My despair when I listened to Dr Ellie Cannon on ITV This Morning

I became aware of this interview via Twitter.

https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/the-truth-about-antidepressants-what-you-need-to-know

I started to listen to. it and all I felt was anger and despair. Dr Cannon said she takes antidepressants and they help her to live her best life. She agreed that antidepressants are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs and that she prescribes them often. She made no attempt to present to the viewers they many adverse effects associated with these drugs, she did mention tiredness, if only tiredness was all there was to worry about. no mention of akathisia, sexual dysfunction, emotional blunting, changes to the functioning of the brain, severe withdrawal effects. She did say that there were withdrawal effects and that tapering over a matter of weeks was advisable of course it can take months or even years to get off antidepressants and even then the harm may well have been done and recovery is not guaranteed by any manner of means.

She is the typical patient who derives benefit from the drugs. Wants to reduce stigma and promote the benefits. Indeed she wants consumption of these drugs to be normalised and even went as far as to say it is like insulin for diabetes / blood pressure pills. This false analogy is totally misleading, there are no blood tests prior to prescribing antidepressants, there is no measurement of the neurotransmitters in the brain to identify a need for serotonin. Indeed there has never been any scientific evidence to confirm the theory that lack of serotonin is a cause of depression. She was basically promoting these drugs, failing to warn of adverse effects, giving false information.

Why was I so angry? As someone seriously harmed by these drugs as well as benzodiazepines I have been campaigning for years to counter this false narrative. I have brain damage. No one pays me a high salary to do any of this. I could just not care and leave others to be brain damaged like me. I could do nothing at all. And here we have a highly paid GP getting money for appearing on the telly and she does not even have the necessary knowledge to be speaking let alone advising any of her many patients. She mentioned a recent study of antidepressant withdrawal reported in the press, it was clear she had not even read it, she did not understand it and just repeated what was in the the press headlines. It is appalling.

As if this was not all bad enough she ignored all critical feedback on Twitter telling her she was wrong. She blocked at least one person and insulted another, people with more knowledge than she has. She sarcastically referred to a zoomocracy whatever that is and an echo chamber. This sort of arrogance coupled with ignorance is exactly what is killing patients.

To top all this psychiatrists such as Wendy Burn, former President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, retweeted this interview. Did she even listen to it? Did she condone its content? Or was she just retweeting one of her medical chums just because she is a chum. Perhaps that was what she did.

And so it is left to patients to make formal complaints because we know many patients killed or disabled by these drugs, killed by arrogance and ignorance. Indeed patients form most of the support online for other harmed patients because medical doctors certainly aren’t providing that support. People may think my anger is over the top, it isn’t. This sort of behaviour is killing trusting patients whose only mistake was to walk into a consulting room and to consult with an ignorant doctor like Dr Ellie Cannon.

This TV interview exactly demonstrates the problem. Ignorant doctors brainwashed by psychiatry and the drug companies who have no idea what they are doing and do not have the knowledge to be prescribing powerful neurotoxins to vulnerable people, yes vulnerable, many who seek help in times of distress are indeed vulnerable.

I am still seething with anger and the pain I feel is intense. May those who are dead rest in peace, I certain cannot get any peace having to continue to campaign about the devastating harm caused by antidepressants and benzodiazepines.

My favourite rock group, a favourite song. As a teenager I had no idea what the words were about, I like the song, I was yet to know that I would lose my entire adult life to benzodiazepines. If you think things have changed since the 1960s, they have not, they have remained the same and are now probably worse.

Take your meds, enjoy your day, live to regret when the harm is done to you.