Informed consent to poison
Let's say you're pregnant (men, if your imagination isn't so vivid, let's say your wife is pregnant). You learn of a substance that could raise the risk of heart malformations in your child by over 44%. Would you want to stay as far away from that substance as possible? Or would you, informed of this risk, make the decision to ingest this substance into your body on a daily basis? I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Are you crazy? Is that even a question? Of course I wouldn't touch that stuff with a ten-foot pole!" But after reviewing the results of a major study published in the British Medical Journal, one doctor wrote a letter to the journal, saying women should give informed consent before taking SSRIs. In the BMJ study, the risk was greatest with sertraline (you might know it better as Zoloft), but there was a risk for heart and overall malformations associated with a variety of SSRIs. So the call for caution is a good thing, certainly. But is a call for informed consent even enough? With a soaring risk of birth defects, maybe pregnant women should just plain not take SSRIs. And what about everyone else—men and women who aren't pregnant? Do they get a fair chance at "informed consent"? Because the risks are just as serious—suicidal thoughts, uneven heartbeat, tremors, memory problems, seizure, impulsive behavior. Unfortunately, that's just the tip of the iceberg. But, see, this opens another can of worms. Can telling a patient of all the risks associated with SSRIs even begin to compete with the incredibly powerful message created by the advertising for these drugs? Turn on the TV, flip open a magazine, and you're inundated with cutesy ads about how SSRIs can solve all your problems. And, of course, when I went searching for side effects of these drugs using the popular drug information Web site Drugs.com, expecting straight information, I ended up having to watch several ads for OTHER anti-depressants. There's just no escaping the marketing machine. Plus, they really know how to work the fear—on that same site, pregnant women are warned of life-threatening lung problems. But in the very next sentence, they're warned that they could relapse if they stop taking the antidepressant during pregnancy. You can really get caught up in the story of the bouncing ball that goes from sobbing to grinning in a flash. With a message as powerful as "this drug will make all your problems go away," coupled with the lip service being paid to the very dangerous risks, it's not surprising that so many people choose these poisons in an effort to reclaim their lives. Depression is a serious issue, and it's easy to feel like there's no other choice. But there ARE other options—much, much safer ones. Dr. Wright has seen great success with one option in particular. In fact, he says that in 30 years of practice, he's found that depression can almost always be beaten with this method. You can read about it here. Sources:
"Women should give informed consent before starting SSRIs," BMJ (www.bmj.com). "
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in pregnancy and congenital malformations: population based cohort study," BMJ (www.bmj.com). | 
