Dr. Josef
@taperclinic
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MD (Psychiatrist) turned Drug Tapering Educator | Former FDA Medical Officer and Pharma Doc | We teach people how to come off meds in the safest way possible!
Saint George, Utah
Joined January 2023
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Dear Psychiatric and Family Medicine Colleagues
It's time to acknowledge we've let good mental health care become completely derailed by industry/commercial influence.
We all wanted to do good initially, but much like the frog in boiling water, we've slowly come to accept a
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Never trust a doctor who prescribes antidepressants in 25 minutes...
There is a serious flaw in our healthcare system – the reckless practice of prescribing antidepressants during brief, inadequate doctor's visits.
Imagine this: You step into a doctor's office, possibly for the
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Ways psych meds make temporary problems chronic;1) make you believe your temporary problem is actually an illness 2) give you side effects you think are a mental illness 3) cause quick tolerance so you get worse when you try to stop, reinforcing that you have a mental Illness
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For a growing number of people going to a psychiatrist for help was the worst decision they ever made
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If Doctors were honest about antidepressants they would tell all patients:
1) Can cause permanent sexual and cognitive problems
2) Can take years to come off safely
3) Can make you suicidal
4) Can result in a manic conversion, and an incorrect bipolar dx
#antidepressants
#PSSD
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Everyday I work with patients severely neurological damage from benzos/antidepressants. When I ask them how they got started on medications this is what I hear:
"My boyfriend broke up with me", "I was lonely and living in a new town", " I started college and was having anxiety
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Most readers here will already be aware that no biological marker has ever mapped onto any mental illness- hence the complete absence of any objective tests/scans used to diagnose conditions in psychiatry
Despite this however, the dominant discourse in psychiatry is typically
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I used to give people a false sense of security about the psychiatric medications I would prescribe. I now look back sadly realizing the many years I didn't tell people as much as they should have known.
#InformedConsent
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Much of psychiatric practice is a farce…. A 15 minute shuffling around of medications with limited attention to what the drugs are doing or what’s going on in the patients life
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People often ask me what is the main reason psychiatry is failing the public
My answer:
We have given up on diagnosing people.
Not fake diagnoses like the DSM.... Believe me we do plenty of that
But real diagnoses where you actually listen to patients and use your
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People keep saying I'm dangerous for raising awareness about drug risks and misdiagnoses...
Not sure why they think the lives of those saved by psychiatric drugs are worth more than the lives of those lost from drug injuries...
Unfortunately decades of pharma marketing and
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My psychiatric colleagues make me cringe....
Yesterday, I came across a podcast where an attending psychiatrist was asked whether depression is "curable."
He estimated that a little over 50 percent of cases could be cured.
Every time I hear this stuff I'm embarrassed for my
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A few days ago I said having a mental illness was increasingly trendy. Rather than engaging with an argument many said they were upset I was stigmatizing their condition.
Here's my argument (Have at it, I'd prefer more counter points than different variations of i'm
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Helping people with emotional problems is too painful for many healthcare professionals - antidepressants help therapist and psychiatrist avoid the discomfort of having to talk to patients about terrible and inescapable life events which wear them down.
Rather than making the
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When pills are prescribed as a first line treatment, doctors are unintentionally teaching patients that healing is a passive thing. “Take the pill. You’ll feel better.”
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I suspect 50% of people who are psychiatrically involuntarily hospitalized are due to a therapists/physicians fear of being sued, rather than them actually believing the hospitalization would help them
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Are you suspicious of psychiatrists?
If so, you wouldn't be alone.
Few disciplines in medicine seem to be under as much public scrutiny as psychiatry.
Yet, is it for good reason?
Today, I'm going to talk about the top three criticisms of psychiatry and why I believe the
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Seeing lots of patients getting rapidly tapered from benzos due to family docs being concerned with the risks of dependence all of a sudden (after pt on these meds for 20+years) most of them are then placed on antipsychotics w. risks of TD and metabolic s/e. this makes zero sense
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Here is a list of the most underpublicized problems with antidepressants . Essentially the ones that pharma wouldn't want doctors thinking about when prescribing:
1) Antidepressants can cause permanent sexual dysfunction and brain damage in some cases, and it is impossible to
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Should mental health professionals fess up that we don't really know how to help people with the majority of problems that make them depressed?
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As a society we are more comfortable believing that the majority of depression is a treatment resistant "mood disorder", rather than seeing the reality...
That our mental health services really aren't built to help people with the majority of things that make them depressed.
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Modern psychiatric practice has massively stretch diagnostic boundaries. Medications like antidepressants can have such serious risks, I'm convinced that only 5% of the people currently on them, should actually be taking them
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In my deprescribing clinic, I hear a heartbreaking refrain: 'My life was stolen from me.' It's a constant reminder of the unfairness and malpractice in our current system, and the harm it has caused to so many.
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The chemical imbalance theory has been debunked for over a decade… but here’s why it persists.
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People say I’m dangerous for speaking too much about drug risks and side effects. Do you agree?
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No one wanted us to ask questions 🫢 in our residency.
#psychiatrist
#psychiatristsoftiktok
#psychiatrists
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I'm Sorry....
[Reflections from 4 months on Twitter]
So it has been about 4 months of posting on twitter so far and I have a few reflections
First, a very big thank you for the engagement on all the content. My wish was to get people talking about problems with psychiatric
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lots of people depressed due to feeling like they are in inescapable problems....
1) working in a job they hate
2) stuck in a difficult relationship
3) unable to find a romantic partner
4) not able to see a path to a more hopeful future.
Instead of teaching doctors how to
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Christy worked tirelessly for the benzo community. She helped and supported me when I was still a resident introducing me to many of my colleagues in the benzo recovery space and encouraging me to speak at conferences and to news outlets about the benzo disaster when I was still
We are devastated to share that on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, we were informed of the passing of our friend, colleague, and Medical Director, Christy Huff, M.D.
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Have you heard “antidepressants save lives?” This is NOT accurate. In fact, the opposite might be true.
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Would you have taken antidepressants if you knew...
1) They could cause permanent sexual dysfunction
2) The could cause severe brain damage (Protracted withdrawal)
3) That stopping them could be one of the hardest things you ever did in your entire life
And that it was
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Be careful what you say the doctors... I’ve heard too many horror stories of people who did not need or want involuntary commitment being locked away and forced on meds. 
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Do you think there is a market for a psych facility that would just allow behaviorally stable people to come and sit out their crisis in a safe facility without being pressured onto meds?
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Taking psych meds is much different than taking insulin for diabetes. This is a message that needs to stop.
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The psychiatric system in the US is trash. How should we do things different?
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Common culprits of psychiatric misdiagnosis:
1) Withdrawal reactions from psychiatric medications are misdiagnosed as other psychiatric conditions. Oftentimes resulting in the unnecessary continuance of the medications
2) Adverse reactions to psychiatric medications such as
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Would you trust a psychiatrist with your loved one? I’m not sure I would anymore.
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Deprescribing is really really great work.
Is anyone else wanting to do this?
I can't help many people in different states and would like to start a referral network in the US, UK and Canada
Who's interested?
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Many of my patients coming off medications are feeling completely betrayed...
Why?
Because they realized they didn't really need the medications to begin with.
Their original doctor who prescribed their medications never worked with them to find non-pharmacologic ways to help.
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Those who believe the mental health system is working effectively have truly deluded themselves.
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Please help me on this.
We hear a lot about depression being a "mood disorder"
Can we make a list of the most common actual things that make people depressed?
1) Financial problems
2) Hating your job
3) Going through a break up
4)......
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Does psychiatry cause more harm than other medical specialties?
I think so. Here's why:
We try to cure the MOST complex problems humans have with overly simple solutions.
We treat poverty, relationship stressors, career distress and dietary/substance use problems with drugs.
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Psychiatrists study the DSM to learn how to diagnose psychological symptoms. In the nearly 1000 page book, there is a whopping 5 pages on drug side effects. To make matters worse most doctors don't even know how to look up a drugs side effects from the most recent drug label.
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I have another hot take that will surely piss people off: I’m worried about the effects of antidepressants taken during pregnancy on the sexual development of the children- we already know they increase the risk of autism- who knows how they might alter sexual maturation for
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"Its just like taking insulin for diabetes"... probably one of the most misleading and dangerous lies about taking psychiatric medications. It implicitly suggests there is some kind of biological abnormality being righted. Its just drugs people... its a drug effect... thats all
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Overprescribing is the top problem in mental healthcare today.
What exactly do I mean?
Medications are being prescribed to people who should not be on them, especially those dealing with:
1) Chronic stress (from poverty, dysfunctional relationships, career anxieties, PTSD,
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Antidepressant users, would you have taken these medications if you knew all the risks?
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Sometime soon thousands of people will wake up and realize that they were needless medicated for years with antidepressants, because pharma had convinced a whole profession that everyone complaining of depression had a "mood disorders" .
I suspect this will happen when
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What does the head of Harvard Psychiatry have in common with Kylie Jenner?
We've all seen influencers on social media: beautiful models using skincare products and extolling their benefits.
This marketing strategy is effective because influencers have a large audience that
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General psychiatry should be one of the most challenging a rewarding careers. Think about it.... A specialty where you need the versatility and wisdom to help people from all walks of life with universal human suffering. Instead we've turned it in a indiscriminating pill
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So nice of Pfizer to help with the under diagnoses of depression….- definitely just wanting to help patients and doctors
A good article below covering the history of psychiatry most famous depression scale
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When large groups of people broadcast their mental illness and medication use on social media it makes it seem like taking psychiatric medication is so ubiquitous and normal. To me, a BIG CONSEQUENCE of this is growing an impression that taking psychiatric medication is safe and
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In the US we have the illusion of a public mental health care system. Most low income groups who encounter the HIGHEST stressors are only offered medications. And There is no access / VERY sparse access to therapy. Giving out meds, makes it look like we are helping when we arent
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I'm a psychiatrist, but I don't prescribe medications every day... Instead, I help people taper off medications they don't want to be on anymore.
#medicationtaper
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What doctors are told by mainstream journals about antidepressants:
1) well tolerated
2) safe and effective
3) minor side effects
4) promote improvements in depression through improvements in brain chemistry like BDNF
Most doctors think this is the most accurate information
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Here are 5 reasons you might want to avoid long-term use of antidepressants that your doctor never discussed with you.
Before I launch into this, I want to emphasize that this post specifically addresses reasons to consider avoiding long-term antidepressant use.
I say that
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Many think it is impossible to develop PSSD after a short time on antidepressants. NOT TRUE. People forget It is already accepted knowledge that other psych meds(eg. antipsychotics) can cause permanent neuroproblems(Tardive Dyskinesia) after "brief periods at low doses".
#PSSD
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Do you have bipolar disorder?
Are you sure?
Did you doctor investigate the following before giving you a diagnosis?
1) the possibility of an adverse reaction to an antidepressant
2) the role recreational drug use might have played in your symptoms
3) the role of stimulants
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Unfortunately many patients - having been misled by doctors- still believe their depression is like diabetes. And that antidepressant are like insulin, correcting an underlying physical issue. This analogy lulls them into a complacent state where they think the drug is restoring
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The work that I am doing may be different than what you were used to hearing. I believe in
#informedconsent
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Lots of doctors think they have a well informed an unbiased view of the safety and effectiveness psychiatric drugs… they live in a world where they think all the information they hear about meds at conferences and journals is just the “fair handed truth “ about these
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It’s sad the online forums have been the only place where people can find answers for their drug withdrawal symptoms.
#withdrawalsymptoms
#benzodiazepinewithdrawal
#benzowithdrawal
#antidepressantwithdrawal
#antidepressantwithdrawalsyndrome
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Persistent sexual dysfunction following antidepressant use has been recognized in the medical literature by a diverse range of independent researchers since 2006. Why has it taken so long to warn patients about this risk!? See here for 48 articles!
#PSSD
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From the WHO
"Countries should adopt a higher standard for the free and informed consent to psychotropic drugs given their potential risks of harm in the short and long term (217, 218).
Countries, for example, can require written or documented informed consent (e.g. expressed
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People Coming off Years/Decades of Psychiatric Medication:
Does anyone relate to feeling like your recovering from amnesia once your off....
because you can't really remember much from your medicated life?
I hear this from a lot of my patients and find it shocking.
Does this
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Lots of hate yesterday from a tweet suggesting people with bipolar disorder don't just lean on meds for mood stabilization but consider...
1) Stopping ADs (which cause mood instability)
2) Stopping stimulants (clearly)
3) and Addressing life stressors
Pretty sure this is the
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Harvard Lawyer (Dr. Jim Gottstein) shares his psych ward horror story, as well as his recovery from bipolar disorder. Full interview:
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I talk to lots of people who are coming off decades of medications
Here are some of the psychological struggles at the end...
1) Confronting the original problems leading to starting the medications
2) The perplexing state where they feel disconnected from the live of their
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Today I'm going to share what I have learned supporting hundreds of patients through the protracted withdrawal over the last four years.
This condition scared me to my core when I first encountered it due to the severe pain and distress in this patient population.
Now it
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Emotional suffering is a special kind of pain that makes people feel inherently flawed.
When society makes people feel like this they are primed to latch onto a "psychiatric diagnosis" so they don't feel like failures.
While the diagnosis may help people blame themselves less
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Lots of people want to taper their psychiatric medications without worsen their: 1) anxiety, 2) insomnia, or 3) pain. I hate to say this but the only way off these things is through these things. I just wish the original docs told them this before they started them....
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Too many doctors casually prescribe antidepressants, thinking it’s a harmless approach.
They've been convinced that this is a safe treatment path however it isn’t for many.
Why this misguided belief in safety? It boils down to falling victim to marketing tactics.
Their
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People worry when I speak openly about the risks of antidepressants. What do you think about this?
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I’ve tried about 5 different psych meds- probably the worst was xanax
Gave me super obsessive ruminative thoughts about a few weeks .
What’s the worst one you ever took?
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Interestingly 4 years of psychiatry residency serves more to indoctrinate interns with bad ideas from Commerical medicine rather than teach them to help patients.
While many intuitively would naturally to come to ideas such as …. These drugs work through drug effects which can
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Every day I work with people who have been severely damaged from psych meds that they didn’t need to take in the first place. Stop medicating everything.
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Tapering from psych meds can take years.
Withdrawal symptoms can last years.
This isn’t something two weeks in rehab can fix. It takes time.
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A large proportion of college kids with ADHD don't have a "brain disorder"
Frequently its a failure to meet what they believe society expects of them....
Be doctor
Be a lawyer
Be a banker
Be an engineer
Honestly, this stuff is boring and not interesting for most kids...
Yet
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The way we classify mental health issues today doesn't fully account for problems that can be caused by the treatments themselves.
It's becoming more common to see people's mental health being negatively impacted by the very drugs meant to help them.
They might experience
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problem is psychiatric meds are sold as if they cure anxiety/depression rather than being a chemical mask for symptoms... if we were honest with patients most would not want to take something to mask symptoms because they intuitively know there really aren't shortcuts out of
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It's time PSSD got some real awareness... My team and I have spent weeks making a video about PSSD that will come out on Monday. Watch the preview here.
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Should you trust your psychiatrist/family doc with your mental health?
I'd be wary if they do the following:
1) Spend less than 15 minutes with you
2) Spend 50% of the time looking at their computer screen
3) Only ever talks to you about medication
I can't think of a single
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When it comes to adverse reactions, what should a psychiatrist value more?
What they hear from patients?
Or what they read in textbooks?
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The worse polypharmacy happens to patients with Autism and Dementia. Anytime a patient can't provide a good history most docs don't make any effort to look for a clinical timeline that might show that their current symptoms were due to an adverse drug reaction. These vulnerable
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The Truth about Antidepressants (coming from a psychiatrist who has worked at the FDA, Pharma, and private practice).
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If you were harmed by a psychiatric medication, your story is VERY important. I've created a way that you can share your story to build awareness.
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Disgraceful antidepressants prescribing soon to be addressed...
Last month, a significant number of psychiatric leaders and politicians voiced their concerns in the BMJ (a highly regarded medical journal.)
They urged the government to address the escalating trend of
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Examples of the emails I receive everyday....
Not warning people about PSSD is the ultimate betrayal
Dear Dr Witt-Doerring,
Could you please explain why I had absolutely no sexual problems with Sertraline after taking it for 10 years whilst just 8 months exposure to
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Antidepressant manufacturers have done an amazing job a deflecting concerns that their drugs can cause severe behavioral side effects [these are the ones that typically get diagnosed as bipolar disorder]
Although intuitively the majority of the population would understand that
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Psychiatric medications should be treated similar to other drugs or alcohol. Would you agree?
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I talk to people daily who have been betrayed by their physicians.
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Are you taking Seroquel for sleep? I hope your doctor told you about the risk of a permanent movement disorder(Tardive Dyskinesia). Many think it is rare and only for chronic users but FDA labels say it can occur for some "after brief periods at low doses"
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