Your Drug May Be Your Problem, Revised Edition by Breggin, Peter -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page A Warning Concerning the Use of Psychiatric Drugs Introductions to the New Edition: Scientific Confirmations of the First Edition

The FDA Finally Recognizes Antidepressant-Induced Suicidality Confirming Over-Stimulation Antidepressant-Induced Suicidality in Adults The FDA Resists the Facts Antidepressant Withdrawal Acknowledged Do Antidepressants Have Any Positive Effects? New FDA Disclosures about Stimulant Drugs for Treating ADHD in Children A New Concept: Spellbound by Psychiatric Drugs The Internet and Drug Information The Drug Industry Exposed and Re-Exposed Drugs for Schizophrenia, Depression, and Bipolar Disorder—A Bust Medications and Prescribers Out of Control Conclusion

Introduction: What Is Your Ultimate Resource?

Our Final Resort Resort to Drugs Seeking Relief What Suffering Tells Us The New Ultimate Resource What Do We Really Know About How Our Brains Work? The Science Behind Psychiatric Drugs Are There Biochemical Imbalances? What Do We Really Know About Psychiatric Drugs and the Brain? What If We Treated Our Computers the Way We Treat the Brain? What This Viewpoint Does to Us Herbal and “Natural” Remedies

1: Psychiatric Drugs— Much Easier to Start Than to Stop

A Few Minutes That Can Become a Lifetime Reasons to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs How This Book Can Help More Reasons to Stop Taking Drugs If Someone You Care About Is Taking Psychiatric Drugs An Independent Decision

2: The Limits of Psychiatric Drugs

How We Learn What Drugs Do How Current Drugs Affect Animals and People Can We Test for Biochemical Imbalances? Causing, Not Curing, Biochemical Imbalances More Flaws in the Myth of Biochemical Imbalances Anesthesia of the Soul What Does “Improvement” Mean in the Context of Psychiatric Drugs? The Limits of Psychiatric Drugs in General Conclusion

3: Your Drug May Be Your Problem— But You May Be the Last to Know

The Variability of Individual Responses to Drugs “Creeping” Adverse Effects The Risk of Permanent Brain Dysfunction Caused by Psychiatric Drugs Physicians Urge Long-Term Use Without Justification The Special Danger of Psychiatric Drugs Adverse Effects on How You Think, Feel, and Act You May Be the Last to Know

4: Adverse Effects of Specific Psychiatric Drugs

Growing Recognition of the Dangers of Psychiatric Drugs Drug-Induced Toxic Psychosis and Toxic Delirium Drug-Induced Mania Children at Grave Risk for Antidepressant-Induced Mania Estimated Rates for Drug-Induced Mental and Neurological Disorders Adverse Effects Caused by Specific Psychiatric Drugs Tardive Dyskinesia Caused by Antipsychotics Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Antipsychotic Withdrawal Psychoses Other Harmful Antipsychotic Effects Medications Used to Treat Drug-Induced Abnormal Movements Psychiatric Drugs During Pregnancy and Nursing

5: Personal and Psychological Reasons for Not Using Psychiatric Drugs

A Natural Aversion to Taking Mood-Altering Drugs Other Common Concerns About Taking Psychiatric Drugs Convincing You That You’re “Mentally Ill” Defining Intense or Painful Emotions as Illness How Psychiatry Takes Advantage Good Therapy Versus Psychiatric Diagnosis and Medication Maintaining Your Mental Faculties Being in Touch with Your Feelings The Placebo Effect Psychological Dependence on Drugs, Doctors, and Medical Solutions to Personal Problems Learning to Live Without Drugs

6: Why Doctors Tell Their Patients So Little

Encouraged Not to Tell Where Was the FDA? Getting Information to You FDA Approval Does Not Mean That a Drug Is Safe or Even Highly Effective Whose Risk and Whose Benefit? Serious Dangers Can Surface for the First Time After Years of Use Recognizing the Limits of FDA Approval How Adverse Effects Go Unreported No Guarantee of Long-Term Safety The Media What Do Doctors Know? Doctors’ Attitudes Toward Informing Patients

7: Plan Your Drug Withdrawal

Decide for Yourself Try to Get Help from an Experienced Clinician How May a Clinician Help? Informing Your Doctor of Your Intentions Stay in Charge of the Withdrawal The Best and the Worst to Expect from Your Doctor Set Up a Support Network How a Friend Can Help Support Networks on the Internet Know What Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs Might Entail Anticipate Withdrawal Reactions Understand What Influences the Ease of Withdrawal Facing the Fear of Withdrawal

8: How to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs

Gradual Withdrawal Is Its Own Protection Why Gradual Withdrawal Is Better Than Sudden Withdrawal Remove Drugs One at a Time Which Drug Should Be Stopped First? Special Considerations During Withdrawal How Fast Should You Withdraw? How to Divide Individual Doses

9: Withdrawal Reactions from Psychiatric Drugs

Beware Illicit Use Your Doctor May Not Know When Am I Having a Withdrawal Reaction? Denial of Withdrawal Reactions Defining Physical Dependence Withdrawal Reactions Can Cause “Significant Distress” “Withdrawal” or “Discontinuation”? Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Reactions Antidepressant Withdrawal Reactions Atypical Antidepressant Withdrawal Reactions Stimulant Withdrawal Reactions Lithium and Anticonvulsant Withdrawal Reactions Antipsychotic or Neuroleptic Withdrawal Reactions Antiparkinsonian Withdrawal Reactions How Gradual Is “Gradual Withdrawal”? Overview of Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Reactions

10: Withdrawing Your Child from Psychiatric Drugs

Special Precautions Your Child’s Previous Experience with Withdrawal Rebound and Withdrawal Effects Identifying the Source of Potential Problems Focusing on Problems in the Family Withdrawing from Multiple Drugs or Multiple Daily Doses When to Start Withdrawal

11: Understanding Your Therapist’s Fears About Nonuse of Drugs

When Your Therapist Says You Need Drugs Therapists Are People, Too So Many Kinds of Therapy What to Do When the Therapy Is Failing What Do We Have Faith In? Therapists Are Losing Faith in Themselves The Exaggerated Fear of Lawsuits Faith in Ourselves Versus Faith in Medication Understanding Your Therapist’s Fears Personalities and Power

12: Guidelines for Therapists Who Do Not Advocate the Use of Psychiatric Drugs

Suggested Guidelines Stand Up and Be Counted

13: Psychological Principles for Helping Yourself and Others Without Resort to Psychiatric Medications Appendix A: Psychiatric Medications in Common Use

I: Antidepressants1 II: Stimulants III: Tranquilizers and Sleeping Pills6 IV: Antipsychotic Drugs (Neuroleptics) V. Lithium and Other Drugs Used as “Mood Stabilizers”

Appendix B: About the Authors Appendix C: The International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology Appendix D: The Alliance for Human Research Protection Notes

New Introduction by Peter Breggin New Introduction by David Cohen Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13

Bibliography Index

← Prev
Back
Next →

← Prev
Back
Next →