Nurses for Human Rights

The Financial Times reports that researchers found no evidence that today’s SSRIs had any effect on treating depression. According to their findings after reviewing over 50 clinical trials “we found that new-generation anti-depressants worked no better than a placebo – a dummy pill – for mildly depressed patients”. This is what Dr. Timothy Scott also brought to light in his wonderful book America Fooled. Dr. Scott showed clearly that the clinical trials were skewed toward showing effectiveness when really they were saying that they had no better effect than placebo.

What’s also interesting about the article is that the recommendation by a mental health charity called MIND that urges General Practitioners “to consider alternative therapies such as exercise – particularly outdoor exercise – which it believes has shown to be very effective in combating depression”. SSRIs are a dangerous drug to be handing out in our society for the very reasons of earlier articles…the creation of violence. Nurses should not be supporting the use of SSRIs for depression when clearly the best practice is diet and exercise. First, do no harm. Healthier lifestyles are the answer to our mental health issues.

This new blog is a collection of newpaper articles and headlines for the nation’s top newspapers exposing the rampant drugging of our most vulnerable population to abuse: children and the elderly. As long as nurses obey and don’t speak out this kind of abuse goes un-noticed. But obviously this is a concern to the average person when we start reading in the newspapers the widespread financial incentives for drugging our kids and the elderly. Somebody is making a lot of money and it’s not nurses! But we are the ones caring for these patients and have to intervene when the side-effects of these drugs do their damage. As the side-effects continue to destroy the patients lives we end up being busier caring for these victims of psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. Side-effects such as diabetes from atypical antipsychotics, tardive dyskinesia from SSRIs and antipsychotics, depression as a side-effect, loss of memory, loss of initiative and apathy for their own care, GI upsets, ataxia, drug dependency….need I go on? When you look at the effects of using these drugs on people and weigh the alternative of not using them, you will find, in study after study, that it would be better NOT to use harmful psychiatric drugs at all. I’m not talking about the violent, psychotic criminal here, I’m talking about little Jeffrey or Melissa who is on ADHD drugs and antipsychotics, etc. We are talking about millions of kids who are being farmed in our schools with subjective symptoms of a “disorder”. Nurses, where is your conscience? Where is your application of our Nurses Code of Ethics? Go back and read Article 5 of the Declaration of Human Rights….

People have a fascination with electricity these days. Who hasn’t laughed at the drunk getting tazered for being obnoxious. We are then horrified, at least some people are, with the idea of waterboarding enemy prisoners. Most captives survive physically with the “near drowning” experience of waterboarding, at least that’s the argument that it’s not harmful. This isn’t the case here in our own US Borders under today’s mental health system. This article in Mother Jones details the use of electric-shock as an aversion therapy. While most survive the incidents of these shocks, some live with long-term emotional scars from the abuse. Is this the best that psychaitry can come up with in treating mentally handicapped, autistic, and emotionally troubled kids? Any nurse who would support such therapies should turn in their license. You have violated your Nurses Code of Ethics at it’s core. Read this article and then sign the petition below:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/NrseCall2Arms/

A release by the FDA warns practitioners that anti-seizure meds increase the suicidality of patients as compared to placebo. There is no doubt that a practitioner should be including this information on Informed Consent.

“The higher risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors was observed at one week after starting a drug and continued to at least 24 weeks. The results were generally consistent among all the different drug products studied and were seen in all demographic subgroups. There was no clear pattern of risk across age groups.”

See the letter and list of meds here: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01786.html