Daniel Owens
@dsowens17
Prescribed harm movement #prescribedharm #akathisia
Antidepressant withdrawal and online support We keep getting told that psychiatrists have never seen antidepressant withdrawal or that it is at best minimal. Online tells a different story. There are currently over 100,000 people in Facebook support groups desperately trying…
This is what ideological capture of healthcare professionals looks like: What kind of person defends a drug by saying, “Yeah, well, Thalidomide was bad too”?
Zofran, Thalidomide, Bendectin, Topamax, and Depakote all had settlements paid out. None are SSRI’s. This happens with all types of meds, so nice try.
The instinct to find middle ground can seem wise when the system is working, but when the system itself is broken, compromise just makes you complicit. It keeps the harm going for everyone…
Saying “no overall evidence” is not a scientific statement. Anyone familiar with how science works knows this. The very use of the word “overall” is a tacit admission that some evidence of harm exists -otherwise, they’d simply say there’s “no evidence.” Even the most charitable…
There is no overall evidence that SSRIs are unsafe during pregnancy, and in fact SSRIs can be lifesaving for pregnant women with mood & anxiety disorders. That's a key point of a letter APA sent today to U.S. FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, expressing its alarm over some of…
I think it’s safe to say we’ve reached peak irony when a pharma executive ‘suddenly’ develops concerns about financial conflicts of interest on an FDA panel after decades of industry influence on the agency….
I don't know how the new FDA claims "gold-standard science" when they recruit a panelist to inform the public about antidepressants who has a business that will see higher revenues if they can bring on more customers if potential customers can be convinced by the panelists that…
Their Product is Doubt One thing that I have found absolutely shocking in my interactions with modern medicine, particularly psychiatry is the way that supposedly intellectually serious and upstanding senior members of the profession can adopt such a dismissive attitude to the…
Any system that requires only short-term company-funded trials to prove benefit, but demands catastrophic, undeniable harm-plus political pressure and smoking-gun evidence of corporate wrongdoing-to acknowledge risk, is a system built to harm people at scale...
It's always 'misinformation’ when it challenges pharmaceutical interests
An FDA panel discussing the use of antidepressants during pregnancy largely amounted to misinformation or facts taken out of context, according to several psychiatrists who tuned into the meeting. nbcnews.com/health/mental-…
Today’s the Day: My Book Crossing Zero is Out! After a decade of clinical work, research, and careful thinking, the English edition of my book "Crossing Zero: The Art and Science of Coming off – and Staying off – Psychiatric Drugs" is finally out today. Available now on Amazon,…
Learning what it’s like to cry again after being unable to because you’ve been so blunted from antidepressants is not the same thing as relapsing. Unless you are someone who pathologises emotions that is…..
Moncrieff: “The patient’s emotions are heightened… hmm.” (Glances at her deprescriber friends) “I know, I know - we can’t say the R-word.” ( relapse) Moncrieff: I’ve got it! “Let’s just go with rebounding emotions. No one will notice.” Deprescriber friends: 👏👏👏
The only people who want antidepressant withdrawal to not exist more than pharma-funded psychiatrist are the people going through it.
If a tree falls in an empty forest and there’s no RCT done on it, did it actually happen?
Some ppl really don’t like the word “withdrawal” used in the context of SSRIs and other prescribed psychiatric drugs. They often suggest it is pejorative and stigmatizing to those who experience it, suggesting “only drugs cause withdrawal, good ppl on ‘medications’ get…
Everyone should have already known this ever since my meme lol
You're getting the causality backwards. Historically, the pattern is different: after years of downplaying PSSD, some new wonder drug will be discovered. Just before market launch, KOLs tied to the new manufacturer will 'suddenly' start acknowledging PSSD and other SSRI side…
Today we submitted a formal correction request to the editors of JAMA Psychiatry @JAMAPsych @dost_ongur in response to the recent Kalfas et al. review, which downplays the risks of antidepressant withdrawal by relying on short-term studies. Our letter outlines the dangerous…
‘ChatGPT thinks I’m right’ is the new ‘my mom thinks I’m cool’. You heard it here first.
The review by Kalfas on antidepressant withdrawal in JAMA Psychiatry will mislead as it is based largely on people who have taken antidepressants for 8-12 weeks in 11 RCTs-this will under-estimate the risks for millions of long-term users. bit.ly/4eFrZzO Thread (1/n)
People have been reasonably asking are there any high-quality studies of wirthdrawal from longer term use. Rosenbaum (1998) is very well conducted. It was ‘included’ in the Kalfas review but not in the main analysis. It meets criteria to do so.(1/n)
Dr Jauhar concedes here that short term studies do not have relevance to longer term users. In fact he does not presume that his work has ‘relevance to anyone’. Despite this admirably cautious approach here in the press release he put out to the public he said…1/n
I do not have the ability to predict the future. Apparently some do. Reasonable point regarding length of studies. Happy to address this. I do not presume my work has relevance to anyone – that is their decision, not mine. Shanti.
What goes unacknowledged here is that without the Davies and Read paper, the issue of antidepressant withdrawal might still be sidelined entirely-despite these drugs being on the market for nearly four decades. Their work was a turning point and forced the conversation into the…
“Basically, if you are still someone who treats the Davies and Read estimate of antidepressant withdrawal as valid—take the L and move on! The data from clinical trials just doesn’t back it up.”
Despite all the pious talk about “letting the evidence speak for itself” and just “reflecting what the science says,” the real goal of the Kalfas paper was always to generate this headline-and push it far and wide. "Most people have no severe withdrawal from antidepressants,…
My response to BMJ article has been published! bmj.com/content/390/bm…