Prozac Causes Depression

Antidepressants Kill Again

2008-02-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

From the Rocky Mountain News:

Edward C. Krug, Ph.D

February 28, 2008

We have just had another antidepressant-induced murderous rampage at a school. As a biochemist and minister, I need to point out some things that are missing in the public discussion of these tragedies.

First, these antidepressants cause chemical imbalances. The body is well perfected by God and evolution. When you introduce an outside chemical to change the body, the body pushes back, reacts. For example, when you first start drinking coffee for the extra energy, you get jangles or nerves, the result of a chemical imbalance. Continue drinking coffee and the caffeine lift decreases as your body compensates to the chemical imbalance created by the caffeine. Stop drinking coffee and you get headaches as your body adapts to the chemical imbalance caused by caffeine withdrawal. Antidepressants create far worse chemical imbalances.

There is no chemical imbalance that causes the depression. This is an advertiser’s lie. Some, long term, inescapable problem causes the person to feel like they are being slowly destroyed. This is called suppression. Strongly suppressed people become depressed. The chemicals are balanced for the stress the person is undergoing. Giving the person drugs that make them feel happier does nothing to change the suppression. They just tolerate it better. If they are lucky, conditions change and they escape the suppression, and the drug is said to have worked. Often, the antidepressants don’t work because the suppression is not handled.

How the person reacts to the drug-induced chemical imbalances depends on the nature of the suppression that caused the person to become depressed. Murder and suicide are just the reactions that get noticed. These individuals have battled the suppression long before they became depressed and the anger and desperation built up determines how they lash out under the antidepressant-induced chemical-imbalance. Without the suppression and drugs, they would be fairly normal people.

The drug-induced chemical imbalance affects another principal of biology: Use it or lose it! The ability to cope with stress is a skill. Under the influence of these happy pills, the ability to cope deteriorates. Remove the drugs, and the stress is now too much, and the person takes desperate measures.

These antidepressants also erode the moral compass we all have. Normally, the idea of causing damage to our self or others stresses us, but less so under antidepressants. Under continued suppression, and now, with a weakened moral compass, people still look for ways to fight back. Elaborate plans can be developed, as we have seen at these school mass murders. Once the person has a plan on how to fight back, a calmness and determination sets it. The moral compass is discarded. The rest is history, and the future.

These murderous rampages will continue to happen because Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising of pharmaceuticals is increasing antidepressant consumption and annual multi-billion dollar sales, paid for by tax dollars and insurance dollars.

Advertising works! Describe a condition well enough and anybody listening will believe they have it, and ask for medicine. It must be true if they say it often enough! Our government is spending millions in the war against drugs, and the pharmaceutical companies are spending so much more to keep us taking more drugs. Antidepressant consumption has skyrocketed. Antidepressant drugs are now measurable in river water leaving major cities, and occasionally in city drinking water. As drug sales go up, the violence will only get worse.

Two actions are required. First, repeal direct-to-consumer drug advertising! Call your congressman, demand it! Second, be a friend, care, take time to listen, and be willing to butt in to stop suppression, bullying and injustice. This message has been repeated by great people throughout history; Love thy Neighbor. Drugs are not answer. Listening and understanding is. The wrong thing to do is nothing. A punch line to an old joke says it best. We don’t need psychiatrists; we have friends!

Edward C. Krug, Ph.D. is a resident of Denver.

Eli Lilly settles 900 more claims over Zyprexa

2008-01-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008801240416

Indianapolis Star

Eli Lilly settles 900 more claims over Zyprexa
January 24, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS -- Eli Lilly and Co. has settled another 900 personal-injury claims against its antipsychotic drug Zyprexa, including five set to go to court next month, thus avoiding what would have been the first trial in the U.S. The Indianapolis drug maker confirmed the settlement Wednesday but declined to reveal the amount. With the latest agreements, Lilly has settled more than 25,000 claims, leaving about 1,100 unsettled. Many of the plaintiffs have claimed Lilly underplayed the drug's side effects, including weight gain and elevated blood sugar. Lilly has set aside $1.2 billion to pay claims.

Mental Health Watchdog Vindicated

2008-01-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

New Report Confirms Psychiatric Drug Risks Kept Buried by Vested Interests

LOS ANGELES: After decades of warning the public that vested interests were burying psychiatric drug risks, vehemently denied by the psychiatric/pharmaceutical industires, the mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says new research published Jan 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine vindicates their demands for full public disclosure.

CCHR has filed Freedom of Information requests to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for adverse reactions reports of antidepressants, helped to orchestrate FDA hearings into the suicidal side effects of antidepressants and filed complaints to government officials and agencies about the conflicts of interest of FDA advisory committee members ignoring the drugs' side effects. In addition, CCHR has issued numerous publications about the cover-up of psychiatric drug side effects and has filed complaints worldwide with licensing boards and other agencies on behalf of people harmed by psychiatric drugs including stimulants, antidepressants and antipsychotics.

Now, a new report in the New England Journal of Medicine entitled, “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy,” has revealed that negative studies on antidepressants are either not being published, or are skewed in a way that makes them appear positive. (See stories running on Fox National News, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal) CCHR says the psychiatric-pharmaceutical cartel is not only misleading the public about the drugs, but also about the disorders for which they are prescribed.

Just this month, U.S. News and World Report confirmed that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) failed to fully disclose the substantial pharmaceutical ties of its task force members, charged with updating and expanding psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, comprised of subjective checklists of symptoms which are then used to categorize new “mental disorders” and bill insurance companies. Even high-ranking psychiatrists such as Steven Sharfstein, former president of the APA, have pointed out the financial corruption in their field. In 2006, Sharfstein admitted, “We have allowed ourselves to be corrupted in this marketplace with lucrative consulting to industry, speaker panels, boards of directors and visits from industry representatives bearing gifts.”

For more information on the financial ties between psychiatrists and drug manufacturers, read CCHR’s publication, Psychiatric Diagnostic Manual Link to Drug Manufacturers.

And Now It's On Reuters...

2008-01-17T13:37:00.000-08:00

This one is blowing up big. Reuters is now carrying the story. One version of it, on AOL, says, "Data on Antidepressants Often Shelved".

In the story, the statistics are incredible. "Nearly a third of antidepressant drugs studies are never published in the medical literature and nearly all happen to show that the drug being tested did not work..." according to the story.

Of 74 studies for 12 antidepressant drugs, 38 produced positive results. All but one of these were published. But only 3 of the 36 studies with negative or questionable results, as assessed by the FDA, were published, and another 11 were written as if the drug had worked when in fact the results of the studies were negative.

Making this data broadly public is a vital step in the right direction. Those of us who have been involved in this movement for a long time already knew this, but not enough people were aware of it. Legislators who want to have the government pay for psychiatric drugs don't know it, for instance.

It's time for a system overhaul.

The Worm Turns On Public Perception Of Big Pharma

2008-01-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

The winds are changing. I saw an episode of Law and Order where the detectives were investigating a series of suicides at a university and traced it to trials of an antidepressant. They further found that the drug company had mounted a series of trials, but bad results vis-a-vis suicide had caused them to brush the previous trials under a rug. They continued to start new trials in the hope that one would be positive so they could publish it. So they arraigned the CEO of the pharmaceutical company for murder!

And only one day later I found an article in the Wall Street Journal: Antidepressants Under Scrutiny Over Efficacy. The subheading is even more heartening: Sweeping Overview Suggests Suppression of Negative Data Has Distorted View of Drugs.

The article addresses the very issue raised dramatically in the Law and Order episode -- the manipulation of multiple trials to showcase the ones that are positive and scuttle the ones that are negative.

The WSJ Online requires a subscription, but if you have one, read the story. It's at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120051950205895415.html?mod=hpp_us_whats_news

Florida May Follow Texas: Investigate and Sue Drug Companies

2008-01-10T07:04:00.000-08:00

Florida undecided as states sue over costly drug program

Daytona Beach News Journal

By Mary MOEWE

January 10, 2008
NEWS: Front Page

They're powerful psychotic drugs, used to treat conditions like schizophrenia. No one knows what their effects are on children, especially infants, yet within seven years the number of children prescribed the drugs in Florida's health insurance program for the poor has nearly doubled.

There's no doubting one side effect, though -- drug companies watched sales soar, aided by a Florida program they helped create

Florida is far from unique. Several states also noted the costly boom of atypical antipsychotics -- a new class of the drug that was touted to have fewer side effects. The states are suing drug makers, alleging the companies pushed newer, untested drugs that proved no more effective in treatments -- but were far more costly.

In Florida, the taxpayers' bill for the drugs jumped from $9 million seven years ago to nearly $30 million in 2006. Whether Florida will join states like Texas, Pennsylvania and South Carolina in trying to recoup some of those costs is unclear.

"Our office is aware of concerns with antipsychotics in Florida's Medicaid program but we cannot acknowledge nor provide any information pertaining to ongoing criminal investigations," said Sandi Copes, a spokeswoman with the Florida Attorney General's office.

Florida Medicaid records show the number of children -- some just months old -- who were prescribed the drugs went from 9,364 seven years ago to 18,137 in 2006. No records for privately insured patients are available.

"The situation is out of control," said David Cohen, a professor at Florida International University who has been studying the use of antipsychotics since 1983. While no long-term studies have been done on the effects the drugs have on children, there is evidence children on the drugs face greater risks of diabetes, hyperglycemia and extreme weight gain, Cohen said.

'MOOD STABILIZERS'

Orange City child psychiatrist Manuel Mota-Castillo said age shouldn't be a factor in determining whether the drug is needed. He has prescribed antipsychotics to children frequently, with the youngest being a 25-month-old child.

"I don't want to use the name 'antipsychotic.' I use 'mood stabilizer,' " said Mota-Castillo, who also worked for three years at Act Corp., the area's main mental health facility.

The 25-month-old child had been kicked out of five day-care centers where complaints included punching other children, he said. "The child's mother came to me in shorts so I could see the bruises and marks (on her)," he said.

Crystal Lamson of Sanford said Mota-Castillo has been treating her bipolar son for more than two years. Ryland, now 7, broke a Plexiglas window at a day-care center when he was 5.

"I get criticized all the time from family members," Lamson said. "(But) there are some children out there who do need them."

Another Sanford parent, Richard Davis, said he watched in horror as his daughter Ciara, then 6, gained 40 pounds, developed breasts and had uncontrollable tongue and facial movements.

"Those drugs were killing her," Davis said.

Over his objections, he said Ciara was given antipsychotics by her mother and while in foster care. A court-appointed guardian also noted the effects in an August 2003 report, describing a visit in which Ciara "never once kept her tongue in her mouth."

Ciara, now 11, was taken off the drugs after about a year, her father said, and she quickly dropped the added weight.

'TAINTED' MONEY

In Florida, even as drug makers were being told to issue warnings about risks, a Florida Legislature-directed program partly funded by pharmaceutical companies was recommending the drugs as treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with tics or intermittent explosive disorder, according to the program's Web site that has since been shut down

According to a study that looked at three years of data, about 40 percent of the antipsychotics prescribed to Florida Medicaid children were given to children diagnosed with ADHD -- a use not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The Florida program was patterned after a Texas project that has spurred a whistle-blower lawsuit. The Florida Algorithm Project used some of the Texas-developed medical formulas that recommended drug treatments for mental diseases.

A year ago Texas joined the whistle-blower suit against Janssen Pharmaceutica and several other Johnson & Johnson subsidiaries. The suit alleges the program's treatment guidelines -- "improperly influenced" and paid for by the drug companies --increased sales of the antipsychotic Risperdal.

An official with Janssen said the company will defend its actions.

"We believe our participation in all aspects of our Texas Risperdal activities were in accordance with what the law required," said Ambre Morley, a company spokeswoman.

Florida pilot programs using the Texas-developed guidelines began in 2001, according to state documents. Act Corp. in Volusia County was one of 15 sites that adopted the program until it was discontinued in September 2004.

James Bax, a former director of the Florida program, said the project began with funding from pharmaceutical companies.

"It did not take me long to realize that the money from the drug companies was tainted," Bax said. "Once I got into it, I saw what I thought was very insidious."

According to the program's defunct Web site, Bax was director only a couple of months before a retired Johnson & Johnson employee took the title.

In 2002, the Florida Legislature permitted the Department of Children & Families to accept grants from pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop training for health care organizations serving public sector clients, according to a September 2003 Agency for Health Care letter about the Florida program.

When first interviewed, those familiar with the program said they did not recall any ADHD-related information. But archived pages from the program's Internet site show the program had more guidelines on how to treat ADHD than any other ailment. A 2004 report about the program's progress pointed to the development of an ADHD guideline as an accomplishment.

Rajive Tandon, chief psychiatrist for the Mental Health Program Office with Florida's Department of Children & Families, said he's not sure how much impact the Florida program had on the increased use of antipsychotics.

"It certainly was a contributing factor," he said.

Doctors believed the new antipsychotics were better, Tandon said, citing "aggressive marketing."

But the new antipsychotics proved no more effective than older drugs in two significant studies -- one published in 2005 in the New England Journal of Medicine and another in the Journal of the American Medical Association published in 2003, said Cohen, the antipsychotics expert at Florida International.

Tandon said Florida should consider a lawsuit like other states.

"Should we at least look into it? Absolutely," he said, calling for, at minimum, an investigation into the Florida program's funding and impacts. "Then basically hold the appropriate people responsible."

The Dark Side - Cold War Psychiatric Experiments

2008-01-05T05:04:00.000-08:00

In the course of pursuing my preoccupation with the antics of psychiatry and the drug industry, I occasionally stumble onto stories about the dark underbelly of the beast. Even I sometimes am tempted to stop what I'm reading and quietly look the other way.

The CIA's MKULTRA experiments during the cold war were among history's most frightening footnotes, and they definitely helped to set up the environment we have today with school kids on psychiatric drugs shooting up their classmates and themselves.

Read this story in Freedom Magazine about a woman in Canada who finally achieved some closure for her experience as a psychiatric guinea pig in this program; repeatedly electroshocked, heavily drugged and subjected to techniques that can best be labeled as torture.

Justice Served -- But Injustices Remain

You Gotta Love 'Em

2008-01-03T17:04:00.001-08:00

Don't you love psychs? Here is another lovable shrink going about the dereliction of his duties.

http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880102050

January 02, 2008

The Florida Department of Health is trying to take away the medical license of a Fort Myers doctor who was sentenced to over two years in prison for handing out drugs to patients without physical examinations.

The Department of Health filed an administrative complaint against Cecilio Pizarro for giving out prescriptions for Xanax, methadone, Oxycontin, Dilaudid and Valium.

In some cases, Pizarro allegedly agreed to administer the drugs in exchange for sexual intercourse.

According to the complaint, Pizarro also prescribed pain killers to a detective with the Fort Myers Police Department in exchange for sexual intercourse.

Pizarro was indicted by a grand jury March 14 for two counts of knowingly and willfully distributing controlled substances. Pizarro pled guilty to both counts and was sentenced to 27 months in prison Sept. 25.

Brave New World: Mental Health Screening In Boston

2007-12-27T12:29:00.000-08:00

Please assist before this infiltrates your area!

"Families may decline the screening if they wish. If a screen turns up signs of potential trouble, it is also up to the family whether to pursue further help and an official diagnosis.
The new requirement applies to the 460,000 children and young adults covered by Massachusett's Medicaid program, at annual checkups from birth to age 21."

Dr. John Abramson, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of "Overdosed America." says: "What happens is that there's a very quick translation of mental health symptoms into drug treatment."

Write a letter to the editor, click here: http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/write/ and please get this info to all your friends in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/12/27/mental_screening_for_young_to_begin/?page=1

The Boston Globe

Mental screening for young to begin
Mass. doctors to offer questionnaires for children on Medicaid
By Carey Goldberg
Globe Staff / December 27, 2007

As of Monday, annual checkups for the nearly half a million Massachusetts children on Medicaid will carry a new requirement: Doctors must offer simple questionnaires to detect warning signs of possible mental health problems, from autism in toddlers to depression in teens.

The checklists vary by age but ask questions about children's behavior - whether they are spending more time alone, seeming to have less fun, having trouble sleeping - that are designed to trigger discussion between parents and doctors. The conversations may or may not lead to a referral to a specialist.

Over the last several years, such questionnaires have increasingly become the standard of care in pediatric practices, but - spurred by legal action - Massachusetts is jumping ahead of other states by requiring the screens for all its young Medicaid recipients.

The new requirement represents "a huge step forward in a direction that is a national trend," said Dr. Robin Adair, a University of Massachusetts Medical School pediatrician and screening specialist.

Supporters say the screening can catch issues earlier, before they develop into hard-to-manage crises.

Skeptics warn that more children could end up on heavy-duty medications that they don't really need.

"In a more perfect world, screening for mental illness amongst children would clearly be a good idea," said Dr. John Abramson, a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and author of "Overdosed America."

"But let's look at the realities of the world we live in," he said. "What happens is that there's a very quick translation of mental health symptoms into drug treatment."

Others wonder how Massachusetts' overburdened mental health system for children will handle the new patients the screening is expected to identify.

Already, children's psychiatrists and psychologists are often overbooked. Children with serious mental illness sometimes end up stuck in psychiatric hospitals for lack of mental health services in the community.

If, as expected, the new screening requirement turns up more children with mental health problems, "I do think it creates a potential additional access problem," said Dr. David DeMaso, chief of psychiatry at Children's Hospital Boston.

The new screening requirement stems from a lawsuit, Rosie D. v. Romney, that accused the state of falling down on its obligations to poor, mentally ill children. The federal judge in the case ruled in January 2006 that Massachusetts must improve its care, and the new requirement is the first step in the state's court-ordered remedy plan.

Families may decline the screening if they wish. If a screen turns up signs of potential trouble, it is also up to the family whether to pursue further help and an official diagnosis.
The new requirement applies to the 460,000 children and young adults covered by MassHealth, the state Medicaid program, at annual checkups from birth to age 21.

The state's private insurers generally already reimburse children's doctors for such written screens, and Medicaid will now pay $9.73 to cover the testing.

The majority of pediatricians still rely on conversational questions such as "How are you doing in school?" or "Does your child have friends?" But research shows that written questionnaires are more accurate at picking up potential problems.

The tests can also home in on children whose problems might otherwise be missed. According to national estimates, about 10 percent of children have some sort of significant psycho-social problem, from hyperactivity to anxiety to stress from living amid domestic violence.

"The earlier we intervene, the more impact we can have on brain development," DeMaso said.

The screening is not meant to produce a diagnosis, but rather to act as a "check engine light," calling attention to a potential problem, said Lisa Lambert, executive director of the Parent/Professional Advocacy League, which represents families with mentally ill children.

"If it lights up, you need to call your mechanic, find out what the problem is and if it needs to be repaired," she said.

One of the league's family support specialists, Kathy Hamelin of Fitchburg, said her own experience as the mother of an autistic son has convinced her that expanded early screening is one of the best things to come out of the Rosie D. case.

When her now 17-year-old son, Kevin, was a toddler, she said, he would scream and cry all the time, smash his head against the wall when frustrated, and flap his hands bizarrely. When she asked her pediatrician about the hand-flapping, he said, "That's nothing. That's just an excitement reflex and he'll outgrow it." In fact, she said, it is a classic autism trait. Kevin's diagnosis and treatment came only years later.

If the pediatrician had used an autism screening tool, it might have sounded an early alarm.

"Our family suffered tremendously because of this," she said, "and I just feel like if he had had early diagnosis, not only the pain and frustration we felt as overwhelmed parents would have been less, but we would have received early intervention," which "would have put him in a much better position than he is now."

As the routine screening gets underway, the state will be tracking how many children are tested and how many screens indicate a need for follow-up, said Emily Sherwood, who is overseeing the state's remedy for the Rosie D. case as director of its Children's Behavioral Health Interagency Initiatives. The state also plans to expand mental health services for children and make them more family friendly.

She said parents and clinicians may decide on a variety of responses to worrisome scores: to wait and watch a while. To handle the problems themselves. Or to seek a referral to a mental health specialist.

The screenings in doctors' offices "help us understand mental health as a part of health," she said. "It's really up to parents and primary care clinicians how they want to use this tool."
Medicaid law already requires that children be screened annually for various problems, such as hearing and vision loss, as well as for mental illness. This new requirement specifies the method of screening for mental health problems, asking clinicians to choose from among eight standard tools for the screening. Each screen is geared toward a target age; some look for specific problems, such as substance abuse and autism.

Research suggests that the screens will boost the number of children referred to mental health providers - but not overwhelmingly.

Dr. Karen Hacker, executive director of the Institute for Community Health at Cambridge Health Alliance, has used and researched mental health screening for four years, and has found that between 5 percent and 7 percent of children score high enough to cause concern. Other practices have found rates as high as 12 percent.

But, she pointed out, many of those children were already in counseling. Some families decided not to pursue further help, and of those who did, many did not show up at appointments. She has not seen a dramatic uptick in the use of psychiatric medications since the screens were added to routine care, she said, though she understands that is a cause for concern.

"We're going to have to see how this unfolds," she said.

Carey Goldberg can be reached at goldberg@globe.com.

Patients Sue, Say Drug Is Addictive

2007-12-17T15:35:00.000-08:00

The Daily Mail (UK)

17 November, 2007

Sufferers Sue 'Happy Pill' Firm for 30 million GBP

*GBP: In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the British Pound.

Pharmaceutical giant Glaxo-SmithKline is facing a £30million damages claim from users of its anti-depressant Seroxat.

Lawyers representing patients who insist the bestselling drug is addictive have issued the first of 600 High Court writs against the company, each seeking compensation of up to £50,000.

Since first prescribed in Britain in 1990, Seroxat has been linked to at least 50 suicides of adults and children.

GSK, which makes up to £1billion a year from the drug, is already embroiled in lawsuits with American users...

More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=494678&in_page_id=1770

Counselor cited for phony billing to hide an affair

2007-12-13T09:56:00.000-08:00

Counselor cited for phony billing to hide an affair with ex-patient

Dec. 13, 2007

BY JOE VANHOOSE
STAR-BANNER

OCALA - The Florida Department of Health has disciplined an Ocala mental health counselor accused of phony billing designed to hide an extramarital affair with a former patient.

His wife - now his ex-wife - kept the books.

Michael Kean Weaver, 52, was reprimanded on Nov. 19 by the State Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Mental Health Counseling. He currently practices at Rapha Counseling Center in Ocala.

His alleged actions violated a state law prohibiting "misleading, deceptive, untrue, or fraudulent representations in the practice of mental health counseling."

He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $3,368 in costs and complete 12 hours of ethics classes.

According to the administrative complaint, Weaver had a physical relationship with a former patient from July 2002 through March 2004. Weaver had counseled the patient from June 1997 to April 2000.

Relationships like this, according to an investigator for the Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Florida, are occurring more and more frequently.

"I've run into all kinds of cases with psychologists or counselors having sex with their patients, probably over 100 over the last few years," said Ken Kramer, an investigator for the commission who monitors state reports daily. "But what's really interesting about this case is that he faked documents to cover up his affair. I've never seen that before."

To keep his wife from finding out about his extramarital relationship, Weaver created billing records that indicated the patient received treatment through March 2004, according to the complaint.

In a settlement signed Sept. 12, Weaver acknowledged probable cause for the case against him but did not accept or deny the allegations. He refused to comment Wednesday to the Star-Banner.

Kramer believes that Weaver got off too easy.

"There's a lot more the board could have done, like take away his license," Kramer said. "If you sleep with a current patient, that's a felony. He changed his records to make her a current patient."

Read the original article here.

Watchdog Says Omaha Mall Shootings Reflect Why They Launched Startling PSAs

2007-12-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

How Many Antidepressant-Induced Massacres Will It Take To Get Federal Investigation?

LOS ANGELES: 19-year-old Robert Hawkins, who killed eight people and wounded five before committing suicide in an Omaha, Nebraska mall, appears to be the latest kid killer under the influence of psychiatric drugs (click here for CNN video) documented to cause violence, mania, psychosis, suicide and “homicidal ideation.” With ten recent school shooters under the influence of psychiatric drugs, the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) a mental health watchdog, says the government can no longer ignore the violence inducing effects of these drugs and must launch a federal investigation. With 39 dead and 84 wounded from these ten recent drug-induced shootings alone, CCHR produced a series of three startling new PSAs, called “Get the Facts - Fight Back”, depicting the consequences of prescribing violence and suicide inducing psychiatric drugs to children and teens (click here to watch PSAs).

The groups says the evidence of drugs causing violence, murder and homicide is overwhelming – yet ignored due to billions in drug company/psychiatric profits. In September 2006, Dr. David Healy, director of the North Wales Department of Psychological Medicine, and colleagues published the findings of their study of the antidepressant, Paxil, in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine stating: “We've got good evidence that the drugs can make people violent and you'd have to reason from that that there may be more episodes of violence.” (link)

Fox National News reporter Douglas Kennedy exposed the link between school shooters and antidepressant/psychiatric drug use in his ground breaking expose “Deadly Drugs” as far back as 2002. (link)

Despite the deadly side effects, antidepressants are commonly prescribed to children and teens, raking in $20.6 billion in profits worldwide in 2006. In the meantime, the senseless drug-induced violence continues, taking a heavy toll on our nation’s children and teens.

CCHR launched the PSAs to help galvanize the public to demand a federal investigation of the violence inducing effects of psychiatric drugs before more children and innocent bystanders are murdered. The group fought for more than a decade against vested psychiatric and pharmaceutical interests to have black box suicide warnings added to antidepressants, and was the first to expose the suicidal effects of the drugs in 1991 – 13 years before the government took action and finally issued the black box suicide warnings on all antidepressant drugs in 2004. Click here to watch a video of the 1991 FDA hearing on antidepressants and violence/suicide.

CCHR has also published a report Psychiatric Drugs and Anger Management Curricula—A Perspective on School Violence, which can be found by clicking here.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights is an international psychiatric watchdog group co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights. Contact CCHR's Media Department at 800-869-2247 or humanrights@cchr.org.

Omaha Shooter Robert Hawkins Had Been "Treated" For ADHD, Depression

2007-12-07T16:31:00.000-08:00

Read this right-on article about the shooting in Omaha by Mike Adams. It's at http://www.newstarget.com/022330.html

Adams says (NewsTarget) America seems shocked that, yet again, a young male would pick up an assault rifle and murder his fellow citizens, then take his own life. This is what happened last night in Omaha, Nebraska, where the 19-year-old Hawkins killed himself and eight other people with an assault rifle. Those lacking keen observation skills are quick to blame guns for this tragedy, but others who are familiar with the history of such violent acts by young males instantly recognize a more sinister connection: A history of treatment with psychiatric drugs for depression and ADHD.

It all started in Columbine, Colorado, when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold massacred their way into the history books on April 20, 1999 by killing 12 and wounding 23 people. The mainstream media virtually glorified the event, yet utterly failed to report the connection between violence in young men and treatment with psychiatric drugs. (Both Harris and Klebold were taking antidepressant drugs.)

It's a little known fact that antidepressant drugs have never been tested on children nor approved by the FDA for use on children. It is well established in the scientific literature, however, that such drugs cause young men to think violent thoughts and commit violent acts. This is precisely why the U.K. has outright banned the prescribing of such drugs to children. Yet here in the United States -- the capitol of gun violence by kids on depression drugs -- the FDA and drug companies pretend that mind-altering drugs have no link whatsoever to behavior.

Adams goes on to cite enormous evidence linking mind-altering drugs with violent acts.

The truth is coming out.

New CCHR Interview with Former Eli Lilly Drug Chemist

2007-12-04T04:21:00.000-08:00

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) U.S. President Bruce Wiseman interviews chemist Shane Ellison in this new “Take America Back” radio show exposing the corruption within the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industries. (link)

Ellison abandoned his career in manufacturing drugs for Eli Lilly when he discovered that the drugs he was making were not intended to cure real diseases. Instead, he discovered that “illnesses,” including ADHD and depression, were being invented and marketed to the population so that drugs could be sold to virtually any healthy individual. Ellison explains that the drugs often cause the very symptoms they are supposed to “cure”. After leaving the pharmaceutical industry, Ellison became an authority on therapeutic nutrition, starting a company that offers nutritional supplements and writing a book called Health Myths Exposed.

Wiseman points out that the black box warnings on antidepressants exemplifies how the drugs can cause serious side effects, including what they allegedly cure—antidepressants allegedly alleviate depression but in fact can cause suicidal thoughts and behavior. Confirming that none of the drugs are curing depression whatsoever, Ellison likens antidepressants to a chemical lobotomy.

With Pharma money and their lobbyists heavily influencing politicians, the host warns that two bills are currently pending in Congress forwarding the profitable lie that psychiatric diagnoses are real and need “treatment”.

Wiseman urges listeners to contact their federal representatives and insist that these measures are not passed: The Mental Health Parity Bill, which mandates that insurance cover psychiatric treatment equally with physical treatment, and the Mother’s Act, which supports “mental health screening” of new moms.

Click here to listen to the show.

Bipolar Kids or Bad Parents?

2007-12-03T15:35:00.001-08:00

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07322/834548-109.stm

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

Bipolar kids or bad parents?

At the urging of parents, doctors are medicating far too many kids who just need a better upbringing, according to

Dr. Elizabeth J. Roberts who is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and the author of "Should You Medicate Your Child's Mind?"

Sunday, November 18, 2007

On Dec. 13, 2006, 4-year-old Rebecca Riley died, drowning in her own lung secretions. Her death was the direct result of psychiatric medications which had been prescribed to her for a presumed diagnosis of bipolar disorder -- a diagnosis first given to her when she was only 2 years old.

In September 2007, researchers at Columbia University reported that there had been a 40-fold increase in the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder from 1994 to 2003 -- an increase which has shown no signs of slowing.

Worse than the current frenzy to diagnose children with bipolar disorder is the practice of medicating kids as young as 2 with the kinds of psychiatric medications that were once prescribed only to psychotic adults. The shocking reality is that the use of these potent anti-psychotic drugs in children increased more than 500 percent between 1993 and 2002.

This dramatic rise in childhood bipolar disorder has spurred a raging debate in the mental health field. Some psychiatrists insist that this incredible increase is entirely due to the identification of mentally ill children who had been previously overlooked.

Yet a 4,000 percent increase in childhood mental illness, specifically bipolar disorder, is simply implausible and difficult to justify based solely on improved diagnostic techniques. To the contrary, in the 30-plus years that I have been treating, educating and caring for children -- half of that time as a child psychiatrist -- I have found that the approach to diagnostics in psychiatry clearly has deteriorated over time, not improved.

There was a time when doctors insisted on hours of evaluation with a child and his parents before venturing a psychiatric diagnosis or prescribing a medication. Today many of my colleagues brag that they can complete an initial assessment of a child and write a prescription in less than 20 minutes. Many parents have told me it took a previous doctor less than five minutes to diagnose and medicate their child.

How, then, is it possible that in 2007 doctors are now able to identify hundreds of thousands of previously missed cases of bipolar disorder in children by reducing the time they spend with patients from multiple hours to just a few minutes?

On the other hand, there simply is no possible way that the number of children who actually have bipolar disorder has increased from approximately 20,000 to 800,000 in a nine-year period. Yet the arguments of skeptics are being dismissed by academics in psychiatry. Research psychiatrists appear to be more invested in defending their research conclusions -- funded by pharmaceutical companies -- than engaging in a meaningful discussion to examine these preposterous demographics.

What I find more astounding than the claim that there are 800,000 American children with bipolar disorder is the fact that there are that many children whose conduct is so aberrant that their parents are seeking psychiatric treatment for them.

The symptoms, which are regarded as evidence of bipolar disorder, usually are what most people recognize as ordinary belligerence. Children who have anger outbursts, who refuse to go to bed, who are moody and self-centered under the current standard of care in child psychiatry are being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. To most rational human beings, these behaviors describe an ill-mannered, immature and poorly disciplined child. Nonetheless, the temper tantrums of belligerent children are increasingly being characterized by doctors as the mood swings of bipolar disorder.

The over-indulgent parenting practices of the past 20 years have created a generation of dysfunctional children who are becoming increasingly more entitled, defiant and oppositional. In a poll by Associated Press-Ipsos, 93 percent of people surveyed said that today's parents are not doing a good job when it comes to teaching their kids to behave. According to Dan Kindlon, a Harvard psychologist, 50 percent of the parents he interviewed described themselves as more permissive than their parents had been.

The permissive parents of spoiled children seek refuge from blame by using the excuse that their child's angry outbursts are the result of a chemical imbalance. Since a psychiatric condition is completely beyond a parent's control, a diagnosis of bipolar disorder is the perfect alibi. Once a child has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a parent feels absolved of guilt or responsibility for the child's misbehavior and therefore, the parents' discipline practices cannot be called into question.

Parents looking for a psychiatric explanation for their child's misbehavior will find an abundance of support in the media and on the Web for the conclusion that their child's temper tantrums are due to a psychiatric disease rather than the result of bad parenting. Psychiatrists, for their part, are more than willing to accept, without question, the assessment offered by a parent. Doctors have found it easier and less contentious to comply with a parent's wish to have their child diagnosed with a psychiatric condition than to confront the parent with the notion that their own weak parenting is the root cause of the child's aberrant behavior.

Using the diagnosis of bipolar disorder, doctors then justify the sedation of these children with powerful psychiatric drugs. Even though some children treated with anti-psychotics may be temporarily sedated, their belligerent attitude continues unchanged. Of the many children I treat every year who had been previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, not one of them stopped throwing tantrums after being treated with psychiatric medications. Yet doctors continue to misdiagnose and overmedicate children to appease frustrated parents in spite of the many serious, permanent or even lethal side effects.

Tragically, as in the death of Rebecca Riley, her parents administered the multiple medications prescribed by their psychiatrist for Rebecca's "bipolar disorder" until the meds killed her. A few weeks ago, in an interview on 60 Minutes, Rebecca's mother told Katie Couric that she now believes that her four-year-old daughter had been misdiagnosed, had never been bipolar, and that Rebecca was simply mischievous.

When it comes to misdiagnosing and overmedicating children, doctors have an unwitting, though not unwilling, accomplice -- the parent. Ultimately, it is the parent who is the gatekeeper for their child's health-care delivery. It is the parent who pursues psychiatric treatment for their child, fills the prescriptions and administers the medications. Parents have a duty to protect their children from the folly of this disastrous approach to childhood behavior problems.

Instead of grooming, feeding and educating the next generation of Americans to be the fittest, brightest, most competent contributors on the planet, we have indulged, placated and spoiled our children into dysfunctional misfits. We are teaching our children to use a psychiatric diagnosis to excuse their antisocial behaviors. This will inevitably lead to a greater reliance on psychiatric medications, which unfortunately do not endow an individual with improved self-control or maturity.

Under the guise of treating childhood bipolar disorder, the spoiling of American children not only undermines their healthy social development, but it also puts them at great risk for the serious medical complications inherent in the use of psychiatric medications, including death.

Another Psychiatrist Child-Abuser Goes To Jail

2007-11-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

Texas Psych Rape Law Bags Another Mental Health Provider

McAllen, Texas - A Hidalgo County jury today sentenced licensed professional counselor Sigifredo Flores, 52, of Progreso Lakes, to 27 years in prison for sexually assaulting patients in his care. An investigation by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) revealed that Flores sexually abused two children and two adults during counseling sessions. This is the latest prosecution under Texas’s psych rape law, which makes it a criminal offense for mental health professionals to have sexual relations with patients.

“For a mental health practitioner to take sexual liberties with a patient is one of the more reprehensible acts of psychiatric abuse,” said Jerry Boswell, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights Texas. “I have to say that a long sentence like this was the end result we envisioned when we helped get the psych rape law passed in the early 1990’s. When you think of the incredible position of power and trust that these people hold, and the utterly dependent nature of their patients, we must send a strong message that if you work in mental health and engage in such egregious behavior, you will go to jail for a very long time.”

Psychiatrists Reach For The Jackpot

2007-11-06T14:53:00.000-08:00

Psychiatrists are presently trying to push through Congress a bill called "Mental Health Parity" which puts mental health on a footing with conventional medical care. This is in spite of the fact that mental "diseases" are a matter of opinion, and can't be proven or disproven scientifically. With a free ticket to treat anyone who has a mental disease, all any mental health practitioner has to do is opinionate that someone has xxx wrong with them, and the bill gets paid by insurance companies. It would be impossible, or at least fraud, for a doctor to claim you have appendicitis when you don't and charge for an operation. But in the murky world of mental health, the situation is much more ambiguous. Here's a letter from the president of the Citizen's Commission on Human Rights regarding lobbying efforts to defeat this bill. It includes a request for help. Do so if you can.

The billing bible would be DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Edition IV) which lists all the supposed psychiatric illnesses. The disorders in this manual are put there by vote, literally. By a show of hands. Someone makes a speech about some new mental syndrome at a national convention, then the people present vote on whether that syndrome should be included as a legitimate psychiatric disease! No blood test, no CT Scan, nothing. Just opinion.

Dear Friend and Supporter,

The federal Mental Health Parity bill is rearing its ugly head once again – and this time it’s closer than ever to being passed. In fact, the Senate has already passed their version of the bill, and the House has passed it through one subcommittee and a full committee. It is expected to come to the floor of the House for a vote within the next two weeks! Mental Health Parity in the House bill (H.R. 1424) would mean that insurance should be mandated to cover treatment of all 374 mental disorders in psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) at a cost of more than $23 billion to taxpayers over the next 10 years.

Psychiatrists now market the bogus idea that DSM-IV disorders such as “Expressive Writing Disorder,” “Mathematics Disorder,” “Caffeine Withdrawal,” “Phase of Life Problem,” and “Sibling Relational Problem,” are as legitimate as cancer and diabetes. By lobbying heavily for the political enforcement of these diagnoses through mandated mental health parity, psychiatry makes certain that millions of lives conform to its standard for "treatment" with drugs.

While these "disorders" could be considered laughable by any rational individual, if mandated mental health parity goes through with DSM-IV in it, psychiatry will be doing the laughing—all the way to the bank. None of the disorders can be medically proven.

Enormous pressure has been brought to bear on politicians by psychiatry's alarmist statements and statistics about the state of mental health in our nation. Members of the Senate passed their version of mental health parity, sensibly without covering the entire DSM-IV. However, the House version does contain DSM-IV and we need help to get it taken out of the bill!

Don’t underestimate the power that you as an individual can add to this forward push right now. With your help CCHR can take very aggressive action toward stopping this bill in its tracks as it is written.

To right this atrocity, we’re organizing professionals to go and educate members of Congress immediately with data on how absurd it would be to cover the entire DSM-IV. We’re also producing an updated White Paper on Mental Health Parity that will need to be printed and sent to every member of the House (all 435) early next week so they have the true data on what this bill, as is, will do.

This is a major battle. Win this one and we have a very substantial win for our families, our futures, and ourselves. Thus, we need as much help as we can get to pull it off. Donations of $1,000 or more receive a special commendation. Your donation could actually make the difference in whether or not we have that win.

Sincerely,

Bruce Wiseman
President CCHR for U.S.

Make a Donation by Calling
800-869-2247

Or go to www.cchr.org/donate

Prozac and Anti-Inflammatory Drugs Causes Internal Bleeding

2007-11-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

A drug from the class of antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac, Zoloft or Paxil, added to a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), such as Motrin, Aspirin or Celebrex, can interact to increase the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, according to a report in current issue of Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

"Before I did this study, I didn't worry at all when I saw patients who were on combination SSRIs and NSAIDs," Dr. Yoon K. Loke from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK told Reuters Health. "Now that I have seen the fairly substantial excess risk (beyond even what I had imagined beforehand), physicians should carefully review the patients' charts — do they need to be on these drugs (at all), or are there safer alternatives?"

Loke and colleagues conducted a review to investigate the risk of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage with SSRIs and to evaluate the possibility of an interaction between SSRIs and NSAIDs contributing to such bleeding.

The researchers analyzed the findings of four studies containing 153,000 patients and found that those taking SSRIs alone had 2.4-times the risk of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage and those taking NSAIDs alone had 3.2-times the risk. However, in patients taking both SSRIs and NSAIDs the risk of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage was 6.3-times greater than normal.

Based on these findings, the investigators estimate that a patient would most likely develop a problem after taking an SSRI 318 times per year. However, for those taking both drugs, they would only need to take them 82 times before an adverse evident would occur, Lok's group predicts.

For those with other risk factors for gastrointestinal bleeding, the number would be even lower, the researchers estimate.

In postmarketing reports to regulatory agencies, the average time to occurrence of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage was after 25 weeks of SSRI treatment, with 38 percent of the reported cases occurring in patients younger than 60 years.

"Fewer people might be harmed from drug overdose with SSRIs (than with tricyclic antidepressants), but this is very likely to be counterbalanced by an excess of admissions with GI bleeding (thus increasing the costs and workload of the health service, and reducing the cost-effectiveness of the drug)," Loke said.

If a patient had "depression and arthritis, (both of which are very common), alarm bells would now ring in my mind and I would think carefully about which drugs to use," Loke said. "The benefit-to-harm profile needs to be thoroughly considered, given the substantial risks of harm here."

SOURCE: Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, October 5, 2007.

Pharma Hand Seen Behind Alarmist Suicide Statistics

2007-10-29T12:26:00.000-07:00

Best Syndication ran the article, "Pharma Hand Seen Behind Alarmist Suicide Statistics" regarding the fact that long before The New York Times reported this month that youth suicides were up 8% from 2003 to 2004 and experts blamed an "antidepressant deficiency," Big Pharma was trying to plant the story.

The suicide increases actually correlated with a period of increased use of antidepressants, not decreased use.

The article covers the series of articles in scientific publications that set the stage for the final American Journal of Psychiatry study (that has now been discredited in other media reports) entitled "Early Evidence on the Effects of Regulators' Suicidality Warnings on SSRI Prescriptions and Suicide in Children and Adolescents." In her article, Martha Rosenberg exposes the financial conflicts of interest that many of the psychiatrists who wrote the reports had with the pharmaceutical industry. The first article in the series was written by a consultant to Eli Lilly, and was followed by an article written by four representatives of a private "drug development services" company called Quintiles Transnational.
http://newsblaze.com/story/20070921070012rose.nb/
newsblaze/OPINIONS/Opinions.html

2007-10-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

FYI: CHADD is one the biggest Pharma front groups around. Read the following article which is by a colleague of mine and pass it far and wide. The heavy metals, allergies, and nutritional testing is definitely the way to go for ADHD symptoms. The ADHD pharmacologics have never been proven effective and are extremely dangerous to our children as you know! --Gwen

http://psychiatrized.org/Articles/why_was_steve_plog_fired_by_chad.htm

Why was Steve Plog fired by ChADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder) for talking about lab tests & nutrition?

My name is Steven Plog. In Jan of 2006, I served as the Las Vegas coordinator for ChADD
My position lasted just 30 days.

I'm 52 now, but at the age of 39 in a 30 minute interview with a psychiatrist recommended to me
by ChADD in Chicago, I was diagnosed by a visual evaluation as having "so-called ADD" and
given a prescription of Ritalin. Later I found out I was toxic and suffering from nutrient depletions,
not a neurotransmitter malfunction in my brain, that was diagnosed by simply talking to me.

ChADD claims to be a grass-roots support group for persons with “so-called” ADD, like me.
My firing for talking about nutrition proves that ChADD, in fact, is not a grass-roots group at
all, but is simply a front group for the psycho-pharmaceutical industry and drug companies,
working to forward their specific messages and increase profits.

I'm now founder of The Results Project www.resultsproject.net a non-profit organization who
is dedicated to getting people a proper diagnosis using lab tests, not visual evaluations.

In Sept of 2005 Heather Rockow then ChADD Coordinator for Las Vegas came to my meeting
where I presented lab test for symptoms of hyperactivity, depression, mood swings, attention
span etc.(With information from the lab tests, nutrition is the next step, not drugs. FYI)

Heather realized I had better information and better science than she was being sent by
ChADD and joined my 4 month program to help her husband, who was on 7 prescription
drugs per day and had been for 20 years. Turns out he was high in toxic metals and suffered
from multiple delayed food allergies. Dr. Robert Ellsworth, the doctor who orders the tests
said that after looking at the lab results stated that none of these results could be treated
with drugs, in fact they would make them worse.

Later, Heather stepped down from ChADD and recommenced me for the position.

I became the ChADD Chapter Coordinator for Las Vegas on January 1, 2006. Thinking
that other ChADD Coordinators might want this information like Heather did I called ChADD
HQ and asked if I could put a full page, full color ad in their ChADD magazine for a full year
about nutrition and lab tests.They said, "No".

When I asked why, they said all of their magazines are donated, and only the donors get their
info published. Big Pharma, selling Ritalin, Adderall etc., is the donor.

I then asked if I could donate an alternative magazine that I fund and send to ChADD Coordinators
to distribute for free to parents with info on lab tests and nutrition just like the drug companies.
They said, "No".

When I asked why, ChADD contends that they only distribute information that has science behind it,
and nutrition has none. Zero, Zip, Zilch. I said, "What about the over 100,000 published research
papers in major medical journals like JAMA, New England Journal of Medicine, www.pubmed.gov of which many are by Nobel Prize Winners in Medicine?"

ChADD replied that the subject is closed for discussion and hung up on me.

Later they found out I was talking about lab tests and nutrition in my ChADD weekly meetings in
Vegas and terminated me as the Coordinator.

Ruth Hughes Deputy CEO of ChADD personally called me up to fire me. We talked for an hour and I
brought up multiple references such as:

American Naturopathic Medical Association (ANMA) (www.anma.com)
American Association of Orthomolecular Physicians ( www.orthomolecular.org)
Institute for Traditional Medicine ( www.itmonline.org )
American Nutraceutical Association (ANA) (www.ana-jana.org )

I told Ruth there's more proof from labs that nutrition works than there is proof that Lincoln was ever
president of the US. For an hour I brought up fact after fact that she couldn't dispute so she would
say; "We'll have to agree to disagree."

I also pointed out the ChADD Motto right out of their Coordinator Manual states:

"It is the philosophy of ChADD that persons seeking information, non-judgmental support and education
about AD/HD be able to participate in a setting which is non-discriminatory and promotes recognized
best practices." Link from Manual http://www.resultsproject.net/gfx/CHADD1.png

When I asked, "Wouldn't lab tests recognized by the FDA, AMA and NIH as "best practices" qualify to
be presented to parents in an unbiased ChADD meeting?"

She said, "We'll have to agree to disagree."

When I asked if I could bring outside materials to the open meetings Ruth said, "No products can be
sold in ChADD meetings." I asked why then meetings I've been to in Orlando & Dallas had drug reps
in the meeting presenting?" Ruth said, "We'll have to agree to disagree," fired me and hung up.
Termination Letter: http://www.resultsproject.net/gfx/CHADD2.png Last week I sent out an invitation to over 100 ChADD Coordinators across America after getting their
contact info from their website inviting them to my EXPO featuring speakers from top labs in the country.

This EXPO is open to parents, teachers, doctors and child advocates dealing with "so-called ADD"
What's Causing My Symptoms? http://www.whatcausedmysymptoms.com/ Sept. 14th Las Vegas.
(If you would like to attend the Vegas EXPO click the above link)

The invitation stated that as a ChADD Coordinator they could attend for FREE and then I gave them a
link with all the speakers. ( www.whatcausedmysymptoms.com/html/speakers.html )

These labs provide tests to measure sugar levels, food allergies, hormone levels, metal toxicity, nutrient
depletions, serotonin levels and anti-oxidants. These lab tests can point to physical causes for symptoms
such as bad memory, low attention span, hyperactivity, mood swings, anger, depression, fatigue,
restlessness, headaches, insomnia.

They also show that Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta & Prozac are not needed at all. Once the nutritional
deficiencies are addressed, most if not all of the symptoms disappear.

Their response? 100% turned me down and 5 threatened me for emailing them the invitation. Why would
100% of the people who supposedly care about children, not want to see evidence based solutions to
safely reverse a child's symptoms?

ChADD is a big supporter of TeenScreen another Big Pharma backed program that will have children
take a simple 20 question test and then if the laymen who scores it gets the score they want, that
child will be sent to a psychiatrist who will give them a visual evaluation with no lab testing and then
according to the latest study by, J AM Academy Adolescent Psychiatry 2002; 41:123-130
"9 out of 10 new psychiatrist will be put those children on drugs."

ChADD is just another front group for Big Pharma, which uses psychiatry to sell unnecessary,
dangerous, mind-altering drugs to children. They have over 20,000 members who are being told
that lab tests are unreliable and a psychiatrist visual evaluation is science and the drugs are
for an unseen mental problem.

If your doctor looked at you and said you had cancer (without conducting any tests) would you believe the diagnosis? Why then when a psychiatrist looks at you and says you need Ritalin, do you believe it?