The Brain Damage Neuroleptic Drugs Cause

Patients were being poisoned.
Patients who said they were being poisoned,
were labeled with "paranoia."

This post was first published on May 24, 2011, I posted this the morning that I met the psychiatrist who is my son's new doctor, for the first time. My eldest son, my brother, and I met with the doctor first thing in the morning. I had asked my brother to come to appointments with us because I feel as though my concerns about the obvious marked decline in my son's over-all health are ignored. I believe that it is beneficial to have a support person present. One who has no psychiatric diagnosis and has an education in science , and more importantly, one whose primary concern is Isaac's best interest. I have to confess, the fact of the matter is, I was also afraid that my anger at this "dorktor" would cause me to lose my composure---I had no reason to believe this meeting would be any different than any other meeting with a dorktor of psychiatry who has "treated" my son. What I mean is, I anticipated being disrespected by this dorktor and expected he would also be unwilling to give honest answers to questions that we asked him. I was disappointed that my expectations of the dorktor's professional demeanor were validated in this meeting.

All of three of us have had serioious concerns about the adverse effects the neuroleptic and  other psychotropic drugs continue to have on Isaac's over-all well being. These effects are manifested in a marked decline in Isaac's physical health, his cognitive functioning, and his over-all well-being. This hospitalization, like the one last July, was precipitated by Isaac becoming seriously physically ill with a bacterial infection--which coincidentally, could cause a person without a psychiatric diagnosis to become disoriented and confused... My son has iatrogenic brain damage and is not aware when he is becoming physically ill; he is unable to perceive if/when he is hot or cold; when he's in pain, he cannot discern where the pain is coming from. These are COMMON effects of neuroleptics, called 'antipsychotic' drugs. I do not consider these 'side effects' as this is a term used for extra effects for a drug which is actually treating an identified pathology, or correcting an identified dysfunction . The neuroleptic drugs have never "effectively treated" my son's symptoms; they have caused profound iatrogenic harm however.

I actually thought that the dorktor wouldn't lie to my brother. My brother is an astrophysicist, he still naively believed I might be exaggerating the callous disregard shown my son, and myself. I am not exaggerating. I have never had a respectful, fact based, e.g. ethical, conversation with any psychiatrist  who has prescribed neuroleptic and other psychotropic drugs to my son. The psychiatrist we met with was treating my son, and he is the Medical Director of the mental health facility. The man actually implied he may not 'allow' me to see my son, and offered no reason when I asked why he would imply such a thing?! I told him he lacked understanding. I informed him there was no way in hell I would go into any proceeding and speak on my son's behalf without speaking to him and setting eyes on my son. Period. I believe the reason for his initial refusal to "allow" us to see my son, is because he did not want us to see the devastating impact his 'treatment' was having on my son.

We went to meet with this quack with an agenda: We wanted to know what we can do to prevent further iatrogenic harm... NOT once have these concerns been validated by any of the psychiatrists who have prescribed drugs to my son--ever. I am talking several psychiatrists over more than a decade---not one of them has been thoroughly honest and forthright about the risks; most seem willfully blinded to the iatrogenic injuries they cause. As a result, my son is medically neglected. My son has had Tardive Dyskinesia and Akathisia since he was thirteen... 

My brother was blown away by what he learned that morning. We went in there with an agenda: Isaac's heart damage, brain damage and neurological damage that is becoming more and more apparent. This "doctor" had no first hand knowledge about Isaac, or myself. He is unaware that I write this blog; being unaware, he had no way of knowing I had written about an article in APA's newsletter discussing the brain damage neuroleptic drugs cause--just prior to meeting with him. So, when this dorktor in a condescending tone told me while shaking his head, "the drugs don't cause brain damage," I wanted to sock him right in the mouth. He told me this lie three times. When I told him I didn't believe he was being honest with me; he got pissed off, and demanded that I, "must respect him!" The best I could do to fulfill this unrealistic request, was to walk out of the meeting.

Nathan and my brother, Mark, continued talking to the dorktor. After a few minutes, I returned to hear my brother voice our concerns calmly and respectfully, he then asked the "doctor" this question, "What can we do to help Isaac to feel safe?" (He was terrified to be there---bad things have happened to him on psychiatric units) His question was ignored totally. So, my brother asked him again; he was ignored again. 

I was so thoroughly disgusted, it took everything I had not to spit in this quacks face---a wicked thought; but there it is. I told the quack, in fact I demanded that he stop the twice a day B-52 (Haldol Ativan combo)shots immediately. I told him he had no right to drug my son and risk further brain damage so recklessly, and to have done so without speaking to any one of us, who have his Medical Power of Attorney was unethical. He stated that he was not obligated to consult or speak to anyone when prescribing additional teratogenic drugs to my son, because the Involuntary Treatment Laws negate entirely this form of Legal Protection for Involuntary patients... I told him I expected him to respect my authority, and pointed out to him that this was an ethical matter. I told him I didn't care what the Law said, he needed to respect my request. It simply is not moral or ethical to exclude a patient's chosen proxy who is legally appointed. I insisted that he did not have permission to give my son another B-52 injection; period. 

Amazingly, he complied---the next day the nurse called to report Isaac was doing much better; I brought him home the following day.

It was not until this hospital stay that a nurse asked me how long has Isaac had Tardive Dyskinesia? I told her that it never had been diagnosed, but that he has had it for years. I have told every doctor starting with the lead research quack at CSTC, Jon McClellan when he was still a kid. I noticed the involuntary movements and recognized them as the tell tale sign of permanent neurological damage being done, known as Tardive Dyskinesia-(video) I had read about it in the scientific literature, but my concerns for my son have always been summarily dismissed. The significance of her next comment did not truly register until later. While we were talking, she commented, "oh here it is, I see it noted in his chart." 

via: The Psychiatric Times:

Jeffrey Lieberman, a psychiatric researcher, a member of the APA, (and a researcher colleague of Quack Master Jack, Jon McClellan in the TEOSS drug trials) is quoted in the Psychiatric Times article, Brain Volume Shrinkage Parallels Rise in Antipsychotic Drug Dosage "The reduction in brain volume in schizophrenia occurs not because brain cells die off but rather because dendrites shrink and dendritic spines shrink, causing shrinkage in the synaptic connections in the cortex, explained Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., another schizophrenia researcher not affiliated with the Iowa study.

“That's why in people with schizophrenia, thinking becomes more stereotyped, routinized, and concrete,” said Lieberman, a professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

“They don't have the elaborate richness of synaptic connections to allow for the cognitive and intellectual processes to occur,” he said in an interview with Psychiatric News. 

So, this "psychiatric researcher" wants me to believe that how the brain damage is manifested matters more than the fact that it is iatrogenic?!---Lieberman seems to be trying to convince readers that 'brain shrinkage' is not 'the problem;' THE PROBLEM is the lack of synaptic connections that are a consequence of the brain shrinkage!?! As if whether it's the brain shrinkage itself, or the fact that synaptic connections can no longer be made, really fucking matters!!! The drugs have caused my son to lose cognitive and intellectual abilities. He was victimized, not medically treated; I assure you that is what matters. My efforts to protect my son were treated with derision and ridiculed by the "professionals."   The cavalier attitude of psychiatrists about the iatrogenic injuries they inflict upon their patients is disturbing; it is also obviously criminal. 

In the TEOSS Drug Trials 12% of trial participants were reportedly effectively treated; 2 died and who knows what the Real World outcomes are for the others who were enrolled. There are two different figures for the number of children who participated in the TEOSS trials; some authors report 116, while others report 119. The American people paid for TEOSS, and continue to pay for the vast majority of neuroleptics prescribed both on, and off label. 

I've only found one update, a case report on one other kid who was in the TEOSS trials---I would think given the cost and the disappointing results, the TEOSS data needs to undergo an independent review. One would think that the raw data collected would be available five years after a Federally funded drug trial has ended! One would think the latest investigation into psychotropic drug use in Medicaid children would find the TEOSS trials germane to the investigation... Neuroleptic and other psychotropic drugs are teratogens; and while the drugs may be effective for a small minority of people with psychosis, why are teratogenic drugs being prescribed off label without any evidence to support the prescription?

I can honestly say that it doesn't matter to me if it is the brain shrinkage or that connections in the synapses can no longer be made. What matters to me is that my son and I were never informed, or given any choice...I was not ALLOWED to protect my own child; I was stripped of my Constitutional Rights as a parent to act on my son's behalf by an unethical psychiatric researcher who acted with impunity and assumed an authority he had no ethical or legal right to assume. Jon McClellan broke State, Federal and International Laws---that is a fact. Jon McClellan, told me I had no say---repeatedly---apparently, "lead researchers" do not need INFORMED CONSENT; the coerced assent of children in locked psychiatric wards who are told they will never be allowed to leave if they don't take the drugs like a good guinea pig is all that's necessary when one is a federally funded clinical research psychiatrist.

My son should have never been given any neuroleptic drug---he was and is a trauma victim. He deserved respect, compassion, and protection. Instead, my son was denied the protection of his mother, and the protection of his Individual Rights under the Constitution. My son was blamed for his injuries, slandered and stigmatized then stripped of his innate intelligence; all of which further traumatized him. The "treatment" in reality, was Human Experimentation; not valid medical treatment. Calling it "treatment" is a misnomer, it was forced upon him, without any alternative or escape; a kid forced to participate in unethical pseudo-medical research, an effort to gain FDA approval of some of the neuroleptic drugs for use in children. TEOSS was a seeding trial.

How did this "benefit" my son? Not at all.

Psychiatry, as I have experienced it does not tell the truth about the nature of psychiatric diagnoses or about the risks of taking psychiatric drugs. Doctors have a duty, "First, do no harm..," Professionals who "practice medicine" without integrity, violate a sacred trust. Medical treatment is not supposed to be "done to" a patient, as it was in my son's case. Ethical medical treatment requires that treatment be provided for a patient's benefit first, and foremost and always--especially for children. 

Some members of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry are failing to uphold the Hippocratic Oath, and are not even paying lip-service to the Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research, these practitioners have seriously damaged the integrity of the medical profession. Researchers have knowingly substituted purposely biased incomplete data for ethically collected data and corrupted the Science-Based Medicine evidence base, careless of the damage and suffering caused by their selfish unethical behavior. 

In my opinion, the article in the APA's newsletter is an attempt to justify "Standard Practices," that are not supported by the scientific evidence base, do not correct dysfunction, and are not therapeutic for many psychiatric patients. When this treatment is forced, coerced or prescribed without Informed Consent being first ethically obtained, and permanent impairments, dysfunction and early death result; it is a Human Rights crime.

How can anyone believe it is ethical to not share the known risks openly and honestly? How can it possibly be justifiable to give children whose brains are still developing these drugs at all? How can these drugs actually be in widespread use when parents are not being fully informed about the serious risks AND without significant certain benefits which would justify the serious risks? It can not be justified ethically and certainly should not be tolerated, accepted excused--or legally required.

What totally gets me is I can not get any medical professional to refer my son for a neurology or a neuro-psychiatric exam; or the annual EKG he is supposed to have. It should be the part of his psychiatric care program (I would think) to have the iatrogenic conditions caused by the psychiatric drugs to be attended to. 

via psychrights Evidence for the Neurotoxicity of Antipsychotic Drugs Dr. Grace Jackson Affidavit 

retro drug ad found at Bonkers Institute