“In a major study, published yesterday in JAMA Pediatrics, the use of SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy was found to increase the risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by 87-percent. Previous studies reveal that more than 13-percent of women currently use SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy. In this large population-based cohort study, maternal use of ADs during the second and/or third trimester was associated with an increased risk of ASD,” the researchers concluded. “Children exposed to SSRIs alone and those exposed to more than 1 class of ADs during the second and/or
third trimester had the highest risk. The effect was persistent even after taking into account maternal history of depression.” http://www.madinamerica.com/2015/12/maternal-antidepressant-use-tied-to-autism/

When will the people you have influenced to take these drugs have true informed consent?

and I am also drafting a post about Thought Leaders who should apologize for minimizing the harms of anti-depresants, — and you figure prominently in that discussion. The recent article by Scott Sauls at TGC greatly stirred me up again about this. I will give you a heads up when I publish.

Not that it matters; the confirmation bias among your population is simply breathtaking.But like the proverbial starfish thrower-back-into-the-sea, if I can save just one from a lifetime of brain damage and impotence and tics, I will be satisfied.

I am so sorry if I offended you by the use of ‘soul-deadening’. And I am so sorry for your suffering. When I reprinted these and other comments on my own blog, I edited it to read
“life-sucking” –is that better? Because that’s sort of what happened to my Mother. She disappeared on the psychoactives, that brilliant, creative woman who graduated from Cal with a degree in Chemistry with such hopes for the future.

And really, why I singled out Tegretol for special attention I have no idea. I think it was the last one she tried. I could have just as easily pointed out the same effects for Abillify, Seroquel, klonodine, Depakote –all of whose effects I have been an intimate witness for most of my adult life. And not just in my mother, but also in others dear to me.

These drugs were not just lifesucking and exhausting, but disfiguring and crippling, like the tardive dyskinesia — charming Tourettes like involuntary tics. Which were treated with other drugs of course.