Magic bullet In Greg's Dilemma 1 and Dilemma 2, Greg outlined more than one dilemma linked to getting hooked to antidepressants and benzodiazepines. The responses to these posts were all over the shop - from pull yourself together, to entrust your life to God, to support for descriptions of positions others find themselves in. The responses also split in terms of what the … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Feeling Blue
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Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Backwards Bike
Greg’s dilemma is one we all share – even John Junig. The easy bit of the dilemma has to do with dependence and withdrawal. Dr Junig’s line that he’s trained in neuroscience and behavior and can confidently say that Greg’s – or anyone else’s – difficulties on treatment with benzodiazepines, antidepressants or mood stabilizers, are just in their mind, just a matter of … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Backwards Bike
RxISK 2.0
After months of thought and effort, we are pleased to introduce RxISK 2.0 to replace the website we launched in 2012. Our goal was to make RxISK easier-to-use, friendlier, and to remove the requirement to log in for certain functionality. We freshened up our RxISK logo and tagline and added new tools and resources, such as: Drugs A-Z list Beers criteria for older … [Read more...] about RxISK 2.0
Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Bike Backwards
Editorial Note: Last week in Greg's Dilemma, Greg outlined the difficulties he had with dependence on and withdrawal from serotonin reuptake inhibitors and benzodiazepines. The first comment was from a therapist who seemed to say "pull yourself together". This eerily echoed the next part of Greg's dilemma - that could have been posted last week but was held over till this week. … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma: Riding a Bike Backwards
Greg’s Dilemma
Editorial Note: This post on the difficulties of withdrawal comes from Greg. There will be 3 parts to it. In Part 2 Greg gets some standard psychiatric advice and in Part 3, we offer a response to the advice. Way, way down in a hole, there is no feeling Because when you're so far below the floor, everything's a ceiling -Death Cab for Cutie Unfortunately for me, being down … [Read more...] about Greg’s Dilemma
Down These Mean Streets
Editorial Note: This post that neatly ties together drug induced violence and dependence and withdrawal, the theme of the next few posts, is by Mickey Nardo. It featured on OneBoringOldMan a few weeks ago. It has a ring of a Raymond Chandler novel. Hence the image and the postscript. It was towards the end of today’s clinic. He was a big guy, friendly, seemed neither anxious … [Read more...] about Down These Mean Streets
Lessons from SSRIStories #5: What Does Research Tell Us About the Connection between SSRIs and Violence?
by Julie Wood Summary of Post #4: Medication-induced violence is different from regular violence. It can manifest as bizarre and random actions without apparent motive. Sometimes, it is based on a sudden impulse without any warning. Other times, thought distortion leads to elaborate plans, but the violence still makes no rational sense. In many cases, such as school or other … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #5: What Does Research Tell Us About the Connection between SSRIs and Violence?
Lessons from SSRIStories #4: How is SSRI-Related Violence Different?
by Julie Wood Summary of Post #3: The same mechanisms that induce violence in users of SSRIs can induce suicide. These mechanisms are akathisia, emotional blunting and delirium-psychosis. These are not uncommon effects, although the degree to which individuals experience them varies, and people may experience more than one of these side effects at once. Fortunately, severe … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #4: How is SSRI-Related Violence Different?
Lessons from SSRIStories #3: How do SSRIs cause violence and suicide?
by Julie Wood It is one thing to see that taking SSRI medications can cause violence in some people, but quite another to make sense of it. In his blog, “Prescription-Only Violence”, Feb 18, 2013, David Healy identifies the three mechanisms through which these drugs can cause a person to do violent things: “The antidepressants now come with black box warnings of suicide … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #3: How do SSRIs cause violence and suicide?
Lessons from SSRIStories #2: Anecdotal Evidence of the SSRI-Violence Connection
by Julie Wood Summary of Post #1: Hard as it may be to accept, there is evidence that SSRIs, along with some other drugs, legal and illegal, can cause people to become violent. The connection between psychoactive medications and violence is not understood. News reports that mention psychoactive medications in a story about a violent incident tend to treat the drugs as “proof” … [Read more...] about Lessons from SSRIStories #2: Anecdotal Evidence of the SSRI-Violence Connection