Psychiatric Drugs for Psychiatric Disorders May Shorten Life

by | Sep 26, 2011

Psychiatric disorders may indeed shorten life. But not for what may seem like the “obvious” reason. Psychologists’ own studies have found psychiatric drugs shortening life by many years. If treatment for psychiatric disorders can result in early death, are patients warned before filling their doctor’s prescriptions? Indeed, are these drugs necessary at all?

Apparently, it has been a well-kept secret that antipsychotics have a very high risk of shortening life, sometimes by decades. But even when the evidence is presented, many find it hard to believe. After all, could any doctor be so cruel as to prescribe a drug to a patient that could shorten his or her life by 20 years or more? Apparently there are those who would play God by treating what they have deemed psychiatric disorders with these potentially deadly drugs.
Not even the FDA, the government agency designed to protect the public, is overly concerned about the long-term effects of these chemicals. They have allowed drugs to go to market after only a few weeks or months of testing. No long-term studies are required before they are marketed to the public, as guinea pigs, through massive media campaigns.
Here is an astonishing story of one man who recovered his health after realizing that psychiatric drugs had caused his suffering. Patrick Risser, a man who had been hospitalized for severe depression, was suicidal. He had already experienced three heart attacks, and felt the easiest way to die was by exercising his right to refuse all medicine (including his heart medication). So, this he did. But instead of rapidly failing health, he began to recover. Within weeks, he was well enough to be discharged from the hospital.
He did some research on the heart medication he had been on, and discovered that one of the side effects was depression. And why was he on the heart medication in the first place? Mr. Risser believes that years of being dosed with a cocktail of psychiatric drugs had caused his heart trouble in the first place. He now warns others that those who receive public mental Illness services may die as much as 25 years earlier than the general population.
Psychiatric drugs themselves are creating the “mental health epidemic,” one hears about. In the years from 1987 to 2007, adults on federal disability because of mental illness rose almost four times. One in 45 adults are now considered disabled due to mental illness, and is supported by a government check. And adults are not the only ones. In this same period of time, children labeled with severe psychiatric disorders increased from 16,220 to 561, 569.
Here is a fascinating story of one psychologist who discovered firsthand the damage caused by these drugs:
Martin Harrow, a University of Illinois psychologist, did a study in the 1980s of over 50 newly diagnosed schizophrenics. Every few years he checked on them to see how they were doing. Some of them remained on psychiatric drugs through the years, while others no longer took them. After 4 ½ years, Harrow discovered that it was the patients off the medication who were doing much better in their lives. More than 60% of this group were now employed.
What of the medicated patients? Only a few were working, and only 6% were even “in recovery.” This doctor concluded that Schizophrenic patients who stayed off antipsychotic medication for a long period of time had significantly better function than those on antipsychotics.
When even those supporting and prescribing drugs to treat psychiatric disorders begin to question their safety and effectiveness, it is time for the rest of us to wake up and take charge of our own health.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/science-isnt-golden/201109/full-disclosure-needed-about-psychiatric-drugs-shorten-life
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-whitaker/anatomy-of-an-epidemic-co_b_555572.html
Photo Credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

1 Comment

  1. Vicky Karastergios

    When you consider all the side effects of these medications, is it any wonder that long term use of the medications shortens your life? The psychiatrist I am currently seeing claims that there are studies that indicate that these medications lengthen life. She was very defensive when I told her that the medications shorten life. I asked her to show me the study that she was refering to and she said that she didn’t have it with her.

    Reply

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