Opposing Digits

Psychiatric Drugs: Chemical Warfare on Humans - interview with Robert Whitaker

The story becomes even more frightening when we look at the aggressive tactics these giant drug companies have used to silence prominent critics by defaming them in the press, and by using their money and power to have widely respected scientists and eminent medical researchers fired for daring to point out the hazards and risks of suicide and premature death caused by these drugs.

Whitaker starts by debunking the effectiveness of these massively hyped wonder drugs -- antidepressants like Prozac, Zoloft and Paxil, and the new atypical antipsychotic drugs like Zyprexa. His research shows how they often are barely more effective than placebos in treating mental disorder and depression, despite the glowing adulation they have received in the mainstream media.

But he goes on to make the startling claim that these new psychiatric drugs have directly contributed to an alarming new epidemic of drug-induced mental illness. The very drugs prescribed by physicians to stabilize mental disorders in fact are inducing pathological changes in brain chemistry and triggering suicide, manic and psychotic episodes, convulsions, violence, diabetes, pancreatic failure, metabolic diseases, and premature death.

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Prozac linked to child suicide risk

A large new study added to previous research on Prozac shows that kids taking the drug have about a 50% higher risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts than those getting placebos, says Robert Temple, director of the Office of Drug Evaluation at the Food and Drug Administration.

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Prozac documents turned over to U.S. regulators could mean trouble for Eli Lilly & Co.

Summary:

* A British medical journal said Friday that it had given U.S. regulators confidential drug company documents suggesting a link between the popular anti-depressant Prozac and a heightened risk of suicide attempts and violence.
* The journal said the documents, reportedly missing for a decade, had formed part of a 1994 lawsuit against Eli Lilly on behalf of victims of a workplace shooting in Louisville The gunman who killed eight people and himself in 1989, Joseph Wesbecker, had been prescribed Prozac a month before the shootings.
* The journal said one of the records, dated November 1988, reported that fluoxetine, the generic name for Prozac, had caused "behavioral disturbances" in clinical trials.
* The journal said it had turned the documents over to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which had agreed to review them.
* The journal said the office of Congressman Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., also was examining the documents to determine whether Eli Lilly had withheld data from the public and the FDA.
* "This is an alarming study that should have been shared with the public and the FDA from the get-go, not 16 years later," Hinchey was quoted as saying.
* In a statement to the journal, Eli Lilly said Prozac "has helped to significantly improve millions of lives."
* "It is one of the most studied drugs in the history of medicine and has been prescribed for more than 50 million people worldwide.
* The safety and efficacy of Prozac is well studied, well documented and well established."
* In October, FDA ordered that all antidepressants carry warnings that they "increase the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior" in children.

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Antidepressant drugs found in drinking water; pharmaceuticals have now become environmental pollutants

Pharmaceuticals are now being found in drinking water, according to a study conducted in England. The study looked at 12 pharmaceuticals thought to pose an environmental threat, including painkillers, antibiotics, and antidepressants, and it found traces of these pharmaceuticals in both sewage waters and drinking water. It also found traces in the rivers downstream from the sewage treatment plants.

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I've had personal experience with paxil in particlular. I noticed that it made me extremely hostile and prone to potential murder. I'm quite the opposite without it. It also made me feel very wierd, and indifferent; Not Happy! Eating right,(avoiding soy, canola, overprocessed foods, silicon, caffeine, refined foods, artificial sweeteners, etc), drinking more water (good tasting makes a difference), and walking ~20 minutes in the sun almost daily has seemed to work wonders!