Disturbing News for Patients and Shock Doctors Alike
Something most remarkable and unexpected has occurred in the field of psychiatry. Lead by a lifelong defender and promoter of shock treatment, Harold Sackeim, a team of investigators has
Fifteen Principles of Life for Thanksgiving
1. Love is joyful awareness. Love life—people, animals, nature, gardening, art and music, sports and exercise, literature, God—anything and anyone that brings you a joyful awareness of the wonder of being a living creature.
FDA Warns that Paxil Makes Depressed Adults Suicidal
Getting the FDA to move forward by presenting it with scientific data is like using a peacock feather to tickle a sleeping giant tortoise on its shell. Many people die before the agency opens its eyes and then it barely reacts at all.
Baseball Pitcher Struck by Antidepressant Madness
Recent reports in media describe retired star baseball pitcher Jeff Reardon as commiting a senseless robbery typical of victims of antidepressant-induced madness. Apparently taking numerous antidepressants, Jeff Reardon, a wealthy former baseball player, impulsively robbed a jewelry store armed with the threat of a non-existent gun. Instead of walking out with valuable jewelry, he left with $170 in a bag. Reardon was so aghast by his own actions, he turned himself in to a security guard on the way out of the mall, explaining to the surprised guard, “I completely lost my mind.” Later he told the police, “I flipped on my medications.” Reardon had been in treatment following the death of his son by an overdose two years earlier.
Suppressed Paxil Suicide and Stimulation Data Released
Newly released information demonstrates that the manufacturer of Paxil withheld key data concerning the risks associated with its antidepressant Paxil. The drug company Glaxo SmithKline failed to release its complete data concerning rates of suicidality on Paxil. In the information that was originally provided to the FDA, the number of suicide attempts on the antidepressant Paxil was under-reported and the number of suicide attempts on placebo was inflated. The drug company also hid the stimulating effects of the drug that pose a potential risk for causing violence.
The Big Suicide Loophole in Antidepressant Drug Safety Studies
On December 13, 2006 the FDA’s Psychopharmaceutical Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) is meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland to discuss antidepressant-induced suicidal behavior in adults. In 2004 the FDA held similar hearings on children and concluded that antidepressants do in fact cause suicide in humans under age eighteen. A warning has been placed in all antidepressant labels or package inserts.
Did You Know — Conservative Men Doubt Their Masculinity?
On August 19th the headline in my local newspaper the Ithaca Journal declared, “Threatened men more pro war, SUVs.” The reporter asked the question, “What makes a macho man?” and then replied, “A simple threat to his masculinity could to the trick, according to Cornell University sociologist Robb Willer.”
Thanks Tom Cruise
On June 25, 2005 Tom Cruise did the unthinkable on TV. Actually, he did several “unthinkables” in a filmed interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer for the Today Show.
FDA Continues to Confirm Antidepressant Risks I First Identified More Than a Decade Ago
In 2004 the FDA issued a black box warning about the increased risk of suicidality in children taking the newer antidepressants, including the SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, and Lexapro) and also Effexor and Wellbutrin (also marketed as Zyban). On June 30, 2005 the FDA published a Public Health Advisory warning of the possibility of increased suicidality in adults treated with antidepressants. The FDA followed this on July 1, 2005 with a Talk Paper elaborating on the potential risk and the agency’s plans to study the problem further.
