SSRIs and other antidepressants
Prozac®, Zoloft®, Paxil®, Luvox®, Celexa®, Effexor®, Wellbutrin®, and other antidepressants.
DocumentsDate added
Psychiatric drug-induced Chronic Brain Impairment (CBI): Implications for longterm treatment with psychiatric medication. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine, 23: 193-200.
Peter R. Breggin, MD
Abstract: Understanding the hazards associated with long-term exposure
to psychiatric drugs is very important but rarely emphasized in the
scientific literature and clinical practice. Drawing on the scientific
literature and clinical experience, the author describes the syndrome of
Chronic Brain Impairment (CBM) which can be caused by any trauma to the
brain including Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), electroconvulsive therapy
(ECT), and long-term exposure to psychiatric medications. Knowledge of
the syndrome should enable clinicians to more easily identify long-term
adverse effects caused by psychiatric drugs while enabling researchers
to approach the problem with a more comprehensive understanding of the
common elements of brain injury as they are manifested after long-term
exposure to psychiatric medications. Treatment options are also
discussed.
Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Volume 12, Number 2, 2010.
Peter R. Breggin, MD
The newer antidepressants frequently cause suicide, violence, and manic-like symptoms of activation or overstimulation, presenting serious hazards to active-duty soldiers who carry weapons under stressful conditions. These antidepressant-induced symptoms of activation can mimic posttraumatic stress disorder and are likely to worsen this common disorder in soldiers, increasing the hazard when they are prescribed to military personnel. Antidepressants should not be prescribed to soldiers during or after deployment.
"Intoxication Anosognosia: The Spellbinding Effect of Psychiatric Drugs", Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 8, 201-215, 2006.
ABSTRACT: Why do so many individuals persist in taking psychoactive substances, including psychiatric drugs, after adverse mental and behavioral effects have become severe and even disabling? The author has previously proposed the brain-disabling principle of psychiatric treatment that all somatic psychiatric treatments impair the function of the brain and mind. Intoxication anosognosia (medication spellbinding) is an expression of this druginduced mental disability. Intoxication anosognosia causes the victim to underestimate the degree of drug-induced mental impairment, to deny the harmful role that the drug plays in the person’s altered state, and in many cases compel the individual to mistakenly believe that he or she is functioning better. In the extreme, the individual displays out-of-character compulsively destructive behaviors, including violence toward self and others.
"Recent US, Canadian and British regulatory agency actions concerning antidepressant-induced harm to self and others: a review and analysis," International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 16 (2004).
More focus is needed on the risk of activation or stimulation as described in the new class of warnings from the Food and Drug Administration, including anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia, hypomania, mania and other unusual changes of behavior, worsening of depression and suicidal ideation.
Evidence from many sources confirm SSRIs commonly cause or exacerbate a wide range of abnormal mental and behavioral conditions. International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 16 (2003/2004) 31-49.
Report filed with the court stating Dr. Breggin's belief that Paxil induced Reynaldo Lacuzong to commit murder.
Information on antidepressant-induced akathisia comes to light with court filing in Lacuzong case.
Paxil Special Report II: Second special report in a series providing excerpts from Dr. Breggin's 1999 product liability report in the CA case of Lacuzong v. GlaxoSmithKline alleging that Paxil (paroxetine) caused a double murder and suicide. Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry 8 (2006) 91-100.
Paxil Special Report III: The third special report in a series providing excerpts from Dr. Breggin's 1999 product liability report in the CA case of Lacuzong v. GlaxoSmithKline, alleging that Paxil (paroxetine) caused a double murder and suicide. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry 8 (2006) 255-263.
Recent US, Canadian, and British regulatory agency actions concerning antidepressant-induced harm to
01/28/2007
