On Wed, 22 May 1996, Rogue 007 wrote:
> Support Coalition - David Oaks <dendron at efn.org> wrote:
> [I said the mainstream media propagates the Big Lie that
> antipsychotics are evil, Mr. Oaks responded:]
>> >THE ABOVE IS TOTAL MISINFORMATION: Mainstream medical literature itself
> >labels neuroleptics "dysphorogenic," that is, people don't generally like
> >to take it.
>> Medical literature is not mainstream media; perhaps that is why so
> many average citizens don't know the difference between
> psychopharmacology and psychoanalysis.
This is a side step. Actually, your original argument was that people
refuse neuroleptics mainly because they've been exposed to negative
coverage about the drugs in the mainstream media. I cited the "medical"
literature only to indicate that there are actually some very good reasons
for people to refuse. I also asked for any cites about these mainstream media
articles over the years. By and large the mainstream media praises
neuroleptics no end as a "miracle cure."
> I just saw it last week on the NBC-TV show _Law and Order_. A law
> school graduate diagnosed schizoaffective with a concurrent history of
> violence murders someone, and defends himself in court. The actor
> portrayed the character as having a movement disorder,
Believe me, we've watched for ANY mention in the mainstream media about
neuroleptic-induced "tardive dyskinesia." This is one of the first, so
thanks for mentioning it to us. Dan Rather also did a very brief story on
it once years ago. However, the suppression is so bad that in the late
1970's, the controversial TV documentary "MADNESS AND MEDICINE" actually
cut away suddenly, on both coasts, during the section on "tardive
dyskinesia," instead of showing someone grotesquely twitching and twisting
about. We have seen some private videos of people with severe TD, and
these are the "Rodney King" videos of mental health; mainstream media
doesn't want to "scare" people into quitting their drugs. (Sure, we have
no proof about that "Medicine and Medicine" censorship; but afterwards it
was revealed that psychiatry was involved in intense negotiations and
agreements with the network owners.)
Bottom line, people have been refusing neuroleptics since the mid-1950's
when they were introduced, and before that "Law and Order" show. That's
why psychiatry and the drug industry has desperately pursued all kinds of
various methods to refuse the drugs.
The mainstream media, if anything, has been deathly silent about some of
the main hazards from neuroleptics. One exception was one front page
headline in the late 1970's in the New York Times, about coroner Dr.
Frederick Zugibe finding so many people dying from choking after taking
neuroleptics in Rockland County State Hospital. We save these clippings.
And nearly all clippings are pro, pro, pro, neuroleptics.
In any case, even that TV show was doing a service by at least mentioning
that permanent twitching can be caused. People who refuse because they
don't want that to happen have a rational basis for refusal, not because
of some made-up media hysteria.
> >In the medical literature there are a few examples of psychiatrists taking
> >the pill to see what's like. The very first said she felt like she was
> >"dying." Wrote Dr. C. Quarti on Nov. 9, 1951, about what it was like just
> >one hour after her trying chlorpromazine: "I began to have the impression
> >that I was becoming weaker... that I was dying. It was very painful and
> >agonizing." [CITATION: JP Swazey, "Chlorpromazine in Psychiatry,"
> >(Cambridge, MA; MIT Press, pp. 117-120, 201-207.)]
>> Get serious. Chlorpromazine is not the first- line drug of choice
> when any other option is available. That dude may in fact actually be
> dead today: 1951 was almost *half a century ago*. Breakthroughs in
> brain science having to do with mental illness have accelerated
> starting around the late 1980s.
Hello? Pharmaceutical textbooks note that "neuroleptics are
equieffective." Yes, some of the hazards vary person to person, but that
experience of NOT LIKING THE STUFF is common throughout.
Let's see how you try to dodge the cite on Haldol....
> >Two psychiatrists tried Haldol and wrote up their experiences, saying they
> >had to quit work for the day, and couldn't even answer the phone unless
> >ordered to. These two psychiatrists injected themselves with 5 mg of
> >Haldol, and wrote up their experiences: "... a marked slowing of thinking
> >and movement developed, along with profound inner restlessness...
> >neither subject could continue work, and each left for over 36 hours...
> >Each subject complained of paralysis of volition, a lack of physical
> >and psychic energy. The subjects felt unable to read, telephone or
> >perform household tasks of their own will, but could perform these
> >tasks if demanded to do so. There was no sleepiness or sedation; on the
> >contrary, both subjects complained of severe anxiety."
> >[CITATION: R.H. Belmaker and D. Wald, "British Journal of Psychiatry,
> >131:222-223, p. 1977.]
>> I understand Haldol can be extremely sedating upon the first
> administration, but the fact of the matter is, most side effects
> subside given some time and many even disappear after awhile.
> I also know about the anxiety stuff. If you keep mentally and
> physically active, the anxiety vanishes. Besides, a non- mentally ill
> brain would probably respond differently to an antipsychotic than one
> with mental illness pathology. BTW, isn't 5mg of injectable Haldol in
> one dose is a *lot* to take when you aren't even psychotic?
Guess you missed the point of the cite. Haldol DIDN'T FEEL GOOD .That's
why people don't want it, not because of some alleged "mainstream media
conspiracy," that from what I can tell, involves the TV sending
messages to psychotics recently through a "Law and Order" TV program.
> >And what about what T. Van Putten, et al. said in the "Archives of
> >General Psychiatry" (35:480, 1978): "The reluctance to take
> >anti-psychotic medication was significantly associated with
> >extrapyramidal symptoms [trembling, drooling, rigidity, etc.],
> >most notably a subtle akathesia [restlessness]."
>> This is out of context and I don't know what med it refers to. You've
> left out enough meaningful information we don't know if these were
> reported responses, elicited responses, or even if they were from the
> control group. Akathesia is definitely a bummer, in fact I'd call it
> the worst side effect of antipsychotics (the second is not TD
> incidentally, it is weight gain).
You've got to be kidding me. There are a bunch of studies showing that
people experience negative problems on neuroleptics, and these
experiences are often cited when they're trying to refuse their
neuroleptics. Are you really SURPRISED that people who have worse hazards
from neuroleptics are far more likely to want to refuse the drugs?
But wait, a ray of hope, you say, "Akathesia is definitely a bummer."
(Uh oh, millions on the Internet may soon quit their neuroleptics!)
Something that is "defitely a bummer" and happens a lot, is one of
the main reasons people DON'T LIKE TAKING THIS DRUG. They do tend to like
Ritalin... there tend to be fans of Lithium.... but studies show that
neuroleptics are different.
This point has been nailed down so far the hammer is breaking. Just
open your heart: Some people taking neuroleptics feel hurt by it. Be a
little like Clinton, you know, "I feel your pain..."
> I believe every mental patient should have the right to refuse
> medication; but I believe that part of competent medicine is
> monitoring for side- effects and their amelioration; physicians
> should take the whole patient's life into consideration when
> formulating a treatment plan, using as much input from the patient as
> is feasible-- including a consideration of who the patient was before
> the disease hit and, who the patient would have been had the disease
> not hit.
Let's just make sure we have this correct: You are absolutely FOR the
right of the individual to refuse their neuroleptics. I hope you are also
OR the right of people to full information about neuroleptics, including
about tardive dyskinesia (whether they hear about it on Law and Order TV
or during informed consent).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In support & struggle, David Oaks <dendron at efn.org>
Support Coalition, Co-Coordinator / Dendron News, Editor
PO Box 11284 Eugene, Oregon 97440-3484 USA
BREAKING THE SILENCE ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC OPPRESSION!!!
Heal Normality web site: http://www.efn.org/~dendron/
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