Nutrition: The Key to Fixing Broken Brains

The Myth of Biological Depression - Lawrence Stevens - excerpt
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4679609/The-Myth-of-Biological-DepressionLawrence-Stevens
Mental Health and Nutrition
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6445206/Mental-Health-Nutrition

Barnes Akathisia Scale

I visited the Wikipedia entry on Akathisia,
and learned that there is a scale to measure this iatrogenic disorder.
It's called the Barnes Scale. Read about it
here.

Is Abilify Right for You?

Andy Behrman, a former spokesman for Abilify and Bristol Myers Squibb, discusses his side effects from Abilify, the "wonder drug" of Bristol Myers Squibb.
Many thanks to Electroboy - Andy Behrman - for making this information available and for saying it so that
others will speak out too....Video Link

Merck employee wants to search and destroy noncompliant doctors

A fascinating court case in Australia has been playing out around some people who had heart attacks after taking the Merck drug Vioxx. This medication turned out to increase the risk of heart attacks in people taking it, although that finding was arguably buried in their research, and Merck has paid out more than £2bn to 44,000 people in America – however, they deny any fault.

British users of the drug have had their application for legal aid rejected, incidentally: the health minister, Ivan Lewis, promised to help them, but documents obtained by the Guardian last week showed that within hours Merck launched an expensive lobbying effort that convinced the minister to back off.

This is a shame, because court cases can be tremendously revealing.

The first fun thing to emerge in the Australian case is email documentation showing staff at Merck made a "hit list" of doctors who were critical of the company, or of the drug. This list contained words such as "neutralise", "neutralised" and "discredit" next to the names of various doctors.

"We may need to seek them out and destroy them where they live," said one email, from a Merck employee. Staff are also alleged to have used other tactics, such as trying to interfere with academic appointments, and dropping hints about how funding to institutions might dry up. Institutions might think about whether they wish to receive money from a company like that in future. Worse still, is the revelation that Merck paid the publisher Elsevier to produce a publication.

The relationship between big pharma and publishers is perilous. Any industry with global revenues of $600bn can afford to buy quite a lot of adverts, and pharmaceutical companies also buy glossy expensive "reprints" of the trials it feels flattered by. As we noted in this column two months ago, there is evidence that all this money distorts editorial decisions.

Link

Sounds like the Mob, doesn't it? We wonder if physicians, after reading about these tactics, will not question the Pharma-funded education they have received - and the Merck manual itself.
Hat tip to MDE: Thank you.

Furious Seasons: "Another Fine SSRI Withdrawal Story"

Here. Don't miss the comments.

GRASSLEY PROBE: Most NAMI Money is From Psychiatric Drug Industry

"Senate Probe Reveals that Majority of NAMI Money from Drug Companies

For years NAMI -- the National Alliance on Mental Illness -- has had an official secrecy policy on the amount of funds NAMI receives from psychiatric drug companies. Because of a US Senate probe in April 2009, NAMI has now disclosed that for the past five years a majority of their funds -- 56% -- are from the pharmaceutical industry.


Because of a Senate probe, Michael J. Fitzpatrick, NAMI Executive Director, disclosed that a majority of NAMI money is from pharmaceutical corporations.
5 May 2009

US Senate Probe Discovers:

Most NAMI Money is From Psychiatric Drug Industry


NAMI has admitted to a US Senate probe that a majority of their funds over the last five years, 56 percent on average, have been from drug corporations. NAMI has agreed with the probe to immediately begin quarterly postings to their web site with a list of drug company donations and amounts.

MindFreedom obtained a letter sent last week by NAMI executive director Michael J. Fitzpatrick to "NAMI Leaders and Members." The letter is a response to the probe of NAMI by US Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) initiated on 6 April.

In the 28 April letter, copied below, Mr. Fitzpatrick wrote, "As reported to Senator Grassley, pharmaceutical companies contributed an average of 56% of national NAMI’s budget annually for the period 2005-2009."

Mr. Fitzpatrick passionately defends the drug company donations, but says NAMI has a strategic plan to lower the percentage.

Commented MindFreedom director, David Oaks, "The NAMI board should have listened to its own Consumer Council which voted for full disclosure many years ago, but was ignored."

Link

Senator Chuck Grassley (IA) will continue probing the connection between NAMI and pharmaceutical companies. We wish him all the best with this important work. To thank Senator Grassley for investigating psychiatric drug money corruption, go to
http://grassley.senate.gov/contact.cfm

You Are the Reason We Are Here

We're thrilled! A few hours ago we installed a stats counter, and just went back to discover that we had had almost a hundred visitors from all over North America, Europe and as far away as Venezuela and New Zealand.

Here's what some of our visitors were looking for:

margot kidders doctor
margot kidder bipolar
gary null
botox
Grassley NAMI
brain zaps
benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms
cure mental illnesses?


You are the reason we are here. If there is something we have not got yet that you want, please leave a comment. We'll do our best to find it for you.
Thanks for coming, and please come again when you can.