TED Talks: Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

We like Elizabeth Gilbert, and wish to take her thoughts a step further - to discuss protective effects of proper nutrition on the brain of the young and the creative. Much self-destructive behavior stems from problems caused by poor nutrition. Video at link
Relevant article - Orthomolecular Nutrition to the Rescue

Drug Rep on SURVIVOR: Merck told her to sell drugs that kill

Corinne Kaplan is a candidate on the American reality TV show Survivor.

At one point, Corinne insisted, “I have no moral compass.” The most damning illustration has to do with her (now former) job as a pharmaceutical sales rep, where she said she knowingly sold drugs to physicians that she knew would kill people. “Selling drugs is a lie. I sold drugs that I knew damn well—I sold Vioxx for Merck before it got taken off the market for killing people. I knew damn well it was dangerous; I went around telling them to write it. There’s a lot of serious lying I’ve done in my life,” she said.

That’s okay, Corinne told me, because “I’m doing a job. For me, in that case, Merck told me to go out and sell drug even though I had hesitation about it. It’s not for me to say. … Don’t listen to me. Read your fucking journals. Why the fuck are you listening to your rep? Just because I’m pretty? You think I know more about the drug? No.”

Likewise, for Corinne, being on Survivor Gabon “is work; I’m trying to make a million dollars. It really doesn’t matter. I hope everyone gets injured; I don’t care. Just not me.”

Hear Corinne talk about wanting the money, the type of person she is, her problems with production, and selling a drug she knew would kill people here.

Is chronic illness at the heart of our economic crisis?

Image: Summer, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1573

Simple, eloquent, true.

"We can virtually match the exponential climb in chronic illness with an exponential climb in all-things-industrialized! Our innate genetic requirements for health require purity and sufficiency in the way we eat, move and think, with minimal toxicity and deficiency. How are we doing in these areas in the past 50 years?

We have more toxins in our food and agricultural industry, nutritionally deficient foods, toxic water supply, more fake and processed foods, we move less as a society than ever before, we're fatter than ever, we take far more drugs than ever, we sit in traffic more than ever, we have rampant pollution, we're inundated with an overwhelming amount of stimuli like no other time in our history, we're financially stressed, we spend more time indoors in artificial lighting and temperatures, we use more toxic chemicals on our bodies, on our lawns and in our homes, our relationships are stressed, we've lost a sense of community, we're more rushed... and on and on.

As a culture, we've moved away from what we know creates health and happiness."

Link

Antidepressants can cause premature aging, wrinkles - and violence

Another adverse drug side effect - premature aging (wrinkling and muscle loss) due to antidepressants - comes to light.
Link
From Japanese news, a link between antidepressant use and violence.


Would we take these medications if we knew how harmful the side effects might be?

Kidslit: Rowan the Strange

ROWAN THE STRANGE by Julie Hearn, Oxford University Press

From the review by Katherine Langrish:

A wartime novel with a difference, this time set in England - the third in a wonderful series which might loosely be termed a family saga (the first two were IVY and HAZEL) – but each novel can be read independently of the others.

It’s 1939, and Rowan, the son of Hazel and grandson of Ivy, is about to be evacuated from London. But Rowan’s not like other children. He’s subject to odd compulsions and terrors, and after he injures his sister in one uncontrollable outburst, his parents decide he will be safer in an institution where he can be treated.

But what is madness? Where is the sanity in a countryside where Rowan sees such surreal sights as farmworkers wearing gas masks while they pick apples? And in the asylum itself, where the doctors are ‘cruel to be kind’, using literally shocking therapies in the name of sanity, how important is it to ‘cure’ madness? And if a delusion is an essential part of someone’s personality, what will happen if you if blast it away?

Rowan himself is an attractive hero: introspective, willing and anxious to please. His friend Dorothea (who sees people’s guardian angels) is a fascinating creation, ‘as bright and as bitter as a lemon’ – cynical yet innocent, vulnerable yet indomitable. And then there’s the well-meaning therapist himself, Dr von Metzer – tormented by the knowledge of what is happening to mentally ill children in Germany.

This is a subtle and compelling story – with just a touch of magical realism – in which Rowan’s schizophrenia and life at the asylum with its terrible ‘treatments’, uncertain cures, and small but important rewards (a slice of cake which you are allowed to cut for yourself; a part in the Christmas pantomime) stand for the wider madness of a world at war.

Link

We suspect that the insanity and criminal behaviour of war, and mental illness, have a similar cure - good nutrition.

Search results: Antidepressant Induced Psychosis

Here are just a few of the almost 100,000 results for a search for antidepressants induced psychosis from http://google.com:

Scholarly articles for antidepressant induced psychosis
Antidepressant-induced mania and cycle acceleration: a ... - Altshuler - Cited by 380
Radiologic correlates of antidepressant-induced ... - Figiel - Cited by 32
Treatment of Tricyclic Antidepressant-Induced Orgasmic ... - SOVNER - Cited by 35

Search Results
Which Antidepressant, Anti Depressant Induced Psychosis - Agonist ...
Read about Which Antidepressant, Anti Depressant Induced Psychosis.
agonist.org/Learning-Center/Which_Antidepressant,_Anti_Depressant_ Induced_Psychosis.htm - 9k - Cached - Similar pages -
Antidepressant-associated mania and psychosis resulting in ...
Antidepressant-associated mania and psychosis resulting in psychiatric admissions. ... Bipolar Disorder/chemically induced*; Bipolar Disorder/diagnosis ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11235925 - Similar pages -
by A Preda - 2001 - Cited by 42 - Related articles - All 4 versions
BP or Antidepressant-induced Mania
Q: BP or Antidepressant-induced Mania. Hi there; I was diagnosed with bipolar a month ago after a paxil induced mania/psychosis that was relatively severe. ...
www.bipolarworld.net/Phelps/ph_2002/ph721.htm - 15k - Cached - Similar pages -
Index to SSRI Stories
Mania & Psychosis, Antidepressants, 2004-02-02, U.S.A., ++200000 a Year Enter Hospital Due to Antidepressant- Induced Mania/ Psychosis: FDA Testimony ...
ssristories.com/index.php - 699k - Cached - Similar pages -
» Antidepressant Side Effects Cause Psychosis PSYCHIATRIC ...
18 Aug 2005 ... FDA Fails To Protect From Antidepressant Drug Side Effects ... likely that the actual rates of antidepressant-induced mania and/or psychosis ...
www.psychiatry.info/psychiatrists-in-the-news/antidepressant-side-effects- cause-psychosis/ - 21k - Cached - Similar pages -
ICFDA SSRI Prescribing Draws Fire
were due to SSRI induced psychosis." Todd Zwillich, Senior Writer ... The number of doctor office visits including an antidepressant prescription more than ...
www.drugawareness.org/Archives/Miscellaneous/MRadmissions.html - 7k - Cached - Similar pages -
Treatment emergent psychosis associated with mirtazapine and ...
risk of inducing psychosis. Cases of antidepressant-induced psychosis, in the absence of other causes, especially mania, should be followed up for as long ...
search.sabinet.co.za/images/ejour/medjda/medjda_v5_n4_a6.pdf - Similar pages -
Plasma catecholamine metabolites in antidepressant-exacerbated ...
We have previously noted a significant number of hospitalizations secondary to antidepressant-induced psychosis and mania. ( Bowers et al., 1998). ...
linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S016503270000327X - Similar pages -
by F Fortunati - 2002 - Cited by 4 - Related articles
[PDF] Suicidality, violence and mania caused by selective serotonin ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
admissions over a fourteen month period and found that 43 (8.1%) could be attributed to antidepressant- induced mania and/or psychosis. ...
www.breggin.com/31-49.pdf - Similar pages -
by PR Breggin - 2004 - Cited by 35 - Related articles - All 15 versions
Alternative Treatments For Drug Induced Psychosis - a ...
In fact, antidepressant-induced mania is generally regarded as one of the ... alleviate symptoms of psychosis in people with bipolar disorder and there . ...
www.wellsphere.com/wellpage/alternative-treatments-for-drug-induced- psychosis - 80k - Cached - Similar pages -

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
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