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WREMS ARTICLES
Antidepressants
Ecstacy Trials for Combat Stress
Just Say NO
Zoloft
New Warnings on Antidepressants
Body and Soul
Trauma and Arthritis
FDA issues 2nd suicide warning for adults
Higher risks linked to antidepressants
Associated Press - Published July 2, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration issued a second public warning Friday that adults who use antidepressants should be closely monitored for signs of suicide, especially when they first start the pills or change a dose.
Much of the concern over suicide and antidepressants has centered on children who use the drugs. The FDA last fall determined there is a real, but small, increase in risk of suicidal behavior for children and ordered the labels of all antidepressants to say so.
A year ago, the FDA issued a warning that adults, too, may be at increased risk. The agency began reanalyzing hundreds of drug studies to try to determine if that's the case, and told makers to add or strengthen suicide-related warnings on labels in the meantime.
Since then, several new studies have been published in medical journals about a possible connection. Citing them, the FDA issued a new public health advisory reminding doctors and patients to watch closely for suicidal thinking or worsening depression and seek medical care if it happens.
It's a difficult issue to sort because depression can lead to suicide and studies show that antidepressants have helped many people recover. But there are concerns that antidepressants may cause agitation, anxiety and hostility in a subset of patients who may be unusually prone to rare side-effects. Also, psychiatrists say there is a window period of risk just after pill use begins, before depression is really alleviated but when some patients experience more energy, perhaps enabling them to act on suicidal tendencies.
In addition to the advisory, the FDA also updated its Web site with a notice about a higher-than-expected rate of suicide attempts in research with the nation's newest antidepressant, Eli Lilly's Cymbalta. Those studies were in women trying Cymbalta as an incontinence treatment; it was never approved for that use. The FDA said when it approved Cymbalta last year that studies of depressed patients showed no suicide link.
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
David Adam, science correspondent
Thursday February 17, 2005
The Guardian
Ecstasy Trials for Combat Stress
American soldiers traumatised by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists. Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.
Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: "It's looking very promising. It's too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging.
"People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now."
He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.
According to the US national centre for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30% of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.
Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterised by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.
Dr Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.
"It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever's been blocking their success in therapy."
The existing drug-assisted therapy sessions last up to eight hours, during music is played. The patients swallow a capsule containing a placebo or 125mg of MDMA - about the same or a little more than a typical ecstasy tablet.
Psychologists assess the patients before and after the trial to judge whether the drug has helped.
The study has provoked controversy, because significant doubts remain about the long-term risks of ecstasy.
Animal studies suggest that it lowers levels of the brain chemical serotonin, and some politicians and anti-drug campaigners have argued that research into possible medical benefits of illegal drugs presents a falsely reassuring message.
The South Carolina study marks a resurgence of interest in the use of controlled psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs. Several studies in the US are planned or are under way to investigate whether MDMA, LSD and psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, can treat conditions ranging from obsessive compulsive disorder to anxiety in terminal cancer patients.
Melissa Carr: 'Just say no to Bush's drugs'
By Melissa Carr, Independent Media TV
A little-known initiative by President Bush is quietly creeping through the United States. The proposal is based on recommendations from the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. ...
The report points to the Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP) as a model on which to base the national mental health agenda. TMAP was a pilot program under then-Governor Bush that standardized certain medications for certain mental illnesses in a flow chart fashion. The report also recommends that every citizen in the United States should be screened for mental illness, including children. It states, "Each year, young children are expelled from preschool and childcare facilities for severely disruptive behaviors and emotional disorders." It then suggests early detection is paramount in mental health and "schools can help address mental health problems." Beyond the classroom, the report suggests screenings should be addressed in primary care "throughout the lifespan." ...
Sept 04/
Debate Between Pfizer, Inc. and MindFreedom continues: Three Rounds, So Far
MindFreedom Online: MindFreedom News
The ads are all over TV in the USA, and on the web. Take Zoloft, the ads tell us, and you'll be as happy as a little bouncing ball....
.......We also don't agree with your implication that it is possible at this time to determine the threshold between the level of emotions such as anxiety and sadness which are functional and useful and levels of such emotions which are excessive and "disordered."
In short, we find that your response is not a valid or sufficient reply to Mr. Oaks' complaint that, in its advertising, Pfizer states that Zoloft is a medicine that helps correct the "chemical imbalance" of serotonin in the brain, a statement which is completely unsupported by scientific evidence. ....
NYTimes.com > Health
New Warnings Sought on Antidepressants
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: September 12, 2004
When the Food and Drug Administration opens an advisory committee hearing tomorrow into the safety of antidepressants, several committee members will push for tougher warnings saying that a child or teenager given the drugs can become suicidal in the first weeks of therapy, they said in interviews.
"I want the warning strengthened," said Dr. Richard Gorman, a member of the committee and a pediatrician from Ellicott City, Md. "I would also like the pharmaceutical companies to send out letters to doctors saying that, in kids, this stuff doesn't work."
The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Contributor: The Duel Between Body and Soul
...Studies from developmental psychology suggest that young children do not see their brain as the source of conscious experience and will. They see it instead as a tool we use for certain mental operations. It is a cognitive prosthesis, added to the soul to increase its computing power.
This understanding might not be so different from that of many adults. People are often surprised to find out that certain parts of the brain are shown to be active - they "light up" - in a brain scanner when subjects think about religion, sex or race. This surprise reveals the tacit assumption that the brain is involved in some aspects of mental life but not others. Even experts, when describing such results, slip into dualistic language: "I think about sex and this activates such-as-so part of my brain" - as if there are two separate things going on, first the thought and then the brain activity. ...
Trauma linked to risk of arthritis
The Globe and Mail
By ANDRÉ PICARD
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
The expression ''scared stiff'' now has a more literal meaning. New research suggests that people who suffer traumatic experiences during childhood or adolescence are significantly more likely to develop arthritis later in life. The study, published today in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, found that people who experience adverse childhood events, such as parents' divorce or physical abuse, are about 27-per-cent more likely to develop arthritis.
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