Suicides Rise As Antidepressant Use Falls?
129 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // September 7th, 2007 // 7:30 am
That’s the conclusion of yet another study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, which finds that teenage suicides rose 14 percent from 2003 to 2004, a year in which the debate that antidepressants actually cause suicide gained widespread publicity. (Here is the abstract).
The data suggest that for every 20 percent decline in antidepressant use among patients of all ages in the United States, an additional 3,040 suicides per year would occur, Robert Gibbons, a professor of biostatistics and psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who did the study, tells The Washington Post.
Meanwhile, the CDC today released new data showing the suicide rate for 10- to-24-year-olds increased by 8 percent in 2004, the largest single-year rise in 15 years. A decline took place from 1990 to 2003 (from 9.48 to 6.78 per 100,000 people), and an increase took place from 2003 to 2004, (from 6.78 to 7.32), the report said. Rates rose for 10- to-14-year-old females, 15 -to-19-year-old females and 15- to-19-year-old males. (Here is the CDC report).
The FDA held widely publicized meetings on antidepressants and suicide in the fall of 2004, and Black Box warnings were placed in product labeling in early 2005. Gibbons says those warnings led to a broad decline in antidepressant scrips for all patients younger than 60, but prescription rates continued to rise among those older than 60, and his study found this was the only group in which suicides dropped between 2003 and 2004.
“We may have inadvertently created a problem by putting a ‘black box’ warning on medications that were useful,” says Tom Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. “If the drugs were doing more harm than good, then the reduction in prescription rates should mean the risk of suicide should go way down, and it hasn’t gone down at all - it has gone up.”
In June, the same medical journal pubished a study that offered the same conclusion, prompting Tom Laughren, the FDA official who oversees psychiatric drugs, to say that if CDC data for 2005 shows a similar trend, the Black Box warnings may be repealed. This week, he hints at the same possibility: “We will continue to monitor antidepressant use and suicide rates,” he tells the Post, “and will take appropriate regulatory actions as new data become available.”
The journal, by the way, is published by the American Psychiatric Association, which has regularly criticized the Black Box warnings, saying some docs and patients are being scared away from meds that could be helpful.
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Lisa Van Syckel
Just a Press Release….Where is the study?…
Who were the Persons involved in the study…..
Did they have Pharma ties?….
Where did the data come from…
Interesting how this was made Public shortly after the NY Times report on a 40 Fold in prescribing for children who were diagnosed Bipolar….
Ed,
Where is the link to Medco Health Solutions Data…..
Laurie
A “study” is only as good as the data collection. Key point missing from thus report
1. How many of the reported suicides were on antidepressants
2. How many of the reported suicides were rapidly removed from that antidepressant.
3. How many of the reported suicides were switched from an antidepressant to an antipsychotic
4. Where did this data come from?
5. Who reported the data?
Without some answers to these questions there can be no definitive tie to the two factors. How can you directly related suicides to decrease in antidepressant use, without reporting any drug related influences in those suicides?
This would be like reporting that headaches are up and aspirin consumption is down, so we need more people taking aspirin….without reporting how many people with headaches actually took aspirin. the connection is not valid.
Lisa Van Syckel
Ed,
you need to correct paragraph to 4…
Leslie Shaffer
“David Healy, a British psychiatrist who has been critical of the drugs, disagrees. He said that the increase in suicides was more likely caused by the growing use of antipsychotic drugs among children rather than a decline in antidepressant use. “I would be absolutely certain that the increase is not because kids are not being treated.”
Fred Hall
The point is that no objective medical test is made to prove that there is any medical condition that needs powerful drugs on these kids. None! These kids are medically healthy until they are poisoned with anti-psychotics (or any pasych drug).
No drug should EVER be given after a subjective OPINION that a child behaves in a certain way and therefore needs powerful anti-psychotic drugs to “balance” the condition. Any increase in suicides will be found to be connected with an increase in the use of more powerful drugs.
This is junk science and is criminal!
Laurie Anspach
This attempt to link the drop in use of antidepressants and an apparent increase in suicides is a pointed effort to justify the concept of removing the black box warning. It is a desperate attempt to salvage a multi billion dollar industry (psychiatric drugging) that is under question by all nation’s newspapers and the public in general.
The Black Box warning is warning of suicidal ideation. How many of the suicides were people on psychiatric drugs?
The families who are left behind need to know the truth about the harmful effects of psychiatric drugs. The Black Box Warning is there for the good of the public. So that they will know that these drugs are dangerous.
After all, we are talking about drugs as harmful as heroine and cocaine!
No-one is deficient in these drugs. They could be deficient in nutrients, could have allergies and/or physical conditions that are the underlying cause of any unwanted mental health symptom.
The truth is more powerful and straightforward than anything the multi-billion dollar marketing of psychiatric drugs could issue.
jason
Lisa,
Check out the link. You can get to the abstract and then link to the PDF. If you don’t have access it will cost you some $$$ to read the full text. I’m not sure what you meant by press release - you mean Ed’s comments.
And Leslie - an admitted critic, in the UK, carries more weight than a study published in a peer reviewed medical journal?
Interesting reading.
Kathrine Nisley
Did anyone stop to think that this is NOT just about drugs! It is about the fact that so many of these children and adults are being treated for psychological problems when the real problem is a physiological one. I was treated for depression/bipolar/bpd for 7 years. After all that, which included numerous suicide attempts and acts of self harm, it was found that I had a brain tumor and therefore, the meds being given to me MADE ME PSYCHOTIC. I’m NOT the only one. I hear story after story of people who were treated for mental illness and the REAL problem was menopause, or their thyroid, or allergies, or lead poisoning or a brain tumors, etc… I was stunned to hear of these accounts. Let us begin by holding facilitators accountable for figuring out the real problem FIRST…. We will automatically reduce our need for meds, dramatically, I am sure. And yes…. the labels NEED to keep an accurate list of side affects on them…
Marcy
The real issue here is that our society wants to cure everything with a pill. These kids — like adults — need counseling, not some magic bullet to cure their ills. Antidepressants DO NOT FIX depression — they merely help if used properly. In many cases, chemistry has nothing to do with what these kids are going through, and that is why the drugs end up making things worse, not better…but nobody seems to want to talk about solutions, just problems and who they can blame for them. Instead of helping our young people figure out why they are so darn miserable, we pump them full of drugs. Instead of giving them hope, direction, guidance, inspiration, we tell them they are crazy. No wonder so many want to kill themselves.
The other issue that no one seems to talk about is the hard reality that insurance companies run this situation. They would much rather pay for little Timmy to have a $250 a month medication than to go see a therapist twice a week at a cost of $600+ per month. And for those of you that aren’t on the “inside” with insurance, they have a certain percentage of “loss” that is accceptable for both medical and mental health — i.e., our mortality is really not their concern.
Mollie
I have to agree with Laurie. No specifics were reported, just generalities. The data was not specific, and definitely not scientific. Anyone can do a study, but it needs to be done using the scientific method and the results reported clearly with full details. Their “study” proves nothing.
Aubrey
If there wasn’t so much evidence of overt and well documented cheating (recoding of patients, counting of events out of timeframe, convenient non-reporting of whole studies) in the antidepressant trials, such studies might just be believable. I think we need to ask whether the authors and promotors of these studies have said anything in condemnation of the cheating in SSRI trials - and if not, why not.
The whole enterprise is a pack of cards.
Aubrey
chuck blanton
stop psychiatric drugs
Dan
Every day more evidence of fraudulent, and even criminal, activity on the part of pharmaceutical companies is brought to light. It’s shown they’ve bribed public officials, tampered with research data, harrassed and spread lies about their critics. Here we see another case - reporting a decrease in antidepressant use without reporting the corresponding increase in antipsychotic use, and without reporting that both categories of drugs are known to increase the risk of suicide.
Joanne Cali
To remove the black box warnings is withhold vital TRUE evidence of side effects from the public. To allow drug companies to be the only “informants” to parents placing kids on drugs is insane - because they are the salesmen. Less use of drugs will decrease, and I’m sure has decreased, suicides. The deadly effects of drugs are well known. My cousin lived for years with insomnia and some body problems. A week after going on antidepressants, he was found dead in his bed. The DIRECT correlation with suicide/death is from the drugs. NOT vice versa.
Monica
Enough money and pharma backing… can produce any kind of study they want! It is meaningless!
Marie Satterfield
This oligarchic establishment will not be satisfied until they change all our children into mindless zombies to be easily exploited by the Corporate Profiteers. To add to this over prescription of psychoalteration to children of fearful parents, is the stealing of children from parents who resist. If this isn’t Orwellian I don’t know what is. Keep resisting the Oligarchs in every way possible. We must fight until they kill us.
Dr. Matt
It is really sad when the data is manipulated to forward the sale of these dangerous drugs.
The fact of the matter is that more kids are on the drugs not less. It is no coincidence that there are more suicides since the drugs increase the risk of that occuring.
It is pathetic that big pharma is okay with fascilitating suicide for money.
Lisa Van Syckel
Hi Jason,
I am already familiar with the Gibbons Study..
I am interested in obtaining the CDC Suicide Analasys.CDC has not made the Report public,they only issued a strong worded Press Release…..
Michael Finley
The public are becoming more and more aware that suicides in general are the result of patients, young and old, taking neuroleptic(psychiatric) drugs. What many do not realize is that these drugs, while being promoted as solutions to “the overall mental health problem” are in fact drugs that are dopomine(a vital neuro-tramsmitter in the brain) aggressive(destroying over a short period of time) eventually resulting in the death of the organism.
Drug companies have this knowledge while exploiting the
public with lies.
Denise Munsterman
It is time America wake up to the fact the the pharmaceutical industry is the richest, most powerful special interest group in this country and that they have “studies” done by their front groups and others to bring about “findings” which support the continued use of often dangerous drugs.
One need only do a personal survey of people around them to find that there is more harm than good occurring from anti-depressants. If they work, (only 1 out of 10 actually) they only work for a while and then there is the “in the long run” likelihood of more problems than good.
If we Americans don’t take a good hard look at the situation ourselves, the money hungry pushers of these and other dangerous psychiatric drugs are going to destroy our future by drugging a very large percentage of our kids (already U.S consumes 85% of the Ritalin in the world!!).
Suicides are very rare and in looking at a scale over the last 20 years - they are declining!!
Dr. Joseph Graziani
drugs are going to destroy our future by drugging a very large percentage of our kids (already U.S consumes 85% of the Ritalin in the world!!).
Dan
Why is it that noone in the FDA has investigated why it is that anit-depressants CAUSE depression, and why anit-psychotics CAUSE one to become psychotic? (As seen on the relevant drug’s own warning labels and the DSM.)
And yet are both sold as “anti-” drugs. Doesn’t this seem odd to anyone in the FDA at all?
Todd Wilson
I’m glad to see that I am not in the minority on this subject, which means that more and more people are starting to understand the evils that back psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry.
An important factor to consider is that these groups have a history of altering research data and omitting vital data in order to further their own agenda (i.e.profits). In other words, they can’t be trusted.
Additionally, there are many other factors than just the amount of anit-depressants that have been prescribed. I’m sure they failed to mention the increase in prescriptions for Ritalin and other dangerous drugs they have been pushing on kids.
renae
It is really sad when the data is manipulated to forward the sale of these dangerous drugs.
The fact of the matter is that more kids are on the drugs not less. The drug companies are just trying to make a dollar and don’t give a crap about the truth. People need to wake up and realize that and that the drugs do Alot more harm to everyone, exspecially our CHILDREN.
jazzmen
The drug companies need to stop harming us! They need to stop lying to everyone! The government sucks!! They need to get a brain and stop drugging us up!
george ebert
Psychiatric drugs dehumanize, disable, and kill.
Gerald
Psychiatrists own lots of stock and/or are on the payroll for these drug companies. They are nothing more than drug pushers. These drugs are vicious, and as hard if not harder to get off of than street drugs. This is a criminal activity.
David
The obvious omitted data is how many of the suidices were on, or had been on, psychiatric drugs, and which ones. I would suspect that that data might show the opposite. Liars can make figures lie.
Carole Gallagher
I am not willing to allow my child or others to become zombie robots due to the drugs pushed bu the pharma groups. This is destructive, horrible and totally un needed. Let the children grow up free of these harmful drugs. PLEASE!
Neil Charnock
Why don’t they publish a comprehensive study on how funding for psychiatric programs has directly correlated to the rise in suicide and mental illness. The suicide rates have been in a constant rise since this pseudo science has been allowed in the education system - and since more and more of their drugs have been pushed on society. We need to take a strong stand against the drugging of our children based on the fallacy of the “chemical imbalance” myth which had so scientific basis - just like psychiatry.
Mike Kehrli
I’ll bet you a nickel that this “data” comes from a pharma backed source, which is the equivalent of the neighborhood drug pusher saying, C’mon! It’ll be good for ya”
Jack Cutting
Giving drugs to children is totally wrong to say the least. 99 % of the cases could be solved by removing additives from food & eliminating white bleached bread. Nobody should be able to make money from drugging or using children as ginny pigs.
Jack Cutting
Cheryl
What is North America trying to do to their next generation? Wipe it out? The rest of the world believes we are all nuts already, they just read the studies that state 1 on 5 needs these drugs. Other countries don’t have this high of a percentage of madness… How could we ever convince any other country that we have the best government or freedom state when we shove pills into our kids and create the madness that was never there to start with. We are a poor example to the rest of the world if we keep doing this. C’mon citizens STOP THE MADNESS ! Take back your freedom and start showing the world we deserve to be admired not feared.
Anne
The pharma shrinks came out with a study saying that because there is a decrease in antidepressant use in kids there are more suicides!
What they don’t say is that antipsychotic use in kids is going up!
Pfizer, which makes Zoloft, provided some money for data collection on the study.
Here’s a quote:
“David Healy, a British psychiatrist who has been critical of the drugs, disagrees. He said that the increase in suicides was more likely caused by the growing use of antipsychotic drugs among children rather than a decline in antidepressant use. “I would be absolutely certain that the increase is not because kids are not being treated.”
Susan Fretwell
The American government is the ultimate in corruption! Naturally big name drug companies sponsored this survey to make themselves look good and to put more kids on ‘medication’. Well, this ‘medication’ kills! Ritalin and Addoril are the equavilent of giving kids methamphetimine! Oh yea, meth is illegal though, but it’s ok if a psychiatrist gives it, not caring about it’s long term affects, such as cancer!
David
The correlation between decreased drug use and an increase has been widely discredited.
Here’s the simple version. The assertion by the Journal of American Psychiatry is as follows:
“Black Box labelling which began in 2005 is responsible for an increase in suicide in 2003 and 2004.”
See the problem with the assertion?
In addition, perscriptions for antidepressants rose in the 2003-2004 period. The corresponds directly with the increase in suicide.
I am still amazed that psyciatrists are touting themselves as experts in suicide prevention–especially since they have the highest rate of suicide of any profession, and their primary treatment modality (mood altering drugs) has been show to increase suicide rates.
Curtis
Before the Drug and Psychiatry Industry teamed up we had
a world that cared for our future leaders. There was never the
thought of putting our children on medication for having a temper tantrum, displinary problem, or any undesirable behavior.
Why now is it a must for the welfare of a child to be subjected to whims of the DSM, that it is best to have them
medicated? Is it for the welfare of the child, or the Drug Companies and the “Doctors of Psychiatry”?
I think that our children are more important and should not
be used as pawns to fill the pockets of Psychiatry or the
Drug Companies.
The Black Box warning on medication should stay and
infact made stiffer statements to give the mother and fathers
no doubt that these kind of medications does more harm
than good and should be told to stay away from using them.
David James
I can’t beleive how many parents are tricked into giving their children powerful mind-altering drugs. Ritalin is a schedule II narcotic - the same restricted class that Morphine, Methodone, Cocaine and Opium are in!
Call me old-fashioned, but I won’t even allow my kids to drink a beer. What are you people thinking?
Gabriel Olague
I could not sit still as a little boy. I had to be always doing something.
I got expelled from school for playing drums on my desk instead
of paying attention the teacher. I eventually out grew it.
I’m so lucky I was born in the 50’s. Had I been born on this century
they would have tried to stuff me full of drugs. Why? For being a normal kid.
Cassandra Casey
Here they go again…. Big Pharma in collusion with the psychiatric industry manipulating data to scare the public into believing more lies….
As can be seen by many others who have posted comments in response to this latest report, there are still many questions that need to be answered. How many of those committing suicide were already being treated with antidepressants at the time of death? How many were on antipsychotics or stimulants?
And, what of the actual statistics? I have hard evidence of statistical tinkering with figures kept by the Annie E. Casey foundation. Is there more of that going on here?
And, what of the autopsy reports? How many state ME offices across the nation will actually come forward to let the American public know that most labs aren’t even properly equipped to test for most psychiatric drugs? We hear so often that the ‘deceased did not have drug X in his system at the time of death - but what we don’t hear is that more often than not, drug X was not found because the lab did not have the means to test for it….
Until all questions are answered, I can only view such a report as yet one more push to open wide the school doors to a whole army of mental health experts who will be only too happy to screen and label all the children, and then pump them full of the next generation of happy pills.
Parents Beware. Teach your children to say NO to psychiatric drugs.
Ian
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. These huge drug companies are all about profits and market share. How can anyone trust they really care? In Australia we have marketing that says feeding kids chocolate cereal is healthy because it’s fat free! Get real. When so much money is at stake I believe they would do or say anything to keep selling more drugs.
Tom
Robert Gibbons said the same thing 9 months ago in the Washington Post. The above story is a rehash.
See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006
/12/13/AR2006121300452.html
Lisa Van Syckel
No Doubt that Pharma,Gibbons and CDC collaborated in the timing of their “bogus studies”
Jane
The increase in suicide occurred in 2003 - 2004.
The Black Box warnings were given starting in OCTOBER 2004.
The reason given for increase of suicide in 2003 and 2004 is something that occurred at the END of 2004.
Um.. how stupid do they think we are?
Sonya H
Why? Why?Why do we think a pill can stop someone from committing suicide. A pill that makes you crazy does it though.
Come on! If you are doing well in life - would you want to end it in the first place?
Psychs just make a lot of money on just calling you crazy and you beleive them?
Chemical unbalance, that comes from taking these drugs, is what creates all the “bi=polar” “ADD” “ADHD”.
Vitamins and natural supplements are the answer here….
Mike Chiara
I’m confused.
I thought that we needed universal mental health screening and programs like Teen Screen (suicide screening for school-age kids) to stem the tide of bloodshed for the suicide epidemic.
These people are the world’s biggest frauds.
At least two people I knew committed suicide while on SSRIs.
Vera Guinan
These psychiatrists and drug companies will do anything to sell their products, regardless of the proven dangers.
I’d like to know how many of these people who write these articles or do these studies have ties to drug companies.
It’s pretty obvious to anyone who cares to look that these are dangerous, suicide-inducing drugs. Enough already from the drug pushers!
Lloyd Ross, Ph.D., FACAPP, P.A.
First of all, Pfizer, which makes Zoloft provided some of the monies for this study’s data collection, and the “researchers” involved in the study are all “Big Pharma” related shrinks who make most of their incomes through the pharmaceutical industry. This study is as beleivable as a tobaco industry sponsored study that concludes that not only is smoking safe, but it prevents heart disease and cancer. When reading any research, FIRST LOOK AT WHO PAID FOR IT.
David Healy, the famous Brtish Psychiatrist who’s work was responsible for the British banning anti-depressants for kids under 18 said in response to this study: “the increase in suicides was more likely caused by the growing use of antipsychotic drugs among children rather than a decline in antidepressant use.” He went on to say: “I would be absolutely certain thaty the increase is not because kids are not being treated.”
Look at the real statistics for children aged 10 to 18, for the period 2001 to 2006:
(1) ADHD prescriptions were UP 74% in girls and UP 37% in boys.
(2) Antidepressant prescriptions were UP 10% in girls and UP 1% in boys.
(3) Antipsychotics prescriptions were UP and astonishing 117% in girls and UP 71% in boys.
(4) Sleep med. prescriptions were Up over 80% in girls and 64% in boys.
(5) Type II diabetes prescriptions were UP an astonishing 167% in girls and 33% on boys.
The real crime here is that the antipsychotic medications ca
Lloyd Ross, Ph.D., FACAPP, P.A.
us First of all, Pfizer, which makes Zoloft provided some of the monies for this study’s data collection, and the “researchers” involved in the study are all “Big Pharma” related shrinks who make most of their incomes through the pharmaceutical industry. This study is as beleivable as a tobaco industry sponsored study that concludes that not only is smoking safe, but it prevents heart disease and cancer. When reading any research, FIRST LOOK AT WHO PAID FOR IT.
David Healy, the famous Brtish Psychiatrist who’s work was responsible for the British banning anti-depressants for kids under 18 said in response to this study: “the increase in suicides was more likely caused by the growing use of antipsychotic drugs among children rather than a decline in antidepressant use.” He went on to say: “I would be absolutely certain thaty the increase is not because kids are not being treated.”
Look at the real statistics for children aged 10 to 18, for the period 2001 to 2006:
(1) ADHD prescriptions were UP 74% in girls and UP 37% in boys.
(2) Antidepressant prescriptions were UP 10% in girls and UP 1% in boys.
(3) Antipsychotics prescriptions were UP and astonishing 117% in girls and UP 71% in boys.
(4) Sleep med. prescriptions were Up over 80% in girls and 64% in boys.
(5) Type II diabetes prescriptions were UP an astonishing 167% in girls and 33% on boys.
The real crime here is that the antipsychotic medications cause obesity and diabetes in children and they are being given out like candy by the same companies that also make diabetes drugs. These black box warnings should be much stronger than they presently are. But, hay, drug company profits are certainly more important than our children.
Profits rule!
Aleisha
Psychiatrists are in bed with the pharmaceutical industry. Ely Lilly and those other ‘businessmen’ are not here for our good health.
Lynn Michaels, Founder/TaperSafely.org
Adolescent Suicide Rate, Not Due To Black Box Warnings
http://www.cchr.org/index.cfm/22/19521
Prompted by psychiatrists with their own vested interests in pharmaceutical sales, the media has spun the blame for the rise in the suicide rate for children on the “black box” warning labels placed on antidepressants. This comes from a study that was conducted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC)-one of the components of the Department of Health and Human Services, which prevents and controls infectious and chronic diseases. When citing statistics for the causes of death for children, the study, “Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: 2005,” published in the February issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, claimed that, “A significant increase was registered only for suicide (18.2%).” The population of people the study was referring to are children aged 1-19 for the years 2003-2004.1 The study was on vital statistics, such as birth rates and infant mortality. It was not a psychiatric study and the researchers and scientists do not have a connection with mental health issues.
Mark Loweree
There is no bigger fraud, or national embarassment, than the greenback alliance between the drug manufacturers and psychiatry.
Sonya M. Tarjanyi
Psychiatry uses fear in order to sell their pills.
Psychiatric pills have never cured any mental problem and it actually has made any mental problem worse. The only objective of Psychiatrists is to make the “big bucks” through their victims.
A person can keep himself/herself healthy through good nutrition, exercise, a warm family, friends, a nice hobby, less materialism and being closer to nature.
Sonya
G. Burke
Lousy studies with mostly dumb conclusions
Any organized group of individuals who promote a ban of Black Boxes for psych drugs warrants being black-boxed…
one and all.
Modern psychiatry has become as frightening as the addictive drugs and Big Pharma with whom they have become identified.
Hank
Way back up stream, Laurie raised some excellent questions about what the study apparently did _not_ report and which could easily reverse the “implications” that are being pushed by industry.
Personally, I am not against antidepressant drugs. For the right people, rightly prescribed, I have seen extraodinary results that were not achieved by other modalities. But that is the kind of rational and thoughtful prescribing that we are seeing less and less of.
;
Among other questions about this “study,” I’d wonder about the rates of engagement in _any_ kind of treatment for depression over the relevant year. Even in industry-funded studies, the SSRI class (and likewise the tricyclics) _never_ showed the kind of efficacy that would correlate with this much change in suicide rates. So, almost by definition, there have to be a number of other things going on, from other variables to misleading stats.
Laurie
Hank, you and I are on the same page. All I’m looking for is complete information.
survivor030406
In the year where the statistic is in question the suicide rate went up by an extremely small margin. 0.52%
Only a long term trend (several years) would be useful to indicate if this is the beginning of and upward trend or if is just a normal fluctuation as is the case with any statistical data. Another words, it’s not hard to think that the folks that favor peddling these dangerous and deadly drugs are just jumping the gun to scare people into removing the warning so they can peddle more drugs. There is also an enourmus amount of documented cases of the pro drug pushers engaging in highly unscrupulous behavior to push these
drugs and make their own wallets fatter. Case in point: http://www.teenscreentruth.org and http://www.prozactruth.org
And if you’ve seen the pictures of a NAMI convention, it is entirely created for the big pharma co’s to convince medical workers to peddle more of their drugs while flagrantly misrepresenting the safety of the drugs. There is absolutely nothing “grass roots” about the NAMI organization, as they like to falsely represent themselves as. And the teenscreen convention slogan was “medicating every kid in America”. That is a blatant admission of their true goal.
Which amounts to nothing more than a massive widespread chemical assault on our nations future. There has been scientific research proving that adolesants and the unborn children are permanantly brain damaged, and will not develop normally after taking these drugs and will never be able to live a normal life after these drugs have been in the persons system.
Obviously there are a multitude of severe and debilitating effects of these drugs that go unreported and under-reported. Thereby making it impossible for the FDA to take these drugs off the market. It is already extensively documented that the FDA was misled and lied to about the safety and effeciency of these drugs by doctors who have committed hundreds and even thousands of illegal and dangerous activities during their practice and even as a sole part of their practice. Like refusing to give treatment to a patient that despretly needs help but is instead given the ultimatem that they either participate in a “clinical trial” or get no treatment at all. It has become extremely obvious that the big pharma companys are hiring crooks with a med license, so they can buy their way through the FDA process and file papers that amount to nothing more than a construction of blatant lies. Even dispite the fact that people are killed during the “clinical trials” these drugs get approved by the FDA with “YOUR TAX MONEY” being flushed away, because doctors who sign “waivers of bias” with the FDA and NIH and sign “non-disclosure agreements” with the drug companies.
It is the direct manipulation and deviant perversion of our own system of government. 81% of people who commit suicide are on psychotropic medication. So you should ask yourself “Are these drugs really saving any lives?” The simple answer is no. And it is extremely obvious that, that is the reason why psychiatrist, therapists, teenscreen, NAMI, big pharma, are all using scare tactics to get kids and people on psychotropic medication. Because it makes an enormous financial gain for the drug peddlers while not doing any good in improving the quality of life or saving lives. A good friend of mine was on antidepressant medication for two years and one day her husband came home and found her hanging in a noose, dead.
Think about that the next time you hear a med worker say “give it time, you need to take it for X number of weeks to get the full benefit of the drug.” And none of these doctors take the necasary testing of blood glucos levels etc. to get the baseline needed to monitor the risk of diabetes. that’s because they are trained to pass the buck to something else instead of practicing medicine. From my personal experience, I know that the hospitals and doctors intentionally lose any test results that show a problem that they aren’t interested in if it doesn’t make them rich quick. I know for a fact that my pulse rate was 225 and the registration rep. at the ER changed it 99. It is not her job to touch patients records, she is a registration rep. But she gets away with it. And the nurse told me to give a urine sample as an illegal ultimatum to being able to have a doctor talk to me for 30 seconds. The nurse alleged that it was a routine procedure. It was a lie. It was because the registration rep discriminated against me and was flagrantly and egregously sabotasing an emergency life and death situation. The urinwe sample was for a drug test and not used for my medical condition. The drug test came back negative and the registration rep intentionaly lost the results. the same lies and deceipt ensued over the three blood samples. None of them were used to test for my medical condition. The were used to test for CBC, whicj I did not request or consent to being done and had nothing to do with my medical condition. They also used the blood samples to test blood alcohol level which I did not consent to and had nothing to do with my medical condition.
After they failed numerous attempts to follow through with the registration reps egregous and insane behavior and verbally assaulting me numerous times, they resorted to fabricating mental health complaints and wrote that it is assumed I was suicidal dispite repeted questioning and answers all of which ended in the word “no”.
I was sent to another hospital were my injurys that I requested treatment for were blatantly ignored. And I was verbally’emotionally, psychologically, and chemically assaulted aby DR. Jeff Palacious, Kathleen whooly, and Dr. John Sabastionelli at BayRidge Hospital in Lynn,MA. The first hospital that discriminated against me and made numerous false allagations against my person and and health and had me wrongfullyconfined was Metro West Medical Center in Natick, MA. The registration reps. initails are M.D. the nurse who openly admitted to being completely incompetant at her own job and helped perpetuated the egregous assault was a young philipino girl whose name does not appear on the record. And the doctor on staff was Dr. Bethany Lee. This doctor was so incompetant she was asking me if my roomates drank or did drugs. Whick obviously had nothing to do with my injury that I checked in for in the first place. She also typed “She complains of chest pains” dispite the obvious fact that I am a man. And then the records show that the doctor changed the record after the fact by removing sgnificant information and retaing clearly false information. these records in and of themselves are an addmission of intentional malpractice and an assault on my mind and body. As I said my pulse rate was 225 and the medical workers knowingly and willfully changed the record to 99. All in order to justify the registration reps intentions to cause severe bodily harm and possible death on the basis of discrimination.
For any one who reads this story I urge you to avoid MWMC (Metro West Medical Center)Natick/Framingham at all costs. They are only interested in hurting and killing people.
Chuck Bell
Go to http://cchr.org and get the video DVD, ‘Psychiatry: An Industry of Death’ to get the real story.
M. Media
Years ago my neighbor’s two young boys were on Ritilin. I had talks with the mother to no avail. The youngest one was showing odd destructive behavior and the lightly older one was developing uncontrollable verbal noises and going into hypnotic type behavior. Finally, after gathering more data for the mother and then actual data from a friend who was a psycholgist, where he described what the body and mind goes through taking the drug, she had a meeting with me and announced that she was taking her sons off Ritilin. They are now grown and successful and any stunted growth and developmental problems are not present. The oldest one thanked me a couple of years later. It is scary that the drug companies are on our TV sets every minute of the day, making it seem like we can’t live without them, and that the dangerous side effects are delivered with the same happy tone as the selling part of the ad.
G. Utz
This is a typical statement of some psychiatrist which bares any proof and it is a big generalization. All kids…. yes sure. It is also known that the socalled science of Psychiatry follows its own goals: The goal of human destruction with the help of psychodrugs. Target: especially Children. It is known that they did the same in the 60s with LSD. Go to http://www.cchr.org and find the correct information about their ways to destroy individuality.
Beth Settle D.D.S.
I am ashamed of the medical industry and the pharmacuetical businesses that have placed higher value on their profits than on the health and well being of our children. Concerned health practitioners and parents must join forces and protect our future generation from the decay that psychiatric drugs are creating!
Thomas Clapp
I couldn’t vote to leave the labels alone. It said I had already voted but this is not true. I guess my vote will be left out of the total. So you can see how easy it is do an opinion study and leave out important information. The psychs have similarly left out important information. This pumping of psych drugs into kids and adults has been a racket from the begining.
alex serrano
Kids do not need drugs, need better education that is all.
sid
Sorry, I am going to have to set a few recent people straight.
Alex - the correct phrase is “kids need HUGS, not drugs” and you stole that from the DARE campaign. Better education, I am confused by that.
Thomas - look at the voting - it is 96% anti pharma, yes the man is trying to keep your opinion quiet. I can’t believe no one wants your opinion
Beth DDS - yes I will come to you for advice on psych. I actually believe that flouride treatments cause cavities. If we could stop cavities dentists would be out of business - so quit lying and admit what dentistry has done to our society.
Survivor - how long is that post, who read it.
Lisa Van Syckel
Sid,
This issue isnt anti pharma…Its the Black Box….
I may be against Pfizers Zoloft for kids because of safety and efficacy issues…..
On the other hand, I swear by their antibiotic Zithromax, it was the only drug that worked in my treatment for Lyme Disease.( hated the generic)
Tired of the Psychs BS
Here the truth from the psychos themselves at this website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bguQkX1M1Pg
They tell you themselves what they think of mankind. You will be SHOCKED!
Gerald
jPsychiatrists are really drug pushers and own stock in drug companies and/or are on their payroll.
Bill
Sid,
Alex is entitled to say “Kids do not need drugs…” I’m puzzled as to how saying so is stealing from someone else.
Thomas said he wasn’t allowed to vote to “leave the labels alone”, and had he not come across a glitch of some sort there would be one more vote to keep the Black Box Warning.
How does being ’stopped’ from voting to keep that warning relate to your implication that the voting is manipulated in favour of “anti pharma” and is trying to keep his opinion quiet? It doesn’t make sense, neither does the suggestion that people who vote to leave the Black Box Warning on drugs make them anti pharma.
Beth DDS has said nothing to deserve your comment towards her, the issue is about Black Box Warnings and has nothing to do with dentistry.
Survivor’s post is relatively long, but I read it quickly and without undue difficulty and I doubt I was the only one.
sid
Bill and Lisa,
Bill - I am sorry you don’t see the sarcasm. Called smart comedy - you probably don’t watch The Office or 30 Rock either.
Lisa — Very interesting reply. You know zithromax is not labeled for treating Lyme disease don’t you. So the evidence that the med worked likely came from — gasp– A DRUG COMPANY! AND IT WAS PRESCRIBED OFF-LABEL!!!!!!
But seriously - generics didn’t work?, Lyme disease? So you were tried on a series of medications until 1 worked - and I bet you feel better because of it. So even in infectious disease it seems to be a real art and there is trial and error until you find what works.
But the real point is I have seen your kind - something wrong with generics, Lyme disease. Let me ask - Have you ever been diagnosed with fibromyalgia? Better yet - Have you ever taken, or been recommended to take a psych med? Another old saying comes to mind - something about apples and trees.
.
C. Lepone
It is a sorry state of affairs when I drop my child off for summer camp and the line for giving the staff all of the child’s drugs is longer than the line I waited in to check in. The baggies of prescription drugs that were being turned in for ADHD, etc. was absolutely mind boggling.
The owner of one summer camp had a son who was on drugs throughout the year, until he visited the dad for the summer at camp.
The dad wouldn’t give him the drugs. He sent his son outside to play with the animals and to hike on the trails. He never had a problem with him.
Send the kids to camp. Leave the drugs out of it. Fresh air, outdoor activity, & no TV will turn the child around. I’ve seen it happen. Let them turn their activity into creativity. Let them be free! No more drugs. Please!
jayne
Let’s make it mandatory for all CEOS and executives of the BIG PHARMA companies and the doctors that are pushing ssris and antipsychotics to try them, themselves, for “whatever ails them.” Then, let’s come back to the table.
These greedy, indifferent monsters almost killed my son and have ruined his and our lives for the past five years. They compounded his mild despression and anxiety by a millionfold and they must be held accountable. Yet, their marketing campaigns are so convincing, that many people still see these drugs as an easy fix and a panacea. Please — bring back the (harmless) snake oil salesmen.
Bill
Sid,
I’m afraid I don’t see your post(s) as being ’smart comedy’ (and yes I do watch The Office) but rather a poor attempt to misrepresent the posts of others, to discredit them, the author of the article and voting utility and generally to distract from the issue at hand:
Whether Black Box Warnings should be left alone or be removed.
Lisa Van Syckel
You have seen my kind!!…
I should have mentioned that I was also diagnosed with Babesiosis and Bartonella, along with the Lyme.Zithromax and Mepron are appropiate medications.
And no, I have never been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia or ever been recommended a Psyche Drug.Nor am I taking any type of medication.
Edith M. Marth
When I attempted to vote that the Blackbox should not be
repealed, I was advised I had already voted. This was not
so. My son, Dr. John Marth of DeSoto Texas, had forwarded
the information to me to consider. Undobutedly, there is a
misunderstanding.
Raoul Widman
The Black Box warnings are actually pretty tame. Saying they might be harmful is QUITE an understatement !
I’d personally prefer something like: “If you really have been led to believe you have a ‘chemical imbalance’ in your brain, just wait ’till you add the bizarre chemicals contained in THIS product.”
Or: “Sometimes this product causes people to kill themselves. Sometimes it causes them to go and kill several other people. So if you REALLY, REALLY want to go ahead and take it anyway, PLEASE warn the people in your environment.”
Now THAT’S a label.
sid
I will say it again - Zithromax is not labeled for treatment of Lyme disease. This was based on good data from trials conducted under sponsorship of Pfizer for the most part. I am willing to bet — some of those docs that participated, authored had a financial interest in the outcome.
I agree it is appropriate therapy - but it is used at high doses without an indication if you follow the label. Which is the exact reason the black box doesn’t matter at all. Leave it, take it off — docs will use it exactly the same. The only people that benefit are those that think they are changing the world and the lawyers.
I’ll be honest, the only people I really care about are those under my roof. Selfish - yes, but then again I want to raise my kids with my full attention and hope they turn out OK. I never want to say - I wish I would of had time for this. I am my sons’ father as Dr. Laura would have me say. So this is a Moo point. But I do like how in some cases off-label prescribing is acceptable.
sid
By the way folks - this isn’t really a binding poll. Even if you couldn’t vote it really doesn’t make a difference.
paula
I wouldn’t get too upset about Sid’s remarks, Lisa. The Black Box Warning will bring up comments like his. He is using a very well known “dirty tactic” to defend drugs against any criticism of ethical misconduct which might lead to restrictions, such as black box warnings.
An example of how dirty this tactic can get when there is a risk of those restrictions, or a chance that said restrictions can be lifted despite research misconduct, can be evidenced by its use in relation to the suicide of Traci Johnson, the healthy volunteer on the antidepressant Cymbalta, here:
http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?s=5eb49e6d030ce1b78355f17204faf76f&t=174627
paula
Its “moot” Sid, not “Moo”.
sid
another cafepharma fan — the best place to find disgusting people discussing disgusting things. I believe everything posted there and frequently go there for ideas to blog about. I believe everything written there without question.
Where are the other “dirty tactics” listed, I tried Wikipedia but couldn’t find anything.
I am going to go out on a limb and guess that others in clinical trials for products complete unrelated to psych meds have committed suicide. If you are a “lab rat” doing this for a little bit of cash - that in my book is a red flag right there. If you would try out a new med, get poked a bunch of times for $200 I would think there was something wrong with you.
Look at the script volumes - yes I am sure there was an initial dip in scrips. But I am guessing if you could get a hold of the current numbers they have pretty much recovered.
sid
Paula,
No this discussion is like a cow’s opinion - it doesn’t matter and has no impact. It is a moo point. But thanks for setting me up for that, I owe you one.
paula
By the way, Lisa, The best thing to do with
‘Sid’ -The Research Misconduct Defense Front’
is to totally ignore his posts as his aim is obvious, to confuse the issue by attack and confusion, which is why he still here working at it.
http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?s=5eb49e6d030ce1b78355f17204faf76f&t=174627
sid
Have you been here long Paula? I think Lisa is a big girl and can take care of herself.
This is a more typical post on your spot for breaking news, although I chose one in fairly decent taste. It really goes downhill from here
http://www.cafepharma.com/boards/showthread.php?t=225226
I am not sure what Research Misconduct Defense Front means, but……… Thanks??? I guess.
Been fun, thanks for the smiles today. Going to squeeze the last bit of this beautiful day here.
Your Minister has left the building
Francois Alvarez
Two of my cousins died in the 80’s. One on my mother side, a 16 year old boy, the other on my father side of the family, a 32 year old woman. They did not know each other. The only thing they had in commun was taking anti-depressant… It surely did a good job at depressing them! Before those deaths I beleived that the FDA was protecting us (we the people). Now I know they are protecting the pharmaceutical industry’s profits
paula
There are some very good comments here, but the one I’d choose as as a good example is the one by “Aubrey” because he brings up a particular question that needs answering:
As in asking whether the authors of studies (that have since been documented to have involved misconduct) have said “anything in condemnation of the cheating in SSRI trials - and if not, why not.”.
I agree with that. Why is it that despite the evidence of misconduct, hardly any attention is paid to that? Why has that evidence gone unmentioned by the FDA or by the CDC?
If this were misconduct in any other science, there would be ample responses pointing out the flaws.
Too bad -and rather strange- that scientific misconduct in a very profitable industry goes “unnoticed” by those who purport to have the interest of the public in mind.
Lisa Van Syckel
Sid,
I suggest you stick to Blogging!!!….
And leave Emergency Medicine…. to the Experts!!!
Lisa Van Syckel
Paula,
Who is this Character?….
paula
Lisa, forget him. He’s a front and doing his best to discredit anyone criticising scientific misconduct, thats all. He’s insignificant. Just ignore him completely.
Lisa Van Syckel
SID & PAULA,
Are you guys SALES REPS.?……
I just took a look at CAFEPHARMA….These are demented individuals who are posting there.AND THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO EDUCATE PHYSICIANS ABOUT DRUGS.!!!!!!!!
Industry has enough to worry about, and their employees run their gutter mouths like this……
And Sales Reps. want respect……..
Cynthia Bowie
I’m confused. The article says the black box warnings were started in 2005. So how could they affect the suicide statistics for 2004? It sounds from this article like the suicides went up before the black box warnings were started.
The article does mention that the warnings followed “well-publicized hearings” in the fall of 2004. So is the suggestion that the 8 percent increase in suicides all happened in the last quarter of 2004 because people heard about the hearings on the news? Is that actually when all these additional suicides took place? Or were suicides up all through the year even before the black box warnings were even discussed? Seems like that would be important data for dealing with such an important and tragic trend.
The article doesn’t say whether anti-depressent prescriptions declined in 2004, only that they declined after the black box warnings were added in 2005. Again, 2005 can’t affect 2004.
And finally, what else happened in 2004 that could have had an impact? It seems like attributing an outcome to something that only happened in the last quarter of the year is pretty undisciplined science, unless of course the data show that most of the impact was primarily from that quarter.
paula
Lisa please think a bit.
I’m Paula and what sid has really confused you. Thats his job.
It seem he was sucessful with you please THINK,
I”m no fan of Sid OK? PLEASE read back.
God help us us when people can’t even understand whats going on and no wonder the US are so eaily conned into drugging kids when people working hard to fight this negative stuff dont have enough IQ to understand?
Lisa Van Syckel
Paula,
Sid, has in no way “confused” me….
I suggest you put my name in Pharmalots search box,you will than have a better understanding,of who I am,and my position on the “BLACK BOX” issue.
I find the ref’s, and links, to cafepharma offensive,discusting and irresponsible.You want respect,than dont give these individuals the time of day…
paula
I now give up. Lisa how did you make me in Sids stuff? For Gods sake THINK.
Sid really did a good job didnt’ he. And I just feel sick that you people can’t see whats going one. Worse is that it is happening across Europe and we’re drugging kids because the almighty US have spread their corruption across the globel
LISA how could you attack me like me like that?
paula
ILisa Van Syckel
SID & PAULA,
Are you guys SALES REPS.?……
I just took a look at CAFEPHARMA….These are demented individuals who are posting there.AND THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO EDUCATE PHYSICIANS ABOUT
DRUGS.!!!!!!!!
Industry has enough to worry about, and their employees run their gutter mouths like this……
And Sales Reps. want respect…….. ~”
You know I feel sick on the whloe thing.
paula
I KNOW who who are.. Did you know I have a site that fights to protect you children?
I’m begining to wonder why when you cant even distinguish the diffence between SID a drug front and me. Why should I botther any more ?
DRUGS.!!!!!!!!
Industry has enough to worry about, and their employees run their gutter mouths like this……
And Sales Reps. want respect…….. ~”
You know I feel sick on the whloe thing.
Lisa Van Syckel
May I suggest a good nights sleep……
and allow cool, and clearer… heads to prevail….
paula
Lisa, yes you surely do need a good sleep, when you can’t work out whos who and attack someone who is trying to defend you?
paula
LISA if you remember it was me who gave you that link to Cafe Pharma…
and then you attack ME:
Lisa Van Syckel
SID & PAULA,
Are you guys SALES REPS.?……
I just took a look at CAFEPHARMA….These are demented individuals who are posting there.AND THESE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO EDUCATE PHYSICIANS ABOUT DRUGS.!!!!!!!!
Industry has enough to worry about, and their employees run their gutter mouths like this……
And Sales Reps. want respect……..
” Lisa Van Syckel
SID & PAULA,
Are you guys SALES REPS.?……”
Maybe when you have had a sleep and you wake up you’ll notice that is was me who actually left a message re Sid being a front
plus it was ME who gave you the Cafe pharma link..
and then YOU ATTACK me?
NO WONDER DRUG REPS CON AMERICANS SO WELL!
Steve
From my observation, the black box label warning should be expanded. A talented engineer friend of mine recently went through a painful divorce. He was told by the company nurse to see a doctor who promptly prescribed him Prozac ~and~ Valium. I advised him to stay clear of the Prozac after having done much research in to the industry.
Three weeks ago, he was having a difficult time and didn’t report to work. About three days later, I learned that he was committed to a psychiatric ward for suicidal tendencies. Three weeks later, this was the story he told me.
“I had the final court appearance and was very depressed and wanted a little help. I got the Prozac prescription filled and immediately began having suicidal thoughts. My doctor told me that I had a very rare reaction, one that he has never seen in 20 years. They took me off the Prozac and now I’m on three other medications. On in a very low dose so I can just sleep at night.â€
My friend looks gaunt, is foggy, his speech is slurred. He lost three weeks of work and is went from being a function engineer to a barely functioning person. This “rare reaction†I have seen all to often in those that I have counseled in my church activities who have chosen psychiatric drugs as an answer.
sid
Paula,
I will honestly admit I am completely confused by your last post. I do agree with Lisa that cafepharma is a horrible place for horrible people. Just because Lisa agreed with me on that is OK - you guys can dislike me for the other issues. It was Paula who called me the defense minister for pharma - a title I am considering keeping. Just shortening it to minister of defense, sounds cool don’t you think? I actually consider myself more a defense minister of good medical practices - but it is harder to hate than pharma.
I also said it doesn’t matter if the warning stay or not, the drugs will be used because - outside of good parenting - there are no other answers. Parents would rather give their kids a pill than love, sad commentary, but true from what I have seen.
I think Lisa is a drug rep or in marketing and clouding the whole issue. You are right, they are shifty people.
LISA - ADMIT YOU ARE A DRUG REP!!!!!!
I don’t think sleep is needed, maybe something better will help and calm everyone down. Anyway, off to church, enjoy hashing this one out.
Lisa Van Syckel
Sid,
LISA-ADMIT YOU ARE A DRUG REP!!!!!!!!
How funny is that…Thanks for the LAUGHS….
You are a Character..arent you!!
Humor and an apple, will keep the Dr. away…..
AA
Steve, you nailed the issues precisely.
The black box warnings aren’t just about whether this is a correlation between increased suicide rates or not. As your friend’s case sadly proves, it is about medicating every human condition on this earth. This is what has caused the black box warnings to be put on the drugs as people like your friend who didn’t previously have a psychiatric condition (uh, getting upset about a divorce is a normal human emotion) react horribly to them.
Like your friend, I became suicidal on Prozac. I was put on it due to depression as the result of a job loss. I definitely was not suicidal when I was placed on that med.
I also had a very bad reaction to Celexa. My doctor wanted me to stay on it. Thankfully, I didn’t listen to him.
Anyway, that started my psych merry go round like your friend and the people you see at work. I foolishly thought I would be on these meds for life.
Well, intolerable side effects like considerable worsening of my learning disability symptoms (yes, my LD is legitimate), tinnitus and a hearing loss (just what I need with already having LD), made me realize that I ought to rethink this belief. I start tapering my meds very slowly in August 2006 and am doing so much better.
What is depressing though is thanks to these meds causing me to not give a darn, I have some serious problems in the condo that I live in. I am also mourning the loss of some productive years of my life thanks to these meds.
All you pro meds folks who posted, do you ever think about the long term effects of these drugs? You’re so concerned about alleviating depression but does it ever occur to you that long term effects can make the disease worse than the cure?
Whether the black box warnings stay or go (I badly want them to stay), physicians have got to stop treating these drugs like candy and like they are harmless. I do realize that when someone is suicidal, there might not be any choice but to put them on an AD. But to sentence that person to life on a med when evidence is starting to show that actually long term use worsens depression is simply unforgivable. Look up the president of the Swedish psychiatric association for her quote on this issue.
There so many non med alternatives. Fish Oil Capsules and yes, diet. I used to poo poo that but not any more.
It should be the law than when someone is placed on one of these meds, that a plan be developed that eventually will transition the person off the med. Maybe give adults who are on these meds the option to decline. But at least, they would have that chance.
By the way, I do accept my responsibility for not asking my doctor about getting off the meds. There was one person who posted who thinks people who were harmed by drugs blame everything on the pharmaceutical.
I also realize that I can’t get back the years of my life that I lost and can only deal with now. But after reading the various responses on this issue, I felt it was time to post my views and my story as I don’t want anyone else to go through what I have been. That is how I can use my experiences in a positive way.
AA
Dave Sutter
Please stop this insanity
Amy Philo
I saw a similar article on Yahoo and decided to send the following email out to my yahoo group. Basically what the truth is is that the black box warning which came out in 2004 only pertained to under 12 children.They need to tone down the lying that is going on because most people will not investigate this, they will just go with whatever spin is put on it in the repeated messages they hear from headlines. Perhaps we should sue the drug companies for lying (for starters, it would be nice to get compensation for all the survivors and families of people who are now dead because of these drugs).
Prior to the warning, suicides rose as antidepressant prescriptions skyrocketed among older teens 13-18 and on up. This was the time frame in which I personally experienced the suicidal and homicidal urges (toward my baby and family and cats etc.) that Zoloft causes. I pay close attention to these things and it really saddens me to see false spin repeatedly inundating our society because lives are at stake. Anyone who doubts this is essentially calling victims like me liars.
“OK First of all, what year are we living in? Is this still 2007 or did I fall asleep for a year? The Black Box Warning came out in LATE 2004 AFTER the rise in suicide mentioned in the article, a time period in which antidepressant prescriptions ROSE in the same category with the rise in suicides.
Do they actually think if they keep re-releasing this study and being vague and not citing the truth that we will forget what the truth is?”
This is an excerpt from a story republished on our CHAADA blog several months ago:
Paragraphs 5 & 6 read: “The claimed causal linkage is negated by the facts: In October 2004, the American Psychiatric Association published the following:
“In 2003, U.S. physicians wrote 15 million antidepressant prescriptions for patients under age 18, according to FDA data. In the first six months of 2004, antidepressant prescriptions for children increased by almost 8 percent, despite the new drug labeling.”
http://www.ahrp. blogspot. com/
Pharma Spin and Child Suicide Rates
Today’s news reports about an increase suicide rate in 2004 offer an opportunity to witness how the media unwittingly disseminates pharmaceutical industry generated propaganda.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Annual Summary of Vital Statistics, the suicide rate rose more than 18 percent in those 1 to 19 years old from 2.2 per 100,000 in 2003, to 2.6 per 100,000 in 2004. In those 15 to 19 years old, the figures reflected a more than 12 percent rise in suicide, from 7.3 per 100,000 in 2003 to 8.2 per 100,000 in 2004.
“The rise occurred at the same time that the Food and Drug Administration mandated heightened warnings on the labels of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), a particular class of antidepressant medications that includes Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft.”
The linkage between the increased suicide rate and warnings on SSRI labels was manufactured by antidepressant drug companies and their PR firms who have embarked on a campaign to keep physicians and parents uninformed about the risks posed by the drugs prescribed.
The claimed causal linkage is negated by the facts: In October 2004, the American Psychiatric Association published the following:
“In 2003, U.S. physicians wrote 15 million antidepressant prescriptions for patients under age 18, according to FDA data. In the first six months of 2004, antidepressant prescriptions for children increased by almost 8 percent, despite the new drug labeling.”
See: American Psychiatric Association, News & Notes Survey Paints Bleak Picture of Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums, Psychiatric Services October 2004, 55:1192-1193 online at: [ Link]
So, if antidepressant prescriptions for children INCREASED by almost 8% in the first six months of 2004, how could an INCREASED suicide rate the same year be blamed on reduced use of antidepressants? ??
The “authorities” quoted in today’s media reports make bald, unsubstantiated pronouncements asserting causal links between the black box warnings and the finding of increased suicide rates. This is known as an ecological fallacy. Those who present themselves as “authorities” — Dr. Nemeroff and Dr. Fassler–should be more judicious about making scientifically invalid claims.
Dr. Charles Nemeroff’s financial ties to manufacturers are legendary. He has even been found to have put his name to a ghostwritten article and published it in a journal that he previously was the editor in chief of. (See, for example: Wall Street Journal; New York Times editorial, and more: [Link] [Link] .
And Dr. David Fassler, a spokesman for the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, has never found fault with prescribing any psychotropic drug or drug combination for children.
The media fell for an industry planted “news” item inappropriately linking suicide rates and antidepressant use. The media had fallen for industry’s manufactured myths before. For example, the mythological “chemical imbalance” in the brain of depressed perso
CDC: Suicide rate among U.S. girls soars - Yahoo! News
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/ap/20070906/ ap_on_he_ me/teen_suicides _12
Jim
The Bush family has history on the Board of Directors of Eli Lily. Thirty percent of George Bush Jr.’s last campaign was funded the Psychiatry and the drug companies. Please read the writing on the wall, something is badly amuck, and greed is fowl afoot. These are facts, and the black box warnings are only the beginning of getting this nightmare under control. Take it away. Are you kidding?
Tim Casey
I think it’s time we expanded the warnings on prescription drugs.
Every day I give out little “business cards” with SSRIStories.com … on one side and the fact…” Every 5 minutes an American is killed by an FDA approved prescription drug. … on the other side.”
That little fact seems to get people’s attention so I can tell them about SSRIs.
Tim Casey
prozackills2002@yahoo.ca
Jane
I would like to know how many lives have been saved because of the black box warning.
Caty Konigsberg
Keep the BlackBox warnings!!!
sid
TIM CASEY - on the other side is there a comment like
“every 30 seconds, someone’s life is saved or extended due to FDA approved medications”
Or - tPA saved my life, and the lives of thousands of American’s every year in heart attacks.
Or, American’s life expectancy has been extended largely due the advances in medicine - including new pharma and new data on how to use the current meds.
Or, over 50% of medications dispensed today are generics - they don’t support any part of the pharma industry. Yet they are saving lives - that isn’t marketing that’s the truth.
There may be some unfortunate events - but I am pretty sure we had unfortunate events before meds as well. There are thousands killed in car accidents every year. I believe that is still the #1 killer of kids, not suicide. So take some of that energy and get manufacturers to make safer cars, or outlaw them because some people are killed each year. Let’s all ride bikes, it is healthier and safer. — I guess that won’t fit on a business card, maybe you can shrink it down for me. Get on the Nader for president bandwagon early.
I guess I could go on for awhile, but I think you get the idea. The vocal minority can try, but they won’t win this one. Meds will be used because the overwhelming majority are pleased and don’t get on blogs to tell the world.
Donna C.
I think psychiatry and its fraudulent phony stigma labels used to push toxic drugs since psychiatry is in bed with BIG PHARMA should be banned. All psychiatrists who perpetrate this evil should be subjected to modern Nuremburg trials for the Nazis they are! I was/am a victim of evil psychiatry along with my son as abuse symptoms of the evil psychopathic society that produced psychiatry. They created the Holocaust per THE NAZI DOCTORS. This site would not take my vote, but I VOTE psychiatry and their fraud labels and drugs should be black boxed and eliminated.
One of their zillion victims! THE FDA IS IN BED WITH PSYCHIATRY AND BIG PHARMA too.
Sandy C.
The “black box” labels should stay on and be beefed up with stronger warnings about the evil contents inside. The phoney pshchiatric conditions and their “cures” from the big drug companies should be hunted down for the criminals they are. No more pyschiatry! No more psychotropic drugs PLEASE!
sid
donna and sandy - please get some help. you have some anger management issues to deal with. sit outside a walgreen’s and see the hundreds and hundreds of prescriptions dispensed every day. these are all people happy with their meds, they do not get on blogs to talk about nazi’s
Lisa Van Syckel
Sid,
Be nice,..now…
paula
Sid you said:
‘The vocal minority can try, but they won’t win this one. Meds will be used because the overwhelming majority are pleased and don’t get on blogs to tell the world.’
How do you think the black box warnings got there? It was the VOCAL MINORI