STUDY: TAKING ANTIDEPRESSANTS NEARLY DOUBLES YOUR CHANCE OF RELAPSE

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Published in the journal, Frontiers of Evolutionary Psychology, (see article below)

I want to thank Dee Herron for bringing this article to our attention. It is beyond “difficult” to watch medical science slowly release one tiny bit of information at a time over many years on the dangers of antidepressants which you can get in one sitting from my book Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare! Knowing that all of this information was available when the book was first published in 1994 is testimony to the fact that this antidepressant nightmare will prove to be one of the biggest deceptions in medicine in history! Although the study referenced in this article came out last year, it bears repeating because too few are yet aware of this information & because it does not fully admit HOW antidepressants are doubling the chance of relapse or what it is about the chemical imbalance theory that is false.

Quote: “The result of the study, in a nutshell, was expressed by the lead author, Paul W. Andrews in Science Daily:

“We found that the more these drugs affect serotonin and other neurotransmitters in your brain—and that’s what they’re supposed to do—the greater your risk of relapse once you stop taking them…Our results suggest that when you try to go off the drugs, depression will bounce back. This can leave people stuck in a cycle where they need to keep taking anti-depressants to prevent a return of symptoms.”

First of all understanding that the Serotonin Theory is completely backwards is most critical in demonstrating how antidepressants actually CAUSE depression & suicide, etc., rather than cure these problems as we have been led to believe. When the SSRI antidepressants were introduced to the market we were told that serotonin is low in depression & we needed to raise serotonin levels in order to recover. Yet the fact is that serotonin is high in depression, rather than low, so as the drugs increase serotonin they produce a multitude of problems while worsening depression, anxiety, suicide, etc.! My book Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare has 21 pages of references to back that statement up. In fact it was testimony to this major serotonin blunder – testimony given by the medical expert for the Paxil manufacturer that according to his serotonin research over many years demonstrated that impairing serotonin metabolism (serotonin reuptake) produces impulsive murder & impulsive suicide – that won the Donald Schell wrongful death case in that Paxil-induced mass murder/suicide in Wyoming in 2001! Ever wonder why the drug companies have never allowed another one of these cases to go to court? Well now you have a pretty good idea.

Now to address the statement by the lead researcher in this study “Our results suggest that when you try to go off the drugs, depression will bounce back. This can leave people stuck in a cycle where they need to keep taking anti-depressants to prevent a return of symptoms.”

First of all what he is talking about here is NOT “depression bouncing back” when someone attempts to go off their antidepressant. It is clearly drug withdrawal causing the depression in this withdrawal period! Those coming off the drugs very, very gradually, so as to avoid withdrawal, do not have a return of their symptoms. You can easily see it is withdrawal they are talking about when they say that the patient finds they need to keep taking antidepressants to prevent a return of symptoms. When you are in withdrawal from a drug be it caffeine, nicotine, whatever, what stops those withdrawal symptoms? Returning to taking the drug you are in withdrawal from! This is why people stay on antidepressants – they are hooked & cannot get off. And when they try they are told to do so too rapidly which forces them into this horrendous withdrawal, which most describe as a quick trip to hell, & they never want to try to come off again. This is how the drug makers have kept people on these drugs for years. They continue to tell them the withdrawal is a returning of their depression. NOT SO!!!

This article is more of a statement about how serious withdrawal with an antidepressant is rather than a statement about the doubling of the rate of relapse. These drugs produce withdrawal that patients say is worse than any street drug out there. This is why knowing HOW to withdraw safely & successfully is so important in order to be able to get off of these drugs & stay off them. My CD Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant! can be downloaded from our website for a mere $4.95 & is information EVERY home should have.

But, you say, you are not on these drugs so why would you need a copy? The answer is simple. There has never been a situation ever where the command to be your neighbor’s keeper has been more applicable! As an example go to our database of cases at www.SSRIstories.com & read the case of Officer Edward Lutes. In withdrawal from Luvox (the same antidepressant Columbine shooter Eric Harris was on) decorated officer Edward Lutes ran next door killing 2 neighbors, then to the next house killing 3 neighbors, then drove to the next city to make an attempt to kill his best friend the police chief before killing himself. I will take bets that ANYONE who knew Officer Lutes now wishes they had that information available to them to help him know how to withdraw safely.

As usual, this is only one of MANY examples I can refer you to in order to demonstrate the great importance of getting this information to those who need it. This is a public safely issue! Is it our responsibility? When no one else is taking responsibility who else is left but us? Someone has to warn. Someone has to work to stop this nightmare! I do not send you all of the cases. If I did you would be getting emails from me all day long. I am posting them now though on our website at www.drugawareness.org as quickly as I can. If you care to keep up with them you can find them there. As would be expected they are coming in at rates far greater than ever before.

Ann Blake-Tracy, Executive Director,
International Coalition for Drug Awareness
www.drugawareness.org & www.SSRIstories.com
Author: “Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare – The Complete Truth of the Full Impact of Antidepressants Upon Us & Our World” & Safe Withdrawal CD “Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!”

Book Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? – Our Serotonin Nightmare! Anything you ever wanted to know about antidepressants is there along with everything drug companies hope you never find out about these drugs. Find the book & the CD “Help! I Can’t Get Off My Antidepressant!” on how to safely withdraw at www.drugawareness.org

BOOK TESTIMONIALS:

“VERY BOLD AND INFORMATIVE”

“PRICELESS INFORMATION THAT IS GIVING ME BACK TO ME”

“THE ABSOLUTE BEST REFERENCE FOR ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS”

“WELL DOCUMENTED & SCIENTIFICALLY RESEARCHED”

“I was stunned at the amount of research Ann Blake-Tracy has done on this subject. Few researchers go to as much trouble aggressively gathering information on the adverse reactions of Prozac, Zoloft and other SSRIs.”

HELP CD TESTIMONIALS:

“Ann, I just wanted to let you know from the bottom of my heart how grateful I am God placed you in my life. I am now down to less than 2 mg on my Cymbalta and I have never felt better. I am finally getting my life back. I can feel again and colors have never been brighter. Thanks for all that you do!!” … Amber Weber

“Used your method of weaning off of SSRI’s and applied it to Ambian. Took 6 months but had been on 15 mg for years so what was another 6 months. I have been sleeping without it for 2 weeks and it is the first time I have been able to sleep drug free for 15 years. What a relief to be able to lay down and sleep when I need or want to. Ambien may be necessary for people at times but doctors giving a months worth of it at a time with unlimited refills is a prescription for disaster. It is so damn easy to become dependent on. Thanks for your council Ann.”… Mark Hill

“I’m so thankful for Dr.Tracy and all her work. Also for taking the time out to talk to me and educate everyone! She has been a blessing to me during this awful time of antidepressant hell!” … Antoinette Beck

Taking Antidepressants Nearly Doubles Your Chance of Relapse

Not only does this study demonstrate that antidepressants worsen the condition, it also shows that the underlying theory of a chemical imbalance is a bunch of hooey.

by Heidi Stevenson

21 July 2011

A new study demonstrates that using antidepressants nearly doubles the chance of suffering a major depressive relapse—and soon after discontinuing the drugs. This, of course, creates a vicious cycle that results in dependence on the drugs.

Published in the journal, Frontiers of Evolutionary Psychology, another highly signficant finding was made. Not only do antidepressants worsen the condition they’re meant to treat, the underlying theory that there is a chemical imbalance in the brain is pure nonsense. Antidepressants do not treat an imbalance. These drugs actually create it!

The Study

The study, entitled “Blue again: perturbational effects of antidepressants suggest monoaminergic homeostasis in major depression”, shows that these drugs interfere with the brain’s homeostasis. The meta-analysis discovered that people who don’t take any antidepressants have a 25% chance of relapsing, while those who do have a relapse rate of 42%.

The studies reviewed included virtually every permutation of antidepressant use: those who started on placebos and were switched to the real medications, those who started on real medications and were switched to placebos, those who took placebos throughout the studies, and those who took only placebos.

The authors looked at studies of four types of antidepressants; MAOIs (monoamine oxidase inhibitor), SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), SNRIs (serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors), and TCAs (tricyclics). Each of these affects at least one of the following: serotonin, norephinephrine, or dopamine. The specific drugs were:

MAOI: Phenelzine [Nardil] Selegiline [Carbex, Anipryl, L-deprenyl, Eldepryl, Emsam, Zelapar] [tranylcypromine-Parnate]

SNRI: Desvenlafaxine [Pristiq] Duloxetine [Cymbalta] Milnacipran [Savella] Venlafaxine [Effexor] [Mirtazapine-Remeron] [Tramadol-Ultram]

TCA: Amitriptyline [Elavil] Clomipramine [Anafranil] Desipramine [Norpramin] Imipramine [Tofranil] Nortriptyline [Pamelor, Aventyl] [Trazadone – Dezeryl]

SSRI: Citalopram [Celexa] Escitalopram [Lexapro] Fluoxetine [Prozac] Fluvoxamine [Luvox] Paroxetine [Paxil] Sertraline [Zoloft]

[Buspar] [Wellbutrin] [Zyban]

The result of the study, in a nutshell, was expressed by the lead author, Paul W. Andrews in Science Daily:

We found that the more these drugs affect serotonin and other neurotransmitters in your brain—and that’s what they’re supposed to do—the greater your risk of relapse once you stop taking them. All these drugs do reduce symptoms, probably to some degree, in the short-term. The trick is what happens in the long term. Our results suggest that when you try to go off the drugs, depression will bounce back. This can leave people stuck in a cycle where they need to keep taking anti-depressants to prevent a return of symptoms.

Antidepressant drugs may do a little bit to relieve symptoms, though note that Andrews is less than enthusiastic about that effect. However, they result in more depression, and that results in a vicious drug-taking cycle.

Is There a Positive Side to Depression?

We tend to think of negative emotions as being harmful. In today’s society, we’re expected to be happy and perky all the time. When we aren’t, we’re often treated as if we’re ill and should either just snap out of it or take drugs to somehow fix it. As anyone who’s been there, we can’t just flip a switch and be over it. But, as Andrews’ study documents, the drug-taking approach doesn’t work.

Andrews is inclined to believe that the symptoms of depression, such as tiredness, low appetite and sex drive, and loss of interest in associating with people, may be survival techniques for coping with stress. In other words, our bodies are simply forcing us to avoid more stress to give us a chance to resolve the problems we’re facing.

When we take drugs to avoid the feelings that go with depression, we’re working against our own nature. We’re literally avoiding the issue and thus destroying our ability to learn how to deal with our problems.

By taking antidepressant drugs, we avoid facing our problems. By not facing our problems, we never get a chance to heal. Instead, we end up stuck in a genuinely addictive cycle of drug-taking.

None of this even addresses the adverse effects of these drugs, which are significant. Truly, is there any upside to antidepressants? Any benefit they have is minimal. They double the depression relapse rate. They cause some horrible adverse effects, including violence and suicide. Dr. Peter Breggin documents that they cause brain damage and describes their effect as a chemical lobotomy.

But, it seems to me that the worst effect of all is that antidepressants destroy the opportunity to grow and become truly fulfilled human beings.

http://www.gaia-health.com/articles451/000491-antidepressants-double-relapse.shtml

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