Around the time Bob Whitaker asked me to do a Webinar on Stopping Antidepressants, K filed a RxISK Report on her efforts to get off Prozac. Like many Reports, in her case it seemed clear she should never have been put in the situation she is now in - she didn't have a mental illness. She got sucked into a situation not of her own making. Some wonderful touches to her … [Read more...] about Where is the Great Light that is Supposed to Shine?
Politics of care
Breaking the Word of Promise to our Hope
Be these juggling fiends no more believed, That palter with us in a double sense; That keep the word of promise to our ear, And break it to our hope. William Shakespeare: Macbeth A storm blew up just over a week ago with a Lancet article on antidepressant dependence and withdrawal. Based on company studies, this article gave some credence to the idea that antidepressants … [Read more...] about Breaking the Word of Promise to our Hope
The Fantasies of Psychopharmacology
This talk was first given at a Medicating Normal Meeting for mental health staff in Lexington Kentucky organized by Geoff Wilson and a few days later in May at the invitation of Don Marks to a group of clinical psychologists in Kean University New Jersey. I'm hoping it will lead to feedback from both groups and others. It is twinned with Truth, Trust and Health also given … [Read more...] about The Fantasies of Psychopharmacology
Challenging My Doctor to Disclose
This recently published US strategy on Suicide Prevention epitomizes all that is going wrong in medicine today. It is stuffed full of references to Shared Decision Making, Informed Consent and Lived Experience. Stuffed full of token words, window-dressing, tick-boxing. It will increase rather than reduce suicide rates. It is clear that the people behind this, and … [Read more...] about Challenging My Doctor to Disclose
Deprescribing – Where does Responsibility Lie?
This post follows on from last weeks Potentially Inappropriate Deprescribing and has links to this weeks The Creation Narrative and God Complex. It brings up a painfully tricky point. Reducing Medication Burdens is perhaps the most important task in medicine today. Many well-meaning folk are aware of and raising the profile of this need and attempting to work out how to go … [Read more...] about Deprescribing – Where does Responsibility Lie?
Sex, Death and the Royal College of Psychiatrists
The Guardian just ran an article on PSSD - It feels like we've been lobotomized. The following day they surprisingly had two articles on Singulair - Montelukast - hazards Safety fears over asthma drug after young children suffer severe side effect and A healthy kid dies and there has been no change’. For a paper that has not noticed a single hazard of a drug or vaccine … [Read more...] about Sex, Death and the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Fertility, the Moon and the Military
For Millennia, the Moon has been linked to Fertility, Healing and Creativity. It was the Goddess for Fertility. None of our ancestors, however, had to wonder if a Robot on the moon might have implications for Fertility. If you think last week's Lunar Landing of an Intuitive Machine Robot could have nothing to with Fertility – think again. We normally link medicine to the … [Read more...] about Fertility, the Moon and the Military
Fertility and Desire
Recent posts on RxISK and davidhealy.org have covered Fertility and heralded the forthcoming birth of a Fertility Zone. On RxISK Uterine Roulette and Consent No Room at the Inn Medicine, Civilization and Cradles Sex, Fertility, France and Serotonin Timeline Disaster Sex Yes, No Sex Disaster On DH Has Healthcare Gone Mad Pharmageddon and … [Read more...] about Fertility and Desire
Medicine, Civilization and Cradles
Hush-a-bye baby on the tree-top, When the wind blows the cradle will rock; When the bough breaks the cradle will fall, Down will come baby, cradle, and all. We face a problem as important or more important than Climate Change - the changing climate in healthcare - see Pharmageddon and Our Healthcare Climate. For a decade, RxISK has been pointing to a polypharmacy pandemic, … [Read more...] about Medicine, Civilization and Cradles
No Room at the Inn
This post continues the Silencing Safety, Lonesome Heroines, and Uterine Roulette theme of Consent. It is a twin birth with In Secula Seculorum. The original Xmas was not a peaceful event, nor is this Xmas, and this is not a peaceful post. It hinges on the work of Peter Selley - who is not responsible for any irreverence or edginess in tone. The Very Dead of Winter It is a … [Read more...] about No Room at the Inn