Monday, June 19, 2006

Second Study in Less Than Two Months Shows Fivefold Increase in Negligent Use of Antipsychotic Drugs.

The Vancouver chapter of Citizens Commission on Human Rights put out a press release yesterday that deserves to be read.

What they state is that:

A second study in less than two months has lifted the curtain on the highly lucrative psychiatric practice of the massive prescribing of potent antipsychotic drugs known to cause a plethora of life-threatening side effects.

An alarming new study from Columbia University found that prescriptions for antipsychotic prescriptions leaped more than fivefold from 1993 to 2002. Although little to no data exists on long-term effects of these deadly drugs, the total amount of prescriptions jumped from 201,000 in 1995 to 1,224,000 in 2002.

A recent analysis taking FDA data collection from 2000-2004 exposed antipsychotics for causing deaths in up to an estimated 450 children and 1,328 reports of adverse side effects, some life-threatening. These include but are not limited to tremors, involuntary severe muscle contractions, writhing, painful muscle spasms, irregular blood pressure and cardiac problems. Yet antipsychotics are dolled out like candy to even preschoolers. >> more


I am outraged by the irresponsibility of the psychiatric community that betrays public trust by throwing its "authority" behind pharmaceutical industry hype that convinces parents to use these drugs on their children.

While there is general agreement that drugs are bad, somehow we have bought the idea that these drugs are "different."

No comments: