This Is Your Brain On [Psychotropic] Drugs

Life is full of emotions. Happy. Sad. Nervous. Frightened. Excited. Depressed. Crazy. Anxious. All of these are a normal part of life. Everyone experiences these emotions at one point or another.

At times these emotions may lend themselves to be more intense than at other times. I've experienced this myself in life. I remember the overwhelming sense of joy I felt when I finally graduated college and landed my first job. That was an incredible high for me. I can also remember being at the lowest of lows in life just a few years prior as pharmacy school and my personal life seemed to come crashing down on me. That was an awful feeling that seemed to last forever and something I never want to experience again. When times like these come in life we often turn to those closest to us to share in our experiences—good, bad, or ugly. Our friends and family are our personal counselors.

Today, however, every emotion has been labeled as a "disease" or "disorder". Every human being walking the face of the planet is mentally ill, according to the drug manufacturers anyway. These greedy business entities have designed a system where they profit off of everyday life experiences of people. Depressed because of a breakup or loss of a loved one? Big Pharma deems you as having major depressive disorder. Anxious when you attend new functions and meet new people? You have social anxiety disorder. Have a typical, energetic 6 year old who can't sit still in class for hours on end (because everyone knows that little kids are supposed to be able to do this)? Your child is suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Psychotropic drugs (anti-depressants, anti-anxiety, anti-psychotic, ADHD meds, etc.) are now being prescribed in record numbers. One out of every five adults in the United States is taking at least one psychotropic medication. In America alone, $34 billion dollars was spent in 2010 on just three classes of psychotropic drugs—anti-depressants, anti-psychotics, and ADHD drugs.

While I agree, as a pharmacist, that there may be severe cases of mental illness that a trial of medication could be worthwhile and provide some benefit to the patient, this is certainly the exception and not the rule. Psychotropic drugs should be reserved for those patients where ALL other conservative methods (optimizing nutrition, exercise, adequate sleep, stress management, counseling, hypnosis therapy, etc.) have failed and is of last resort. Again, this should be an exception and not the rule. Even in cases of severe mental illness (schizophrenia) there is data on the effectiveness of non-pharmacological treatments like the Soteria Project which have been successfully used to teat patients.

The truth is the science behind psychotropic drugs is full of lies and deception. These products have been shown to be no better than placebo when used for the overwhelming majority of cases of "mental illness". They also have horrific side effects that include increased depression, suicidal ideation, permanent movement disorders (tics and "jerkiness"), and even cause psychosis. You did hear this correctly... these drugs cause the very disorders they are supposed to treat!

It's important to be an informed consumer before making the decision to use medications or not to improve your overall health. Below is a documentary that tells the truth behind the psychotropic drug industry. Marketing of Madness uncovers the hidden agenda of the pharmaceutical companies to syphon as much money out of society as possible, regardless of the harm done to human lives.

Photo credit: Tom Varco (Wikimedia Commons)

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by Dustin Rudolph, PharmD
Clinical Pharmacist

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