Just how dangerous are anti-psychotic drugs? Who is at risk of having them prescribed? And should doctors and GPs be prescribing them at all?
The idea that pharmaceutical drugs do more harm than good to those who take them is not a new one for those people who read this blog. Indeed, it would seem that most Big Pharma drug-types fit into this category!
Robert Whittaker in his book, "Anatomy of an Epidemic" published in 2010 comes to just this conclusion. This article summarises some of his conclusions:
"As recently as the 1950s, Whitaker contends, the four major mental disorders — depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — often manifested as episodic and "self limiting"; that is, most people simply got better over time. Severe, chronic mental illness was viewed as relatively rare. But over the past few decades the proportion of Americans diagnosed with mental illness has skyrocketed. Since 1987, the percentage of the population receiving federal disability payments for mental illness has more than doubled; among children under the age of 18, the percentage has grown by a factor of 35".
As usual, then, in mental health issues, as with so many others, there is an increasing use of drugs to treat a condition; and the main result is that the number of people suffering from that condition increases - often exponentially.
This article looks at an increased diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder in th USA - an increase of 40 times over the last 10 years - so high, apparently, that doctors are apparently trying to alter the diagnosis! It discusses the dangers of these "powerful psychotropic, mind-alterning drugs"
"Aside from the immediate risk of death, another serious and widespread problem caused by these drugs is excessive weight gain and metabolic problems like diabetes. The effect varies by drug, but children typically gain TWICE as much weight in the first six months on these drugs as they should through normal growth, adding an average of two to three inches to their waistline. A lot of this is abdominal fat, which also increases their risk of diabetes and heart disease".
This article looks specifically at the link between anti-psychotic medication and diabetes in children. Indeed, much of the increased use of anti-psychotic drugs in recent years has been found to be in the 'treatment' of children.
* Channel 4 television (UK) did a survey recently that exposed that as many as 15,000 children and young people under 18 were prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in 2010. However, this figure included just GP prescriptions, and excluded hospital prescriptions - so the figure is likely to be considerably higher. This situation, however, has been well known in conventional medical circles for some time. In a study published in January 2010 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry it was found the number of children aged 2-5 being given anti-psychotics had doubled 'in recent years'.
* Yet the situation is the same in the USA, where these harmful, mind-altering psychiatric drugs have been given to children, some of them less than a year old.
* And children in Canada are also being 'drugged' by anti-psychotic drugs - in increasing numbers.
So is there any evidence that anti-psychotics do any good to children? Quite the contrary! The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a “Review on the current use of antipsychotic drugs in children and adolescents” and it stated there was 'no information about the efficacy or safety of anti-pyschotics in your people'. So much for 'evidence-based medicine!
But it is not just children, as this article explains; anti-psychotic drugs are now drugging US soldiers to a dangerous degree.
Yet it is older people who have perhaps suffered most from anti-psychotic drugs, and much attention has been paid to this in recent months within conventional medical circles. These drugs are known to kill, and it is clear that GPs are, or should be aware that anti-psychotic drugs cause death in older people.
The large analysis of patients in nursing homes – published in the British Medical Journal – looked at 75,500 new users of antipsychotics aged 65 years or older. Over five years it found haloperidol had double the risk of mortality compared with the most commonly used antipsychotic, risperidone.
The researchers concluded that "the use of haloperido (an anti-psychotic) to this vulnerable population cannot be justified, because of the excess harm".
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) is also aware that anti-psychotic drugs cause death.
"...... it was confirmed by the team that the use of antipsychotics by dementia patients is responsible for a surge in drug-related deaths, presumably as a result of negative side effects both internally to the body, and externally in the form of altered behavior. The findings also confirmed previous ones that identified an uptick in at least 1,800 additional deaths a year as a result of dementia patients taking antipsychotic drugs.
Accordingly, GPs were warned in November 2011 that they required PCT permission to prescribe anti-psychotics to older people with dementia - or face jail if they prescribed without permission.
The stark message, and the threat to GPs, was repeated in the GP magazine, Pulse, in February 2012. Why? Apparently because the original message was ignored by doctors! A further article appeared in March 2012 stating: "... a Pulse investigation revealed PCTs are failing to implement a major NHS programme seen by ministers as key to their campaign to cut the use of drugs".
So, it would appear that even if our government issues a direct instruction, and makes a serious threat, the Conventional Medical Establishment (ConMed) is so hooked on giving us drugs - regardless of the limited evidence for their efficacy - despite the extensive evidence that anti-psychotic drugs are dangerous - it steadfastly refuses to do so.
And, equally pertinent, why is the mainstream media not picking up on the ineffectiveness and dangers of these drugs; and telling us that our doctors are insisting on prescribing them to us, even when they have been instructed not to do so?
The idea that pharmaceutical drugs do more harm than good to those who take them is not a new one for those people who read this blog. Indeed, it would seem that most Big Pharma drug-types fit into this category!
Robert Whittaker in his book, "Anatomy of an Epidemic" published in 2010 comes to just this conclusion. This article summarises some of his conclusions:
"As recently as the 1950s, Whitaker contends, the four major mental disorders — depression, anxiety disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia — often manifested as episodic and "self limiting"; that is, most people simply got better over time. Severe, chronic mental illness was viewed as relatively rare. But over the past few decades the proportion of Americans diagnosed with mental illness has skyrocketed. Since 1987, the percentage of the population receiving federal disability payments for mental illness has more than doubled; among children under the age of 18, the percentage has grown by a factor of 35".
As usual, then, in mental health issues, as with so many others, there is an increasing use of drugs to treat a condition; and the main result is that the number of people suffering from that condition increases - often exponentially.
This article looks at an increased diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder in th USA - an increase of 40 times over the last 10 years - so high, apparently, that doctors are apparently trying to alter the diagnosis! It discusses the dangers of these "powerful psychotropic, mind-alterning drugs"
"Aside from the immediate risk of death, another serious and widespread problem caused by these drugs is excessive weight gain and metabolic problems like diabetes. The effect varies by drug, but children typically gain TWICE as much weight in the first six months on these drugs as they should through normal growth, adding an average of two to three inches to their waistline. A lot of this is abdominal fat, which also increases their risk of diabetes and heart disease".
This article looks specifically at the link between anti-psychotic medication and diabetes in children. Indeed, much of the increased use of anti-psychotic drugs in recent years has been found to be in the 'treatment' of children.
* Channel 4 television (UK) did a survey recently that exposed that as many as 15,000 children and young people under 18 were prescribed anti-psychotic drugs in 2010. However, this figure included just GP prescriptions, and excluded hospital prescriptions - so the figure is likely to be considerably higher. This situation, however, has been well known in conventional medical circles for some time. In a study published in January 2010 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry it was found the number of children aged 2-5 being given anti-psychotics had doubled 'in recent years'.
* Yet the situation is the same in the USA, where these harmful, mind-altering psychiatric drugs have been given to children, some of them less than a year old.
* And children in Canada are also being 'drugged' by anti-psychotic drugs - in increasing numbers.
So is there any evidence that anti-psychotics do any good to children? Quite the contrary! The British Medical Journal (BMJ) published a “Review on the current use of antipsychotic drugs in children and adolescents” and it stated there was 'no information about the efficacy or safety of anti-pyschotics in your people'. So much for 'evidence-based medicine!
But it is not just children, as this article explains; anti-psychotic drugs are now drugging US soldiers to a dangerous degree.
Yet it is older people who have perhaps suffered most from anti-psychotic drugs, and much attention has been paid to this in recent months within conventional medical circles. These drugs are known to kill, and it is clear that GPs are, or should be aware that anti-psychotic drugs cause death in older people.
The large analysis of patients in nursing homes – published in the British Medical Journal – looked at 75,500 new users of antipsychotics aged 65 years or older. Over five years it found haloperidol had double the risk of mortality compared with the most commonly used antipsychotic, risperidone.
The researchers concluded that "the use of haloperido (an anti-psychotic) to this vulnerable population cannot be justified, because of the excess harm".
The BMJ (British Medical Journal) is also aware that anti-psychotic drugs cause death.
"...... it was confirmed by the team that the use of antipsychotics by dementia patients is responsible for a surge in drug-related deaths, presumably as a result of negative side effects both internally to the body, and externally in the form of altered behavior. The findings also confirmed previous ones that identified an uptick in at least 1,800 additional deaths a year as a result of dementia patients taking antipsychotic drugs.
Accordingly, GPs were warned in November 2011 that they required PCT permission to prescribe anti-psychotics to older people with dementia - or face jail if they prescribed without permission.
The stark message, and the threat to GPs, was repeated in the GP magazine, Pulse, in February 2012. Why? Apparently because the original message was ignored by doctors! A further article appeared in March 2012 stating: "... a Pulse investigation revealed PCTs are failing to implement a major NHS programme seen by ministers as key to their campaign to cut the use of drugs".
So, it would appear that even if our government issues a direct instruction, and makes a serious threat, the Conventional Medical Establishment (ConMed) is so hooked on giving us drugs - regardless of the limited evidence for their efficacy - despite the extensive evidence that anti-psychotic drugs are dangerous - it steadfastly refuses to do so.
How much trust can be placed in a medical system that does this?
And, equally pertinent, why is the mainstream media not picking up on the ineffectiveness and dangers of these drugs; and telling us that our doctors are insisting on prescribing them to us, even when they have been instructed not to do so?