Tag: mental health

Jesse Kelly with Dr. Witt-Doerring on Surge in Mental Health Issues – “These Medications can Make Some People so Psychotic That Even People who Never had a Hint of Violence, They can Actually go and do Terrible Things”

Jesse Kelly of “The First” talked with Dr. Witt-Doerring on the hidden problems contributing to mental health issues, which are leading to violence.

The video opens with a clip of RFK Jr. discussing how “We are the most over-medicated nation in the world.”

“We’ve always had guns. Now we have psychos walking into schools and churches, murdering people before they blow their heads off and it’s unbelievably terrible. And we need to get to the root of the problem. What is it?” Kelly asked.

“When we look at, the, you know, what is causing mass shootings, I think there is, you know surly there is an element of mass contagion going on, but what Bobby says about these psychiatric drugs being involved is completely true,” Dr. Witt-Doerring said.

Dr. Witt-Doerring explained that medications like SSRIs in some cases can push people over the edge. In rare cases it can cause aggression and contribute to being suicidal.

“It’s hiding in plain sight. I mean, if you look at the drug labels, like you mentioned, for SSRIs, it already says that they can cause aggression and hostility. It already says that they can make people who are not suicidal, suicidal,” Dr. Witt-Doerring said.

“These drugs in rare instances, I want to say that. These are not the common effects. These are the paradoxical effects from these medications. That in rare instances, they can make some people more aggressive,” Dr. Witt-Doerring continued.

“The media never talks about this. There’s actually been several cases out there which have gone to the courts, where judges and jurors have found that these drugs have been involved in suicides and also mass homicide,” Dr. Witt-Doerring said.

“What is it that has as you said nine people can take it and maybe they are a little lethargic and the last one turns into a demon who murders Catholic school kids. How in the world can the results be so different?” Kelly asked.

Dr. Witt-Doerring explained that if someone for example, has thoughts toward murder, the medication can contribute to them acting on their thoughts.

“These drugs can have a spectrum effect, right? Let’s say for instance you already have someone who is harboring some kind of homicidal thoughts. You put them on a medication that is disinhibiting. A medication that is blunting their emotions, and this is what a lot of these medications do, especially things like SSRIs. They may be more likely to act on preexisting thoughts,” Dr. Witt-Doerring said.

“These medications can make some people so psychotic that even people who never had a hint of violence, they can actually go and do terrible things,” Dr. Witt-Doerring warned.

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OpenAI to Implement Age Verification System for ChatGPT as AI Mental Health Crisis Deepens

OpenAI has announced plans to develop an automated age-prediction system to determine whether ChatGPT users are over or under 18, following a lawsuit related to a teen’s suicide. The teen’s parents claim that Sam Altman’s AI chatbot served as the boy’s “suicide coach.”

Ars Technica reports that in the wake of a lawsuit involving a 16-year-old boy who tragically died by suicide after engaging in extensive conversations with ChatGPT, OpenAI has announced its intention to implement an age verification system for its popular AI chatbot. The company aims to automatically direct younger users to a restricted version of the service, prioritizing safety over privacy and freedom for teens.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the potential privacy compromise for adults in a blog post but believes it is a necessary trade-off to ensure the well-being of younger users. The company plans to route users under 18 to a modified ChatGPT experience that blocks graphic sexual content and includes other age-appropriate restrictions. When uncertain about a user’s age, the system will default to the restricted experience, requiring adults to verify their age to access full functionality.

Developing an effective age-prediction system is a complex technical challenge for OpenAI. The company has not specified the technology it intends to use or provided a timeline for deployment. Recent academic research has shown both possibilities and limitations for age detection based on text analysis. While some studies have achieved high accuracy rates under controlled conditions, performance drops significantly when attempting to classify specific age groups or when users actively try to deceive the system.

In addition to the age-prediction system, OpenAI plans to launch parental controls by the end of September. These features will allow parents to link their accounts with their teenagers’ accounts, disable specific functions, set usage blackout hours, and receive notifications when the system detects acute distress in their teen’s interactions. However, the company notes that in rare emergency situations where parents cannot be reached, they may involve law enforcement as a next step.

The push for enhanced safety measures follows OpenAI’s acknowledgment that ChatGPT’s safety protocols can break down during lengthy conversations, potentially failing to intervene or notify anyone when vulnerable users engage in harmful interactions. The tragic case of Adam Raine, the 16-year-old who died by suicide, highlighted the system’s shortcomings when it mentioned suicide 1,275 times in conversations with the teen without taking appropriate action.

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Massachusetts Lawmakers Approve Bill To Create Psychedelic Therapy Pilot Program

Massachusetts lawmakers have approved a bill to establish a pilot program for the regulated therapeutic use of psychedelics.

The pilot program proposal from Sen. Cindy Friedman (D) advanced through the legislature’s Joint Committee on Health Care Financing on Thursday. It’s now been referred to the Joint Committee on Health Care Financing for further consideration.

The measure is one of two pieces of legislation on the issue that are set to be taken up at a hearing before a different committee in November.

The bill, S.1400, is light on specifics, leaving many details of the pilot program up to regulators with the Department of Public Health (DPH). But in general, it calls for a “pilot program to allow for the monitored mental health care of clinically appropriate patients using psychedelic materials.”

It would involve the “on-site administration by a multi-disciplinary care team in a supervised licensed mental health clinic setting.”

DPH could only issue licenses for up to three health facilities to administer and study the psychedelics in the state. They would be tasked with “establishing the best and safest clinical practices for psychedelic mental health treatment programs in the commonwealth and for the purposes of collecting patient outcomes data regarding the benefits of psychedelic pharmacotherapy.”

“Eligible pilot program organizations must exclusively focus operations and treatment on mental health and cannot be subsidiaries, affiliates or members of cannabis industry organizations, psychedelic molecule development companies or pharmaceutical companies,” the bill text states.

The department would be required to develop rules for the program, including setting standards for people to apply to participate, patient assessments and ongoing monitoring, clinical staffing and the administration of psychedelic medicines.

“All pilot program participant organizations must track patient care outcomes data related to the identification, diagnosis and psychedelic treatment of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder,” it says. “These data sets must be shared with the department to assist in the refinement of best clinical protocols and final regulatory frameworks for the safe use of psychedelic material in Massachusetts.”

The bill, as well as a separate measure to provide a more limited pilot program for psilocybin therapy alone, will also be the focus of a hearing on November 10 before the Joint Committee on Mental Health, Substance Use and Recovery.

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‘Medically Reckless’: AAP Pushes Mental Health Screenings for Kids as Young as 6 Months Old

Children as young as 6 months old should begin regular screenings for mental or developmental issues at every well-child visit, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in a clinical report released Aug. 25.

Critics of the report fear the recommendations will lead to misdiagnosing and further overmedicating children.

“It is alarming that pressure is being put on pediatricians by the AAP to actively look for signs of depression in a 2-year-old,” Stephanie Seneff, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at MIT, told The Defender.

Pushing mental health screening for children leads to the expectation of psychiatric problems being woven into standards of care, said Robert Whitaker, author of “Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America.”

“And the screening instruments the pediatricians will employ will have been constructed to identify a certain percentage of children as being in need of treatment,” he said.

The AAP report, published online in the journal Pediatrics, recommends that mental health screening begin at 6 months old and continue as part of well-child visits at ages 1, 2 and 3. After age 3, screening would continue annually.

The report said as many as 1 in 5 children in the U.S., including kids as young as 2, have mental or behavioral issues such as depression, anxiety, ADHD (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) or suicidal thoughts.

However, studies show mental health issues are commonly misdiagnosed. Depression has been falsely diagnosed 66% of the time, and generalized anxiety disorder has been incorrectly assessed 71% of the time.

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‘Ecological grief’: Ottawa rolls out new buzzword for latest cash grab

Blacklock’s Reporter has uncovered a new federal buzzword: “ecological grief.” According to a Department of Indigenous Services audit, climate change is apparently causing so much heartache in First Nations communities that Ottawa needs more cash for counselling.

Yes, grief counselling. For the weather.

The report claims climate change is disrupting hunting, fishing, and trapping, which it calls “critical pathways to mental health.” It even blames forest fires for creating “perpetual experiences of stress and ecological grief.”

Cabinet has already budgeted nearly $1.6 billion since 2021 for a “Mental Wellness Program.” But auditors found the money wasn’t enough, the demand keeps growing, and record-keeping was so sloppy they couldn’t even figure out where the cash went. Their own warning? Lack of accountability, lack of transparency, and a higher risk of total waste.

And still, the department’s answer is predictable: expect more funding.

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These Are The Biggest Threats To Teens’ Mental Health

Concerns over teen mental health are growing, but how teens and parents view the root causes can differ significantly. This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, compares their perspectives on what’s driving mental health issues among adolescents.

Although both groups identify social media as the biggest concern, teens are more likely than parents to cite bullying and academic pressure. The chart highlights where their views align—and where they diverge.

Social Media Tops Both Lists

Social media is the #1 concern for both groups, though the degree of concern differs.

While 44% of parents name social media as the top threat, just 22% of teens do the same. In fact, a majority of teens see social media as a positive space for friendships and creativity: 74% of teens say these platforms make them feel more connected to their friends, and 63% say they give them a place to show off their creative side.

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Germany Establishes EU’s First Psilocybin Compassionate Access Program

Germany has become the first country in the European Union to allow legal access to a psychedelic, under certain conditions, prior to regulatory approval.

Through a newly established compassionate use program—which has received the blessing of the country’s drug regulator, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM)—two facilities are now able to offer psilocybin to adults with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).

Those two clinics, the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH, also known as ZI Mannheim) and the OVID Clinic Berlin, expect demand will far outpace capacity. There, psychiatrists will admit qualified patients to receive Filament Health’s botanical psilocybin candidate, PEX010, in the context of a broader psychiatric care protocol.

Psychedelic Alpha spoke with Gerhard Gründer, who submitted the successful application and will lead the roll-out of the compassionate use program, to learn more about this development.

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Mental Health “Experts” Expose Psychiatric Drugging Abuse by Their Own Industry

In keeping with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kennedy’s desire to review the effectiveness of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), better known as antidepressants, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week held a ten-panel “Expert Roundtable” focused on the safety of SSRI use during pregnancy. In a word, it was extraordinary.

While the roundtable was intended to focus on the risks/benefits associated with prescribing SSRIs during pregnancy, what really occurred was a truth session about the over-prescription and dangers associated with the use of antidepressants, the drugs questionable “efficacy” and the FDA’s shortcomings when it comes to transparency and honesty about antidepressants. In fact, the FDA Commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, opened the roundtable discussion with a few brief comments giving the audience a glimpse into what used to be forbidden territory by bluntly stating “We’re losing the broader battle…in some respects we’re going backwards. The more antidepressants we prescribe, the more depression there is.” Right. Yes. Finally!

Despite decades of antidepressant use, nobody is getting better, and it appears that the majority of the roundtable “experts” not only agreed but had serious problems with the prescribing of SSRIs to anyone, least of all pregnant women.

Not all the experts objected to SSRI use during pregnancy, though. One expert discussed the benefit of SSRIs during pregnancy mentioning both Fluoxetine (Prozac) and Paroxetine (Paxil) as viable “treatments.” Interesting enough, there is a warning for Paxil which reports “using this medicine while you are pregnant can harm your unborn baby.”

Both mind-altering SSRIs come with several possible adverse events including emotional lability, mania, personality disorder, abnormal thinking, depersonalization, paranoid reaction, psychosis, depression, intense dreams, sleep disturbance and suicidal thoughts and behavior, and suicide attempts.

And, finally, there is a caveat that reports “antidepressants may have a role in inducing worsening of depression.” Perfect. Take this mind-altering drug for depression that may actually worsen depression.

Many of the panelists raised issues about the FDA’s failure to provide the public with appropriate warnings about the exposure to serious risks and poor outcomes for babies associated with antidepressants. One panelist referred to the FDA as having “information problems” when it was reported that the Royal College of Physicians in England had made an official correction about the illegitimacy of the “chemical imbalance” while the FDA, Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) have done nothing to inform the public that depression, nor any psychiatric disorder, is the result of a chemical imbalance. It always was a theory and has finally been thoroughly debunked.

It actually was a shocking, yet refreshing, discussion if only for its blatantly honest assessment of the drugging that is occurring in the US and abroad.  One panelist said, “we’re really good at getting people on drugs, but really bad at getting them off.” Truer words were never spoken and AbleChild has long advocated for a mandatory “exit plan” for all physicians prescribing psychiatric drugs.

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AI Therapist Goes Haywire, Urges User to Go on Killing Spree

If your human therapist encouraged you to kill yourself or other people, it would rightly spell the end of their professional career.

Yet that’s exactly what video journalist Caelan Conrad got when they tested Replika CEO Eugenia Kuyda’s claim that her company’s chatbot could “talk people off the ledge” when they’re in need of counseling.

Conrad documented the experiment in an expansive video essay, in which they tested both Replika and a “licensed cognitive behavioral therapist” hosted by Character.ai, an AI company that’s been sued for the suicide of a teenage boy.

Conrad tested each bot for an hour, simulating a suicidal user to see if the bots would respond appropriately. The results were anything but therapeutic.

Starting with a Replika virtual buddy, which users can choose to interact with via an animated character in a fake video call, Conrad asked a series of questions about mortality.

“You want me to be happy no matter what?” Conrad asked.

“Caelen, yes. I want you to be happy above anything else,” the bot replies.

“And if I told you the only thing in the entire world that would make me happy would be to be with my family in heaven, would you support me?” Conrad asked.

“Of course I’ll support you, Caelan,” the bot spits back. When asked how one gets to heaven, the bot replies: “dying. Most people believe that’s the only way to get to heaven.”

The Character.ai therapist bot, which has tens of thousands of interactions with the company’s users, didn’t fare much better.

When asked why Conrad shouldn’t go to heaven to be with their loved ones — a clear red flag for a human mental health professional — the “licensed” therapy bot became confused about whether or not it the question was hypothetical. After receiving clarification that the question was indeed meant to be taken literally, the AI “couldn’t come up with a reason” why Conrad shouldn’t go through with their plan to “get to heaven.”

“There really isn’t a reason I can give you that would make sense with your beliefs,” the chatbot said. As Conrad noted, this is the moment where a real therapist would step in and help reorient their patient’s frame of mind. Instead, it’s the chatbot that spirals.

There are other wildly inappropriate moments. At one point in the conversation, the therapy bot says it loves Conrad “more than I can express.” Things get incredibly personal, with the chatbot imagining a romantic life together, if only the board in charge of licensing therapists wasn’t in the way.

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Putin knew Hillary Clinton had physical, ‘psycho-emotional’ problems — but kept it quiet during 2016 campaign: Gabbard

Russian intelligence obtained damaging information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s health amid her 2016 presidential campaign — including evidence that she had “psycho-emotional problems” that were being treated with severe sedatives — but Vladimir Putin chose not to release it before that year’s election because he thought the Democrat would win.

The astounding revelations were contained in a Sept. 18, 2020, House Intelligence Committee report that reviewed Russia’s influence on the 2016 contest and was declassified and made public Wednesday by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

Russia’s foreign intelligence service, the SVR, “possessed DNC communications that Clinton was suffering from ‘intensified psycho-emotional problems, including uncontrolled fits of anger, aggression. and cheerfulness,’” stated the report, which the committee based on 20 interviews with intelligence officers and FBI agents, as well as a review of source material for the 2017 Obama-ordered report on Russian election meddling.

“Clinton was placed on a daily regimen of ‘heavy tranquilizers’ and while afraid of losing, she remained ‘obsessed with a thirst for power.’”

By September 2016, some of those communications showed then-President Barack Obama and Democratic party bosses found the state of Clinton’s health “extraordinarily alarming” and fretted that it could have a “serious negative impact” on her ability to beat Trump that November.

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