Dear Friend, Welcome to the September 2007 issue of the Psychology Debunked newsletter! Contrary to what we've heard in the secular and even Christian media recently, mental disorders like bipolar are not medical diseases requiring pills to fix chemical imbalances in the brain. Nor are people just now coming out of the closet about their bipolar. Rather, bipolar is a successful attempt by powerful industry to medicalize moody and fleshly behavior--behavior that has existed in the human race since the beginning. When a Christian accepts the bipolar diagnosis, he or she has forgotten that Jesus Christ is the Sanctifier, not just the Savior; the giver of peace, hope and self-control, not just forgiveness; the Way to abundant life, not just everlasting life. The good news of the gospel also includes His grace for today. He will level us out if we humbly surrender to His control by faith. | Rom 15:13 | | Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. |
| 1Th 5:23 | | And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly;
|
| 2Th 3:16 | | Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord [be] with you all. |
| Gal 5:22 | | But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. |
In this issue, we take a look at current events surrounding bipolar disorder and the antipsychotic drugs prescribed for it. We also review bipolar disorder from a biblical, scientific, and practical perspective, and meet two readers who found victory over their bipolar. Finally, don't miss the article by Ben Hansen from, yes, Bonkers Institute. In Christ, Lisa and Ryan Bazler
FDA secretly approves J&J antipsychotic Risperdal for bipolar children On August 22nd, the FDA approved Johnson & Johnson's antipsychotic drug Risperdal for treatment of bipolar and schizophrenia in children ages 10-17 and 13-17 respectively, conveniently skipping over the standard process of a public hearing and disclosure of drug trial test results. With this ruling, the FDA has purposely ignored the data they know full-well--that drugs in this class have been shown to cause irreversible tics, excessive weight gain, male breast growth requiring surgery to fix, and lethal type 2 diabetes--and approved them for vulnerable children. This, in the midst of 10 states suing drug makers for not disclosing these lethal side effects. FDA's actions continue to prove their loyalty to drug company profits over consumer protection, and allow J&J to further bolster its $4.2B annual revenue stream for this pill by legally marketing use for bipolar and schizophrenic children who really have deeper issues that pills cover up and complicate. Now, doctors and parents will have no problem poisoning children with these toxic drugs, because after all, if it's FDA approved, it must be safe. more » Bipolar soars as diagnosis for children A recent article in the Archives of General Psychiatry reveals a 40-fold increase in the number of bipolar diagnoses in children, going from 20,000 diagnoses in 1994, to 800,000 diagnoses in 2003, to still more today. Bipolar is certainly trendy these days, because many stand to gain: doctors get insurance billings, drug companies increase sales, and parents get an excuse called a "disease" to deal with their child's aggressive, volatile behavior. more » Antipsychotic drug makers capitalize on children's bipolar labels With the exponential increase in bipolar labels for children, the drug companies see a huge untapped market for antipsychotics and anticonvulsants, and have successfully pressured the FDA into approving these drugs for this population (see first article). With FDA approval, the current $11.5B antipsychotic drug market will only get bigger, to the delight of the many financial stakeholders in this market. This article provides recent data from Wolters-Kluwer on the astronomical rise in children's antipsychotic drug prescriptions over just the past four years. For example, between 2003 and 2006:
- 2x increase in number of prescriptions to all populations, to 4.4 million
- 5x increase in number of prescriptions to children age 4 and under, to 20,280
- 6x increase in number of prescriptions to children age 5 - 9, to 710,937. more » Medwatch lists most lethal drugs as reported by consumers; 300% increase in fatalities since 1998 It's ironic that the FDA's own Medwatch web site, a tool consumers use to report adverse events associated with prescription drugs, lists three major antipsychotic drugs--Clozaril, Risperal, and Zyprexa--in the top 15 drugs causing the most deaths (as reported by consumers), when these are the very drugs FDA has approved for use in children! Worse, this article documents a 300% increase in drug-related fatalities reported since 1998. The FDA debacle surrounding the painkiller Vioxx should have taught FDA a lesson about failing to place patient safety first before approving a drug that would eventually have to be banned for sale. But, as this article states, more deaths were caused by each of the three major antipsychotics (3,277 deaths from Clozaril; 1,093 deaths from Risperdal; 1,005 deaths from Zyprexa), than by Vioxx (932 deaths). Experts estimate the real numbers are 10 times this much, because most people do not choose to report events to Medwatch. It seems well overdue to ban the antipsychotics, but instead the FDA approves them for children! Click the link to see the other 11 most fatal drugs as reported by consumers. more » Antidepressants linked to Owen Wilson attempted suicide and Chris Benoit's family massacre Are Americans going nuts, or is there something else that explains why people--even well-known stars--are increasingly killing themselves and others? Antidepressants continue to find their way into the stories of these stars, the latest being movie star Owen Wilson's attempted suicide and WWF wrestler Chris Benoit's family massacre. more » FOX News - Study: Psychiatrists least religious of all physicians "Something about psychiatry, perhaps its historical ties to psychoanalysis and the anti-religious views of the early analysts such as Sigmund Freud, seems to dissuade religious medical students from choosing to specialize in this field," said lead study author Farr Curlin, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago. more » Welcome to the Bonkers Institute If you've never heard of the Bonkers Institute, Ben Hansen welcomes you! more » Q&A This reader asks, "Does bipolar disorder exist or is it just another way the world excuses sin?" See our answer. Letters These two readers were diagnosed with bipolar disorder and took psych drugs, but each discovered a better way. more » | | New Web Sites | | Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal/Recovery Sites - http://www.psychologydebunked.com/drugwithdrawal.htm Psychiatric Drug Info -
http://www.psychologydebunked.com/news.htm#links Doctor Referral Service for Tapering Off Psych Drugs-
http://tapersafely.org - Education & Research on the Dangers of Antidepressants
- Referrals to MD's & Practitioners Throughout the United States
- Safe & Natural Alternatives to SSRIs
Psych and Pharma Satire -
http://www.bonkersinstitute.org
| Notable Quotes | | "Drugs never cure disease. They merely hush the voice of
nature's protest, and pull down the danger signals she erects along
the pathway of transgression. Any poison taken into the system has to
be reckoned with later on even though it palliates present symptoms.
Pain may disappear, but the patient is left in a worse condition,
though unconscious of it at the time."
Daniel. H. Kress, M.D. "Our figures show approximately four and one half million
hospital admissions annually due to the adverse reactions to drugs.
Further, the average hospital patient has as much as thirty percent
chance, depending how long he is in, of doubling his stay due to
adverse drug reactions."
Milton Silverman, M.D. (Professor of
Pharmacology, University of California)
|
|
| Write Us | | FREE BIBLICAL COUNSELING - Do you get charged for a church service, or a prayer request? Of course not! Then why should you have to pay for help that Jesus said should be free (Matthew 10:8)? If you need biblical advice, let us know your situation and we will respond for free.
Do you have a question relating to secular or "Christian" psychology, mental disorders/diseases, psychiatric medications, or biblical counseling? Ask us.
Would you like us to speak about psychology at your church, a local event, or a media outlet? Contact us to book a date.
Have you recently discovered a web site or news article that would be of interest to us and our readers? Send us the link, and we may include it in future newsletters (Note: We do not necessarily agree with or endorse all of the material on websites to which we link).
We read and appreciate every email but are unable to respond to every one.
|
|
