Blogs

A new study on the effectiveness of antidepressants has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It backs up two previous studies which show antidepressants have little or no effectiveness in treating mild, moderate…or even severe depression. (see the research tab for the full study by Fournier et al.)

For everyone who says

But antidepressants help millions of people…

Antidepressants saved my life…

There are side effects with every drug but the benefits of antidepressants outweigh the risks for most people…

I returned a couple of days ago from the United States where I got to meet a group of other parents whose children had killed themselves as a result of antidepressant or antipsychotic drug use. My son's suicide left me with a feeling of belonging to nothing and fitting nowhere which persists to this day. Being with these families allowed me to feel there is a group to which I belong (despite wishing I didn't) and that I fit within the growing international army of angry mums and dads demanding an end to the fatal practice of labelling and drugging of children.

Have you ever been thinking about your life? I mean, where you're going, what are your plans for future... Many of my friends are not sure what to do with their lives. They work as essay writers right now. But plans for future are ambiguous... What should I do?

On the front cover of USA today on Wednesday was a graph which showed that for 39% of people, dying was their greatest fear while for 61% of people their greatest fear was outliving their money. In our society, those without financial resources face homelessness, hunger and the inability to participate in their communities. They are also vilified as evidenced by the comments of our Prime Minister who said recently that those who use foodbanks do so because of their own poor choices.

I will never forget the shock I felt the day I learned that the antidepressant given to Toran 15 days before he died is not approved by the NZ government for children under the age of 18. I couldn't understand how a doctor could give a child a drug that Medsafe (the medicines regulator) has not approved on the grounds the risks (including suicide) outweigh any benefits.

At 5am on Saturday morning one of our CASPER families and I hit the road for Kawerau. The community has been rocked by a number of youth suicides in the past year and asked us to come and give them some information about effective suicide prevention.

In New Zealand we monitor the safety of prescription drugs through CARM - the Centre for Adverse Reaction Monitoring. The system is supposed to work like this: medical professionals report any adverse reactions or side effects they suspect may be related to prescription drug use. CARM collect these reports and they are analysed to identify any risks associated with particular medications. Here's why it doesn't work: medical professionals don't report.

Since Cloud committed suicide from a broken heart in Jan 2008 I have been forced to undertake my own investigation into her death. So far the Coronor, The Cheif Coronor, and the Police have refused to obtain family planning records, or Clouds sexual abuse court records and evidential video. Requests dating back to 2008 for family planning records.

TRUST is the Daughter of TRUTH. She has an objective memory, neither embellishing nor denying the past. She is an ideal confidant-gracious, candid and discreet.

BOOKS; TRANSFORMERS-The Artists of Self Creation by Jaquelyn Small
Choosing Happiness. Life and Soul Essentials by Stephanie Dowrick
The Second Half of Life by Angeles Arrien
Mystical Dreams by George Helou and Bernard Ross
AMBIKA's Guide to Healing and Wholeness by Ambika Wauters
Song to thee Devine Androgyne; Seven Steps to Heaven by Rowena Pattee
The Book of Qualities by J.Ruth Gendler
TRUTH; In the Heart of Time by Nicky Robertson
A Feminist Guide to Psychic Development by Diane Mariechild