Last month I wrote to the Lead for the National Suicide Prevention Strategy for England. The current lead, Professor Louis Appleby, has a prominent social media presence and naturally many … Continue reading National Suicide Prevention Strategy
The following account of my experience of trying to stop an antidepressant features in today’s Daily Mail. This did not feel a comfortable thing to share in a national newspaper … Continue reading It is by living that we learn
The words in this piece on antidepressant prescribing come from the novel ‘Grace Notes’ by Bernard MacLaverty. This novel was published the same year that I was started on an … Continue reading ‘They say no’
This was the lesson of the week as published in the BMJ, June 2002:
In my previous post I shared an article describing Dr Ladislav Haskovec’s recognition of akathisia in 1901. Akathisia is the truly horrid condition that causes unremitting restlessness, fear, terror and … Continue reading Ten years ago
Almost two decades ago the British Journal of Psychiatry included an interesting account about Akathisia to mark the hundredth anniversary of its recognition as a very serious, dangerous and unpleasant … Continue reading Akathisia
Following the publication of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Position Statement on antidepressants and depression there was widespread news coverage supported by Expert Statements by Professor Allan Young and Professor … Continue reading Position statement: frequency of withdrawal reactions
Wednesday, 29 May 2019 Dear Professor Cipriani, The SUSANA Survey: I have now had some time to think over your considered response. Thank you again for this. I have never … Continue reading Letter to Professor Andrea Cipriani
I have recently completed this survey. This is how the survey is introduced: I have over twenty years experience of antidepressants as both a patient and as a prescriber so … Continue reading SUSANA survey
In a previous post I shared this paper: The declarations of interest were given as follows: I have written the following open letter to the lead author: Sent: 22 May … Continue reading “uncritical partisan narrative”
This perspective has just been published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. My brief response to one of the authors can be read here, alongside further details of the competing interests of … Continue reading “Antidepressants, withdrawal and addiction: where are we now?”
References: Davies J, Moncrieff J, Kinderman P, et al; Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry. Stigma and efficacy of taking antidepressants. Letter to the editor. Times 2018 Feb 23. Burns W. Pills for … Continue reading A letter in the BMJ