PSYCHIATRIC INFORMATION

Antidepressants for teenagers and children have become a controversial topic thanks to all the evidence that is surfacing linking the side effects of these drugs to suicides and violent behavior. For years many groups have been calling for the investigation of the side effects from drugs like Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. Particularly when they are prescribed to children and young adults. This year the US FDA and several other governments have determined that antidepressants are causing the deaths of many children. Some have banned the drugs outright while others have required to place a strong warning label on these drugs.

Here is yet another report of children killing themselves while taking popular antidepressants. This time it was a 14 year old girl who had recently been prescribed Prozac. As the article describes it:

“The child spent a week at Scarborough General Hospital and it was here that psychologists and psychiatrists began their journey to drive out whatever mental-illness demons were possessing her — beginning with counseling, and then moving from one anti-depressant drug to another, ending with Prozac.”

The girls mother recently heard about the FDA warnings that antidepressants cause a dramatic increase in suicide attempts in those taking them. So she called her daughters psychiatrist who assured her there was nothing to worry about. As she described it:

I just found this press release about a man who after taking Zoloft for only a short time killed himself unexpectedly. Below are some clips about his suicide and how it related to recent warnings that antidepressants cause suicide.

Russell Johnson, a 54-year-old Nebraska native who spent much of his life in O’Neill, survived cancer surgery two years ago and was talking about retiring, maybe moving to South Dakota.

And then one summer day, without warning, he left the job he’d had for 28 years, went home for lunch and shot himself, according to family members.

In a time of loss and destruction some people will try to take advantage of the weak and needy. The hurricane Katrina victims are about to find this out first hand. I have been recently seeing media reports that psychiatry and the big drug companies are gearing up to dish out millions of dollars of “free” psychiatric care and harmful psychiatric drugs to help “treat” the victims. Ultimately what the victims will discover once hooked on these powerful mind altering drugs is that the side effects (like suicide and psychosis) are awful and withdrawal from them is almost impossible.

(OPENPRESS) September 5, 2005 — Todd Cameron Smith, the boy the police captured after he escaped from a Toronto, Ontario group home recently, was the 4th out of 9 school shooters who were taking one or another of psychiatry’s violence inducing drugs at the time of the shooting.

On April 28, 1999, Todd walked into his Taber Alberta high school with a sawed-off shotgun and shot and killed 16-year-old Jason Lang and wounded another boy. He was subsequently convicted in an Alberta, court trial, and then transferred to Ontario, Canada to serve his sentence.

Vancouver (OPENPRESS) September 5, 2005 — The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a psychiatric watchdog group, said Tom Cruise’s remarks on NBC’s Today Show recently represent a growing public awareness about the national crisis of children and adults being prescribed damaging mind-altering drugs.

Brian Beaumont, President of the British Columbia chapter of CCHR said, “The Today Show interview was a warning that people need to be beware of psychiatry and its purported research rather than accepting at face value concepts such as a chemical imbalance in the brain causing their problems, which can deny them real help.”

Yet another person commits violent murder after being prescribed antidepressants. This time it was the drug Effexor.

Authorities said Mulumba Kazigo broke into his fathers residence, repeatedly beat him with a bat and then cut his father’s throat with a knife while he slept Wednesday morning.

According to Healthwise, a nonprofit organization, the Effexor’s side effects can include hostility, worsening depression and suicidal thoughts. There have been reports throughout the nation of people who allegedly committed violent crimes while on antidepressants, including a Maryland teen who poisoned his best friend and is serving a life sentence.

The Psychiatric News is reporting that since the FDA has ordered drug companies to place a strong black box warnings on anti-depressants there has been nearly a 20% drop in the number of prescriptions for these drugs. The black box warning is over the drastic increase in the amount of people who kill themselves after taking these drugs. It seems that a big side effect of antidepressants like Paxil, Effexor, Prozac, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Zoloft and Remeron is an increase of up to 700% in the number of people who kill themselves. I think drugs that cause people to commit suicide should never be prescribed. So a 20% drop is just a good start.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights has reported that Europe’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has issued extremely strong warnings stating no child or adolescent should be prescribed SSRI antidepressants or the “ADHD� drug Strattera.

The European Commission confirming the recommendation of the Europe’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has just issued the strongest warnings against child antidepressant use to date. This follows review of clinical trials that shows these drugs cause suicide and behavior like: aggression, anger and self-harm Some examples of the drugs covered by this warning are: Paxil, Effexor, Prozac, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Zoloft, Remeron, and Strattera. With these awful side effects, the agency said they should not be prescribed to children.

In another news article vindicating Tom Cruise, Scientists have discovered that antidepressants cause a dramatic increase in birth defects. A recent medical study showed that the risks of a baby having heart defects were increased by 60 percent if their mother had taken antidepressant drugs like Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. There was also an increased risk for premature birth and other malformations of the baby. The results of the study were presented at last week’s International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology conference in Nashville.