In the early 1960s, the American social psychologist, Stanley Milgram, ran now famous experiments using university students - then largely white and middle-class - as his subjects . His research interest lay in the Nazi concentration camps and the defence used by Adolf Eichmann (featured image) in his trial in Israel in 1962 - that he was only following orders. The … [Read more...] about The Banality of Health Service Evil
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Everything’s in Hand: Isotretinoin and the Usual Guff
Niks aan de Hand - Nothing out of hand. This item has just appeared in the BMJ: An expert group has been reconvened to review recent safety data relating to the acne drug isotretinoin (Roaccutane) and evaluate the risk of sexual and psychiatric adverse effects, including suicide. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency’s isotretinoin expert working group … [Read more...] about Everything’s in Hand: Isotretinoin and the Usual Guff
Healthcare or Health Service?
Up to 1800, no-one went near a doctor if they could avoid it. At best doctors might amuse the patient while nature cured the disease - the doctor's business was to take as much of the credit and the money as possible. The best was rare. In an effort to get the money, doctors liked to pump us as full of stuff as possible, commonly in the process, as most people recognised, … [Read more...] about Healthcare or Health Service?
Trust Withdrawal and Antidepressants
The images, which are a wonderful metaphor for the coming back to life, the restoration of emotions and senses that stopping an antidepressant can bring, comes from this news item - its worth clicking on the video link There have probably been more posts about withdrawal from antidepressants - especially if PSSD is included as a legacy effect of these drugs - and certainly … [Read more...] about Trust Withdrawal and Antidepressants
Antidepressant Withdrawal – The Enemy Within
National Horror Show It goes completely against the grain for almost everyone in the UK to say anything bad about the NHS. But in the case of the antidepressant group of drugs, with the brief note the NHS has just issued alerting people to the effect that antidepressants may be difficult to stop puts the NHS in an Enemy of the People category. The note reads: How … [Read more...] about Antidepressant Withdrawal – The Enemy Within
Sleep Problems After Stopping Antidepressants?
It is well known that antidepressants can interfere with a person's sleep, but it's less clear what happens after they stop taking the drug. One of our earliest blog posts from 2012 was written by someone experiencing terrifying nightmares while withdrawing from Cymbalta. The post received a number of comments from other people reporting the same problem. It would be … [Read more...] about Sleep Problems After Stopping Antidepressants?
Coming off Depakote
I stopped Depakote - See Going on Depakote. First Try This was a nightmare to cold turkey off. I felt crazy, like my brain was going to explode and was on fire. I kept an ice pack on my head for days and listened to meditation tapes. I am not sure how I managed to survive let alone work. The psychiatrist of course thought I needed to absolutely be on a mood stabilizer. I told … [Read more...] about Coming off Depakote
Going on Depakote
Beginnings Childhoods are difficult to remember in detail. My first few memories were about the age of 2 1/2, maybe 3. I had chickenpox and I got an encephalitis. I didn't know that this is what it was until years later, when I became a medical provider. My experience was that I visually hallucinated (the one and only time in my life). I saw a wrought iron fence around my bed … [Read more...] about Going on Depakote
Not the RxISK Manifesto
Last week's RxISK Manifesto post featured an article then just published in BMJ. The BMJ picture that went with the article looked like this. This gives entirely the opposite message to the article. The article says a doctors job would be a lot more interesting if they listened and encouraged anyone consulting them to become researchers rather than problems. It also … [Read more...] about Not the RxISK Manifesto
RxISK Manifesto
This post is close to identical to an article that has just appeared in the BMJ - Clinical Judgments, not Algorithms, are key to Patient Safety. Immediately on taking a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), most people have some genital anaesthesia.1 This may be aggravated on withdrawal of the drug and can remain for years after treatment has stopped, constituting … [Read more...] about RxISK Manifesto