring. I recall a few years ago, waiting for her to write another chapter about her life so I could see how she was doing. She communicates extremely well with no holds barred.

I am so happy for her that she made it, some people don’t. That she has devoted a large part of her life to helping others is a testament to not only her understanding of life, but her fearless and indomitable spirit.

She gives hope.

You can read her entire journey here.

Finding the Meaning in Suffering: My Experience with Coming off Psychiatric Drugs (in a Nutshell)

Laura Delano

April 23, 2013

For the last month or so, Mad in America has been hard at work building a directory of “mental health” providers across North America (and eventually, we hope, the world) who will work with people wanting to come off psychotropic drugs.  So far, we’ve connected with traditional doctors, osteopaths, naturopaths, psychologists, social workers, counselors, and alternative/holistic practitioners and healers who do this work in varying ways — some have prescribing capacities and some don’t; some do the actual tapering, while others provide psychotherapy; some offer nutritional or supplemental support; others, Reiki and acupuncture.

I’ve been honored to have been tasked with the responsibility of building this directory, and I have to say, it’s been inspiring to talk to people all over the country who do this work, and who “get it”.  Closer to the launch date, which we anticipate will be in the next few weeks, I’ll write up more about this project, and thank those who’ve played such a significant part in making it happen.  In the meantime, I’ve been itching to write a bit about my own “coming off” journey.  While it’s on my mind every day, I’ve been thinking more about it recently, given my work on the directory and the recent release of Daniel Mackler’s new film, “Coming off Psych Drugs: A Meeting of the Minds”.  I woke up this morning and my fingers were itching.  I knew it was time to write.

In September 2010, I came off the last of my “med regimen”— lithium, Lamictal, Abilify, Effexor, Ativan, and a PRN of Seroquel— and I said goodbye to a life of orange pill bottles and phone calls to CVS pharmacy, of dosage increases and new scripts to be filled, of the floral pill bag that shook like a maraca, and of the complete and total dependency on inanimate chemical capsules to define what I felt, how I thought, and who I was.  After over ten years on psychotropic drugs, it had been an agonizing five months of tapering— I realize today that my psychopharmacologist likely had no idea what he was doing— and I would continue on for the next year and a half in the midst of daily physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual pain [for more on this, see my Madness Radio interview].  In the midst of this suffering, however, I was able to put my head on the pillow at night knowing that these pills were out of me.  Gone, never to enter my bloodstream again.  A decade of daily psychotropic drugs had circulated through my veins, seeping into my organs, my brain, my hair, my skin, my nails.  A decade of daily psychotropic drugs had successfully disconnected me from a sense of self, physical health, emotional balance, and social connectedness.  A decade of daily psychotropic drugs had nearly succeeded in killing the last scraps of my human spirit, and me, along with it.

On that brisk fall day over two and a half years ago, against the wishes of my “treaters”, and in the midst of hell on earth, I reclaimed myself.  My Self.  By no means has a second of it been easy, but it’s certainly been the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.

As time’s gone on, particularly in the second and third years of my post-psychiatry life, I have slowly but surely healed from the trauma of my psychiatric “treatment”.  It’s been a long road, fraught with physical pain, unparalleled emotional upheaval, gut-wrenching anxiety, and paralyzing fear.  In the midst of my worst moments— whether it was the hours upon hours spent lying frozen in fetal position on the sofa, staring blankly at the wall, disconnected from the world; or wondering if I’d ever be able to hold down a job, a relationship, or even the daily task of showering and changing out of sweats; or looking at healthy people functioning in the world around me and feeling baffled by how the hell they could possibly be doing it; or wanting to rip my skin off from the debilitating anxiety, and shut my head down to silence the endless chatter; or crying when I didn’t want to cry, and laughing when I didn’t want to laugh; or feeling like the only alien on planet Earth— I clung on to the one and only reason why I’d started my journey off of psychiatric drugs in the first place, my life preserver, keeping me afloat: I was determined to find myself, the Self I’d lost as a fourteen-year old to a “Bipolar” label, and a life sentence of polypharmacy.  This spark of fire, however small it might have been in the beginning, outweighed all the pain, and allowed me to keep trudging forward.  I was absolutely, 100% determined to find myself, no matter what the cost.

As a person who’s found liberation from psychiatry, I have learned that the least fruitful path to follow— for me, at least— is one of self-victimization.  I served a long sentence that began early in my life and came with the shackles of numerous psychiatric labels and at least nineteen psychotropic drugs.  I could say that I had my life taken away from me by Psychiatry, but I simply don’t believe that anymore, for only in finding peace with that chapter of my life’s story, and acceptance of all the suffering, the isolation, the hopelessness, the desperation, the self-sabotage, the self-destruction and the nine years of daily thoughts of suicide, can I say that I’m truly free.   I decided about a year into my post-psychiatry life that continuing to think of myself as a victim would mean keeping myself dependent on Psychiatry, locking myself up behind its bars as an emotional slave.  I turned my deep-seated resentment and rage at Psychiatry into passionate and productively channeled anger, and suddenly, I took off, shooting forward into a new life that continues to unfold in truly amazing ways now that I’m no longer held back by those toxic emotions, and, of course, the toxic psychotropic drugs.

As I’ve written before, and however backwards it might sound, today, I am grateful to those doctors, even to the first psychiatrist who threw me on Depakote and Prozac as a young teenager.  I’m grateful to the locked wards and the internalized oppression and the security-blanket dependency on my “meds” and their numbing and disconnecting effects, because all of it has allowed me to become who I am today: a thirty-year old woman with a life ahead of her, who feels the full spectrum of human feelings and an authentic sense of self and purpose.  Had I never found Anatomy of an Epidemic, had I never felt that tiny spark of fire in my belly that told me to take my life back and stand up against my seven-person “treatment team” when they disagreed with my desire to come off psych drugs, and had I never been determined with every ounce of my being to move through all the pain that came along with it, not only would I not have this exciting life ahead of me, but I wouldn’t be alive at all.  I know this to be true.

I do not pretend to have expertise on the topic of coming off psychiatric drugs.  Nor do I believe there is one right way to successfully do it.  What I lay claim to is my own experience, my own lessons learned from constructive choices and destructive ones, and from the intuition I’ve only recently begun to tap into since healing from the trauma of “treatment”.  What never ceases to amaze me is how vast the experiences are when it comes to coming off psych drugs— I’ve heard stories about successful cold turkey withdrawal with no symptoms, and ones about unsuccessful slow tapers.  I’ve heard stories of those who’ve successfully come off in months, and others who did it in years.  I’ve heard of people who found tremendous benefit from supplements, and others who never took a single dose of one and succeeded anyways.  I know some people who’ve thrived from strict nutritional protocols, and others who couldn’t care less about cutting out certain foods.  Exercise, no exercise.  Yoga, no yoga.  Meditation, no meditation.  I know people who were on psych drugs for many, many years, and have successfully come off, and others who went on for a year or less, and struggle tremendously with the withdrawal.  There is simply no one way to come off psychiatric drugs, and no one withdrawal trajectory.

While I certainly agree that the thousands of anecdotal stories out there suggest that a person’s odds of success are increased greatly by slowly tapering off, that doesn’t mean it’s the only way.  It wasn’t, for me.  I came off of five psychotropic drugs in five months; many would say that this is much too fast of a taper, or even not a taper at all.  A wise woman, active in the Psychiatric Survivor movement, once shared with me that tapering off psych drugs very quickly, or stopping them cold turkey, is like Russian roulette— you just don’t know what’s next in the chamber.  Maybe I would have experienced withdrawal for a shorter amount of time, or with lesser intensity, had my doctor brought me off in a year instead of five months.  Maybe had I been ten years older, I would have struggled more.  All I can say is that my journey went the way it did, and here I am today.  I know what’s worked for me, but what’s worked for me might not work for someone else.  No one told me to do all these things; I simply tested it all out, often times accidentally, and bumbled around until I found my path.  I established my own threshold for pain; what I can bear, someone else can’t, and vice versa.  I’ve heard many say that when it comes to the world of self-help, it’s important to “take what you want, and leave the rest.”  That’s been a helpful motto for me to live by, especially as it relates to the topic of coming off psych drugs.

There are many of us out there who work incredibly hard to support people who are coming off of psychotropic drugs.  Among us are psychiatric survivors, medical doctors, psychologists, social workers, counselors, holistic/alternative practitioners, and family members.  You can find us in coffee shops, online forums, facilities, clinics, private offices, via Skype, on the phone, or holding banners at protests and yelling in the megaphone.  Each of us brings a particular nugget of wisdom, inherently subjective, and not for everyone.  There are books, articles, forums, chat rooms, websites, and presentations devoted to the topic of psychiatric drugs and how to come off of them.  Each is simply one way to do it.

When I began the process of tapering off of psychotropic drugs, I had none of these resources.  Sure, I had that huge “treatment team” who met about me on a regular basis and worked hard to ensure I relied on them to “manage” my life, but other than one social worker, a wonderful man whom I’ll never forget and always be grateful to, I felt zero emotional support from the “mental health” system as I came off.  In fact, from looking at my medical records at that time, it appears that my psychotherapist didn’t even realize that my psychopharmacologist was managing my taper, because she reported that I was “non-compliant” and came off my “meds” against medical advice.  But I digress…  My psychopharmacologist had agreed to bring me off four of the five psychiatric drugs (not Lamictal, which he claimed had been proven effective for “Borderline personality disorder” and thus I needed to stay on it), and this was only because the “team” had decided I’d been “misdiagnosed” Bipolar and really, was just an alcoholic and a Borderline!  How interesting!  I met with that doctor once a month as he decreased the four drugs, and I came off the fifth on my own, without having read a single paragraph on how to taper off.  Never once did I connect with a provider about the pain I was going through; I used my psychopharmacologist to taper me off, and nothing more.  This was my experience: not right, not wrong, just mine.  There are certainly providers out there— many of whom will be in our directory— who practice in entirely different, humanistic ways, and who are true supports for people coming off.  I just simply never crossed paths with one during my time in the “mental health” system.

The bulk of my support came from family, and from the sober community I was very active in at the time.  Having a space in which I could express my pain every day, and listen to others do the same, even if their pain wasn’t necessarily connected to psychiatric drug withdrawal, was incredibly beneficial to me, and I believe I wouldn’t have made it through without that support.  In part, I bumbled through the first six months or so believing that the excruciating pain I felt was “early sobriety” from alcohol; I had no idea until many months in that it was less my body healing from alcohol and more my body’s desperate attempt to heal itself from all those years of damaging psychotropic drugs.  At the end of the day, though, that community worked for me because while the drug was different, the emotional pain was the same.  I was also lucky enough to be living with extended family, to have no job (other than being a professional patient, a career I became quite good at!), and to not have the worries of rent, children, or paying the bills.  In short, I was incredibly lucky, and incredibly privileged, to be so taken care of.  I look back on this today and feel gratitude from the bottom of my heart.

While I was able to withdraw in large part because of the reasons mentioned above— unconditional love, a de-stressed environment, and a space of mutual support, among many things— in truth, my success was not because of how quickly or slowly I tapered, the order in which I came off the drugs, my nutrition (or lack thereof), my exercise (or lack thereof), my sleep (or lack thereof), or the people from whom I sought support.  There was something much deeper I had to search for first, something I couldn’t find in an office or on the internet or in a textbook or in a church basement or in the words or wisdom of another person.  For me, what helped me successfully come off of over a decade of polypharmacy was the Why.  Why do I want to come off psychiatric drugs?  What did it mean to me?  What was it that I was searching for?  After I connected to this deep sense of meaning in the “coming off” process, those factors mentioned above— in other words, the How of the withdrawal—carried me through, and brought me slowly back to health.  Discovering why I wanted to come off psych drugs was like putting the key in my ignition and turning it on; the method and the means by which I did it the steering wheel, accelerator, and brake.  Had I not found that key, the process would have been mindless and empty, only about tapering, measuring, calculating, adjusting, so on and so forth.  Likely, I wouldn’t have been able to continue, had that been the case.  When I really connected to the Why of it, I could face the suffering that followed.  As I say often to others, in my experience of coming off psychotropic drugs, the only way out was through.

While I’m really just scratching the surface here with all I could say about my experience of coming off psychiatric drugs, I’ll leave you with what I believe, in my experience, are the key components to a successful withdrawal.  You can take what you want, and leave the rest:

1. While it’s important to be well-informed about psychiatric drug withdrawal, too much knowledge— and too much fear— can create a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I bumbled through my withdrawal with little to no knowledge of what was ahead, and I actually believe that this helped me tremendously.  I didn’t obsessively read up on withdrawal and fill myself with fear about all the horrible things that could happen to me, and thus, I didn’t set myself up for defeat.  I think there’s a fine balance here between knowing too little, and too much, and it’s a line that each person has to decide for him/herself.
2. There are no universal experts on psychiatric drug withdrawal, because each person’s journey is so different.  While it can be really informative and helpful to learn from others who’ve been through this process before you, and there are people out there doing very good and determined work to bring people off psych drugs, you are the only expert on yourself and your experience of the world.
3. The mind plays tricks on you.  On a regular basis, my mind wanted me to give up, to wave the white flag of surrender.  In those moments, I reconnected myself to my sense of purpose— to that determination to find out who I was off of psych drugs— and I did my best to coexist with my thoughts, anxiety, and fear without letting them take me over.  It was in times like these that I did my best to reach out to a friend or family member for support.
4. Take the time to understand how your body is impacted by nutrition.  I was never a believer in the power of nutrition, and this has been a profoundly beneficial discovery for me.  Cutting gluten out of my diet, however hard it initially was, has done wonders for my mind and body; cutting out processed sugars and processed foods in general, except for the occasional splurge of course, has proven just as helpful.
5. Remove whatever stressors you have control over, to create as de-stressed an environment as possible.  For me, this meant staying free from “illicit” drugs and alcohol, from unhealthy or traumatizing relationships, and from responsibilities that I wasn’t required to take on.  My body was (and often times still is) incredibly sensitive to the environment I’m in, and thus, managing whatever I did have control over was important for me.
6. Listen to your body, however hard that may be.   Psych drugs disconnected me from my body and desensitized me in so many ways, so this was certainly a difficult process for me.  I know today that my body is always communicating with me, if I just take the time to feel what it’s saying.
7. Surround yourself with unconditional support, whether that means family, friends, providers, healers, or some other type of supportive community.  I’ve learned that no matter how isolating or painful the journey may be, you never have to be alone.
8. When you’re losing hope in yourself, and feeling yourself sinking in the quicksand of withdrawal, place your faith for the time being in those who’ve walked the path before you.  There were so many times when I wondered if I could keep going, when any faith left in myself was so pushed down that I could no longer feel it.  On those days, I thought about others who’d walked the same path before me, feeling the same pain and the same fear, and who were no longer mired in the suffering anymore.  Faith in them was my way of having faith in myself.
9. More than anything, connect to the meaning behind why you are coming off psychiatric drugs.  This is the seed from which everything grew for me— both the thorns and the blossoming buds.

I could keep going, and going, and going.  For your sake, I’ll stop here, and leave you with a quote from Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, a book that was instrumental to me as I came off of psychotropic drugs.  It sums up everything I’ve said here, in one beautiful sentence.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Indeed, we’re all in this together, and in the midst of the often tremendous suffering lies freedom.

Reposted from Rx Blog.

Mom I Didn’t Mean To Do It

Note from Le Clown: This blog post is written by a friend of mine, Elaine Billings. Elaine is not a blogger, but a mother who lost her son through a tragic death. Her son’s story is an important one, and I am honoured to give her family a place to share this unfortunate story. Elaine will answer your comments herself. Much love, Elaine. 

SSRI Drugs; Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.
Names for some of these drugs are; Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Celexa, Effexor, Lexapor, Paxil and Prozac.

Tommy’s Story:
My son, Tommy didn’t just pass away ( that sounds so peaceful) it was anything but peaceful. My son committed SUICIDE that day! Why? Because he was given an antidepressant by the name of ZOLOFT! His mental disorder proclaimed by this doctor was, “ANXIETY”! I would certainly like to know, when did ANXIETY become a death sentence????

September 8, 2011 Thursday morning, I looked out my dinning room window, and watched my son mowing his lawn. I was smiling and thinking how lucky I was. Tommy and his family had moved back to our home town and as luck would have it, a house across the street went on the market and he bought it. I was just smiling away, and I said to myself, call Tommy up later and see if they want to come over for dinner tomorrow night. By now, you realize I didn’t get a chance to make that phone call!

As told to me by his wife Tina, Tommy woke up that morning rested, and in a happy frame of mind. He made a couple of phone calls to friends. One to meet the next day for lunch, and the other for lunch the following Monday. These conversations show intent to being alive and well. That morning Tina left, to go out with her mother, and Tommy stayed home with his 11 year old daughter and his 9 year old son. At some point that morning, Brett asked his dad if he would go pick up a friend for him to play with Tommy said yes, and went and got him. Later that day, Morgan asked the same, would he go pick up her friend and Tommy said yes. I also, learned on his way down the road, one of Tommy’s friends was driving up the road, and he told Tina, that Tommy did what he always did when passing a friend in their cars. He blinked his car’s head lights and gave a wave and smile.

After that point something sudden, and terrible happened to Tommy’s mind. Instead of getting his daughter’s friend, he drove his car to a downtown parking lot. He parked his car, retrieved his gun from his car’s trunk. He got back into the driver’s seat and putting the gun to his head, he pulled the trigger!! My first born child, my only son, was DEAD! For the life of me, I couldn’t understand how such a happy man who LOVED life, his family, job and friends could do something like this to himself.

A few nights after his death, I was sitting in my bedroom, and he came to me he said, “Mom help me!” “I didn’t mean to do this!” I called my daughter in-law the next day and asked her if Tommy was taking any medications? She said, yes, Zoloft and Wellbutrin. That is when, I started to investigate to see if these antidepressant drugs, could have been the cause of my son’s death. What I learned was staggering and frightening.

The Black Box Warnings

In Zoloft the following symptoms have been reported. 1. Anxiety 2.Agitation 3. Panic Attacks 4. Insomnia 5. Irritability 6. Hostility 7. Aggressiveness 8. Impulsivity 9. Akathisia 10. Hypomania and 11. Mania, in adults and pediatric patients. Although a casual link between the emergence of such symptoms has not been established there is concern that such symptoms maybe precursors to emerging of “SUICIDALITY” The Black Box Warning goes on to say, short-term placebo-controlled trials of antidepressant drugs increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children, adolescents, and young adults, 24/25 years old and younger. My son, was 42 years old.

When he restarted these drugs, in less than two weeks, he was DEAD. He is not the only adult who had died by SUICIDE on these and all Psychotropic drugs. The Pharmaceutical Companies and Scientific evidence suggests that depression and certain anxiety disorders may be caused by a “Chemical Imbalance” in the brain. Yet, there is no blood test, x-ray, MRI that can show this to be true. Psychiatrist can’t predict what adverse side effects you might experience because not one of them knows how their drugs work.

Another paper I have read said, Common and well-documented side effects of psychiatric drugs include; 1. Psychosis 2. Hallucinations 3. Depersonalization 4. Suicidal Ideation 5. Heart Attacks 6. Stroke and sudden death. There are many damaging effects on humans, besides what I have listed here. A very serious problem is withdrawal symptoms, this needs to be done with a doctor who is very familiar with the debilitating side effects of withdrawal. Many people are physically damaged, and will have a lifetime of pain.

If you are asking yourself, why isn’t this information getting out to the general population? May I suggest that the Pharmaceutical Company’s have deep pockets. They advertise their drugs on the major TV networks, also in magazines, newspapers and other print forms. If they get sued, they more than likely settle out of court with some sort of gag order’s in place. GP’s are writing the prescriptions, and many rely, on what the drug reps. are telling them about the SSRI Drugs and all the other Psychotropic Drugs on the market. Drug reps. get paid and bonus’s made by, the amounts of their particular Psych Drugs that are getting filled for the paying customer, us!

My advice is heed; “THE BLACK BOX WARNINGS!” Ask for full disclosure, go home and research the drug before you take it. There are plenty of Professional people out here, who absolutely know the dangers of Psych Drugs and you can friend them on the Internet. Please do, because I know what the SSRI Drugs did to my son first and foremost, and also to our entire family. And me Tommy’s mom, I am never going to be the woman I was before my son’s SUICIDE! I will have a lifetime of grief, because he shouldn’t have died, but because of Big Pharma’s greed! One more warning from me, Stop Drugging Our Children! Putting them into a system, that will do nothing but harm them in the long run!!

_______________________________

Elaine Billings
Tommy’s mom….. RIP until I see you again my son

Are they mad or what?

The Irish Independent have asked me to write this article; are they mad or what? ‘Mad’ is a word I am well used to hearing.

Having lost my son in the ‘most’ tragic circumstances in 2009, I’m left as most mothers with a dead child are left: in cloud cuckoo land, extremely sad and just a little bit mad. In my case I’d say ‘more than a little mad’ but I don’t want to tar every bereaved mother with my madness brush. What is it with Irish people and their reluctance to talk about death and dead people? I have never heard so many people talk about the ‘dreadful’ weather; whatever you do, don’t mention that big fat elephant in the room. Most of the time I couldn’t tell you what day of the week it is, never mind what the ‘dreadful’ weather is like, but please feel free to talk about that big fat grey thing with the huge trunk; my son. He’s dead, not erased from existence, but don’t upset the ‘mad’ bereaved woman whatever you do! Say the wrong thing, by all means, but don’t pretend he didn’t exist and talk about the ‘dreadful’ weather! I can’t tell you how close some people have come to manual strangulation, simply by saying ‘it’s a lovely day’ or more likely ‘the weather’s terrible, isn’t it?’

Before I get shot down for using the ‘m’ word, I’d like to say that the so-called ‘mad’ people that I’ve met in the last three years are no madder than most of you, and definitely not I. Some of these people have been told that they have a ‘chemical imbalance’ of the brain; so in order to keep their brain functioning as it’s supposed to, they will need to stay on medication for the rest of their lives. These mad dysfunctional lot could teach the so-called ‘normal’ society a thing or two; mainly about kindness, compassion and a willingness to help others. They are also the ones who are shouting from the rooftops that the chemical imbalance theory is just that; a theory. For decades we were led to believe that depression was caused by low serotonin levels in the brain. There is no way, never has been, to measure serotonin in a person’s brain, and absolutely no evidence that low serotonin levels ever caused depression.

By way of background; my son killed himself and another young man in 2009. He was prescribed an approved SSRI antidepressant 17 days beforehand. I absolutely believe that these ‘mind altering drugs’ are killing people at an alarming rate. Professor David Healy (a world leading expert on these drugs) has said that the pharmaceutical companies, in a court of law, have no choice but to admit that these drugs can cause suicide. According to Professor Healy, “there are 20 more Irish suicides per year than there would have been and 20 extra Irish cases of violence per year that can be linked back to antidepressants.” So given that the SSRI antidepressants have been on the market for 20 years; that’s 800 extra cases of suicide and violence caused by antidepressants in this country alone.

The first major Case involving antidepressant induced suicide/homicide was in the US and involved a 60 year old man, Donald Schell. This man was put on Seroxat by his doctor, not for any mental illness, but for anxiety; yet 2 days later he shot and killed his wife, his daughter, his 9 month old granddaughter and then himself. The jury found that the drug had caused him to become suicidal and homicidal and found the pharmaceutical company liable, in that Case GlaxoSmithKline. There have been similar Cases since, the most recent in a Canadian trial where the Judge found that an antidepressant caused a 16 year old to kill his friend. The Judge (Justice Heinrichs) concluded that the teenager was no longer a danger and that at the time of the killing “his mental deterioration and resulting violence would not have taken place without exposure to Prozac.”

Shane was sad, I know that; was that depression, no! Can these prescription drugs help with a broken heart or some other awful life experience? Can they un-break a heart or un-dead a loved one? No, but they can cause these terrible tragedies. From the time Shane was prescribed these drugs, he became very restless, which was very unlike him. He seemed to find it hard to stay in the one place for any length of time. What I didn’t understand until later was that this condition is called ‘akathisia’ and is known to be the precursor to suicide and/or homicide. Akathisia is an adverse effect which can be caused by these drugs and is described as ‘inner restlessness’. People suffering from this condition have described it as ‘a living hell’ and also that they would do anything to stop this feeling, including death as a welcome release. My son went from being well respected and loved by his lecturers, friends and family, to a person capable of destroying his own life and that of another human being in 17 days. Whether people believe me or not, matters little to me, as I cannot win either way. I can tell you this though: I knew my son inside out, and if it could happen to Shane, it could happen to you.

The level of ‘antidepressant’ prescribing has never been so high and yet the suicide rate is rocketing. Join the dots here if you dare and please don’t argue the recession point; I’ve heard it already. We’ve come through the famine, oppressive English rule, Centuries of emigration and barefoot children; for goodness sake, get a grip! The suicide rate has never been so high and the barefoot children are long gone; presumably dead from old age and natural causes, not by their own hand. Each year there is (at least) one antidepressant prescription per year for every man, woman and child in Ireland. If these drugs actually cure people; how come we once had less than 1 per 1000 of us depressed, and now it’s more than 1 in 10? In the year 2010 the cost of medicines in the health service was €1.9 billion. Have we all gone mad? Why do we need €1.9 billion worth of medication every year; were we all born with inherent defects that only the (billion dollar) pharmaceutical industry can fix? Wake up and smell the pharma coffee when you take that statin this morning! Is that antidepressant you just consumed keeping you happy or can you remember either way? Without doubt the most medicated Country in the world is the US; would it surprise you to know that the life expectancy in the US has fallen below that of Cuba?

In the latest revelation within the mental health arena (Oct 2012), the British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a paper which showed that the risk of suicide (in the first year of treatment) for schizophrenia is extraordinarily high. For schizophrenia generally, you are 10 times more likely to be dead at the end of the first year of treatment than you were 100 years ago. Did you read that? 10 TIMES MORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO! Professor Healy (one of the authors) said “the actual risks of suicide (in the first year of treatment) were 100 times greater than those of the general population.”

Also this week, to much fanfare it has to be said, Minister Reilly said a “very good deal” was made with the Pharmaceutical Industry, to cut the State’s drugs bill by up to €400 million. This he said would benefit patients and the taxpayer. Right; excuse the cynicism here but that’s €400 million over 3 years, which is equivalent to a saving of €133 million a year. What’s €1.9 billion divided by €133 million? The Pharmaceutical industry may find this as amusing as I do; laughing all the way to the bank.

It amazes me that drugs with adverse effects such as suicide, depression, aggression and birth defects can be licenced by the Irish Medicines Board and yet the ‘free will’ of the pubic to medicate themselves is taken away by the banning of herbal remedies. I doubt if my son would be dead as a result of consuming a large dose of ‘Echinacea’. While I realise that all prescribed medications come with side-effects, we in Ireland are not afforded the same level of warning that other countries are. For example, all antidepressants come with a black-box warning in the US which signify that these drugs can have serious or even life-threatening adverse effects.

Of course herbal medicines are not without controversy either; St John’s wort, which has similar properties to an antidepressant, was widely known in the farming community to cause miscarriage and birth defects in cattle. Farmers took steps to prevent this drug from coming into contact with their animals; yet pregnant women are afforded no such warning. 1 in 10 pregnant Irish women are on antidepressants, leading to about 40 extra babies with significant birth defects and 200 extra miscarriages each year. So in the last 20 years, antidepressants have caused birth defects in 800 Irish babies and 4000 miscarriages.

I’m not entirely stupid; I know that some drugs can save lives and there will be people who say “the drugs have saved my life”. Who will speak for the dead people though, do they have a voice? €1.9 billion worth of drugs? Surely I’m not the only one who thinks that this is the biggest wheeze of the 21th Century. The number of people requiring medication is increasing every year. Will we eventually face a world where the majority of the human race will be ‘a bit mad ted’ and will therefore be the new class of norm? It could be seen as ‘the’ miracle of the 21th Century, where the meds are cast aside as the now normal ‘mad’ people don’t need them anymore; let’s all embrace the madness. It would surely be interesting to see what subsequently happens to the pharmaceutical industry; spontaneous combustion? Or just a frantic scrambling to find a way to convince people that medicating the ‘normal’ is actually now in Vogue? The old tale of ‘be careful what you wish for’ springs to mind. Dreadful weather, isn’t it?

Written by Leonie Fennell (for Shane), Dublin Ireland

Mental health issues?  Life getting you down?  Suffering from the loss of a loved one?

Most people, when finding life a tough go for themselves or their children, will go to a psychiatrist for help as this is who they feel may be able to help them or at least offer some relief.

This decision could possibly cost you your life…..

…. and I don’t say this heedlessly.

Psychiatrists are trained to diagnose and treat their patients with the aid of the ***DSM – Diagnostical & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (please see below).  A very high majority will then prescribe a medication to alleviate distress, anxiety, grief – almost any negative emotion any of us are hit with at some point in our lives.  Drugs that do harm.  Drugs that may temporarily lift whatever cloud is hanging over you, but may (and in most cases will) in the long run, cause a lot more anguish than what you started out with.

The word medication is such a benign, gentle word isn’t it?  It has  the nuance of something that’s going to help you or cure you of your symptoms or at the very least, relieve you in some way.   Funny thing is (or not so funny)  that the drugs your psychiatrist OR General Practitioner will prescribe are highly toxic.

I have come across a very informative video, an interview with Genita Petralli, a nutritional biochemist.  You may find some truths in it or some data that may be useful to you.  I hope so. Before starting any drug regimen, at the very least, I ask you to do your own research and for heaven’s sake, stay away from the Pharmaceutical Co.’s “chemical imbalance” propaganda bulls#*t sites.  They’d like to keep you on their medication for life.  YOU are a very lucrative subject.

***THE DSM:

The DSM is not without major flaws and the slotting of yourself (or allowing yourself to be slotted) in a DSM category can be harmful, effecting how you think of yourself, how active or passive you are in your life, and what kind of possibilities open up for you to move your life in the direction you want.

As you look at the DSM IV please be aware that:

1.      The DSM categories are neither scientifically based nor value free.  They were created  by the consensus of a small group of people – mostly white, upper middle class American men – and can not help but reflect their values. These may or may not be your values.  Please get this.  These diagnoses are voted on – THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC BASED RESEARCH TO BACK IT UP.

2..      Diagnosis suppresses the uniqueness of the individual. To fit yourself into a DSM category it is necessary to take a very simplified look at a complex life, highlighting some events and ignoring others. The parts of you that are excluded from the picture are probably at least as important as the parts that are included.

3.      The DSM is deficit focused. It focuses on what you’re not doing well rather then what you are doing well. Putting too much focus on what you’re not doing well runs the very real risk of the problem becoming an even bigger part of your life, increasing its influence over the way you understand your self and further reducing the possible pathways to change.

4.      The DSM supports a medical model of mind in which the psychologist or psychiatrist is an expert on you. He/she tells you what is wrong with you and then tells you what to do to set it right. In fact no one, outside yourself, can fully understand you or your problems. There is no expert who can tell, with any validity, what caused your current behaviours or problems, what they mean, what needs to be done or how it will unfold or turnout. Clinicians can help you clarify your own knowledge and they can offer you their expertise, i.e. thoughts from their own lives, from working with others with similar struggles and from reading they have done. It is up to you to decide what is helpful and what isn’t.

5.      The DSM focuses on the individual not the environment. The DSM views problems as residing within the individual. Thinking of problems this way leads to certain pathways forward and away from others. It’s also possible to see problems as residing within the family, within a system (school, government, etc) and/or within culture.

School survey angers parents

This article was written by Maryam Shah,  Sunday June 17th.

One parent called it “government psychological profiling.”

The Scarborough mom, who did not wish to be identified, said that on June 11 her 12-year-old daughter returned home from Guildwood Junior Public School with a 124-question survey.

The survey included assertions to which students were asked to strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree or stay neutral.

“One example is one of the questions ‘I’m worried about my future’ and I said, ‘My daughter wasn’t but she is now,’” she said. “She asked me ‘Should I be worried about my future?’”

Another question asks “I like who I am, and I am special to others.”

For a child who perhaps can’t answer with “I strongly agree,” it’s a tough spot to be put in, said the mom.

The survey was issued to 126 schools this year as part of the  Model Schools for Inner Cities program.    Administrators call it a resiliency survey, used to see, for instance, if children are satisfied with after-school activities in their area.

“We will change our procedures in terms of sending a letter home and asking parents if they wish to take part or not part — that will be up to them,” said Toronto District School Board official Manon Gardner.

The resiliency survey has been given to schools throughout Canada since 2000. Gardner said the point of the program is to identify children living in poverty, “who had needs in terms of nutrition, social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing.”

For the past two years, around 40 Toronto schools received the survey under the program. This year was the first time all 126 schools participated.

The trouble is, the parents had no clue about it.

“The biggest thing was there was nothing sent home,” complained another mother, Christina Doucette.

Employed as a social worker, she found the survey was similar to a detailed psychological assessment.

Some parents, reportedly, retrieved the form with their child’s name printed on it.

“It should be confidential,” Doucette insisted. “It shouldn’t have your name on it.”

Gardner offered assurances the survey is confidential.

“We only talk about the aggregate results,” she said. “We don’t drill it down to individual students.”

At least four parents said their children indicated their teacher allegedly informed them they would fail the class if they didn’t fill out the survey.

“My daughter and her friend both said that the teacher had said if they didn’t fill it out, they wouldn’t pass Grade 5,” Doucette said. “Which is totally inappropriate in itself.”

Upon hearing the allegation, Gardner was surprised.

“I can certainly investigate that, I wasn’t aware of that,” she said. “If the students don’t complete it, then we move on — that’s all it is.

*****************************************
This is mental health screening.  An innocuous list of 124 questions apparently used to see, and I quote  “for instance, if children are satisfied with after-school activities in their area”.

This is misleading, very misleading because what this questionnaire does do, what it leads up to and will most likely end up as, is  a visit to a health care professional in order to diagnose/treat the child for some sort of learning/behavioral disability which in 99% of the cases, end up on some sort of debilitating psychiatric medication.  Unless you are fortunate enough to run into a doctor that hasn’t gone to medical school in the last 20 years (and even then they’ve been educated by pharmaceutical representative regarding the efficacy of their drugs) or has actually looked at the risks involved with most of the prescribed medications.

What is a “Model” School? A Model School is one of the 126 neediest inner city schools as determined by the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Learning Opportunities Index (LOI).    Here is a copy of the Model Schools for Inner City Program.  Looks  like it’s all very healthy for the kids (and a lot of it is), until you get to page 4.  This is the part where ‘mental health’ initiatives are put into play.

Page 4 reads, in part: “George Webster Elementary School established a Pediatric Health Clinic that is providing access to health services to children in its community. This is the second clinic to be established in the Model Schools Pediatric Health Initiative, which aims to make health care more accessible for students in the Model Schools pro-gram. Located in inner-city schools, each clinic provides comprehensive services to approximately 800 children.”  It goes on to say “An International Medical Graduate will be hired as the Clinic Coordinator.  Mental health is critical in the treatment of children, so at the Paul Steinhauer Pediatric Clinic, a Child Psychiatrist will play a consultative role.  Schools in the cluster will also have access to professional development with a child psychiatrist.” 

What this means is,  the child does not even have to go off the school grounds to be labelled with a learning disorder, it will be done “in house”.  Does this mean that when a child is inattentive, distracted or acting out that instead of being told to go see the principal, he now goes to the Psychiatrists office?  Or might it be three strikes, go see the Psych?    This is a very scary proposition. Here is a List of Model Schools in Toronto.

Below is a bad Public Relations attempt to show how happy the children are to be, well…..just read it for yourself.

George Webster students are excited about the arrival of the clinic’s first medical bed.

Yes, as parents we’ve all seen this, haven’t we?  Children getting all fired up over a hospital bed.

Upon further investigation into this matter, I happened upon this from the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation now known as Healthy Minds Canada.

“Nowhere is the need more acute for rational, scientifically sound and clearly presented information appropriately delivered, than in the arena of youth mental health promotion”. – Dr. Stan Kutcher, Medical Advisor for CPRF’s Youth Project.  He goes on to say “The increasing numbers of children and youth with mental health issues is an alarming trend. To highlight this point, a Secondary School Mental Health Screening Project pilot, funded by CPRF found that 18.2% of the 5,500 students screened were at risk for psychiatric disorders. Another study, released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, shows that one in three youth has already reported some form of impaired mental health.”

“One in three” -  last year it was one in five.

Here is the booklet given to teachers by the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation in order to assess whether or not a child needs intervention.

A child’s difficult or unusual classroom behaviour creates tremendous stress for him/ her, the teacher and the other students. In some cases, behavioural disturbances can be temporary; in others they may reflect a mental disorder.

When Something’s Wrong: Ideas for Teachers has been designed to help you, the elementary or secondary school teacher, understand and implement ways to help children with behaviour problems that are due to common mental disorders.

Many of these children will exhibit their difficulties in the classroom, through problems with mood, behaviour or thinking.  A significant proportion may have a brain dysfunction for which effective treatment is available. If you recognize a student who may have one or more of the disorders described, initiate a referral through the appropriate school services. Early identification and treatment can lead to improved outcomes.

The accepted treatment (which most will tell you is effective) for all of these disorders is medication.  I have talked with hundreds of parents who upon visiting the doctor or social worker or psychiatrist,  spent maybe 15 minutes with their child and wrote out a prescription.

So it was very interesting to see who some of the Sponsors/Contributors were for this guide for teachers.  Very interesting indeed.

SPONSOR:

JANSSEN-ORTHO Inc. – makers of RISPERDAL
Risperidone (risperdal)

DRUG CLASS AND MECHANISM: Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug that is used for treating schizophrenia, bipolar mania and for the treatment of irritability associated with autistic disorder in children and adolescents.  Risperdal is also listed as a third line medication for ADHD.

OF THE NINE CONTRIBUTORS, THREE WERE FROM PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES:

CONTRIBUTOR:

Lundbeck Canada

Makers of CITALOPRAM  citalopram (Celexa)

Makers of Lexapro (escitalopram)

Citalopram  (Celexa) is an anti-depressant medication. It is used for the management of depression. Citalopram also is used for treating obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, prmenstrual dysphoric syndrome (PMDD), anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.  It is also being used in an off-label capacity to treat those with ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome.

Escitalopram (Lexapro)  is an oral drug that is used for treating depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

CONTRIBUTOR:

Pfizer CANADA Inc.

Makers of Zoloft (sertraline)

DRUG CLASS AND MECHANISM:  Sertraline belongs to a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).  Sertraline is used for treating depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sertraline also is used for treating social anxiety disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder 9PMDD).   Zoloft is  prescribed off label to treat ADHD.

CONTRIBUTOR:

Sanofi-Adventis Canada or Sanofi – Synthelabo Canada.

Makers of Ambien (Zolpidem)

DRUG CLASS AND MECHANISM:   Zolpidem belongs to a class of drugs called sedatives or hypnotics. Zolpidem shares some characteristics of a family of sedatives called benzodiazapines. Benzodiazepines cause sedation, muscle relaxation, act as anti-convulsants (anti-seizure medications), and reduce anxiety.  Zolpidem (Ambien) is used for treating insomnia.

This is a very serious matter.  If this isn’t a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is.  With CAMH’s (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health)  multi-million dollar facility going up in Toronto, it’s only going to get worse.  The number of kids that will be labeled and diagnosed is only going to increase with the skyrocketing promotion of ‘Mental Health’ , not only here in Toronto but all across Canada.

Below is a clip of a Mom in New Jersey who’s son was diagnosed along with the outcome.  It’s a happy ending.  It isn’t always.