He looked different from most of the depressed patients that walk into a psychiatric clinic. He was 24, thin and spare. His hair was longer than average and hung loosely over his brow, his clothes were black and macabre –what the young folks call “Goth”. That style makes everyone look depressed, but I could tell his depression ran deeper than fashion styles.
He was actually a handsome young man, and he had sensibly avoided the face and body piercings that Goths favor. He was open about his choice of lifestyle, relishing his chance to educate me. But while he was talking, I could see he was so depressed, he could have been the poster child for the diagnostic manual.
But something more was going on here. He told me that he had adopted the Goth look at age 13; that nothing else could express how he felt about life — or rather, how he didn’t feel. Read more on What If Life Is Not Worth Living?…
Filed under depression by on Oct 10th, 2010. 2 Comments. 
Here is a letter signed by prominent Irish psychiatrists saying that there is no evidence whatsoever that antidepressants cause homicide.
The “PLOS” or “Public Library of Science” is supposed to be an easier and gentler place to get science published, although the esteemed (foreign) colleagues who have done research with me on natural substances have informed me it is not so easy a door to enter.
Nevertheless, here is a very scholarly angle. There is evidence that the prescription of antidepressants may engender aggression, violence, or homicide.
There is also an article cited by Dr. Peter Breggin in the Journal of Safety and Risk in medicine, to which I cannot seem to link anyone directly but a download is available through the wonderful people at this Irish foundation. These folks are trying to bring forth the truth and the light.
I am now of the opinion that the academic ideal I once pursued does not exist, and is, if it exists, a pack of lies at best.
There are FDA black box warnings about antidepressants promoting aggression, but I am unaware of such warnings having ever stopped a colleague from prescribing any antidepressant.
Read more on Seeking Truth In Drug Research — And Getting Frustrated!…
Filed under prescription drugs by on Dec 15th, 2009. Comment.
She was a depressed woman in her 50’s, on conventional antidepressants, who I saw in a clinic. She had none of the “neurovegetative” signs of depression. That means, she slept well and ate well and her mood was acceptable. All of the things that we generally measure in antidepressant response were there, so there was really not a lot more for me to do, except to renew the prescription. I did ask a few questions.
Did she have a purpose in life? Yes, she had a job in a bookstore, which she enjoyed, and grown children, who had babies of their own, and she loved to play with them, but they lived a bit of a distance away, so she could not play with them as often as she liked.
So I asked her what was the most fun in her life. She started laughing wildly, and stamping her foot. I knew this had to be a good answer, and I was ready. I thought she was going to talk about drugs or sex. I was really surprised with what she came up with.
Read more on Happy Dances and the Contact High…
Filed under depression by on Dec 3rd, 2009. Comment.