Dr. Candace Pert, Chief of Brain Biochemistry, Clinical Neuroscience Branch,
at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Please meet my friend and fellow member of our Board of Directors at the International Coalition for Drug Awareness from 1997 until her passing in 2013, Dr. Candace Pert, …. IF YOU HAVE EVER TAKEN AN ANTIDEPRESSANT OR HAVE A LOVED ONE ON THEM you need to know more about who Candace Pert was and the significant part she played in the birth of the SSRI & SNRI antidepressants and the public statement she made strongly warning against these drugs. I refuse to allow her message warning about these drugs to die with her! I know she would want her voice heard.
Dr. Pert publicly came out against Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors in October of 1997 in TIME magazine. She boldly stated: “I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago . . . quote from Dr. Candace Pert:
“I am alarmed at the monster that Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon Snyder and I created when we discovered the simple binding assay for drug receptors 25 years ago. Prozac and other antidepressant serotonin-receptor-active compounds may also cause cardiovascular problems in some susceptible people after long-term use, which has become common practice despite the lack of safety studies.
“The public is being misinformed about the precision of these selective serotonin-uptake inhibitors when the medical profession oversimplifies their action in the brain and ignores the body as if it exists merely to carry the head around! In short, these molecules of emotion regulate every aspect of our physiology. A new paradigm has evolved, with implications that life-style changes such as diet and exercise can offer profound, safe and natural mood elevation.”
Letter to the Editor of TIME Magazine, October 20, 1997, page 8.
Dr. Pert also taught that, “Our physiology is perfectly designed for bliss and this perfection is dynamic, so taking responsibility for your own health is important.”
And who is Dr. Candace Pert? The following bio from our website contains that information:
Dr. Candace B. Pert, PhD (1946 – 2013)
“I am alarmed at the monster (serotonergic antidepressants) I created!”
Candace Pert, the discoverer of the binding assay for drug receptors which made Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors possible, joined our board in 1997 where she served until her far too early passing in September of 2013. Dr. Pert was an internationally recognized pharmacologist who published over 250 research articles and was a significant contributor to the emergence of Mind-Body Medicine as an area of legitimate scientific research in the 1980’s.
Candace Pert rose to prominence as a 27 year old graduate student at The Johns Hopkins Medical School for her discovery of the long sought and highly elusive opioid receptor in 1973, a major step in the advancement of neuroscience. The discovery of the opioid receptor would, in 1978, earn the coveted Albert Lasker Award, often a precursor to the Nobel Prize. The award went to Solomon H. Snyder, who headed the lab where Candace did the work. Dr. Pert was not cited. Shortly thereafter, Dr. Pert became Chief of the Section on Brain Biochemistry, Clinical Neuroscience Branch, at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in 1983. Later in her career, she held a Research Professorship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. At the time of her death in 2013, Dr. Pert was working as the Chief Scientific Officer of Rapid Pharmaceuticals, which she co-founded with Dr. Michael Ruff. The company continues her research on Peptide T and an AIDS vaccine, in addition to developing new peptide drugs for traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis and neuropathic pain.
Dr. Pert appeared in the feature film What the Bleep Do We Know!?? and was an on air contributor to Bill Moyer’s TV program Healing and the Mind. She is the author of the books Molecules of Emotion:The Scientific Basis Behind Mind-Body Medicine (Scribner, 1997) and Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d (Hay House, 2006). She also authored the musical guided imagery CD Psychosomatic Wellness: Healing your Body-Mind. Her AIDS drug Peptide T was featured in the 2013 Oscar winning movie Dallas Buyers Club.
Links for ordering her book, MOLECULES OF EMOTION, can be found on our “Recommended Books” page.)
[We report with saddened hearts the passing of Dr. Pert in September of 2013]
PLEASE REFER ANYONE ALARMED BY DR. PERT’S STATEMENT TO THE SAFE WITHDRAWAL CD BELOW!! We do not want people thinking they should just stop these medications without knowing how to go about that safely.
http://www.drugawareness.org/mission/board/
Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director,
International Coalition for Drug Awareness
drugawareness.org & ssristories.NET
Author: ”Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare – The Complete Truth of the Full Impact of Antidepressants Upon Us & Our World” & Withdrawal CD “Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!”
WITHDRAWAL WARNING: In sharing this information about adverse reactions to antidepressants I always recommend that you also give reference to my CD on safe withdrawal, Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!, so that we do not have more people dropping off these drugs too quickly – a move which I have warned from the beginning can be even more dangerous than staying on the drugs!
WITHDRAWAL HELP: You can find the hour and a half long CD on safe and effective withdrawal helps here: http://store.drugawareness.org/ And if you need additional consultations with Ann Blake-Tracy, you can book one at www.drugawareness.org or sign up for one of the memberships in the International Coalition for Drug Awareness which includes free consultations as one of the benefits of that particular membership plan. For only a $30 membership for one month you can even get 30 days of access to the withdrawal CD with tips on rebuilding after the meds, all six of my DVDs, hundreds of radio interviews, lectures, TV interviews I have done over the years PLUS access to my book on antidepressants (500 plus pages) with more information than you will find anywhere else (that is only $5 more than the book alone would cost) at www.drugawareness.org. (Definitely the best option to save outrageous postage charges for those out of the country!)
One thought on “I AM ALARMED AT THE MONSTER (SSRI/SNRI antidepressants) I CREATED! …Dr. Candace Pert”