And, by the way, let's not underestimate the ability of a series of 12 ECT treatment to wreak a heck of a lot of damage, drugs or no. I am sorry but I will never believe that his treatment did not contribute in a significant way not only to his death but also to the whole trajectory of his illness. I don't think you have to be a rocket scientist or a weirdo to come to this conclusion. How can you possibly dismiss all his problems as the treatment resistance of the underlying disease? It's preposterous to do that when the mechanisms by which the drugs and the shocks affect the brain are well enough understood to support long term damage. It's so tragic to lose talented artistic people like this to a slow brain drain due to toxicity. This does not have to happen if we could only get our act together and treat mood problems with some common sense and empathy.

I truly believe in chemical imbalance.
That's what SSRIs promotes! Putting all these serotonin in the pre-synaptic gap seems to promote a serious imbalance in the whole neurotransmitter system.
It's known that 5% remains in the brain and the rest walks easy-rider in the body.
If the horrible side effects promoted by these drugs are not enough I don't know what on earth had to happen.
If a drug that has killed during clinical trials goes to the market I don't know what to think about it all.
Blah... blah... bhlah...
I'm repeating myself.
But since these drugs are still on the market with the same theory...
I'm not very fine in discussing it today...
Tired and sad that all the work Philip is doing can be disrespected like that!

People like throwing the Scientologist label around. I've got give "them" credit, its a great disinformation and propaganda campaign from the psychiatry industry and their believers. we should expect no less from experts in this field. But why resort to misinformation when science and relief from suffering are on your side? Word of mouth from such greatness and mercy isn't enough to sell your product and services?

I guess they can't scream and cry you're a "Jew" or some other hate filled crapped? They can still call you a mammal or a Homo sapien as an insult I guess since you can't dispute/disprove those. Maybe say that you openly go out in public with epidermis showing?

The funny thing is for as much as they hate and try to discredit Scientology, they use "Ad hominem" instead of attacking/defending against the statements /questions they raise. If they're such "nutters" why not direct people to the data (or techs in Scientology speak) to discredit them fully? Medical researchers are tainted with an agenda just as the CO$ papers are. Reminds me a lot of a 5 year old who gets pissed off when you won't believe their lies and they start stamping the feet even harder calling the other kid a bunch of names.

When someone uses an argumentum ad hominem, they pretty much discredit ytheir point in my book and have to work hard to regain the ground. If someone said the earth was flat would we break out the science and bury them and their position or bash them for a religious belief? Which by the way teaches you to question, examine and test information for yourself. That's right I forgot, shrinks hate it when you won't let them tell you what to believe on just their word....I remember something from history or theology about you weren't allowed to read the bible for yourself at one time....The powers to be didn't like it when you saw things for yourself.

Maybe someone can explain to me why Scientologist are hated so much for finding a belief system that works for them? They also anti substances to escape your problems, maybe its a secret attack by the alcohol and tobacco industries... I joke but if you wanna play conspiracies theories, lets have fun with it.

I left wondering how much of this is really about one believer hating the other of a different faith.

Independent Thinking Addiction Disorder and hording information is not a well publicized mental health crisis. We know that reading and personal research can affect mood, interfere with sleep, cause arguments, lead to financial difficulties, self inflicted social isolation until the material has been consumed in private, Thinkers often time try to get people hooked by "loaning" or "giving" a book and in some instances, such information has caused violence and even revolutions. ITADs are thought to be driven by a need to repeatedly experience literary pleasure, a desire to escape from the unpleasant realities of everyday life or a profound insecurity about not fully understanding themselves and the world." This mental health crisis suffers need help. Someone to tell them what to think. They seem unable to ever find enough answers on their own.

Ether way it disgusts me how fast people are willing to grab a corpse (before its even cold) and start parading it around to farther their personal agenda. Questions needs to be asked and hopefully prevent other's suffering but there is a line that too often gets crossed. Manipulators often have few moral boundaries for their own goals.

The end justifies the means, is cult logic isn't?

anonymous: LOL!

In seriousness, one of my favorite authors wrote about how it was a horrible experience for her to go through when her lifestyle interfered with her writing, as it seemed to be one of the things sustaining her. Electroshock and many psych meds impede thinking, so it is logical to conclude that they take away a lifeline from people who depend on their intellects, their ability to think and express themselves eloquently, articulately and passionately being such a gift to themselves and the world.

I'm again reminded of the Bruce Levine article I posted a link to a while back comparing Scientology to Psychiatry. He writes:"Both the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard and psychiatry's DSM (the official diagnostic manual in which mental illnesses are voted in and out by elite psychiatrists) have much more to do with dogma than science. Both Scientology and psychiatry embrace science fiction techno-babble that poses as scientific fact."

and

"No genuinely humanistic critic of psychiatry believes that adults who choose prescription psychotropic drugs should be mocked, shamed, or prohibited from using them. Rather, humanist critics of establishment psychiatry advocate for informed choice about all treatments."

Levine is a clinical psychologist. The entire article can be found at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-e-levine

I guess what bothers me is that he is just some talking point for an argument you are trying to make. Or worse, a defense for some talking point you are trying to make. As if the story is really about you and not David.

You come off preachy and self-centered, in other words.

David Foster Wallace's ten year struggle was with depression and his efforts to overcome it. Creative people with bipolar disorder often attempt to walk a fine line balancing creative ups and downs with creative innovation and development. There were many factors conspiring around Wallace's death. It is easy to write sensational articles implicating a single cause. A senseless waste of talent requires that the question, "Why?" has a cause-and-effect answer. When pointing the finger, please consider that the struggle with cynicism, depression, mania, creativity, drugs, doctors and life day-to-day as a daunting task.

jt

The paragraph you quoted, despite the one inelegant phrase, did NOT say Nardil killed DFW. It said that an understanding of Nardil's role in his death would go a long way toward understanding psychiatric drugs -- a conclusion I have no problem with.

Philip, Big Pharma is corrupt, maybe inherently so. Your work on the R&D, testing, marketing and demographically inappropriate dispensing of these drugs, ranging from ineffective to (Zyprexa) dangerous, is Pulitzer-worthy.

But honestly, are you really saying helping 30% of people (my own impression would be 50%) isn't worth it because half or more of those with mental illness are sadly thrown on the med merry-go-round?

(BOTH issues can happen simultaneously, BTW. I've taken 23 different medications in 11 years but believe I've finally reached a combination that helps maintain my health.)

As an ex-journalist, I ain't a math major. But last I checked, even 30% is more than zero. And there are a lot of other, non-psychiatric diseases with frustratingly spotty medications and treatments, Big Pharma corruption or not.

Human disease will always be insidious and mysterious.

Good Grief, I certainly hope you didn't think I was suggesting that you are a Scientologist, when I mentioned their anti-psychiatry position?

I fully admire the work that you are doing and think that it is very important. As I stated before though, I believe in my case, medication has helped me.

Psych meds are indeed problematic. They take too long to take effect, they are often incredibly expensive and too often casually prescribed.

There are also the shady issues that you expose so eloquently here in your blog.

Enough from me, I'm headed over to Gawker. No doubt, I'll upset some one. Keep up your fantastic work.

Dano.