Mental Health Survival Kit and Withdrawal from Psychiatric Drugs

"peter gtzsche's new book meets patients' need to get tools on how to deal with psychoactive drugs and, above all, not to start them. gtzsche is very clear about the role of gps in medicalizing grief, misfortune, opposition, and bad luck. in this he finds the american emeritus professor of psychiatry and chairman of the dsm-iii committee, allen frances, at his side. both gtzsche and frances have repeatedly stated that psychoactive drugs should not be prescribed by gps because they lack experience in their use. and above all, unhappiness, grief, and bad luck are not signs of brain disorders, they belong to daily life." additionally, gtzsche reveals that most psychoactive drugs do not work - 'they might only achieve statistically significant differences compared to placebo, but that's not what patients need.'" -- dick bijl, former gp, epidemiologist, and current president of the international society of drug bulletins.

"peter c. gtzsche wrote this book to help people with mental health problems survive and return to a normal life. his book explains in detail how psychiatric drugs are harmful and people are told how they can safely withdraw from them. it also advises on how people with mental health problems can avoid making a 'career' as a psychiatric patient and losing 10 or 15 years of their life to psychiatry. you will find precious material to help plan and accompany this process of liberation from psychiatry." - fernando freitas, phd, psychologist, full professor and researcher at the national school of public health (ensp/fiocruz). co-editor of Mad in Brazil

"in this work, addressed to people affected by the risk of being caught in the system of attention to mental health issues, dr. gtzsche succinctly exposes, without beating about the bush, the damage caused by psychiatric medications, demonstrates that their widespread use is not based on evidence, which is mainly driven by commercial pressures that have nothing to do with the recovery of patients, and present safe ways to dispose of them, always gradually and under supervision of trustworthy people to minimize the syndrome of abstinence and successfully overcome all the difficulties that the process involves." -- enric garca torrents, writing for Mad in Spain

Professor Peter C Gtzsche graduated as a Master of Science in biology and chemistry in 1974 and as a physician 1984. He is a specialist in internal medicine; worked with clinical trials and regulatory affairs in the drug industry 1975-83, and at hospitals in Copenhagen 1984-95. With about 80 others, he co-founded the Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 (the founder is Sir Iain Chalmers), and established the Nordic Cochrane Centre the same year. He became professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis in 2010 at the University of Copenhagen and has been a member of the Cochrane Governing Board twice. He now works freelance. Became visiting Professor, Institute of Health & Society, Newcastle University in 2019. Founded the Institute for Scientific Freedom in 2019.Gtzsche has published more than 75 papers in "the big five" (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Annals of Internal Medicine and New England Journal of Medicine) and his scientific works have been cited over 150,000 times. His most recent books are: Vaccines: truth, lies and controversy (2020). Survival in an overmedicated world: look up the evidence yourself (2019).Death of a whistleblower and Cochrane's moral collapse (2019).Deadly psychiatry and organised denial (2015).Deadly medicines and organised crime: How big pharma has corrupted health care (2013) (Winner, British Medical Association's Annual Book Award in the category Basis of Medicine in 2014).Mammography screening: truth, lies and controversy (2012) (Winner of the Prescrire Prize 2012).Rational diagnosis and treatment: evidence-based clinical decision-making (2007).Five of these books have appeared in multiple languages, see deadlymedicines.dk.Gtzsche has given numerous interviews, one of which, about organised crime in the drug industry, has been seen over 400,000 times on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dozpAshvtsA. Gtzsche was in The Daily Show in New York on 16 Sept 2014 where he played the role of Deep Throat revealing secrets about Big Pharma. A documentary film about his reform work in psychiatry, Diagnosing Psychiatry https://diagnosingpsychiatry.com/filmen/ appeared in 2017.Gtzsche has an interest in statistics and research methodology. He has co-authored the following guidelines for good reporting of research: CONSORT for randomized trials (www.consort-statement.org), STROBE for observational studies (www.strobe-statement.org), PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (www.prisma-statement.org), andSPIRIT for trial protocols (www.spirit-statement.org). Gtzsche is Protector for the Hearing Voices Network in Denmark.Websites: scientificfreedom.dk and deadlymedicines.dkTwitter: @PGtzsche1

index of tables and figures   iii

acknowledgements   v

abbreviations   v

chapter 1 - this book might save your life   1

a patient's psychiatric "career"   5

chapter 2 - is psychiatry evidence-based?   11

are psychiatric diagnoses specific and reliable?   15

psychiatry's starter kit: depression pills   18

do patients fall ill because of a chemical imbalance in the brain?   20

are psychoactive drugs specific and worthwhile?   26

flawed trials have led the psychiatrists astray   30

suicides, other deaths and other serious harms   37

psychosis pills   38

depression pills   50

the pills that destroy your sex life are called happy pills   57

lithium   60

antiepileptic pills   61

pills for the social construct called adhd   62

the final nails in the coffin of biological psychiatry   67

false information on withdrawal from uk psychiatrists   76

use of depression pills for children dropped 41%   84

number needed to treat is highly misleading   85

electroshock   87

chapter 3 - psychotherapy   89

chapter 4 - withdrawing from psychiatric drugs   93

mind denmark doesn't want to help patients withdraw   99

the psychiatric guild doesn't want to help patients withdraw   102

the cochrane collaboration doesn't want to help patients withdraw   106

guide for drug withdrawal   114

support persons   117

the research ethics committee killed our withdrawal project   120

tips about withdrawal   123

list of withdrawal symptoms you may experience   130

dividing tablets and capsules   134

forced treatment: a horrible violation of human rights   136

chapter 5 - survival kit for young psychiatrists in a sick system   141

a debate at the annual meeting of swedish young psychiatrists   147

national boards of health are unresponsive to suicides in children   149

censorship in medical journals and the media   151

no hope for psychiatry: suggestions for a new system   164

patient stories   167

videos of lectures and interviews   174

about the author  177

references   179

index   205