Addiction and SSRI Medications

Addiction and SSRI Medications
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

June 26, 2008 – TIME magazine’s June 16, 2008 cover story by Mark Thompson was a detailed article about US troops being given antidepressant drugs to deal with battlefield stress. A quote from the article (p 41) states “The newer drugs have fewer side effects and, unlike earlier drugs, are generally not addictive or toxic, even when taken in large quantities.” This is false, and easily disproved. Ask current and former patients if they’ve ever had physical withdrawal symptoms after stopping use of an SSRI, or search the Internet for posts and articles written by patients about addiction to SSRI medication.

Acceptance of Social Anxiety | Humor

Acceptance of Social Anxiety
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

May 03, 2006 – If you suffer from social anxiety, then you are among the millions who have been told by your doctor that you’re abnormal and need medication. If you prefer alternative treatment, then this article is recommended reading. If you get bored and fall asleep by the second paragraph, then it will just be light reading.

Avoidance of social situations can be a positive reaction to feelings of insecurity. It indicates some level of intelligence. You’ve probably learned from past experiences that you’ll be scorned or shunned from society for being different. Idiots, however, will keep talking to people, never learning that they are not wanted.

Watching television excessively may damage social skills

By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

December 31, 2008

I enjoy watching television, but sometimes I must limit myself. Subtle changes in my behavior and social skills have appeared recently. To benefit mankind I’m issuing this document as a warning on how to detect potential negative changes in your personality and how you communicate with other humans.

Three days ago my friend Depressed Dave asked me what my plans were for the weekend. I slowly raised my head, looked him in the eye and in a deep, scratchy voice I replied, “Plans? My plans will be revealed in due course. For now, be assured that once executed my schemes will bring forth everything we have ever dreamed of; the fruit born will be sweeter than you could ever imagine; and the way we view a sunrise will be forever altered.”

I Think I’ve Got That New Disease I’ve Seen Advertised

I Think I’ve Got That New Disease I’ve Seen Advertised
By Kieron Mcfadden

To: Lucifer Beelzebub, CEO, Grimm Reaper Pharmaceuticals.
From: Ruth Less, CEO. Ruth Less Disease Promotions Inc

Dear Mr. Beelzebub,

Are you looking for a way to monetize the green goo your research labs concocted last year but no-one has yet found a use for?

Well, have no fear because here at Disease Promotions Inc, we have the solution!!

If you have several tons of nondescript fluid taking up space in the warehouse, don’t rush to dump it because you may well be dumping a fortune in easy profits. The good news is, you can recycle your green goo into greenbacks! All you need is some intelligent marketing and single-minded dedication to the art of making money from old rope.

Let us package, promote and market your goo for you, using the latest breakthrough in pharmaceutical marketing: ADE, the Animal Disease Epidemic.

UPDATE ON the Mental Health Humor: Cartoon-a-thon

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: UPDATE ON the Mental Health Humor: Cartoon-a-thon
To: Andy Alt
Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 12:50:36 -0400
From: Chato B. Stewart
Organization: Mental Health humor

Dear Peer, Provider or Caregiver,

Wow, what a great Mental Health Awareness month! This year so many
people are really putting in a lot of effort from the DBSA, NAMI and
many other organizations like Mental Health America and also not to for
get many of our peers and their individual efforts.

The Mental Health Humor Cartoon-A-Thon is a free and fun project to use
humor as a coping skill. Each day during the month I’ve volunteered to
draw one cartoon. Now we have 26 new cartoons for this month to use
humor to bring awareness to many different mental health issues. It’s
meant to use positive humor as a way to cope with our serious disorders.

Life and Death are Forever Nothing

Life and Death are Forever Nothing
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

May 24, 2009

Death decaying in the smoldering, burning pit
Vile demons flying around a black, dusty corpse

Flesh ripped off by slimy filth-ridden vultures
Eternal torment a hair’s-breadth away

TIME: Why Antidepressants Don’t Live Up to the Hype

Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons pointed out an article on TIME magazine’s web site and provided commentary.

I won’t be commenting on it, just providing publicity. Although the staff at TIME has expressly forbidden me to promote their magazine or be their spokesperson, they didn’t say anything about promoting their articles.

Alison Bass: Brown psychiatry chief Martin Keller to step down in June…

The latest from the blog of Alison Bass:

Alison Bass: Brown psychiatry chief Martin Keller to step down in June…

[...]
While Brown officials insist that the decision to step down was Keller’s, my understanding from several sources is that the university has been under pressure to take action ever since Side Effects was published last June and Sen. Charles Grassley began investigating Keller’s undisclosed conflicts of interest in July. Keller is the latest psychiatry kingpin to fall. In recent months, Stanford’s chief of psychiatry Alan Schatzberg and Emory University’s chief Charles Nemeroff were forced to step down after reports that they too failed to disclose years of lucrative financial payments from the pharmaceutical industry.
[...]
In addition, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the pre-eminent journal of the profession, just published a review of Side Effects,[...]

Alison Bass: Brown psychiatry chief Martin Keller to step down in June…

The Couple’s Delight and the Giant’s Regret

The Couple’s Delight and the Giant’s Regret
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

Tue February 10, 2009

Once upon a great long time ago there was sand upon the land. The ground wasn’t so far away, and upon that dirt there was a man who stood upright, as most men do, when they’re not drunk or taking a bath. He looked about the sky for the sun and soon found it, hanging there like a demented moon who thinks she’s a sun. After the man found the sun using his eyes, he realized that in the past he’d made wiser choices than looking at something so very bright and painfully blinding.

As with all wise men, he quickly learned from his mistake, and because he was blind and wise, he never bothered himself to look at the sun again.

A few days after some clocks changed hands, he was cured of his blindness by magical forces and technology from the future.

April Fools Day Gifts

April Fools Day Gifts
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

March 19, 2009

Welcome to the Mental Dimensions gift shop. Here, you’ll find unique ways to entertain and delight yourself at the expense of other people and their sanity. These presents are sure to satisfy the most sadistic needs of April Fools Day gift-givers. Your purchase is guaranteed* or your money back**.

Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a very popular gift; the first of which was a present from France to the United States (the rumors that it was re-gifted and was originally a gift from Norway to France have never been proved). The original is not available through Mental Dimensions, but an actual-size, genuine replica[1] can be shipped directly to your victim. Placement of their new Statue of Liberty[2] will create a logistical nightmare which will cause them to wake up screaming for many years to come. They’ll tremble with fear as they realize they’ll be forced into giving up every spare piece of acreage on their property. If they still don’t have enough room, then that makes your gift even more delightful, putting your friends or relatives into the awkward position of risking insulting you by refusing your generous gift. You’ll find it hard to hold back your giggling as you watch them stutter, sweat, and squirm as they attempt to politely tell you, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

Treating Borderline Personality Disorder with Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Posted by Andy Alt / http://mentaldimensions.wordpress.com

January 11, 2009

A few minutes ago I stopped doing nothing long enough to pick up my most recent copy of TIME magazine. The following are some excerpts from an article about Borderline Personality Disorder (Click the link below to read the full article). BPD is one of the things I have been told I have.

According to this article, it’s common for antidepressants to be ineffective with patients who have Borderline Personality Disorder.

[..]
Borderline patients are often overmedicated–partly because therapists see them as difficult–but for Lily, as for most borderlines, the meds did little. “Drug treatment for BPD is much less impressive than most people think,” Paris writes in Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.
[...]