Petition to Retract Article called "Benzo Hysteria"

[Whoopsie]

Recently on Psychology Today Blog this was posted by Dr. Edward Shorter stating  "... benzos are among the safest and most effective drug classes in the history of psychopharmacology..."

 

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-everyone-became-depressed/201306/benzo-hysteria

 

What followed were a flurry of over 85 comments from people who have suffered on account of benzo's.  Subsequently Dr. Shorter removed all the comments and disabled the ability to do so, thus ensuring censorship.

 

This petition is being circulated to have the article retracted.  Please take a moment and add your signature.  Presently there are over 320 signatures and the goal is 500.

 

https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/psychology-today-retract-the-article-benzo-hysteria?utm_campaign=share_button_action_box&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition

 

Thank you for participating in this cause.

[Barbarannamated]

Not sure I understand Dr. Healy's position per this statement:

 

In 1988, the Committee on Safety of Medicines warned of withdrawal symptoms and dependence “following therapeutic doses given for SHORT periods of time” (its emphasis) and recommended limiting their use for a maximum of 2-4 weeks for “disabling” anxiety or insomnia. These restrictions remain in effect, forcing British doctors to “write fraudulent prescriptions” in order to adequately treat catatonia patients. (Healy, 2013)

[Finn]

Ah, it's always toss-up with those Psychology Today blogs.

 

But these changes are of huge importance. The benzos are among the safest and most effective drug classes in the history of psychopharmacology; the SSRI “antidepressants,” a less effective drug class, elbowed them off the roller rink. This is worth knowing.

 

Why is this so worth knowing?! Is he suggesting there should be more prescribing of benzos for depression and less use of antidepressants? Just when you think the treatment of mental illness couldn't get much more idiotic...

 

The moral of the story is get a Ph.D. so you can have a blog on which you make shaky leaps and bizarre speculations that people will read and respect.

[Finn]

Not sure I understand Dr. Healy's position per this statement:In 1988, the Committee on Safety of Medicines warned of withdrawal symptoms and dependence “following therapeutic doses given for SHORT periods of time” (its emphasis) and recommended limiting their use for a maximum of 2-4 weeks for “disabling” anxiety or insomnia. These restrictions remain in effect, forcing British doctors to “write fraudulent prescriptions” in order to adequately treat catatonia patients. (Healy, 2013)

 

This article explains what he means. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-everyone-became-depressed/201305/classic-treatment-classic-condition

 

These are the symptoms of catatonia, a diagnosis that goes back to the 1870s and that US psychiatrist Max Fink has recently revived (Fink, 2012). The treatments of choice for catatonia are benzodiazepines (Valium-style drugs) and shock therapy (electroconvulsive therapy, ECT).

 

More Benzo praise

 

The catatonia diagnosis means the return of the benzodiazepines, the only effective treatment for the disorder outside of ECT. For once, science will be driving psychiatry.

 

He's quite happy about the return of both benzos and catatonia. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/how-everyone-became-depressed/201306/catatonia-lives

--

 

But seriously, why would Benzos help catatonia? Wouldn't they depress the CNS further?

 

[Whoopsie]

There are 428 signatures at this point, just 72 left to go.  I hope people here will consider adding their signatures.  It's not often we have an opportunity to speak out like this.

[alexjuice]

To be sure, Xanax (alprazolam) remains in 1st place with 47.8 million prescriptions, a position it has held since 1988 (Shorter, 2008). Part of its continued strength is attributable to Upjohn’s aggressive marketing campaign for its use in panic disorder, though it is likely that the benzos as a whole are effective for this indication. Also in the top 10 are Ativan (lorazepam), ranked 4th, and Valium (diazepam), ranked 9th.

Xanax is by far the most common Rx drug of abuse and the easiest Rx rec drug to get a hold of. That he doesn't mention this fact -- to a lesser degree the same is true in the case of Ativan, Valium and Klonopin -- and how it relates to the demand for prescriptions seems a huge omission.

 

Also there is no aggressive campaign marketing Xanax. That's a joke. I've never seen a Xanax add EVER. It's off patent. There is no money going towards pushing Xanax, it's a low margin product for the big guys, relatively...

 

It's hard to take this fella fully seriously.

[alexjuice]

Again this fella:

 

 

Now, here’s the big news: the prescribing of benzos as a whole has diminished greatly since the heyday of the 1970s. This drug class was the biggest success story in pharmaceutical history before the arrival of the SSRIs. Benzodiazepines were used effectively across the “nervous” spectrum and beyond in the treatment of (non-melancholic) depression and a wide variety of somatic complaints as well as for anxiety.

Uhhhh, wait ... You just said that a benzo is the number one prescription drug in the United States versus every other Rx drug... So I don't think the prescribing of benzos has diminished greatly...

[alexjuice]

 

After the late 1980s, the initial decline of this useful drug class was completed with the rise of the SSRIs and the shift of psychiatry from anxiety to depression. By the year 2000, so-called “antidepressants” had overtaken all other drug classes not only in psychiatry but in all of medicine. With the exception of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics (NSAIDs), antidepressants were prescribed more often than any other drug class. In part industry achieved this by hyping their products as “non-addictive” and free of the troublesome sideeffects of the classic antidepressants.

Gosh I thought that Xanax was the #1 prescribed drug... This guy got me so confused I went and looked up the most prescribed drugs and they are:

1 Hydrocodone (combined with acetaminophen) [NOTE: Is this the NSAID he is referring to? Hydrocodone is not an NSAID it's a narcotic.]

2 Generic Zocor

3 Lisinopril

4 Synthroid

5 Norvasc

6 Azithromycin

7 Prilosec

8 Amoxicillen

9 Generic Glucophage

10 Hydrochlorothiazide

 

So, yea, none of the top 10 drugs are psychiatric medications ...

http://www.webmd.com/news/20110420/the-10-most-prescribed-drugs

 

Abilify and Seroquel are in the top 10 for revenue because they are insanely expensive and most of the recipients are on public healthcare so it's a giant medicaid fraud which is why so many suits have been brought and settled lately on the misreprentation of the AAPs...

 

This guy probably means well but is very poorly informed. C'est le vie.

[Whoopsie]

Just need 2 more signatures to meet our goal of 500.  Thank you everyone who added their signature.

[Finn]

Has there ever been a study of the most prescribed type (or class, determined by what they treat) of drug? It would be interesting to see that in relation to profits, advertising and alternate options.

[alexjuice]

It's pretty easy to tabulate the classes just by knowing which drug is in which class... More difficult to know what the companies spend on marketing on a per drug basis, maybe that information is in investor relations materials though I have never looked for it.

 

For most drugs there is a non-Rx alternatives, often free ones. For instance, studies find regular moderate exercise is as statistically effective as serotonin uptake disruptors for most cases of clinical depression.

 

Drugs under patent are massively more profitable than generics and every year some blockbuster drug's patent protection expires... Though sometimes a big pharmaceutical company will collude with a generic manufacturer with ownership of a drug's rights to delay production on the generic for a year...

[Whoopsie]

At present there are 539 signatures on this petition and the goal has been bumped up to 1000 by Change.org.  It took 3 days to get to 500.  It's not too late to add your signature in support of this cause.  Thanks.

[Altostrata]

Dr. Shorter's e-mail address http://www.history.utoronto.ca/faculty/facultyprofiles/shorter.html

[btdt]

 

After the late 1980s, the initial decline of this useful drug class was completed with the rise of the SSRIs and the shift of psychiatry from anxiety to depression. By the year 2000, so-called “antidepressants” had overtaken all other drug classes not only in psychiatry but in all of medicine. With the exception of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics (NSAIDs), antidepressants were prescribed more often than any other drug class. In part industry achieved this by hyping their products as “non-addictive” and free of the troublesome sideeffects of the classic antidepressants.

Gosh I thought that Xanax was the #1 prescribed drug... This guy got me so confused I went and looked up the most prescribed drugs and they are:

1 Hydrocodone (combined with acetaminophen) [NOTE: Is this the NSAID he is referring to? Hydrocodone is not an NSAID it's a narcotic.]

2 Generic Zocor

3 Lisinopril

4 Synthroid

5 Norvasc

6 Azithromycin

7 Prilosec

8 Amoxicillen

9 Generic Glucophage

10 Hydrochlorothiazide

 

So, yea, none of the top 10 drugs are psychiatric medications ...

http://www.webmd.com/news/20110420/the-10-most-prescribed-drugs

 

Abilify and Seroquel are in the top 10 for revenue because they are insanely expensive and most of the recipients are on public healthcare so it's a giant medicaid fraud which is why so many suits have been brought and settled lately on the misreprentation of the AAPs...

 

This guy probably means well but is very poorly informed. C'est le vie.

 

I might argue loosely that all these drug treat the side effects of antidepressants..... pain - thyroid dysfunction- high cholesterol- high blood pressure- diabetic issues are yet to be established but I would not be too surprised to see it as a long term effect... due to weight grain and cravings.