Re: PSYCHIATRY: Can it cure? Science or scam? (1)

I don't have time to look at all the videos right now, but I do agree that there is a major problem with psychiatry.  My biggest problem in the over prescribing of antidepressants.  If someone goes to a doctor and complains of depression the first thing they want to prescribe is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor).  These EXTREMELY DANGEROUS drugs for a while were the largest selling drug class.  They have now become second behind acid blockers.

The first problem with this practice is that there are many causes of depression.  And low serotonin is not a common cause.  Some causes of depression include low serotonin, low dopamine (very common), low norepinephrine, low acetylcholine, low prostaglandin levels, high prolactin, hormone imbalances (very common), low thyroid (very common), low adrenal function (very common), illegal drug use, many pharmaceutical drugs, and nutritional deficiencies to name a few.  So SSRIs will not address most causes of depression.

SSRIs can cause suicidal depression though.  The FDA only requires a this warning for children and adolescents, which is highly misleading.  Adults react the same exact way to SSRIs.  I know two people who tried to commit suicide as soon as they were put of Prozac.  The first one succeeded.  He went out to the shed as soon as he started on the Prozac and blew his head off with a rifle.  I warned the second person about the dangers of Prozac and she took it anyway for her mild depression, which was stress induced.  She was getting a divorce.  Luckily her husband found her after she cut her wrists. When I talked to her again she said that she did not know what she was doing.  She said "I just kept sawing at my wrists with the razor blade".  So SSRIs can cause suicidal behavior on people of any age.

The problem goes back to serotonin levels.  Abnormally high serotonin levels can cause abnormal behavior, including suicidal depression.  Therefore, if a person has normal brain serotonin levels and they are put on an SSRI they can develop suicidal behavior.

Doctors need to learn to do COMPLETE histories on people so they can get to the root cause of someone's depression rather than trying the dangerous one pill fits all approach.