SSRIs: Sharp Drop in Brain Activity + Worsening Depression & Suicidality

hile antidepressant medications have proven to be beneficial in helping people overcome majordepression, it has long been known that a small subset of individuals taking these drugs can actually experience a worsening of mood, and even thoughts of suicide. No clinical test currently exists to make this determination, and only time usually weeks can tell before a psychiatrist knows whether a patient is getting better or worse.

Now, UCLA researchers have developed a non-invasive biomarker, or indicator, that may serve as a type of early warning system.

Reporting in the April edition of the peer-reviewed journal Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Aimee Hunter, an assistant research psychologist in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry, and colleagues report that by using quantitative electroencephalographic (QEEG), a non-invasive measurement of electrical activity in the brain, they were able to observe a sharp reduction of activity in a specific brainregion in individuals who proved susceptible to thoughts of suicide within 48 hours of the start of treatment.

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Understanding Paxil Birth Defects

In December 2005, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) posted its Paxil findings on its
website regarding pregnant women taking antidepressants. In this announcement,
GSK noted that it was revising its pregnancy precaution category from C to D.
This revision was based on recent studies that indicated positive evidence of
human fetal risk. In addition, GSK was placing this information in the WARNINGS
section of the Paxil label.

The FDA then advised pregnant women to switch from Paxil to another SSRI
drug, such as Prozac or Zoloft. This warning was based on the results of an
analysis of Sweden’s birth registry that showed women who took Paxil were 1.5 to

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DEPT. of DEFENSE: Link Between Vet Suicides & Medications

LOREE K. SUTTON, M.D. DIRECTOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE HOUSE
VETERANS AFFAIRS LINK BETWEEN MEDICATION AND VETERAN SUICIDE Roll Call, Inc.
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SSRIs: Emotional Detachment: Personality Changes & Reduction in Positive…

Selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors (SSRIs), mainstays of psychopharmacology, effectively eliminate
suicidal ideation — not to mention feelings of exhilaration, caring, and
desire.

A recent study published in the British Journal of
Psychiatry found that the majority of patients taking SSRIs experienced

emotional detachment, feelings of indifference, personality changes, and a
reduction in positive and negative emotions.[1]

Currently,
tens of millions of patients in the United States take SSRIs daily. However,
evidence pertaining to the long-term effects of these drugs is scant. “In a few
decades, as many as 15% of the world’s population might be on SSRIs,” comments a
psychiatrist. “Although the suicide rate might decrease, I wonder what the
long-term effect will be.”

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ANTIDEPRESSANTS: Tell All Book: “Side Effects: Death”: by Former Lilly Exec

Many of the horrific school, workplace and
mass shootings that have plagued parts of the world over the years may not have
occurred if the pharmaceutical industry had been completely honest about the
side effects of psychotropic medication, according to the new book Side Effects:

Death – Confessions of a Pharma Insider by former executive director of the
Swedish Branch of Eli Lilly & Company John Virapen.

Virapen claims
that anti-depressants and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were
known to have suicidal and homicidal side effects, even during clinical trials.
Thanks to spin marketing and paid, positive articles in scientific journals, he
points out, the adverse reactions were often ignored or given little thought by

prescribing physicians and patients.

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5/01/2001 – World Health Organization – SSRI Addiction

Yesterday, in several major newspapers Lilly placed full page ads offering a
coupon for a month of free Prozac. Do you think they warned the consumer in
those ads that these free pills were addictive? Because so few doctors are
aware of this withdrawal and do not know how to withdraw patients from SSRIs,
after the month on the “free” pills the patient would have to continue to
purchase the drug until they could find my tape on how to get off Prozac
safely.

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08/02/1999 – SSRI Prescribing in Primary Care Draws Fire

Note that 8% of all general hospital psychiatric admissions caused by SSRI-induced psychoses!–Thanks to Ann Blake-Tracy for passing this along. Mark ———– FromClinical Psychiatry News SSRI Prescribing in Primary Care Draws Fire Todd Zwillich, Senior Writer [Clinical Psychiatry News 27(6):34, 1999. © 1999 International Medical News Group.] ———————————————————————— More primary care physicians are prescribing antidepressants,…

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