In 1946, W. H. Auden wrote The Age of Anxiety, a pre-Prozac psychological, perhaps psycho-historical book length poem to characterize society following the deadliest war in history and the perfectly normal feelings relative to the uncertainness of the present and immediate future.

 

Harry S. Truman signed the National Mental Health Act (1946), which called for the establishment of a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Its first meeting, the Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), was convened on August 15, 1946, financed by the Greentree Foundation. On April 15, 1949, an official formally established the NIMH which, according to its web site, its vision is “a world in which mental illnesses are prevented and cured.” Its mission is, “to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure.” [1] The NIMH is just an “aggressive extension of the pharmaceutical industry.

 

The National Institute of Mental Health says, statistically, that about twice as many women as men experience depression. Utah leads the country in the use of narcotic painkillers such as codeine and morphine-based drugs. It is ranked seventh in total prescriptions. [2] Well, of course, women in Utah experience depression; it is not a medical condition; there is no scientific way, like a blood test, to diagnose a chemical imbalance. Mormon women, not just in Utah, have much about which to feel depressed. It does not require a rocket scientist to discover that. Experiencing happiness, sadness, pain, depression is part of humanity, not an illness.

 

In the 1970s, psychiatry was faltering and psychiatric drug sales were decreasing. The American Psychiatric Association (APA), then engaged in a “rebranding” campaign, and promoted its devised “diseases” in the DSM-III, insinuating that they were biologically similar to diabetes and the drug industry compared its psychiatric chemicals to insulin. The industry concocted and promoted the idea of a chemical imbalance within the brain, which, with massive drug-industry-funded campaigns and political support, the public gradually accepted, making it easy for the pharmaceutical companies to increase their market share. [3] It is scientifically impossible to calculate the “levels of any biochemical in the tiny spaces between nerve cells (the synapses) in the brain of a human being.” Rhetoric about “biochemical imbalances” is nothing but marketing devised to sell psych drugs. ^[4]

 

Beginning in the 1980s, there were hundreds of articles “about depression in both medical journals and general-readership magazines.” [5] In 1987, Lew Judd, the NIMH director (1987-1990), said, “By making these materials on depressive illness available, accessible in physicians’ offices all over the country, important information is effectively reaching the public in settings which encourage questions, discussion, treatment, or referral.” Eli Lilly financed DART’s publication of eight million brochures, Depression: What You Need to Know, along with 200,000 posters. [6]

 

In 1988, after lots of preparation, the NIMH conducted its DART (Depression Awareness Recognition and Treatment) campaign, with a $750,000 budget, to brainwash the public into believing that undiagnosed depression was a common affliction that needed medication. Upjohn and the APA, almost a third of its annual budget of $62 million comes from big pharma, informed the public about “panic disorder.” Judd created the psychiatric marketing strategy, Decade of the Brain, signed into law by a Presidential Proclamation. In 1990, the NIMH introduced its clever tactic accompanied by the new SSRI drugs “touted as safer and more effective than older antidepressants because they balanced out the chemicals in the brain that, imbalanced, caused mental illness.” [7]

 

On July 17, 1990, President George H. W. Bush, formerly a board member at Eli Lilly, signed a Presidential Proclamation confirming House Joint Resolution 174 that declared 1990 the first year of the Decade of the Brain, launched on January 1, 1990. [8] In conjunction with the Decade of the Brain, the NIMH, the Library of Congress (LC) and the NIH published at least three books and sponsored numerous activities such as congressional breakfasts and convened several conferences, beginning on July 24, 1991, with Frontiers of Neuroscience. All of these activities were designed to introduce members of Congress, their staffs, and the general public to “cutting-edge research on the brain.” ^[9]

 

The aggressive marketing campaign was to persuade the public that twenty percent of the population had a mental disorder and might require psychiatric medications. Industry-funded psychiatric support groups began encouraging “screening programs,” in an effort to recruit new consumers. [10]

 

In a nationwide study of 900,000 children, the number of children taking the drugs had tripled between 1987 and 1996. Additionally, prescriptions for antidepressants, like Prozac, had increased. ^[11] With psych drugs, the SSRIs like Prozac are useless, expensive and extremely dangerous. It is essentially Russian roulette for the patient. The only benefactor is the drug industry which makes billions of dollars. ^[12]

 

“Biopsychiatric treatments exert their therapeutic effect by impairing higher human functions, including emotional responsiveness, social sensitivity, self-awareness or self-insight, autonomy, and self-determination. More drastic effects include apathy, euphoria and mania, and lobotomy-like indifference.” This occurs primarily in the “frontal lobe, limbic system, and other structures.” Dr. Peter R. Breggin said that “these effects occur with the SSRI antidepressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil; the stimulants, such as Ritalin, Concerta, and Adderall; and the newer antipsychotics, such as Risperdal and Zyprexa.” ^[13]

 

According to a 2006 study by one of the largest prescription companies, Utah residents were more likely to take antidepressants than the rest of the American population. Some people suggest that this had something to do with religion. Utah was then the second most religious state in America where nearly 20% of the population is on some kind of an antidepressant. Not only did Utah residents, particularly women, consume the most antidepressants, they were also on the list of top-ten most medicated states. Additionally, people who had health insurance were more likely to be on antidepressants. One-fifth of the insured women in Utah were on antidepressants in 2005. [14]

 

The Utah Department of Health's Health Data Committee released a report in 2010, the Antidepressant Use in Utah Report. It data came from the 2009 pharmacy claims for 899,323 insured residents of Utah ages 18 to 64. The report did not include those on Medicaid or Medicare or the uninsured. People with insurance are more likely to seek treatment for depression and other issues. It is quite possible that “women in northern Utah are diagnosed with more chronic diseases.” The study indicated that doctors prescribe antidepressant drugs for patients diagnosed with two or more “significant chronic diseases… Fifty-two percent of people who have three significant chronic diseases are prescribed antidepressants.” [15]

 

Dr. Curtis Canning, president of the Utah Psychiatric Association, with a practice in Logan, suggests, “In Mormondom, there is a social expectation particularly among the females, to put on a mask, say 'Yes' to everything that comes at her and hide the misery and pain. I call it the 'Mother of Zion' syndrome.” Further, Canning says, “Obedience, conformity and maintaining a sense of harmony are unspoken but widely recognized behaviors, which all contribute to what he calls ‘the Mother of Zion syndrome.’” [16]

 

The church expects and in some cases demands public perfection, despite what is going on behind closed doors. It’s the public persona and a smile at all times that matters! Women in the church were once expected to have a gaggle of children, bake bread, can fruit and veggies, maintain a garden, make their own clothes as well as their children’s, be politically active (if you are pro-war and Republican), work on their family history, keep a journal, obey their priesthood-holding husbands who might be virtuous, smiling, glad-handing guys at church while tyrannizing his family at home. Moreover, if you don’t have sufficient children of your own, then participate in what was called the Lamanite Placement Program. Besides that, members are supposed to accept any and every calling because, after all, it is a request from God himself. Yeah, for women, there is a lot of pressure to be perfect, no beyond perfect, angelic.  

 

Mental Health America, an independent mental health advocacy group, ranked Utah the most depressed state in America. In 2002, Express Scripts, the largest pharmacy benefit management (PBM) organization in the United States, with 2013 revenues of $104.62 billion, revealed that Utah residents “were prescribed antidepressant drugs more than those of any other state and at twice the national average.” Seventy percent of the residents in Utah are Mormon which caused some consternation about the church’s responsibility in the mental health of its members and their dependence on antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft. [17]

 

Deseret News reported that Professor Daniel K. Judd, a professor at BYU had researched the reasons for the high antidepressant use in Utah. He asserts that the LDS Church is not to blame but claims, “Perhaps one of the reasons the residents of Utah lead the nation in the use of antidepressants is that since they are generally more educated and aware of the symptoms and treatments of depression, they are more likely than the residents of other states to seek medical treatment.” [18] The LDS Church owns BYU. Professors must be active members of the church, must have a current temple recommend and are underpaid compared to other universities. BYU professors understand who and to what they must show their allegiance. Just ask Michael Quinn about his experience or the husband of Martha Nibley Beck, the daughter of Hugh Nibley. Judd was obligated to exonerate the LDS Church from all responsibility.

 

Dr. Judd also suggests that LDS members in Utah “might more readily turn to the medical profession for help because the church advises members not to use alcohol and tobacco. Research indicates Latter-day Saints in Utah and elsewhere are less likely to self-medicate, Judd said, with those drugs or illegal drugs.” He did admit that the Mormon culture is fraught with “an attitude of perfection.” “LDS Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin taught in General Conference, You can keep [God’s] commandments by continually striving to do so. Does that mean all of God’s commandments?” you might ask. Yes! All of them! (Ensign, November 1999, page 40)” There is a legitimate reason why Utah, seventy percent Mormon, leads the nation in antidepressant use. [19]

 

As of April 2014, the number of people taking psychiatric drugs in the United States is as follows:

ADHD drugs:               10,291,860

Antidepressants:           41,226,394

Antipsychotics:              6,845,303

Anti-anxiety                  36,472,663

All Psychiatric drugs:    78,694,222 total  [20]

 

In addition to producing brain dysfunction, prescribing drugs or any physical intervention seems to “reinforce the doctor’s role as an authority and the patient’s role as a helpless sick person.” The doctor, an authority figure, tells the subservient obedience-trained patient that he/she has a disorder but with the assistance of the doctor, and by adhering to his instructions, the patient will recover.

 

From 2012 to 2014, the suicide rate in Utah was 20.8 per 100,000 individuals for an average of 557 suicides per year, on the highest in the nation. In 2014, in Utah, suicide was the “leading cause of death for people ages 10 to 17 and 18-24” and the “second leading cause of death for ages 25 to 44 and the fourth-leading cause of death for ages 45-64.” Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death for Utah residents from the age of ten and up. [21]

In addition to completed suicides, “more people are hospitalized or treated in an emergency room for suicide attempts than are fatally injured.” In 2013, hospitals treated thirteen Utah residents for self-inflicted injuries every day (3,181 emergency department visits and 1,508 hospitalizations). The 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Survey indicated that in the previous twelve months prior to the survey that Utah high school students stated, 25.7% felt sad or hopeless, 15.5% seriously considered committing suicide, 12.8% devised a suicide plan, 7.3% attempted suicide one or more times and 2.1% of these students suffered an injury, poisoning, or an overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse. The 2015 Prevention Needs Assessment data show that Salt Lake County and Tooele County Health District students had higher rates of psychological distress. [22]

 

View the above CDC-generated Suicide Rate Graphic here.
Read Dr. Kent Ponder's article Mormon Women, Prozac and Therapy

 

 

Prozac, a Blockbuster of a Killer

SSRIs – Engineered Psychosis

(this is an amended version of a chapter from my Sandy Hook book)

 

Fluoxetine, known under the trade names Prozac, Sarafem, Ladose and Fontex, among others (about 175), created in 1974, is an antidepressant of a class of drugs called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). It was one of the first therapies in its class used to treat what people called clinical depression. It theoretically blocks the uptake of serotonin within the human brain. By 2010, doctors would prescribe it to more than fifty-four million people worldwide.

 

A blockbuster is a pill with an enormously high sales quota, one that might be sold a billion times and represent a gigantic sales volume. It might temporarily relieve the symptoms but that is “secondary,” as many people feel ill and there are many illnesses. Nevertheless, “illness is the exception and not the rule. Consequently, sick people represent a relatively small market.” ^[23] John Virapen wrote, “Imagine if you could talk those who aren’t ill into taking pills. Then you would reach a new dimension of marketing. That is the new quality of a blockbuster.” That “was exactly the role Fluoxetine was supposed to play.” ^[24]

 

In 1975, Henry Gadsden, the head of Merck, one of the world's largest drug companies, told Fortune magazine that he wanted Merck to be more like chewing gum maker Wrigley's. It had long been his dream to make drugs for healthy people so that Merck could “sell to everyone.” His dream now drives the marketing machinery of the most profitable industry on earth. Drug companies are systematically working to widen the very boundaries that define illness, and the markets for medication continually grow ever larger. [25]

Eli Lilly sells its products in approximately 125 countries. It was the first company to mass-produce penicillin, the Salk polio vaccine, and insulin, including human insulin using recombinant DNA. Lilly is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of psychiatric medications including Cialis, Cymbalta, Gemzar, Methadone, and Prozac. ^[26]

 

By 1984, Eli Lilly was well aware of the serious issues with Prozac, long before it was introduced to the American market. Statistics in an internal Lilly document show that akathisia, a severe agitation that often provokes suicide, occurs in at least one percent of all patients. Lilly lists akathisia in its product literature deigned for the United States, but only as an infrequent event for Prozac users and fails to mention akathisia and its relationship to suicide.

 

Internal documents explain why German regulators refused to approve Prozac without a stronger suicide warning. On May 25, 1984, Barbara von Keitz, an Eli Lilly employee in Hamburg sent a document to Lilly headquarters in Indianapolis, regarding Prozac. She said that studies conducted by Eli Lilly stated that Prozac compared to standard antidepressants and placebo was ineffective. She pointed out that there were sixteen suicide attempts during the treatment with Prozac, two of which were successful. This was after Lilly excluded anyone who was at risk for suicide from the studies. She suggested that the suicides could probably be “attributed” to the drug. She pointed out that the number of patients was too small and many of the studies were incomplete as patients dropped out due to the high incidence of adverse side effects. ^[27]

 

On March 23, 1985, Dr. Richard Kapit, after his safety review of Prozac, said in an internal FDA document that there were seventy-six “significant” adverse events occurring among patients exposed to Prozac in the clinical trials. Those side effects included: hypersensitivity, psychotic episodes, and a decrease in hemoglobin level. This drug caused nausea, insomnia, nervousness, diarrhea, a reduced appetite and weight loss. Depression often affects appetite but Prozac intensifies anorexia and weight loss. Other adverse reactions experienced during the trials included seizures, paranoia, severe dystonic reaction, scaly rash, mania, suicide, attempted suicide, and movement disorders such as dyskinectic jaw movements, involuntary movements of the face and arms, vaginal bleeding and allergic skin reactions requiring hospitalization. ^[28]

 

Dr. Kapit wrote, “Unlike standard tricyclic antidepressants, fluoxetine’s (Prozac) profile of adverse effects more closely resembles that of a stimulant drug than one that causes sedation and gain of weight…Indeed nervousness was the most common adverse symptom cited by long-term fluoxetine patients who eventually discontinued therapy due to an adverse reaction.” Dr. Kapit said, “It is possible that these adverse effects of fluoxetine treatment may negatively affect patients with depression.” He continued, “It may be appropriate to develop advisory labelling warning the physician that certain signs and symptoms of depression may be exacerbated by this drug. If the drug is marketed, post marketing studies should be required to determine the frequency with which fluoxetine may cause intensification of these specific signs and symptoms of depressive illness.” ^[29]

 

In the clinical trials, Prozac caused mania in one in 100 people which would be much higher in unobserved patients in daily life. One in 100, considered common, poses an incredible risk to public safety. The newer antidepressants, the SSRIs, are four times more likely to cause mania than the older antidepressants. Dr. Peter R. Breggin states, “Seventy percent of the patients who became manic on Prozac had never shown any signs of manic tendencies in the past.” ^[30]

 

On October 10, 1985, the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee (PDAC) convened a two-day public hearing to determine the efficacy of Prozac (on the first day) and Haloperidol (on the second day). According to the FDA regarding its Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee, “The Committee shall consist of a core of 11 voting members including the Chair…selected by the Commissioner…from among authorities knowledgeable in the fields of psychopharmacology, psychiatry, epidemiology…and related specialties. The core of voting members may include one technically qualified member…who is identified with consumer interests. [31] The composition of the committee did not meet the FDA criteria in that there were seven employees of Eli Lilly who participated.

 

Lilly knew Prozac’s stimulating effects, due to the clinical trials, before the company marketed the drug. Charles M. Beasley, a Lilly executive, compiled a secret report, Activation and Sedation in Fluoxetine Clinical Studies. He totaled the number of patients who exhibited “nervousness, anxiety, agitation, insomnia.” He discovered that thirty-eight percent of them experienced these adverse effects during the brief clinical trials. Lilly never revealed the results of Beasley’s report to the FDA or any other entity. Lilly concealed the data until it was discovered in some company files. Many patients actually left the trials due to the drug’s stimulating effect, leading to the Prozac trials failure. ^[32]

Dr. Ray W. Fuller issued the following in-house secret order, “Some patients have converted from severe depression to agitation within a few days (of starting Prozac). In future studies, the use of benzodiazepines (tranquilizers) to control agitation will be permitted.” The FDA prohibits the use of tranquilizers in conjunction with Prozac in the clinical trials. The addictive tranquilizers, only to be taken for a brief period, masked Prozac’s propensity to cause stimulation. ^[33]

 

In 1962, the law stated that the FDA should not approve of a drug if “there is a lack of substantial evidence that the drug will have the effect it purports or is represented to have, under the conditions of use prescribed, recommended or suggested in the proposed labeling.” ^[34] Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn wrote, “It doesn’t make much sense to buy a drug when the manufacturer can’t prove that it works.” ^[35]

 

Research in the late 1980s, conducted by Eli Lilly confirmed that Prozac may cause suicide. Yet, many doctors prescribed it to their patients supposedly to prevent depression and suicide. Lilly evaluated its clinical trials, which they claim involved more than three thousand patients. They published their results in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) alleging that there was no increased suicide risk. Yet, even within the article, it states that there were six suicides out of 1,765 patients on Prozac as opposed to one in the 569 patients on placebo. ^[36] The general public typically does not read medical journals.

In 1986, in the clinical trials, 12.5 patients out of 1,000 who were taking Prozac committed suicide as compared to only 3.8 patients who were taking the non-SSRI antidepressants and 2.5 patients who were taking a placebo. In 1995, in another trial for Prozac, the suicide rate would be six times higher. Package inserts mention suicide, but not all of the other possible adverse reactions. Suicide was not on the insert for years even though Eli Lilly knew of the risk. ^[37]

 

Eventually, the FDA found out about Eli Lilly’s deadly deceptions. Because the company had spent millions of dollars, it would be a “financial catastrophe” if the FDA failed to approve of Prozac, which was ineffective, without the use of a tranquilizer. The FDA, to rescue Eli Lilly, included those trials where the patients used tranquilizers and manipulated the statistical data regarding the drug’s effectiveness and “Prozac squeaked through.” No one informed the medical profession, the unsuspecting potential patients or the public. ^[38]

 

Incredibly, the FDA approved of Prozac using only three cherry-picked favorable protocols, involving seventeen studies and several hundred patients. Dr. Breggin thoroughly examined each of the seventeen studies to determine exactly how many Prozac patients actually finished the four, five, or six-week trials. The total number of patients was (drum-roll here) was a paltry 286 patients. Out of the thousands who initially offered to participate in the clinical trials, less than 300 patients completed the trial. Based on the conclusions of the predisposed questions of the doctors monitoring those patients, the FDA approved Prozac on December 29, 1987 for treating depression. Anyone taking Prozac, for more than a few weeks is actually participating in a continuous clinical trial due to the failure of the FDA to require legitimate, reasonably-timed trials that actually test long-term usage, effectiveness and safety. ^[39]

 

In January 1988, the month that Eli Lilly introduced Prozac, people reported events “describing fluoxetine-induced violence against self and others.” In May 1990, the FDA mandated that Eli Lilly add “suicidal ideation” and “violent behaviors” to the Post-introduction Reports section of its label.

 

Antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs can contribute to marital conflicts, manic-like thoughts, paranoia, violent impulses, and abnormal, irrational, bizarre, and destructive behavior. ^[40] All antidepressants, including the SSRIs, can cause mania. It has been fully documented that Prozac can cause mania in patients who have previously never experienced or had any tendencies toward mania. According to the APA’s DSM IV (1994), “Symptoms like those seen in a Manic Episode may also be precipitated by antidepressant treatment such as medication.” The DSM clarifies that mania is frequently associated with violence and other criminal acts. The psychotic behavior can be “goal-directed.” It states that patients often display “irritability, particularly when the person’s wishes are thwarted.” ^[41]

 

By 1994, out of fifty-four million people worldwide who took Prozac, the FDA revealed that it had received 30,000 adverse event reports, including more than 1,700 deaths. Out of those deaths, 1,100 committed suicide, while another 1,900 attempted suicide. Almost ten percent of the total adverse drug events (ADEs) from those taking Prozac were suicides and suicide attempts. In spite of those 30,000 reports, the FDA did not demand “black box” warnings on Prozac or other antidepressants for thirteen years. ^[42] In 1998, the FDA commissioned a survey that discovered that doctors had prescribed Prozac for infants 3,000 times.

 

In 1985, American sales of antidepressants and antipsychotics had totaled $503 million. In 1987, Eli Lilly had $2.3 billion in its pharmaceutical division. In January 1988, Eli Lilly began selling Prozac. By 1992, it was the company’s first billion-dollar drug. By 1998, Zyprexa was Eli Lilly’s second billion-dollar drug. By 2000, Eli Lilly was bringing in revenues of $10.8 billion just on those two drugs. In 2008, the sales of antidepressants and antipsychotics would total $24.2 billion, almost fifty times greater. Anti-psychotics even outsold cholesterol-lowering medications. Worldwide sales of all psychotropic drugs reached $40 billion. [43] In 1999, Prozac produced one-quarter of the company’s $10 billion in revenue. In the United States, Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil have sales surpassing $4 billion per year. In 2000, Eli Lilly claimed that thirty-five million worldwide had taken Prozac, their blockbuster drug. ^[44]

 

The SSRI class of drugs, including Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, and Luvox, cause violence, suicide, and psychosis. Even the FDA admits that people were reporting a disproportionately high rate of violence with Prozac. ^[45] People erroneously believe that psychiatric drugs are safe yet many people become suicidal, aggressive and out of control and never realize it was or is caused by the drugs. ^[46]

 

The FDA approved Paxil for the treatment of “social anxiety disorder,” a supposedly incapacitating form of shyness. ^[47] Bioethicist Carl Elliott said, “The way to sell drugs is to sell psychiatric illness. If you are Paxil and you are the only manufacturer who has the drug for social anxiety disorder, it’s in your interest to broaden the category as far as possible and make the borders as fuzzy as possible.” Barry Brand, Paxil’s product director, told the journal Advertising Age, “Every marketer’s dream is to find an unidentified or unknown market and develop it. That’s what we were able to do with social anxiety disorder.” ^[48]

 

In August 2001, Eli Lilly lost its U.S. patent protection for Prozac and in January 2002, the Supreme Court rejected Lilly's final appeal, a decision that allows other companies to make generic versions of the drug. Currently, there are twenty companies that make a generic version. Prozac, America’s “lifestyle drug,” ^[49] now rebranded as Sarafem in the United States, has given rise to a number of comparably functioning therapies for the treatment of clinical depression and other central nervous system disorders such as obsessive compulsive disorder, bulimia nervosa, and panic disorders.

 

Pharmaceutical companies make even more money by promoting the off-label prescribing of drugs, at frequently higher doses. This is incredibly dangerous for people residing in a nursing home as older people do not metabolize drugs as quickly as they did when they were younger. Almost 2.5 million Medicaid patients in nursing homes, according to a report published on June 13, 2005, in the Archives of Internal Medicine, receive unnecessary antipsychotic prescriptions in doses that are more than fifty percent of the maximum recommended dosage. ^[50] In America, in 2007, healthcare professionals wrote more than 22.2 million prescriptions for generic fluoxetine, the third most prescribed antidepressant. 

 

Other drug makers who produce SSRIs such as Paxil, Prozac (1987), Zoloft (1992), Celexa, and Luvox began marketing their FDA-approved antidepressants to treat new diagnosis. Instead of developing a new drug and going through clinical trials, the companies encourage, through their sales reps, that physicians write prescriptions for off-label health issues. The sales of antidepressants increased eight times between 1990 and 2000. Doctors typically encourage medication instead of psychotherapy and see more patients per day. Robert L Spitzer, a recipient of numerous industry grants, headed the committee that decided to add GAD to the DSM in 1980. In 1998, SmithKline applied for FDA approval of Paxil for social anxiety disorder (SAD), also found in the DSM, which the FDA considers “sufficient proof that a disease actually exists.” The FDA, instead of requiring new drug studies often accept previously approved drugs without further testing for the new “disease,” which the drug makers aggressively promote. ^[51]

 

Doctors are prescribing more off-label psychiatric drugs for children. On April 24, 2005, the Columbus Dispatch reported that doctors prescribed psychotropic drugs for 40,000 Medicaid-covered children aged six to eighteen. Thirty-one percent of these children were in foster care while twenty-two percent were in juvenile detention. In 2003, Medicaid, fraught with fraud,^[52] spent $65.5 million for psychiatric drugs for children. The FDA confirmed that doctors wrote eleven million prescriptions for individuals under the age of nineteen, an increase of twenty-seven percent in three years. In 2003, according to Medco Health Solution, a mail-order drug company, doctors increased prescriptions for ADHD drugs, in the 5 to 9-year-old group by eighty-five percent. For preschool children, the use of ADHD drugs increased by forty-nine percent. By 2004, according to NDC Health Corp, the sales of psychiatric drugs amounted to $26.7 billion. ^[53]

 

In 2009, Eli Lilly paid $1.4 billion for the off-label promotion of Zyprexa. Likewise, Pfizer paid $2.3 billion for the promotion of Geodon and other drugs. In 2010, Astra-Zeneca paid $520 million for the off-label promotion of Seroquel for children while Forest Laboratories paid $309 million for the illegal off-label promotion of Lexapro and Celexa in children. Financial penalties have not curtailed the drug industry’s aggressive criminal promotions; it is simply the cost of doing business. These fines satisfy their liability for these crimes. Psychiatrists and other prescribers continue to prescribe these drugs for children, especially those in the Medicaid system, which keeps paying the claims. ^[54]

 

Dr. Beth McDougall said, “What ends up happening is that someone feels good for a while and then very often they have to have their dose increased. And then they feel good for a while and then they might have to have it increased again, or maybe they’ll switch agents. So it’s that kind of a story, if you’re not actually getting to the root of what’s going on.” ^[55]

 

 

Brand names, (generic names): SSRIs

Akarin (citalopram)

Apo-Sertral (sertraline)

Aropax (paroxetine)

Asentra (sertraline)

Celexa (citalopram)

Cipralex (escitalopram)

Cipram (citalopram)

Cipramil (citalopram)

Citopam (citalopram)

Deroxat (paroxetine)

Dumyrox (fluvoxamine)

Eufor (fluoxetine)

Faverin (fluvoxamine)

Floxyfral (fluvoxamine)

Fluctine (fluoxetine)

Fluocim (fluoxetine)

Fluox (fluoxetine)

Fluvox (fluvoxamine)

Gladem (sertraline)

Ladose (fluoxetine)

Lexapro (escitalopram oxalate)

Lovan (fluoxetine)

Lustral (sertraline)

Luvox (fluvoxamine)

Paroxat (paroxetine)

Paxil (paroxetine)

Pexeva (paroxetine)

Prisdal (citalopram)

Prozac (fluoxetine hydrochloride)

Psiquial (fluoxetine)

Reuptake Inhibitors)

Sarafem (fluoxetine hydrochloride)

Sercerin (sertraline)

Serlift (sertraline)

Seroplex (escitalopram)

Seroplexa (escitalopram)

Seropram (paroxetine)

Seroxat (paroxetine)

Sipralexa (escitalopram)

Tolrest (sertraline)

Veritina (fluoxetine)

Xydep (sertraline)

Zoloft (sertraline hydrochloride) ^[56]