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"The Guam Daily Post" featured Richard Shadick, director of the counseling center and adjunct professor of psychology at Pace University in "Think about the best treatment for depression"
The Food and Drug Administration had the following black box warning in 2005.
"Antidepressants increased the risk compare to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Carefully weigh the risks and benefits before starting treatment."
The black box warning was for all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): Celexa, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, etc.
This essay was catalyzed by the unexpected suicide of and revelations of chronic depression in Robin Williams, an extremely talented and animated actor and comedian. He was open about his history of treatment for cocaine addiction and alcoholism for the past 25 years or so.
I would like to enlighten readers to the dysfunctional and greed-oriented relationship between the FDA and large pharmaceutical companies known as Big Pharma, specifically Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline. I also would like to discuss how depression is being mistreated by the medical community.
The new edition of the black box warning states: “WARNINGS: Clinical Worsening and Suicide Risk.” It also refers to adults. It warns about “anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akithisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania,” in regards to the SSRIs.
To get an idea of how the FDA is so eager to protect drug companies, it failed to require them to mention the proven lack of efficacy of these drugs – SSRIs – in treating depression.
In the book “Talking Back to Prozac,” Dr. Peter Breggin pointed out that Prozac was approved under the first Bush administration. He wrote, "George Bush had been a member of the board of directors of Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Prozac.” Breggin noted, “Vice President Dan Quayle was from Indiana, the home state and international headquarters for Eli Lilly. At the time the FDA was approving Prozac, Quayle employed former Eli Lilly personnel on his own staff." The doctor also noted that Quayle had leverage over the FDA as the chair of a special committee that was investigating Eli Lilly’s operations.
Do your own research with this question in mind: How does the medical community, psychiatry specifically, and the neuro-psycho-pharmaceutical industrial complex deal with the mounting evidence that antidepressants are not only dangerous but also useless for adults and children?
Do your homework to discover the following most efficient treatments of depression. After anxiety and stress, depression is the most common mental health disorder.
Talking is the best treatment for depression. It includes various psychological talk therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, group and psychodynamic therapy, and psychotherapy.
According to Richard Shadick, director of the counseling center and adjunct professor of psychology at Pace University in New York City, states the research overwhelmingly asserts, “Psychotherapy, with or without medication, is the best way to treat depression.” Shadick added, "Exercise, if done correctly, is one of the most promising natural treatments for depression. It elevates mood quickly and reliably."
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