Sunday - Professor Herman Schwartz on Mental Disability Rights

I'm amazed how fast Sunday arrives here on this blog!
In real life it does not rush like this.
This little text by Professor Herman Schwartz raises a good view on how mentally disabled human rights are neglected not only in US but around the world and how inhumane institutionalized persons are treated. It was written for the 1995's project for Human Rights and Mental Health in Uruguay and Professor Schwartz demonstrate how important this project is not only for measures in this country but also around the world.
I would be very glad if those who are regulating or have any link to treatments could start paying a little bit of attention on this subject and human rights advocates started paying attention to this sad situation.

"After centuries of indifference, human rights concerns are now recognized as essential to a free, democratic and humane society, of concern to all decent people everywhere. Because human rights issues arose originally in political contexts, primary emphasis has understandably been given to political rights like speech, press and association. The rights of institutionalized persons were of concern only if they were associated with political abuses.
That has changed somewhat, but the rights of the mentally disabled are still not on advocates' radar screens. Yet, if experience in the United States is any indication, few groups are subjected to as much discrimination, cruelty, and just sheer neglect and indifference. Only pretrial detainees are treated as badly, and as to them, there is at least a suspicion of wrongdoing, despite the presumption of innocence. People with mental disabilities are, however, completely innocent. The only crimes in which they are involved are those that are perpetrated upon them.
Nor is it likely that the United States is unique in this regard. Even in other free democratic societies like Uruguay, where the mental health workers are dedicated to humane treatment of the mentally disabled, this report finds that:
Conditions in Uruguay's psychiatric institutions violate a broad range of rights codified in the [United Nations Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Disabilities], including protections against harm and unjustified medication, respect for personal dignity, privacy and choice, and the right to treatment directed toward the preservation and enhancement of personal autonomy.
So little attention has been paid to these unlucky people, that despite international treaties, United Nations action, and other well-intentioned initiatives, human rights advocates know little about the treatment of the mentally disabled, and have done even less.
That must change. Those of us concerned about human rights must become aware of the inhumane treatment that even the most civilized societies inflict on the mentally disabled, and start doing something about it. This may be an especially auspicious moment for that, for there is increasing international interest in the treatment of the disabled, as reflected in Article 22 of the Declaration of the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in June 1993, and in the appointment of a U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities.
This report by the Mental Disability Rights International project of the American University Human Rights Center on the treatment of the mentally disabled in Uruguay is a major step in that direction. It documents the combination of neglect, indifference and outright cruelty that is perpetrated on these helpless people in one country, and it charts a strategy for change that takes into account the economic and social situation in that country. It is indispensable reading for all who are concerned about what has been, until now, a dark corner of human rights abuse. With luck it will be just a beginning."

Professor Herman Schwartz
Co-Director, Center for Human Rights
Washington College of Law, American
University
MDRI

September

I have many things about different topics and it led me to stop writing so I will write what comes to my mind:
Here comes September. It will bring autumn to US and spring to Brazil. Stephany has made this beautiful post with some photos from her garden and she talked about the seasons:

"outside, the air is fresh and cool, i can smell autumn lingering in the fragrance, about to leave summer behind. when the leaves fall they become my spring path in the woods. so as i look up to the trees today, i see next spring and feel it under my feet. for the seasons are one, and we are one."

I have said in two posts that I'm feeling fine. I would like to remember that you all helped me a lot dealing with the feelings I did not realize I still had as far as the harms of psychotropics is concerned. I thought I was in good terms with all of this when I've read many testimonies in 2005 and 2006 but when I started visiting Philip Dawdy's Furious Seasons, and from there knowing amazing people who were harmed by these drugs, I went into a roller-coaster of emotions.
In the two first months I've spent hours reading and I've cried a lot. Then it came the anger times mixed with sadness.
It was hard! I felt terrible most of the time.
So I decided to start this blog that I still making without knowing exactly why and what am I really doing.
All I know is that it helped me getting in touch with my feelings not only toward the dark side of psychotropics but also I had the chance to meet amazing people coping with sad circumstances in the most dignified way.
This is just part of what I want to say.

Here comes another day

Back in 2001 that was the sunrising from my window. The visible part of the mountain, in a foggy day, is the first Sugar-Loaf one.
There has been a construction that took away part of the view.
I love seeing the sunrising and I also enjoy the first hours of the day.
There is a promise of peace when we are feeling fine. I thank the Lord I'm feeling fine and I hope September brings some peace for all of us.

Comforting silence

It's 04:23 am. I cannot sleep and cannot do anything. I'm fine but I'm thinking about some my blog friends and ... I don't know what to do or say. All I know is that they are suffering too much and it has already reached that stage where "-Hang in there!" is meaningless.
Silence is the best choice but they cannot see me and read what is going in my mind that no matter how hard we try to hide it always shows.
What to say? "-I'm there for you!"; "-You're strong!"; "-Have faith........
No.
Sometimes we have to remain silent.

The last Scientologist Supper

"Lorelay: -Make sure he doesn't put you on those meds or Tom Cruise would be very upset with you."

From the "Gilmore Girls". Lorelay says to her daughter after she says she went to a psychiatrist.

It's supposed to be funny. Unfortunately it's not a good joke.
Thank you Tom Cruise for helping the Pharmas and making a very serious issue became a joke for some.

Staring at the wall

That is the reason I cannot leave the window open the whole day.
No! I am not depressed but I stare at the wall since my childhood for many reasons such as trying to find answers or raising the right questions, boredom, wandering/wondering, being, I don't know exactly why because I don't pay too much attention on what I'm doing during this time.
The window is opened when I'm doing normal stuffs such as cleaning up; reading; lunching; talking at the phone and others.
But never when I'm staring at the wall when I don't stare and the wall can be any object I don't see.

Recruiting for Clinical Trials

This is the last week of the month and same Brazilians have no money. Why not being volunteer in a clinical trial? The above map gives informations on clinical trials around the world.

If you, in US, know someone for the clinical trial below you can tell him to go to this page and give a try on Thalidomide:
"This study is currently recruiting participants.
Verified by National Cancer Institute (NCI), August 2008

Sponsored by:	Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Information provided by:	National Cancer Institute (NCI)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00357500

Purpose

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as etoposide and cyclophosphamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Thalidomide, celecoxib, and fenofibrate may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking blood flow to the cancer. Celecoxib also may stop the growth of cancer cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving combination chemotherapy together with thalidomide, celecoxib, and fenofibrate may kill more cancer cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving etoposide and cyclophosphamide together with thalidomide, celecoxib, and fenofibrate works in treating young patients with relapsed or progressive cancer.

Condition	Intervention	Phase
Brain and Central Nervous System Tumors Leukemia Lymphoma Neuroblastoma Sarcoma Unspecified Childhood Solid Tumor, Protocol Specific	Drug: celecoxib Drug: cyclophosphamide Drug: etoposide Drug: fenofibrate Drug: thalidomide	Phase II

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Treatment
Official Title:	Anti-Angiogenic Chemotherapy: A Phase II Trial of the Oral 5-Drug Regimen (Thalidomide, Celecoxib, Fenofibrate, Etoposide and Cyclophosphamide) in Patients With Relapsed or Progressive Cancer

Further study details as provided by National Cancer Institute (NCI):"

You can visit the site and there might have some other you can volunteer and make an extra-money. Gook Luck!

Wyeth sued by ten families for Effexor suicides/violence

This is at Justiceseekers on October, 2005:

WYETH SUED BY TEN FAMILIES FOR EFFEXOR INDUCED SUICIDES/VIOLENCE
For Immediate Release
October 25, 2005

"Ten families from across the United States have joined forces to bring wrongful death and personal injury suits against the drug giant Wyeth alleging that their respective family members committed impulsive acts of violence - mostly suicides-or attempted them-shortly after taking Wyeth's best-selling drug, Effexor.

The suit was filed in Federal Court in Philadelphia, near Wyeth's corporate headquarters in Collegeville, Pa. The suit alleges that Wyeth's drug Effexor-an antidepressant-was responsible for the deaths of eight people and for injuries to three other teenagers. The average length of time that the patients took the drug before their deaths was ten days.

Citing Wyeth's own clinical trial data, the lawsuit also alleges that Wyeth knew for years that hostility and self-harm were side effects of Effexor but made a conscious decision not to warn prescribing physicians or consumers, fearing a loss of market share in the multi-billion dollar anti-depressant industry.

For over a decade, information has emerged linking antidepressant drugs like Effexor to homicide and suicide, but Wyeth and other drug companies shrugged it off, arguing that the suicides were caused by the depression, not their drug. The scientific and medical data of the connection between the SSRI's and suicide became so convincing, however, that the Food and Drug Administration in September of 2004 ordered BLACK BOX WARNINGS regarding the causal relationship between the drugs and adolescent and child suicides. In July of this year, the FDA expanded the warning to encompass the increased risk that anti-depressants pose to adults. Canada's drug regulatory agency-Health Canada-has also required warnings regarding the suicide risks of these drugs for all patients. Similar warnings have been required by European agencies.

The families are co-represented by the Philadelphia firm of FELDMAN & PINTO and the Houston, Texas firm of VICKERY & WALDNER. Further information, and a copy of the lawsuit itself, can be obtained from www.JusticeSeekers.com. The lawsuit does not seek any specific amount in damages, but seeks a determination that Effexor causes suicide in some patients who have never been known to be suicidal before they took the drug and a finding regarding Wyeth's "fault" for failing to warn about that risk. "After a Philadelphia jury determines what the FDA has already found to exist," said Andy Vickery of the Houston firm, "the Court can then consider whether to remand each family to their home federal district for individual trials on specific causation and damages." The Plaintiff families live in Florida, Georgia, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, California, Wisconsin and Alaska. "Filing the initial suit in Wyeth's home town," said Vickery, "avoids contradictory findings and is certainly the fairest and most economical way to proceed with these claims."

Relevant Links:

• Read the Complaint
• More Effexor information
• If your loved one killed themselves or someone else while taking Effexor, please contact us for a consultation regarding your family's potential claim, by clicking here."

Sunday

Sun day
Sun sets
Sun rises, 6x
SUNDAY

I've send my name to space

And you can do the same here and have your name on the Kepler Mission Certificate.
This is for the NASA's Kepler Mission that is scheduled to be launched in February 2009 from Cape Canaveral aiming what is written on the certificate.

If astrology is of any value I truly believe that it can make a huge difference if we have our names in space.
:)
The deadline to submit your name is November 1, 2008.

Frustration, agony, sadness...

Tears come to my eyes very often when I'm reading or commenting on sites and blogs.
I don't visit too much blogs for those I go have so many informations and I spend so much time reading them that if I go to others I will do nothing but sitting in front of this monitor.
I feel sad, and cry, for two reasons:
-seeing my blog buddies suffering with little help from their treatments;
-seeing that after so many time with all you are all writing, all the effort there are so little changes and how hard it's to make truth appears in the eyes of public opinion.
It's heartbreaking. I cry.
I keep on wondering why am I so connected with this issue.
I could forget it all. I'm fine. I'll just have to be on three drugs for life but I'm fine. I'm happy with myself and balanced.
My friends tell me that I should move on and forget about it all. They don't even know I'm blogging. Yep! I don't tell them.
They will not understand.
The thing is: I've suffered a lot and I acquired this knowledge so that I could choose the best for me.
I cannot pretend that nothing has happened and I cannot stop thinking that other people are going to be prescribed drugs that cause lots of risks.
At least the children.
Once again: SAVE THE CHILDREN! NOT THE CHILDREN!
DON'T DRUG THE CHILDREN!
...AND TEENAGERS!
I once heard on a movie that the Cabala says: "God count the tears of women."
He has already counted a lot from me. He will still be counting till I see that some changes are on the way.

Stanford Prison Experiment

I believe many people remember or have heard about the Stanford Prison Experiment led by Professor Philip Zimbardo at Palo Alto on August, 1971. The experiment that is now reported here shows a group of students randomly selected to be either prisoners or guards with the intention of studying the psychological effects of both groups in a simulated prison environment:

"Our planned two-week investigation into the psychology of prison life had to be ended prematurely after only six days because of what the situation was doing to the college students who participated. In only a few days, our guards became sadistic and our prisoners became depressed and showed signs of extreme stress. Please join me on a slide tour describing this experiment and uncovering what it tells us about the nature of human nature."

"I ended the study prematurely for two reasons. First, we had learned through videotapes that the guards were escalating their abuse of prisoners in the middle of the night when they thought no researchers were watching and the experiment was "off." Their boredom had driven them to ever more pornographic and degrading abuse of the prisoners."

I think I don't need to name the kind of prisoners and warders I have on my mind now. I wish it was brought to public attention the extent of violence that happens... you know where.

Withdrawing Effexor - last phase - from Socialaudit discussion board

My withdrawal story is on SocialAudit discussion board as I have already explained here. I've found out this outburst after three months off Effexor. The last 35 mg was the hardest do withdraw which caused me a lot of anguish because I thought that it was the contrary.
I could never imagine that reaching the end of the withdrawal it would be more difficult and that 3 months after being off the drug I was going to feel so many withdrawal symptoms that living was no longer possible and I had to go back to the drug.
Perhaps if I kept on with the 35 mg for a long time... I don't know. Neither did the psychiatrist that at the beginning of the process, when I told him that I was tapering off he first 35 mg, said:
"-Good you're withdrawing because Effexor is what makes you feel all you're feeling."
He forgot he said this.
I did it all by myself and with the help of Socialaudit friendship.
Here is a comment - it's more an outburst because I was feeling terrible and was diagnosed... depressed by the same psychiatrist who said the above.
It was written on March 2006. I've read it now and I feel amazed how terrible I was feeling. I don't remember it clearly. I only remember that it was hell.

"I went to a psychiatrist for I have quit Effexor three months ago and I'm experiencing some withdrawal symptoms. I am apathetic, despair crisis in the morning that are unbearable, still feel dizzy and headaches and other "ailments". He said I was... depressed. He asked me if I would like to try another SSRI. I asked him about all the testimonies of Persistent Adverse Neurological Effects and about people reporting having all kind of terrible problems after years off SSRIs. He did not say a word and shacked his head saying "No". But this "No" meant to me: "We do have anything to do with it; we are aware but we are supposed to prescribe these drugs; we do not know what to do; don't you dare to mention this... and many other things".
I went home and felt like... I do not have words to express the feeling.
I keep on asking myself: "What on earth is this? So a bunch of people come here in this site and many others to say all these lies? Is it a new disease a kind of collective neurosis that is making people have the same symptoms? Am I crazy, finally I have reached dementia and it has affected my reading comprehension and all I read here are wonderful testimonies but my craziness makes me read the opposite?"
For those of you who have experienced this kind of inconsiderateness, and there are many reports here, trust yourself.
It hurts like hell. I was talking to a psychiatrist, someone whose duty is to help people being healthy, give support, comfort and above all listen to their patients and, at least, give an answer aloud "-No, never heard about that. Never saw that on the Internet and in my clinical experience never had a single patient who had this kind of problem. I do not know where you find these sites and these reports. All my patients on SSRIs are very happy and having a great life."
As you can see I'm very indignant. Every time I read someone reporting that their physicians answer "It is all in your head... 'That's not the way it is...' 'You must accept that...'" it makes me feel as if… I do not know what to say.
The right word for me to describe it is hypocrisy. But when it comes from a physician… I really do not know what values are left in this world in which we live.
I'm sorry for this long outburst. But I believe it express of what many people feel.
For how long this silence about this huge problem will last? How many people will have to suffer? How big is the greed and how much money will it take till they at least stop prescribing these drugs? I no longer believe that this will ever be unfold for it involves many people and issues. But nobody else should be expose to these drugs that causes much more harm than benefits."

I've received two awards

I've just received two awards given by PreciousRock who was kind enough to remember me.
They are the "Sharing the Love" and the "Friendship Award" and it means a lot to me because love an friendship... you know.


These are the blog buddies I've chosen to receive and pass the flame:

Jane at Bipolar Recovery; Jon at Living with a purple dog; Shiv at Shiv's Brain; Susan at If you're going though hell keep going and Stan at Is something not quite right with Stan. There are many brilliant people around the blogosphere but for some reason these buddies are very important to me.
Thank you all for making me feel at home talking about all the issues that are connected with mental health.

Give virtual activism a chance

This post shows Philip Dawdy' e-mail for two reporters from the"Wall Street Journal". Here Stephany wrote:
"MY LETTER TO FDA
THOMAS LAUGHREN:
Dear Dr. Thomas Laughren,"

Do you expect them to answer? They will not. Of course there will be no reply especially if the argumentation shows evidences that they are wrong, concealing information, distorting facts or display conflicts of interest.
They use the Göbells strategy "a lie repeated a million times becomes a truth". Replying e-mails that question them open a discussion and they don't want it. They use the strategies: "pretend not to care"; "ignoring will prevent them to question us more and more". So people give up sending them e-mails because it seems to be useless.
No! After receiving, and not replying, many e-mails they will have to think... and perhaps answer or not.
But their answer is not what is at stake here. They only need to be advised that we are not buying the forth power anylonger.

I'm keen to virtual activism.

I've already sent e-mails to WHO, FDA, MHRA, APA.... name it. I also have participated on BBC's "Have your say" - these are my contributions - and have send demands on more mental health problems sending request to explanations about psychiatric drugs on this opportunity:

HAVE YOU GOT AN IDEA?

Your say

I do some social networking activities from time to time and not only express what is concealed but receive lots of good information from people who know the truth. I use to signed all petitions online related to psychiatric drug problems as well as some other issues. I do what I can.
It's about time to question these people and don't wait for reply.
The answer will not go to our Inbox. But I truly believe that doing nothing is much worse.

YES

I just wanted to remember the word.

YES

Nice word to hear or to say.

For those who are depressed

There is nothing I can say, nothing.
I just want to say that I've been there while tapering Effexor or as side effect of this or another antidepressant.
If I remember correctly nothing seems real. You look outside the window and you hardly see. You don't connect, even your self don't seem to be real, only a deep pain, for no reason and perhaps that's why every big or tiny little bad thing that has happened to you is in your mind, or you blame yourself for silly things; there are no colors, sounds hurt, sleeping is a relief; fear in all its faces is around you, food has no taste, useless to try to explain all that a depressed person feel.
It only hurts, hurts and hurts.
Why do this, or that? That 15 minutes of relief has no meaning for it will go away and only bad, terrible and awful feelings - mind and body - will come back again taking away all the energy and any room for self-esteem; enjoying any activity,...
I don't even know why I'm writing it.
Just because today I'm feeling fine and I know that some of my blog friends are feeling depressed.
I've remembered those days and I just want to say that, miraculously, I don't feel it for a long time.
I just feel sad and sometimes sorrow and even have terrible hard times but not depression.
Hang in there!
I wish I had something to say but I know it's useless.
I want to say: I care.

Funday, I mean Sunday!

Just found out this site.
The good news is that you can click on "auto solve" any moment and it will be read in 1 minute.

Philip Dawdy - Before the Law - first door: FDA

If you know Kafka's text below perhaps you'll associate Philip Dawdy's attempt to talk to Thomas Laughren as one of the many doors that are necessary to cross in order to, at least, bring it all to the public attention. There he is, the infuriated Philip Dawdy, knocking on FDA's door.

"To be fair, I should note that there may be a perfectly good reason for Laughren's attendance at the conference. I can't guess at what that reason might be and that's why I contacted the FDA and Laughren seeking clarification of the reasons for Laughren's participation at the conference, but so far neither has responded to my request for comment."

There are too many doors. Sorry but you'll all have to open them wide open for you've already hurt too many people in America and you're aiming American children.
Don't do it. Stop! Don't you think that the American public opinion is not waiting for you to explain yourselves?
Even though the mainstream media don't cover it in details there has been some notes here and there and even sitcoms, movies, series, talk shows or music lyrics give some hints on what is being done with American medicine.
Please, don't resign, as some UK key persons, before telling America what you've been concealing for a long time. If your citizens are not fully aware they are quite suspicious because they are witnessing the great problems that these drugs have created on the first generation that was put on them.
And, please, open your doors so that ethical people can do their work properly. Leave a good note on your biography and show some ethics yourselves. It's never too late.
Thank you!

Before the Law - Kafka

This is a Andy Warhol portrait of Kafka and it's great achievement is to show a smile on Kafka's face. Sometimes we forget that Kafka is funny and it has been said that he used to read some of his writings to his friends laughing.
He wrote many little texts that are great.
Here is one of them and I've chosen it because it's available in English on the WWW kingdom - I read translations even of some Americans authors what makes difficult to put some excerpts I would like to share - and because it seems to me that it shows a little bit of the the situation of those who are striving to raise mental health problems.
But I hope that it does not end the way this text does.

"BEFORE THE LAW stands a doorkeeper. To this door-keeper there comes a man from the country and prays for admittance to the Law. But the doorkeeper says that he cannot grant admittance at the moment. The man thinks it over and then asks if he will be allowed in later.
"-It is possible," says the doorkeeper, "but not at the moment."
Since the gate stands open, as usual, and the doorkeeper steps to one side, the man stoops to peer through the gateway into the interior. Observing that, the doorkeeper laughs and says:
"-If you are so drawn to it, just try to go in despite my veto. But take note: I am powerful. And I am only the least of the door-keepers. From hall to hall there is one doorkeeper after another, each more powerful than the last. The third doorkeeper is already so terrible that even I cannot bear to look at him."
These are difficulties the man from the country has not expected; the Law, he thinks, should surely be accessible at all times and to everyone, but as he now takes a closer look at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, with his big sharp nose and long, thin, black Tar-tar beard, he decides that it is better to wait until he gets permission to enter. The doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down at one side of the door. There he sits for days and years. He makes many at-tempts to be admitted, and wearies the doorkeeper by his importunity.
The doorkeeper frequently has little interviews with him, asking him questions about his home and many other things, but the questions are put indifferently, as great lords put them, and always finish with the statement that he cannot be let in yet. The man, who has furnished himself with many things for his journey, sacrifices all he has, however valuable, to bribe the doorkeeper. The doorkeeper accepts every- thing, but always with the remark:
"-I am only taking it to keep you from thinking you have omitted any- thing."
During these many years the man fixes his attention almost continuously on the doorkeeper. He forgets the other doorkeepers, and this first one seems to him the sole obstacle preventing access to the Law. He curses his bad luck, in his early years boldly and loudly, later, as he grows old, he only grumbles to himself. He becomes childish, and since in his yearlong contemplation of the doorkeeper he has come to know even the fleas in his fur collar, he begs the fleas as well to help him and to change the doorkeeper's mind. At length his eyesight begins to fail, and he does not know whether the world is really darker or whether his eyes are only deceiving him. Yet in his darkness he is now aware t of a radiance that streams inextinguishably from the gateway of the Law. Now he has not very long to live.
Before he dies, all his experiences in these long years gather themselves in his head to one point, a ques-tion he has not yet asked the doorkeeper. He waves him nearer, since he can no longer raise his stiffening body. The doorkeeper has to bend low towards him, for the difference in height between them has altered much to the man's disadvantage.
"-What do you want to know now?" asks the doorkeeper; "you are insatiable."
"-Everyone strives to reach the Law," says the man, "so how does it happen that for all these many years no one but myself has ever begged for admittance?"
The doorkeeper recognizes that the man has reached his end, and to let his failing senses catch the words roars in his ear:
"-No one else could ever be admitted here, since this gate was made only for you. I am now going to shut it.""

Philip Dawdy querying FDA

The reason why I'm here is Furious Season. As many Americans I started blogging after being infuriated with Philip Dawdy's posts, that are written with the right amount of anger leaving room for action instead of paralysis, and lots of journalistic skill.
On this post he is doing a great job pressing FDA on diagnosing Pediatric Bipolar disorder.
Even DSM does not recognize bipolarity in children but FDA does. First in a tangential way by approving Abilify and Risperdal and now claiming on The Boston Globe that bipolarity is a diagnose for children:

"I've made repeated requests of the FDA to interview Thomas Laughren, director of the FDA's psychiatry products division. He was the official in whose name Sandy Walsh, an FDA spokeswoman, said the diagnosis was valid and I felt it was important for Laughren to come to the phone and answer some questions about the diagnosis, what scientific criteria the FDA had used to determine the validity of same or was this just the opinion of some doctors at Harvard, and why Laughren had made this determination in the face of heated opposition from some credible figures in child psychiatry. In other words, my request was pretty straightforward journalism. Walsh and I traded some emails, but yesterday she told me by email--does the FDA not use phones?--that my request was being denied."

You must have already read this on FS. If not it's a must-read for time to action has arrived.
I'm deeply happy with this "e-mail exchanging" for it seems to me that it's the beginning of pressuring FDA, Harvard, Biederman and those who are playing with children's health.

"I wanted to ask why the FDA has stayed mum on the validity of the disorder, because, if it truly exists, then wouldn't the FDA want to flag its existence for public health authorities so they can screen every kid in America?"

This is one of my big concerns: children being put on drugs while developing. Part of DSM-5 is dedicated to measures to start preventing diseases in early childhood.
Don't do it!
It's beyond comprehension even for pediatric psychiatrists.
Stop drugging American children. Let children play.
Please Mr. Thomas Laughren! We want you to be interviewed by Philip Dawdy. Why not?
Can't you speak to a journalist for half an hour?
I guess I'll have to keep on reading Kafka's "Before the Law".
But I'm sure Philip and Stephany will not keep on reading.