Newly confirmed Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Kennedy, Jr., has been assigned the chair of the newly established Make America Healthy Again Commission and, apparently, antidepressants will finally get a much-needed review.
Specifically, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) long have been the antidepressant “treatment” of choice for numerous alleged mental disorders. That’s right…” alleged.” Let’s just get it straight at the beginning so there’s no mistake about what is and is not being “treated.”
There is no science to support any objective, confirmable abnormality, that is any psychiatric diagnosis. That does not mean that people do not experience depression, anxiety, high and lows, etc. It simply means that psychiatric diagnosing is completely subjective, making it difficult, if not impossible, to realistically “treat” a non-existing abnormality. What is being “treated” is a behavior, which is exactly what psychiatry studies…behaviors. Neurologists, not psychiatrists, study diseases (abnormalities) of the brain.
Now, having said that, long ago the “chemical imbalance” theory became the psycho/pharmaceutical answer as the cause behind most of the unwanted, bothersome, life-interrupting behaviors. The mantra was “your depression is due to a chemical imbalance.” You’re depressed? Take an SSRI. You’re anxious? Take an SSRI. On and on. SSRIs were the answer to happy land.
Over the forty-odd years since the first SSRI, Eli Lilly’s Prozac (Fluoxetine), hit the market, much has been learned, including that the “chemical imbalance” does not exist and was thoroughly debunked by Professor Joanna Moncrief in 2023. And, more importantly, the public has learned that SSRI antidepressants have some serious adverse events associated with use.
First and foremost, it is important to recall that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires a Black Box Waring for suicidality on all antidepressants. That’s right, the FDA believes that taking the mind-altering drugs can cause someone to commit suicide. But frankly, there are other dangerous side effects, including the following examples a few antidepressants:
Zoloft: emotional lability, aggravated depression, aggressive reaction, aggression, agitation, anxiety, depersonalization, depression, nightmares, mania, hallucination, psychosis, paranoia, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt.
Prozac: insomnia, anxiety, abnormal dreams, agitation, hostility, hypomania, mania, personality disorder, abnormal thinking, depersonalization, paranoid reaction, psychosis, suicidal thoughts and behavior, suicide attempt, aggression, delusions, and hallucinations.
Trazadone: Confusion, mania/hypomania, aggressive reaction, agitation (sometimes exacerbating to delirium), anxiety, cognitive impairment, confusional state, delusions, discontinuation syndrome, hallucinations, hypomania, insomnia, mania, nightmares, restlessness, suicidal behavior, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, abnormal dreams, paranoid reaction, psychosis.
It is of interest that a recent article by NBC’s Nathan Howard poo pooed much of what is known about the psychiatric mind-altering antidepressants. Howard writes, “Kennedy has amplified false claims linking SSRIs to school shootings. He maintained in the recent hearings that he believes a possible connection “should be studied, along with other potential culprits.”
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