taylorpsychiatricdrugs-blog

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This mindset needs to end. 

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Reflection 4

I think my overall reaction as a result of this research has been that while using psychiatric medication in children may be necessary in extreme cases, the standards by which it is given out need to be more rigid and the side effects need more to be publicized. The stories of the side effects these medications could have and the potential life long consequences was astounding. Parents need to do more research before allowing their children to take psychiatric drugs. There is a difference between having a psychiatric disease and being sad or going through a hormonal period in your life, and that needs to be more emphasized. 

Another alarming conclusion that I came to after this research in regards to children is the children that are in the fostercare or prison system. There were statistics which showed that “children on medicaid are four times more likely to recieve [antipsychiotic] drugs than children with private insurance.” Society cannot begin to drug their children in order to make them easier to deal with and this epidemic needs to be exposed. 

I wonder how we can know so much about the dangers of doing drugs and not know the dangers of taking our friends Adderol. A study by the University of Kentucky Lousiania found that of 175 participants, 34% were using stimulants (study drugs) illegally. The side effects of these drugs include, “insomnia, irritability, potentially irreversible tics, psychosis, potential for abuse and drug dependence, withdrawal when stopping the medications, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, stroke, seizures, and even possibly sudden cardiac death.”  Those side effects need to be publicized alongside the adds for heroin and nictone and everything else because they are being just as commonly used (and abused). Another craze amongst the college population is popping a ‘quib’ or a ‘xanny’, ‘a bar’ aka taking a xanax.  The following information NEEDS to be more publicized. 

“When you take Xanax while you’re drinking, both drugs will be more potent than if you used either one of them alone. As a result, your risk of excessive sedation, dangerous accidents, respiratory depression, cardiac problems, and loss of consciousness increases exponentially.

If you continue to abuse Xanax and alcohol together, you could have serious cognitive and psychological consequences. Memory problems, depression, sleeplessness and agitation are a few of the long-term consequences of combining Xanax with alcohol. In addition, you raise the chances of becoming addicted to both drugs if you take them at the same time.”

http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2016/03/psychiatric-drugs-narrating-medicine

http://blackbearrehab.com/xanax-addiction/mix-xanax-drugs-alcohol/

http://iowawatch.org/2015/10/15/illegal-study-drugs-still-popular-for-college-students-despite-the-danger/

#psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #psychiatric illness #abuse #information #education #xanax #alcohol #consequences #adderol #children #reflection

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“Laura says that the medical establishment often miscategorizes healthy struggling as pathology, and that this is especially true in adolescence, when some degree of acting out is to be expected. She believes this is what happened to her.” 

There are a lot of good points and statistics in this article about why Dr. Brewster will be more cautious to prescribe psychiatric medications to her patients. 

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‘“Most drugs for psychiatric diseases target how neurons communicate; here we are targeting the wellness and environment of the neurons,” said UC Davis researcher Christophe Morisseau.”  

This new development in psychiatric medication allows for hope that more effective psychiatric medications are being and will be developed. By targeting the wellness and environment of the neurons, rather than how the neurons communicate, they are getting at the heart of the problem. 

New Chemical May Help Control Inflammation and Depression

A chemical discovered in the Bruce Hammock laboratory at the University of California, Davis, may be a new, innovative tool to control depression, a severe and chronic psychiatric disease that affects 350 million persons worldwide.

The research, published March 14 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, involves studies of an inhibitor of soluble epoxide hydrolase in rodents. Soluble epoxide hydrolase, or sEH, is emerging as a therapeutic target that acts on a number of inflammatory or inflammation-linked diseases.

“The research in animal models of depression suggests that sEH plays a key role in modulating inflammation, which is involved in depression,” said Hammock, a distinguished professor of entomology with a joint appointment at the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Inhibitors of sEH protect natural lipids in the brain that reduce inflammation and neuropathic pain. Thus, these inhibitors could be potential therapeutic drugs for depression.”

“Gene deficiency and pharmacological inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase confers resilience to repeated social defeat stress” by Qian Ren, Min Ma, Tamaki Ishima, Christophe Morisseau, Jun Yang, Karen M. Wagner, Ji-chun Zhang, Chun Yang, Wei Yao, Chao Dong, Mei Han, Bruce D. Hammock, and Kenji Hashimoto in PNAS. Published online March 14 2016 doi:10.1073/pnas.1601532113

#psychiatric drugs #new development #medicine #depression #neurons #science

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This story really personalizes the concerns related to giving children psychiatric drugs. 

It was abuse.

I’ve been bipolar II since, well, probably since I was born.  It runs in my family, so when I was seven, my parents took me to a psychiatrist.  I was probably in one of my “good” phases then, so they let me go without much of a fuss.  Then, probably in fifth grade (I’d’ve been nine or ten), they took me back and I was diagnosed with depression and put on Prozac.  I didn’t want to take it, mostly because I was scared and confused and nobody gave me a choice.  My parents used guilt-tripping and emotional manipulation to get me to take it, making me feel like the bad guy instead of them and the psychiatrist.

Of course, abnormal psych 101 tells us that if you put someone with any sort of bipolar mood disorder on antidepressants, they’ll go into their “up” phase, in my case hypomania.  And what do you think when you see a ten- or eleven-year-old talking all the time, not finishing stuff, running around, unable to sit still, and having no impulse control?  ADHD, of course.  Bam.  Mega-doses of Adderall, every day.

Let me tell you something about Adderall.  It’s a not-too-distant cousin of our old friend crystal meth.  Some of the side effects include lethargy, extreme appetite loss, insomnia, heart problems, growth suppression, and nausea.  Guess how many I got?  All of them and then some.  I felt like a zombie, the walking dead.  I had no energy.  I’d sit on the couch all day reading, hyper-focused but dead inside.  It wasn’t unusual for me to be up until three in the morning with a book.  I felt hungry, but I didn’t feel like eating; it was too much effort, so I’d lie down, figuring that if I was burning fewer calories, the hungry feeling would go away.  Five-three and I weighed 86 pounds.  I could count my ribs.  My cheeks were sunken in and my eyes were dead and hollow.  Years later, I still got heart palpitations, and I’m two inches shorter than the growth charts predicted when I was a kid (luckily that’s still pretty tall).  Worst of all, I had no energy or interest in doing anything.  My motto for three years was “I don’t feel like it.”

Believe me, I wasn’t happy about this.  But I had no choice, I was told.  I could go off the drug when I was eighteen.  I felt like property, like a car being serviced.  Do you ask the car what color it wants to be painted?  No; it’s the owner’s choice.  But kids aren’t cars.  They’re human beings.  Not me, though.  I begged and begged and begged, but they didn’t listen.  It’s making me sick, I said.  They didn’t care; they just took me to the doctor every three months to up the dosage and make sure my blood pressure wasn’t so low it would kill me.

The day I turned fourteen, I said no more.  I don’t remember exactly what happened or why they stopped, but I guess they realized that a girl who was just ready for high school deserved to make her own decisions.  But nothing could give me back the three years they had stolen, or fix the scars it had left.  I wasn’t diagnosed with bipolar disorder until I was sixteen because I was scared to tell them I was hurting.  I became fiercely independent, and I didn’t trust anyone older than twenty.  And I only now came across this blog, and the term medical abuse, and realized that what they did to me was 100 per cent wrong.  It was abuse.  I was abused.  My parents are abusers.  They abused me.  And it feels good to finally know that.

So, to the person who started this blog, thank you.  You have no idea what this means to me.

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Reflection Three

Again within these articles we saw the reoccurring issue of the intentions behind doctor’s prescriptions of psychiatric medications. In this field of medicine it is so easy for Psychiatrists to take advantage of their patients. In regards to the patients of Dr. Reinstein, who was receiving bribes from Clozapine, they must question whether this is the medication they should be taking and if they should be taking any medication at all. Reinstein’s diagnosis is completely invalidated by his intentions, which were easy to hide from the patient’s relying on his intuition and experience. Doctors serving youth in Pennsylvania’s youth detention facilities intentions must also be examined. Are these youths being prescribed medication because they suffer from a psychiatric disease or because they are difficult to deal with? 

Given the potential side effects of these medications it is frightening to think that you may be taking them unnecessarily. EIGHT of the top ten legal drugs linked to violence were drugs used to treat depression, insomnia and ADHD. These are drugs that the majority of America takes every day, could this explain the rise of violence in American culture? I do not think that the side effects of these drugs, and their seriousness, is publicized enough. Perhaps it should be part of our high school education that we learn about different medications and the importance of knowing what you are putting in your body because too much of our generation treats pills like tic-tacs. 

#psychiatry #psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #psychiatrist #side effects #intuition #intentions #fraud #bribery #psychiatrists #reinstein

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The data contained within this article is overwhelming and frightening. Eight of the top ten legal drugs linked to violence are psychiatric drugs which is an alarming correlation. The violent acts performed that are depicted in the charts are scary, but they are even more scary in light of the fact that these charts are showing less than 1% of the side effects experienced.

#psychiatry #psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #violence #side effects #legal #alarming #correlation

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This article analyzed Pennsylvania juvenile offenders and their overprescription of psychiatric drugs. An article I posted and analyzed earlier discussed the ways that Pennsylvania is trying to reform psychiatric drug use in the foster care system. While they are taking steps in the right direction, clearly that is only the tip of the iceberg for Pennsylvania. 

#psychiatry #psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #pennsylvania #juvenile offenders #violence #foster care #abuse

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"In his plea agreement, Reinstein admitted that, beginning in the 1990s, he prescribed the brand-name version of clozapine to hundreds of his patients while receiving $234,000 from the manufacturer. Reinstein admitted that the payments, ostensibly for speaking engagements touting the drug, were in part for prescribing the drug to so many patients."

What is most frightening about the story of Dr. Michael Reinstein is the questions it produces. As the judge in the case pointed out the most important thing is that the patients can trust their doctors. By accepting money from this drug company for prescribing this drug to his patients, he put every prescription he wrote in question. All of those patients must question if they have been taking this antipsychotic medication because they actually need to or because their doctor wanted to get paid.

#pyschiatric drugs #psychiatrist #trial #reinstein #guilty #fraud #bribery #chicago #clozapine

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Reflection 2

#psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #abuse #overuse #children #therapy #alternative #medication #research #questions #illness

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"One particularly concerning finding from the report was that 22 percent of youth in foster care were on antipsychotic medications, yet one-third of those kids were diagnosed with nothing more than attention-deficit disorder." 

This terrifying article points back to the issue of treating psychiatric drugs too lightly. Psychiatric drugs should not be the first response to psychiatric illness. Psychiatric drugs should not be the lone response to psychiatric illness. But what is even more terrifying is that these disadvantaged children are being drugged up to make them more manageable, and therefore falling further behind their peers. 

#psychiatric disorders #psychiatric drugs #psychiatry #children #medicaid #foster care #misprescribed #antipsychiotic

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"The Mercury News found that almost one in four California foster teens has been prescribed psychiatric drugs, the vast majority antipsychotic medications that are designed and approved only for severe and rare mental illnesses. The drugs can cause lifelong health impacts, such as obesity, diabetes and irreversible tremors. But many of the drugs are heavily sedating - a plus for caregivers and group home staff dealing with the difficult behaviors of deeply traumatized kids."

The article ends with the testimony of a former foster care youth. She pinpoints the reasons for her behavior and says that she wishes she received therapy rather than medication.

When children in the foster care system are prescribed psychiatric drugs it should be because of a chemical imbalance in the brain. It should not be because of their traumatic experiences (barring extreme cases). Those who have suffered traumatic experiences should receive therapy on a frequent basis (i.e. Weekly) in order to teach them how to deal with their feelings in a positive way.

While talk therapy may be more expensive for the state than psychiatric drugs, long term it could reduce the amount of money the state spends on providing those on welfare with psychiatric drugs. If we give youths in foster care psychiatric medications that make them fall asleep in school and live life in a haze, we are making it even harder for the disadvantaged to succeed. When those children drop out of school or graduate without ambition the state will continue to fund their healthcare costs. However, the saying rings true, "Give a man a fish, he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, he will never be hungry." If we help these youths recognize the reasons for their behavior and teach them healthy ways to cope with their past, these strategies will remain ingrained in them.

#mercury news #foster care #therapy #drugs #psychiatric drugs #psychiatry #psychiatric disorders #welfare #foster teens #california #abuse

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This article astounded me because ADHD medications are often thought of as harmless. Many college students who aren't prescribed find and take these "study drugs" to enhance their scholastic performance. They do so thinking its no big deal, it's just Adderol not OxyContin. The addictiveness of these drugs needs to be more publicized.

Another thing that I found intriguing was in the opening of the article when Tusk pointed out that there are two types of ADHD. The first type is the cause of an imbalance in the brain. The second type is the result of a child's personality and their inability to fit in or act as expected. This second type of ADHD should not be recognized as the same as the first. Children suffering from behavioral problems should seek therapy, etc to teach them life long coping mechanisms.

#adhd #study drugs #adderol #addiction #psychiatry #psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders

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Reflection Week 1

The combination of the three pieces of media I examined this week and the two articles assigned to our group provided an intriguing introduction to the world of psychiatric drugs. As these articles recognized, a majority of our society relies on psychiatric drugs in order to function in their day to day life. While I have never been prescribed a psychiatric drug I have many close friends who take antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications daily. For some of these people I have been their friend both before and after they began taking the medications. The articles I read this week really confounded my previously positive opinion about these medications. 

For the sake of this post we will call my friend Pat. Pat has been my friend since 6th grade and in high school she often struggled with suicidal thoughts and feelings, she self harmed, she suffered from ADHD and had trouble focusing in school, she suffered from intense anxiety. Today Pat still suffers from anxiety, depression and ADHD but she has found a way to cope with these feelings. The scars from her days of self harming have begun to heal. While she takes psychiatric medications to help her to cope, that is not the only method of healing she employs. During the height of her depression she spoke with a therapist as well. As time has gone on she has found peace in the paranomal powers of crystals. She believes that different crystals release different energies and each day she chooses different crystals to carry with her. For example, the other day she had a test so she carried an assortment of flourite, citrine, tiger’s eye, lapis, labradorite and quartz with her. 

The story of my friend Pat is not meant as a template for everyone struggling with anxiety, depression and ADHD. However I think a valuable lesson that can be learned from Pat’s journey is that you can not rely on psychiatric drugs alone. If they are going to be used I believe it should be in conjunction with other forms of therapy. 

Jan Eastgate quotes The Tranquilizing of America, “although psychotropic drugs may appear “to ‘take the edge off’ anxiety, pain, and stress, they also take the edge off life itself…these pills not only numb the pain but numb the whole mind.”’ While I have seen through my friend Pat the transformative powers of these medications, I have also heard about their negative side effects. However, she feels that the positive effects of these medications outweigh the negative. Luckily she has found a dosage and brand that works for her, with minimal “total life numbing” she is able to take her medications. My hope for Pat is that one day she will be able to rely on natural remedies for her anxiety and depression, such as her faith in the paranomal powers of crystals. However I would rather her take these medications as she continues her journey of self healing until she is ready, rather than regress in her healing because she tried to be self sufficient before she was ready. 

In conclusion, as a result of my research this week, I believe that when psychiatric drugs are prescribed they should be accompanied by other forms of therapy and with the intent of using them until you can rely on another form of therapy alone. This other type of therapy can be chosen at the individual’s discretion, if they don’t like it after trying it once or twice they can choose another type to try. This other type of therapy should be stressed as more important than psychiatric drugs and used to diminish their necessity. 

#psychiatry #psychiatric drugs #psychiatric disorders #paranormal #crystals #therapy #eastgate #the tranquilizing of america #faith #healing #pat's story #adhd #depression #anxiety #reflection

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Like the two articles I read this week this post communicates the idea that psychiatry has come to rely on the pharmaceutical drug industry. 

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This video was extremly compelling. The message that I recieved was that alot of what we percieve to be psychiatric illness is really natural human behavior which pharmacutical companies have capitalized on. The “bipolar fad” is truly apalling, how can we blame every emotion on a disease? Do we want the entire population to need to be medicated in order to handle life?

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This article really made me concerned about the number of people being diagnosed with psychiatric illnesses and the direct correlation with psychiatrists salary. A psychiatrist is the only type of doctor that is the test for a disease. If an Oncologist diagnoses you with cancer it is the result of multiple scans, biopsies, etc. There are things you can see that prove that you have the disease. However, when a psychiatrist diagnoses you it is just “because he thinks so” and while there are years of education and training behind that thought, the basis of this diagnosis forces it’s validity to be questioned. 

“When Minnesota and Vermont implemented “sunshine laws” that require drug companies to report all payments to doctors, psychiatrists were found to receive more money than physicians in any other specialty.”