Monthly Archives: October 2010

Doctor: Paxil “Especially Notorious” for Causing Withdrawal

Dr. Charles Raison, an associate professor at Emory University, wrote in response to a reader’s question on CNN that about 20 percent of patients experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking antidepressants. Paxil is “especially notorious for causing withdrawal problems” because of its short half-life in the body. Paxil is also associated with a number of side effects for those currently taking the medication, including birth defects and depression.

Anxiety and Insomnia Drugs Elevate Risk of Death

Researchers at Universite Laval, Canada, found that using prescription drugs to treat insomnia and anxiety increases one’s mortality risk by 36 percent, even after controlling for lifestyle behaviors that affect mortality rate, such as alcohol use, smoking, health condition and the level of physical activity. The conclusion reached by Professor Genevieve Belleville and his team was based on 12 years of records of some 14,000 Canadians from Statistics Canada’s National Population Health Survey. According to the team, the data comes from surveys which were carried out every two years between 1994 and 2007. It contains information on the social demographics, lifestyle and health of participants between the ages of 18 to 102.

Carrollton Mother In Murders-Suicide Took Depression Meds

The Carroll County coroner said a woman who police said killed her two young children before taking her own life on Wednesday had been taking medication for depression. Coroner Mandal Haas said Thursday that 24-year-old Madison Hallett hadn’t given any indication that she would kill her children. Police said Hallett first shot and killed her 6-year-old daughter, Natalya Marie Carosiellie, while the girl was in bed. Hallett then went to another bedroom, where police said she shot and killed her 18-month-old son, Drayden W. Hallett-Warnick, while he was sleeping in his crib. Police said Hallett then turned the gun on herself, and her body was found next to her son’s crib.

Confronting Bigots Intolerant of Alternative Mental Health Treatment

A long-term outcome study of schizophrenic patients who were treated with and without psychiatric drugs was published in 2007 in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disorders. Funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, research psychologist Martin Harrow, at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, discovered that after 4.5 years, 39 percent of the non-medicated group were “in recovery” and 60 percent had jobs. In contrast, during that same time period, the condition of the medicated patients worsened, with only six percent in recovery and few holding jobs. At the fifteen-year follow-up, among the non-drug group, only 28 percent suffered from any psychotic symptoms; in contrast, among the medicated group, 64 were actively psychotic.

Booming Sales of Antipsychotic Drugs Often Fueled by Illegal Marketing Tactics

The Times reports that civil and criminal lawsuits against big pharmaceutical companies have revealed hundreds of documents showing that some company officials knew they were using questionable tactics when they marketed these powerful, expensive drugs. According to analysts and court documents, these tactics have included payments, gifts, meals and trips for doctors, biased studies, and ghostwritten medical journal articles.