Clover Sites



PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONSBy Jim Gardner, Ph.D.June 2011I am not a medically trained person and this article should not be construed as an attempt on my part to practice medicine but to share the view of some well-qualified physicians whose opinions are not generally found in the popular media. When doctors disagree about matters, it is the right and responsibility of each individual to weigh the opinions of those who are medically qualified and to make an informed decision about what treatments are best for them.Causes of Mental Health Disorders Due to the efforts of pharmaceutical companies to market their medications through television commercials many individuals, including physicians, have become convinced that mental disorders are the result of genetic or chemical problems and their solution is to prescribe medications to alter the brain chemistry of the affected individuals. This concept, however, is not universally accepted by physicians and some of them have conducted research that seriously challenges this assumption.Vincent J. Felitti, M.D. was the director of the “Adverse Childhood Experiences” study conducted between 1995 and 1997 which assessed the relationship between eight traumatic childhood experiences and the rates of prescription usage for psychotropic medications throughout adulthood. The prescription data were drawn from 1997 to 2004 and this was compared to the ACE score of each of the 15,033 patients included in this portion of the study. ACE scores were calculated by adding the number of different types of traumatic experiences that the individual experienced (with a maximum score of 8). Prescription rate usage increased each year during the follow-up period of the study in a graded manner as the ACE score increased. The higher the ACE score of the individual, the greater the prescription rates were for antidepressant, anti-anxiety, antipsychotic, and mood-stabilizing medications. The authors of the study concluded, “The strong relationship of the ACE Score to increased utilization of psychotropic medications underscores the contribution of childhood experience to the burden of adult mental illness. Moreover, the huge economic costs associated with the use of psychotropic medications provide additional incentive to address the high prevalence and consequences of childhood traumatic stressors.” (Reference: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2007, May; 32(5): 389-94).In other journal articles written about this research project, Dr. Felitti addresses the relationship between early childhood experiences and the later abuse of alcohol, attempted suicides, smoking, sexually risky behaviors, depressive disorders, hallucinations, and premature mortality. In each case, the researchers found a direct and strong relationship between early childhood experiences and the risk of experiencing these social and mental conditions in adolescence or adulthood. In each case Dr. Felitti rejected genetic and chemical explanations of these disorders in favor of environmental explanations. With regard, specifically, to addictions he wrote, “We find that addiction overwhelmingly implies prior adverse life experiences” and stated, “Addiction is not a brain disease, nor is it caused by chemical imbalance or genetics.”(Reference: Felitti, FJ, The Origins of Addiction: Evidence from the Adverse Childhood Experience Study, 2004, Online). Those who wish to examine more articles on this project are encouraged to examine articles available online under the Adverse Childhood Experiences study. In another definitive study, Kenneth Kendler, MD, and Carol Prescott, Ph.D. conducted a study of over 9,000 twins in Virginia to assess the role of genetic and environmental factors in mental disorder. This study was documented in a book released in 2006 by the Guilford Press entitled, “Genes, Environment, and Psychopathology: Understanding the Causes of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders.” The study, known as the Virginia Adult Twin Study of Psychiatric and Substance Use Disorders (ATSPSUD) examined twin pairs in order to differentiate the genetic and environmental influences on mental disorders that developed in adulthood. In this “twin study” the researchers calculated the heritability factor for twenty-four mental health disorders and found heritability estimates to range from a low of .16 for social phobias and .75 for any type of drug dependence. Most mental health disorders included in this study had a heritability estimate that was below .50, meaning that if one twin had the disorder, the other twin was likely to have it 50% of the time. This can be compared with other inherited physical conditions such as asthma, lung cancer, and breast cancer that fall in the “moderate heritability range” (20-40%), whereas weight and intelligence fall in the “Moderately high heritability range” (60-80%). Drug dependence fell in the “high heritability range” between 60-80%, which is the range in which weight and intelligence fall, but none of the mental disorders examined in this study fell in the “very high heritability” range of between 80-100%. Although several mental disorders have been postulated to fall in this range, more recent studies have shown them to fall in the 40-60% heritability range.Some of the conclusions made by the researchers include a very significant role of environmental factors such as sexual abuse, parental death, and parental divorce in the later development of mental disorders. Childhood abuse was found to be causally related to alcoholism and substance abuse and seven other forms of psychiatric disorders. Childhood parental death was found to be specifically related to the later development of major depressive disorder, but also increased the risk of developing a generalize anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and drug dependence. Parental divorce was found to increase the risk for major depressive disorders, general anxiety disorders, panic disorders, and substance use disorders. The risk for developing major depression, general anxiety disorders, and panic disorders lasted for 20-35 years, and the risk for drug abuse or dependence lasted for 55 years, but the risk for alcohol dependence risk never ended. Thus, this study demonstrated a powerful connection between childhood traumas and the development of mental disorders in adulthood.The ACE study and the Virginia Twin Study are two very definitive studies that raise serious questions about the genetic and biological explanations of mental disorders and strongly suggest the importance of environmental factors in the development of mental disorders. This should lead us to revise our understand, then, of the role of psychotropic medications in the treatment of mental disorders.The Impact of Psychotropic MedicationsDr. Peter Breggin is a psychiatrist and expert in clinical psychopharmacology who has been studying the impact of psychotropic medications for over 40 years. He has written dozens of scientific articles and more than 20 books, but most recently wrote the book, “Medication Madness” in 2008, to expose some of the potential problems that he has witnessed with the use of these brain-altering medications. He has served as a medical expert in many criminal and civil cases against the pharmaceutical companies who manufacture psychiatric drugs. In this book he documents the potential dangers of mood-altering medications and he exposes the pharmaceutical industry’s attempts to hide these dangers in order to increase their sales and profits. The following are some of the statements and conclusions that Dr. Breggin makes in this book.“In forty years of psychiatric practice, I have never started a patient on an antidepressant, although I do prescribe them during the withdrawal process or if the patient is unable to go through withdrawal.” (p.54).“In my own private practice of psychiatry conducted since 1968, I have always worked with the most disturbed patients without resorting to psychiatric drugs. Most of my extensive hands-on experience with psychiatric drugs comes from taking patients off their medications, often after years of exposure to multiple drugs.” (p. 102)“If you are wondering if you can trust your doctors to tell you the truth about psychiatric drugs, the answer is, you can trust your doctors only to the degree that you can trust the drug companies who provide them with most of their drug information.” (p. 246)“If you have a biochemical imbalance in the brain, the odds are overwhelming that your doctor put it there with a psychiatric drug. In fact, these are the only known biochemical imbalances in the brains of psychiatric patients—the biochemical imbalances caused by drug treatments and electroshock.” (p. 269-270)“Mounting laboratory evidence –indicates that psychiatric drugs can cause permanent brain dysfunction and damage.” (p 274)“Despite how often doctors tell their patients, ‘Don’t worry, it’s a small dose,’ many people have serious adverse effects from one or two doses of a drug, often in relatively small amounts.” (p. 277)“Drug companies and their paid researchers have tried for years to show that these drugs reduce the suicide rate, but no compelling evidence has been forth-coming. The opposite has been proven—that they cause suicidal behavior. As a result, no drugs are FDA-approved for treating suicidal feelings or behavior.” (p. 279).“Comparing ‘mental disorders’ like anxiety, depression, and mania to diabetes, as is often done, is false and misleading.” (p. 280)“When a psychiatrist tells you, ‘You will have to take medication for the rest of your life.’ He’s making a pernicious speculation that’s bound to do you much more harm than good.” (p. 282)“As avidly as they push drugs, physicians tend to know very little about them…They are listening to drug company salespersons. They are listening to drug-company advertising.” (p. 282)“Doctors who prescribe medication too often feel slighted or disrespected when patients ask to stop taking their drugs. Don’t accept one physician’s opinion, especially the original prescribing doctor, about whether or not you should spend ‘the rest of your life’ on a drug. Get second opinions. Research the drugs for yourself. Ultimately, make up your own mind.” (p. 295)“The best measure for preventing medication madness is not to start taking psychiatric drugs; if you decide to take them, then take as few as possible at the smallest possible dose, and stop taking them as soon as you can.” (p. 321)“Historically, religion as well as less-formalized spiritual approaches have offered solutions to human suffering. In recent time, however, when confronted with depressed or anxious persons, even the minister, priest, or rabbi is likely to refer them to someone who gives drugs.” (p. 329) ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download