XPost: alt.society.mental-health, alt.psychology.personality   
   From: pjbrass@uswest.net   
      
   Setting The Record Straight on the "Mothers Act"   
      
   by Amy Philo   
      
   May 21, 2008   
      
      
   "You've thrown the worst fear   
   That can ever be hurled   
   Fear to bring children   
   Into the world   
   For threatening my baby   
   Unborn and unnamed   
   You ain't worth the blood   
   That runs in your veins   
      
   How much do I know   
   To talk out of turn   
   You might say that I'm young   
   You might say I'm unlearned   
   But there's one thing I know   
   Though I'm younger than you   
   Even Jesus would never   
   Forgive what you do"   
      
   lyrics from "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan   
      
      
   Elise Young, reporter for The Record, a New Jersey paper, recently   
   published an article on a federal bill called The MOTHERS Act, which   
   was so far south of balanced journalism that it would more   
   appropriately be categorized as an ad for the psycho/pharmaceutical   
   industry. It certainly was not an unbiased look at the very strong and   
   widespread opposition to the bill based on valid criticisms. No, this   
   reporter was more interested in a puff piece for the Psycho/Pharma   
   cartel complete with the standard (and very tired old line) that the   
   only possible opposition to a bill which would increase the number of   
   new mothers being put on antidepressant drugs documented by the US FDA   
   to cause mania, psychosis, worsening depression, suicidal and   
   homicidal tendencies would be...that's right... the Scientologists.   
   For no other American would possibly be concerned that the bill was   
   originally named after a new mother by the name of Melanie Stokes, who   
   after being diagnosed with postpartum depression, put on a cocktail of   
   psychiatric drugs, hospitalized and then electroshocked- in other   
   words "treated" in the mental health system -- committed suicide.   
      
   Judging from his comments in this article, US Senator Robert Menendez   
   of New Jersey apparently cares more about revenue for the businesses   
   in his state than he does about the Constitution or the citizens who   
   will be put in danger if this bill passes the Senate (most of the   
   world’s pharmaceutical companies are located in New Jersey). No   
   attention has been paid in this article to those already harmed by the   
   New Jersey version of this PPD law, which has been used to justify the   
   police-forced transport of mothers to psychiatric hospitals.   
      
   The Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act states that PPD is treatable if   
   attended to with medication. It provides grants to those who will help   
   ensure that all women considered at risk for depression (including   
   pregnant women) are referred to mental health care providers and in   
   some cases, prophylactically drugged or hospitalized.   
      
   Pharmaceutical sales manager Melanie Stokes was abused to death in   
   2001 by our mental health system with four successive cocktails of   
   prescribed antidepressant, anti-anxiety and antipsychotic drugs as   
   well as electroshock. Following her fourth psychiatric hospitalization   
   since her daughter’s birth, Melanie jumped out of a 12-story hotel   
   window in Chicago, leaving 3 1/2 month old Sommer motherless.   
      
   Antidepressants have been proven to be no better than a sugar pill,   
   and they carry a black box warning for doubling suicidal behavior and   
   thinking. They also increase the risk of psychosis for new moms 1000%.   
   It is an outrage that anyone would use Melanie’s name to attempt to   
   pass a bill that will undoubtedly kill more women and children.   
      
   Prior to the publication of Elise Young’s piece on The MOTHERS Act, I   
   provided her numerous resources:   
      
   ·       Lists of pharma-backed groups who support the bill, and the   
   dollar amounts they received from pharmaceutical companies   
      
   ·       Medical literature on the dangers and ineffectiveness of   
   antidepressant drugs including the risk of death and birth defects for   
   babies exposed to them   
      
   ·       Contacts for the numerous groups and victims endorsing our   
   fight to stop this bill   
      
   Dr. Ann Blake Tracy also called Elise Young prior to publication but   
   Young was unable to spend long on the phone and subsequently failed to   
   include in this piece information about her conversation with Dr.   
   Tracy, or any of the resources that we provided to her other than the   
   URL for my website.   
      
   Lies were reported as facts on the sidebar of this article, such as   
   that medication actually improves or eliminates symptoms- and in the   
   piece itself were quotations from Robert Menendez misinforming the   
   public about drugs, lies about the bill itself, and also insulting the   
   opposition by calling our arguments “wrong-minded.”   
      
   The fact that Scientologists oppose psychiatric drugs does not   
   diminish the truth about the dangers of antidepressants. Are the FDA   
   and the researchers published in medical journals such as the New   
   England Journal of Medicine part of Scientology? After all, the FDA   
   requires black box warnings on antidepressant labels and ads,   
   something that was not added to this article. And the NEJM published   
   previously suppressed information showing that antidepressants are   
   ineffective! The Record’s irresponsible publishing of this article as   
   well as their failure to allow our movement even the right to continue   
   commenting on the piece online are like a slap in the face to all   
   those lost to or harmed by these drugs. I wonder whether the paper’s   
   management have any journalistic integrity at all.   
      
   In 2004 I was prescribed Zoloft when only six days postpartum, for   
   anxiety after my firstborn son Isaac nearly died from choking at the   
   age of three days. Instead of being helped by Zoloft, I was plagued by   
   constant drug-induced homicidal thoughts toward my baby beginning with   
   a hallucination of throwing him down the stairs. I loved Isaac so much   
   that I would have rather sacrificed my own life than live another day   
   fearing I might hurt him. This was why I initially went to the ER   
   after three days on Zoloft, because I thought perhaps they could help   
   me, and Isaac would not have to grow up without a mother.   
      
   Instead I became an involuntary patient in the psychiatric ward for   
   two days where I was forced to continue Zoloft and nearly given a host   
   of other drugs. By the end of my time on Zoloft five months later I   
   would constantly imagine murdering my cats, mom, husband, neighbors,   
   baby, and then committing suicide to finish it all. I eventually went   
   against medical advice and tapered off the drug, which resulted in my   
   return to normal and saved me and my family from continuing pain and   
   fear.   
      
   Doctors did not recognize that any of my problems were caused by   
   Zoloft and their only recommendation was to not have more children or   
   stay on drugs indefinitely. My second son Toby would never have been   
   born if I had listened to their advice.   
      
   Toby and Isaac are worth every hour I spend fighting, and I hope and   
   pray that when my children grow up, they will not have to go to   
   outrageous lengths to protect their families from bull like the   
   ridiculous excuses for medical care that I received, or from the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)