Antidepressants are worth millions to Psychiatrists and the Pharmaceutical Industry

I’ve just read a reply by ‘Inspire Courage to Fight’ on Making A Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging (it’s well worth watching and may change your mind about antidepressants, psychiatrists and the Pharmaceutical Industry).

Making A Killing is the story of how the Pharmaceutical Industry has created an imaginary mental health epidemic that funds a $330 billion psychiatric industry….all without a single cure…and here’s the kicker…Psychotropic Drugs kill an estimated 42,000 people every year.

“Psychiatry is not a science”…never has been and never will be. The DSM, allied Psychiatry and the Pharmaceutical Industry have created a symphony of ‘new’ diseases and corresponding drug treatments that have paid off well. For over two decades thousands of researchers and reporters have been unmasking Pharmaceutical drugging and exposing the entrenched political lobbing and marketing circus of this money-making machine, yet more…much more, needs to be done to stop the ‘legal drugging’ of our children. 

A mothers story of her fight to save her children

I am trying to save my eldest son with a mitral heart valve prolapse/regurgitation and tricuspid heart valve prolapse/regurgitation from a similar but different fate involving the State of California behavioral health courts and a court system that wants to force potentially deadly psychotropic drugs on my son that interfere with his heart intervals and could further damage his heart and body and give him diabetes and stroke and heart attack and potentially cause him death.

I have to rush to get a conservatorship over him, but I waited to get reacquainted with him to see first to what degree would he be able to take care of himself and his own life without help. He is a 10-year-old in a 25-1/2-year-old body.

His father had him heavily drugged after my lawyer suddenly died and my ex-husband went to court when our son was almost 12, and gained primary custody over him for superior financial status to be able to benefit him more “materially” than I could at that time.

For my son, or me or anybody I love, I am setting up to do both a very meticulously specified “Advanced Health Care Directive” and/or a “Limited, Conditional Durable Power of Attorney” with the exact same specifications in my “Advanced Health Care Directive.”

I can put in my documents, that I very specifically forbid any form of psychotropic drugs being administered ( to either of my sons [in their documents], or to any loved one [within their own documents]) , and then also put “Imprecatory Language” (threat of lawsuit, stating that I will sue, or that I/family in advance of otherwise preventable illness/side-effects/death am ordering my family/friends/trusted home health care helpers and/or survivors to sue any medical facility and/or individual(s) that turn out to cause my loved one(S) or me harm and damage, however slight, especially for failing to obey and carry out clearly-specified “Advance Health Care Directives” to not administer any shape or form of psychotropic medicines for any reason.

Additionally, I might also include “Exhibit-A,” “B,” “C,” etc… of underlined and/or yellow-marked highlighted reports listing all the possible side-effects of psychotropic drugs in general, or any class or classes of psychotropic drugs in general, until all the different classes are covered. A document is not enforceable if it lacks the necessary imprecatory language in all 50 states.

Pretty colors...deadly side effects too!

QUACKERY HARMED MY SON: Our now 25-year-old eldest son with the intelligence level of a 10-year-old suffered needless heart-damage and suffered his brain being fried by a quack psychiatrist who experimented on him with different heavy drug cocktails mixed with Ritalin, Lithobid, Lexapro, Seroquel, Risperidal, Haldol, and Zyprexa.

Our son was kept safe from these things until he was 11 turning 12 when my family law lawyer suddenly died. My ex-husband did the fast strategic “Spanish March” to court claiming superior finances and won primary shared custody of both our sons with the court’s grant of his request to have the final deciding word on any subject in dispute regarding our son’s health, education, and welfare.

Dad could not control our eldest son, so he kept him drugged.

Our son kept calling me for help when he was 15-16-17-18 and only 125 pounds, complaining of severe heartburn and inability to focus to do homework while on the different drug cocktails that Dad (a nurse) and the doctor, were experimenting with. I did all I knew to do at that time to stop over-drugging our son. After my lawyer died, values were less important to the judge than money. I then had secondary lesser custody for our minor children, so my hands were legally hog-tied to act to protect our eldest son.

The psychiatrist completely ignored my letters requesting him to lower my son’s dosages to the minimum, or even taper him off, citing adverse side-effects he was suffering.  Then, some years back, around October, Anna Nicole Smith’s young adult son Daniel died of a combination of psychotropic drugs — the very same drugs listed above that my own son was being forced to take against his will.

This time, I had studied some cases. I wrote a “Notice of Duty & Liability & Breach & Intent to Sue” letter to the psychiatrist, based upon visiting 4 different pharmacists who asked me: “Who is trying to kill this kid? Do you know that his prescription is 4-times more than that of Daniel Smith’s deadly dose?” The psychiatrist complied, tapered Nathaniel down and then off the strong cocktails.

Then, later, the same psychiatrist was grossly negligent, and his lack of checking into the young man’s medical history, and his insistence on a higher dosage, and his other combined actions ended up needlessly killing a young 32-year-old man. The psychiatrist blamed his patient’s death on other mental health hospital staff. The truth came out.

The psychiatrist was disciplined by the California Medical Board. He was severely restricted in his practice in what he could and could not do. Then, later, there was a state lawsuit against him. Then there was a federal government lawsuit against him. Then there was another patient who he almost killed, and did great harm and damage to.

So sad for the family who lost their 32-year-old son and for the other patients who complained about this long-time psychiatrist. A reasonable likelihood exists that his actions and omissions and liking for prescribing higher dosages of multiple-ingredient mixed psychotropic cocktails to his patients could have harmed and damaged many more people than we know about.

My ex married his 4th wife, who did not want our eldest son around her, so the blessing is that he came down to live with me. We got fishing licenses, are taking short classes on different vocational skills together, are focusing on the happier and more successful sides of life, and want to go on living happily.

Thanks to this psychiatrist, my son’s heart has been damaged.

Now I have to fight the local mental health one-stop facilities from seizing conservatorship over my young adult son to force him to take deadly psychotropic drugs for a person with heart valve damages, plural. I would just pull my son out of their programs, but he got in a little trouble with the law, not knowing that he had to have a concealed weapons permit to carry a kitchen steak knife to the canal to go fishing! (to fillet any fish caught!).

The District Attorney did not know how severely disabled he is mentally, and is prosecuting him as an adult, though he has a 10-year-old brain, literally physically “shrunk” by all those psychotropics. The Mental Behavioral Health Court is what the new lawyer said is my son’s only hope to not go to prison for 3 years, and the lawyer forced my son to plead “no contest,” so sentencing is yet to come. How can going fishing cause one to allegedly be guilty of a felony and then cause one to be forced to take even more strong potentially deadly psychotropic medications for the rest of his life, which could be shortened by such malpractice!!!

The courts are not medical doctors. The psych facilities have medical doctor psychiatrists, but most of them who we have talked to have been covering and protecting the doctor who did our son so much irreversible permanent harm and damage.

Written by a loving mom

Addition Information:

• In the book The Emperor’s New drugs, Irwin Kirsch, a psychologist, has revealed that more than half of clinical trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies Food and Drug Administration between 1987 and 1999 found that SSRIs relieve depression is no better than placebo.

• Prozac, Zoloft [sertraline], Paxil [Aropax, Seroxat, Sereupin], Effexor, Celexa. These popular antidepressants are effective—but their function arises mainly from the placebo effect. Psychologist Irving Kirsch arrived at this conclusion a few years ago after he and his colleagues took a thorough look at all the data from experiments with antidepressants.

•  What is advance care planning? Advance care planning is a process enabling a patient to express wishes about his or her future health care in consultation with their health care providers, family members and other important people in their lives. Based on the ethical principle of patient autonomy and the legal doctrine of patient consent, advance care planning helps to ensure that the concept of consent is respected if the patient becomes incapable of participating in treatment decisions.

• ADVANCE HEALTH CARE DIRECTIVE   This form deals with your future health care. The time may come when you cannot speak for yourself. By completing this form, you can give directions about what medical treatment you would want, or not want, at such a time.

• Fact Sheet about Advance Health Care Directive (for use in Residential Aged Care Facilities)

The psychologist Diederik Stapel in an undated photograph. “I have failed as a scientist and researcher,” he said in a statement after a committee found problems in dozens of his papers.

A well-known psychologist in the Netherlands whose work has been published widely in professional journals falsified data and made up entire experiments, an investigating committee has found. Experts say the case exposes deep flaws in the way science is done in a field, psychology, that has only recently earned a fragile respectability.

The psychologist Diederik Stapel in an undated photograph. “I have failed as a scientist and researcher,” he said in a statement after a committee found problems in dozens of his papers.

The psychologist, Diederik Stapel, of Tilburg University, committed academic fraud in “several dozen” published papers, many accepted in respected journals and reported in the news media, according to a report released on Monday by the three Dutch institutions where he has worked: the University of Groningen, the University of Amsterdam, and Tilburg. The journal Science, which published one of Dr. Stapel’s papers in April, posted an “editorial expression of concern” about the research online on Tuesday.

The scandal, involving about a decade of work, is the latest in a string of embarrassments in a field that critics and statisticians say badly needs to overhaul how it treats research results. In recent years, psychologists have reported a raft of findings on race biases, brain imaging and even extrasensory perception that have not stood up to scrutiny. Outright fraud may be rare, these experts say, but they contend that Dr. Stapel took advantage of a system that allows researchers to operate in near secrecy and massage data to find what they want to find, without much fear of being challenged.

“The big problem is that the culture is such that researchers spin their work in a way that tells a prettier story than what they really found,” said Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. “It’s almost like everyone is on steroids, and to compete you have to take steroids as well.”

In a prolific career, Dr. Stapel published papers on the effect of power on hypocrisy, on racial stereotyping and on how advertisements affect how people view themselves. Many of his findings appeared in newspapers around the world, including The New York Times, which reported in December on his study about advertising and identity.

In a statement posted Monday on Tilburg University’s Web site, Dr. Stapel apologized to his colleagues. “I have failed as a scientist and researcher,” it read, in part. “I feel ashamed for it and have great regret.”

More than a dozen doctoral theses that he oversaw are also questionable, the investigators concluded, after interviewing former students, co-authors and colleagues. Dr. Stapel has published about 150 papers, many of which, like the advertising study, seem devised to make a splash in the media. The study published in Science this year claimed that white people became more likely to “stereotype and discriminate” against black people when they were in a messy environment, versus an organized one. Another study, published in 2009, claimed that people judged job applicants as more competent if they had a male voice. The investigating committee did not post a list of papers that it had found fraudulent.

Dr. Stapel was able to operate for so long, the committee said, in large measure because he was “lord of the data,” the only person who saw the experimental evidence that had been gathered (or fabricated). This is a widespread problem in psychology, said Jelte M. Wicherts, a psychologist at the University of Amsterdam. In a recent survey, two-thirds of Dutch research psychologists said they did not make their raw data available for other researchers to see. “This is in violation of ethical rules established in the field,” Dr. Wicherts said.

In a survey of more than 2,000 American psychologists scheduled to be published this year, Leslie John of Harvard Business School and two colleagues found that 70 percent had acknowledged, anonymously, to cutting some corners in reporting data. About a third said they had reported an unexpected finding as predicted from the start, and about 1 percent admitted to falsifying data.

Also common is a self-serving statistical sloppiness. In an analysis published this year, Dr. Wicherts and Marjan Bakker, also at the University of Amsterdam, searched a random sample of 281 psychology papers for statistical errors. They found that about half of the papers in high-end journals contained some statistical error, and that about 15 percent of all papers had at least one error that changed a reported finding — almost always in opposition to the authors’ hypothesis.

The American Psychological Association, the field’s largest and most influential publisher of results, “is very concerned about scientific ethics and having only reliable and valid research findings within the literature,” said Kim I. Mills, a spokeswoman. “We will move to retract any invalid research as such articles are clearly identified.”

Researchers in psychology are certainly aware of the issue. In recent years, some have mocked studies showing correlations between activity on brain images and personality measures as “voodoo” science, and a controversy over statistics erupted in January after The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology accepted a paper purporting to show evidence of extrasensory perception. In cases like these, the authors being challenged are often reluctant to share their raw data. But an analysis of 49 studies appearing Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, by Dr. Wicherts, Dr. Bakker and Dylan Molenaar, found that the more reluctant that scientists were to share their data, the more likely that evidence contradicted their reported findings.

“We know the general tendency of humans to draw the conclusions they want to draw — there’s a different threshold,” said Joseph P. Simmons, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. “With findings we want to see, we ask, ‘Can I believe this?’ With those we don’t, we ask, ‘Must I believe this?’ ”

But reviewers working for psychology journals rarely take this into account in any rigorous way. Neither do they typically ask to see the original data. While many psychologists shade and spin, Dr. Stapel went ahead and drew any conclusion he wanted.

“We have the technology to share data and publish our initial hypotheses, and now’s the time,” Dr. Schooler said. “It would clean up the field’s act in a very big way.”

By BENEDICT CAREY – New York Times

Would you give this child harmful drugs?

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As an advocate for children and youth mental health I’m concerned about a worrying trend to ‘catch the early signs of psychosis’ in very young children and young adults based on Patrick McGorry’s evangelical rantings. There is no current definitive scientific test that can distinguish the early signs of mental illness in youths or adults.

The current catch cry from psychiatrists is, ‘Detecting Early Psychosis will result in earlier treatment and better quality of life’. This Early Psychosis prevention is NOT based in science and has been and continues to be evangelized without one shred of verifiable evidence by psychiatrists like Patrick McGorry in his EPPIC and PACE programs.

It’s also disturbing to see Canada involved in a  four-year-old early intervention and psychosis program that is [in part] Government funded being touted as the greatest thing since sliced bread, even without long-term health studies of future repercussions.

Recently Patrick McGorry was willing to undertake (with Australian Government funding) Human Drug Trials to systematically medicate large numbers of young people with anti-psychotic medication to find the one person he says ‘needs to have these drugs’. These Human Drug Trials are experimentations with old drugs that have been proven to have scant benefit but massive side effects.

The Sunday Age recently revealed information relating to, “13 local and international experts [who] lodged a formal complaint calling for the trial not to go ahead due to concerns children who had not yet been diagnosed with a psychotic illness would be unnecessarily given drugs with potentially dangerous side effects”.

Patrick McGorry’s EPPIC and PACE programs systematically medicate large numbers of children and young people with anti-psychotic medications like Quetiapine, sold as Seroquel, in the ‘hope’ of finding the one child that ‘may’ at some [undisclosed] time require mental health assistance. This makes me think that maybe we’re not paying attention to what’s happening in the world of Psycho-medication.

It’s also disturbing to uncover that one of the medications recommended by Patrick McGorry, Quetiapine (Seroquel), is manufactured by AstraZeneca, one of the largest sponsors providing unlimited funding to McGorry. Endeavoring to find the one young person that ‘may’ succumb to early psychosis by attempting to evaluate every child (via a tic-the-box system) and then medicating a large group of children suspected of developing psychosis in the future is akin to practicing Voodoo Science and administering Snake Oil on the part of any medical professional.

Considering the vast number of debilitating and some-times fatal side effects adults are currently experiencing from pharmaceutical medications, one has to ask, Do we want to subject innocent children to a lifetime of legal drug exposure disguised as Early Psychosis Prevention?

Katherine McCormick (CEO)
Utopia Research Institute Limited

“I am really disappointed that you are publishing this article without ethically including the other side of the story. Pretty much all the patient quotes in the ‘body’ of the article are from the one website ratemds.com and you haven’t included any of the positive comments. Anyone can do a search of that site and see more than 50% of the comments are supportive of the treatment received from Prof Burrows. I have spoken to many patients who are very happy with his treatment. I’m not denying that a percentage are not suited to his style of practice but my personal opinion is don’t crucify a man who has probably done more for mental health promotion and awareness in Australia over the last few decades than any other mental health professional in the country. Those who are unhappy should take action through the medical board or through the legal system. Trial by media is never an appropriate course of action”.

"I don’t think there’s anyone in the world today who could emphatically say how an anti-depressant works"

From your posts on the web I would have to say that anyone who has been part of the mental health culture for over two decades and can make statements like… “I have seen patients of his [Graham Burrows] on about 15 different brands of anti-depressants and four different brands of antipsychotics”, and, “I’m not a doctor but it does appear to my eyes in recent years that Seroquel and Abilify are the two most effective antipsychotic medications”… would mean that you are most likely a psychiatric nurse and not only interested in keeping your job but also a personal supporter of Graham Burrows.

This blog was written to give desperate people a chance to have their voice heard.  And no, they couldn’t find another doctor and no, it would have been impossible for them to be able to articulate their suffering at the hands of such a lauded doctor to the medical board who are well known to protect even the most reprehensible doctors in the medical profession.

7News is not to my knowledge ‘on a witch hunt’. They had over 700 patients of Graham Burrows contact them with horror stories and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Graham Burrows s disdain and mistreatment for even one person in his care is a flagrant disregard to both his oath as a doctor and his obligation to his patient. In his arrogance he dispensed his own personal brand of un-professionalism to thousands of desperately ill people and it is evident from his patients own comments that they feel he treated them like lab-rats, over medicated them, misdiagnosed them and has continued to fully support the pharmaceutical industry until the 7News report was aired.

Graham Burrows has been called the ‘Cosmetic Psychiatrist‘, a ‘gun for hire‘ and only now the Medical Board is monitoring allegations made by patients.

Perhaps you are unaware Cathy that Seroquel is an anti-psychotic that comes with increased risks of obesity, diabetes, muscle spasms and other serious life threatening side effects and that just this March, AstraZeneca paid $68.5 million to settle claims that it improperly marketed Seroquel for children and for other unapproved uses beyond the treatment of adult schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

I’ll close with this little number from dear Professor Graham Burrows, he said, “I don’t think there’s anyone in the world today who could emphatically say how an anti-depressant works – whichever antidepressant group and having said that we do know a lot of chemistry about what actually occurs. Now I sometimes say does anyone know what electricity is, but we use it”. [no citation needed as it's spread over hundreds of web-pages by now!]

Cathy, I know how much Graham Burrows likes to recommend electroconvulsive therapy…what are his words again…oh yes he said it was, “the most effective treatment for severe depression“. Well…if you see Graham tell him that before he schedules another patient for ECT if he would like me to explain just how electricity works…he can give me a call.

Don’t you think it’s time we stopped placing Doctors and Psychiatrists on a pedestal? After all they’re real people, people that – just like you and I – have human weaknesses and faults. I know it’s difficult to change decades of training. I look back over that past sixty odd years and see how well Pavlov’s theory worked on millions of unsuspecting people.

It’s become evident that when [some] Doctors and Psychiatrists live and breath the rarefied air of fame and fortune, when they live in an academic bubble and are elevated in the minds of not only their peers but by virtue of the media into the mind of every man, woman, and child and are thereby held in high esteem…the mind changes, their ego inflates and grandiose thoughts and ambitions can over ride common sense.

Add to this a hyper-ego boosting DeLorean ride when these lauded Doctors and Psychiatrists are courted by the Pharmaceutical Industry and showered with gifts such as first class travel and accommodation, front row tickets to major sporting events and expert witness or [conference] speaker fees lavished on them. Well, it stands to reason that most will fall from grace and use their influence in all the wrong ways while all the time believing that they…and only they…have all of the answers to humanities ills in a little pill.

Perhaps now you can see why there are large numbers of psychiatrists that have moved away from true psychotherapy, why most will only give a patient a few minute of their precious time. Perhaps you can see now why so many are specializing in pure medication management and are now doubling their efforts with Government and the media to capture the pediatric [and adolescent] ‘at risk’ mental health market.

All I can say is that they must see a very lucrative business with endless customers.

Patrick McGorry and Ian Hickie have found a new market regardless of Patrick’s own meager attempts at research, and the financial backing of multinational pharmaceutical companies. “It is also evident that our government, even in the face of opposition by the world-wide scientific community, will attempt to shove this unholy pseudo-science down the throats of children and young adults via their families through the use of financial [tax] blackmail and the soon to be released e-Health records, while continuing to accept McGorry’s unverified statements that it is imperative to pre-drug our next generation“.

Conclusion

During my research the same names kept coming up over and over again on boards and committees of Government Health Organizations, NGOs and Pharmaceutical Companies, as expert advisers and or as funding recipients.

The documentation indicates a long and disturbing trend of manipulation, lies and deceit conducted by a handful of individuals to insure that a vast majority of the population is diagnosed with some form of mental disorder and medicated.

In addition, it would appear that these individuals have incorporated a much larger body of peers and government officials that have blindly and in some cases willingly supported this insidious brand of Voodoo Science and Snake Oil.

I call it a massive conflict of interest and one that our Government should address right now!

Graham Burrows has published the Handbook of General Hospital Psychiatry and has contributed chapters to approximately 190 other scientific books. He serves on the editorial boards of 30 international and Australian journals. It sounds like Graham Burrows’s a man on a mission…but who’s mission? As chairman of the Mental Health Foundation it is known that he accepted funding on behalf of the Foundation from AstraZeneca, Servier and Pfizer.

How did it all begin?

The Mental Health Foundation of Australia was born in July 1981when five people (Dr Graham Dene Burrows, Graeme Angus, Anne Thomson, the Reverend Alan Jones and Albert Moore) gathered at the Department of Psychiatry at Melbourne University to form the Foundation.

The MHFA was begun as a charitable organization. Graham Burrows and his four friend wanted to draw attention to what psychiatry called ‘the nation’s rapidly mounting mental health problem’. I’m sure this merry little band could also see that a charitable organization was (is) a lucrative business with lots of perks as long as one kept up the spin of disinformation to both the public and the Government. And much of their reasoning was true. Certainly there were [and are still today] an inadequacy of mental health care due to cost cutting exercises by the Government that had resulted in closing mental health hospitals in favor of [underfunded] community care and pharmaceutical medication.

The MHFA quickly came to be considered a ‘peak body’ and defined one of it’s fundamental aims as: “To encourage and promote mental health at a personal and social level according to such values as justice, equality and humaneness”. But as we can see from the news on channel 7 there is a palpable difference in the attitudes of a great many of Graham Burrows’s patients and certainly with this type of exposure there will be a greater awareness within the community.

My conclusion is this in terms of Graham Burrows is that he is not the only rotten apple in the barrel. He’s not the only megalomaniac with a bad case of, “ look at me – I’m God”. I could name two or three dozen others just like him. The two that come to mind are Patrick McGorry and Ian Hickie.

Psychiatrist Graham Burrows

Here are just some of the [very raw] comments I found online…let their voices be heard.

Prof Burrows decision to start me on medication started a snowball effect that ruined my life for 4 years. I had an eating disorder, was under-weight and suffering psychosis directly from malnutrition. I was put on a ridiculously high dose of Schizophrenia medication along with sleeping tablets and anxiety tablets, before I had even been properly assessed by him that he continued to increase while I was under his care. My mum fought so hard to get me off the medication as what I needed was gentle, caring treatment for the eating disorder, re-feeding and understanding. The medication turned me into a zombie and I could barely function. This then gave them permission to say I was mentally unwell, and I was put on and off many medications for way too long, which knocked both my mind and body around immensly. I finally was taken off medication 1 year ago and my life feels like it has just started, life is now fantastic. And as my mum says, Burrows ego arrives 5 minutes before he does.

And…

“Dr. Burrows is an arrogant, mindless idiot of the highest order. Not only did he WRONGLY DIAGNOSE ME WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA when I was suffering a psychosis, as a result of severe malnutrition… he put me on a ridiculously high dose of schizophrenic medication- FAR exceeding any amount that a person of my height and weight should have been taking… I was an eighteen year old girl and I was taking quadruple the dose of the adult males in the clinic!! The medication turned me into a dribbling zombie, but he kept UPPING THE DOSE because he couldn’t understand why it wasnt workng… HINT… maybe because I DIDNT HAVE SCHIZOPHRENIA!?! This high dose resulted in me having my first grand mal seizure. He should be out of practise. He is an absolute fool, an arrogant, unkind, unempathetic, heartless man”.

And…

“Throughout the 1990s, Dr Burrows was the public face of the Australian False Memory Association. For years, Dr Burrows has promoted the false notion that many women with histories of sexual abuse are, in fact, liars and fantasists. He subsequently wrote a character reference for another psychiatrist, who was also a Board Member of the Australian False Memory Association, who was struck off for having a sexual relationship with a patient who subsequently committed suicide. Dr Burrows defence of people accused of sexual offences raises serious questions about his credibility and professionalism”.

And…

“Nasty, small minded old man. Of all the doctors i have seen Burrows really takes the cake. Thank the gods that he has been given the boot from Austin Hospital. This foolish old man thinks that just because he can stick a few certificates on his wall, that he is a competant Dr. I had to have a medical report written by him for a Work Care claim. He charged almost $786.00 for less than half a page of nonsensicle dribble. I pity any person that happens to be unfortunate enough to be placed under his so called care. Beware of this man. Try every other doctor you can before you even think about making an appointment with this evil little man. His license needs to be revoked and it is entirely possible that he himself requires treatment for a Schizo-effective Narsosistic Personality Disorder. He needs to be questioned as to his intent when dealing with Mental Illness. His lack of Empathy, Sympathy and Understanding is well known amongst his colleagues. He needs treatment himself”.

And…

“Amaazed that he can be so rude and lack empathy to his patients. When questioned about drugs,he cannot cope with it, as b/c he is a professor no one should dare question him as to what he says. Reasuring to see that Iam not the only one he has been so judgemental, calling names etc and so very rude and makes his pts feel toatlly lacking in self esteem and any likley hood in getting better unless taking, handfuls of addictive drugs.Once he has you. he wontlet you go and just maybe he continues to destroy you”.

And…

“I find it scary that this man is still able to practice as a psychiatrist. It needs to be public knowledge that Graham Burrows has ruined many peoples lives. He gives out drugs constantly, you would have to wonder if he is getting paid commission from the pharmacutical companies. Just dont go to Dr Burrows. He is very bad person. And going by this board, has hurt alot of people. And Graham if you are reading this, maybe you need to go take a look at yourself and reaccess your motives and take a long hard look at what you have done to people. Maybe you could apologise to people whose lives you have ruined”.

And…

“This man is perhaps the most arrogant professional i have ever met in the mental health field. i found him to be mysoginistic and to be completely therepeutically unskilled in his preparedness to cross boundaries. no doubt he knows about medication, but i question his understanding of human behaviours. he lacks humility and actually boasts that he is arrogant”!

And…

“I seriously wonder how an obesessive compulsive can be diagnosing patients and deciding their course of treatment when he needs to sort out his own headspace. He’s also rude and very possessive of the seats in his waiting area if other patients sit near his suite he clears them away claiming that they are his seats!. This guy has so many issues that he is not fit to treat anyone. I would also suggest that before he diagnoses someone with a schizoaffective disorder, he should sit back and think how a mother feels about being separated from her year-old child. I would take out anyone who tried to separate me from my kids and from what I could see, the woman’s attitude was reactive to the situation. Burrows has no empathy. He has his own issues to deal with, so don’t expect him to have time for yours”!

And…

“Like many of you i was unfortunate enough to have Graham burrows as my doctor. He was rude, arrogant, denegrated me and my family, prescribed me excessive amounts of addictive drugs and above all treated me like i had no hope of recovery or a normal life when infact since iv stopped seeing him my life is greater than it was before i got sick. He is cruel and hurtful to those people who desperatly come to him for help. He is a money hungry, self righteous man who should NOT be working in mental health. STAY AWAY FROM THIS DOCTOR”.

And…

“I saw Graeme Burrows for 3 years. He prescribed an addictive drug and when I queried taking it for such a long time he told me it didn’t matter as would be on them for the rest of my life.WRONG> I changed Drs. and got off the medication. This man is a professor and AO, HE IS VERY HIGHLY REGARDED BECAUSE HE CONVINCES ALL AND SUNDRY THAT HE IS JUST ONE STEP BEHIND MOTHER TERESA BUT IS JUST ABOUT TO PUT HIS FOOT ON HER VEIL”.

And…

“One of the worst professionals I’ve ever been to… completely lacks empathy or human connection. Without giving away too many details, I can say that my health (both emotional and physical) were greatly saved by cutting him out of my treatment team… he treats patients like lab rats”.

And…

“Dr Graham Burrows is a someone who believes because he is a Professor he is above everyone. If you go and see this doctor it is unlikely you will be helped. He may write you out a prescription for a drug of addiction to shut you up or you may spend your time being spoken down to. I hve spoken to many, many people who have come out worse after been treated by this so called “doctor”. He wrongly diagnoses people, refuses to listen and is just damn right arrogant. All this doctor did for me was give me drugs, wrongly diagose me and took my money. To Graham Burrows we are not his patients. We are his customer”.

I eagerly await the next installment of this saga and can only hope that the voices of mental health patients and the community will be heard and a [transparent] inquiry will be held in the very near future.

Please add your voice to theirs and share your story with others.

Truthman wrote, “An Open Letter To The CEO of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceutical Company“.

Truthman asks, “Can ethics exist when profits are the dominant principle“?

Seroxat is one of the world’s biggest selling and [we are told] most successful anti-depressants.

But this Panorama investigation discovers the drug may have a darker side – the programme reports that people can get hooked on it, suffering serious withdrawal symptoms when they try to come off it.

For some it can lead to self harm and even suicide. But little warning of these possible side effects accompanies the drug.

These are accusations that the drug’s maker GlaxoSmithKline denies.

The programme follows one Seroxat user and charts her nine month struggle to wean herself off it.

Panorama also spoke to Dr David Healy, an expert on the drug who has had access to confidential Seroxat studies in the GlaxoSmithKline archives.

Thanks to the Panorama Team:

Production team:
Reporter: Shelley Jofre
Producer: Ed Harriman
Director Gerry Troyna
Assistant Producer: Sarah O’Connell
Assistant Producer: Calum Walker
Editor: Mike Robinson

Anthony Rotolo

Social Media is a driving force everywhere you look and everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and that’s a good thing. Any medium that helps to facilitate communication is by it’s nature positive.

I wanted to share this with you it’s a mashup video taken during during a course at the Syracuse University iSchool taught by Professor @rotolo (#RotoloClass) and the video is a creative project the students have produced for the course known as ‘Social Media in the Enterprise’.

Anthony Rotolo teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on social media. He was also appointed the first-ever social media strategist for the iSchool and Syracuse University in 2009. In this position, Rotolo is working to expand the iSchool’s leadership in social media as an area of study and as a way to enhance traditional instruction.

The music is “Blow” by Ke$ha…ENJOY!!!

No! Risperidone in small doses is safe. Are you 100% sure Patrick?

This is an update of information provided by Medicalskeptic @medskep on Twitter (many thanks).

Risperidone (Risperdal) caused a significant increase in prolactin in over 90% of patients in the study

Antipsychotics and Prolactin “In a study that looked at the rates of prolactin elevation, it was noted that the older medications, like haloperidol (Haldol) were more likely to increase prolactin. The exception was risperidone (Risperdal) that caused a significant increase in prolactin in over 90% of patients in the study. However, this study did not comment on whether people had symptoms (such as amenorrhea or others mentioned above) as a result of the increase; it merely reported that in the lab, prolactin levels were increased in the patient’s blood. It should also be noted that this study was funded in part by Eli Lilly which makes a competitor of the drug, risperidone“.

AND…

Prevalence of hyperprolactinemia in schizophrenia: association with typical and atypical antipsychotic treatment.
Montgomery J, Winterbottom E, Jessani M, Kohegyi E, Fulmer J, Seamonds B, Josiassen RC.

Source
Arthur P. Noyes Research Foundation, Norristown, PA 19401, USA.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the prevalence and severity of hyperprolactinemia among a large sample of patients with schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders treated with typical and atypical antipsychotic medications.

METHOD:
Three electronic databases (general medical, psychiatric, and pharmacologic) containing the census data from November 2002 through March 2003 for a state-funded, inpatient hospital serving the chronically mentally ill were merged (N = 470). This database was purged of patient names, while the unique hospital identification number and demographic variables in each record were retained. These records were then screened to exclude patients with medications (except neuroleptics) or medical conditions known to elevate or suppress prolactin, leaving an overall sample (N = 422) in which to evaluate the prevalence of hyperprolactinemia. The sample was composed of patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia (N = 213), other related psychotic disorders (N = 131), mood disorders (N = 44), and other disorders (N = 34).

RESULTS:

These are not pecks they are Man Boobs!

For the overall sample (N = 422), which combined men and women, the mean serum prolactin level was 41.5 ng/mL; 290 of 422 patients were above the normal range. For women (N = 133), the mean serum prolactin level was 57.9 ng/mL, and 67% had levels above normal. For men (N = 289), the mean level was 33.9 ng/mL, with a 70% prevalence of hyperprolactinemia. While age did not influence the prevalence of elevated prolactin among men, age (reflecting reproductive status) was a significant variable in women; older age was associated with lower prolactin levels. For the study sample, a highly significant correlation was observed between neuroleptic dose (chlorpromazine equivalent) and serum prolactin level; however, this relationship was not determined on a medication-by-medication basis. Medications known to elevate prolactin were associated with higher prevalence rates of hyperprolactinemia, and “prolactin-sparing” medications had lower prevalence rates. However, when they were used in combination, the prolactin-elevating medication overwhelmed the effects of prolactin-sparing medication.

CONCLUSIONS:
This study suggested that neuroleptic treatment of schizophrenia is strongly associated with hyperprolactinemia and showed important differences between prolactin-sparing and prolactin-elevating medications.

AND…

“RISPERDAL ® and similar medications can raise the blood levels of a hormone known as prolactin, causing a condition known as hyperprolactinemia. Blood levels of prolactin remain elevated with continued use. Some side effects seen with these medications include the absence of a menstrual period; breasts producing milk; the development of breasts by males; and the inability to achieve an erection. The connection between prolactin levels and side effects is unknown”.

High blood sugar and diabetes have been reported with RISPERDAL ® and similar medications. If the person being treated has diabetes or risk factors such as being overweight or a family history of diabetes, blood sugar testing should be performed at the beginning and throughout treatment. Complications of diabetes can be serious and even life threatening. If signs of high blood sugar or diabetes develop, such as being thirsty all the time, going to the bathroom a lot, or feeling weak or hungry, contact your doctor”.

will this be an EPPIC Man Boob failure? I hope not.

Tell me again…what is the oath ALL doctors take?

Oh Yes, “TO DO NO HARM”.

Need I say more?

Man Boobs...brought to you by Risperidone

so listen up guys…here’s the kicker to the EPPIC DeLorean Club aka Patrick McGorry & Co.

Boys and men using the anti-psychotic drug Risperidone (Risperdal)  this is what you may have to look forward to…abnormal breast growth i.e. enlargement of the breasts called gynecomastia.

Yes! They are called Man Boobs!

Gynecomastia (gy-neco-mas-tia) refers to excessive development or persistent enlargement of the male breast. Or in other words, benign enlargement of the glandular tissue of the breast and accumulation of fibro-fatty tissue and YOU don’t have to be overweight for it to happen to YOU, it can strike any adolescent male [or adult man] taking Risperidone and it’s devastating.

Risperdal has been found to increase a hormone called prolactin which stimulates breast growth. The full description of this side effect is not mentioned on the package insert or on the FDA site or product manufacturer’s site. Prolactin is a hormone released by the pituitary gland.

Have you ever seen guys with prominent nipples and or abnormal fullness in the breast area. This is not the body builder look, these are just like FEMALE BREASTS!!!

What will that do for a male child or young adolescents confidence or self esteem? For all of you EPPIC or Patrick McGorry fans…you can thank Patrick for this little surprise EPPIC is delivering. Imagine developing full breasts can that persisted into adulthood! This is NOT BABY FAT!

This condition can be created in the body by effecting the hormone imbalances and is caused by high blood levels of prolactin and low levels of testosterone in the body.

Infertility is one of the symptoms of hormonal imbalance and this is the mother of all imbalances. High blood levels of prolactin have been traced to prescription drugs like Risperidone. Prolactin secretion in the pituitary is normally suppressed by the brain chemical dopamine. Drugs that block the effects of dopamine at the pituitary or deplete dopamine stores in the brain may cause the pituitary to secrete prolactin. Antipsychotic drugs like Risperidone are well known to cause Man Boobs and even the secretion of breast milk in men.

Ouch!!! Those are some Man Boobs!!!

This has to be one of the most embarrassing conditions an adolescent male can develop. The psychological scars are frighting. Any child or adolescent male with this condition will more than likely have serious body image problems and secondary behavior disturbances, such as withdrawing from their peers, avoiding important group social or sports activities and…oh yes…depression. And just at a time when adolescent males are most concerned with their overall image – zap – Man Boobs can strike.

Because this is such a touchy subject there hasn’t been a lot of research done and so it seems like the stats are low but don’t let that fool you.  Some parents will not even notice the condition because they never see their sons without layers of baggy tee-shirts on or they will assume that he’s just gained a bit of weight.

DON’T assume anything because the news about Risperidone and it’s ability to affect hormonal imbalance just keeps getting worse. How? Infertility may be a symptom of hormonal imbalance.That’s right, no prodigy, no children, No grandchildren! No getting it up.

As most of us have heard the World Health Organization wants the worlds population to decrease and governments want more [work] productivity, so with Risperidone EPPIC should be able to produce an entire generation of sexually dysfunctional and sterile individuals that will be programed to work but never be able to have sex and never reproduce.

Man Boobs are not easy to get rid of because you can’t diet them away. Very expensive surgery may be the only answer to get your body back to normal…well if you don’t count the scaring. You think that’s farfetched? Well let’s just wait ten years and see what happens!

Risperidone has many other side effects that have been recorded in many clinical studies. To sum it up, the research indicates that Risperidone’s most common side effects included: drowsiness in up to 67% of people taking this drug, increased appetite in up to 49%, upper respiratory infections in up to 34%, fatigue in up to 30%, agitation in up to 26%, insomnia in up to 26%, increased salivation in up to 22%, anxiety in up to 20%, dizziness in up to 16%, nausea in up to 16%, and headaches can occur in up to 14% of individuals who take this drug.

And on top of all that other side effects include dry mouth, constipation, diarrhea, indigestion, heartburn, vomiting, runny or irritated nose, sore throat, difficulty controlling bladder, vision changes, back pain, joint pain, chest pain, muscle pain, toothaches, sinus infections, coughing, fever, dry skin, decreased concentration, confusion, sexual problems, and acne have been found to occur in up to 13% of individuals who take this medication. OMG I’ve counted 37 side effects already!

Is this really a small price to pay to have our next generation saved from Patrick McGorry’s threat of ‘possible psychosis’?

Let’s take this into consideration. The most shocking thing about these statistic is that these recorded percentages are at the lower end of the scale because more that 60% of side effect suffers don’t report their side effects and if they do tell their GP many are told the side effects will go away in a few days and to keep taking the drugs.

By the way that’s not the end of this list of potentially harmful side effects! Some side effects of Risperidone are very serious and should receive immediate medical attention, these side effects include: signs of diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), tachycardia (rapid heart rate), extreme hunger, rapid or extreme weight gain, suicidal thoughts, depression, uncontrollable muscle contractions, and any abnormal muscle movements as these abnormal movements may become permanent if use of this medication is not stopped immediately. I’ll bet you didn’t know about the last one.

There’s always the hope that your doctor or pharmacist may already be aware of any possible drug interactions and may be monitoring for them…OR NOT. Some people who take this medication may find it ineffective and become physically dependent on it or experience serious withdrawal symptoms if the drug is discontinued.

I have one last thing to say. Nice one Patrick! let’s get them hooked on a psychotropic drug designed for debilitating schizophrenia just in case they might be the 1 out of 9 kids that really needs help and when they show serious signs of potentially harmful side effects…take the drugs away and hope for the best…hopefully their parents won’t sue that pants off you.

NOTE: I have purposely use general references instead of scientific ones so that the information can be easily read and understood by anyone.