How to Help Anxious Minds

I am diagnosed as skizoaffective-bi-polar. It seems that the meds I have taken for 25 or more years have brought on shakiness in my hands. It has been very noticeable by physicians/people alike and they worry as I do. However, I need all the meds that I take. I have discussed this with them. Do you have any ideas for me to discuss with my psychiatrist that may help open any new avenues of thought in bringing this problem under control? I am afraid that I have burned out my brain.

Dr. Salzman asserts: "When psychiatric medications are taken as directed by a physician, there are no long-lasting harmful effects on the brain." Can Dr. Salzman cite any scientific evidence whatsoever to support this claim? Perhaps Dr. Salzman has somehow simply overlooked all the growing evidence that these medications often do produce harmful effects, including those listed below.

I'm surprised that Newsweek would publish such a broad unsupported claim without basic fact-checking first, simply because it came from a Harvard "expert". Maybe it's time for Newsweek to write an in-depth article contrasting the latest findings and controversies about psychiatric medications against the long-running overhyped industry claims.

- tardive dyskinesia and other movement disorders
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16171976
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18591121

- endocrine effects that lead to obesity and diabetes
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16832314
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16187768

- antipsychotic withdrawal induced psychosis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16774655
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17650054

- agranulocytosis, a potentially fatal blood disorder
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18681784

- drug-induced structural brain changes
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15702141
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16612194

- risk of suicide from antidepressants (blinded compared to placebo)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12601224
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18690915

- antidepressant discontinuation syndrome
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9219489
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9269249


Using Imaging to Look at Changes in the Brain
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/health/research/16conv.html

Risks Found for Youths in New Antipsychotics
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/health/research/15drug.html

Judge to Unseal Documents on the Eli Lilly Drug Zyprexa
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/06/business/06lilly.html

Exposure to antipsychotics and risk of stroke
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/337/aug28_2/a1227

Several lawsuits target prescription drug Seroquel
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08241/907556-53.stm

Proof Is Scant on Psychiatric Drug Mix for Young
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/health/23kids.html

Psychiatric Group [APA] Faces Scrutiny Over Drug Industry Ties
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/12/washington/12psych.html

Stanford doctor's stock raises ethics concerns
http://www.mercurynews.com/lifeandstyleheadlines/ci_9689122

Grassley seeks FDA scrutiny of Paxil and suicide risk
http://finance.senate.gov/press/Gpress/2008/prg061208.pdf


Mental health journalism blog
http://www.furiousseasons.com/

Law Project for Psychiatric Rights
http://psychrights.org/Research/Digest/Researchbytopic.htm

MindFreedom International (UN-recognized NGO)
http://www.mindfreedom.org/kb/psychiatric-drugs/

"Mad in America" by Robert Whitaker
http://madinamerica.com/Mad%20In%

Dr. Salzman's statement that psychotropic meds don't cause long term brain damage is simply not true. It is also outrageous that a news organization like Newsweek allowed a statement like this to go unchallenged.

My story:

I suffered many cognitive side effects and a hearing loss as the result of being on antidepressants which I am very slowly withdrawing from One of the cognitive side effects is very subtle but will occur in my writing. Even though I know which word to use, my fingers end up typing the wrong one. For example, in a post on a comments section, I meant to say ???enter??? and typed ???end???. It is like the drugs caused something in my brain to get crossed up as I never made these errors prior to being placed on meds.

My story aside, there are citations that challenge this view

1.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17196056?dopt=AbstractPlus - A cross-sectional study of the prevalence of cognitive and physical symptoms during long-term antidepressant treatment.

2. http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.../1/7/abstract/ - Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor use associates with apathy among depressed elderly: a case-control study

Conclusion

Even though depression was improved in elderly patients receiving antidepressants, apathy appeared to be greater in patients who were treated with SSRI than that found in patients who were not. Frontal lobe dysfunction due to alteration of serotonin is considered to be one of the possibilities.

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9640489
Selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitor-induced movement disorders.

4. not brain damage but still very serious ???
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum - Medication-induced mitochondrial damage and disease.

???All classes of psychotropic drugs have been documented to damage mitochondria,???

AA