Dr. Weeks’ Comment: Robert Whittaker is a courageous writer and his response to the blaming of this grieving mother is excellent. His slides are worth a careful review.
http://www.madinamerica.com/2013/07/my-reply-to-pete-earley-do-i-have-blood-on-my-hands/
“My presentation at NAMI was titled “A Case for Selective Use of Antipsychotics.” You can see in the title the point of my presentation: It is stating that science is telling us that the best use of these drugs would involve using them in a selective manner (i.e. in a way that sorts out who benefits from them and who can do okay without them.) It is an argument for amending our current drug-use protocols, which emphasize continual drug maintenance for all patients with a diagnosis for a psychotic disorder. Instead, we would use them in a way that science tells us could markedly improve recovery rates.
You can see my NAMI slides here. Readers can see that basically what I do in the presentation is this: I review the extensive evidence, stretching across fifty years of research, that supports two conclusions. The first is that there is a significant percentage of first-episode patients who, if they were provided with psychosocial care (and possibly made use of benzodiazepines for sleep purposes), could recover from a psychotic episode without being exposed to antipsychotics, and that this group could then be expected to have favorable long-term outcomes. The second is that there is a significant percentage of patients who, after being stabilized on antipsychotics, could then successfully withdraw from the drugs and do fairly well off them long term. However, that still leaves a place for prescribing the drugs: They could be used to help some patients recover from an initial episode, and they could be continually prescribed to those patients who can’t seem to do well off them.”
Click here for the rest of the letter click here
http://www.madinamerica.com/2013/07/my-reply-to-pete-earley-do-i-have-blood-on-my-hands/