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Greenlighter
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How Antipsychotics Cause Brain Damage
There are several ways in which antipsychotics are thought to cause brain damage. The brain damage associated with antipsychotic usage may directly influence the severity of cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Many users of antipsychotics experience cognitive deficits that are thought to be solely from their illness, when in reality they may be a result of the meds.
Prefrontal connectivity reductions: There is evidence derived from resting fMRI studies suggesting that connections in the prefrontal region of the brain are reduced as a result of antipsychotic treatment. A reduced number of connections may translate to reductions in complex thinking, planning, attention, emotional regulation, and memory.
Global brain volume loss: Studies have noted that antipsychotics reduce global brain volume. This means that a person?s brain with schizophrenia who has undergone years of antipsychotic treatment (especially at high doses), may display signs of neurodegeneration. Reductions in global brain volume means that nearly every aspect of brain functioning has potential to become impaired.
Grey matter volume loss: Grey matter is known to include various regions of the brain responsible for sensory perception, emotions, self-control, speech, decision making, and muscle control. Individuals taking antipsychotics experience reductions in grey matter volume, making it tougher to perform certain functions.
White matter volume loss: White matter is tissue that allows your brain to communicate with the central nervous system. It is comprised of myelin and axons, both of which facilitate chemical messages within the brain. Since those taking antipsychotics experience reductions in white matter, the communication system within their brain becomes impaired.
"Evidence that antipsychotics cause brain shrinkage has been accumulating over the last few years, but the psychiatric research establishment is finding its own results difficult to swallow [1].";
Inconvenient truths about antipsychotics should not be swept under the carpet [2].-- Joanna Moncrieff is the author of The Myth of the Chemical Cure, a widely-read book which challenges the entire concept of mental illness. In the book Dr. Moncrieff also makes the point that the brain shrinkage associated with a ?diagnosis? of ?schizophrenia? is in fact caused by the neuroleptic drugs, and is not, as psychiatrists claim, a consequence of the so-called illness.
The current paper updates the arguments, and was written specifically to address a re-assertion of the old dogma that it is the ?schizophrenia? that causes the brain shrinkage.
Here are two quotes:
"These researchers seem determined to prove that ?schizophrenia? causes brain shrinkage, although their data simply cannot establish this, as none of their subjects seem to have gone without drug treatment for any significant length of time. So even though their recent analysis once again confirms the damaging effects of antipsychotics, they conclude that the results demonstrate the need to make sure patients take, and do not stop, their antipsychotic medication."
"People need to know about this research because it indicates that antipsychotics are not the innocuous substances that they have frequently been portrayed as. We still have no conclusive evidence that the disorders labeled as schizophrenia or psychosis are associated with any underlying abnormalities of the brain, but we do have strong evidence that the drugs we use to treat these conditions cause brain changes."
Dr. Moncrieff refers to an animal study, and summarizes the findings as follows:
"After 18 months of treatment monkeys treated with olanzapine or haloperidol, at doses equivalent to those used in humans, had approximately 10% lighter brains than those treated with a placebo preparation." [3]
You can see an abstract of the original study here.
There are several ways in which antipsychotics are thought to cause brain damage. The brain damage associated with antipsychotic usage may directly influence the severity of cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia. Many users of antipsychotics experience cognitive deficits that are thought to be solely from their illness, when in reality they may be a result of the meds.
Prefrontal connectivity reductions: There is evidence derived from resting fMRI studies suggesting that connections in the prefrontal region of the brain are reduced as a result of antipsychotic treatment. A reduced number of connections may translate to reductions in complex thinking, planning, attention, emotional regulation, and memory.
Global brain volume loss: Studies have noted that antipsychotics reduce global brain volume. This means that a person?s brain with schizophrenia who has undergone years of antipsychotic treatment (especially at high doses), may display signs of neurodegeneration. Reductions in global brain volume means that nearly every aspect of brain functioning has potential to become impaired.
Grey matter volume loss: Grey matter is known to include various regions of the brain responsible for sensory perception, emotions, self-control, speech, decision making, and muscle control. Individuals taking antipsychotics experience reductions in grey matter volume, making it tougher to perform certain functions.
White matter volume loss: White matter is tissue that allows your brain to communicate with the central nervous system. It is comprised of myelin and axons, both of which facilitate chemical messages within the brain. Since those taking antipsychotics experience reductions in white matter, the communication system within their brain becomes impaired.
"Evidence that antipsychotics cause brain shrinkage has been accumulating over the last few years, but the psychiatric research establishment is finding its own results difficult to swallow [1].";
Inconvenient truths about antipsychotics should not be swept under the carpet [2].-- Joanna Moncrieff is the author of The Myth of the Chemical Cure, a widely-read book which challenges the entire concept of mental illness. In the book Dr. Moncrieff also makes the point that the brain shrinkage associated with a ?diagnosis? of ?schizophrenia? is in fact caused by the neuroleptic drugs, and is not, as psychiatrists claim, a consequence of the so-called illness.
The current paper updates the arguments, and was written specifically to address a re-assertion of the old dogma that it is the ?schizophrenia? that causes the brain shrinkage.
Here are two quotes:
"These researchers seem determined to prove that ?schizophrenia? causes brain shrinkage, although their data simply cannot establish this, as none of their subjects seem to have gone without drug treatment for any significant length of time. So even though their recent analysis once again confirms the damaging effects of antipsychotics, they conclude that the results demonstrate the need to make sure patients take, and do not stop, their antipsychotic medication."
"People need to know about this research because it indicates that antipsychotics are not the innocuous substances that they have frequently been portrayed as. We still have no conclusive evidence that the disorders labeled as schizophrenia or psychosis are associated with any underlying abnormalities of the brain, but we do have strong evidence that the drugs we use to treat these conditions cause brain changes."
Dr. Moncrieff refers to an animal study, and summarizes the findings as follows:
"After 18 months of treatment monkeys treated with olanzapine or haloperidol, at doses equivalent to those used in humans, had approximately 10% lighter brains than those treated with a placebo preparation." [3]
You can see an abstract of the original study here.
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