15-year Study Confirms Previous International Outcome Studies—Global Functioning and Eventual Recovery from Schizophrenia Normal for Those NOT Taking a Neuroleptic (anti-psychotic)
For Further information on PhRMA Factory & Corporate Medicine –Please also review the Category (SPP) North American Union and also the Category Holistic Healing
Robert Whitaker (Mad in America)
“’Recovery’ is the officially endorsed and stated policy of President George W. Bush’s New Freedom Commission. This Commission was appointed within a few days of his taking office. The Commission delegated the task of overhauling our incredibly flawed mental health system. In effect, the NFC report sets the direction of national policy in this area.
“Recovery” is the all-important concept that appears to have gone completely over the heads of those who need it the most. Our mentally distressed peers in community and their care givers largely have not been told that Recovery is a very normal expectation, and so we still labour under the eons-old mantra that schizophrenia, for example, is incurable and these people must take psychiatric medication for the rest of their lives.
For example: Recovery from schizophrenia has been conclusively shown by a comparison of long term outcomes in studies of the developing nations of India, Columbia, and Nigeria with outcomes of five first world countries, including the US and the UK. These third world countries use psychiatric medications sparingly, if at all. Their results are astounding when compared to outcomes of the worlds wealthiest nations.
For History of “Mental Illness” in the West – READ –> Robert Whitaker’s book, Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and The Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill. Mr. Whitaker is a recipient of the prestigious George Polk Award for Medical Writing and a National Association for Science Writers’ Award for best magazine article (which appeared in Fortune). In 1998, he co-wrote a series on psychiatric research for the Boston Globe which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. He is the former director of publications at Harvard Medical School.
“Investigative journalism at its scholarly, perceptive, and explanatory best. Mad in America presents an insightful, courageous expose of how madness went from ‘out of sight, out of mind,’ to be a source of massive corporate profits. A must read for anyone with a friend or family member labeled ‘mentally ill,’ for psychiatric ’survivors,’ mental health professionals, and those interested in the history of science and the corporate buyout of a profession.”
Loren Mosher, M.D.
Former Chief of Schizophrenia Studies
National Institute of Mental Health
“We cannot, of course, ship our “hopelessly” schizophrenic patients off to Nigeria to Recover so they can lead healthy fulfilled lives. But, we can certainly explore what these third world folks are doing right, and assess what we are doing terribly wrong. The conclusion is obvious.” Vince Boehm
An Introduction to Neuroleptics from the Law Project for Psychiatric Rights contains a Chapter Sample from Mad in America may be read HERE –> PsychRights.org
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15-year Study Confirm Previous International Outcome Studies—Global Functioning and Eventual Recovery from Schizophrenia Normal for Those NOT Taking a Neuroleptic (anti-psychotic)
Article Excerpted From –
ALLIANCE FOR HUMAN RESEARCH PROTECTION
Promoting Openness, Full Disclosure, and Accountability
www.ahrp.org and http://ahrp.blogspot.com
Vera Sharav
Article Excerpted in it Entirety: Recent public disclosures about the harmful effects of FDA-approved psychotropic drugs and corroborating evidence from patient outcome and mortality studies reveal that psychiatry’s fixation on drugs as the treatment of choice is a toxic prescription for debilitating adverse effects; an impediment to recovery; and premature death.
A 15-year prospective follow-up study compared recovery outcomes in schizophrenia patients treated with antipsychotics and those untreated or treated without drugs was just re-published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases (May 2007). [1] It was funded by the US Public Health Service and the National Institute of Mental Health.
The findings from this 15-year study confirm previous international outcome studies [2]:
40% of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia who were NOT on antipsychotic drugs showed periods of recovery and better global functioning compared to only 5% of patients taking antipsychotics (p=.001). “These analyses indicated that in addition to the significant differences in global functioning between these groups, 19 of the 23 schizophrenia patients (83%) with uniformly poor outcome at the 15-year follow-ups were on antipsychotic medications.”
The indisputably significant findings from this 15-year prospective study provide documented evidence for the overthrow of psychiatry’s harm producing, drug-focused paradigm of care. This paradigm condemns people to chronic disability impeding rather than fostering recovery.
The investigators, Martin Harrow, PhD. and Thomas Jobe, MD, Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Illinois, Chicago, evaluated the outcome of
145 patients with a DSM-III psychiatric diagnosis, including 64 with schizophrenia and a control sample of 81 nonschizophrenia patients. Patients were evaluated on premorbid variables, assessed prospectively at index hospitalization, and then followed up 5 times over a period of 15 years (at
2 years following hospitalization, 4.5 years, 7.5 years, 10 years and 15 year).
At each follow-up, patients were compared on symptoms and global outcome. One hundred and ten of the 145 patients (75.9%) were evaluated at all 5 follow-ups over the 15 years, and another 23 patients (15.9%) were evaluated at 4 of the 5 follow-ups.
WHEREAS:
In controlled clinical (drug) trials the drop out rate in short 6 week studies is 65% and more, in the CATIE (drug) study the drop out was 74%.
Thus, the significance of the findings of this naturalistic study is enormous.
The investigators addressed the following clinically significant:
1. In a naturalistic research design, which includes patients in treatment and those not in treatment, can schizophrenia patients not on antipsychotics function better and show periods of recovery?
2. Which particular types of schizophrenia patients go off medications for a prolonged period, and do factors associated with this influence subsequent outcome and recovery?
3. Do schizophrenia patients who do not remain on medications differ in (a) premorbid developmental achievements and (b) prognostic potential or in personality and attitudinal factors?
Best recovery outcomes were demonstrated by patients who had stopped taking antipsychotic drugs and they showed significantly better global functioning than those who continued to be treated with antipsychotics at 4 of the 5 follow-ups (p=<.001) Curiously, an earlier version of the study was published in the Schizophrenia Bulletin in 2005, but the findings were largely ignored, no doubt, because they pose a financial threat to the pharmaceutical-dominated psychiatric establishment. [3]
The findings confirm that the poor outcome findings in the CATIE study, which assessed only patients on antipsychotic drugs, are due mainly to the drugs’ ill effects. http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2006/10/follow-compass-newer-antipsychotics.html
The poor recovery of patients treated with antipsychotic drugs goes a long way in explaining a recent analysis of government mortality data. It shows that patients treated in the American mental health system die 25 years prematurely. [4]
At this juncture, a compelling body of evidence documents psychiatry’s colossal failure:
1. A series of international studies consistently show that patients taking antipsychotics have worse clinical outcomes than those who do not. [2]
2. U. S. government sponsored studies:
–Schizophrenia CATIE study reported that 74% of patients couldn’t tolerate the antipsychotics and dropped out within 18months;
–An analysis of mortality rates among patients in 8 state mental health systems reveals that their lives are cut short by 25 years.
3. Evidence from secret company documents uncovered during civil liability suits and state Attorneys General lawsuits provide evidence of the drugs’ debilitating effects.
When added up the harm produced by the drug-centered treatment paradigm is a public health catastrophe whose magnitude is comparable to a pandemic-millions of people-including children and the elderly-have suffered harm from FDA-licensed psychotropic drugs.[5] [Below a sample of recent living testimonials]
The cumulative evidence is indisputable: the drugs cause harm without any credible demonstrable benefit-and without a scientific rationale. Psychiatrist Kenneth Kendler, co-editor-in-chief of Psychological Medicine, acknowledged (2005):
- “We [psychiatrists] have hunted for big, simple neuropathological explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them.
- We have hunted for big, simple neurochemical explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them.
- We have hunted for big, simple genetic explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them” (pp. 434-435).[6]
Despite the lack of clear evidence for neuropathological, neurochemical, or genetic explanations for psychiatric disorders, the beliefs in such are heavily perpetuated by psychopharmacologists and physiological psychiatrists who are heavily invested in the drugs and their industry benefactors.
Psychotropic drugs that have consistently been shown to cause ham-to impede rather than improve patient recovery-and to undermine vital physiological function of hormonal, endocrine, cardiovascular systems. The body of evidence should give Congress pause about its misallocation of public funds-harmful treatments should not be subsidized by taxpayers. [7] http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/05/why-are-we-condemning-our-children-to.html
A superb critical review of the published disconfirming literature of psychopharmacology, written by psychiatrists and neuroscientists whose criticism of currently held beliefs about mental illness and the paradigm of treatment, are mostly drowned out by this industry-dominated field.
Dr. Thomas Murray, Director of Counseling at North Carolina School of the Arts, calls upon the counseling profession to “be cautious about supporting the psychiatric-medical model, or any model, when it is not prepared to produce its own body of research to test the assumptions of that model.” He encourages counselors to “get a balanced view about psychopharmacology and the medical-model in general. to call into question the uses of technology (e. g., brain scans), research methodology, and treatment efficacy of these medications based on the examination of the existing research. Specifically, I suggest counselors investigate rigorously the uses and consequences of these medications regardless of their support or skepticism.” [8]
And most importantly, Murray admonishes counselors to “examine the consequences and the impact of associating with and imposing particular assumptions about the biological etiology of mental disorders on clients without evidence that such approach serves their best interest.”
References:
1. Martin Harrow, PhD, and Thomas H. Jobe, MD. Factors Involved in Outcome and Recovery in Schizophrenia Patients Not on Antipsychotic Medications: A
15-Year Multifollow-Up Study, The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol. 195, No. 5, May 2007 http://tinyurl.com/3xausr
2. Lehtinen V, Aaltonen J, Koffert T. Two-year outcome in first-episode psychosis treated according to an integrated model. European Psychiatry 15
(2000):312-20; Lehtinen K. Finnish needs-adapted project: 5-year outcomes. Madrid Spain, World Psychiatric Association International Congress, 2001; Seikkula J, Aaltonen J, Alakare B. Five-year experience of first-episode nonaffective psychosis in open-dialogue approach. Psychotherapy Research
16/2 (2006): 214-228; Leff J, Sartorius N, Koren A, Ernberg G. The International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia. Pscyhological Medicine 22
(1992): 131-45; Jablensky A, Sartorius N, Ernberg G, Ansker M. Schizophrenia: manifestations, incidence and course in different cultures. Psycghological Medicine 20, monograph supplement (1992):1-95.
3. Colton CW, Manderscheid RW. Congruencies in increased mortality rates, years of potential life lost, and causes of death among public mental health clients in eight states. Prevalence Chronic Disability, April 2006. http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/01/lilly-zyprexa-casualties-12-billion.html See also: Mentally ill die 25 years earlier, on average By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY, May 3, 2007 http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-05-03-mental-illness_N.htm
4. Martin Harrow, Linda S. Grossman, 3 Thomas H. Jobe, 4 and Ellen S. Herbener. Do Patients with Schizophrenia Ever Show Periods of Recovery? A15-Year Multi-Follow-up Study, Schizophrenia Bulletin vol. 31 no. 3 pp.723-734, 2005.
5. Gianluca Trifiro` MD, Katia M. C. et at All-cause mortality associated with atypical and typical antipsychotics in demented outpatients, Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety 2007; 16: 538-544. . See also, a series of investigative reports in the national press documenting the harm producing effects of psychotropic drugs-in particular the antipsychotics: USA TODAY: New antipsychotic drugs carry risks for children 5/2/2006
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-05-01-atypical-drugs_x.htm Boston Globe: Bipolar labels for children stir concern Hull case highlights debate on diagnosis Rebecca Riley’s parents are accused of deliberately poisoning her with her prescription medication. February 15, 2007 http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/02/4-year-old-rebecca-riley-casualty-of.html
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Psychiatrists, Children and Drug Industry’s Role May 10, 2007 http://ahrp.blogspot.com/2007/05/psychiatrists-retained-by-drug-industry.html
USA TODAY: Mentally ill die 25 years earlier, on average. May 3, 2007 http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-05-03-mental-illness_N.htm
6. Kendler, K. S. (2005). Toward a philosophical structure for psychiatry. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 433-440.
7. Robert Whitaker, Mad in America, Perseus, 2002; Anatomy of an Epidemic: Psychiatric Drugs and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, Vol. 7, No. I, Spring 2005 online at: http://psychrights.org/Articles/EHPPPsychDrugEpidemic(Whitaker).pdf
8. Thomas L. Murray, Jr. The Other Side of Psychopharmacology: A Review of the Literature Journal of Mental Health Counseling, Vol. 28/No. 4/October 2006/Pages 309-337.
Contact: Vera Hassner Sharav
212-595-8974 veracare@ahrp.org
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Psych meds drove my son crazy
May. 18, 2007
This riveting true life account can be read at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/05/18/autism_misdiagnosis/print.html
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Are kids being overdosed?
The (Michigan) Northern Express [cover story]
Does Your Toddler Really Need an Anti-Depressant?
Complete article at:
http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=2465
Report shows that thousands of Michigan preschoolers are being prescribed psychiatric drugs. Activist Ben Hansen … wants to know – Why are thousands of foster children and poor children on Medicaid – children who are too young for kindergarten – being put on antipsychotics, anti-depressants, anti-hyperactive medicine, as well as pills that eliminate the tremors caused by these medications?
Also from Northern Express
Is our pill-popping society losing its mind?
Complete article at:
http://www.northernexpress.com/editorial/features.asp?id=2476
Ironically, the first time Maddie Jones ever felt truly crazy was the time she took an anti-psychotic medicine.
Last summer, Jones (not her real name) didn’t have a job and went to bed each night, terrified that she might lose her Leelanau County home. Jones was taking 300 milligrams of Effexor for depression – a high dose, but she still felt incredibly down. So she started seeing a renowned Traverse City psychiatrist. …
The information herein shall not be considered an endorsement of anyone discontinuing psychiatric drugs. If you are stopping taking medication it is advisable to reduce the dose gradually WITH EXTREME CAUTION, as it is difficult to predict who will have problems withdrawing. It is worth getting as much information and support as you can, and involving your doctor wherever possible. You will find withdrawal information here: http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Making+sense/Making+sense+of+coming+off+psychiatric+drugs.htm
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WITHDRAWAL:: Get Peter Lehmann’s book, Coming off Psychiatric Drugs: Successful Withdrawal from Neuroleptics, Antidepressants, Lithium, Carbamazepine and Tranquilizers. This valuable resource comes in US, UK, and German editions.
I, Kathleen Maire Hill, present this information in my capacity as a natural person, exercising my natural rights and freedoms. This information represents my private thoughts and beliefs and has been compiled and expressed for peer-to-peer educational purposes only.
“Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand.” Bodie Thoene
“Life is the experience of living.” Kathleen Hill
“(Freedom) is the will to be responsible to ourselves.”
Friedrich Nietzsche – (1844-1900) – Source: Twilight of the Idols, 1888
“Freedom is what you do with what’s been done to you.” Jean-Paul Sartre
“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is a freedom.” Marilyn Ferguson
“Alone with one’s conscience there are no alibis!” Tristano Ajmone, President OISM
“Ethical. existence [is] the highest manifestation of spirituality.” ALBERT SCHWEITZER (German physician and theologian, 1875-1965), The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, 1929, trans. by William Montgomery, 1931
A Model Consent Form for Psychiatric Drug Treatment
by
David Cohen, Ph.D., and David Jacobs, Ph.D.
http://laingsociety.org/colloquia/polofdiagnosis/modelconsent.htm
