Dr. Peter Breggin, Huffington Post

On June 25, 2005 Tom Cruise did the unthinkable on TV. Actually, he did several “unthinkables” in a filmed interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer for the Today Show.

First, Tom stopped smiling. He deprived us of that multi-million dollar grin and got serious. For a star to do this to the American public was unthinkable.

Second, Tom pointed out that Matt Lauer actually was very “glib” (shallow) and didn’t know what he was talking about. He also urged Matt to be “more responsible” and to learn something about psychiatry before touting it. For a star to do this to a media personality was unthinkable. Since nearly all of them are shallow, this was a threat of potentially epidemic proportions. Suppose other guests began pointing out that media hosts don’t know what they are talking about and are shallow?

CBC News

A coroner’s inquest in Fredericton was told Tuesday that a 16-year-old foster child may have stopped taking an anti-depressant medication just weeks before she killed herself in November 2003. The year after Heather White’s death, Health Canada issued a warning about the class of drug Heather’s family doctor had been prescribed to deal with her depression. She was taking a medication called Celexa, a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI).

INDEPTH: Depression medications

The warnings advised doctors to carefully monitor patients of all ages for suicidal thoughts, especially in the early stages of taking SSRIs. Health Canada also warned patients to tell their doctors before changing the dosage or stopping the medication entirely.

John Mappin, United Newspapers

(PRWEB) July 15, 2005 — Following Tom Cruise’s campaign over the past two weeks, Sebastian Sainsbury of the prestigious Sainsbury family issues a strong warning in Britain and an alert to all UK parents.

Speaking to United National Newspapers today, Sebastian Sainsbury stated the following this morning.

“As a parent of two young children, I hold an inherently responsible position for the welfare of my children. Following some of the recent media and speaking with other parents, I feel the need to extend that responsibility to encompass a wider sphere by informing parents of a situation that could potentially affect all children.”

Patricia Weathers
President
www.ablechild.org
(845) 677-8115

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

Parents say psychiatric drugs are making children violent and suicidal and FDA must act.

The national parents’ group, AbleChild: Parents for a Label and Drug-Free Education, has asked the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Acting Commissioner, Lester Crawford, for a private meeting to discuss additional advertising warnings for psychiatric drugs. The request for a meeting comes on the heels of a joint letter signed by actors Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston along with medical doctors demanding stronger warnings.

“Celebrities, physicians and parents have been asking for full disclosure of the dangerous side effects of psychiatric drugs for years which the FDA has recently begun investigating. They are now warning that stimulant drugs, like antidepressants, can cause suicide and violence,” stated Mrs. Sheila Matthews, Vice President of the group, also known for its website, www.ablechild.org.

The group represents more than a thousand parents who have been coerced into putting their children on a psychiatric drug and who lobbied for passage of a federal law, signed by President Bush last December that now prohibits such coercion in schools. For some of the parents, the law came too late: coroners determined their children died from the psychiatric drug they were forced onto.

Mrs. Matthews said their letter to Commissioner Crawford stated that not only do the drug warnings need to be strengthened, but the way manufacturers and the American Psychiatric Association promote the drugs as necessary to “balance” out a “chemical imbalance” or “neurobiological disorder” is misleading and must change.

“While studies may suggest brain differences or ‘chemical imbalances’, there is no conclusive evidence, as the APA and manufacturers’ websites imply”, Mrs. Matthews said. “This violates the informed consent rights of parents. The risks could be reduced if the public was provided with accurate and complete information, not just with what ‘sells’, which only protects a multi-billion drug industry”, she added.

Additionally, “Ms. Preston and Ms. Alley have a long history of speaking out on this issue as a voice for parents and children—ever since the Columbine high school shooting when it was determined ringleader Eric Harris was taking an antidepressant known to cause violent mania. I think they could help us present information to the FDA which would be of immense benefit to all.”

Luisa Arostegui
Vice President State of Florida
www.ablechild.org
(305) 283-6603

Helping to stem the tide of children being put onto psychotropic drugs, on Tuesday, July the 12th at 2pm, State Representative Gus Barriero joined dozens of concerned parents to help launch the Florida Chapter of AbleChild at the steps of the Miami Court House at 73 West Flagler, in Miami.

Luisa Arostegui, the Vice President of the Florida Chapter of AbleChild, welcomed the attendees and spoke of the group’s purpose – to educate parents so that they know that they have choices in dealing with their children. As the mother of five children, Arostegui knows for herself the damage caused when the school system or arrogant medical practitioners dictate mental health “treatment”.

Her fourth child, whom she adopted, was on psychotropic drugs and she feels strongly that if he had not been weaned from them, their detrimental effect on his young liver would have resulted in his death.

She told the group, “No parent should be pressured into either putting their child on a drug or keeping their child on a drug. The solutions that are routinely given by psychiatry – Ritalin, Paxil, Adderall and others – are not scientifically based solutions.”

“I found out about AbleChild and I wanted to help. I could not just stand by and watch other parents go through what my child and my family went through.”

“AbleChild exists to get real information to parents and caregivers so that they know that they do have choices. Your child does not have to take psychotropic drugs.”

“I am very excited about the start of our own chapter of AbleChild in the State of Florida. With a quarter of Florida’s population under the age of 18, we must do all we can to protect them, the future of our state.”

Representative Barriero echoed these sentiments.

“I am very honored to be here for this historic occasion. AbleChild is important to this State as it educates parents so they can make their own decision.

“The pharmaceutical companies are getting rich by “treating” a disease that has no medical tests to prove that it is a valid illness – there are no blood tests or other objective scientific tests that diagnose ADD or ADHD.

“I applaud actor Tom Cruise for standing up and telling the public the truth about these drugs. His actions and those actions taken by groups like AbleChild will safeguard our future generations.

“I wholeheartedly welcome AbleChild to my State and my city.

AbleChild.org provides a wealth of information to parents looking for alternatives to putting their children on Ritalin, Adderall, or a host of other drugs.

AbleChild is a national organization founded in 2001, incorporated in New York, and established as a 501(C)(3) not for profit entity in 2005.

If you would like more information about AbleChild, or you would like to get involved in this powerful movement, please call Luisa Arostegui at (305) 283-6603. You can also check out AbleChild on line at www.ablechild.org.

By Jim Brown, AgapePress

An Illinois pro-family activist is urging parents to find out what stage their state is at in implementing President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health — and to strongly oppose the plan.

On June 30, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich received a final proposal from the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership. Two years ago, the state Legislature charged the Partnership with crafting a plan to reform Illinois’ mental health system. The plan calls for the screening of all Illinois children ages zero to 18 and pregnant women for mental health problems.

Nearly One-Third of Initial Medical Studies Misleading, Major Review Finds

The Associated Press

CHICAGO – Here’s some medical news you can trust: A new study confirms that what doctors once said was good for you often turns out to be bad — or at least not as great as initially thought.

The report is a review of major studies published in three influential medical journals between 1990 and 2003, including 45 highly publicized studies that initially claimed a drug or other treatment worked.

Sheila Matthews
National Vice President
www.ablechild.org
(203) 966-8419

 A parents and children’s rights group says the recent debate with Tom Cruise and Matt Lauer on the bogus science behind psychiatry finally brings a public health crisis directly to the public: children are killing themselves and others while on psychiatric drugs. Mrs. Sheila Matthews, National Vice President of Ablechild, said, “Both Mr. Lauer and Mr. Cruise have opened up the media to a psychiatric opinion not substantiated by scientific fact: that children’s rambunctious behavior or educational problems are the result of a ‘chemical imbalance.’ Talk to the thousands of parents whose children, because of this lie, placed their children into the dangerous world of psychiatry and watched as their child worsened or even died from the dangerous drugs prescribed for it. We have! And Mr. Cruise is right.”

“Tom Cruise isn’t discounting that women and children have problems; certainly Brooke Shields has. But his comments make parents coast to coast very happy that the ‘chemical imbalance’ sham is broken into a national topic. Parents and new mothers have the right to know the facts,” Mrs. Mathews said.

She said a subsequent interview on The Today Show with American Psychiatric Association president, Steven Sharfstein, showed the degree to which the APA skirts around the “chemical imbalance” issue. When questioned about its non-existence, Dr. Sharfstein claimed that research “belies this” yet didn’t state what the “chemical” imbalance was or what specific physical test a parent or patient should ask for to support such a claim.

Ablechild Board Member, Dr. William Glasser, a psychiatrist since 1961 and author of Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health says that a true mental illness exists only if pathology can show something is organically wrong. “Psychiatrists are failing to teach people what they need to know and are offering them drugs instead,” he said. Prescriptions equal “big bucks,” Glasser says.

Writing recently to Congressman Wally Herger regarding Congressional Hearings that focused on Experimental Psychiatry with Foster Children, Dr. Glasser said: “There is no evidence that the drugs are in any way helpful, but there is a great deal of evidence that they may be harmful.”

Further, “No one knows what the long-term effects are from these drugs. The short-term effects, in many cases, are somewhat disastrous and include violent activity and suicide.”

For further information on the effects of psychiatric drugs and their risks, please visit www.ablechild.org.