The current state of mental health worldwide
reflects the developments of the 20th and 21st centuries. Mental disorders
once found mainly amongst adults are now found amongst children. The World
Health Report, “Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope” reports that
10-20 million children worldwide have one or more mental or neurological
problems. The so-called ‘war-on-terrorism’ has done much to advance
this situation. It is not only affecting those directly exposed to the
destabilization strategies of the US, but also those physically safe in the West
as a sense of a safe future dwindles. Those that stand to profit are the large
multinational corporations with tentacles extending to the entire globe.
Over
450 million people worldwide have a mental or neurological problem, amongst whom
121 million have depression and 1 million annually commit suicide, 60% of which
are a result of depressive disorders or schizophrenia (or maybe the
antidepressants themselves). The World Health Organization report projects that
depression will become the fourth leading disease worldwide by 2020 (Eun-Myo
p.1, 2).
The
concern also extends to an increased access to psychiatric drugs through the
integration of mental health care with primary care throughout the world. The
problem is viewing psychiatric drugs as a first line of treatment. The
proposed mental health reforms in Britain state that the ‘mentally ill’ may
be detained by force even if they have not committed a crime. The Royal College
of Psychiatry rebels at being forced into this position (Goodchild p.1).
Antidepressants
and the ‘Side Effect Factor’
Tricyclic
antidepressants were first developed in the 1950s. Second generation
antidepressants, Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI), currently
represent 95% of prescribed antidepressants. Both tricyclics and SSRI drugs
alter the chemical workings of the brain thus affecting the neuro-transmitters
serotonin and noradrenaline. It is assumed that these drugs increase the
activity of these neurotransmitters but no one actually knows how these drugs
work. It is also assumed that fewer side effects are attributed to SSRI, the
main reason why they are to largely replace tricyclics.
In
the UK, 3 million prescriptions are given annually (Connor p.1). In the
US, SSRIs are commonly prescribed for depression, panic disorder,
obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD).
The most controversial SSRI is Prozac, Zoloft being the most commonly
prescribed. On zoloft.com we are informed that “you may feel better
within 2 – 4 weeks or 6 –8 weeks. Even if you don’t feel better right away
it is important to keep taking your medicine as directed. The people around you
may see a change for the better before you do.” Approved by the FDA for
the previously mentioned illnesses, side effects include: gastrointestinal
problems including bleeding, insomnia, dry mouth, sexual malfunction, malaise,
tremors, sweating and agitation. Patients are told, however, to continue
taking the drug despite loss of bodily control. This situation becomes
complex where mental health is jeopardized in war-torn regions that face
repetitive daily threats.
The
Developing World: A Pharmaceuticals Laboratory
It
has been noted for some time that dosages are much lower for people from
developing countries and are given for shorter periods of time. Adverse
reactions are greater, unlike Western Europeans for example, who have a higher
tolerance due to greater exposure (Rohlof p.1). What will happen to
refugees in exile who might become subject to continuous prescriptions?
According to Bosnian psychiatrist, Dr. Mohammed Masic, many refugees come under
psychiatric treatment as has happened in the case of Bosnian refugees in Chicago
who have PTSD. This can often be delayed and triggered by estrangement in an
alien environment. The prevalence of PTSD fragments the cohesive human
relationships whereby one would normally turn to family, friends and elders of
the community. Now one is faced with psychiatrists and a range of
therapies including antidepressants (Masic p.2, 5, 7, 16). This implies
unfamiliar long-term treatments with possible greater disorientation. For
those in hot climates, psychiatric drugs and hot climate do not mix!
Antidepressants and psychotic drugs interfere with the body’s ability to
regulate body temperature increasing the risk of heat stroke, which can be
lethal. It was not Africa but the heat of Chicago in July 1995 where a high
level of heat-related fatalities occurred as a result of psychiatric drugs (Laderman
p.1).
A
Lethal Remedy
The effects can be lethal as highlighted in the revealing study of psychiatrist
David Healy from Wales, who looked at 20 healthy volunteers. Half were
given Zoloft and the other half were given an antidepressant that does not
target the brain chemical serotonin. After two weeks there was a switch in
drugs. The SSRI recipients had become dangerously agitated and suicidal.
After the two-week period, a 30 year old wife and mother became obsessed with
the idea of throwing herself in front of a car. Even though Healy was
surprised, he remained neutral on the subject and served as an expert witness in
many cases gaining access to many company records of clinical trials.
In
a civil action against Pfizer, the manufacturers of Zoloft, he discovered an
unpublished 1980 study in which healthy female volunteers were given Zoloft or a
placebo. After four days, the trial was cancelled due to complaints of
agitation and apprehension.
Healy
was also a witness in the Forsyth case, which changed his position on SSRIs.
The 61-year old father and husband, William Forsyth, retired in Hawaii after a
successful life. Retirement proved difficult for him affecting marital
relations. Marriage counseling helped until three years later when he became
unsettled again. He was prescribed Prozac by a local psychiatrist. By the
second day he felt terrible and put himself into hospital care. Still taking
Prozac, he felt well enough to go home after 10 days. His grown son and daughter
returned to find both parents dead in a pool of blood on the 11th day. Their
mother had been stabbed 15 times and their father impaled himself. A year
after the incident, there were 160 suits filed against Eli Lilly ranging from
homicides and suicides to other forms of violence. Eli Lilly had
engineered Zoloft for Pfizer.
Making
a Deadly Profit
Pfizer
is the largest and richest pharmaceutical company in the world and produces
one-fifth of the US wealth with Viagra making Pfizer a household name (Corporatewatch
p.1, 3). President George Bush Senior once headed both Pfizer and Lilly from
1977 – 1979. Both Pfizer and Eli Lilly are sponsors of the Manhattan
Institute: the right-wing think-tank founded by William Casey. William
Casey helped to bring Nazi experts over to the US during and after WWII who went
on to pioneer the genetics program – eugenics - including the Genome Project.
William Casey was also a former CIA director during the Reagan era ( Lederman
p.3, 4).
Of
the 160 cases, Lilly did not lose a single Prozac case. Prozac represented a
third of all Lilly’s income. Some cases were dismissed and others
‘settled out of court’. It was not until 1999 that the suit against Lilly by
Susan and Bill Forsyth went to court. They refused to settle. Susan commented,
“I know that with all their power and money I don’t have much of a chance
but I have to try.” The Forsyths argued on the basis of their
observations that the company knew that Prozac psychologically hijacks the user.
The worst effect of Prozac is an illness called akathisia described as a unique
form of inner torture brought on by psychiatric drugs. Initial clinical trials,
in fact, had warned of this illness as far back as 1978, 10 years before Prozac
hit the market. Minutes from Lilly’s team revealed that, “some
patients have converted from severe depression to agitation within a few days.
In one case the agitation was marked and the patient had to be taken off the
drug. There have been a fairly large number of reports of adverse
reactions.” A letter sent to the company from the Committee on Safety of
Medicines in 1984 stated that, “during the treatment with Prozac, 16 suicide
attempts were made, two of these with success as patients with a risk of suicide
were excluded from the studies. It is probable that this high proportion can be
attributed to an action of the preparations.” In 1985, German authorities sold
Prozac as Fluctin where warnings of possible akathisia and suicide were required
on the packaging.
Reports
surfaced when Prozac was marketed in 1988. In the American Journal of Psychiatry
two psychiatrists and a nurse observed that, “two patients fantasized for the
first time about killing themselves with a gun and one patient actually placed a
loaded gun to her head. One patient needed to be restrained to prevent
self-mutilation.” These tendencies had in fact appeared soon after
taking Prozac and disappeared soon after withdrawal (deGranpre p. 1-3).
Within two years of marketing SSRIs, two types, fluvoxamine and paroxetine,
showed many side effects in the data from the Committee of Safety of Medicines
(Anderson p.1). The problem becomes aggrivated with co-prescriptions, a common
practice in Australia. Using the database of the Australian Health
Insurance Commission, 7252 people were found to have been prescribed SSRI and
tricyclics. In some cases, both SSRIs and tricyclics were prescribed by the same
doctor and 10% had more than one doctor (McManus p.4).
These
reports were disconcerting to Eli Lilly to say the least, and in 1990 the
company feared bankruptcy if Prozac was withdrawn from the market. They were
saved by the FDA investigation to which Eli Lilly gave handpicked data published
in 1991. The study was rejected by the New England Journal of Medicine and the
British Medical Journal accepted reassurances from Lilly that Prozac was safe.
Despite all the internal reports that surfaced during the Forsyth trial, Lilly
had won. By 1999, 2000 suicides by Prozac users were reported to the FDA and by
2001, Lilly announced another antidepressant, duloxetine, a non-serotonin
selector (deGrandpre p. 4, 5).
An
international team led by John Gordon, professor of immunology at Birmingham
University, discovered this March that Prozac can stimulate the growth of brain
tumors. Prozac blocks the body’s natural ability to kill cancer cells.
These findings, however, are a result of laboratory tests and require clinical
trials to confirm or deny them. They found that in test tubes, Prozac blocked
the entry of serotonin into the tumor cells and prevented self-destruction of
the cells. They had the same results with other SSRIs. So assume that if the
brain neuro-transmitter serotonin is prevented from doing its ‘job’ on site,
where is it being redirected within the body? If directed to the host, this
would explain akathisia. Reporter Steve Connor of the Independent asked
for a response from Eli Lilly who commented that, “it is not something we can
directly comment on because we haven’t been involved in it.” Of course
they dare not comment (Connor p.1, 2). This August, Eli Lilly was
scheduled to lose its patent on Prozac which they have been fighting against in
federal court. Meanwhile, their duloxetine works on three
neurotransmitters instead of one and they are hoping to make up their loss on a
new drug, Xigris, once again a first, this time for septic infections
responsible for many hospital deaths (apimall p.1, 2).
To
ask that psychiatric drugs be made widely available throughout the developing
world is like asking for the largest clinical trial to be performed without
asking the participants. Behind closed doors the effects will go unchecked
whilst the manufacturers quite literally get away with murder.
What
effect will these trials have on the community at large? This is when there is a
growing realization through many long term studies that 22 - 30% of individuals
labeled as schizophrenic actually do recover over a period of time regardless of
any psychiatric intervention (Human Rights p.2). Additionally, the rate of
mental illness is higher in developed countries despite the conflicts occurring
in many developing countries. In the Americas and Europe for instance,
neuro-psychiatric disorders account for 43% of disabilities respectively, in S.E
Asia 27% and in Africa 18% (UN p.3). We must therefore seriously question
whose interest it is in to increase accessibility of psychiatric drugs.
Sources:
“Human
Rights Alert Survivors”
