@Emjay @goatprairieDo Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States? Joanna Moncrieff, David Cohen
https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0030240 Article Summary
Antidepressants are assumed to work on the specific neurobiology of depressive disorders according to a “disease-centred†model of drug action. However, little evidence supports this idea. An alternative, “drug-centred,†model suggests that psychotropic drugs create abnormal states that may coincidentally relieve symptoms. Drug-induced effects of antidepressants vary widely according to their chemical class—from sedation and cognitive impairment to mild stimulation and occasionally frank agitation. Results of clinical trials may be explained by drug-induced effects and placebo amplification. No evidence shows that antidepressants or any other drugs produce long-term elevation of mood or other effects that are particularly useful in treating depression. (See Text S1 for French translation.)
Antidepressants Increase Suicide and Violence Risk In All Ages Peter Gøtzsche, MD
http://psychroaches.blogspot.com/2016/11/antidepressants-increase-suicide-and.htmlIn a meta-analysis of the placebo-controlled trials from 2006, the FDA reported only five suicides in 52,960 patients on SSRIs (one per 10,000 patients)(3), but there were many more suicides in these trials(2). Five years earlier, in 2001, Thomas Laughren, who was responsible for the FDA’s meta-analysis, published a paper using FDA data where he reported 22 suicides in 22,062 patients randomised to antidepressants(4), which is 10 per 10,000, or 10 times as many as he reported in 2006. In Laughren’s 2001 paper, there were four times as many suicides on antidepressants as on placebo, which was statistically significant (P = 0.03, my calculation). However, Laughren did not tell his readers about this but wrote: “There is obviously no suggestion of an excess suicide risk in placebo-treated patients.†No, but there surely was in the drug-treated patients!
In its meta-analysis, the FDA found that paroxetine increased suicide attempts significantly in adults with psychiatric disorders, odds ratio 2.76 (95% confidence interval 1.16 to 6.60)(3). GlaxoSmithKline also found an increase in suicide attempts in adults and in 2006, GSK USA sent a “Dear Doctor†letter that pointed out that the risk of suicidal behaviour was increased also above age 24(2).
The FDA was inconsistent. The agency claimed in 2009 that it is only in those below 24 years of age that these drugs are risky(5). But in 2007, the agency admitted, at least indirectly, that SSRIs can cause suicide at all ages(6): “All patients being treated with antidepressants for any indication should be monitored appropriately and observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of a course of drug therapy, or at times of dose changes, either increases or decreases. The following symptoms, anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania, have been reported in adult and pediatric patients being treated with antidepressants.†The FDA also noted that, “Families and caregivers of patients should be advised to look for the emergence of such symptoms on a day-to-day basis, since changes may be abrupt.†It seems that the FDA finally admitted that SSRIs can cause madness at all ages and that the drugs are very dangerous; otherwise daily monitoring wouldn’t be needed. Such daily monitoring is, however, a fake fix. People cannot be monitored every minute and many have committed SSRI-induced suicide within a few hours after everyone thought they were perfectly okay.
