Serotonin and Depression: A Disconnect between the Advertisements and the Scientific Literature

PLOS Medicine - Public Library of Science - a peer reviewed open access journal ^ | Nov. 8, 2005 | Jeffrey R. Lacasse, Jonathan Leo

[Blogger]

And they shouldn't be taken with certain other drugs

[Amelia]

I was psychotic, I knew something was off in my brain when I went to court, but I was adament that I did not want to be medicated for my illness....[your comment]implies that I did not know I was mentally ill.

No, my comment reflects the reality that usually the courts don't get involved with the treatment of mental illness unless someone is considered to be a danger to him/herself or others.

I'm still mad at the way I was treated, and the complete removal of my rights of self determination...Again, I've known and do know several mentally ill people, and generally the courts don't get involved.

The streets are full of homeless people who arguably would be better off if the court mandated treatment for their mental illnesses, but those people are allowed their "rights of self determination". I wondered why the court got involved in your case.

[Blogger]

An active opponent of the ADHD diagnosis, Baughman has been a child neurologist, in private practice, for 35 years. He is also a medical expert for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an advocacy group founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969.

Remember that agenda I was talking about?

[Jenny Hatch]

Amelia,


It is all great, and better than that...IT WORKS!!

"Do you have clinical proof of that, or just your personal experience/opinion?"


The FDA has made it so all we can share is personal testimony...no free speech when it comes to health care issues...

But I don't have to prove anything. It is the medical people who are shoving bogus claims on the populace with their false advertising. Every person who has posted to this thread, most I would assume without even reading the original opinion, has shared their own personal annecdote about how the anti-depressants "gave them symptom relief". That's cool, I understand that numbing out your mind can give symptom relief, but this thread is about the wholesale falsehood that ssri's fix a chemical imbalance in the brain.

I have posted credible links, insights, and what I feel is proof that SSRI's do NOT fix any sort of imbalance in the brain, and quite to the contrary, they actually cause REM sleep disorder.

Throwing your question back at me still does not answer the fundamental question and point of this thread....

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SCIENTIFIC PROOF THAT SSRI'S FIX A CHEMICAL IMBALANCE IN THE BRAIN???

They don't, they never did, they knew they never did, and a huge con job has been hoisted on the public and I think it is time to do some exposing.

Now, if you feel the need to attack me for my views, claims, and passion, I can take it, but I will persist in pointing out that those of you who have said "ssri's saved my life" have yet to share one bit of real evidence that you have had CURE beyond symptom relief.

I claim to be cured of my mental illness. I have given birth to four additional children without experiencing psychosis. I focus on getting my rest while post partum, and my husband and I work as a team to be sure that I dream at least once every 24 hours, especially while I am recovering from the birth during the first three months.

I don't know what sort of clinical proof you need to ensure that what I am saying is the truth, I just know that families are being destroyed by the use of these drugs, and yes, that fuels my passion to speak and share what I have learned.

Jenny

[Amelia]

But I don't have to prove anything. It is the medical people who are shoving bogus claims on the populace with their false advertising.

I just wondered if your "treatment" was held to the same standard you think SSRIs should be.

[Jenny Hatch]

"I wondered why the court got involved in your case."

They got involved because I kept refusing to take the drugs. For 28 days I kept saying "no, no, and NO, I do not want to take your drugs, I am breastfeeding my baby and will not take any of your chemicals"

Didn't matter, they just sent me up to the judge and he said "forced medications, 90 days incarceration if necessary"

It's sort of a heads I win, tails you lose proposition when you have a profession that takes it as evidence of being mentally ill when someone refuses to be medicated.

"She doesn't want the drugs, well, that means she must be REALLY crazy"

Jenny

[Jenny Hatch]

"I suspect they may be the source of some of the anti-drug propaganda here."


I'm not a scientologist. I am a mormon, and what I have posted is NOT propaganda. It is an opinion essay based on facts. Rather than diss it, why don't you go read it before spewing on my thread?

Jenny

[Jenny Hatch]

"An active opponent of the ADHD diagnosis, Baughman has been a child neurologist, in private practice, for 35 years. He is also a medical expert for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an advocacy group founded by the Church of Scientology in 1969.

Remember that agenda I was talking about?"

Only agenda I am aware of is the one that seeks to medicate as many people as possible for mental illness in our society.

Or haven't you heard about it???

http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/

Now, I love president Bush, I voted for him twice, but this side to his presidency is really sick.

Google it, and read, and weep, Big Pharma wants to medicate as many people as possible, paid for by the American Taxpayer...

Jenny

[Jenny Hatch]

Amelia,
you said:
"I just wondered if your "treatment" was held to the same standard you think SSRIs should be."


As I just said, I am not on trial here. This thread is not about me and my mental illness. This thread is about an essay written to share the idea that there is not one bit of scientific proof that SSRI's fix any sort of chemical imbalance in the brain.

Now, please, get off me, and get on topic...if you have anything beyond an anecdote to share, I would be very interested in hearing about it.

Jenny

[Blogger]

The Scientologists are against medicine for psychiatric disorders. Your quote was from a scientologist. That's the agenda I was talking about.

Yes, people are overmedicated. But, yes, sometimes SSRIs are necessary. And - LIFESAVING.

I don't have to google the subject. I know what the Scientologists and anti-drug cabal is saying.

I also know that Prozac and Paxil and Zoloft etc., help a lot of people, including, in the past, myself.

It is dangerous to go after them like this. They DO work.

[Jenny Hatch]

I wasn't talking about scientology, I was talking about the president wanting to screen the whole US population for mental illness...

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7454/1458

I actually applaud the scientologists for the stance they have taken and the help they have offered to former mental patients. I think they are doing tremendous work.

Now, if you think that screening the whole population for mental illness is a good thing, we really don't have anything to talk about...

but read through the BMJ article. It is frightening to me.

"Bush plans to screen whole US population for mental illness
Jeanne Lenzer
New York


A sweeping mental health initiative will be unveiled by President George W Bush in July. The plan promises to integrate mentally ill patients fully into the community by providing "services in the community, rather than institutions," according to a March 2004 progress report entitled New Freedom Initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/newfreedom/toc-2004.html). While some praise the plan's goals, others say it protects the profits of drug companies at the expense of the public.

Bush established the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in April 2002 to conduct a "comprehensive study of the United States mental health service delivery system." The commission issued its recommendations in July 2003. Bush instructed more than 25 federal agencies to develop an implementation plan based on those recommendations.

The president's commission found that "despite their prevalence, mental disorders often go undiagnosed" and recommended comprehensive mental health screening for "consumers of all ages," including preschool children. According to the commission, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschools and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviours and emotional disorders." Schools, wrote the commission, are in a "key position" to screen the 52 million students and 6 million adults who work at the schools.

The commission also recommended "Linkage [of screening] with treatment and supports" including "state-of-the-art treatments" using "specific medications for specific conditions." The commission commended the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a "model" medication treatment plan that "illustrates an evidence-based practice that results in better consumer outcomes."

Dr Darrel Regier, director of research at the American Psychiatric Association (APA), lauded the president's initiative and the Texas project model saying, "What's nice about TMAP is that this is a logical plan based on efficacy data from clinical trials."

He said the association has called for increased funding for implementation of the overall plan.

But the Texas project, which promotes the use of newer, more expensive antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs, sparked off controversy when Allen Jones, an employee of the Pennsylvania Office of the Inspector General, revealed that key officials with influence over the medication plan in his state received money and perks from drug companies with a stake in the medication algorithm (15 May, p1153). He was sacked this week for speaking to the BMJ and the New York Times.

The Texas project started in 1995 as an alliance of individuals from the pharmaceutical industry, the University of Texas, and the mental health and corrections systems of Texas. The project was funded by a Robert Wood Johnson grant—and by several drug companies.

Mr Jones told the BMJ that the same "political/pharmaceutical alliance" that generated the Texas project was behind the recommendations of the New Freedom Commission, which, according to his whistleblower report, were "poised to consolidate the TMAP effort into a comprehensive national policy to treat mental illness with expensive, patented medications of questionable benefit and deadly side effects, and to force private insurers to pick up more of the tab" (http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf)"
And please read Alan Jones whistleblower report...

http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf

He lost his job because of wanting to expose this thing as a front for the Pharmaceutical companies...

Jenny

[Blogger]

="I actually applaud the scientologists for the stance they have taken and the help they have offered to former mental patients. I think they are doing tremendous work"
It is HORRIBLE what they are doing. And dangerous. If I would have listened to the scientologists, I would have never gotten well. As far as Bush goes, the article and your comment are completely misleading. The article does not say that Bush is planning on screening the entire US Population for Mental Illness. It says that they are going to do a comprehensive study of the Mental Health SYSTEM and that consumers of all ages should be screened. Not that they would be forcing mental illness screenings or that all Americans would be screened. If you're frigtened by that article, you're reading too much into it. The headline was incredibly misleading. It speaks of screening for disturbed children and adults in Schools. If there is someone who appears constantly disturbed, it's not necessarily out of bounds to point it out (to perhaps a parent???) It is amazing to me that you would applaud a whacko cult like Scientology that is putting people at risk by denying them treatments that could help them, but suspect the President you "love" for something that would be helping people with mental illness recover. This tact smacks of an agenda on your behalf.

[little jeremiah]

later read///

[GVnana]

Thanks for posting this.

[Stellar Dendrite]

is that real hgh...like injections?
one should be careful with GH, if you have preexisting or existing cancerous cells, GH can encourage their proliferation. not a good thing....

[apackof2]

5-HTP affects some people's digestion.

In what way?
I take this for insomnia at night

[LaineyDee]

I've taken it for years without any digestion probs.... but then again......some people can't tolerate Vit C either.

[LaineyDee]

Thank you for posting this. It's a very troublesome epidemic in the medical community....IMHO.

[LaineyDee]

Bingo! LOL

[LaineyDee]

Good girl! Now.....knock off the Soy Milk and use goat's milk instead. YUM! *chuckle* I use all the things you've mentioned....(besides the soy milk) and it's great. :) BTW.....have you read "The Maker's Diet"?