Psychiatric Drugs; Gods or Frauds?

Are they wonder drugs or blunder drugs? Ref. 1 claims that atypical antipsychotics induce obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

"Several studies have indicated that atypical antipsychotics (AAP) induce obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms." (1)

This group is from the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. My own experience as a caregiver supports this.

Drug Side Effects

There is a professional website called WorstPills.org. This site gives information on side effects of all types of drugs including the statins.

"WorstPills.org readers were warned not to use such dangerous drugs as Vioxx and Bextra years before these drugs were pulled off the market."

Dr. Sidney Wolfe

Editor, WorstPills.org

"We recently described clozapine-induced OC symptoms that emerged concordantly in a pair of monozygotic twins, which suggests the influence of genetic factors on this adverse effect." (1)

This reference is not available free full text. However, I got it free full text at Northeastern University because NU subscribes to the journal. The quote refers to Ref. 2, which is by the same Seoul group.

OCD

There is a glutamate theory for OCD (3, 4).

"CSF glutamate (mol/l) level was found to be significantly higher [F(1,31)=6.846, p=0.014] in OCD patients (47.124.25) compared to control subjects (41.363.63) on analysis of covariance." (3)

Although the glutamate was higher in the cerebrospinal fluid, this difference does not look high enough to explain the disease. This finding could be a side effect of the disease rather than a cause. Glutamate can be made in the body from other amino acids. Glutamate could be high because another amino acid is very high. Other amino acids should be looked at.

Other Treatments

With all the problems of psychiatric drugs, my view is that there are treatments even worse (5). But are there treatments that are better?

There are many treatments that are alternatives to drugs including psychotherapy, group therapy, psychosocial rehabilitation, orthomolecular treatments, etc. The treatments mentioned are largely risk free.

Death

Death is the ultimate side effect. Ref. 6 documents death due to liver failure from Clozapine. This type of death can also occur from statins, unfortunately. Statins are drugs that fight cholesterol.

Miscellaneous

Refs. 7 & 8 detail other side effects. Unfortunately there are so many side effects of psychiatric drugs that it would take a book to list them all.

Orthomolecular Treatments

All hope is not lost, however. There are many cheaper, safer treatments with good side effects, but they are controversial because the drug companies don't make a killing on them. Some of these are explained at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, Pauling's alma mater. Their website is lpi.oregonstate.edu/. Flavonoids are some of the treatments (9, 10).

Schizophrenia

Refs. 11 & 12 describe schizophrenia. Chemical imbalances cause this disease.

Conclusions

Refs. 13-15 provide more information on these matters. Ref. 14 has more information on drug side effects. I am not satisfied with the current drugs. New drugs need to be developed which are safer and more effective. Alternative treatments should be studied.

References

1. Association of the glutamate transporter gene SLC1A1 with atypical antipsychotics-induced obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Kwon JS, Joo YH, Nam HJ, Lim M, Cho EY, Jung MH, Choi JS, Kim B, Kang DH, Oh S, Park T, Hong KS. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009 Nov;66(11):1233-41.

2. Hong KS, Nam HJ, Lim M. Emergence of obsessive-compulsive symptoms during clozapine treatment in a pair of monozygotic twins [eLetter]. Br J Psychiatry. 2008;190:81-a.

3. Chakrabarty K, Bhattacharyya S, Christopher R, Khanna S. Glutamatergic dysfunction in OCD. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005;30(9):1735-1740.

4. Carlsson ML (2001) On the role of prefrontal cortex glutamate for the antithetical phenomenology of obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 25:5-26.

5. Hay P, Sachdev P, Gumming S, Smith JS, Lee T, Kitchener P, Matheson J (1993) Treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder by psychosurgery. Acta Psychiatr Scand 87:197-207.

6. Clozapine-induced fatal fulminant hepatic failure: a case report. Chang A, Krygier DS, Chatur N, Yoshida EM. Can J Gastroenterol. 2009 May;23(5):376-8.

7. Successful treatment of tardive lingual dystonia with botulinum toxin: case report and review of the literature. Hennings JM, Krause E, Bötzel K, Wetter TC. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2008 Jul 1;32(5):1167-71. Epub 2007 Sep 18.

8. Clozapine-induced hypersalivation: a review of treatment strategies. Sockalingam S, Shammi C, Remington G. Can J Psychiatry. 2007 Jun;52(6):377-84. Review.

9. Geleijnse JM, Launer LJ, Van der Kuip DA, Hofman A, Witteman JC. Inverse association of tea and flavonoid intakes with incident myocardial infarction: the Rotterdam Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2002;75(5):880-886.

10. Keli SO, Hertog MG, Feskens EJ, Kromhout D. Dietary flavonoids, antioxidant vitamins, and incidence of stroke: the Zutphen study. Arch Intern Med. 1996;156(6):637-642.

11. Mitochondrial dysfunction and psychiatric disorders. Jou SH, Chiu NY, Liu CS. Chang Gung Med J. 2009 Jul-Aug;32(4):370-9. Review.

12. Agressologie. 1973 Aug;14(4):275-9.

13. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2425658/amino_acid_research.html

14. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2436896/medical_research_on_tryptophan.html

15. www.associatedcontent.com/article/2412558/inborn_errors_of_metabolism.html