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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
internet quacks
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
internet quacks
by u2crew, Jun 08, 2004 12:00AM
Just wondering what you think about these people like Dr. Anne Blake Tracy Phd. who claim that antidepressants are the devil and that they turn people mentally retarded and insane. There are a bunch of these doctors around and they make claims like this in books like Prozac Truth, and Prozac Backlash. Is there any kernal of truth to this because I have been taking Zoloft for 6 years and would be devastated and probably commit suicide if this turns out to be true. Like I mean there have been thousands of studies on these SSRI's and almost all of them indicate that SSRI's are safe. So are the ones that say Zoloft is bad not true? I've talked to around 20 different doctors and they say that all indications of these pro SSRI studies show no sign, not even a hint that SSRI's give people brain damage. I mean these drugs have been around for quite a while now and have been extensively tested. If there was some sort of indication of horrible problems like memory loss then would it not have been caught if you consider the fact that so many people depend on these drugs. I mean are there people out there that take Zoloft for years and retain their brain power? and ability to learn and read complex things? My doctor believes that not only are they not giving the depressed person brain damage but they are improving their chance of any shrinkage in the hippocampus because of the depression.
What do you have to say about these people who post in health forums who claim this and that horrible thing happened to them after taking these drugs. And how about the extreme opposite where people say these drugs have helped them and have no permanent effects. How could the drug cause brain damage in some and not in others. This makes no sense!
I mean what is the agenda of these quack doctors who claim everyone should go off their antidepressants. This is what Dr. Anne Blake Tracy said. Another one of these doctors is supposedly Dr. Joseph Glenmullen.
Why are these people allowed to publish such things and scare the **** out of people taking them?
Please help, this bothers me like a splinter in my mind.
Thanks, crazyness
What do you have to say about these people who post in health forums who claim this and that horrible thing happened to them after taking these drugs. And how about the extreme opposite where people say these drugs have helped them and have no permanent effects. How could the drug cause brain damage in some and not in others. This makes no sense!
I mean what is the agenda of these quack doctors who claim everyone should go off their antidepressants. This is what Dr. Anne Blake Tracy said. Another one of these doctors is supposedly Dr. Joseph Glenmullen.
Why are these people allowed to publish such things and scare the **** out of people taking them?
Please help, this bothers me like a splinter in my mind.
Thanks, crazyness
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Jun 10, 2004 12:00AM
, Jun 10, 2004 12:00AM
I will tell you approx 7 yrs ago I was on so many meds (way over medicated) I dont even remember half of them but at one time it was over 16 pills a day some SSRI's and some MAOI's together which they say is very bad along with some benzo's etc and I went off cold turkey (off course in the hospital for safety) and for the last 5 yrs I have been more articulate and even bought my first house all by myself so I am living proof you can take even meds that interact with eachother and still not get brain damage.
I am very interested to see what he dr has to say
Examples
The bipolar patient who comes down off a high, only to find him/herself in another depression which is compounded by having :
1. Lost his/her job due to his/her interpersonal lack of charm while high.
2. Lost his/her family through infidelity caused by his/her hightened sexdrive.
3. aquired a serious STD or maybe even AIDS.
The depressive with self-destructive and suicidal behaviours.
These illness are themselves potentially very dangerous!
It is equally interesting to note how many people with mental illness take alcohol and illegal drugs - sometimes "to deal with their problems" - which are not regulated and frequently do cause "brain damage". Alcohol can damage memory, speech, etc. Drugs like E may cause problems such as Depression!
Yet pharmacuticals that are regulated and supervised are frequently subjected to greater scrutiny by the using community.
Ask yourself have/do you smoke, or drink, or take illicit drugs, and if you have done so or do so, are you really asking the question for fear of brain damage?
Smoking leads to strokes - a great way to damage the little grey cells.
All the best
Dr. Candice Pert who discovered the opiate receptor in the brain said she was concerned with the effect of these drugs on the intricate workings of the mind and body. She calls it the body/mind.
I am sick of pharmaceutical drugs. It sickens me to even think that this industry is making such a killing off of the public and in the process are actually killing us in the long run. I believe that some drugs have a place only if people have exhausted every other resource.
It is time that the physicians of this country took seriously the words of the man who wrote the oath that they take "PHYSICIAN HEAL THYSELF"!!
Hippocrates
Cocane - comes from plants ditto.
Pot - comes from plants ditto.
Cholestrol comes from "natural" products but is bad for us.
Lithium is absolutely natural we evolved with it - first used some 2000 years ago in Italy to deal with mood disorders. People used to go to a particular lake and take the waters. The thing is the waters were rich in Lithium. The advantage today is that the lithium is purified and is of a known dosage so that the sympthoms of excess are avoided.
A plant - something natural that we evolved with - used to be used for period pain and effectively dealt with the pain. However eventually people noticed that people were dying and eventually realised that it was those people who were using this plant that were dying. The reason why people died was because the plant contained a lowish dose of a poison and with repeated use it killed them, however it had an adequate dose of the chemical found in asprin and this was what was helping the pain. Today thanks to "un-natural" method - a stupid concept as everything in nature is natural - we can extract the asprin and use it without those murderous effects of "Natural" traditional cures.
It should always be kept in mind that natural things are frequently poisonous and bad for us because they evolved with us and found it necessary to avoid being eaten out of existence by us.
Yours
Shaun
how the hell do you think the research is done for these drugs. Where are the cured? Don't take it on face value there are many differing and rational views about mental health.
Sam Hall
It is well known fact that the companys producing the major ssris with held placebo test results that would have shown tha the difference between them was statistically insignificant.
Response :
It is known that recently some pharma companies have been selectively releasing research THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE. Many, including myself shout this to the heavens. However, the data though ommited does not of itself invalidate other contradictory data which asserts the opposite. I have seen several well performed pieces of research that support the hypothesis that SSRI can be effective relative to placebo. Furthermore, I have met many a person who find them helpful. Some of these people had been through suicide attempts etc. before. So, I think what ever the pro's and con's these people benefitted and shouldn't be denied access to medication which appears to be of benefit to them.
Sam Hall says:
Neuroleptics have caused Tardive Dyskanesia in millions of people world wide,who now shuffle around with lolling tongues.
Response :
Until the advent of Neuroleptics, Schizophrenia often left people in a degenerative spiral that lead to permenent institutionalisation. Untreated, people with schizophrenia have entered states that make Tardive Dyskenesia look glammerous. A very good friend of mine on neuroleptics has managed to complete a PhD. Before the medication he had little or no contact with reality and was living under a bridge. He used to be unwashed, hair in a lice infested mat, and drooled incessantly between the gaps in his teeth left by the teeth he removed - "the voices which told him to remove them"!
Sam Hall says:
The quacks are the psychiatrists who attempt to treat symptoms of disorders about which they know little or nothing of the cause. Do you home work how the hell do you think the research is done for these drugs.
Response :
Yes, there is a lot to be learned about mental health issues. But, I won't be waiting on the results of unscientifically evaluated musings of the ill informed to shed any light on the issue. Some of us are very aware of how this research is performed, and understand that whatever the failings, the scientific peer reviewed process will untimately provide the soundest knowledge obtainable. We are also very aware of the sophistry and lack of validity in the approach of those who are selling food stuffs at exorbitant and exploitative prices claiming wonderous properties for nothing more than modern day snake-oil. It so easy to point out other's failings - it makes it so easy to hide ones own.
Sam Hall says:
Where are the cured?
Response :
I've pointed out an example of a person whose life has turned around thanks to treatment. So the underlying condition is there. But look at how many diabetics