Editorial Note: This is an anonymous guest post. I started teaching in the early 1970’s, when to be a teacher was to be a professional, like a solicitor or a doctor. A few years later the Minister for Education, Margaret Thatcher, managed in one short speech to downgrade the status of teachers. At the time, she was trying to alleviate the shortage of teachers without spending … [Read more...] about Doctors: What do they know?
Antidepressants
Dilemmas: advising others
Editorial Note: This post is by Sally Macgregor. I left a comment on: Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny’s dilemma, which contained this statement: ‘I think acknowledging that coming off the pills can end badly is absolutely crucial. For one thing it’s honest, and without honestly how can people begin to cope with the situation they find themselves in’ I also said that I had a … [Read more...] about Dilemmas: advising others
Transgender, Asexuality and SSRIs
Last week, there was a post Asexual, Transgender and SSRIs about possible links between antidepressant use in pregnancy or early childhood and a later development of asexuality. In recent weeks RxISK has had several emails asking about possible links between transgender issues or Gender Dysphoria and antidepressants. In one a woman wondered about a brother who went on … [Read more...] about Transgender, Asexuality and SSRIs
Asexual, Transgender & SSRIs
Last week's post about Antidepressants and Autistic Spectrum Disorder came with an article attached. This article was first sent to and first turned down by BMJ Open because it contained references to a set of animal studies. BMJ Open it turns out is a human studies only journal. The interest in the animal studies listed below is that animals conceiving and giving birth … [Read more...] about Asexual, Transgender & SSRIs
Autistic Spectrum Disorder and SSRIs
Five years ago, the Croen et al article in the Figure above appeared suggesting that antidepressant use in pregnancy can cause Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Pharmaceutical companies rushed to manage the risks - to them. What you do is you convene your experts and you put them in boxes, a teratology box, an animal studies box, an epidemiology box, a psychology box, a … [Read more...] about Autistic Spectrum Disorder and SSRIs
Bruce Springsteen: Born with an Inner Restlessness
Further excerpts from Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. Bruce looks like he had a dependence syndrome and perhaps even organic damage or dysfunction linked to an antidepressant - See Born to Withdraw. Did he also have akathisia? Akathisia (restlessness, agitation & turmoil): A disorder characterized by an uncomfortable feeling of inner restlessness and inability to stay … [Read more...] about Bruce Springsteen: Born with an Inner Restlessness
Bruce Springsteen: Born to Withdraw?
Editorial Note: These excerpts from Bruce Springsteen's new book Born To Run were picked out for us by a colleague who is a lifetime Bruce fan. Zero to sixty in nothing flat The blues don’t jump right on you. They come creeping. Shortly after my sixtieth I slipped into a depression like I hadn’t experienced since that dusty night in Texas thirty years earlier. It lasted for a … [Read more...] about Bruce Springsteen: Born to Withdraw?
The Pill that Causes you to Steal Someone Else’s Life
Katinka Newman's The Pill that Steals Lives brings out the hazards of being put on a treatment that then becomes the problem that other treatments are used to treat. In her case she could have easily killed herself - or her children. The website 100Families.org lists 1250+ cases where mental health is linked to homicides. The thrust of the website is that mental illness is … [Read more...] about The Pill that Causes you to Steal Someone Else’s Life
Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny’s Dilemma
Editorial Note: This request came to RxISK through Contact Us, last week. It went out to several of the panel who contribute to our responses, some of whom have qualified in medicine and some who have qualified by going through the medical system. There was no consensus among us about how to respond. Beneath the dilemma there are some notes toward a response. The dilemma I'm … [Read more...] about Stopping Antidepressants: Kenny’s Dilemma
SSRIs & Loss of Identity
Editorial Note: This post reflects a probably not uncommon reality. There is no doubt people can be left with permanent dysfunction after a short course of SSRIs, or permanent depersonalization, so a permanent change of identity is possible and even likely for some - but features nowhere in the books. The author initially figured his problems were linked to memory but is now … [Read more...] about SSRIs & Loss of Identity