The Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry aims to advance policy to support people harmed by psychiatric drugs, dependency & withdrawal. Secretariat to @appgpdd
UK
- Tweets 4,747
- Following 390
- Followers 7,302
- Likes 7,447
CEP retweeted
#Psych drugs are NOT the "fix" for distress after a broken marriage. But the NHS put me on them, leading to years of physical #dependency. Here's my article in @Telegraph #deprescribing #tapering and #iatrogenic harm. Thanks to the brilliant @markhoro @drannacrozier
telegraph.co.uk/gift/b21a100…
5
10
24
3,339
CEP retweeted
Not only is it dubious to have done a trial of antidepressants in 4-6 year old children, the positive results look highly suspect and need to be independently verified according to this review by Martin Plöderl, @rjlyus & @NaudetFlorian osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/8w…
2
29
99
7,946
CEP retweeted
Norwegian health authorities have established dedicated units for medication-free mental health treatment (MFT) to enhance patient choice. MFT is not associated with inferior short-term treatment outcomes in the population currently receiving this care. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.…
6
30
75
13,729
CEP retweeted
Social contagion is when ideas spread through your social network. I doubt people are casually talking about their numb genitals. When this occurs to people they desperately search online to find out what is happening. I.e. the social media comes after the symptoms. However, psychiatrists are often sharing talking points to minimise new harms recognised to the drugs they prescribe (recognised by the manufacturers). So I think Michael's quip about social contagion is relevant.
10
23
64
6,457
CEP retweeted
Dr Shapiro makes some very sensible points here to counter some of the tiresome Pharma talking points of Pies and McIntryre. It requires a small army to respond to the avalanche of mis-information that pours out about these drugs!
New Substack: A Point-by-Point Scientific Criticism of "The Top 10 Misleading Claims About Antidepressants" open.substack.com/pub/bryans…
@rogersmcintyre @PsychTimes @APApsychiatric
3
25
55
3,713
CEP retweeted
A balanced discussion of the neurodiversity concept: 'To say that someone has ADHD or has autism is to offer a particular way of describing a complex constellation of behaviors, feelings, relationships, and life experiences, as interpreted through a psychiatric lens. It is not to identify a thing that people “have”'. psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/…
15
41
152
7,905
CEP retweeted
I have never said there is no role for long-term drug treatment in psychiatry. I think long-term antipsychotics can be helpful for some people who are chronically psychotic. I am not convinced that SSRIs are helpful long or short-term because the RCT evidence doesn't show this and neither does my clinical experience.
After a day debating @joannamoncrieff's views on antidepressants I learned something useful.
That SSRIs produce a generally altered mental state is meaningful and under appreciated by people outside psychiatry.
And it's not some 'newfangled' idea - it was the original view of psych drugs and Lilly/Pfizer did a disservice to the field pushing the idea that SSRIs were a targeted correction of a specific, known pathophysiology.
Moncrieff named it, formalized it, and forced the field to confront it. That’s a genuine contribution. The alcohol analogy even works, sort of. Alcohol and SSRIs are both psychoactive, just like a praying mantis and a tiger are both predators.
But she became so attached to the idea and pushed it to such an extreme that she became self-discrediting and discredited a useful insight that could have benefited the general public.
The claim that there's no role for chronic use of any psych drug doesn’t survive contact with the evidence and it isn't credibly debatable to anyone who's seen a psychotic schizophrenic repeatedly relapse off therapy. SSRIs are the closest case, but at best you can argue that lots of people didn't/don't understand the risks, not that they don't help anyone.
Clozapine keeps people alive in a condition that is obviously biologically based on heritability, separated-twin and adoption data.
The drug-centred framing could have been a real correction to the overselling of the targeted correction of a chemical-imbalance story that filtered out of psychiatry and into primary care and the general public.
Instead it got pushed to an extreme that’s plainly false and the false version buried the useful insight that could have helped millions and millions.
19
11
111
14,237
CEP retweeted
New short article about Dr. Awais Aftab's deprescribing blog: "Philosophising is Fun When You Don't Have Akathisia." Link below 👇
4
23
47
2,594
CEP retweeted
An analysis of the WHO adverse effects reporting database finds that antidepressants (and SSRIs in particular) have a higher risk of withdrawal effects than buprenorphine (an opioid that is a partial agonist). Paper link below. Buprenorphine is not heroin but I think people have greatly under-estimated the risks of withdrawal of these drugs for a variety of reasons relating to the 'clinician's illusion'. Makes discussion very difficult with clinicians.
7
14
63
3,222
CEP retweeted
I can understand this is a difficult time for my psychiatry colleagues. I am sure they all have good intentions, but it turns out that the most widely used psychiatric treatment, antidepressants, causes significant iatrogenic effects (e.g. severe withdrawal reactions, PSSD), is not very effective (at best) and does not target an underlying biological abnormality after all. Although many people still seek a psychiatric diagnosis and a medical approach, increasing numbers highlight how misleading and disabling this approach can be. Their voices are starting to be heard, and we need to work with them to provide help for people who have been harmed by psychiatric treatment, and to prevent more harm being done. Trying to shoot the messenger doesn’t help anyone.
79
226
843
82,274
CEP retweeted
From the paper: "Several high-quality trials have shown that universal mental health interventions based on mindfulness, cognitive behavioural therapy, dialectical behavioural therapy and general mental health awareness can all have negative outcomes, including an increase in internalizing symptoms."
As critics have been arguing all along, individualised, medicalised and decontextualised models & narratives are not only net ineffective, but even contribute to and exacerbate social & psychological issues and distress.
We dont face a crisis of 'mental disorders' in need of medical or cognitive treatment, we face a socio-psychological crisis and a crisis of medicalisation in need of a societal rethink.
55
397
1,653
166,906
CEP retweeted
The consensus statement this @nytimes article is based on is full of minimisation+denial and psychiatrists continue to insist withdrawal does not undermine evidence for l-t medication (when it clearly does) but at least this topic is being talked about.
17
40
133
8,641
Prof Robert Howard has not been elected to be the next president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. This will come as a huge relief to many patients who have been harmed by psychiatric drugs.
rcpsych.ac.uk/news-and-featu…
2
16
50
3,951
Why are GPs defying clinical guidelines by prescribing antidepressant to children? This is especially concerning given research shows they increase the likelihood of suicidal ideation in children. This is no solution to our crisis of having little alternative provision for kids.
2
18
39
2,117
CEP retweeted
Study finds an association between taking antidepressants and sudden cardiac death, but the authors imply the real culprit may be the underying mental illness. Another attempt to absolve the drugs.
New Study: Antidepressant use is associated with Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD)
"Compared with the general population, patients treated for 1-5 years had a 41% increased risk of SCD, while those treated for six years or more had a 74% increased risk."
heartrhythmjournal.com/artic…
16
40
139
7,564
Over-Medicalisation, Not Over-Diagnosis: Reclaiming our Critical Language in a Shifting Political Climate. madintheuk.com/2025/12/over-… via @MITUKTeam
2
4
441
CEP retweeted
Undisclosed conflicts of interests for authors of top psychiatric publications
“Substantial undisclosed financial COIs were identified among the top 10 earners in high-impact psychiatry journals. These findings highlight potential risks to research transparency and integrity.”
Sigh
8
55
129
11,073
CEP retweeted
My letter with @ReadReadj and @PloederlM has now been published in JAMA Psychiatry. We comment on the meta-analysis by Kalfas et al, which concluded that withdrawal reactions from antidepressants are rare and transient and thus of no clinical relevance.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…
8
21
57
11,928