What Help?

Help! I need somebody

Help! Not just anybody

Help! You know I need someone

Help!

Lennon & McCartney 1965

--

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Mmm, I get high with a little help from my friends

Mmm, gonna try with a little help from my friends

Lennon & McCartney 1967

British newspapers were, once again, leading the way today with information regarding the latest brain pellet study that delivers a swift kick in the gonads to drug companies, regulators and prescribers.

The Sun and The Daily Mail ran with headlines, "‘Rare but serious’ risk of suicide for patients on antidepressants, new findings reveal" and "New health alert over antidepressants as study finds a 'rare but serious' risk of suicide for patients on pills."

The Mail's article was penned by Ben Spencer (Medical Correspondent for the Daily Mail), whilst The Sun's piece was written by Gemma Mullin (Digital Health Reporter for The Sun)

Whilst I'm always grateful to the British media for highlighting the suicide risk when taking brain pellets, I still get irked by journalists who take quotes from the Royal College of Psychiatrists on good faith.

Both articles feature a direct quote from Wendy Burn, who is President of the Royal College. Her quote seems to be the trump card played by spokespersons speaking on behalf of the industry but it is rarely questioned. This is where the mainstream media are failing. No pressing questions just an acceptance.

Burn's quote left me thinking that the media have almost come to accept the word of psychiatry as a congregation would of a priest delivering a sermon.

"It is vital that people prescribed antidepressants are monitored closely, made aware of possible side effects and know how to seek help if they experience them.", Burn proclaimed. This after Study leader, Dr Michael Hengartner, of Zurich University in Switzerland, said: "We can be confident that these drugs are producing an excess rate of suicides, beyond the depression itself." He added, "There is no doubt that this must be a response to the pharmacological effect of the drugs themselves."

Burn was never asked by either journalist whom patients should seek help from or, indeed, how, when one is feeling suicidal because of the inducement of akathisia, they can actually think straight, lift up a phone receiver and dial a number for help, on the proviso, of course, that there is such a number to dial. Quite how Burn and other spokespersons from the college get away with such comments leaves me bewildered.

In the past, Burn & Co have recommended that patients speak to their doctors. I find this perverse, don't you?

According to Burn's logic, those who have been prescribed brain pellets that are causing suicidal thoughts should go back to the very same person who prescribed them!

In 1978 more than 900 Americans – members of a San Francisco-based religious group called the Peoples Temple – died after drinking poison at the urging of their leader, the Reverend Jim Jones. Let's imagine for one minute if a spokesperson for a toxicology department had said back in 1978, "If you feel you have taken a substance that has caused you toxicity, we recommend you talk to the Reverend who will be able to help you."

Flippant of me yet you can't deny the facts here.

The media need to ask Wendy Burn exactly what plans are in place to help those suffering at the hands of these mind-altering brain pellets, be it those who are suffering severe withdrawal problems or those who are feeling suicidal because of them.

Wendy Burn is offering false hope to those she and her colleagues prescribe to. What she is saying is 'some people' may have difficulty but, hey, don't worry if you are one of those unfortunate souls who gets the urge to kill yourself "help" is just around the corner. The thing is, Burn and her colleagues have been standing on these street corners for years, first handing out the drugs, secondly, to send people to other corners when they complain of brain pellet withdrawal or feelings of suicidality. Sadly, all the corners are taken by her colleagues who are ready with their prescription pads to hand out yet more brain pellets to help with the suicidal thinking caused by the original prescription they handed out.

Quite why the media cannot see through her 'trump card' is beyond me.

Maybe one day a journalist with good investigative skills will probe the comments from the Royal College. You know, ask for evidence or perhaps the street address of any specialist in the UK who deals with brain pellet withdrawal and suicidality.

As I said at the top of this post, I'm grateful for the British media highlighting the risks of brain pellets but allowing throw away comments without following up those comments is poor journalism.

Wendy Burn blocked me on Twitter some months ago. Last week she had a change of heart and unblocked me. As I don't play to the tune of the piper, I immediately blocked her. I don't wish to correspond with anyone who will only address important issues when they are in a "good mood", least of all a President who, it has to be said, couldn't run a bath.

Maybe one day, the College will apologise to the families of all those who, through no fault of their own, have had to bury loved ones and suffer continuous heartache? I'm not holding my breath.

Michael P. Hengartner and Martin Plöder's study, Newer-Generation Antidepressants and Suicide Risk in Randomized Controlled Trials: A Re-Analysis of the FDA Database, can be read, in full, here.

Bob Fiddaman