Christians and Psychiatric Medications

By David Christy

By David Christy

“Col 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”

Recently a dear friend of mine, a Christian, committed suicide. The effects of his decision have been devastating to his family and friends. The obvious question that plagues us all in circumstanes like this... why?

I will submit to you my belief... that he was murdered. He was murdered by the multi billion dollar pharmaceutical industry that lured him into their clutches with the promise of relief from his struggles, if only he took their drugs. Once he entered this world of false hope his real life problems were compounded by drugs that altered his brain chemistry. It was easy then for the devil to delude him and drag him deeper into the black hole of depression and clouded judgment.

The lie of drugs

Deceived. Deluded. Uninformed. The Christian community - God’s own people - worshipping at the altars of psychiatric godlessness and sacrificing their brains and souls to the false gods of chemistry. Why? Because it is easier to take drugs than to do the work that is required to allow God to change our lives. Most have accepted that these charlatans of hope, who peddle these drugs, somehow have stumbled onto the real reason man struggles - it is chemical - and that they can offer us relief if we will only “bite their apple”. But when the apple is bitten---death comes.

The “chemical imbalance” lie

The evidence is that not only are these psychiatric drugs ineffective (“The drugs outperform placebos (sugar pills) only by a modest margin, concludes the report in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.” - New York Times) but once you start taking them your brain chemistry is altered, in some cases irreversibly. In other words these drugs actually CAUSE a chemical imbalance in the brain!

Dr Peter Breggin comments;3

“The currently available biopsychiatric treatments are not specific for any known disorder of the brain.? One and all, they disrupt normal brain function without correcting any brain abnormality.? Therefore, if a patient is suffering from a known physical disorder of the brain, biopsychiatric treatment can only worsen or add to it.? A classic example involves giving Haldol to control emotionally upset Alzheimer patient. While subduing their behavior, the drug worsens their dementia.

After psychiatric drugs are developed and marketed by drug companies, attempts are made to justify their use on the basis of correcting presumed biochemical imbalances. For example, it is claimed that Prozac helps by improving serotonergic neurotransmissio... Even electroshock and lobotomy are justified on the grounds that they correct biochemical imbalances... There is no likelihood that these intrusions correct a biochemical imbalance... Too wide a variety of brain-disabling agents are used to treat every disorder ? everything from Prozac to Xanax to electroshock is prescribed for depression - and each treatment ends up disrupting innumerable brain functions... In reality, all currently available biopsychiatric interventions cause direct harm to the brain and hence to the mind without correcting any known malfunctions.”

I will submit to you that in almost every instance of bizarre, dangerous, outlandish behavior that you hear about in the news, e.g., from Virginia Tech to Britney Spears to Heath Ledger-you will find some form of these antipsychotic, antidepressant drugs in their history. You will find that these individuals have either recently started them or have abruptly stopped them. (Yes---stopping these drugs once you have begun can equally be very dangerous!)

Read the following disturbing excerpt from an interview with Robert Whitaker;

Robert Whitaker is a science journalist and the author, most recently, of Mad in America. He has won the George Polk Award for Medical Writing and a National Association of Science Writers’ Award for best magazine article. He was a finalist for the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, considered journalism’s top prize. He has also published more than twenty short stories in literary magazines such as the Indiana Review, Black Warrior Review, Florida Review, and Columbia: A Magazine of Poetry and Prose. His long fascination with South America began in the late 1970s, when he built and lived in a bamboo hut on the Ecuadorian coast. He now lives and writes in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The following excerpt is from an interview with Robert Whitaker.

Excerpts from NaturalNews-Street Spirit article, “Psychiatric Drugs: chemical warfare on humans” - an Interview with Robert Whitaker, August 2005

The excerpt

“RW: Absolutely. The most obvious case is with the antidepressants. A certain percentage of people placed on the SSRIs because they have some form of depression will suffer either a manic or psychotic attack -- drug-induced. This is well recognized. So now, instead of just dealing with depression, they’re dealing with mania or psychotic symptoms. And once they have a drug-induced manic episode, what happens? They go to an emergency room, and at that point they’re newly diagnosed. They’re now said to be bipolar and they’re given an antipsychotic to go along with the antidepressant; and, at that point, they’re moving down the path to chronic disability.

SS: Modern psychiatry claims that these psychiatric drugs correct pathological brain chemistry. Is there any evidence to back up their claim that abnormal brain chemistry is the culprit in schizophrenia and depression?

RW: This is the key thing everyone needs to understand. It really is the answer that unlocks this mystery of why the drugs would have this long-term problematic effect. Start with schizophrenia. They (psychiatry) hypothesize that these drugs work by correcting an imbalance of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain.
The theory was that people with schizophrenia had overactive dopamine systems; and these drugs, by blocking dopamine in the brain, fixed that chemical imbalance. Therefore, you get the metaphor that they’re (psychiatric drugs) like insulin is for diabetes; they’re fixing an abnormality. With the antidepressants, the theory was that people with depression had too low levels of serotonin; the drugs upped the levels of serotonin in the brain and therefore they’re balancing the brain chemistry.

First of all, those theories never arose from investigations into what was actually happening to people. Rather, they would find out that antipsychotics blocked dopamine and so they theorized that people had overactive dopamine systems. Same with the antidepressants. They found that antidepressants upped the levels of serotonin; therefore, they theorized that people with depression must have low levels of serotonin.
But here is the thing that one wishes all of America would know and wishes psychiatry would come clean on: They’ve never been able to find that people with schizophrenia have overactive dopamine systems. They’ve never been able to find that people with depression have under active serotonin systems. They’ve never found consistently that any of these disorders are associated with any chemical imbalance in the brain. The story that people with mental disorders have known chemical imbalances -- that’s a lie. We don’t know that at all. It’s just something that they say to help sell the drugs and help sell the biological model of mental disorders.

But the kicker is this. We do know, in fact, that these drugs perturb how these chemical messengers work in the brain. The real paradigm is: People diagnosed with mental disorders have no known problem with their neurotransmitter systems; and these drugs perturb (alter) the normal function of neurotransmitters.”

Drug companies exist to make money

One drug-3.4 BILLION DOLLARS!! Somehow we have become deluded that the capitalistic pharmaceutical industry and their priests, psychiatrists and psychologists, are our friends--that they exist as some sort of benevolent organization. This is naivetÄ at its worst and gross ignorance at its best. One government agency in particular has helped in this deception... the FDA!

The article goes on to report that “according to the C.D.C suicide among 45-54 year olds jumped 20% from 1999-2004... ” “The question is why? What happened in 1999 that caused the suicide rate to suddenly rise primarily for those in midlife?”

There is an elephant in the room. You can see it?the “researchers” obviously cannot. What happened in 1999? Again the NEW YORK TIMES... 6 “Antidepressants were the best- selling category of prescription medicines last year, as they were in 1999. Retail sales of antidepressants totaled $10.4 billion in 2000, up 20.9 percent from the previous year.”

In a report to the Canadian Health Ministry entitled The Marketization of Depression: The Prescribing of SSRI Antidepressants to Women*By Janet Currie, Women and Health Protection, May 2005, their research found a disturbing trend;

“Between 1999 and 2003, the number of dispensed prescriptions for SSRIs in Canada grew by 80% to 15,672,315 prescriptions “Psychiatric drugs have come from the pit of hell, pushed by sophisticated drug dealers in $5000 suits. These drugs are responsible for killing and/or destroying people by the thousands. One of those, a sweet, gentle, loving man?one who never in his right mind would have conceived of such an evil?took his own life shattering many others. He was my friend.

The right physician

Heb 4:12 “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

Christians have been going to the wrong physicians! I am amazed that God fearing people, including many pastors, somehow find Christ and His Word impotent when it comes to addressing needs of the heart and mind! Many good pastors in their ignorance actually “refer out” their parishioners (to psychiatrists and psychologists) to their great harm!
In Christ and His word there is hope! There is the ability to change. There is “everything we need for life and godliness’!

2 Peter 1:3-9 says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ... 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. “

Find a Biblical Counselor that has been trained to apply the Word of God to real life.
You will be helped!

For further help: Books Dr. Peter Breggin: Toxic Psychiatry, Your Drug May Be Your Problem, Talking Back to Prozac... Visit dr. breggin’s website; http://www.breggin.com

Read Robert Whitakers book, Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine, and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill.

Seek Biblical Counseling

David A. Christy is the Director of Biblical Counseling at Pawtuxet Baptist Church, 2157 Broad St., Cranston, RI 02905 dac777@cox.net

Pastor Jim Ricci Cranston Christian Fellowship
The National Association of Nouthetic Counselors, NANC.ORG

BIOGRAPHY-DR. PETER BREGGIN

Peter R. Breggin, M.D. began in the full time private practice of psychiatry in 1968.... Dr. Breggin has been informing the professions, media and the public about the potential dangers of drugs, electroshock, psychosurgery, involuntary treatment, and the biological theories of psychiatry for over three decades.... Since 1964 Dr. Breggin has been publishing peer-reviewed articles and medical books in his subspecialty of clinical psychopharmacology. He is the author of dozens of scientific articles and nineteen professional books about psychiatric medication, the FDA and drug approval process, the evaluation of clinical trials, and standards of care in psychiatry and related fields... His most recent books are The Ritalin Fact Book (2002) and The Antidepressant Fact Book (2001). ...
In 1972 he founded The International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology (ICSPP) as a nonprofit research and educational network.... The Center is concerned with the impact of mental health theory and practices upon individual well-being, personal freedom, and family and community values... He also founded the peer-review journal, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry... In 2002 Dr. Breggin and his wife Ginger selected younger professionals to take over the leadership of the journal and ICSPP (see ICSPP.org). They also decided to improve their lifestyle by moving to the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York. However, Dr. Breggin is not retiring. He is continuing his clinical practice, forensic work and research.
For thirty years Dr. Breggin has served as a medical expert in many civil and criminal suits including product liability suits against the manufacturers of psychiatric drugs.... His work provided the scientific basis for the original combined Prozac suits and for the more recent Ritalin class action suits.... His efforts as a medical expert have resulted in the FDA changing numerous official drug labels. ...
Dr. Breggin’s background includes Harvard College, Case Western Reserve Medical School, a teaching fellowship at Harvard Medical School, a two-year staff appointment to the National Institute of Mental Health, and a faculty appointment to the Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling.
Dr. Breggin is the author of nineteen professional books, including The Ritalin Fact Book (2002), The Antidepressant Fact Book (2001), Talking Back to Ritalin, Revised (2001), Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs (with David Cohen, Ph.D., 1999), Toxic Psychiatry (1991), Talking Back to Ritalin (1998) Beyond Conflict (1992), and with Ginger Ross Breggin, Talking Back to Prozac (1994) and The War Against Children of Color (1998). In 1997 Springer Publishing Company simultaneously released Dr. Breggin’s professional books Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock and the Role of the FDA and The Heart of Being Helpful: Empathy and the Creation of a Healing Presence. Dr. Breggin has also published approximately thirty peer-reviewed articles in the field of psychiatry.
Dr. Breggin’s reform work began in the 1950s as a college student when he directed the Harvard-Radcliffe Mental Hospital Volunteer Program. He graduated with honors from Harvard and then received his medical training at Case Western Reserve. He took his psychiatric training at the State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, and at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center, where he was also a teaching fellow at Harvard Medical School. Before going into private practice in 1968, he spent two years as a full-time consultant with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). In November, 1998 he was a scientific presenter at the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Diagnosis and Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
Dr. Breggin’s work is frequently covered in the national media such as the New York Times, Time... the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the New Yorker. He regularly appears on radio and TV, including “Oprah,” “Larry King Live,” “Montel Williams,” “Sally,” “Donahue,” “20/20,” “60 Minutes,” and “Nightline.” And the “Oreilly Factor” Dr. Breggin frequently gives workshops and presentations in North America and Europe.

(Endnotes)
1Excerpts from NaturalNews-Street Spirit article
2 Moynihan R, Smith R. Too much medicine? (Editorial) British Medical Journal. 2002; 324:859-860.
3 Brain-Disabling Treatments in Psychiatry: Drugs, Electroshock, and the Role of the FDA by Peter R. Breggin, M.D. Springer Publishing Company (1997) Reprinted with permission of Springer Publishing Company & Dr. Peter Breggin, M.D.
4 The Marketization of Depression: The Prescribing of SSRI Antidepressants to Women*By Janet Currie, Women and Health Protection, May 2005
5 Huffington Post, Blog entry, Posted May 21, 2006 | 04:29 PM (EST)
6 May 8, 2001 Spending on Prescription Drugs Increases by Almost 19 Percent By ROBERT PEAR