(FEDERALJACK) Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who’s been channeling revelations from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, lashed out at the mainstream media for turning a blind eye to the governments’ violations. He made a key-note speech at a hackers conference in Germany.
By Dr. Mercola
In light of a long list of mass shootings over the past several years, the causative role of psychiatric drugs in violent events will undoubtedly have to be evaluated and addressed at some point. Personally, I’d vote for sooner, rather than later.
Antidepressants in particular have a well-established history of causing violent side effects, including suicide and homicide. In a recent Scientific American1 article, the author states:
“Once again, antidepressants have been linked to an episode of horrific violence. The New York Times2reports that Aaron Alexis, who allegedly shot 12 people to death at a Navy facility in Washington, DC, earlier this week, received a prescription for the antidepressant trazodone3 in August.”
The drug in question, trazodone, has been associated with:4
“New or worsening depression; thinking about harming or killing yourself, or planning or trying to do so; extreme worry; agitation; panic attacks; difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep; aggressive behavior; irritability; acting without thinking; severe restlessness; and frenzied abnormal excitement.”
The naval yard shooting is just the latest event to bring questions about prescription medications to the fore, but it bears noting that in this particular case no evidence has yet been released confirming that the shooter had the drug in his system at the time of the massacre.
Still, questions about the safety, or lack thereof, of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs really need to be addressed regardless of whether they were instrumental in this particular case. Just last year, a Canadian judge ruled that a teenage boy murdered his friend because of the effects of Prozac.
When will such side effects be taken seriously? Just how many people have to kill themselves or others before a drug is considered too dangerous to be prescribed?
In a paper titled Antidepressants and Violence: Problems at the Interface of Medicine and Law,5 David Healy, a British professor of psychiatry at Cardiff University and an authority on side effects of psychiatric drugs, writes:
“Legal systems are likely to continue to be faced with cases of violence associated with the use of psychotropic drugs, and it may fall to the courts to demand access to currently unavailable data. The problem is international and calls for an international response.”
In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised6 the labeling requirements for antidepressant medications (SSRI’s and others), warning that:
“Antidepressants increased the risk compared to placebo of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in children, adolescents, and young adults in short-term studies of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders.
Anyone considering the use of [Insert established name] or any other antidepressant in a child, adolescent, or young adult must balance this risk with the clinical need.”
These labeling revisions were in large part driven by lawsuits, in which pharmaceutical companies were forced to reveal previously undisclosed drug data.
For example, a civil lawsuit filed in 20047 charged GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) with fraud, claiming the drug manufacturer hid results from studies on Paxil showing the drug did not work in adolescents and in some cases led to suicidal ideation. Rather than warning doctors of such potential side effects, GSK actually encouraged them to prescribe the drug to teens and children.
According to DrugWatch.com,8 GSK has agreed to pay out more than $ 1 billion to settle more than 800 different lawsuits related to Paxil—and that’s over and above the $ 3 billion it agreed to pay to settle the Department of Justice’s investigation into illegal marketing of Paxil and other drugs!
In an effort to gather the necessary data on adverse side effects, Healy and other healthcare experts have formed an organization called RxISK.9 It’s a free, independent website where patients, doctors, and pharmacists can report side effects and research prescription drugs of all kinds. I’d encourage you to bookmark it and refer to it when needed.
Please note that antidepressants are not the only type of drugs associated with violent, homicidal behavior, but they are among the most common suspects. A study10 by the Institute of Safe Medication Practices published in 2010 identified no less than 31 commonly-prescribed drugs that are disproportionately associated with cases of violent acts. Topping the list is the quit-smoking drug Chantix, followed by Prozac and Paxil, and drugs used to treat ADHD.
The data was collected from the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and it’s well worth noting here that only an estimated one to 10 percent of all side effects are ever reported to VAERS, so the fact that more than 1,500 violent acts were actually reported as being linked to any given drug is pretty amazing. The vast majority of side effects, regardless of what they are, are typically blamed on something else and connections are brushed aside as “coincidental.”
In all, five of the top 10 most violence-inducing drugs were found to be antidepressants:
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Paroxetine (Paxil)
- Fluvoxamine (Luvox)
- Venlafaxine (Effexor)
- Desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
According to Professor Healy, a study by the Drug Safety Research Unit in Southampton showed that one in every 250 subjects taking Paxil or Prozac were involved in a violent episode. In a study group of 25,000 people, this included 31 assaults and one homicide. In 2011, a whopping 14 million prescriptions for Paxil and more than 25.5 million prescriptions for Prozac were written.11 This could potentially equate to some 158,000 drug-induced incidents of violence annually from these two drugs alone. As reported in the featured article:12
“Another study involving more than 9,000 subjects taking the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) for depression and other disorders showed that subjects experienced more than twice as many ‘hostility events’ as subjects taking a placebo.” … Healy suspects that the main causal factor behind suicide and violence toward others is increased mental and/or physical agitation, which leads about five percent of subjects taking antidepressants to drop out of clinical trials, compared to only 0.5 percent of people on placebos.”
Another two in that top 10 list of violence-promoting drugs are commonly-prescribed ADHD medications (including Strattera). When you consider that antidepressants and ADHD drugs are among the most prescribed types of drugs13 in the US, the fact that so many of them are linked to increased rates of violence should be cause for pause. Besides an increased risk of violent episodes, ADHD drugs such as Ritalin, Vyvanse, Strattera, and Adderall (and their generic equivalents) are also responsible for nearly 23,000 emergency room visits annually, as of 2011 statistics. Over a mere six-year span, there’s been a 400 percent increase in ER visits due to side effects of these drugs.
In related news,14 the American Psychiatric Association (APA) recently issued a statement urging doctors and patients to reconsider the practice of using anti-psychotic medications as the first line of treatment for:
- Dementia in the elderly
- Behavior problems in children, or
- Insomnia in adults
The drugs in question include Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Abilify. APA’s recommendation with regards to anti-psychotic drug prescriptions is part of a larger campaign called Choosing Wisely,15 which covers a wide array of common medical practices that patients and doctors would do well to question, as they may cause more harm than good. Joel Yager, a psychiatry professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder, told USA Today:
“Doctors who overprescribe the medications are doing what they think might help, often without first trying safer or more effective alternatives.”
It’s important to realize that your diet and general lifestyle are foundational factors that must be opitimized if you want to resolve your mental health issues, because your body and mind are so closely interrelated. Depression is indeed a very serious condition; however, it is not a “disease.” Rather, it’s a sign that your body and your life are out of balance.
Mounting and compelling research demonstrates just how interconnected your mental health is with your gastrointestinal health, for example. While many think of their brain as the organ in charge of their mental health, your gut may actually play a far more significant role. The drug treatments available today for depression are no better than they were 50 years ago. Clearly, we need a new approach, and diet is an obvious place to start.
Research tells us that the composition of your gut flora not only affects your physical health, but also has a significant impact on your brain function and mental state. Previous research has also shown that certain probiotics can even help alleviate anxiety16,17. The place to start is to return balance—to your body and your life. Fortunately, research confirms that there are safe and effective ways to address depression that do not involve unsafe drugs. These include:
- Dramatically decrease your consumption of refined sugar (particularly fructose), grains, and processed foods. (In addition to being high in sugar and grains, processed foods also contain a variety of additives that can affect your brain function and mental state, especially MSG, and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.) There’s a great book on this subject, The Sugar Blues, written by William Dufty more than 30 years ago, that delves into the topic of sugar and mental health in great detail.
- Increase consumption of probiotic foods, such as fermented vegetables and kefir, to promote healthy gut flora. Mounting evidence tells us that having a healthy gut is profoundly important for both physical and mental health, and the latter can be severely impacted by an imbalance of intestinal bacteria.
- Get adequate vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 deficiency can contribute to depression and affects one in four people.
- Optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through regular sun exposure. Vitamin D is very important for your mood. In one study, people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were found to be 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had normal levels.18
The best way to get vitamin D is through exposure to SUNSHINE, not swallowing a tablet. Remember, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of depression that we know is related to sunshine deficiency, so it would make sense that the perfect way to optimize your vitamin D is through sun exposure, or a safe tanning bed if you don’t have regular access to the sun.
- Get plenty of animal-based omega-3 fats. Many people don’t realize that their brain is 60 percent fat, but not just any fat. It is DHA, an animal based omega-3 fat which, along with EPA, is crucial for good brain function and mental health.19 Unfortunately, most people don’t get enough from diet alone. Make sure you take a high-quality omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.
Dr. Stoll, a Harvard psychiatrist, was one of the early leaders in compiling the evidence supporting the use of animal based omega-3 fats for the treatment of depression. He wrote an excellent book that details his experience in this area called The Omega-3 Connection.
- Evaluate your salt intake. Sodium deficiency actually creates symptoms that are very much like those of depression. Make sure you do NOT use processed salt (regular table salt), however. You’ll want to use an all-natural, unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt, which contains more than 80 different micronutrients.
- Get adequate daily exercise, which is one of the most effective strategies for preventing and overcoming depression. Studies on exercise as a treatment for depression have shown there is a strong correlation between improved mood and aerobic capacity. So there’s a growing acceptance that the mind-body connection is very real, and that maintaining good physical health can significantly lower your risk of developing depression in the first place.
- Get adequate amounts of sleep. You can have the best diet and exercise program possible, but if you aren’t sleeping well you can easily become depressed. Sleep and depression are so intimately linked that a sleep disorder is actually part of the definition of the symptom complex that gives the label depression.
A recent article in The Guardian20 suggests psychiatric drugs may soon be rendered obsolete, in favor of neurotechnology. “No longer focused on developing pills, a huge research effort is now devoted to altering the function of specific neural circuits by physical intervention in the brain,” Vaughan Bell writes, noting that virtually all pharmaceutical companies have closed down or curtailed their research and development of new psychiatric drugs.
The latest “craze” in this field has instead been redirected toward the understanding—and manipulation—of neural networks, with the aim to modify behavior by stimulating specific brain circuits deep within your brain. Some of these procedures include the implanting of electrodes into the brain, for example. According to the article:
“Big money has already been committed. The Obama White House has promised $ 3 billion to develop technology to help identify brain circuits, while the National Institute of Mental Health has promised to move its seven-figure funding away from research into conditions such as schizophrenia and depression towards a system that looks at how brain networks contribute to difficulties that are shared across diagnoses. This project, given the unspectacular name Research Domain Criteria or the RdoC Project, is being cited as an eventual replacement for the diagnostic system used by current-day psychiatrists.”
One of the latest technologies in this area, called optogenetics, involves “injecting neurons with a benign virus that contains the genetic information for light-sensitive proteins.” As a result of this injection, your brain cells become light-sensitive, allowing them to be remotely controlled via flashes of light sent through fiber optic cables implanted into your brain.
“Let’s make this clear. The scientific revolution in identifying and manipulating brain circuits is already under way,” Vaughan writes. “… Advances in neuroscience are not just discoveries, they also shape, as they always have done, how we view ourselves. As the Prozac nation fades, the empire of the circuit-based human will rise…”
Whether or not this will actually make for happier, healthier, more balanced people is questionable, if you ask me. Yet this is what we may have to contend with in the future.
The Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) is a form of psychological acupressure based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over 5,000 years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to transfer kinetic energy onto specific meridians on your head and chest while you think about your specific problem — whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, anxiety, etc. — and voice positive affirmations.
This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmation works to clear the “short-circuit”—the emotional block—from your body’s bioenergy system, thus restoring your mind and body’s balance, which is essential for optimal health and the healing of physical disease.
Some people are initially wary of these principles that EFT is based on — the electromagnetic energy that flows through the body and regulates our health is only recently becoming recognized in the West. Others are initially taken aback by (and sometimes amused by) the EFT tapping and affirmation methodology. But believe me when I say that, more than any traditional or alternative method I have used or researched, EFT has the most potential to literally work magic.
Clinical trials have shown that EFT is able to rapidly reduce the emotional impact of memories and incidents that trigger emotional distress. Once the distress is reduced or removed, the body can often rebalance itself, and accelerate healing. For example, one study involving 30 moderately to severely depressed college students showed significantly less depression than the control group when evaluated three weeks after receiving a total of four 90-minute EFT sessions.21
A study of 100 veterans with severe PTSD22 who participated in the Iraq Vets Stress Project showed an astounding reduction of symptoms after just six one-hour EFT sessions. After completing six sessions, 90 percent of the veterans had such a reduction in symptoms that they no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD. Sixty percent no longer met PTSD criteria after only three EFT sessions. At the three-month follow-up, the gains remained stable, suggesting lasting and potentially permanent resolution of the problem.
In the following videos, EFT practitioner Julie Schiffman shows how you can use EFT to relieve your depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. But remember, most of the time one is placed on medication, there are serious emotional health challenges going on. It is imperative to recognize that doing EFT by yourself will likely not work for this problem. You need to be seen by an EFT professional who is experienced and can help guide you through the process Those who suffer from depression really should see a qualified EFT therapist.23
I know firsthand that depression is devastating. It takes a toll on the healthiest of families and can destroy lifelong friendships. Few things are harder in life than watching someone you love lose their sense of joy, hope, and purpose in life, and wonder if they will ever find it again. And to not have anything within your power that can change things for them. You wonder if you will ever have your loved one “back” again.
It’s impossible to impart the will to live to somebody who no longer possesses it. No amount of logic, reasoning, or reminders about all they have to live for will put a smile back on the face of a loved one masked by the black cloud of depression. I urge everyone to familiarize yourself with the most common warning signs of severe depression and suicide risk, and don’t hesitate to intervene if you recognize them in someone you know, and/or seek help if you experience them yourself.
There are times when a prescription drug may be helpful. But it’s unclear whether it is the drug providing benefits, or the unbelievable power of your mind that is convinced it is going to work. Studies have found that up to 75 percent of the benefits of antidepressants can be duplicated by a placebo.
Oftentimes you cannot change your circumstances. You can, however, change your response to them. I encourage you to be balanced in your life. Don’t ignore your body’s warning signs that something needs to change. Sometimes people are so busy taking care of everybody else that they lose sight of themselves. If you have been personally affected by depression, my heart goes out to you. A broken body can be easier to fix than a broken mind. Depression is real. It is my hope that you don’t feel judged here, but that you are encouraged and inspired by those who have been there.
Children tend to have a tough time focusing on too many ideas at once. The same goes for adults who have the brain capacity of children.
Syria stories obviously soared in the media over the past month, and rightly so given that the Obama administration was going drag the U.S. into another unnecessary war based on false pretenses. Iran, too, have shot up in the body of international stories the U.S. media is covering, given new developments towards a possible diplomatic settlement to long simmering tensions. And again, rightly so.
But two big issues sometimes seems like the upper limit of how many separate ideas the major media can juggle at one time (unless of course we’re talking about celebrity gossip, the Michael Jackson death trial, and whether hot tubs can make you infertile).
Here’s what brought on this rant…
987 civilians have been killed in #Iraq so far THIS MONTH.
6,000 civilian deaths already this year.
There were 4,500 in all of 2012.— Yousef Munayyer (@YousefMunayyer) September 27, 2013
Yousef Munayyer is Executive Director of The Palestine Center and he lists these facts about Iraq, I suspect, in order to highlight how much chaos is still ongoing in the country that the U.S. needlessly and criminally tore apart for the past two decades.
One of the reasons it is really important to cover the ongoing violence in Iraq and its larger context of U.S. policy is because the myth of the success of “the surge” is still being peddled, particularly on the right. Senator John McCain, you’ll remember, excoriated Chuck Hagel during his confirmation process for at one point criticizing the surge in Iraq as potentially “dangerous.” He and others have had the gall to scream at people for dissenting on the surge religion even while Iraqis are dying in “numbers not seen since the bloody days of 2004,” as Kelley Vlahos wrote in these spaces last month.
Not only is Iraq on the verge of all out civil war, but the U.S.-backed Shiite government in Baghdad is increasingly authoritarian and is contributing to the country’s ongoing demise. The Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq is, as the International Crisis Group (ICG) puts it, “as acute and explosive as ever” primarily because “Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has implemented a divide-and-conquer strategy that has neutered any credible Sunni Arab leadership.”
Maliki has had his security forces detain and brutally torture thousands of political opponents in secret prisons and denied them access to legal counsel. Amnesty International reported this week that Iraq executed 13 men following unfair trials plagued by allegations of torture. “Iraq is one of the world’s most prolific executioners,” the report states.
So, the U.S. waged war against Iraq in 1991 and followed up with more than a decade of sanctions that decimated the country and was described as one UN official at “genocidal.” Then the U.S. invaded and occupied the country in a war of choice based on lies, ripping what was left of the country to shreds in the process. And now U.S. troops have left and Washington continues to send about $ 2 billion, not including the additional billions of dollars worth of military training and equipment, to the corrupt and authoritarian regime in Baghdad that is driving the country into civil war.
How can decent Americans ignore this?
Rep. Eliot Engel calls for cruise missile assault
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
August 26, 2013
Calling on President Obama to launch a cruise missile attack on Syria, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee, told Fox News that Congress would not be consulted on the move and that lawmakers would have to “assent” to it at a later date.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Engel disagreed with his counterpart Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who said Obama should seek Congressional authorization before any military action.
“I do agree with Senator Corker that I think Congress needs to be involved, but perhaps not initially,” said Engel, adding, “Perhaps the president could start and then Congress needs to resolve it an–and assent to it.”
In other words, Engel wants Obama to launch the attack on Syria with complete disregard for the War Powers Resolution, which states that military action must be preceded by Congressional approval, and then only use Congress later as a rubber stamp.
“I certainly would do cruise missile strikes,” added Engel, throwing his support behind military intervention that would likely see rebel fighters who are being led by Al-Qaeda terrorists seize power.
Engel’s rhetoric is identical to that which surrounded the military attack on Libya, which was also green lighted without Congressional approval after the Obama administration ludicrously termed the assault a “kinetic military action.”
When Obama faced criticism from Congress over the 2011 attack, he churlishly dismissed the issue, remarking, “I don’t even have to get to the Constitutional question,” before claiming that his authority came from NATO and the UN.
According to Congressman Walter Jones, this amounted to “an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.”
Passed after the Vietnam War, the War Powers Resolution states that the President’s powers as commander-in-chief should be “exercised only pursuant to a declaration of war, specific statutory authorization from Congress, or a national emergency created by an attack upon the United States.”
Following last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack near Damascus, the United States and Britain have begun to make preparations for cruise missile attacks on Syria that are expected to take place within days, despite Bashar Al-Assad’s government agreeing to a United Nations-led inspection of the areas where the incident occurred.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
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This article was posted: Monday, August 26, 2013 at 5:47 am
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