Mothering Magazine Publishes Letter Reaming Them for Being So “Anti-drug”

Note

Please see an update to this entry on the following blog post:

• My Bad – Mothering Magazine Promotes “Antipsychotics” Not Just Zyprexa

Today I received Mothering magazine in the mail. On this month’s front cover, their motto is “Inspiring Natural Families since 1976.”

Several years ago I was a subscriber and, after a personal encounter with Mothering’s online censorship of information on the side effects of psychiatric drugs posted to their discussion board, and their ridiculous endorsement of Zyprexa for nursing mothers, I wrote requesting that my subscription be canceled. Yet they continue to send me their magazine which, honestly, I meet at the mailbox with more annoyance than I do junk mail and bills.

In the September / October edition another article was published on breastfeeding helping moms to “Beat The Baby Blues.” John Breeding and I composed a letter to the editor criticizing them for endorsing SSRIs and Zyprexa for breastfeeding. After receiving no response from Mothering Magazine, we published it as an open letter. Today I received the November / December issue. (Thanks for killing trees with the free reading materials, Peggy.)

In the letters to the editor this month they chose to publish one letter from a somewhat anonymous “Christina A.” of Ottowa, Ontario. In this letter Christina A., who cannot apparently brave the use of her own last name, claims emphatically that natural health methods cannot help PPD and she knows this because she tried them all. She says that after nine weeks without sleep (nine weeks without any sleep “at all,” she claims), she went on meds and weaned her baby.

I applaud Christina A. for being brave enough to protect her baby from drug exposure and for standing up to people who would tell her that she should have kept breastfeeding. She captured perfectly the tremendous insanity that is making its way through communities of breastfeeding advocates -that because we know breastfeeding is awesome, then we must all continue breastfeeding no matter what psychiatric drugs we decide to take.

Yet it is astounding that they chose to publish this letter which, in addition to ridiculous claims that there are not any natural health methods that can treat PPD, at the end endorses Postpartum Progress… the blog of Katherine Stone, who was exposed for financial conflicts of interest in Evelyn Pringle’s series on The MOTHERS Act.

Kinda makes you wonder if Mothering Magazine is working with Cohn & Wolfe just like Zach Stowe, or if they were just waiting for an opportunity to promote PSI and Katherine Stone.

I decided to ask everyone to send in their own letter to the editor. You can actually post it directly on their Facebook page (unless they decide to delete it). If you will send me a copy I will publish a few on the cause websites.

Here’s the information:

Activism Opportunity – Mothering Magazine tells readers to breastfeed on antidepressants and Zyprexa

I have posted our open letter to the editor of Mothering Magazine on their own discussion board. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=19073&uid=50053357208

To show Mothering Magazine how you feel about their endorsement of antidepressants and Zyprexa for breastfeeding moms, please go to the Mothering Magazine facebook page, and you may have to click “Like.”

Then click on the link above (assuming that they don’t delete it) and reply to the message that I posted. The message simply has a short intro followed by the open letter.

Unfortunately, Mothering Magazine has not yet published our letter, but they have chosen to publish one reaming them for claiming that natural health methods could help PPD. Apparently the only criticism that they are open to is that which criticizes them for not being even more pro-psychiatric drugs for nursing moms.

Here is our letter: http://uniteforlife.wordpress.com/2010/11/08/open-letter-to-the-editor-of-mothering-magazine-re-beat-the-baby-blues-by-john-breeding-and-amy-philo/

To send a letter to the editor yourself, write to: letters@mothering.com;

Copy: peggyo@mothering.com; melissac@mothering.com; cynthiam@mothering.com

Please also Bcc: amyphilo@yahoo.com. I will publish several on the cause websites myself.

Thanks for your help.

Filed under: antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, Katherine Stone, pharmacology, Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Support International, PPD, Katherine Stone, Mothering, Mothering Magazine, Peggy O'Mara, Postpartum Progress

Relentless and Tragic Marketing: Psychiatric Drugs from Before the Cradle to the Grave

by John Breeding, PhD and Amy Philo

Working with others, we strive to alleviate distress and to support and enhance the personal growth, transformation, individuation, self-determination, and clear and expanded awareness of individuals. Necessity dictates that we also spend a lot of time challenging aspects of the mental health profession that do the opposite—creating more distress, suppressing growth and transformation, violating self-determination, and dulling and blinding awareness. We call it psychiatric oppression, the systematic, institutionalized mistreatment of those judged as “mentally ill.” This essay focuses especially on the ever expanding encroachment of psychiatric oppression to more and more of the population, and to individuals who are less and less in need of actual help. This encroachment takes the form of mass marketing for psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry. One key aspect of oppression theory is the claim to virtue. For psychiatric oppression that claim is the notion that mentally ill people need their treatment; its growing extension is the concept of prevention, that potentially mentally ill people need treatment as well!

The Regressive Progression: Treatment to Prevention

“An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure.” Like all great aphorisms, this one, often associated with Ben Franklin, holds wisdom and is partly true, based on assumption. In this case, one must assume the role of victim of unnecessary malady that necessitates a cure…and that there is a felt connection or empathic relatedness to the one who suffers malady. Where these assumptions are not met, the aphorism is false. To wit, for the giant corporation of Halliburton and its government and military operations group, or for the mercenary army of Blackwater, going to war is worth a great deal more than diplomacy.

Filed under: "prevention", 'ADHD', adverse drug reactions, Amy Philo, anitdepressants and pregnancy, antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, antidepressants during pregnancy, antidepressants during pregnancy studies, antipsychotics, baby, Baby Matthew, big brother, big pharma, bigpharmavictim, Birth Defects, birth defects caused by antidepressant, child endangerment, choking, Christian Delahunty, Christiane Schultz, Collusion, congenital heart defects, Congress, Coon Rapids, courts, dead babies, drugging children, Drugging Vets, ECT, Effexor, Effexor in pregnancy, Elderly, electroshock, eugenics, FDA, FDA Warnings, forced 'treatment', Freedom Commission on Mental Health, heart defects, Indiana, Isaac Philo, Melanie Stokes, Mercy Hospital, mothers act, paxil birth defects, Paxil in pregnancy, pharmacology, Postpartum Support International, PPD, Pregnancy, psychiatric hospital, schizophrenia, screening, SSRI, suicide, Supreme Court, The Future of The United States, toxicity deaths, Zoloft, 'ADHD', ADD, Amy Philo, Breastfeeding, drugging children, drugging elders, Drugging Vets, John Breeding, meds, prevention, Psychiatric Drugs from before the cradle to the grave, psychiatric oppression, racist violence initiative, Relentless and Tragic Marketing

Taking Antidepressants During Pregnancy Doubles Baby’s Risk of Heart Defect

http://www.naturalnews.com/028202_antidepressants_heart_defects.html

(NaturalNews) Women who take certain antidepressant drugs while pregnant may double their child’s risk of being born with a certain variety of heart defect, according to a study conducted by researchers from Aarhaus University in Denmark and published in the medical journal BMJ.

“Anyone who is pregnant or considering becoming pregnant and has any concerns about the treatment for depression should speak to their doctor,” said Cathy Ross of the British Heart Foundation.

Researchers compared the risk of birth defects in 1,370 children born to women who took at least one selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) while pregnant with the risk in 400,000 other children whose mothers had not taken any SSRIs while pregnant. They found that the drugs fluoxetine (marketed as Prozac), sertraline (marketed as Zoloft) and citalopram (marketed as Celexa) all significantly increased the risk that a child would be born with a defect in the septum, which separates the right and left halves of the heart.

Septum defects include a variety of conditions from minor blood vessel problems to outright holes in the heart. The researchers found that one extra septum defect would develop for every 246 pregnant women taking an SSRI during the time period from 28 days before through 112 days after conception.

Taking more than one SSRI drastically increased the risk of septum defects. While the risk of the defects was 0.5 percent in mothers not taking the drugs and 0.9 percent in those taking one drug (an 80 percent increase), it was 2.1 percent in mothers taking two or more (a more than 300 percent increase).

Sertraline appeared to increase the risk more than citalopram or fluoxetine did.

The study is not the first linking SSRIs to birth defects. Previous research has found a link between the drugs and defects of the heart and of other bodily systems.

Sources for this story include: www.reuters.com; www.telegraph.co.uk.

Filed under: anitdepressants and pregnancy, antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, antidepressants during pregnancy, antidepressants during pregnancy studies, Birth Defects, birth defects caused by antidepressant, causes for birth defects, Celexa, heart defects, Pregnancy, Zoloft, antidepressants, Celexa, doubled risk, heart defects, Pregnancy, Prozac, Zoloft

Brown Victory Brings Hope of Stalling MOTHERS Act in Health Care Bill

“I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee. “There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient.”

Menendez says Americans have high anxiety and are impatient? Oh geez Louise… Speaking of sugarcoating… I recall using that word in reference to Menendez and the MOTHERS Act pushers a few more than 10 times.

In epic upset, GOP’s Brown wins Mass. Senate race

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_massachusetts_senate

By GLEN JOHNSON and LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writers Glen Johnson And Liz Sidoti, Associated Press Writers – 17 mins ago

BOSTON – In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.

The loss by the once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat on Tuesday signaled big political problems for the president’s party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.

“I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats’ campaign committee. “There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient.”

Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president’s health care legislation and the rest of his agenda. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters.

The Republican will finish Kennedy’s unexpired term, facing re-election in 2012.

Brown led by 52 per cent to 47 percent with all but 3 percent of precincts counted.

One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama’s swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, Wall Street bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.

For weeks considered a long shot, Brown seized on voter discontent to overtake Coakley in the campaign’s final stretch. His candidacy energized Republicans, including backers of the “tea party” protest movement, while attracting disappointed Democrats and independents uneasy with where they felt the nation was heading.

A cornerstone of Brown’s campaign was his promise to vote against the health care plan.

Though the president wasn’t on the ballot, he was on many voters’ minds.

“I voted for Obama because I wanted change. … I thought he’d bring it to us, but I just don’t like the direction that he’s heading,” said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.

He said his frustrations, including what he considered the too-quick pace of health care legislation, led him to vote for Brown.

Coakley called Brown conceding the race, and Obama talked to both Brown and Coakley, congratulating them on the race.

The Democrat said the president told her: “We can’t win them all.”

Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected. Originally, he had said he might take over two weeks to certify the results of the special election, giving Democrats a window in which to try to rush through final passage of Obama’s health care plan.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised to seat Brown “as soon as the proper paperwork has been received.”

Brown will be the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 30 years.

Even before the first results were announced, administration officials were privately accusing Coakley of a poorly run campaign and playing down the notion that Obama or a toxic political landscape had much to do with the outcome.

Coakley’s supporters, in turn, blamed that very environment, saying her lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Day attempted airliner bombing that Obama himself said showed a failure of his administration.

Days before the polls closed, Democrats were fingerpointing and laying blame.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, head of the House Democrats’ campaign effort, said Coakley’s loss won’t deter his colleagues from continuing to blame the previous administration.

“President George W. Bush and House Republicans drove our economy into a ditch and tried to run away from the accident,” he said. “President Obama and congressional Democrats have been focused repairing the damage to our economy.”

At Boston’s Park Plaza Hotel, giddy Republicans cheered, chanted “USA” and waved the “tea party” version of the American flag.

Even before Brown won, the grass-roots network fueled by antiestablishment frustrations, sought credit for the victory, much like the liberal MoveOn.org did in the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats rose to power.

GOP chairman Michael Steele said Brown’s “message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership.”

Wall Street watched the election closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.

Across Massachusetts, voters who had been bombarded with phone calls and dizzied with nonstop campaign commercials for Coakley and Brown gave a fitting turnout despite intermittent snow and rain statewide.

Galvin, who discounted sporadic reports of voter irregularities throughout the day, predicted turnout ranging from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, 40 percent to 55 percent of registered voters. The Dec. 8 primary had a scant turnout of about 20 percent.

Voters considered national issues including health care and the federal budget deficits.

Fears about spending drove Karla Bunch, 49, to vote for Brown. “It’s time for the country, for the taxpayers, to take back their money,” she said. And Elizabeth Reddin, 65, voted for Brown because she said she was turned off by the Democrat’s negative advertisements, saying: “The Coakley stuff was disgusting.”

___

Liz Sidoti reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy, Bob Salsberg, Steve LeBlanc, Karen Testa, Kevin Vineys and Stephanie Reitz also contributed to this report.

Filed under: anitdepressants and pregnancy, antidepressant side effects, antidepressants, antidepressants during pregnancy, Baby Matthew, Barack Obama, big brother, big pharma, bigpharmavictim, Birth Defects, Christian Delahunty, Christiane Schultz, congenital heart defects, Congress, dead babies, ECT, Effexor, Effexor in pregnancy, Harry Reid, Health Care debate, heart defects, Indiana, Manie, Melanie Stokes, mothers act, Pregnancy, prescription medication and pregnancy, The Future of The United States, Barack Obama, Bill, Brown, Democrat, Edward Kennedy, Harry, Health Care, Massachusetts, Menendez, mothers act, NJ, NV, Reid, Republican, results, Robert, Scott Brown, special election