Antipsychotics (Neuroleptics) cause brain shrinkage

[Petros Agapetos]

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.

Source: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/....2013.13030413

[Petros Agapetos]

Brain Damage Caused by Neuroleptic Psychiatric Drugs
In the past two decades, countless medical studies have shown that use of neuroleptic psychiatric drugs (also known as antipsychotics) is associated with structural brain changes, especially when taking high dosages for a long time. These brain changes can include actual shrinkage of the higher level parts of the brain. The shrinkage can be seen in brain scans and autopsy studies. In response to industry defenders who claim that this shrinkage is from the "mental illness," studies show neuroleptics lead to similar brain changes in animals. While the medical side of large libraries has this information, the public media side of the library does not. In other words, the public, patients and their families are not being informed about what medicine has long known.

[Petros Agapetos]

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]. Antipsychotics cause atrophy within a year, Dr. Moncrieff says, a famous English psychiatrist. She is one of the founders of the Critical Psychiatry Network. She accuses her colleagues of risking creating an "epidemic of iatrogenic brain damage"[2].

[Petros Agapetos]

Antipsychotics are used for the treatment of psychosis, mania, bipolar disorder, and even depression (ex. Abilify addon to SSRI). These drugs cause a whole host of debilitating side effects. The main therapeutic effects are derived from D2 receptor blockade of D2 receptors mainly. They cause a reduction and delay in emtional response, zombifying (alienated from self), anhedonia (lack of pleasure); emotional indifference. Antipsychotics (Neuroleptics) are neurological inhibitors. Antipsychotics are dopamine receptor blocker and partial agonist agents which overal reduce dopaminergic neurotransmission in a certain dopamine pathway in the brain, via D2 receptor blockage, called the mesolimbic pathway. According to the Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia, an overactive mesolimbic pathway is the cause of positive symptoms. All antipsychotics reduce activity of this pathway. Partial agonists activate receptors partially. They can be antagonistic partial agonists with low intrinsic activity or agonistic partial agonists with high intrinsic activity. They block dopamine receptors throughout the brain. The brain in response seeks homeostatic equilibrium, and grows more receptors in order to become sensitized to dopamine. After the antipsychotic agent is withdrawn from the brain, the brain ends up having extra dopamine receptors on the receiving neurons (postynaptic neuron) of the mesolimbic pathway (reward pathway). This pathways activity is damaged by the extra receptors because the mental state that such a brain creates makes one vulnerable to have a psychotic episode. Antipsychotics are used to treat the positive symptoms of psychosis (delusions, halucinations, disorganized thinking and behaviour). Antipsychotics also treat mania, bipolar disorder, and in the case of the partial agonists, an add on treatment for depression (added to an SSRI or SNRI or Venlafaxine etc.)Antipsychotics are effective at reducing psychotic symptoms. However in the modern paradigm of care, antipsychotics for psychosis are considered to be as insulin for diabetes. this latter statement is called the Disease Model of Antipsychotic Drug Action, which states that antipsychotics act to balance or normalize or modulate etc of the baseline non-treated brain. The Drug Model of Antipsychotic Drug Action recognizes that antipsychotics are psychoactive drugs; with the following effects; Emotional Indifference, Blunting of Affect, Anhedonia, Depression (with the exception of the partial agonist neuroleptics/"antipsychotics"). Here are the effects of taking antipsychotics: feeling "Zombified", living in a mental straight-jacket which causes neurological inhibition of dopamine pathways. Drugs that increase dopamine levels as well as agonists of dopamine receptor are contra-indicated to treatment of psychosis or schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Dopamine motivates one; increase one's drive, boosts libido, increases testosterone levels, improve memory and learning; are involved in neuroplasticity. particularly D2 receptor. Antipsychotics reduce dopaminergic neurotransmission ("lower synaptic levels of dopamine").

[Petros Agapetos]

What are the top 5 things nobody tells you about being an in-patient at a psychiatric hospital?

You must understand what Mental Capcity is. It is the mental and legal competence to make treatment decisions for oneself. If you are found to be incompetent, then the treatment decision is taken away from the patient and given to a Substitute-Decision maker.

Psychiatrists can apply for a Treatment Order which treats a patient against his will because it is deemed that it is in the best interests of the patient to be drugged against the patients will

Psychiatrists can write Community Treatment Orders by which patients are forced to take drugs against their will while living in the community (instead of being hospitalized). Under the CTO, the supervising Psychiatrist has a right to write an apprehension order that the patient be conveyed to a Medical Facility which the Psychiatrist elected. And examination will take place by two physicians, one of whom must be a psychiatrist. They decided whether to admit you to hospital or not. If hospitalized, treatment may be given if the patient does not successfully appeal to the Review Panel. Community Treatment Orders are for 6 months.

When a patient disagrees with the psychiatrist that he has a mental disorder, the psychiatrist may label the patient as “lacking insight”.

The patient has a right to refuse to take tablets by mouth, The patient has a right to refuse treatment until a Treatment Order has been granted by the Review Panel to the Psychiatrist. Another route is through challenging the patient’s competency to make their own treatment decisions.

[Petros Agapetos]

The Soteria Project and Open Dialogue only uses minor tranquilizers for 2 weeks to begin. Only if this fails, do they give neuroleptics (neurological inhibitor).