Dr John Read

Professor, Clinical Psychology, University of East London. Chair, International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal Opinions my own

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

Truly bizarre account of a man with learning difficulties given ECT, without his consent, 100 times a year for 5 years.
Not as an example of reprehensible unethical conduct but as ‘precision medicine’ endorsed by ‘senior’ psychiatrists.
Sickening.
https://t.co/KOzSYBgbJy

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

I wrote a brief blog about our new paper published criticising the FDA’s approval of escitalopram (Lexapro) for Generalised Anxiety Disorder in children and adolescents. The pivotal trial showed that the drug was more likely to make children suicidal than improve anxiety. The approval needs to be reversed urgently and the FDA approval process revamped. Link below

[Dr Joanna Moncrieff @joannamoncrieff]

It is a depressing comment on the nature of psychiatric science that our piece raising undeniable concerns about harmful effects of a drug in children and lack of benefits took two years to publish after multiple rejections by mainstream journals. In contrast papers reporting convenient results routinely 'exaggerate the results, interpret effects causally when this is not possible, or even pass peer review despite obvious errors and trustworthiness issues'.

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

it is relevant because you are claiming that RCT level evidence is required to displace a technique that is proven to be safe and effective (rapid, linear tapering). As this has not been proven (in fact it has been shown to be not effective for the majority of patients) the evidentiary threshold is lowered for displacement. There are cohort studies, biological plausibility and widespread clinical experience. You know there are no such studies and so in fact you are the person advocating for an unproven and risky approach to management. Perhaps you are not aware of the cohort studies. Here are studies that find that people who could not stop antidepressants with a traditional taper were able to come off with a gradual hyperbolic taper and experienced less withdrawal effects doing so: https://t.co/FT5LG52Pth

[Medicating Normal @MedicatingNorm1]

"Joanna Moncrieff takes aim at the pervasive myth that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain."

#depression #antidepressants

https://t.co/35Jfhf4rtP

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

@cwestonclark I don’t expect they would take down the offensive ads but you might just teach them something?

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

Good example of drug company propaganda masquerading as education, misrepresenting another phenomenon (eating too much, especially rubbish food) as a “disease” requiring their quick-fix products. Same as for distress, despair, fear etc to peddle their ineffective psych drugs.

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

@cwestonclark Hi Carrie
Have you asked them to take it down?

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

Precisely. if we don't know who needs slow tapering and who doesn't the precautionary principle dictates we should go slowly and speed up if there is no trouble and not the other way round. Like driving. I spent years trying to educate doctors about safe tapering, almost no one listened, I received 10,000+ emails from patients so I helped to set up a clinic to deal with this because no one else would. Your repeated insinuation that I am advocating solely for a business is absurd. I spend 90% of my time teaching and writing which directly runs counter to the clinic's interest. I have literally published our protocols in a book for anyone to use. You repeatedly sidestep sensible discussion with unevidenced assertions and ad hominem attacks. I have a suspicion that you are also paid for your work. And I do not attribute all your views to the fact that you are paid by the manufacturers of the drugs. It seems that this is a bit of a game for you - you are on holiday, and you like saying clever things, but a lot of people's lives have been upended by withdrawal from these drugs (even if you think that number is small). The lack of senior leadership on this issue is deeply unnerving and contributes to the sense that people's wellbeing is not being taken seriously, but that scoring points and saving face are more important.

[Esther K Haddad @estherkhaddad]

Why are there drug companies’ advertisements to begin with? People who are not doctors should not be the ones to decide what medication to take. In most countries drug companies’ advertising is against the law.
Just like cigarettes advertising became against the law, drug companies’ advertising should become against the law.

[Alyne Duthie @DuthieAlyne]

@ReadReadj So, a drug company uses propaganda masquerading as education. The RCPsych and the pharmaceutical industry encouraged the mass prescribing of SSRI antidepressants, drugs which cause weight gain and myriad other health problems. Who will challenge the real "beneficiaries"?

[Renata Rykowska @RenataRykowska]

The most important part of this title is not "ECT."

It is "open questions."

Science advances through unanswered questions, not through the assumption that debate has already ended.

For decades, patients have raised concerns about:

memory loss,

cognitive impairment,

identity disruption,

long-term outcomes,

informed consent,

and the gap between patient experiences and institutional narratives.

These concerns should not be dismissed simply because ECT is an established treatment.

History teaches us that medical legitimacy and scientific certainty are not the same thing.

The fuller picture emerges when we are willing to examine not only reported benefits, but also harms, uncertainties, limitations, and the experiences of those who believe they were injured.

Patients deserve more than reassurance.

They deserve transparency.

Open questions are not a weakness of science.

They are often where the most important discoveries begin.

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

@PTMFramework @Onbodyandsoul @MITUKteam Rest well Marius. A true pioneer for meaningful responses to voice hearing.

[The Power Threat Meaning Framework @PTMFramework]

Sad loss to our global community - the death of Hearing Voices pioneer Marius Romme https://t.co/CF6RK32XZT via @MITUKTeam

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

The comments section of the blog is full of medical professionals who only realised they were repeatedly seeing withdrawal in their patients when they went through it themselves. There has to be a better way for clinicians to learn this. Unfortunately education is gate kept by people who are conflicted in ideological and financial ways. You can see many of them on this platform going on and on.

[Mark Horowitz @markhoro.bsky.social @markhoro]

What proportion of conditions that get diagnosed for fatigue, cognitive impairment, concentration issues, gut problems, agitation, etc are actually the 'side effects' of psychiatric drugs? How much does this cost the health system each year? Not to mention people's lives.

[Dr Joanna Moncrieff @joannamoncrieff]

If you accept that psychiatry is not about treating objectively identifiable entities or diseases, then the only way to maintain that it is a medical enterprise is to extend the definition of medicine to a meaningless degree. A response to @awaisaftab by @psychgeist52. https://t.co/W4sOU03vPL

[Dr James Davies (PhD) 💭 @JDaviesPhD]

@psychgeist52 @PsychToday @awaisaftab This is great, James. I think Aftab will either ignore it,
or respond with a retort, so long & indulgent, that we'll lose the will to continue the debate. 😄

[Dr John Read @ReadReadj]

Open Questions About Electroconvulsive Therapy Reveal Fuller Picture | Psychology Today https://t.co/CT79Nai5sj

[Mad In America @Mad_In_America]

Fiona Frenzen joins us to talk of her experiences of healing from #antidepressant withdrawal and how moving to Iceland had a powerful effect on her health and wellbeing.

https://t.co/CpsmJHbcIL