Another oversite: #21 - psych med use
Schizophrenia patients in modern medical settings generally are prescribed medications that can cause severe side effects and increased mortality rate, and an increased risk for dementia.
The 21 variable research study may need to include a rural India cohort so we can gather data about patients who have not received US pharmaceuticals - as they seem to be a risk factor for dementia. (1)
I spent the day watching videos. Two added to the schizophrenia story and regarding the “chemical imbalance” narrative. (1, 2) The videos also present evidence that strongly suggests the current medication approach to schizophrenia treatment is not helping and instead is likely harming. Patients who do not receive medications in less developed nations are doing better than the patients who start on meds and generally worsen. (2)
What the videos all don’t include is the fact that depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and other mental illness symptoms can be caused by nutrient deficiency or imbalance. Johann Hari wins the prize here for spending the most time on the topic of food and health effects. I strongly encourage psychiatrists to watch his video. (4)
Psychiatry & Big Pharma: Exposed - Dr James Davies, PhD, Nov 24, 2019, youtube.com, (1) Dr Davies started a nonprofit website with information that they think the public deserve to know. http://cepuk.org/
Robert Whitaker: The Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in the US, (2)
Daniel Carlat - Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry, (3).
Johann Hari - Depression: The Real Causes (& Unexpected Solutions), Feb 17, 2019 (4).
Resource: Stressed - A Documentary Film | 4K OFFICIAL, Apr 18, 2020, (5).
Resource: Peace may take practice - mindfulness tips: (peace-is-happy.org).
More Info about questionable diagnosis creation: The Diagnostic codes used in the US were also hugely inflated per Meryl Ness, Excess deaths are on the rise – but not because of Covid. (7)
“Early 2000’s…chemical imbalance theory of depression. It was championed as a fact - disproven theory … no credible neurobiologist would say that depression is caused by a deficiency of serotonin. …. Of course,… there is a biological element of any state of mind. The question is, is there a dysfunction that can be traced that can be called depression - thus far, there is no evidence of that.” - Dr. James Davies (1:33-34, 1)
Dr Davies looked into the outcomes of schizophrenia treatment with neuroleptics/antipsychotics - it doesn’t look good.
increased severe side-effects (Ferguson, 2001),
the impairment of autonomy and resilience (increasing a peron’s dependence on medical help) (Kendrick, 2015),
increased weight gain (Gafoor, Booth, & Gulliford, 2018)
worsening outcomes for some people (Hengartner, Angst, A Rossler, 2018); Shea, 1991),
poorer long-term outcomes for ‘major depressive disorder’ (Viguera, 1998),
increased mortality (Maslej et al, 2017)
and an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease, such as dementia (Richardson, et al, 2018) (Davies and Read 2018). (Davies, 53:33, 1)
“There was an argument made that, psychiatric drugs cure or remedy biological malfunctions of varying sorts. The medical model was recruited to explain the drug action of psychopharmaceuticals. It turns out that that particular model was incorrect. Joanna Moncreif, a psychiatrist at UCLA … Drug Centered Model. Psychiatric medications alter people’s state of minds. Some people experience them positively and some experience them as harmful and we should pay more attention to those people.” - Dr James Davies, (1)
Interesting tidbit, ~ 1:40:00 - self harming was rare in the 70s and became common in the 90s. Dr Davies suggests that it is social contagion type of issue, rather than bringing up the increase in pesticides and nutrient deficiencies of modern life.
Another interesting tidbit - He was able to interview people who worked on DSM III and IV but everyone who worked on the DSM V had to sign Non Disclosure Statements and the paperwork generated was made private for twenty years. Seems a lot like Pfizer’s request for 75 years to disclose.
Efficacy trials generally only last 8-12 weeks.
Dr Davies started a nonprofit website with information that they think the public deserve to know. http://cepuk.org/
*The ICD Diagnostic codes used in the US were also hugely inflated per Meryl Ness (7), between 1999 to 2015.
Excerpt:
The ICD-10 Codes
Have you ever heard of ICD-10 codes? This is the "International Classification of Disease" set of diagnosis codes created by the USG and WHO, allegedly for medical billing purposes.
Something really peculiar happened in the transition from ICD-9 to ICD-10, which occurred in the US between 1999 and 2015. Suddenly the number of diagnoses and procedures ballooned, including bizarre diagnoses (burns sustained on water skis, bitten by pig, sucked into jet engine—not kidding, these are real) — splitting lots of hairs when there was no discernible need to split them. Per the CDC,
There are nearly 19 times as many procedure codes in ICD-10-PCS than in ICD-9-CM volume 3
There are nearly 5 times as many diagnosis codes in ICD-10-CM than in ICD-9-CM
There are now 70,000 different diagnoses, up from 14,000 in the ICD-9.
Excess deaths are on the rise – but not because of Covid. Meryl Ness, (7)
What was that committee drinking at their luncheons? *Note Meryl Ness is fighting a legal battle regarding her medical license (CoV educator/activist) - if you have a little extra to spare, she is seeking donations towards legal fees.
Video 2: Robert Whitaker: The Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in the US, (2)
Robert Whitaker, journalist and author of "Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America," (2010) and “Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill” (2002) - about mental illness rates increasing. At ~ 17:00 ~ The chemical imbalance theory about schizophrenia was that the meds would rebalance the dopamine levels as an overactive dopaminergic system was believed to be the cause. Twist to the story later in the video - dopamine issues occur in the medicated patients but not in patients who were not medicated with neuroleptics/antipsychotic meds. (2)
He goes on to mention the findings that outcomes for patients with schizophrenia have declined in the US - and a comparison between poor countries and rich countries showed that the patients had better outcomes in the poor countries. The difference was so profound that the patients in rich countries were unlikely to ever recover on average. Medication usage difference - only 16% of patients in poor countries used the standard antipsychotic treatments used in rich countries. The best outcomes were seen in rural India where no one was on medications. (2)
A big study in the 70s finds ~ “At least 50% of schizophrenia patients would do better off their meds.”(2) - story gets buried. The common belief is still that people with schizophrenia need medication. The meds lead to worse neurological dysfunction and Alzheimer’s risk is increased later. Stopping the meds has led to some patients thought uncurable to be able to get back to normal function. (2)
Video 3: Daniel Carlat - Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry, (3).
Daniel Carlat, a psychiatrist, shares a growing disillusionment with his career as a medication prescriber rather than a therapist. He says money is part of it, more billable visits are possible with 15 minutes medication appointments, than an hour-long therapy appointment - charge would be more for the longer appointment but he later answered that it would be about half as much money. (3)
“Medications don’t do a good job at solving life’s basic problems.” - Daniel Carlat (3)
He discusses how pharma companies market new drugs to psychiatrists. Effexor, Neurontin, and Zyprexa (olanzapine) are discussed. He closes with a brief discussion of the lack of diagnostic testing in psychiatry and symptoms are grouped together into labels in the DSM system. (3)
Good attitude - college courses are not enough for many skills - “It takes a lifetime of doing therapy to be good at it.” - Daniel Carlat (3)
Q/A - pharma companies will fund a researcher that they know believes in a diagnosis and medication approach and will likely produce a paper that supports the company without being directly writing for pay. Other articles are ghostwritten, and a physician is paid to add his/her name to it. WebMD allows some of their info pages to be rented by pharma companies - so caution with what you read there - it may have a pharma person writing the page - a maybe a concern Q/A answer. (3)
Thesis statement ~ psychiatry/psychology is a fragmented system - is this person presenting with a biological problem that meds can help or a cognitive or emotional issue that needs talk therapy? (3) (Guess what - it is often a nutrient deficiency or imbalance problem.)
Salary based model might reduce the financial incentive to see more patients in less time, but - “In psychiatry that may be helpful, but it won’t address the culture of the medical model has kind of taken over the psychiatric mind.”
*He used the phrase “diet and exercise” in responding to a question about ~“How did we get to this drug based system?”, suggesting that different focuses exist and moved on. (3) I would need to relisten to that section.
Overall he is trying to spend more time with his patients, but already had a large caseload established on his prior 15 minute med check model and doesn’t want to have to make people leave his practice.
Johann Hari - Depression: The Real Causes (& Unexpected Solutions), Feb 17, 2019 (4).
Johann Hari shares a personal story about an escalating use of SSRI with initial relief that grew to tolerance and a larger dose. Weight gain and ongoing depression led to research and writing a book. He learned that depression can have two types of biological basis and seven factors about how we are living.
Prof. Andrew Scull, (Princeton U) an expert he sought out: “It is deeply misleading and unscientific to say depression is caused by low serotonin.” He shares that it was troubling to suddenly have a story that he had believed for years about his condition be disproven. It wasn’t that helpful a story…but there had been some comfort in having an explanation. Roughly. Reminder - when you smell a nocebo being offered, say no thank you.
He then mentions that the story, the theory, never had been widely believed by the psychiatry field. It was widely spread though by pharmaceutical representatives per Johann Hari.
This is a great talk - listen and find out how giving someone a cow can be an effective antidepressant or being in a gardening club. Johann has good advice and shares the research for the social factors that add to inflammation which can lead to depression and anxiety. Social connection and a sense of purpose, some autonomy over one’s work or life, are all important for feeling positive. Social connection within a tribe, a familiar group of some sort, may be healing, especially when the group shares a purpose.
For the win, Johann mentions junk food and his own eating habits at ~21:00. “Junk food has taken over our diets, made us sick. Interestingly, a kind of junk values has taken over our minds and made us mentally sick.” He goes on to talk about the over-emphasis on looks and Likes type of modern values and the negative effect that may have on our own spontaneous creativity. Play for enjoyment rather than to post a pic for Likes.
Reciprocity - we want a tribe and online communities often allow us to find a tribe of individuals who like whatever thing it is that we also like. Sharing is caring - it feels good. So does helping. We have instincts for fitting in with a group - caution that the pressure leads to giving up on your own values or good judgement. Just because everyone is doing it, doesn’t make it right for you too. <Mom advice.>
Moms can be correct.
Johann continues with how child trauma can greatly increase risk for later depression, anxiety, and worse problems like obesity or suicide attempts. He shares that it is common for sex trauma survivors to gain excess weight to help avoid attention - true.
Shame is sickening - having people give unconditional love or acceptance is healing - true.
Johann sharing a story, quoting a group: “But you don’t love him. We love him. He doesn’t belong with you, he belongs with us.”
“We are homeless.” - in modern society - disconnected.
“Home is where people notice when you’re not there.” - Johann Hari
There is important information in the other videos, but Johann’s message is the most powerful, and most healing. Psychiatrists might learn something if they listened.
While Johann Hari didn’t go into any further detail on the junk food point, or the sexual trauma/obesity and other issues point - he still deserves a trophy. The junk food can make us mentally ill too.
Stressed - A Documentary Film | 4K OFFICIAL, Apr 18, 2020, (5). - “We need to love ourselves more.” Destressing can be a miracle for patients. First it requires recognizing what chronic stress feels like. The mindfulness strategies or yoga, Qi gong, or other meditative practice can help teach you to recognize muscle tension before it is a bad back ache. The practice also builds new pathways in the brain that can help react to new stressors in a more peaceful way. Just being present means less worry about future or past or what people might be thinking. Just be.
Peace may take practice - a post with mindfulness tips: “Jon Kabat-Zinn describes seven underlying attitudes to try to include in the practice of mindfulness in his book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness, (1).” (peace-is-happy.org).
Meditation or mindfulness can literally change the brain to be less reactive, but it takes practice - doing the Just sitting there Zen style or walking meditation or doing dishes meditation - being present and letting the mind just flow is meditation.
Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes.