By Becky Murphy
Here in Washington State we have the newest and most expensive psychiatric drugs listed as the first drugs to be used for those on Medicaid.
This is in no small part due to the advocacy of NAMI Washington, and the advice of psychiatrists who are, or should be aware of the results of NIMH drug trials. Jon McClellan, Medical Director at Child Study and Treatment Center, was one of the TEOSS drug trial “investigators” and advises the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery, among other “services” he provides to the people of the State of Washington.
The NIMH clinical trials for these drugs do not in fact support the conclusion that neuroleptic drugs called “Atypical Antipsychotics” are in fact safer or more effective than the older much cheaper drugs, as they are advertised to be. These drugs are in fact only effective for a minority of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and even
for those who are “effectively treated” the risks are extremely high and include
diabetes, heart disease, and obesity; three of the top ten conditions which Medicaid health care dollars are expended on.
Washington State’s Attorney General has joined in class action lawsuits which have resulted in payments to Washington State for the off-label marketing of psychiatric drugs, but have not been translated into a more informed populace, or safer medication policies for children and adults who take them. Deleterious effects are still largely minimized or dismissed by those who prescribe the drugs, and by policy makers.
In fact, at the same time as these settlements were being distributed, Washington State lobbied by NAMI was strengthening it’s Involuntary Treatment Laws, ensuring that more and more people will be taking these teratogenic drugs which cause a wide variety of iatrogenic illnesses and will continue to cause Washington State’s health care costs to spiral out of control.
This is an ongoing tragedy around the globe. People are not being informed of the risks involved with treating emotional and behavioral issues with drugs. Primarily the public is not being informed because the drug manufacturers conceal adverse event data from the public; but incredibly, and even worse: the FDA claims it has no duty to inform the public about these adverse events and known risks, not even the risk of fatality; because they are trade secrets of the pharmaceutical industry! There is no way of knowing the actual numbers of those killed, or disabled, by FDA approved drugs, because psychiatrists and other medical professionals who prescribe them are not required to report side effects or adverse events–not even when a death is caused by the drug.
The first thing that struck me about the children who have died from the effects of psychiatric drugs is the fact that a minority of the reports are made by doctors or other medical professionals with prescription privileges. The second thing that dawned on me was how very fortunate I am that my son Isaac is not listed among the fatalities—
I want to know why so-called patient and family advocacy groups are not telling the people who come to them for help about this?
Why is there no effort being made by these “mental health advocacy groups” to change these obvious flaws in the drug regulatory safety system?
I suspect these “advocacy group” are not speaking out about the known dangers of psychiatric drugs due to an obvious, and well documented Conflict of Interest that exists: It is the Pharmaceutical Industry that is the source of much of their funding, and oversees the development of educational materials they disseminate to patients and parents, friends and concerned community members wishing to support a person with a psychiatric diagnosis.
More than anything, I want to know why Washington State’s Legislature and the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery has allowed flawed data and flawed reasoning to drive public policy and legislative agenda?
Recently a documentary, “Dead Wrong: How Psychiatric Drugs Can Kill Your Child” was released by the Citizens Commission for Human Rights (CCHR). The documentary features several parents who have buried a child, the parents all lost children as the direct result of their children being prescribed psychiatric drugs—one child died in her mothers arms–she was eight years old.
Any person who cares about children and believes that people should be told the truth when they seek professional help for emotional and behavioral issues needs to know that this is seldom the case for those who are prescribed psychiatric drugs. Parents are not told the risks to their children, I know I wasn’t. My son is cognitively and physically impaired, and I was never told it was even possible.
See: Brain Volume Shrinkage & Cognitive Decline
Click here for information on ISEPP’s upcoming 2011 conference: Alternatives to Biological Psychiatry: If we don’t medicate, what do we do?
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