| Dr. Peter Breggin's Empathic Therapy Newsletter |
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| 09/05/2010 - Volume1, Issue 7 |
| In This Issue Autistic Youth Charged with Father's Murder--A Family and Societal Tragedy State of Florida Bans Use of Foster Care Children in Clinical Drug Trials Physicians Critical of Big Pharma Targeted by Drug Industry Eli Lilly Promotes FDA Approval of New Antidepressant for Chronic Pain Hazards of Smoking Cessation Drugs Psychiatric Drugs and Suicides--Swedish Study Latest California Teen Screen Legislation Empathic Therapy EmpathicTherapy.org 1-607-272-5328 Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy Attention: Ginger Breggin 101 East State St #112 Ithaca, NY 14850  Empathictherapy.Org ~GIVING VOICE~ To those who seek to heal and be healed through ethical, empathic therapies and relationships. "Nothing can replace talking with patients. This can take substantial amounts of time, but it is the only way to obtain as cler a view as possible about whether a patient is benefiting from treatment." Steven A. King, MD, MS Pain Management |
Dear [Contact.First Name], Issues of developmental disabilities and conditions such as autism can be deeply challenging to families, but optimizing the individual's growth and development cannot be accomplished through the use of psychiatric drugs. We share the tragic story of one family and Dr. Breggin comments on psychiatric drugs and persons with special developmental challenges. Through the efforts of many groups and individuals the State of Florida has banned the participation of Foster Children in clinical drug trials. Bravo! Through education and communication we must all continue to encourage protection from industry and from psychiatric diagnosis and drugs and more responsible and humane approaches to one of the most vulnerable populations--children in foster care. Dr. Breggin has long been aware of how physicians and other experts are targeted by the Psychopharmceutical Complex in industry attempts to silence their most powerful critics. And Dr. Breggin has survived many such attempts himself. A colleague of ours shared a little-covered story of Merck documents uncovered during a court case that illuminates industry practices to destroy their most vocal and convincing critics. In our own lives, we have come to believe that as with the protection of freedom, eternal vigilance and personal responsibility about what we embrace and what we consume must be constant companions in life. Speaking of Big Pharma, Eli Lilly has often led the way in promoting diagnoses that help to market their drugs. This has been true especially in their promotion of the diagnosis of depression, to be treated with Prozac, and bipolar disorder to be treated with Zyprexa. Now Eli Lilly is proposing to the Food and Drug Administration that their antidepressant, Cymbalta be approved for use with patients diagnosed with chronic pain. This opens the door to another 40 million potential consumers of that drug. We report on the most recent aspect of the approval process. Once again, efforts are underway to pass legislation in California that allows school to test and interview and treat children ages 12-17 without parental approval, for 'mental health' issues. These various efforts generally fall under the TeenScreen label and no matter how they are tweaked, they take authority away from the family and give the state authority to test, diagnose and treat minors without parental consent. Finally, a study of 2007 suicides in Sweden shows a clear correlation between psychiatric drugs and completed suicides, a sad commentary on the ineffectiveness of the rote, mechanistic diagnosis and drug treatment of human beings struggling with deep and painful human emotions. The world needs every one of us who is working to inspire and create more humane, ethical and empathic approaches to helping emotional suffering! Thank you all for the work you are doing to inspire better ways to humanize 'mental health care,' and human services. Very best, Ginger Breggin, Editor Autistic Youth Charged with Father's Murder-A Family and Societal Tragedy A blog by Dan Burns, father of an autistic child and advocate for persons with autism, reveals the tragic consequences of dosing autistic persons with psychiatric drugs. Dr. Burns describes A 21 year old man diagnosed with autism and psychiatrically medicated, was found huddled in the shed behind the family home, his father murdered in his recliner in their house. Police were unable to read the man his Miranda rights as he lacked the capacity to understand the procedure. "Autism is still classified and treated as a psychiatric disorder, so it is "treated" with psychotropic drugs such as Valium, Ritalin, Thorazine, and Haldol, which do not heal anything and too often exacerbate the symptoms, including violent aggression, which they are supposed to mask," says Dr. Burns. He continues "treated as an immunological disease like allergies and ADHD, autism is sometimes reversible. But pediatricians aren't trained in appropriate biomedical treatments, and insurance usually doesn't cover them." He goes on to examine the lack of resources for the large numbers of autistic adolescents who will soon be vulnerable adults unable to live independently and in need of supportive communities that do not yet exist. Dan Burns has a vision of creating caring communities for autistic adults that will both protect them while helping them to maximize their potential. Read Dan Burn's blog here. Dr. Breggin documents in his many books the fact that psychiatric drugs do not work any differently upon 'normal' persons and persons diagnosed with a so-called mental illness. "Psychiatric drugs blunt the ability of the individual to access their higher thinking processes and cognitive function. They literally cause a chemical lobotomy. To give psychiatric drugs to a human being already challenged in his or her ability to connect is a tragedy. That already compromised individual then must muddle through the drug effects that suppress human connection in addition to whatever disability they may already possess. All that psychiatric drugs can do is to blunt the patient and to suppress unwanted behavior on the part of any human being who is given them, " Dr. Breggin continued. "The damage and cost to the human being of the psychiatric drugs is so high that I do not recommend their use, period." The State of Florida Bans Foster Care Children from Participating in Clinical Drug Trials August 06, 2010 by Pareesha Narang Quoting from Pareesha Narang's important blog: "Sixteen months after 7-year-old Gabriel Myers committed suicide while taking psychotropic drugs, the state of Florida has banned allowing any children in the state's custody from participating in clinical drug trials. It is unclear if Gabriel was involved in any clinical trials. The doctor who prescribed the medicines to him was conducting clinical trials involving psychotropic drops and the Food and Drug Administration sent him a warning letter earlier this year about overdosing children who were involved in those trials. The Florida ban was imposed after the state tried to find out from the FDA if Gabriel or any other foster care child in Florida was a participant in such trials, and the FDA said it could not disclose such information and that mostly they know participants by only coded identifiers. Though Florida officials had suggested that, under such circumstances, the Federal Food and Drug Administration ban all foster care children from participating in such trials, the agency refused, saying the children might benefit from the drugs. In a letter last month, George Sheldon, secretary of the state's Department of Children and Families (DCF), announced that regardless of the FDA's stance the state, using "administrative procedures," was precluding children in state care from participating in such trials. End Quote Read the full blog here Physicians Who are Critical of Big Pharma are Targeted by Industry A colleague of ours sent us a blog that provides a fascinating glimpse into drug company attempts to silence their professional critics and drown them out. Documents released and available show that big drug company Merck "systematically systematically targetted "hit-lists" of doctors to discredit, neutralise or destroy critics of the safety and effectiveness of Merck's drugs," according to this blog. The covert operations, black PR activities and massive marketing actions disguised as 'scientific articles and activities' reads like something that could take place in a Robert Ludlum novel, and if all of this was not so real and so dangerous it would be intriguing. But instead the actions of Big Pharma demonstrates a degree of arrogance and reckless marketing that endangers all of us. "One memo stated: we may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live ." And Dr. Andrew Wakefield said when interviewed by CBS:- "This is not conspiracy. This is corporate policy." Read the details and see fascinating source materials here. Eli Lilly Promoting Cymbalta for Chronic Pain Drug company Eli Lilly has proposed to the Food and Drug Administration that their antidepressant, Cymbalta, be approved for chronic pain. The FDA advisory council meeting considering this expansion of approved uses of Cymbalta was split so closely that their conclusions for and against are considered a draw. Members of the Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee voted to recommend use of the drug for chronic musculoskeletal pain by a narrow margin of 8-6. Eli Lilly has been charged earlier with making false and misleading claims for the use of Cymbalta for pain, and has additionally been charged with minimizing the risks of the drug. Cymbalta is an SSNI antidepressant, meaning it is a serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor. As with the SSRI antidepressants, Cymbalta and other SSNI antidepressants can cause depression and mania leading to drug-induced agitation, suicide or violence. Other side effects include hepatoxicity (liver toxicity) as well as toxic epidermal necrolysis including an increased risk of Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a skin disease that usually results from a drug reaction. Several of the members of the advisory council indicated that musculoskeletal pain "is still a broad designation and can be applied to 30 to 40 million people each year," according to MedPage Today. Read more here. Medication Spellbinding Effects of Stop-Smoking Prescription Drugs Medication Spellbinding, medically named intoxication anosognosia which is defined as not knowing that one is  intoxicated, is a problem with many psychiatric drugs. This phenomena was first identified and defined by psychiatric Peter R.Breggin, MD in his most recent book, Medication Madness: The Role of Psychiatric Drugs in Cases of Violence, Suicide and Crime. Medication spellbinding, along with the agitation that psychiatric drugs can cause, is the reason that there are increased incidents of violence, suicide, aggression and other unwanted behaviors while on many psychiatric drugs including the SSRI antidepressants. Now evidence is mounting that the latest psychoactive smoking cessation aids also cause medication spellbinding. Hugh Palmer, psychotherapist and lecturer in the United Kingdom, writes about his own bad experience with the latest 'stop smoking aid,' Chantix, (varenicline, known as Champix in the United Kingdom). We note that alcohol consumption was involved in the experiences that Dr. Palmer discusses and wish to take this opportunity to urge anyone taking a psychoactive drug to refrain from drinking alcohol or taking any other psychoactive substances at the same time—that can only further invite trouble! Read more in Dr. Palmer's blog here. Psychiatric Drugs and Suicide in Sweden in 2007--New Study Released  A study of all suicides in Sweden in 2007 to examine the presence or exposure to psychiatric drugs prior to the suicide has been published. The conclusion of the study is that "a large percentage of the persons who committed suicide inSweden in 2007 had received extensive treatment with psychiatric drugs within a year of and close to the suicide." Read more here. California Teen Screen Legislation -- "We Have Come for Your Kids - CA State Legislature Using 'Mental Health' Ruse to Extend Control Over Children" An excellent blog by Camille Giglio on the Teen Screen legislation being moved through California's Assembly is  available. Ms. Giglio says "This bill is the latest try in over 20 years of attempted legislation at the state and federal level to gain unfettered access to your child under the guise of preventive mental health counseling. She continues: "This bill authorizes your child, age 12-17, to voluntarily submit to mental health counseling on a drop-in, tax paid, basis, by deleting the current requirement of parental consent or knowledge." Read her full blog here. Thanks for reading our newsletter! Remember to join our Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy and join in our growing efforts to encourage empathic, ethical human services and sciences in our culture. Very best regards, Ginger Breggin, Executive Director Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy www.empathictherapy.org
Peter R. Breggin, MD is no longer affiliated with the Center for the Study of Psychiatry, informally known as International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, which he founded and led from 1972-2002,
and Dr. Breggin is no longer involved in its conferences. Copyright 2010 Peter R. Breggin, MD |
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