BBC Fail on Antidepressant Mythology

Every time there's a chance to air the truth about brain pellets we fail, and we fail miserably.

Take a radio interview on the BBC2 radio show hosted by Jeremy Vine as a classic example.

Guests included Sarah Vine, Daily Mail columnist and wife of Conservative Member of Parliament, Michael Gove and also TV and social media health spokesperson, Dr Sarah Jarvis.

Sarah Vine has been quite vocal of late about her struggles with depression, moreover, with her prescription brain pellet, Cymbalta, prescribed to combat her depression.

Yes, it's great when a high profile name discusses the difficulties of withdrawing from a particular brain pellet, but it's not so great when that person doesn't really have a clue about the history of the said brain pellet. Quite who made Sarah Vine a spokesperson for the prescribed harm community remains a mystery. No doubt having a husband who is a high-profile politician helps.

Sarah Vine is not the right person to be talking about brain pellets, let's just make that abundantly clear. Her performance on Jeremy Vine's (no relation) radio show proved this.

I feel for her. Her withdrawal sounds bad, particularly with a brain pellet that comes in capsule form with beads of a toxic substance. Quite how she tried to withdraw is unknown as Cymbalta is particularly difficult to taper from as it has no liquid version nor can you cut it in half due to the capsule being full of beads reminiscent to the hundreds and thousands one places on top of an ice-cream.

Sarah Vine experienced brain zaps, tinnitus, joint pains and irritability when trying to stop Cymbalta - her tapering regime is, however, unknown as she never went into detail about this. She did, however, claim that Cymbalta helped with her depression. Speaking with Jeremy Vine and Sarah Jarvis, she told them, "I understand depression is chemical as well as circumstantial and I think that they (brain pellets) do redress the chemical imbalance."

I can only assume that Sarah Vine lives in a posh part of London with her MP husband and not in some hut on the planet Zog. I would assume that she has done her research on these brain pellets by trawling through drug company or psychiatry-based websites.

Hey Sarah, guess what? You're so wide of the mark?

Sarah Vine went on to say that, "For the majority of people the benefits outweigh the risks". Again, this is the mantra of drug companies and psychiatry.

Be nice to know if this journalist/columnist has evidence of this?

The resident doctor, Sarah Jarvis, played down the claim regarding a recent study that highlighted how the majority who take brain pellets have withdrawal effects by stating, "That was a study which was ONLY (her emphasis) identifying patients through a questionnaire.

The host, Jeremy Vine, never once asked the resident doctor if she had ever seen the full safety data for brain pellets.

Memo to Jeremy Vine - talk to people who can, at the very least, put the professionals in an uncomfortable position.

Journalism - a fucking dying art.

The interview can be heard approx halfway through the Jeremy Vine show.


Bob Fiddaman

First do no harm... providing it's no longer than 8 minutes

Dr Bhamjee, caused controversy back in 2011 when he called on the Irish Government to add lithium salts to the public water

Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee, a soon to be retired psychiatrist from Ireland, showed exactly why the profession of psychiatry needs to take a long, hard look at itself when he was a guest on the George Hook radio show in Ireland on Thursday [11 April]

Hook had been contacted by Irish blogger, Leonie Fennell regarding a GP he had interviewed a week previously on his show.

The GP, Dr. Ciara Kelly, offered her opinion to a recent article that had appeared in the Irish press [Irish Examiner] that highlighted how GP's handed out antidepressant medication at the drop of a coin. An undercover journalism student, Niamh Drohan, had approached 7 GP's in Ireland and told them she was suffering from stress and anxiety problems from her final year in college. On each visit a prescription for an antidepressant was written for Drohan. Her article ‘Depressing Truth about Treating Depression In The Young’ can be viewed here. Fennell gives her take on it here.

Hook's interview with Ciara Kelly enraged Fennell so much that she emailed the show to set the record straight. Kelly had claimed , during the course of her interview with Hook, that “the drugs themselves are not dangerous, they’re not addictive, they’re not even dangerous at high levels of overdose.”

Fennell's son, Shane, took 39 Cipramil in 17 days and his toxicology report showed a ‘toxic to fatal’ amount in his system. On the 17th day Shane, under the influence of the antidepressant citalopram, killed himself and another man. Podcast with Leonie Fennell here goes into more detail.

Fennell, along with antidepressant expert Prof. David Healy, were invited by Hook to offer their opinion as was Dr. Moosajee Bhamjee.

The interview [below] is interesting in as much that Bhamjee argues that in his 40 years as a healthcare professional he has never seen any patient who has experienced aggressiveness on these types of drugs. He also argues that Dr's only get an 8 minute slot to determine if someone is mentally ill and needs prescription medication. And there I was thinking that the Hippocratic oath taken by Dr's carried no disclaimers!


Bhamjee, caused controversy back in 2011 when he called on the Irish Government to add lithium salts to the public water supply in a bid to lower the suicide rate and depression among the general population.

Anyway... here's the debate from the Hook show.

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If you are having trouble with the audio player then the audio can be downloaded direct to your computer by right clicking and 'save as' HERE

Leonie Fennell's blog

Bob Fiddaman

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GSK - Flying the Flag of Hypocrisy

GSK - Flying the Flag of Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is the state of promoting or administering virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually have or is also guilty of violating. Hypocrisy often involves the deception of others and thus can be considered a kind of lie [1]

Irish blogger, Leonie Fennell, recently highlighted the Irish media [RTE] accepting awards from GlaxoSmithKline for, of all things, a TV program about the history of clinical trials with children!

Perversely, Glaxo Ireland proudly announce on their webpage that, "The purpose of the GSK Irish Medical Media Awards is to recognise the important contribution of Irish medical and consumer healthcare journalists. Here in Ireland, we’re extremely fortunate to have a strong, independent media that can, and does, challenge pre-conceptions, ask the hard questions and push for answers."

Aidan Lynch, Vice President and General Manager of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ireland, presented winners with their awards.