Depression

Jun

2018

Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain Suicides

In doing some research on the recent suicides of Kate and our beloved Anthony, I came across this article. It was pretty much what I wanted to write so I’m posting it here(with permission) in its entirety. There is a link to Scott Lazarowitz’s Blog at the end of the article. (Thanks Scott!)

“Were the Suicidal Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain on Psychiatric Drugs? Published by scott lazarowitz on June 9, 2018

Why did Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade both commit suicide and within a week of one another? Well, I think the timing is unrelated, but from the little information I’ve seen about both of them, I am wondering if they were taking the SSRI antidepressants.

I know, I know, I go on about the SSRIs, and the anti-anxiety meds, and so forth, but with good reason.

We do know that Bourdain had a history of depression, as he acknowledged in 2016. According to TMZ,

Bourdain addressed the issue while visiting Argentina — a country that fascinated him because it embraced psychoanalysis and mental health treatment.

The episode featured several scenes of Bourdain speaking with his therapist and addressing real issues in his life. And, even though it seems like a joke at first, it becomes clear he’s not kidding around.

When asked what brought him into the office, Bourdain says … “I will find myself in an airport, for instance, and I’ll order an airport hamburger. It’s an insignificant thing, it’s a small thing, it’s a hamburger, but it’s not a good one. Suddenly I look at the hamburger and I find myself in a spiral of depression that can last for days.”

Regarding Kate Spade, according to the Guardian,

“Kate suffered from depression and anxiety for many years,” the statement said. “She was actively seeking help and working closely with her doctors to treat her disease, one that takes far too many lives

Now, I’m not saying that either of those two had been taking those pharmaceutical antidepressant drugs, or, if they were, that the drugs caused them to decide to commit suicide. However, among other things, Dr. Peter Breggin writes, “With or without mania, antidepressants often cause a worsening of the individual’s condition, with “crashing” into depression and suicide.” Read the linked article for more information. You see, those SSRI antidepressants have very serious side effects, including causing depression and suicidal thoughts.

Dr. Breggin has written several books on the subject, and has testified before Congress on this issue as well.

As I have noted many times before now (and with documentation), many of the mass killers in recent years had been taking either those antidepressant drugs, or anti-anxiety drugs or anti-psychotics. In recent years, the young people have been exhibiting a rise in depression and anxiety. And I believe this is because of the schools and the mental health industry feeding them those damn psychiatric drugs, such as Ritalin, adderall, xanax, prozac, zoloft, luvox, and the list goes on.

As Dr. Breggin notes,

Antidepressants are neurotoxic, that is, they harm the brain and disrupt its functions. As a result, they cause innumerable kinds of abnormal thinking and behaviors, including mania, suicide and violence. In the process, they cause detectable damage to the brain of the child or adult, and also to the fetus of pregnant mothers who take the drug (See Scientific Section 9).

The antidepressant drugs have no specific impact on depression and instead are used off label to treat everything imaginable from physical pain to anxiety and ADHD. People often experience euphoria after starting an antidepressant, but it is short-lived, leaving the individual to try one and then another antidepressant in the hope of re-experiencing this artificial, chemically induced “happiness.” This initial “feeling great” is in reality a danger sign, often signaling the start of an antidepressant-induced manic episode that can ruin lives. Antidepressant-induced mania is largely indistinguishable from spontaneous mania, and varies in intensity from mild to psychotic. It can include bizarre destructive behaviors, impulsivity, sexual acting out, callousness, grandiosity, and very bad judgment. Antisocial behavior is common. Extreme irritability can lead otherwise loving people to become hateful and violent. Loss of judgment can cause ethical people to act like criminals (See Scientific Sections 1-7).

Again, I don’t know if Anthony Boudain or Kate Spade had been on any of those psychiatric drugs, but it would be informative to know if they had been taking them. In my view, it would be those damn drugs in which the emotional effects of personal incidents, which can affect someone deeply in the first place, are exaggerated greatly by the drugs.

As Wenzel observed, one possible incident in Bourdain’s life is that two days before his suicide he may have found out that his girlfriend was seen with another man, according to Daily Mail. But we don’t know if Bourdain had been on those psychiatric drugs. If he had been taking one of those psychiatric drugs, would he have otherwise gone on to commit suicide if he had not been on them?

And as I have included in my past posts on this subject, if someone wanted to stop taking antidepressants, to prevent dangerous withdrawal symptoms see Dr. Breggin’s book on psychiatric drug withdrawal, Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: A Guide for Prescribers, Therapists, Patients and Their Families.”

Scott’s Blog can be found at http://scottlazarowitz.org/blog/

May

2018

Chemical Imbalance: Truth or Lie

The Illogic of the Chemical Imbalance Theory

I have this friend at the gym, his name is Sonny(real name). I’d see him fairly regularly and we got to chatting a few times and somehow or other we got onto the topic of kids and ADHD and that sort of thing. He told me that when he was in Grade School he was diagnosed with ADHD. His grandfather found out about this and thought it was a ridiculous. He took Sonny and enrolled him in a martial arts class. This allowed Sonny, according to him to burn off the natural access energy that was driving him to fidget for those horrible six-seven hour days in school.

He told me that pretty much from that day on he had no problems and it was much easier to concentrate in class. Someone who adamantly believes in the theory of ‘Chemical Imbalance’ in the brain, might say that Sonny didn’t really have ADHD.

If that were the case, then the person who diagnosed him should be seriously reprimanded, fined and likely have their licence revoked.

From a website ScienceNordic.com:

‘“In Brazil the dominant approach is psychoanalytical and Brazilians tend to disregard biological mechanisms,” says Aase.
Until recently medication of ADHD has been held in disfavour because of the country’s history of military dictatorship and links between political oppression and medication of people with behavioural problems.’

Again, if ADHD was a biologically based ‘disease’ this would not be possible; you would not be able to treat a biological mechanism by using psychological means. Add to this that there are no real standard methods of diagnosis, which is continuously admitted throughout literature on the subject, and you have a real confusion as to causes and cures.
I’m sure some psychiatrist could ‘fake news’ his or her way through this to make it all seem confusing and invalid. In my research, I’ve seen ‘researchers’(I use that term very loosely), doctors and such, comment on the factualness of the biochemical nature of issues like ADHD and Depression. I have, in all of my research, and believe me I’ve done lots, found no factual studies that confirm any biochemical causes for the above so called ‘diseases’.

So many people are diagnosed with Depression and Clinical Depression. I see every year or two some article about some researcher is on the cusp of the discovery of exactly what chemical imbalance in the brain causes depression. Trying to give more credibility to the concept but at the same time admitting that there is no scientific evidence validating any kind of biochemical cause.

Again, there are so many people diagnosed with ‘depression’ that are able to overcome it without resorting to drugs. So, they are either misdiagnosed or it is NOT biochemical.

Where is the science?!

So far, I have not been able to locate any exact science on this. There are numerous psychiatrists that will back be up on this: Dr. Peter Breggin; Dr. Sydney Walker Jr; Dr. Thomas Szasz to name but a few. (I’m tempted to offer money to anyone that can find something definitive on this - I do feel quite safe that I would never have to give up a penny!)

I read a quote recently that pointed out that people that have more challenges in life are happier. My observation is that when people are doing something or producing something, they are always happier. And the person who is doing something and at the same time helping others is the happiest of all.

I’ve observed that those having the most difficulty with depression and such are constantly worried about things instead of getting on with it and actually challenging themselves in life. A slightly ‘dangerous’ environment keeps you awake and doesn’t give you time to worry about being depressed. I’m not saying you should put yourself in ‘bad’ situations but make a bigger game and start solving the problems of that game. Stop thinking so much. If you have time to sit around that think, then you, for sure are not going to be happy.

The thing that really gets me on this is that so many people have accepted the idea of things like depression and ADHD being physical diseases as FACT, when there is no proof at all. But I guess this is just more evidence of blindly accepting ‘fake news’ as is now done daily on social media. I guess if you say an untruth enough times it becomes true. Or at least believed to be.

Feb

2018

5 Ways of Coping With Depression

...Without the use of drugs...

There are numerous ways one can deal with depression without using drugs. You are obviously going to get your Doctor or Psychiatrist going on about these treatments not being tested; things like certain supplements or having dubious results.

Well, compare the fact that vitamin C has likely not ever killed anyone. There are some supplements that have a more erratic history but this information needs to be taken with the proper comparative data.

For example:

1. St John’s Wort - $55 million spent on this one annually in the US of A. For the purpose of alleviating depression. There are side effects of this one. The majority of side effects, I have found, from the bit of research that I’ve done, is when taken in conjunction with pharmaceuticals that are also taken for the purposes of alleviating depression. Pretty easy to find the side effects of these anti-depressant drugs. As anything you take, do your own research and make sure that the products that you take play well together.

2. Exercise - The Mayo Clinic(http://www.mayoclinic.org) recommends exercise. Exercise can help in a couple of ways according to their website. From a ‘chemical’ standpoint, it releases ‘good’ chemicals into your system(in a much more natural way than anti-depressants). Some of these are: neurotransmitters, endorphins and endocannabinoids. Secondly, exercise tends to take your mind off your worries, increases confidence and pride and often gets one out and about so there is more social interaction.

3. EMpowerPlus: This is product developed in Alberta Canada by a company called TrueHope(http://www.truehope.com/depression.html) Lots of testimonials and accolades. A combination of vitamins and minerals developed originally to specifically deal with BiPolar Disorder. One of the developer’s wives committed suicide as a result of this mental disorder and was determined to come up with a natural solution, which seems to work for a LOT of people.

4. Fast Food - Keep Away… Per The Science Daily )https://www.sciencedaily.com) “…A 42% increase in the risk [of depression] associated with fast food was found,…”. There are numerous studies showing the relationship of depression and fast/junk food. This is not a simple change for many as with it comes a bit of a lifestyle change. If you are not going to eat at McDonald’s or order in Chinese food, what are you going to do. Learn to cook? This will actually do a couple of things(learning to cook, I mean) - it will get you healthier, which will obviously lessen depression and it will also get you more active, so you don’t ‘think’ so much.

5. Go for a walk. LiThis is a bit like the exercise thing but not exactly. I heard a story once about a woman who was very depressed after having a baby. After nothing else working, a friend took her out for a walk. She make her walk away from her home until she almost couldn’t walk any more then return home. Within a few days she was completely better. If you are going to try this one, don’t go out to ‘think’. While walking, look at things or touch things. Look at trees, buildings, fire hydrants, lampposts. If you have to make a game with yourself, then look for thing of different shapes or sizes or colours or whatever. Figure out the game as you go or before you go. That way you are forcing your attention outwards instead of introspecting. Always healthier that way.

I really hope that you try some of these things.

May

2017

Depression and Environmental Toxins

Years ago I read this book by Sydney Walker Jr. Called 'A Dose Of Sanity'. Great book. One of the basic ideas in the book was that he, as a doctor, could always find what physical problems the person was having that was causing the mental issues - IF given enough time.

He found patients with brain tumours to allergies that had, everyone, been prescribed mood altering drugs such as Prozac, Ritalin and Zoloft. Once the 'physical' situation was resolved - no more drugs.

Some recently sent me this website about mould(mold) - a real hidden toxin. Very difficult to get away from. Most of the time people don't even know it is there.

There is a lot more information on the website Survivingmold.com

Feb

2017

Depression, Anxiety: drugs or nutrition…

May

2016

5 Causes for Depression

As much as the medical industry would like you to think otherwise, there is not physical/biological test for depression. Most tests are done by doctors or psychiatrists that ask a series of questions. They are trying to determine if one has clinical depression.

Definition of Clinical Depression:

“Clinical depression is the more severe form of depression, also known as major depression or major depressive disorder. It isn't the same as depression caused by a loss, such as the death of a loved one, or a medical condition, such as a thyroid disorder.”

The issue here is that this is all subjective. It is all in the opinion of the doctor or psychiatrist. The huge majority of psychiatrists will not do physical tests as they are not actually looking for the CAUSE of depression. They are looking to summate symptoms.

Most doctors have the know how to actually ascertain the cause but don’t willingly take the time.

From an article by Fred Ovsiew in the Psychiatric Times:

“Psychiatric patients commonly suffer from general medical conditions; often these conditions affect or even produce the mental disorder. In formulating the psychopathologic condition and identifying its cause, why would one want to forgo tools that generations of physicians have found useful in the diagnostic endeavor?”

Sugar and Depression

Sugar has been long known as a big contributor to depression. It spikes then crashes your insulin levels. Watch children race around at the end of a birthday party when they have had the cake, then crash violently later. Have a bunch of sugar for lunch and try and stay awake and alert in the middle of the afternoon. The website PsychCentral.com has a good article on that here: Depression and Sugar

2. Allergies and Depression

It has been known for years that allergies are linked to depression. Any number of books and articles connecting the two. Besides affecting sleep and general function there are other chemical reactions that also affect one at a biological level. Allergies have been connected to numerous other mental disorders as well. Great article here on WebMD.com : Depression and Allergies

3. Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and Depression

MSG is rampant. Is has many names and that is the subject of someone else’s article. There is a lot of evidence how it can affect ones mood. MSG should absolutely NOT be given to growing children or teens. This is a very scientific article on the subject but if you can wade through the technical gobbledygook you will see the dangers. Even adults can have mild to severe reactions to Monosodium glutamate. This food ingredient is almost impossible to stay away from if you are eating packaged goods. It is there to enhance the flavour and most packaged goods have the flavors pretty much processed out of them. Also, most restaurant foods, particularly fast foods will contain MSG. Again, the warning about the technical jargon: Depression

4. Soda, Pop, Soft Drinks and Depression

High Fructose Corn Syrup has replaced sugar in a lot of instances or is often used in conjunction with sugar in non-diet soft drinks. Both diet and non-diet soft drinks have been consistently linked to obesity but here is a study that directly correlates fructose to depression. If you do the research, you will find that High Fructose Corn Syrup is actually worse for you than sugar. It spikes the insulin levels in ones body even worse than sugar. So, this can cause depression in both a direct and indirect manner. Directly by the insulin ‘crash’ and indirectly by the numerous side and other effects of obesity and other health problems. So, if you don’t want your children or teens getting depressed or overweight then don’t give them soda or packaged breakfast cereals.

5. TV, Radio, Newspaper News and Depression

Some years ago, a friend was at a clients house and found her to be terribly depressed. On questioning her, he found that she started and finished every day watching the News on television and would also read the newspaper and listen to the news on the radio throughout the day. He challenged her to stop all this for a period of six to eight weeks. She agreed. In only eight days she called him and said that her outlook on life had completely changed. She was happy and didn’t get down or depressed easily at all. She was more than a little amazed at how simple this was. This was slightly before the advent of Facebook. I challenge anyone that is having trouble and is also reading on Facebook or online or anywhere how absolutely horrible the world is, to STOP! Take a few weeks - don’t worry, the world won’t end - and completely get rid of the ‘News’ in your life.

6. Television and Depression

There is a direct proven link between watching television and depression. TV is hypnotic. It is also putting one at effect instead of getting a person DOING something. (No, watching TV is not ‘doing something.) The obvious effects are its contribution to obesity but many people will be surprised to find television’s relationship to Depression. One may think that watching the boob tube is a way of distracting oneself from troubles or ‘taking a break’. If you are going to do that, though, keep it to a minimum. Which is pretty much impossible for most people. This site: rodalewellness.com cites several research surveys done by scientists that show without a doubt that watching too much television can increase and actually cause depression. Watching TV

So, you have a choice. You can just take a pill from your doctor and mask some symptoms or you solve it yourself. In our next article, I will list out the prescription(pharmaceutical) drugs that actually cause depression.

Jan

2016

Big Pharma Causing Suicide?

Sep

2015

Depression – no fun at all!

As with physical pain, drugs can mask an underlying cause. Many psychologists, doctors and psychiatrists will tell you that the drug is bringing an abnormal or chemical imbalance back to a more natural state. When asked to do a test for this as one would do for a physical ailment, no test can be produced; there never has been one.

So, you are struggling with your depression and want some kind of relief, anything just to be unstuck from this awful cloying mass and feeling that is with you every minute of the day. The Doctor offers you you a pill or a bottle of pills like Xanax or some such promising relief. Offering one kind of hell for another; for now you are in a chemical straight jacket as when the effects of the drug wear off here comes your funk again.

In 30's, 40's, 50's and 60's depression as a 'disease was pretty much unheard of. The folks that would make money from your illness would have you believe that half you school class back in those days were just hiding a constant horribleness. I have spoken to hundreds and hundreds of people from these earlier eras and this is just not true. Unless I was only able to find those who were not constantly dogged by depression. Certainly many voiced that they were some times troubled and sad; life as a teen can be horrible at times but any that I spoke with were able to come out of it without drugs.

There is this idea purported by the medical industry that this particular day and age, this society is more stressful than earlier times. They would have us believe that this the only era where anyone had difficulty with their parents or children.

I know that you think that your situation is special and different. Believe me it is. But at the same time it isn't.

So what did people do before drugs were the answer. Do you want a quick fix? Something that will mask the symptoms? Or do you want to fix it? I do honestly know that it feels like it is something that cannot be fixed. But believe me you and the human race are made of sterner stuff than that. You may not think that now but it is the truth.

I read this book years ago by a psychiatrist named Sydney Walker Jr. The book was called A Dose Of Sanity. It was about the mood altering drug Prozac. One of the things that he said repeatedly in the book was that he could invariably find out the underlying physical cause of some mental difficulty. He gave examples ranging from allergies to brain tumours where Prozac had been prescribed nearly causing deaths if Dr. Walker had not intervened.

I am not entirely convinced,though, that every person that is depressed has some physical problem. I have seen too many people resolve their depression in other ways. I have this friend at the gym. He was prescribed drugs as a solution to his depression by his doctor. His uncle got a hold of him and took him to a martial arts class and he never looked back, never took any of the drugs, he didn't need them anymore once started training.

This may not be the solution for everybody and may be more difficult for you to start something to change. Also, some in the medical industry would argue that he was not really depressed if it was that easy; that a little exercise is not going to resolve something of this depth. If you listen to his story, it was not that easy, but he was able to persist with help of his uncle.

Sometime that is what is needed. Someone to help you get from here to there. The majority of time the solutions to the most complex situations are ver, very simple! (I know there is no way you are going to believe that when you terribly depressed.)

A couple of things to try and hold onto when you are feeling the worst: firstly, it is not, no matter what you think, you! And two: it can get better - there is something that you can do about it.

The Illogic of the Chemical Imbalance Theory

5 Ways of Coping With Depression

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