Raising awareness of psychiatric drug withdrawal. Sharing the reality, the science and fight for recognition. IG - samhall404
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Sam Hall retweeted
NEW FDA CITIZEN PETITION
YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
Antidepressant withdrawal needs more research.
Millions of people use antidepressants, yet important questions remain about withdrawal: how often it occurs, how severe or prolonged it can be, who is most at risk, and which tapering approaches are best tolerated.
The Antidepressant Coalition for Education (@ACE_CoalitionEd) has petitioned the FDA to establish and pay for a national patient registry and require or secure additional studies to address these gaps in knowledge.
This petition calls for research that follows patients during and after discontinuation, measures outcomes that matter to patients, and puts people with lived experience at the center of the research process.
Better evidence. Better guidance. Fewer preventable harms.
Please consider submitting a public comment in support of this petition.
There will be an option to submit anonymously.
And please help us spread the word by sharing this post!
IMPORTANT: You need to follow the link included below and click on the "Comment" button, and then fill out the form and click on the "Submit Comment" button for your input to be officially registered.
If you would like, we invite you to let us know in the comments section of this post if you submitted a comment and share what comment you submitted.
LINK TO SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT: buff.ly/TeayhBV
Sam Hall retweeted
There are endless unproven theories about how SSRIs 'work'. But any remotely experienced pracitioner should be able to see that the principle mechanism by which they 'work' (beyond placebo, confirmation bias & natural recovery over time) is by numbing one's total emotional life.
Sam Hall retweeted
I've recovered from years of psychiatric drug harm and protracted withdrawal injuries (BIND and SSRI).
Just returned from an amazing trip to Cozumel, Mexico.
It's important to know you can heal. You can make a new life for yourself. You can love every minute of being fully alive.
See the rainbows 🌈
Sam Hall retweeted
I think people are not aware of how much mis-information is propagated about this class of medications.
I remember being taught to say this to patients: that the increase in suicidality is caused by an increase in energy before an improvement in mood.
What studies show is simply an increase in suicidality when people are given these medications compared to placebo.
How many people have been talked into taking these medications because of the repetition of these talking points by prescribers?
Who Are the Real Purveyors of Medical Misinformation?
One of the most troubling things about psychiatry is how speculative explanations for drug harms become established facts through sheer repetition.
Take the claim that SSRIs can increase suicidality because they restore a depressed person’s energy before improving their mood, supposedly giving them the motivation to act on existing suicidal thoughts.
This is routinely presented as though it’s an established scientific explanation.
It isn’t. It’s a longstanding hypothesis for which convincing empirical evidence is lacking.
A 2009 review in Psychiatric Services examined this very theory and found no consistent evidence supporting it.
Yet rather than acknowledging that these drugs can themselves produce adverse psychological reactions, including agitation and akathisia, we’re offered a reassuring story about patients getting better.
It’s a striking example of how a superficially plausible sounding hypothesis can become received wisdom when it conveniently distracts from uncomfortable truths about drug harm.
Just because something is repeated as fact by someone in a white coat doesn’t make it any more true than any other forms of misinformation we hear online.
And when we see it we should call it out.
Sam Hall retweeted
“Although sertraline removed the suicidal thoughts and extreme emotional distress I was having, it felt like I was surviving and barely living." He said he was 'very emotionally numb' and experienced days where he 'slept for nearly 10-12 hours at a time.'
ladbible.com/news/sertraline…
Sam Hall retweeted
WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES OF ANTIDEPRESSANT WITHDRAWAL:
U.S. STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
Too much remains unknown about antidepressant withdrawal. Women deserve clear information about how stopping these drugs may affect their lives and reproductive planning—and research documenting their experiences is essential to closing that knowledge gap.
Dr. Laura Farach, a pediatrician with 37 years of experience, is leading a new study with researchers from several institutions. The team is recruiting women living in the United States for research interviews about prolonged antidepressant tapering and withdrawal. To be eligible, women must not have taken benzodiazepines for four or more consecutive weeks within the past two years. Additional eligibility criteria appear in the invitation below.
Participants’ stories can advance clinical recognition of prolonged withdrawal and give women of childbearing age the information needed for meaningful informed consent.
Please read the invitation below and share it with others who may be interested.
Many thanks!
Medicating Normal Outreach Team
------------------------------------
STUDY INVITATION
You are invited to participate in a research study about antidepressant tapering or withdrawal experiences. Before you decide whether to participate, please read the information below carefully.
Dr. Laura Farach and her co-investigators are conducting this study. This interview study is for women who began antidepressants before the age of 24 and who are currently tapering for more than one year, have completed a multiyear taper, or report a prolonged tapering or discontinuation process that the study team determines is relevant to the study aims during screening.
The purpose is to understand and document participants' experiences, perspectives, and decision-making about antidepressant tapering and how, if at all, it relates to family planning and reproductive decisions. The interview will include questions about medical history, social history, medication history, tapering history, sexual functioning if relevant, and family planning
history. Questions about sexuality are optional and may be skipped. The interview is expected to take approximately 60 minutes, with an optional follow-up if needed; interviews may occur over multiple sessions if preferred.
If you become upset or distressed during the interview, we can pause or stop, and you will be encouraged to seek support from your established healthcare providers, crisis resources, or trusted supports as appropriate. If you disclose suicidal thoughts or feel unable to stay safe, the interview will be paused or stopped, and you will be encouraged to contact appropriate supports
or emergency/crisis resources. If you believe that discussing these experiences may cause you significant emotional distress, you may decide not to participate.
This study is for research purposes only and does not involve medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Participation does not create a physician-patient relationship with Dr. Farach or any member of the study team.
Participation is voluntary, there is no compensation, and you may skip any question, pause, reschedule, or stop the interview at any time. You may withdraw from the study at any time.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Farach at [email protected] for additional information and eligibility screening. Please write the word STUDY in the subject line. Please do not include medical or other sensitive personal information in your email. Email communication may not be secure; please provide scheduling availability only.
______________________________________________________________________________
To learn more about the devastating physical and emotional toll of psychiatric drug withdrawal, watch our documentary, "Medicating Normal":
buff.ly/3ZQaINI
Sam Hall retweeted
SSRIs disrupt the serotonin system which is responsible for numerous emotional regulatory functions. If destabilised can lead to a variety of responses which could lead to suicide. The most well recognised of these is akathisia which it is well established can lead to suicide. Likewise missing a few doses can lead people who have never been previously suicidal to have suicidal thoughts because the whole system can destabilise. This has all been established in people who are not depressed- including healthy volunteers.
Arvid Carlsson the main pioneer of SSRIs explicitly recognised this possibility.
It seems abundantly obvious to me that if these drugs are powerful enough to alter people’s mental states enough to drag people out of severe depression they may, in some cases, have the opposite effect. This is true of most drugs which alter brain function.
Sam Hall retweeted
Who Are the Real Purveyors of Medical Misinformation?
One of the most troubling things about psychiatry is how speculative explanations for drug harms become established facts through sheer repetition.
Take the claim that SSRIs can increase suicidality because they restore a depressed person’s energy before improving their mood, supposedly giving them the motivation to act on existing suicidal thoughts.
This is routinely presented as though it’s an established scientific explanation.
It isn’t. It’s a longstanding hypothesis for which convincing empirical evidence is lacking.
A 2009 review in Psychiatric Services examined this very theory and found no consistent evidence supporting it.
Yet rather than acknowledging that these drugs can themselves produce adverse psychological reactions, including agitation and akathisia, we’re offered a reassuring story about patients getting better.
It’s a striking example of how a superficially plausible sounding hypothesis can become received wisdom when it conveniently distracts from uncomfortable truths about drug harm.
Just because something is repeated as fact by someone in a white coat doesn’t make it any more true than any other forms of misinformation we hear online.
And when we see it we should call it out.
Sam Hall retweeted
Mental health professionals being servile to psychiatry out of fear, ignorance or a quiet hope to make friends in higher places, is a frustrating thing to so widely observe.
Sam Hall retweeted
@joannamoncrieff: ”I think psychiatrists have been very slow to accept these problems, partly because they just can't bear to acknowledge that these very widely prescribed drugs that all psychiatrists have been prescribing for a long time, can be so damaging.” 🔗👇
Sam Hall retweeted
The UK is updating antidepressant warnings to recognize PSSD (post-SSRI sexual dysfunction) and acknowledge that sexual side effects can continue long after stopping treatment.
It's time for the FDA to follow suit.
But sadly this still isn't enough. These injuries extend far beyond sexual dysfunction, causing devastating, lasting cognitive and emotional impairments.
People deserve to be fully informed about what they are risking before making a decision that could potentially affect them for the rest of their lives. @PSSDNetwork
Sam Hall retweeted
"#Akathisia predominates among reported SSRI-associated EPS, followed by dystonia, parkinsonism, and tardive dyskinesia–like syndromes, with documented exacerbations in patients with established Parkinson’s disease."
2001 !! 👇
Movement Disturbances Associated With SSRIs | Psychiatric Times
share.google/LuEd2f1tbCuxlq7…
Sam Hall retweeted
"I'm not crying anymore, but I'm not feeling any emotions either."
The woman had revealed her sex drive had disappeared and even joyful moments felt entirely muted, admitting: "I'm coping Raj, but I don't feel like me anymore."
mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ph…
Sam Hall retweeted
"In our recent study....we showed that adults who start antidepressants for depression are 2.5 times more likely to attempt suicide when compared to those starting placebo. This equates to 1 in every 200 people attempting suicide as a direct effect of taking the antidepressant."
Recently there's been lots of discussion about rising suicide rates, but almost no discussion about this: "1 in every 200 people attempting suicide as a direct effect of taking the antidepressant"
@Mental_Elf @wendyburn @ProfLAppleby @rcpsych what say you?
cepuk.org/2019/09/06/hengart…
Sam Hall retweeted
"A final sample of 19,155 long-term antidepressant users were compared with 20,648 propensity score matched nonusers. After adjusting for covariates, long-term antidepressant use was significantly associated with dementia (odds ratio [OR] 1.92, 95% [CI] 1.72–2.15, p < 0.001)."
Sam Hall retweeted
"I think psychiatrists have been very slow to accept these problems, partly because I think they just can't bear to acknowledge that these very widely prescribed drugs that, you know, all psychiatrists have been prescribing for a long time can be so damaging."
@joannamoncrieff
Sam Hall retweeted
WOMEN'S EXPERIENCES OF ANTIDEPRESSANT WITHDRAWAL:
U.S. STUDY PARTICIPANTS NEEDED
Too much remains unknown about antidepressant withdrawal. Women deserve clear information about how stopping these drugs may affect their lives and reproductive planning—and research documenting their experiences is essential to closing that knowledge gap.
Dr. Laura Farach, a pediatrician with 37 years of experience, is leading a new study with researchers from several institutions. The team is recruiting women living in the United States for research interviews about prolonged antidepressant tapering and withdrawal. To be eligible, women must not have taken benzodiazepines for four or more consecutive weeks within the past two years. Additional eligibility criteria appear in the invitation below.
Participants’ stories can advance clinical recognition of prolonged withdrawal and give women of childbearing age the information needed for meaningful informed consent.
Please read the invitation below and share it with others who may be interested.
Many thanks!
Medicating Normal Outreach Team
------------------------------------
STUDY INVITATION
You are invited to participate in a research study about antidepressant tapering or withdrawal experiences. Before you decide whether to participate, please read the information below carefully.
Dr. Laura Farach and her co-investigators are conducting this study. This interview study is for women who began antidepressants before the age of 24 and who are currently tapering for more than one year, have completed a multiyear taper, or report a prolonged tapering or discontinuation process that the study team determines is relevant to the study aims during screening.
The purpose is to understand and document participants' experiences, perspectives, and decision-making about antidepressant tapering and how, if at all, it relates to family planning and reproductive decisions. The interview will include questions about medical history, social history, medication history, tapering history, sexual functioning if relevant, and family planning
history. Questions about sexuality are optional and may be skipped. The interview is expected to take approximately 60 minutes, with an optional follow-up if needed; interviews may occur over multiple sessions if preferred.
If you become upset or distressed during the interview, we can pause or stop, and you will be encouraged to seek support from your established healthcare providers, crisis resources, or trusted supports as appropriate. If you disclose suicidal thoughts or feel unable to stay safe, the interview will be paused or stopped, and you will be encouraged to contact appropriate supports
or emergency/crisis resources. If you believe that discussing these experiences may cause you significant emotional distress, you may decide not to participate.
This study is for research purposes only and does not involve medical care, diagnosis, or treatment. Participation does not create a physician-patient relationship with Dr. Farach or any member of the study team.
Participation is voluntary, there is no compensation, and you may skip any question, pause, reschedule, or stop the interview at any time. You may withdraw from the study at any time.
If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Farach at [email protected] for additional information and eligibility screening. Please write the word STUDY in the subject line. Please do not include medical or other sensitive personal information in your email. Email communication may not be secure; please provide scheduling availability only.
______________________________________________________________________________
To learn more about the devastating physical and emotional toll of psychiatric drug withdrawal, watch our documentary, "Medicating Normal":
buff.ly/3ZQaINI
Sam Hall retweeted
A step in the right direction for antidepressant labelling but informed consent is more than a list of warnings. More on how the updated MHRA guidance came about and what this means for patients. #PSSD #antidepressants #MHRA rxisk.org/mhra-announces-new…
Sam Hall retweeted
Remember, folks: warning the public about real harms from medications is NOT fearmongering.
What IS fearmongering is shaming people for speaking out about those harms by claiming that people might die if they're frightened into not taking their medication.
