Psychiatrists gratuitously promote themselves as the custodians of mental health. However, when witnessing their ‘work’ and analysing their results, it would be more accurate to call them the custodians of mental illness. Psychiatric treatment has the potential of making people into life-long patients and can even result in death.

Last week included World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September). It was a time to remember those lost to psychiatric drugs, especially antidepressants.

The very drugs that are marketed as the accepted treatment have been linked to violence and aggression as well as suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviour.

Prescribed for everything from learning and behavioural problems, bedwetting, juvenile delinquency, criminality, drug addiction and smoking, to handling the fears of the elderly, antidepressants are among the most widely prescribed drugs on Earth.

There are many people however, including parents, who have spoken of their grief and frustration which then turned to anger at not knowing the effects of antidepressants prior to their loved ones or their children taking their own lives.

Unlike medical drugs, which commonly may prevent or cure disease or improve health, psychiatric drugs are only designed to suppress symptoms that return once the drug wears off.

Mental problems however can be resolved, and thankfully so. According to top experts, a large amount of people having mental problems are actually suffering from nonpsychiatric disease which is causing emotional stress.

Competent medical doctors can conduct thorough medical examinations to rule out if an untreated medical condition may be causing depression.

By being fully informed about the effects of psychiatric drugs like antidepressants, we may even save lives. Brian Daniels National Spokesperson Citizens Commission on Human Rights