Brief Excerpts from Anatomy of an Epidemic

Sixteen outcome studies

November 12, 2010

Perhaps you have not yet had the opportunity to read Robert Whitaker’s latest book, Anatomy of an Epidemic which deals with the history of mental illness in the United States through the prism of long-term scientific follow-up study results.

Whitaker asks us to imagine what our beliefs would be today if, over the past twenty years, we had opened our newspapers and read about the following findings, which represent but a sampling of the long-term outcome studies recently retrieved from
medical archives by Robert Whitaker:

A brief summary of the following 16 long-term mental health outcome studies
appear below and were taken from pages 307-309 of Whitaker’s book. Each summary is then followed with that study’s page and specific citation number.

1990 - In a large, national depression study, the eighteen-month the eighteen month stay-well rate was highest for those treated with psychotherapy (30 percent) and lowest for those treated with an antidepressant (19 percent) . NIMH Go to page 374; citation number 35.

1992 - Schizophrenia outcomes are much better in poor countries like India and Nigeria, where only 16 percent of patients are regularly maintained on anti-psychotics, than in the United States and other rich countries where continual drug use is the standard of care.
World Health Organization Go to page 370, citation number 45.

1995 - In a six-year study of 537 depressed patients those who were treated for the disorder were nearly seven times more likely to become incapacitated than those who weren’t, and three times more likely to suffer a “cessation” of their “principal social role.” NIMH Depression study. Go to 375, citation 61.

1998 - Antipsychotic drugs cause morphological changes in the brain that are associated with worsening of schizophrenia symptoms.
University of Pennsylvania Go to page 370, citation number 52.

1998 - In a World Health Organization study of the merits of screening for depression, those diagnosed and treated with psychiatric medications fared worse---in terms of their depressive symptoms and their general health---over a one-year period than those who weren’t exposed to the drugs.
WHO depression screening study. Got to page 375, citation number 59.

1999 - When long-term benzodiazepine users withdraw from the drugs, they become “more alert, more relaxed, and less anxious.”
University of Pennsylvania Benzo study. Go to page 372, citation number 37

2000 - Epidemiological studies show that long-term outcomes for bipolar patients today are dramatically worse than they were in the pre-drug era, with this deterioration in modern outcomes likely due to the harmful effects of antidepressants and antipsychotics.
Eli Lilly; Harvard Medical School Long-term bipolar outcomes. Page 379, citation number 53

2001 - In a study of 1,281 Canadians who went on short-term disability for depression, 19 percent of those who took an antidepressant ended up on long-term disability, versus 9 percent of those who didn’t take the medication.
Canadian Investigation bipolar depression study, See page 373, citation on page 167

2001 - In the pre-drug era, bipolar patients did not suffer cognitive decline over the long term, but today they end up almost as cognitively impaired as schizophrenia patients.
Sheppard Pratt Health System in Baltimore bipolar cognitive study, Page 379, citation 60.

2004 - Long-term benzodiazepine users suffer cognitive deficits “moderate to large” in magnitude Australian scientists’ benzo study. Seepage 372, citation 43.

2005 - Angel dust, amphetamines, and other drugs that induce psychosis all increase D2 HIGH receptors in the brain; antipsychotics cause this same change in the brain.
Angel dust reference. See page 370, citation 53
University of Toronto

2005 - In a five-year study of 9,508 depressed patients, those who took an antidepressant were, on average, symptomatic nineteen weeks a year, versus eleven weeks for those who didn’t take any medications.
Depression patients, See page 375, page 58
University of Calgary

2007 - In a fifteen-year study, 40 percent of schizophrenia patients off antipsychotics recovered, versus 5 percent of the medicated patients.
See page 371, citation 58
University of Illinois

2007 - Long-tem users of benzodiazepines end up “markedly ill-to extremely ill” and regularly suffer from symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Study of benzo users. See page 372, citation 40
French Scientists

2007 - In a large study of children diagnosed with ADHD, by the end of the third year “medication use was a significant marker not of beneficial outcome, but of deterioration.” The medicated children were also more likely to engage in delinquent behavior; they ended up slightly shorter, too.
Study of ADHD. See page 381, citation 36 & 39.
NIMH

2008 - In a national study of bipolar patients, the major predictor of a poor outcome was exposure to an antidepressant. Those who took an antidepressant were nearly four times as likely to become rapid cyclers, which is associated with poor long-term outcome.
Bipolar study. See page 378, citation 46 &47
NIMH