Reddit reviews The Myth of the Chemical Cure: A Critique of Psychiatric Drug Treatment

I have always found it interesting that they created a special word for withdrawal in the antidepressant world. Of the handful of drugs from which I've experienced withdrawal (opiates, benzo's, anti-D's) SSRI's were definitely the the most bizarre/terrifying. Brain zaps, tremors, dreams as if from someone else's consciousness, restless legs/ankles/elbows, hollow/emptiness that led to suicidal indifference. <Shudder> Elated to have found other solutions for my anxiety and depression, personally(!)

It's nice to see they are actually studying this as well as using the word 'withdrawal' within the study.



As for how effective SSRI's actually are, this may be an interesting read for those interested in such research and analysis of the pharmaceutical industry: http://www.amazon.com/The-Myth-Chemical-Cure-Psychiatric/dp/0230574327 It's a hard science read with +/- 50 pages of footnoted research, including that of studies suppressed by the pharmaceutical industry.


That said, one would hope SSRI's are effective for certain types of depression and anxiety disorders, brain receptor configurations, etc. For me personally, there was a time where one in particular seemed to be helping but upon reflection later/after, it felt more like a chunk of my emotional being had been sliced out of my psyche/consciousness with a scalpel.. like a knife to a slab of meat. It no longer felt like a grenade was going to explode at any moment within the center of my chest, but with it came a numbness that was actually worse in hindsight..



Apologies for going a bit OT, OP.

I don't think it's as widely accepted in science as you claim it is.

Here is a meta analysis of all of the trials submitted to the FDA for licensing of 4 anti-depressant drugs: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050045

They found that when you put all the data together the difference between placebo and anti-depressant is negligible. Even in severely depressed patients the difference was clinically insignificant. In any case if you thought that these drugs were effective then this is not what you would expect after collating all of the data.

Not only that, but there is also evidence suggesting that antidepressants may actually make long term outcomes for patients worse than if they never took any treatment at all.

Here is a page that offers a host of studies into long term outcomes: http://robertwhitaker.org/robertwhitaker.org/Depression.html

If you are really interested in hearing criticisms of the current treatment of mental illness then I recommend you check out some of these books:

Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good

Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients

Anatomy of an Epidemic

The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth

The Myth of the Chemical Cure

Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How big pharma has corrupted healthcare