Promoting awareness of the dangers of antidepressants
On the morning of February 17th last year, 19-year-old Eleanor Lomax, known as Ellie (top), was found in her bedroom by her mother at their home in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. At her inquest this week, held at the Medico-Legal Continue reading Ellie: Treated at the Priory
“Although Samantha repeatedly sought help…the only solution appeared to be to prescribe her more and more medication” On December 26th 2018, 38-year-old Samantha Ford (top) drowned her 23-month-old twins Chloe and Jake (left) in the bath at their home Continue reading Samantha and her Twins
On March 6th last year, 19-year-old hairdressing student Kia Russell and her 2-year-old son Kamari (top) were found hanged at their home in Ipswich. An inquest held yesterday found that Kia had killed her son and herself. Kim’s father Aaron Continue reading “Significant Side Effects”
In March 2014, 13-year-old Sophie Parkinson (top) was found hanged at her home in Liff, near Dundee, in Scotland. In December 2019, Sophie’s mother Ruth (left) told a journalist that Sophie “was a kind child who was quick to Continue reading Sophie and the Silent Experts (updated)
From 2015 to 2019, the British reality television programme Love Island was presented by Caroline Flack (left). Caroline left the series in December 2019, following her arrest for allegedly assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton. In February this year, Caroline Continue reading Love Island: the Antidepressant Connection
On June 6th last year, 25-year-old Dominic Vickars (top) died at Southmead Hospital in Bristol, following an emergency transfer a few days earlier from Cygnet Hospital Kewstoke at Weston-super-Mare, where he had attempted asphyxiation. Some weeks after his inquest Continue reading Dominic: Failure of Care
When I began this website 7½ years ago, I promised myself that it would be a-political. Although I have firm political views, I try not to express them, either on the site or on my Twitter account. In 2016, Continue reading Gaslit and Overdosed
Amazon’s summary: “Children of the Cure tells the story of the only Medical Study that has two publications in the academic literature – telling precisely the opposite story – and how no one is bothered by this. Study 329 Continue reading “Children of the Cure”
Yesterday, the Telegraph published an important article by Miranda Levy (right), under the headline: ‘We are a sedated society’: the rise in antidepressants during lockdown. Miranda began by referring to the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMP), who stated Continue reading Medicating Isolation
An important study, entitled “Presentation of benefits and harms of antidepressants on websites”, was published in last month’s issue of the International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine. The research discovered widespread misinformation, and widespread backing by drug Continue reading Antidepressants on Websites
On February 2nd 2016, police were called to a house in Allerton Bywater, near Leeds. There they found the bodies of 52-year-old Geraldine Newman who had been bludgeoned with a hammer, as well as her two children, Shannon (11) Continue reading No Evidence Forthcoming
On the morning of July 23rd 2016, 38-year-old Charlotte Nokes (top) was found dead in her cell at Peterborough Prison. She had been dead for several hours. At the conclusion of her inquest yesterday, a jury decided that she had Continue reading Charlotte: SADS or Polypharmacy?
Last month, the Manchester Evening News published an account of the first day of the inquest of a 16-year-old schoolgirl who had been struck by a train at a station in Greater Manchester in September 2018. As I have been Continue reading The Girl from Greater Manchester
In August last year, 21-year-old Joe Black (top) went to his GP for help, as he was having thoughts about taking his own life. Following an acrimonious break-up, Joe was struggling. He had been prescribed antidepressants. He had subsequently taken Continue reading A Broken Man
This is the sixth in the annual series of Lost Children posts, in which I recall the children who lost their lives after being prescribed antidepressants, and whose inquests have been reported during the past year. I also include Continue reading The Lost Children (2019)
On November 21st 2018, the body of 16-year-old Suzanna Strong (top) was found in woodland near her former school in Chorley, Lancashire. Her inquest at Preston Coroner’s Court this week heard that Suzanna, known as Suzie, split up with Continue reading Suzie, aged 16
Throughout the month of December, notice boards (top) have been placed in strategic places in some of New York City’s busiest subway stations, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. The adverts have been sponsored by the Medication-Induced Suicide Continue reading Akathisia: Out of the Darkness
Earlier this week, the inquest of 40-year-old Kelly Jobanputra (top) was held in Wiltshire. Kelly, who had worked for the BBC as a presenter and music producer, lost her life when she was struck by a train on April Continue reading No Serious Indication
On July 9th this year, 49-year-old doorman Alan Mattocks (top) came across a distressed woman on the wrong side of the railings on a bridge over the A50 in Stoke. He managed to go to her aid, and she Continue reading The GP’s Report
“The hospitals don’t treat the children, they are just holding grounds where they are given endless amounts of medication” In July 2017, 17-year-old Jacob Bates (top) left a note in his bedroom at his father’s house before going Continue reading Jacob, aged 17
AKATHISIA “Akathisia is a disorder, induced as a side effect of medications (including SSRIs and antipsychotics), which can cause a person to experience such intense inner restlessness that the sufferer is driven to violence and/or suicide. It has been said, Continue reading A Word to the Coroner
Last month, the National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Safety in Mental Health (NCISH) published its 2018 report on its website. In its Young People section, it states: “Although the overall suicide rate is falling, suicide in people under 20 Continue reading Millie and the Tsar
“It’s utterly unethical and certainly unscientific to be using these drugs on kids this young.” Yesterday, an article appeared in The Herald, a Scottish newspaper, which revealed that prescriptions for psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, sleeping pills and antipsychotics, are Continue reading Drugging Scottish Children
On January 23rd this year, 16-year-old student Jessie Walker (top) took her life. Her inquest at Scarborough Town Hall (right) last week heard that Jesse had passed all her GCSEs, but suffered from anxiety and panic attacks while studying for Continue reading Jesse, aged 16
“There was no history of violence and no other warning markers” Last week, the two-day inquest of 60-year-old Geraint Hughes (left) was held in Truro, Cornwall, almost six years after his death. On November 15th 2013, Geraint, a local GP, Continue reading Warning Markers
“If a patient taking an antidepressant complains of worsening depression and suicidal thoughts, a prescriber is likely to increase the patient’s dose to continue treating depression, which only exacerbates the akathisia.” The article that follows was written by Continue reading “When Side Effects Turn Deadly”
On November 20th last year, 58-year-old Brian Long (top) was found by his wife Julie in the bathroom of their home in Gillingham. He had hanged himself. This week’s inquest in Maidstone heard that, earlier in the month, Brian Continue reading The GP, the Coroner & the Ombudsman
During the evening of December 9th last year, 17-year-old Quinn Beadle (top) walked out of her family’s home in Shildon, County Durham, and hanged herself on a tree at the end of the street. Her father came across the Continue reading Quinn’s Garden
In April, I received an email from the producer of a documentary which was being made for Dispatches and was to be screened by Channel 4. We then had a detailed phone conversation and exchanged a couple of emails over Continue reading “Young, British and Depressed”
Yesterday, I came across a letter in syracuse.com, an online newspaper primarily for the residents of Syracuse in New York State. The letter was posted on July 17th this year. To the Editor: Regarding your editorial, “Break the silence surrounding Continue reading Letter from a Grieving Father
A few years ago, Susy Parker and her husband moved from the UK to Perth in Western Australia, along with their three children. In an interview for the Australian Daily Mail, Susy revealed that, shortly afterwards, their oldest child Continue reading Saving Sarah
In August 2003, 33-year-old Maxine Carr (top) jumped from the seventh-floor of a block of flats in Maidstone, Kent. In her arms she held her 3-year-old daughter Yazmina. Maxine died, but her daughter survived with multiple injuries, from which Continue reading Mother and Daughter
Beneath the headline “I wish someone had warned me of side effects”, Today’s Daily Mail included an interview with 27-year-old Steph Williams (top), who lives in Featherstone, West Yorkshire. Shortly after starting college at the age of 16, Steph began Continue reading Steph’s Story
“This drug is poisoning me. It’s giving me problems I never had before.” On July 29th 2016, 48-year-old Stephen O’Neill (top) was found hanged at his home in the village of Brackaville in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Stephen was Continue reading “The System is Not Listening”
This page contains an article written by Julie and a letter written by Elizabeth. They were written, quite independently of each other, by mothers of sons who were receiving “treatment” from psychiatrists. I came across Julie’s article earlier this month, Continue reading Mothers Know Best
At about 4pm on August 24th 2017, 16-year-old student Jasmine Bush (top) died when she was struck by a train at Haslemere Station (right) in Surrey. Shortly after her death, Clare Talbot, head teacher of Woolmer Hill School, paid Continue reading Jasmine, aged 16
The Inquest of Natasha Abrahart Following a number of inquests held after the self-inflicted deaths at the University of Bristol, I published an article in January 2018, entitled Bristol University: the Antidepressant Connection. My research found that Miranda Williams, Continue reading Bristol University Revisited
Early in the morning of October 29th last year, 60-year-old self-employed plumber John Collins went for a walk with his wife Denise (top) and their dogs near their home in Tiptree, Essex. Some time later, John drove his car to Continue reading No Prior Intention (updated)
“Maria’s mental state had been altered by changes to her medication“ On January 19th last year, 49-year-old Maria Duarte (top), known to her family as Joey, was found hanged in her room at Antelope House (right), a psychiatric Continue reading Maria and Missed Opportunities
Afrika Yearwood (top), a popular and high-achieving sixth-form student, made an attempt to take her life at her home in West Yorkshire, on May 25th last year, and died four days later in Leeds General Infirmary. Afrika was described Continue reading Afrika, aged 18