Gerry Georgatos
"In Western Australia, 1989, 880 people were prescribed stimulant medication (for ADHD). By the year 2000 this had increased to 20,648, with the WA Health Department estimating 18,000 prescriptions having been issued to children. By 2002 WA prescription rates were amongst the highest in the world, exceeding the US national average,” said Martin Whitely.
The debate rages on about the over-medication of people, and the myriad illnesses discovered each year and the concomitant high rates of diagnoses. Diagnoses are usually accompanied with prescribed medication. One illness that has come under the spotlight in terms of high rates of diagnoses and over medication has been childhood ADHD.
What role have the commercial pharmaceutical companies played in pushing up prescription rates?
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may be treated with medication. The two main stimulant drugs used are dexamphetamine and methylphenidate (Ritalin). Other treatments for children with ADHD include behavioural management, psychological counselling and family support groups.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is one of a number of attributed behavioural and developmental disorders that perceivably affect young children. A child with ADHD is attributed to have three main behavioural issues: inattention, impulsivity and overactivity.
The drugs dexamphetamine and methylphenidate target the brains neurotransmitters, and neurotransmitters are brain chemicals.
Stimulants like dexamphetamine and methylphenidate may work by acting on the neurotransmitters that release the chemical dopamine. Greater amounts of dopamine may help to curb the attributed hyperactive and impulsive behaviours perceivably typical of the child with ADHD.
The rise and fall of childhood ADHD in Western Australia is a conversation that must be had and more openly than so far. It goes to the heart of questions still unanswered about over medication and of the presumption of diagnoses for the ‘sake of filling prescription quotas’.
What damage is being done to people who are medicated but effectively have no illness?
For instance dopamine and seratonin releases may exacerbate various episodic like behaviours, exacerbated to psychoses. Paranoia is often an affective manifest and with paranoia only negatives arise - distrust of others, the inability for continuous normal behaviours, personal meltdown, familial breakdown, various depression and anxieties and acute and abject trauma and multiple traumas.
Over medication means a surge of stimulants or substances in the body and hence disturbs chemical balances.
In a society where leverage is given to a free trade market and the commercialisation of just about every service and good often means human beings are treated as predominately consumers rather than beneficiaries. This is self-evident when we consider the free run that tobacco has enjoyed, salt and sugar food products and the massive fast food market. Why should pharmaceutical companies be any different?
Without rigorous mental health legislation and enabling policies far too much discretion is given to the producers, sellers and marketeers of medication.
Mental illness should not be stigmatic – just as physical illness is not. More people than ever before are speaking out about mental illness and this is important in setting up conversations about what is needed to address mental illnesses. The destigmatisation of mental illness is an imperative.
In the USA pharmaceutics marketing is competitively vicious and near ruthless. They have incorporated huge media campaigns to sell their products – 24/7 campaigns. Daily, we are told we have headaches and that they need to be relieved by shelf or over the counter medications from the supermarket or pharmacy. We are told we have this or that ache and this or that medication will relieve it. There is little relief from these campaigns, and the messages are bought, the promises of pain relief. The ruthless marketing drops the onus for self-diagnoses.
Former Western Australian parliamentarian and mental health advocate Martin Whitely said that the future direction of mental health in Australia is far from certain.
He is concerned of what he describes as the "Americanisation" of the Australian mental health systems and the “Americanisation” of our mental health practitioners.
"Apart from spiralling mental health prescribing rates, the most obvious evidence of the Americanisation of Australia's mental health system is the dominance of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnostic model. Often referred to as the 'Bible of Psychiatry', the current edition, DSM-IV, outlines the diagnostic criteria of 297 psychiatric disorders."
"Subsequent editions of the DSM have thickened as new disorders have been added. This expansion has been exploited by aggressive pharmaceutical company marketing, resulting in the medication of people who would previously have been regarded as 'normal'."
Mr Whitely attended the recent Asia South Pacific Mental Health Conference hosted in Perth and the suite of keynote speakers included Professor Allen Frances, chairperson of the taskforce that developed the DSM-IV, and former Australian of the Year, psychiatrist Professor Patrick McGorry.
"With the benefit of hindsight, Professor Allen Frances... regrets aspects of (DSM-IV) as having helped to trigger 'three false epidemics, one for autistic disorder... another for the childhood diagnosis of bipolar disorder and the third for the wild over-diagnosis of attention deficit disorder," said Mr Whitely.
Western Australia is the world's only ADHD hot spot to have experienced a significant downturn in childhood ADHD prescribing rates. The explosion in prescribing rates from 1989 to 2003 was created by a handful of Perth paediatricians who were very enthusiastic in marketing, diagnosing ADHD and in prescribing for ADHD, said Mr Whitely. The introduction of tighter prescribing accountability measures in 2003 and an intense debate around the validity of the diagnoses and the safety of the drugs, led to a massive downturn in Western Australia's child drugging rates.
In Western Australia from 1989-2003 there was a massive increase in the prescription of dexamphetamine and to a lesser extent methylphenidate (Ritalin) for ADHD. In 1989 in WA 880 people were prescribed stimulant medication. By the year 2000 this had increased to 20,648, with the WA Health Department estimating 18,000 being children. By 2002 WA prescription rates were amongst the highest in the world, exceeding the US national average. WA prescribing rates continued to grow until the introduction of tighter ADHD amphetamine prescribing accountability measures in late 2003. Since then child prescribing rates in WA have fallen significantly with 5,666 children on stimulants in 2008. Simultaneously amphetamine abuse rates by West Australian teenagers fell approximately 51%.
Concerns about West Australian ADHD prescribing rates first emerged in the mid-1990s. In 1995, the WA State Government set up a Technical Working Party ‘to report to government on the incidence of ADHD in Western Australia and to seek expert opinion on the appropriate diagnosis and treatment for the condition.’ The report raised concerns of the diagnostic practices of some unnamed Perth paediatricians and highlighted problems with the practice of Block Authorisation.
Block Authorisation granted an exemption from normal accountability requirements to frequently prescribing clinicians considered to be ‘familiar with the prescribing guidelines.’ In effect Block Authorisation meant that frequent prescribers were the least accountable. In contrast, a clinician who prescribed infrequently as a last resort was accountable for every individual script.
Presumably the rationale for the policy of ‘Block Authorisation’ was the assumption that those who prescribe frequently were familiar with, and therefore competent in, the prescription of dexamphetamine and methylphenidate. It was not until August 2003 when lobbying by Martin Whitely got Block Authorisation abolished and a stimulants’ monitoring system was put in place. The tighter accountability and reporting requirements were immediately followed by a massive decline in child prescribing rates. These measures were supplemented in 2004 by a WA parliamentary inquiry which triggered an intense local debate about the validity of the diagnoses and the safety of the drugs.
Although WA still has the highest (and rising) adult prescribing rates in Australia, since 2003, WA prescriptions to children have plummeted while they have skyrocketed elsewhere. Perth has fortunately forfeited its claim to be the ADHD child prescribing capital of Australia. Sydney, Brisbane and Hobart now vie for that dubious honour.
But what damage has been done to these children most who are now adults?
In 2011, Martin Whitely wrote about Perth's Dexamphetamine Hangover - "Perth’s ADHD generation, those diagnosed and ‘medicated’ in the 1990s and early 2000s, are now young adults. They were prescribed ADHD amphetamines (primarily dexamphetamine) at three to four times the rate of their eastern states contemporaries and old habits die hard."
"Many of Perth’s twenty to early thirty-somethings have grown to love their ‘dexies,’ particularly with a drink or fifteen, on their weekend benders. With dexies on board they drink longer and harder, with the loss of inhibition and impaired judgement from alcohol but without the drowsiness. Some also use dexies as a substitute for sleep, to either get up for work after a hard night of partying, or to cram for exams or tight work deadlines."
"Part of the problem is that whilst methamphetamine is illegal in Australia and therefore understood to be harmful, it’s difficult to get Perth’s ‘dexie generation’ to realise that dexamphetamine is not a benign substance. It might help if we point out that methamphetamine (brand name Desoxyn) is a legally prescribed ADHD treatment in the US. Then again it might simply normalise the use of methamphetamine."
"But as it stands many of Perth’s young adults love their dexamphetamine. Despite the fact that the ‘near amphetamine’ methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) is the most commonly prescribed ADHD stimulant in Australia, (73% of all scripts), the vast majority of both new (82.5%) and continuing (86.6%) WA adult patients prescribed ADHD stimulants take dexamphetamine. Many get dexamphetamine rather than Ritalin, because they ask for it and they ask for it because dexies are the recreational prescription stimulant drug of choice amongst Perth’s hard partying young adults.”
“Perth’s rise in adult ADHD prescribing rates defies the trend for kids. WA’s child ADHD patient numbers have plummeted (60-70%) since tighter prescribing accountability measures were introduced in late 2003, while adult prescribing rates have risen 27% since 2004, so that in 2009 there were 7981 WA adults on prescription stimulants."
"I am not suggesting that all of these adult patients are intentional ADHD drug abusers. Some of these are carryover ‘patients’ from the ‘dexie generation’; who still believe the ‘ADHD chemical imbalance’ lie they, and their parents, were told when they were children. Other former child patients have become physically and psychologically dependent as predicted on the manufacturer’s guidelines that many of their parents never even had the opportunity to read."
"Some new adult patients genuinely believe they have a ‘biochemical brain imbalance’ and mistakenly believe the almost universal upper effect of dexamphetamine is peculiar to ADHD. However, there is a new group of young adult ‘dexie’ users, who have learned how to tick the right ADHD boxes and say the right things to the handful of enthusiastic Perth prescribers. (In 2009 six WA doctors prescribed to over 500 patients each with the heaviest prescriber prescribing to a staggering 1,360 patients.) As a result they and their friends have got a convenient taxpayer subsidised supply of ‘uppers’ and can party all weekend and wake up bright as a button for work on Monday morning."
"Faking ADHD is not a uniquely West Australian experience. Recent US research revealed nearly a quarter of all adults seeking treatment for ADHD feigned symptoms to get a cheap supply of amphetamines. And you would be mistaken if you thought that this didn’t happen in nice homes and good neighbourhoods. Whilst its child prescribing rates are now relatively low, the Oceanic Health District, which covers Perth’s affluent western suburbs, easily has the highest adult ADHD per capita prescribing rates in Australia’s highest (adult) prescribing state (WA). This may in part be a legacy of the fact that Perth’s western suburbs and the less prosperous south east corridor around Armadale were the two child ADHD hotspots in the 1990s."
"Unfortunately there is little direct data as to how prevalent the abuse of ADHD amphetamines is by WA adults. But we know from surveys that the vast majority of high school students who have abused amphetamines have abused prescription ADHD amphetamines. Now it’s time to ask how much of Perth’s spate of alcohol related violence is also fuelled by amphetamines, and how much diverted dexamphetamine contributes to this problem."
"Whilst at last we are slowly awakening to the ADHD fraud, we are still reluctant to blame the doctors who prescribe these poisons, for a disorder that was voted into existence by a panel of self-appointed mostly drug company funded ‘experts’. But ADHD prescribers are practising quackery not medicine, and that makes them quacks not doctors, and it is time we said so."
"So before we middle aged West Australians bemoan the decadence and decay of youth, remember, it was our generation who put them on this pathway. Too many of our generation unquestioningly accepted the ADHD industry nonsense that, just like diabetes or cancer, ADHD is a disease requiring ‘medication.’ Even now it is our generation’s leaders that finds the truth – i.e. ADHD is a dumbed down, unscientific, catch all diagnosis and amphetamines are bad for kids – too confronting to say out loud."
"We can’t leave our head in the sand any longer. All the available evidence suggests Perth’s twenty to early thirty-somethings have a large and growing dexamphetamine habit. They get it, they abuse it, they drink too much, they fight too much and tragically some die too early. And it is not their generation’s fault, it is my generations, because when they were kids, we were their dealers."
But at least the incumbent federal government has started with a $222.4 investment into intervention centres.
However, Mr Whitely discusses the option of 'recovery' - "centres on developing a patient's own capabilities and resilience.” As opposed to the 'ongoing disability' or 'impending doom' assumptions inherent in the Americanisation and preventive psychiatry approach he is more optimistic about the capacity for recovery with a less reliant on pills approach.
"It supports mentally ill patients with housing, educational, employment and psychological support - building blocks for a healthy and happy mind that can't be replaced by drugs."
"While the recovery approach is more optimistic about human resilience, it is more realistic about the limits of psychiatry than either of the other approaches."
"The Americanisation approach is based on the unrealistic assumption that psychiatric science can accurately identify at least 297 different disorders and the preventive psychiatry approach on the fanciful notion that mental illness can be reliably spotted before it happens.'
"Unfortunately, a significant disadvantage for the recovery approach is that it offers a pessimistic outlook for the profitability of pharmaceutical companies."
Recovery is paramount, and it should be the most vigilantly supported pathway - the hits family members take for their loved ones are huge and ongoing, and that is what people who care about others do - governments and health institutions should do everything possible to reduce these impacts on both the individual and the family by putting people before profits – capitalisation forces should not allowed to commercialise pharmaceutics and healing practices to the extent that they could be putting patients at risk.
This article is not intended to scare monger or to suggest that there are not illnesses that require medication. But there are powerful stimulants and anti-depressants, sedatives, psychotropics and so on that are effectively force-fed to people – medications that they would be the better off without. This article was not just about the over prescription of dexamphetamines - it is about over medication in general, and it is about addiction by prescription abuse and how easy it is for this to occur. It is also about health systems leveraged by push factors such as commercially focused pharmaceutical companies compartmentalising human beings as consumers.
Those who go through the dark turmoils of mental anguish have enough to deal with without recovery being immolated by misdiagnoses, prescriptions they don’t need and over medication. The onus cannot be on doctors alone to err on the side of caution. Mr Whitely argues the onus needs to be embedded in health polices and legislation. Surely to err on the side of caution means less medication is better.
The bent for self-recovery must be premium.
Further comment and LINKS:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR200610...
The temper tantrums of belligerent children are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses.
Using such diagnoses as bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's, doctors are justifying the sedation of difficult kids with powerful psychiatric drugs that may have serious, permanent or even lethal side effects.
There has been a staggering jump in the percentage of children diagnosed with a mental illness and treated with psychiatric medications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2002 almost 20 percent of office visits to pediatricians were for psychosocial problems -- eclipsing both asthma and heart disease. That same year the Food and Drug Administration reported that some 10.8 million prescriptions were dispensed for children -- they are beginning to outpace the elderly in the consumption of pharmaceuticals. And this year the FDA reported that between 1999 and 2003, 19 children died after taking prescription amphetamines -- the medications used to treat ADHD. These are the same drugs for which the number of prescriptions written rose 500 percent from 1991 to 2000.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/dsm5-in-distress/201004/psychiatric-...
Psychiatric Diagnosis Gone Wild: The 'Epidemic' Of Childhood Bipolar Disorder
http://www.4therapy.com/conditions/adhd/adhd-are-children-being-overmedi...
http://www.graspfiles.org/ning/media/print/PsychScience2005.pdf
Reasons not to believe in an autism epidemic
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/america_false_autism...
The apparent epidemic of autism is in fact the latest instance of the fads that litter the history of psychiatry.
We have a strong urge to find labels for disturbing behaviors; naming things gives us an (often false) feeling that we control them. So, time and again, an obscure diagnosis suddenly comes out of nowhere to achieve great popularity. It seems temporarily to explain a lot of previously confusing behavior — but then suddenly and mysteriously returns to obscurity
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/child-myths/200909/epidemic-autism-m...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Evw2-VI50
ADHD: a real disease but a false epidemic
http://www.komonews.com/news/consumer/27854804.html?t=a&video=YLO
http://www.wakingtimes.com/2012/05/07/protestors-say-psychiatrists-over-...
some mental health advocates are expressing their opposition to what they see as overdiagnosing and over-medicating of people with mental illnesses
http://www.mcmanweb.com/meds_kids.html
No sooner had the recognition dawned that depression and bipolar disorder do occur in teens and children than the inevitable backlash set in, a lot of it fully justified. Yes, there is a time and a place for putting kids on meds designed for adults, but there is also a time to refrain
http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/childinmind/2011/10/over-reliance...
This weekend I was scheduled to speak at a conference in LA sponsored by the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry entitled "Alternatives to Biological Psychiatry." Unfortunately, due to a family emergency, I was unable to attend. As I had already prepared my talk, I decided to translate it into a blog post. Recent studies predict that treatment of mental illness and mood disorders will soon makeup 30-40% of a pediatrician’s office practice
http://cphpost.dk/news/national/psychiatric-center-accused-dangerous-ove...
A Greater Copenhagen psychiatric care centre is facing intense criticism from former employees and the Health Ministry over allegations of over-medication of patients and poor management
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/allen-frances/children-bipolar-disorder_b_...
the false bipolar epidemic
Comments
Misdiagnosis by uninformed doctors is a big concern
under the the dsm IV, used in america, it is much easier to be diagnosed as adhd. around 9% of young people would meet this criteria in australia. in europe the idc 10 is used which has a stricter criteria. both are used in australia. in terms of social functioning, about 90% of young people with an adhd diagnosis respond very well to medication, relieving a great deal, although obviously not all their distress, but in many cases enabling someone to get other help they need to be in control of their selves and stay in school and engaged in a community. of course it doesnt treat the underlining cause, which is unknown. i don't think it's fair to withhold this choice to give it a chance when it can make a massive difference.
NOT AN ISSUE TO GET OUTRAGED ABOUT. very important to be balanced about it and not spread ANY misinformation.
Misdiagnosis by uninformed doctors is a big concern since other problems will get worse or go undetected
You got a point but be careful in being too cautious
if you think that 9% of children in Australia isn't a high rate then you're a worry, in terms of responding to adhd that 90% do well that's a matter of opinion, if rates in WA shot more than 20 times and then shot down it means that more than three quarters were misdiagnosed so I worry about the claim that 90% of the 9% respond well, when there appears to misdiagnosis in more than just 10 % of them, like say 50% to 75%, what the response is important, if they have become hypersensitive leading to anxiety or compulsive obsessive and this is seen as a positive then that's a problem
i disagree with you that this is not an issue to be outraged about, my oath we should be outraged when pill popping is done and makes things worse or gets in the way of recovery, the mind is a frail organ and it chemical balances need to be finely tuned and not pushed around
Misdiagnosis is a BIG issue
of course it's a big issue misdiagnosis, it not only hides the problem but makes the unknown problem worse and completely skews the person, and especially when there was nothing medically or chemically wrong in the first place
this was a timely article by Gerry
The stats speak
I think the statistics in this article speak for themselves... such a surge in medication rates needs a royal commission
I agree to many people are denied the chance to recover
Those nearest leave the worst and the person in the centre is devastated, those more distant are oblivious like the doctors and distant family members who will listen to the specialists because they are distant from the home of the person going through hell but whoever is in that home with them and supports them goes through hell with them and because of all this the family breaks down for many and this is just sad because these are the people who probably love each other the most
Thank you
To so many people, like me, this article means a great deal and that there are people out there that know many of us have fallen victim and vulnerable to ongoing distress from people made worse by some of the prescription medication that is out there.
My marriage fell apart because my husband could not trust me or contain his fears when I was there for him but the drugs made so.
We need people to be helped and not pumped with dangerous medications that only seem to make worse or in our case life all over the place.
It was just too late when we realised the medication was affecting his thinking and his decisions.
Yours truly
Mental Health article well broached - Maxine
Gerry, I must say you have have approached and broached this issue in a respectful manner and without any rhetoric and sweeping statements and conspiracy theories that so many others do and lose the audience. This is a very useful article well put together for those wishing to get a grasp of over medicaton and cheap diagnosis and the effects that it has on the person taking the pills, the labels the person is living with, and the impact and difficulties for those closest to the people they love and care for. You kept it to the facts and the humanity and the grief and it is obvious you have deep insights.
This article needed to be written because so many have found difficult to put a good report on these issues without losing the wider audience like so many others have. Maybe many of those people can read this and find some comfort in what you have voiced and in turn comment freely on this thread.
Hopefully the next decade in mental health policies will more openly focus on the issues you have written about and also on maximizing the opportunity for people to recovery, what it should all be about!
Maxine
More artices outing what's happening need to keep happening
if mental health policies will change in the next decade the talk has to happen now, more of these artices outing what's happening need to keep on happening
Too much of everything bad
There's too much food in the world, and most of it bad, for too few people and once again too many pills to be popped into the western world's (the so called developed world) for profiteers to make sure they can get their profits! They do all the same people over who have any money to buy all this no matter how toxic it is for us physically and mentally. I think there's more bad than good in the world if capitalism and its profiteers when we see the food and drug industries. I won't start on the rest!
Aint that the truth!
profiteering is cause to much ill and food what we pretend is food, processed and plastic food, is cause to most of our physical and mental health problems and including the rise of depression like illnesses
My daughter
My dear daughter went through hell on Ritalin and then dexies because they said her roaming mind was more than this, and that her schoolwork could be improved with medication because she must have ADHD - well we bought this and as parents who are we to dispute what a doctor says when it's your child at stake. These drugs and especially the long term use of dexies may have heightened attention but it was hyperactivity, she was always on the go, racy and then feisty and anxious when we tried to slow her down to normality. The dexies frazzled her and have done some damage but when she went off them there were still very bad episodes and at times even more anxiety than when she was on them and it was hell for all us but after more than a year off the dexies she improved, she got better. She had been taking them for nearly six years and thank the heavens it wasn't longer and more damage because that year of our daughter in withdrawal was agony, at times we feared we may lose her. There are far too many people misdiagnosed.
Dexies are the devil bud
dexies are the devil bud, i remember too many of my uni mates doing them, they used them to party, to study, to do allniters, to just get high, some to get skinny, even worse i remember kids at high school doing them, i tried them a couple of times but i realised this was dicing with danger
kids with ADD would dispense them, some would pressure them to do it, to others and they were used for recreational pill popping thinking they're getting high
too many of my mates went from the dexies to addictions and they did their heads in, some did dexies for years, but some went from the introduction of pill popping to cannabis and others to much worse, some made it out some didn't, we lost a few friends one way or another and put it down to the blown minds from the start with dexies
many of them have given the addictions away but they live with anger at the world, or blaming others and self loathing, and with some the tip into anger is big, these are dangerous white tablets and people are better off without them, others who gave up addictions do ciggies and alcohol like no tomorrow because they're addicted to doing something
the stats are bigger than just those who were medicated, there's a lot of damage out there, the sooner one who is on dexies gets off the better and they have to keep on the ball to make sure they don't switch to anger and alcohol and then back to dexies or worse
that is my experience people, i felt the need to blog this
Yasmine
Yes
I like the words Gerry uses; heroes, resilience, recovery
Thanks Gerry, because I went through my own hell from one addiction to the next, the drugs I did you don't want to know but it started with mull and dexies and for more than ten years i burned myself and burnt those near me, i lost so many friends and my family cut off, i lost the man who loved me, i pushed everyone into their own hell but what you wrote is the truth, we are heroes to fight for our lives and for those we love, and it's resilience that got some of us to recovery. Everytime I hear of someone who didn't make it, who finished up dead or in prison I weep for them, they're heroes too but it just got too bad for them and that's where many of us who just made it out could have finished up
I count my blessing
Thank you for your beautiful words in this explanation of over medication and labeling of people, you are a champ
We all deserve a fair start
So we all have a fair go we all gotta have a fair start at life, it's got to be about recovery and not in sedating people, this drugging of people as some sort of solution is way out of control, people with some behavioural stuff aren't sick, they don't need to pop pills and be drugged, if you're sick you know it and medicine heals quickly, if you feel sad or angry you shouldn't be drugged you should be allowed to recover like Martin and Gerry write, you gotta be understood and it's just a time thing.
When you need pills for sadness or anger for a long time or forever you don't really need them at all, you lose yourself and aren't who you were
Dexies are a death trap
Anyone who thinks that dexies aren't a death trsp don't know dexies and the many scenes they are at, they're too easy get and they're the social drug of use because they can be got by prescription, they are all over the place and they don't have to be smuggled in, just got by prescription and repeat prescriptions are a major problem
Dexies do you in, send you into psychosis
My experience
When you take more than you should everything goes haywire, it's paranoia and eats away at self esteem and breaks down all trust with you and then with you and the world. They never did me any good only craziness. I've never really seen anyone benefit and I can say with hand on heart anyone can be diagnosed add or adhd, you can believe you're add and the doctors just agree! or if you mention you can't concentrate or your mind wanders or lack of concentration that's it they say add and there you go you're on dexies or on rit and in time you are bean all over the place and when contained you get angry can't dealing with people
don't get me started on other pills and hocus pocus expectations, it's all an industry now and pharmacies, doctors, companies all tied in, there are salespeople in between and pharmaeucitacal companies compete with each other for the business, lots of fringe benefits, freebies and commissions to get the business
You can't recover with pills and alcohol
'Recovery' is a very important word, it is a key word, when you are allowed to recover, and you can't do it with pills and alcohol, the world looks brighter and lighter not dark as it does on pills, I am not against medication, I agree with Gerry that over medication and wrong diagnosis are cardinal sins
Toxic
pill popping is toxic, popping stimulants is more toxic than toxic, these are mind benders
they destroy relationships, trust and doubt even oneself, it's mayhem and sometimes bloodshed
toxic industries motivated by greed but of course i'll be told i'm ignorant
This article matters
This is a very important article that matters to many families to whom it will make a lot of sense, it will resonate big time, I can say that this article means much to me, it's the truth and explains much to others who are yet to see why somethings occurred and where life went wrong
Thank you
Its wrong to have a drugged working class, undrugged upper class
I'm more in support of illegal drugs than the so called legal drugs distributed by so called health authorities or pharamceutical companies. Illegal drugs are often distributed by friends where as health authorities are more out to get you or just make you industrial fodder for the machine, also health authorities are in for the money, their motives are very dubious. In a ideal world all drugs should be illegal, we all know that this drug fries peoples brains & kills brain cells on a huge scale more so than Ecstasy. Psychosomatic drugs are bad. We could learn a thing or to from scientology, they have been around since the 1950's, the same time Psychosomatic drugs were first introduced, as opposed to restricting peoples movements with physical restraints as was done previously. Its wrong to have a drugged working class & undrugged upper class, this is wrong. THE WHO, World Health Organization thinks 2668 million people should have their brains fried with Psychosomatic drugs, do we listen to them !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IanwpbqoEcs
Especially many white children started drinking alcohol young
In the 1970s amongst working class families it was quite common for family members or relations to distribute alcohol to children & their were many children especially white children that started to drink alcohol at a young age.
Yes, there has to be more caution
There has just got be a people first approach, a balance between medication and the goal maintained in going for recovery, we can't just sedate and artificially stimulate people, we've got to be careful with all these chemicals.
I've seen to many people go off the deep end, just looney on some types of medication.
I think we make some people mentally unstable from not just over medicating but from medicating too when in fact what they need was just some time and reassurance or for them to let off some steam without them being made to feel bad about this.
Get a grip people ... And give people with ADHD a break
All I've got to say is all you judgemental people who feel that Dexamphetamines are evil.... Live in my shoes from for the last 25 years... Since going on as you all call Dexies my life and relationships and coping mechanisms have improved significantly... Put it this way I have been on and off anti-depressants, anti -psychotics and mood stabilizers and sleeping tablets for 25 years... And self medicating with dope abd everything else in my younger years...Recently diagnosed ADHD/add at age 36 and I've got my life back... No I didn't have depression no I wasn't psychotic yes I couldn't sleep.. Yes I burnt every relationship and friendship and job due to poor coping skills and lake of impulse control.. I'm taking a very low dose of "Dexies" no sleeping tablets no alcohol no drugs no emotion sapping anti psychotics ... No I don't have depression or bi polar like I've been told my whole life no crazy daily outrages behavior, I think before I speak now i have thoyghts and follow through with them, I can hold a conversation with our my mind being elsewhere thinking about 50 other things..and feel like I've finally come out of a fog... I feel emotion, I eat well because I can stay settled putting in weight looking well and have an actual idea of who I want to be and the type of person I want to be. My family and friend I have left can't believe the difference.. They were skeptical but supportive but they know and support everything about it now... People ADHD is an illness believe it or not I didnt choose to be this way .. Trust me if I could live my life with no medication I would I tried on numerous occasion and it literally killed me... Please understand that we are all wired differentaly and don't be so judgemental... I don't abuse my medication and I've had problems with drugs when young!!! Yes addicted to drugs... When young... Try and understand and show some compassion ... Get a grip people ... And give people with ADHD a break ...Sorry about spelling but due to not being able to concentrate sit still retain information at school when young or old for that fact I dropped out..;)
Not what they are saying
They are not saying there is no ADHD or ADD, they are writing about over medication, wrong medicating and misdiagnosis and the pharmaceutical companies selling companies for profit at the expense of people. Yes people like you and relatives and friends I have benefited where they do have ADD from appropriate dosages of medication but there are others I knew who were wrongly diagnosed and who turned into nervous wrecks, anxiety and anger ridden, this is what they are writing about.
Don't mix up your wellbeing with what Gerry and Martin are writing about and what some of the bloggers and their testimonials are saying.
Mass tampering of peoples brains could stunt evolution
Its very possible that the mass orchestrated tampering of peoples brains with Psychosomatic drugs could stunt the evolution of the human speices. Their are Philosophical theories around which state that the working class should be sedated, made sterile & celibate so as to mold them into Playdoh for a overseeing upperclass, but their is also evidence around which states that such a mass orchestrated tampering of the human mind by using drugs as a form of restraint could stunt the evolution of the human speices.
http://www.cchrint.org/psychiatric-disorders/psychiatrists-on-lack-of-an...
Very Good
You have touched on a very sensitive issue with its complexities in a very respectful manner, this is important because the issues you describe are everyday in just about every second Western Australian family. They touch us all and the more others know about it the more we all know about hidden problems, nightmares for some, and be able to do something about it all more openly and comfortably.
How cheap is life?
chemicals sold into people, how cheap is life that we make money off people's bodies and state of mind? there's just no respect for human life
Three billion dollar fine for pharmaceutical fraud
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/xinhua/2012-07-03/content_6335595.html
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Global healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has agreed to plead guilty and pay three billion U.S. dollars to resolve criminal and civil charges of healthcare fraud in the United States, said the U.S. Department of Justice in a statement on Monday.
The statement said that the company had illegally promoted prescription drugs, failed to report safety data, and reported false price.
Under the agreements, the London-based GSK would pay one billion dollars in criminal fines and forfeitures for illegally marketing and promoting the drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin for uses not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and for failing to report important clinical data about the drug Avandia to the FDA.
Additionally, GSK would pay two billion dollars to resolve civil allegations that it caused false claims to be submitted to federal healthcare programs as a result of its illegal promotional practices and payments to physicians.
The resolution with both federal and state governments is the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history and the largest payment by a drug company, said the statement.
"This historic action is a clear warning to any company that chooses to break the law," said James Cole, the deputy attorney- general.
Meanwhile, GSK CEO Andrew Witty said in a separate statement: " On behalf of GSK, I want to express our regret and reiterate that we have learnt from the mistakes that were made."
The final settlement was a result of negotiations and the two sides reached agreement in principle in November 2011, said GSK. The company also stated that the net effect on total earnings was expected to be neutral.
You can't move from medication to recovery
Once your diagnosed with a mental illness, even though scientifically their is no such thing as mental illness, you have to take medications for the rest of your life, their is no way out, its a death trap, you will be hunted down by the police or health authorities if you stop takeing your medications, its known as the so called legal drug trade enforced by the law, with a estimated market of over 2000 million people globally, its a multi billion dollar global industry governed by the WHO, World Health Organization, the same organization that introduced the aids virus into Africa. What rationale is behind such a diabolical policy, well population control & slave labour, mental health is the foundation of a classed based capitalistic society where you have the drugged lower or working class & the elite upperclass. However we really live in a three dimensional world & so really their should be really three sectors in society . . .
[1] The Green sector produces food. The God Saturn rules the Green Sector, ruled by the Sun, sacred symbol the cross.
[2] The Red sector works in Industry. The God Thor rules the Red Sector, ruled by the stars & planets, sacred symbol the
hammer.
[3] The Blue sector works in writing, mathamatics, design, divination, scientific investigation & classification &
academic research. The God Thoth rules the Blue Sector, ruled by the Moon, sacred symbol the pentagram.
Note you don't have to belong to just one particular sector your entire life, its possible that you could work for any of the three sectors in your life.
stillnox
http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-great-claims-he-ate-stilnox-like-tic...
http://www.foxsports.com.au/other-sports/swimming-legend-grant-hackett-a...
Addiction medicine
http://www.advicelinelawyers.com.au/news/overprescribing-medication-doct...
Overprescribing medication: Doctor reprimanded by AHPRA
The Australian Health Practitioners Registration Authority (AHPRA) has recently determined that Dr John Gunzburg has engaged in unprofessional conduct for his treatment of a patient. Dr Gunzburg is a General Practitioner with an interest in psychotherapy and addiction medicine.
The conduct of Dr Gunzburg had been referred to a Professional Standards Panel following a Coroner’s inquest. His conduct related to treatment he had provided to a young female patient. At her first consultation with him and at her request Dr Gunzburg prescribed Lamotrigine. He later admitted it was a medication he had not previously prescribed. Dr Gunzburg prescribed her 100 mg per day, which was double the maximum initial dosage recommended in the literature. The patient developed a life-threatening hypersensitivity reaction to the medication and suffered a rash over most of her body, was bleeding from her eyes, nose and mouth and was then hospitalised. Whilst in hospital she developed an infection (probably enabled by the immune-suppressive effect of the corticosteroid treatment she had received for the hypersensitivity reaction) and she died within a few days. In the coronial inquest, Dr Gunzburg admitted that his initial prescription of Lamotrigine had been ‘a mistake’.
In addition to over-prescribing the medication, Dr Gunzburg was also found to have kept inadequate records of his attendances upon the patient.
AHPRA reprimanded Dr Gunzburg. It has required him to undertake education training in:
importance of recording keeping and communication by doctors;
safe prescribing practices and strategies to manage patient demands.
Although poor record keeping and mistakes in medication prescriptions are not uncommon, referrals to AHPRA for such conduct, are reasonably rare. It was sadly the tragic death of the patient, and the deep concern of her parents regarding the care provided, that meant this matter was not overlooked. It is hoped that the investigation and findings teach not only Dr Gunzburg, but other doctors, valuable lessons from the tragic death of this patient.
Andrea Tsalamandris of our office assisted the patient’s family at the Coroner’s inquest.
Misprescribing stats
http://www.worstpills.org/public/page.cfm?op_id=3
The numbers are staggering: in 2003, an estimated 3.4 billion prescriptions were filled in retail drugstores and by mail order in the United States. That averages out to 11.7 prescriptions filled for each of the 290 million people in this country.1 But many people do not get any prescriptions filled in a given year, so it is also important to find out how many prescriptions are filled by those who fill one or more prescriptions. In a study based on data from 2000, more than twice as many prescriptions were filled for those 65 and older (23.5 prescriptions per year) than for those younger than 65 (10.1 prescriptions per year).2 Another way of looking at the high rate of prescriptions among older people is the government finding that although Medicare beneficiaries comprise only 14% of the community population, they account for more than 41% of prescription medicine expenses.
Methadone tied to one third of prescription drug deaths
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018594025_methadone04.html
Overdose deaths from powerful painkillers have been surging at an alarming rate in the U.S., but here's a sliver of good news: The number blamed on methadone appears to have peaked.
Still, methadone accounts for nearly one-third of prescription painkiller deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday
Doctors recklessly prescribing mood drugs
http://www.smh.com.au/national/reckless-doctors-handing-out-mood-drugs-2...
AN increasing number of doctors are "recklessly" prescribing potentially addictive mood-altering drugs like benzodiazepines, the Medicare watchdog, Tony Webber, has found.
In his latest report released yesterday, Dr Webber said he had found cases of doctors prescribing up to five different benzodiazepine drugs, in addition to narcotic drugs, to known illicit drug users. "This behaviour is entirely contrary to accepted medical practice," said Dr Webber, who is the director of the Professional Services Review which investigates inappropriate practices involving Medicare payments.
He said the agency had imposed sanctions, which can include withdrawal of prescribing rights, and referred some doctors to state medical boards for further action.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/reckless-doctors-handing-out-mood-drugs-2...
It's a Labor plot to put everybody on psychosomatic drugs
The Soviet Union, former USSR, now known as Russia was the first country in the world to administer pills & injections of Psychosomatic drugs to prisoners in their gulags, otherwise known as slave labour prison camps, people were forcibly removed from their home & spent the rest of their life being drugged with Psychosomatic drugs in the slave labour prison camps.
The same thing happens in Australia today under the watchful eye of the labour communist friendly government of Australia with the guidance of the WHO, World Health Organization.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzdu3WQyIZg
Poor mental health is the gateway to the over crowded prisons
This is a very good article and points to our neglect of not being on guard to ensure good mental health, poor mental health is the gateway to the now over crowded prisons, many people high on pills and not just illegal drugs from the street are doing things not them real self and finishing up filling our prisons
Top sports doctor warns Stilnox is highly addictive
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/top-sports-doctor-warns-stilno...
Sugar is toxic
http://www.firstourselves.org/10-steps-to-control-sugar-cravings/
Prolonged use of drugs changes the brain
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=1&...
Medication can cause mood swings
http://moodswings.imwebniches.com/drugs_that_can_cause_mood_swings.html
Different Types of Drugs that Can Cause Mood Swings
Drugs, particularly recreational ones, have a nasty reputation for causing mood swings and hallucinations. Most of the drugs that are popular among users and addicts today are especially prized or formulated for their specific effects. Unfortunately, these very same effects could also become uncontrolled, creating unpleasant physical, mental and emotional stress. Often, these emotions can be either extremely positive or extremely negative. Depending on the amount of drugs that enters the body and the person's own physiological reactions to it, mood swings can be prolonged and intense.
Drugs that can cause mood swings
There are several types of drugs that lead to mood swings. These are:
Cocaine
Cocaine was a drug that soared in popularity in the 80s and 90s. It is a known stimulant that may be dissolved and taken through an IV, although it is commonly inhaled. Cocaine, like its derivative crack, produces a feeling of intense euphoria, which makes it very popular with users. It can quickly stimulate the central nervous system, increasing energy and confidence and reducing inhibition.
The problem with cocaine is that once the initial effects wear off, the negative effects begin. This is then replaced by depression, guilt, anxiety and nervousness, exactly the opposite of the emotions it produces initially.
Inhalants
Inhalants frequently come in the form of adhesives such as glues, gasoline, aerosol propellants, spray paints and cleaning liquids. Although safe in small quantities and if used as indicated, inhalants may be abused.
Inhalants produce a 'high' but this is only temporary. Unless a new 'hit' is taken, the user could begin to suffer from negative emotions, leading to mood swings.
Amphetamines
Amphetamines were the drug of choice for nearly two decades starting in the 1950s. It was actually a prescription drug, used to treat mild depression, fatigue and obesity. The only problem is that amphetamines can lead to addiction, which has now severely limited its use today.
Over-the-counter drugs that have amphetamine-like effects are frequently being abused by some users. Because of its stimulant effects, it helps keep people awake and alert. It can also suppress the appetite, making it the drug of choice of people who want to lose weight.
The problem is that amphetamines are also drugs that cause mood swings. People who use them frequently exhibit insomnia, restlessness and irritability. In some cases, it can even cause tremors.
LSD
LSD or lysergic acid diethylamide is a synthetic substance, a drug that was made popular in the 60s and 70s. It is a hallucinogenic drug, capable of changing the user's perception of reality. It is so strong that it can work even in very small doses.
Like most drugs, LSD can also lead to mood swings. Although its initial effects are mainly producing hallucinations, it can create confusion and anxiety in users.
There are also other naturally-occurring drugs that function in similar ways to LSD. Peyote, for example, contains mescaline, while certain types of mushrooms contain psilocybin. These ingredients both produce hallucinations, which made them very popular for use by people practicing certain religious rituals.
Although both substances are quite effective, they are not as potent as LSD, which is 200 times more potent than psilocybin and around 4,000 times more powerful than mescaline.
Antidepressants
Antidepressants are prescription drugs that change the levels of neurotransmitters in the body, including norepinephrine and serotonin. Antidepressants include monoamine oxidase inhibitors, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and tricyclics. Although quite effective, these drugs do have side effects, including mood swings.
Government removed me from my home at age 14 & desexed me
The government removed me from my home at age 14 & sterilised me or desexed me with drugs, I was told it was a form of execution or human sacrifice by health authorities, kind of like death & I have been drugged by the government ever since, in the early days they gave me LSD allwhile I had to conduct all kinds of manual labour & I lived in extreme poverty all my life.
Alot of the old drugs they used to give out have been banned but I found out that alot the new drugs just have different labels on them but their all known as psychosomatic drugs. Its a form of population control & a easy way to enlist people into slave labour.
Royal Commission - Stephen Smith
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1667598/Defence-Force-abuse-claims-wi...
Turning to over the counter drugs
http://www.theantidrug.com/drug-information/otc-prescription-drug-abuse/...
Although teens are turning away from street drugs, now there's a new threat and it's from the family medicine cabinet: The abuse of prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs.
Parents and caregivers are the first line of defense in addressing this troubling trend.
What's the problem?
Teens are abusing some prescription and over-the-counter drugs to get high. This includes painkillers, such as those drugs prescribed after surgery; depressants, such as sleeping pills or anti-anxiety drugs; and stimulants, such as those drugs prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Teens are also abusing over-the-counter drugs, such as cough and cold remedies.
Early chronic use of cannabis leads to paranoia
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0C...
Substance abuse symptoms
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/substance_abuse/article_em.htm
The horror of impaired development, the damage. WHAT CAN BE DONE
Early use of cannabis or marijuana by young people leads to impaired development cognitively and the senses are impaired. Chronic use of cannabis by teenagers over a long time when they are still physically and mentally maturing causes damage to the mind.
Men don't fully mature till 25 and women till at least 23 and cannabis use up to those ages causes developmental damage leading to mental illness, paranoia, psychosis, episodes.
It is the opinion of many experts in the field that is exactly what happens and it is the experience of many families.
Many people who have abused cannabis chronically from their youth before reaching physical and mental maturity and then try to break the addiction find themselves replacing the cannabis with alcohol abuse or prescription medication abuse namely Ritalin, Valium, these type of drugs to relieve the self doubts or paranoia.
Other ways for instant relief are physical and mental abuse of others, violence, blaming, aggressive control but with no real intentions and depression.
The only way to get better is when one realises what is happening and breaks free from all addictions, including alcohol and prescription medication, and realises that social acceptability or what others think is not recovery - recovery is kindness to yourself and to others and small steps and not a single backward step, it needs time but each small step is really a big step when there are no backward steps.
Forgiving oneself is important, and one must forgive oneself immediately and everyone else too, and just take the small steps and that will break the addiction, the cycle of pain and damage, and the rest is recovery and freedom.
Cannabis should be unlawful, marijuana use leads to all this and should not be considered for decriminalisation.
Don't fall into the trap of blame and hate, just love to be free
everyone is human and imperfect and everyone has to be kind to themselves and if they are kind to themselves they will be kind to others, it's got to be kindness and forgiveness all round and recovery is self recovery, there are no other ways
we are all full of worth, let it be known to oneself, take nothing out on yourself or anyone else and despite those who blame you just don't fall into the trap of blame and hate, just love and you are free
Don't let the silence in, only the love
let in those only who have stood by your side at all times and not those, even if they are family, who were not there for you when you needed them, don't let the silence in, only the love
The children of God know who they are
Pharmakeia is the root word for the modern words of Pharmaceutical & Pharmakeia means sorcery or witchcraft, their is nothing holy about Pharmaceuticals especially when the Government has the legal right to drug people for their entire lives.
Justification for distributing illegal drugs
The justification for distributing illegal drugs is that the big pharamceutical companies, big tobacco & big alcohol
companies have too much power & to much of a monopoly over the drug market.
Former pharma executive warns against nefarious dealings
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QMYFgC_YSo
Dr John Rengen Virapen is a former scientist who after 35 years of work in the pharmaceutical industry (Eli Lilly) has left it to warn the public of the nefarious dealings and motives of the pharmaceutical industry.