Manufacturing Mental Illness By The Pill.......

The following is from a very valuable, leading grass-roots newsletter on alternative mental health. I have been reading this for several years and you can access it at http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/

Editor's note

In this month's issue we find two articles that exemplify the "schizophrenic" condition of modern society. We see the Wall Street Journal covering the fact that, from a strictly financial standpoint, alternative mental health treatment has become big business. On the flip side, we find that antidepressants are now the most prescribed drug in America. How can both of these be true?

It's simple if you understand the Western world.

On the one hand we have the alternative mental health movement, a purely grassroots effort popping up all over the world, growing by consumer demand. There is no big corporate budget pushing this market growth—it's strictly based on public need. The public is becoming aware that drugs are not only not the ultimate answer, but can even add to the mental or emotional ailment you already have.

Oddly enough, the alternative mental health market has also been driven by pharmaceutical marketing. Drug company advertising has lowered the bar on "mental illness." They have given us to believe that no one should ever be depressed, anxious, or hyperactive, and, if we are, there is a pill for that. In their wake they have left a massive number of people who, sold on the idea of a feel-good pill, tried their drugs, didn't like them, and are now seeking alternative ways to well-being.

What has driven the antidepressant drug boom is simple: massive marketing fueled by obscene sums of money. The actual scientific studies have shown that antidepressants work about the same as a placebo. The drug companies, of course, know this but they still sell their wares.

The sages of centuries past tell us that, eventually, truth wins out. One can expect that, eventually, the public and even the medical field will take the path that leads to actual results and not hype.


SSRIs Reduce Bone Density in Elderly

Antidepressant medications known as "selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors" (SSRIs) may be associated with an increased rate of bone loss in older men and women, according to two articles in the June 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

SSRIs are commonly prescribed for the elderly and account for 62% of the antidepressant prescriptions in the United States. One of the effects of SSRIs is the inhibition of the protein that transports the neurotransmitter serotonin, which affects mood, sleep, and other functions. This protein has recently been discovered in bone as well, raising the possibility that SSRIs may affect bone density and the risk of fracture.

Researchers, led by Susan J. Diem, M.D., M.P.H. of the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, looked at 2,722 older women (average age 78.5 years) over a two-year period. Some were on antidepressants but most were not. At that time and again an average of nearly five years later, the study measured the total bone density of the women's hip region and two subregions.

A total of 198 (7.3%) of the women used SSRIs; another 118 (4.3%) took tricyclic antidepressants; while 2,406 (88.4%) took neither. Those who took both were not included in the analysis. After the researchers adjusted for other factors affecting bone density and antidepressant use, including depression severity and calcium supplement use, bone mineral density at the hip decreased 0.82 percent in SSRI users. This compared with a decrease of 0.47 percent among those who used tricyclic antidepressants and also in those who did not take any antidepressants.

Higher rates of bone loss were also observed at the two hip subregions among SSRI users. "One potential explanation for our findings is that SSRI use may have a direct deleterious effect on bone," the authors write. "This theory is supported by findings of in vitro and in vivo laboratory investigations."

"Our findings suggest that, in this cohort, use of SSRIs is associated with increased rates of hip bone loss," the authors conclude.

In another article in the same journal, Elizabeth M. Haney, M.D., of Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, and colleagues conducted a similar study with 5,995 men age 65 and older (average age 73.7). Bone density at the hip, including subregions, and at the base of the spine were measured over a two-year period.

A total of 160 men (2.7%) reported using SSRIs, 99 (1.7%) reported using tricyclic antidepressants and 52 (0.9 percent) reported using trazodone, a third type of antidepressant. Total hip bone mineral density was 3.9 percent lower among SSRI users than among men who didn't use any antidepressants. Similarly, spine bone mineral density was 5.9 percent lower among SSRI users than among non-users. There was no significant difference in either hip or spine density between men who took tricyclic antidepressants or trazodone and those who did not take antidepressants.

"These associations are biologically plausible and clinically important," the authors conclude. "Because SSRI use is prevalent in the general population, our findings have a potentially important public health impact. If confirmed, people using SSRIs might be targeted for osteoporosis screening and preventive intervention."


Wall Street Journal Looks at Alternative Mental Health

On July 13, the Wall Street Journal ran a lengthy (2,000-word) article entitled "The Unmedicated Mind--Backlash Against Antidepressants is Fueling New Interest in Alternative Treatments." Writer Nancy Keates, who interviewed Safe Harbor's Dan Stradford in June for the article, did an excellent job of showing why the public is reaching more for non-drug solutions in mental health these days.

"Now, spurred by the growing disenchantment with antidepressants," she wrote, "an increasing number of people are seeking treatment for depression, anxiety and eating disorders from naturopaths, acupuncturists and even chiropractors. At the same time, more traditional psychiatrists are incorporating massage and meditation in their practices."

Covering a wide variety of alternative practices and citing many stories of people who have recovered without drugs, Keates gave a balanced look at the pros and cons of the issues.

One paragraph captures the subject in a nutshell: "To address the growing interest from professionals, Harvard Medical School's Department of Continuing Education will have three classes on complementary and alternative medicine in psychiatry over the next year, up from one a year since the class was introduced in 2003. David Mischoulon, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard, says doctors who have attended the class report that more patients are asking for alternative treatments—due to the side effects of antidepressants, as well as a lack of response to the medication. Only about half of patients who take antidepressants respond, he says. 'It is time to broaden the horizons,' he says."


Antidepressants Become the Most Highly-Prescribed Drug in America

In the book Beyond Valium, written in 1981 by Seymor Rosenblatt, M.D., we are told the tale of the drug's rise to power, and how Valium, driven by marketing and widespread prescribing practices by psychiatrists and family doctors alike, became the number one drug prescribed in the nation. Of course, what eventually followed was the public release of information showing Valium's dangerous addictive nature, followed by its fall from grace as a common prescription.

It is a story one would not expect to see repeated. Prior to the 1960s psychotropic medication was rarely used by the general population, being reserved for those with serious mental disorders. Then, with the rise of illegal drug use in the '60s came the concept of "the happy pill," a drug for the "worried well" that would chase the blues away.

Fast-forward to 1987 when SSRIs arrive on the market in the form of Prozac. Again, the pill is marketed not only for the severely disturbed but for those seeking "mood brighteners." The book Listening to Prozac by Peter Kraemer, MD, becomes a best-seller. Even today, barnesandnoble.com refers to it as "The landmark book about antidepressants and the remaking of the self."

We should not be surprised, then, by a report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that, as of 2005, antidepressants are the most highly prescribed drug in the United States. Of the 2.4 billion drug prescriptions written in 2005, 118 million were for antidepressants. Coming in second were 113 million prescriptions for high blood pressure pills.

This increase took place throughout the 1990s and continues to grow. The numbers of adult antidepressant prescriptions tripled between 1988 to 1994 and 1999 to 2000.

In an interview with www.allheadlinenews.com, Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington's Hudson Institute, said doctors are essentially prescribing pills to "cure" unhappiness. "Doctors are now medicating unhappiness. Too many people take drugs when they really need to be making changes in their lives."