361 Big Brother pills. Mental Illness Epidemic. Greens want junk food ad levy-

Big Brother pills. Mental Illness Epidemic. Greens want junk food ad levy

(1) Psychiatrist Grace Jackson’s book Drug-Induced Dementia
(2) Big Brother pills make you take them as prescribed
(3) Scientists probe link between ADHD and fatty and processed foods
(4) Greens want junk food ad levy
(5) Public support for alcohol and junk food levy
(6) America’s Mental Illness Epidemic: It Turns Out That the Drugs Are the Problem

(1) Psychiatrist Grace Jackson’s book Drug-Induced Dementia

From: Gary Kohls <gkohls@cpinternet.com> Date: 24.08.2010 07:31 PM

Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter # 399

A Brief Review of Psychiatrist Grace Jackson’s Whistle-Blower Book:

“Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime”

August 6th, 2010

By Lynne McTaggart of The Intention Experiment (www.theintentionexperiment.com)

http://www.theintentionexperiment.com/against-holism.htm

Just occasionally, I come across a medical hero, a doctor willing to break the conspiracy of silence that exists among doctors about the damage caused by their tools.

My hero of the hour is an American psychiatrist called Grace E. Jackson. Dr. Jackson is utterly, refreshingly horrified by psychiatric medicine. In fact, she is horrified by most forms of pharmaceutical medicine, period. She spends her life lecturing and writing about the dangers of drugs and their ability to cause mental illness.

So incensed is she about the current state of affairs that she felt compelled to self-publish a whistle-blower, entitled Drug-induced Dementia, which painstakingly catalogues a vast amount of scientific evidence showing that modern medicine is the primary culprit behind all forms of dementia, one of the most rampant epidemics of our time.

One of her more outrageous snippets of information concerns the fact that in the 1950s, when doctors first began to treat psychiatric patients pharmacologically, they discovered that synthetic dye and rocket-fuel derivatives actually had what they considered some sort of medicinal effect. Thorazine (chlorpromazine), the first antipsychotic, was born.

There was only one hitch – the drug caused the patient to become so lethargic that his symptoms aped those of sleeping sickness. The doctors also noticed that over time, the drugs caused all the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease: abnormal gait, tremor, dementia and involuntary movement. They also stupefied the patient, flattening out all feeling or excitation — leaving behind, in effect, a vegetable.

Nevertheless, with a brand of logic peculiar to modern medicine, these debilitating side effects were welcomed, on the premise that they were a damned sight better than a crazed hallucinator.

In fact, doctors began to view the arrival of Parkinsonian effects as a benchmark in a patient’s therapeutic.

The damage caused by psychiatric medicine is only the tip of the iceberg. I began to look into this issue myself and discovered a good number of the major classes of drugs that doctors give patients as they age bring on dementia.

Heart drugs, cholesterol lowering drugs, sleeping pills, antidepressants, narcotics, stimulants, including Ritalin, the ADHD drug given to children, anti-cholinergics, anti-epileptic drugs, to name just a few, all can damage the structure of the brain.

Anti-depressants shrink the hippocampus of the brain, and statins lower crucial fats, or lipids, which compose much of brain tissue.

Beta-blockers and other drugs that aggressively lower blood pressure, such as calcium channel blockers and ACE inhibitors, also lower blood flow to the brain, creating all the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s Disease

Even good old painkillers – the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory class of drugs – can cause a variety of cognitive changes, from delirium to disturbances in memory and concentration.

Many of these drugs actually shrink brain volume, destroying the crucial fatty structures of brain cells, or causing abnormal accumulation of tissue in vital brain structures.

Even though they represent only one-seventh of the population, the over-65s take one-third of all prescription drugs – and usually a cocktail of them. The average senior is on six drugs at a time, many of which can affect the brain.

Given the fact that some 90 per cent of Americans from their mid-fifties onward are taking at least one drug regularly, and nearly one-third are taking five or more drugs, it’s small wonder that dementia is one of the world’s fastest growing diseases, now absorbing $90 billion per year, or one-third of America’s entire Medicare bill. It’s now expected that one in four of us will have some form of dementia by the time we reach 80.

To put this cost into perspective, America is now spending about 1 per cent of the US’s entire gross domestic product on a largely iatrogenic (doctor-induced) condition. Medicine has reached the point where it is chasing its own tail, attempting to mop up with yet more drugs and treatments a vast and costly problem it has caused in the first place.

I tell you all this not simply to rant against the massive carnage caused by our faulty medical system, but also to illustrate the enormous repercussions that occur whenever we go against our truest nature. The drug-caused dementia epidemic is simply the result of the ongoing refusal of our current medical model to consider the body as a holistic entity. Whenever we atomize anything, but most particularly the human body – taking it apart and attempting to treat it in separate pieces – we invite calamity.

(2) Big Brother pills make you take them as prescribed

From: Max <Max@mailstar.net> Date: 14.08.2010 06:38 AM

The pill that reminds you when it's time to take your next dose

By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

Saturday, 14 August 2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-pill-that-reminds-you-when-its-time-to-take-your-next-dose-2052320.html

A new era of "intelligent medicines" is heralded today with the disclosure that the NHS is about to begin trials of pills that contain a microchip, reminding patients when to take them.

When the pills are swallowed the "edible" microchips react with the acid in the stomach sending a message to a sticking plaster containing a sensor strapped to the shoulder. If the patient has forgotten a dose, the sensor delivers a text message to the patient's phone reminding them to take their pills.

In addition, the sticking-plaster sensor monitors the patient's bodily functions such as heart rate and can recommend adjustments to the dose accordingly, which can also be delivered to the patient via text message. The sensor can also send messages via the internet to carers and, if wanted, other family members, updating them on the patient's condition.

If successful, the system could improve patients' well-being while reducing costs by avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions.

The technology, developed by the US company Proteus in California, is being tested initially on 40 NHS patients with heart failure at Imperial College Healthcare Trust in London and the Royal Berkshire Trust in Reading. If successful, the four-month trial will be followed by a larger year-long trial starting in 2011 to measure the effect of the system on reducing hospital admissions.

Patients in the NHS trial will be given versions of two standard heart drugs - bisoprolol, a beta blocker that slows the heart beat, and furosemide, a diuretic that reduces fluid in the tissues - with the microchips incorporated in them.

The sticking-plaster sensor will measure heart rate, physical activity and whether the patients remain lying down while sleeping. If they are frequently forced to sit up, that is a sign of increasing fluid on the lungs, a common and potentially serious side effect of heart failure which requires urgent adjustment of the dose.

Research suggests that between a third and a half of patients do not take their medicines as instructed, leading to worse health, more hospital admissions and wasting $290bn (£186bn) a year in the US, according to a report by the New England Healthcare Institute published last year.

Unpleasant side effects, confusion over instructions, forgetfulness, language barriers and feeling "too well" to need medicine are among the reasons cited for non-compliance. People with chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure are least likely to stick to the regime prescribed by their doctor.

Nicholas Peters, professor of cardiology at Imperial College and a consultant to Proteus, said: "The whole idea of this technology is to inform patients about their own well-being, to encourage them to take the tablets and to take responsibility for their own health. It can help them stay stable and prevent them getting on to the slippery slope that leads to hospitalisation."

"People may say, 'Why do you need technology to detect a missed dose? If I feel ill I can adjust the dose.' But, in heart failure, once symptoms worsen it is often already too late. There is a narrow window. The patient can become fluid over-loaded and hospitalisation is the inevitable next step."

The microchip could be placed in almost any medicine. The technology has already been trialled in the US for psychiatric disorders where compliance is a particular problem.

Mobile-phone networks have already developed applications to remind patients to take their medicines, but the Proteus system, called Raisin, takes it a stage further. Networks could offer the application at a discount as an inducement to customers to join.

Dr Jerry Gurwitz, a geriatrician at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and expert on drug errors, said persuading patients to take the drugs they need is a challenging problem, especially among older people who live alone. "I think any person who is practising medicine is going to say it's one of the biggest challenges and frustrations of providing care to patients right now," he said.

The Proteus system has received the EU's consumer and health stamp of approval and the company is expected to seek regulatory approval for widespread use in the EU next year.

(3) Scientists probe link between ADHD and fatty and processed foods
http://www.couriermail.com.au/lifestyle/health/scientists-probe-link-between-adhd-and-fatty-and-processed-foods/story-e6frer7f-1225899169230

by Janelle Miles The Courier-Mail July 31, 2010 12:00AM

A DIET high in takeaway foods, processed meats, soft drink and fat has been linked to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in teenagers.

But researchers are unsure whether a poor diet leads to ADHD or whether the disorder causes cravings and poor dietary choices.

Researchers from Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research examined the dietary patterns of almost 1800 14-year-olds, including 115 diagnosed with ADHD.

They classified the teenagers' diets into either "healthy", encompassing those high in fresh fruit and vegetables, wholegrains and fish, or "Western-style", those dominated by takeaways, processed meats, high-fat dairy products and confectionary.

Nutritionist Wendy Oddy said the researchers found that having the Western-style diet, which tended to be higher in saturated fat, refined sugar and salt, was associated with more than double the risk of having an ADHD diagnosis.

Associate Professor Oddy said the findings suggested that those on the Western-style diet had lower levels of omega 3 fatty acids, important for optimal brain function and mental health.

"It . . . may be that the Western dietary pattern doesn't provide enough essential micronutrients that are needed for brain function, particularly attention and concentration, or that a Western diet might contain more colours, flavours and additives that have been linked to an increase in ADHD," she said.

"It may also be that impulsivity, which is a characteristic of ADHD, leads to poor dietary choices such as quick snacks when hungry."

ADHD is the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorder among Australian children, with a prevalence of about 5 per cent. The disorder is more common in boys.

The study's findings have been published online in the Journal of Attention Disorders.

Professor Oddy said more research was needed.

(4) Greens want junk food ad levy

http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=488259&articleID=

Updated: 17:42, Wednesday July 21, 2010

A proposed levy on junk food and alcohol advertising will help stop the impact of obesity on the life expectancy of Australians, say the Australian Greens.

For the first time in a century, Australians could start living shorter lives 'because they were carrying too much weight,' Greens leader Senator Bob Brown said on Wednesday.

To combat the anticipated decline in life expectancy, the Greens propose companies selling junk food or alcohol would have to choose between including health information in their advertising about their products or paying a 1.5 per cent levy.

The plan is based on a similar scheme operating in France and revenue from the levy - an estimated $4 million in Australia - would go into a fund to provide health information to consumers.

'The Greens here are addressing a big problem for Australians, we're all affected by it, we know about it, we're all getting heavier,' Greens leader Senator Bob Brown told reporters.

'It's estimated that by the 2020s there will be 17 million Australians overweight, the flow-on from that is that it's thought by medical experts that life is going to get shorter.'

Professor Ian Olver, head of the Cancer Council of Australia and Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, said last year that seven million Australians were already overweight or obese, and nearly 17 million Australians would be overweight or obese by 2025, putting an 'unsustainable' burden on the health system.

Type 2 diabetes is expected to become the number one preventable illness in the country in just over a decade, overtaking disease caused by smoking.

'I have moved in the Senate to ban junk food advertising in children's TV hours. The Labor party, Liberals and Nationals have voted that down,' he said.

'They don't want it, they are too discomforted by the powers of the big junk food corporations and their advertisers.'

The proposed levy was backed by VicHealth chief executive Todd Harper who said research showed alcohol advertising increased the likelihood of people developing problems.

'This is a product that costs Australia $15.3 billion every year and kills 60 Australians every single week,' he said in a statement.

The Obesity Policy Coalition - a group of leading public health agencies - backed the plan, saying the alcohol industry spent more than $100 million on advertising each year while fast food companies spent about $165 million.

'This undermines the attempts by parents, governments and health professionals to promote healthy diets for children,' said Professor Boyd Swinburn from the Obesity Policy Coalition.

(5) Public support for alcohol and junk food levy

http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2010/07/21/public-support-for-alcohol-and-junk-food-levy.html

July 21, 2010

Josette Dunn

VicHealth has today welcomed a bid to introduce a mandatory levy on alcohol and junk food advertising, in light of research that shows the overwhelming majority of Victorians want these industries to be accountable for the harm they cause.

“A levy on junk food and alcohol advertising would shift the focus away from products that are harmful for health and put the spotlight on the promotion of healthier products,” VicHealth CEO, Todd Harper, said.

“We know from VicHealth research that the majority of Victorians support a levy and want more stringent restrictions on alcohol advertising. This sends a strong message to our politicians that this issue is one that the public care about and one that needs further debate.”

Results from VicHealth research conducted in 2009 showed 83 per cent of the population support a levy on alcohol and junk food advertising, provided the funds raised are used to replace alcohol and junk food sponsorship in community sports clubs.

Previously unpublished VicHealth research shows that 80 per cent of Victorians support the introduction of an independent alcohol advertising watchdog to crack down on advertisers who breach the currently voluntary media codes and in addition, 82 per cent support measures to restrict advertising to children.

“Our research provides evidence of strong community support for governments to improve responsible consumption of alcohol and healthier food choices. This is supported by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Australia’s Health 2010 report, that indicates Type 2 diabetes will become the number one preventable illness in the country in just over a decade, overtaking disease caused by smoking.

“Now that the Australian Greens have put this issue on the agenda, it’s time to begin the discussion about what fast food and alcohol companies can do to be part of the solution and to address the rising tide of illness,” Mr Harper added.

Manager of VicHealth’s Reducing Harm from Alcohol Program, Brian Vandenberg, said research proves that alcohol advertising increases the likelihood of non-drinkers taking up the habit.

“As well as cultivating new drinkers, alcohol marketing has been shown to encourage current drinkers to increase the amount they drink. The alcohol industry will argue they abide by advertising codes, but these are self-regulated. In fact, they have a poor track record of breaching these codes and can no longer be trusted to do the right thing.

“Alcohol advertising is different to other forms of advertising, because it is a harmful product if it isn’t consumed responsibly. This is a product that costs Australia $15.3 billion every year and kills 60 Australians every single week.”

Mr Vandenberg said any money raised from a levy should be funnelled back into health initiatives directly related to alcohol. “We’d like to see the money raised from an alcohol and junk food levy invested in a range of prevention measures, including education campaigns warning people of the dangers of alcohol and unhealthy foods, as well as the establishment of an alcohol advertising watchdog. It should also be used to support treatment programs and to help families who are affected by alcohol.”

(6) America’s Mental Illness Epidemic: It Turns Out That the Drugs Are the Problem
From: Gary Kohls <gkohls@cpinternet.com> Date: 22.07.2010 01:21 PM

Gary G. Kohls, MD

http://groups.google.com/group/total_truth_sciences/browse_thread/thread/e2fb58e2dcb0fb76/f5e838b40d33d94e?lnk=raot&pli=1

Tens of millions of innocent, unsuspecting Americans, who are mired deeply in the mental "health" system, have actually been made crazy by the use of or the withdrawal from commonly-prescribed, brain-altering, brain-disabling, indeed brain-damaging psychiatric drugs that have been, for many decades, cavalierly handed out like candy – often in untested and therefore unapproved combinations of drugs - to trusting and unaware patients by equally unaware but well-intentioned physicians who have been under the mesmerizing influence of slick and obscenely profitable psychopharmaceutical drug companies aka, BigPharma.

That is the conclusion of two books by investigative journalist and health science writer Robert Whitaker. His first book, entitled Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill noted that there has been a 600% increase (since Thorazine was introduced in the US in the mid-1950s) in the total and permanent disabilities of millions of psychiatric drug-takers. This uniquely First World mental ill health epidemic has resulted in the life-long taxpayer-supported disabilities of rapidly increasing numbers of psychiatric patients who are now unable to be happy, productive, taxpaying members of society. Whitaker has done a powerful, albeit unwelcome job of presenting previously hidden, but very convincing evidence to support his thesis, that it is the drugs and not the diagnosis that is causing the epidemic of mental illness disability. Many open-minded physicians and many aware psychiatric patients are now motivated to be wary of any and all synthetic chemicals that can cross the blood/brain barrier because all of them are capable of altering the brain in ways totally unknown to medical science, especially when the patients are taking the drugs long-term..

In Whitaker’s second book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, he goes much further in advancing this sobering reality. He documents the history of the powerful forces behind the relatively new field of psychopharmacology and its major shaper and beneficiary, BigPharma. Psychiatric drugs, whose developers, marketers and salespersons are all in the employ of the giant drug companies, are far more dangerous than the drug and psychiatric industries are willing to admit: These drugs, it turns our, are fully capable of disabling – often permanently - body, brain and spirit.

More evidence to support Whitaker’s well-documented claims are laid out in two important new books written by psychiatrist and scholar Grace Jackson. Jackson did a beautiful job of researching and documenting, from the voluminous basic neuroscience research (which is uniformly ignored by the clinical sciences) the unintended and often disastrous consequences of the chronic ingestion of any of the five major classes of psychiatric drugs. Her second and most powerful book: Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any of the five classes of drugs that are commonly used in psychiatric patients (antidepressants, antipsychotics, psychostimulants, tranquilizers and anti-seizure/”mood-stabilizer” drugs) have shown microscopic, macroscopic, biochemical, clinical and/or radiological evidence of brain shrinkage and other signs of brain damage, which can result in clinically-diagnosable, permanent dementia, premature death and a variety of other related brain disorders that can mimic mental illnesses. Jackson’s first book, Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent was an equally sobering book warning about the many hidden dangers of psychiatric drugs.

This sad truth is that the seemingly knee-jerk prescribing (without very much information being given to patients about the long list of serious long-term adverse effects) of potent and often addicting/dependency-inducing psychiatric drugs has become the standard of care in American psychiatry since the introduction of the so-called anti-schizophrenic “miracle” drug Thorazine in the mid-1950s. (Thorazine was the offending drug that all of Jack Nicholson’s fellow patients were coerced into taking at “medication time” in the Academy Award-winning movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.) Thorazine and all the other “me-too” early antipsychotic drugs are now universally known to have been an iatrogenic (= doctor or other treatment-caused) disaster because of their serious long-term, initially unsuspected, brain-damaging effects that resulted in a number of incurable neurological disorders such as tardive dyskinesia and Parkinson’s disease.

Thorazine and all the other knock-off drugs like Prolixin, Mellaril, Navane. etc, are synthetic “tricyclic” chemical compounds similar in molecular structure to the tricyclic “antidepressants” like imipramine and the similarly toxic, obesity-inducing, diabetogenic, "atypical” anti-schizophrenic drugs like Clozaril, Zyprexa and Seroquel.

Thorazine, incidentally, was originally developed in Europe as an industrial dye. That doesn’t sound so good although it may not be so unusual in the closely related fields of psychopharmcology and the chemical industry, especially when one considers that Depakote, a popular drug marketed initially as an anti-epilepsy drug but now is being heavily used as a so-called "mood stabilizer". Depakote, known to be a hepatotoxin and renal toxin, was originally developed as an industrial solvent capable of dissolving fat - including, presumably, the fatty tissue in human livers and brains.

Some sympathy and understanding needs to be generated for the various victims of BigPharma’s compulsive drive to expand market share and ”shareholder value” (share price, dividends and the next quarter’s financial report) by whatever means necessary. Both the prescribers and the swallowers of BigPharma’s drugs have succumbed to BigPharma’s cunning marketing campaigns, the prescribers having been seduced by attractive drug company representatives and their “pens, pizzas and post-it note” freebies in the office, and the patients being brain-washed by the inane and unbelievable (if one has intact critical thinking skills) commercials on TV that quickly gloss over the lethal adverse effects in the fine print while urging the watcher to “ask your doctor” about the latest unaffordable wannabe blockbuster drug..

For a quick overview of these issues, I recommend that everybody with an open mind read a long essay written by Whitaker that persuasively identifies the source of America’s epidemic of mental illness disability (a phenomenon that doesn’t exist in Third World nations because costly psych drugs are not prescribed so cavalierly as in the US).

Whitaker and Jackson (among a number of other ground-breaking and whistle-blowing authors who have been essentially black-listed by the mainstream media and mainstream medical journals) have proven to most critically-thinking scientists, alternative practitioners and assorted “psychiatric survivors” that it is the drugs - and not the so-called “disorders” - that are causing our nation’s epidemic of mental illness disability. The Whitaker essay, plus other pertinent information about his books can be accessed at www.madinamerica.com. A recent interview on Wisconsin Public Radio can be accessed at www.wpr.org (at their radio archives link) and a long interview with Dr.Joseph Mercola can be heard at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/08/robert-whitaker-interview.aspx.

After reading and studying all these inconvenient truths, mental health practitioners must consider the medicolegal implications for them, especially if the information is ignored or if the information is dismissed out of hand by practitioners who might be tempted to not take the time to study this new information. Those people who are hearing about this for the first time need to pass the word on to others, especially their prescribing healthcare practitioners who should be equally concerned. This is important because the opinion leaders in the highly influential (for good or ill) psychiatric and medical industries have been marketed into submission without hearing the all the facts (which may have been intentionally hidden from them. If that is the case, they cannot be automatically blamed for. proceeding in a practice that some day might represent malpractice. It shouldn’t have to be pointed out that is the solemn duty of ethical practitioners who are in positions of authority to fully examine potential malpractice issues and then warn others, especially their patients, of the dangers.

Sadly, it must be admitted that most of the over-worked, double-booked care-givers in medical clinics have not yet heard the news that most if not all of the brain-altering synthetic chemicals known as psychotropic drugs (which are treated as hazardous waste unless they are packaged in a swallowable capsule!) have been marketed as safe and effective - but only for short-term use. The captains of the drug industry know that the psychotropic drugs that they present for the FDA-approval have only been tested in animal trials for days and in clinical trials for 6 weeks. They also know – indeed they hope - that patients will be taking their drugs for years (despite no long-term trials proving safety and efficacy) as the only "treatment" for mental ill health. They know that their brain-altering drugs are also dependency-inducing (aka addicting, causing withdrawal symptoms when stopped), neurotoxic and increasingly ineffective (a la “Prozac Poop-out”) as time goes by.

The truth is that the people diagnosed as "mentally ill" for life are often simply those unfortunates who find themselves in acute or chronic states of crisis or “overwhelm” due to any number of preventable, curable and treatable (without the use of drugs) bad luck accidents such as poverty, abuse, violence, torture, homelessness, discrimination, underemployment, brain malnutrition, addictions/withdrawal, brain damage from electroshock “therapy” and/or exposure to neurotoxic chemicals in their food, air, water or prescription bottles.

Those labeled as the “mentally ill” are just like us “normals” who have not yet decompensated because of some yet-to-happen, crisis-inducing, overwhelming (however temporary) life situation. And thus we have not yet been given a billable code number (accompanied by the seemingly obligatory - and unaffordable - drug prescription or two signifying we are now chronically mentally ill. Unlabeled, we are likely to remain off prescription drugs but with a label and in “the system”, it is hard to “just say no to drugs.”

The victims of hopelessness-generating situations like simple bad luck, bad circumstances, bad company, bad choices, bad government, big business, and a competitive society that generates a few winners but mostly losers. America tolerates, indeed celebrates, punitive and thus fear-inducing social systems resembling in many ways the infamous police state realities of 20th century European totalitarianism, where people who were different or just dissidents were thought to be abnormal and therefore “disappeared” into insane asylums, jails or concentration camps without just cause or competent legal defense. And many of them were and are drugged with disabling psychoactive chemicals against their will.

The truth is that most, if not all, of BigPharma's psychotropic drugs are lethal at some dosage level (the LD50, the lethal dose that kills 50% of lab animals, is calculated before efficacy testing is done), and therefore the drugs must be regarded as dangerous. The chronic use of these drugs is a major cause of cognitive disorders, brain damage, loss of creativity, loss of spirituality, loss of empathy, loss of energy, loss of strength, fatigue and tiredness, permanent disability and a multitude of metabolic adverse effects that can readily sicken the body, brain and soul by causing insomnia or somnolence, increased depression or anxiety, delusions, psychoses, paranoia, mania, etc. So before filling the prescription, it is advisable to read the product insert labeling under WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, ADVERSE EFFECTS, CONTRAINDICATIONS, TOXICOLOGY, OVERDOSAGE and the ever-present BLACK BOX WARNINGS ABOUT SUICIDALITY.

Long-term, high dosage or combination psychotropic drug usage could be regarded as a chemically traumatic brain injury (TBI) or, as drugs like Thorazine were known in the 1950s and 60s, a “chemical lobotomy”. That is a useful way to conceptualize this serious issue, because such chemically brain-altered patients are often indistinguishable from those who have suffered a physically traumatic brain injuries or been subjected to ice-pick lobotomies which were popular in the 1940s and 50s - before the drugs came on the market.


America has a mental ill health epidemic on its hands that is grossly misunderstood because it is worsening, not by the supposed disease progression, but because of the neurotoxic, non-curative drugs that are somehow regarded as first-line “treatment.”

For more information of these extremely serious topics check out these websites: www.mindfreedom.org, www.breggin.com, www.icspp.org, www.cchr.org, www.drugawareness.org, www.psychrights.org, www.benzo.org.uk, www.quitpaxil, org, www.wildscolts.com, www.endofshock.com, www.mercola.com and www.madinamerica.com and follow the links.

________________________________________________________________________

Dr. Kohls is a family physician who, until his retirement in 2008, practiced holistic mental health care. His patients came to see him asking for help in getting off the psychotropic drugs that they knew were sickening and disabling them. He was successful in helping significant majorities of his patients get off their drugs using a thorough and therefore time-consuming program that was based on psychoeducational psychotherapy, brain nutrient therapy, a drastic change away from the malnourishing and often toxic Standard American Diet (SAD) plus a program of gradual, closely monitored drug withdrawal. Dr. Kohls warns against the abrupt discontinuation of any psychiatric drug because of the common, often serious withdrawal symptoms that can occur with the chronic use of any dependency-inducing psychoactive drug, whether illicit or legal. Close consultation with an aware, informed physician who is hopefully familiar with dealing with drug withdrawal syndromes (starting with the original prescribing physician), who will read and study the above books and become aware of the previously unknown dangers of these drugs and the nutritional needs of the drug-toxified and nutritionally-depleted brain.

 Dr. Kohls is a member of MindFreedom International and the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He is the editor of the occasional Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter.