The Ethics of Long-Term Psychiatric Drug Use and Why We Need a Better Way– www.madinamerica.com
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Excerpt:
Toxicity That Psychiatry Refuses to Acknowledge
Mainstream psychiatry acknowledges that antipsychotics can cause neurotoxicity—tardive dyskinesia is a well-documented condition. But the field refuses to extend that acknowledgment to other psychiatric drugs.
Yet, in my experience, long-term antidepressant use can cause its own form of neurotoxicity, leading to:
- Apathy
- Dissociation
- Chronic low energy
- Agitation
This condition is recognized in the medical literature as tardive dysphoria. But despite its existence in research, I was never taught about it in my psychiatric training. I’ve never heard it mentioned at a conference.
What happens to these patients? Instead of recognizing their condition as antidepressant-induced neurotoxicity, they get diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. This leads to:
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Higher doses of medication
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More drug combinations
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Escalation to ketamine, TMS, or ECT
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In some cases, being placed on heavy antipsychotics like clozapine
