Alison Barrett

New blog post is up. dralisonbarrett.wordpress.com/2015/04/05/the…

Clear thinking down under: good overview of the serotonin narrative of antidepressants, with a focus on Prof Moncrieff's work. "The 36 senior psychiatrists who lined up to attack her in Molecular Psychiatry in 2023 mostly conceded the point in their fine print while insisting the drugs work anyway." Link below.

I posted the final part of my cancellation story. It's farcical, funny and sad. I am still afloat. Link👇👇👇

Hardly surprising. I posted this video 14 years ago. It's pretty much how it all started down under. How GlaxoSmithKline Australia promoted Aropax with starter packs and the offer of FREE counselling sessions...on the proviso that you continued taking Aropax! Aropax, if you don't know, is the brand name for paroxetine, also known as Seroxat and Paxil. youtu.be/4qUztBAv1Hk?si…

@joannamoncrieff @EllenBarryNYT “We will never support governmental interference in the practice of medicine.” Hmmm. Never? Wow.

Fascinating report on the recent American Psychiatric Assn conference. Among the defensive positioning, it is good to see some psychiatrists acknowledging 'meds are not the answer' and severe harms like protracted withdrawal. @EllenBarryNYT nytimes.com/2026/05/24/sci…

Spent the day visiting sites in Longford & Westmeath associated with poet Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) & recorded this excerpt from The Deserted Village at the ruins of the parsonage at Lissoy where Goldsmith was brought up and which provided inspiration for his most famous poem. #Poetry

Our analysis of the FDA approval of escitalopram in children with anxiety is finally published. In the approval trial, children were more likely to become suicidal on escitalopram than to improve, yet the drug was approved. We reveal the pro-drug bias of the regulatory system which is not protecting children's welfare. @markhoro @NaudetFlorian. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09…

The #InfectedBloodScandal is set for #JudicialReview in #Australia… #HIV #Haemophilia #Health #Law

bioethics prof Matheson says Canadians should be reassured: "1 bad driver doesn't invalidate driving license system". Remarkable comparison. Note that traffic violations, even without harm, result in penalty. Here problematic deaths results in 'practice improvement' agreement..

@markhoro It is really sad that someone like Dr Mark Horowitz is attacked by senior Psychiatrists who block his career. He will be remembered as one of the few who spoke the truth about psychiatric drugs and, by so doing, helped thousands of people abandoned and misled by his profession

Apparently it’s #MyXAnniversary

Once upon a time, my little family was made up of 5...alive. I was 36 when this pic was taken, a week before my 10th wedding anniversary. All of my kids died before my 10th anniversary. Today I am 47& I am the only one left alive in this photo.

I write reports for court regarding breastfed infants where there are child protection concerns and the experiences described here are familiar (not just for Aboriginal women). Midwives need to be empowered to uphold children's breastfeeding rights! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mc…

'I've never seen SSRI withdrawal before' It's worth remembering that this is not the first time that a whole generation of clincians have claimed to not have seen something which was subsquently recognised to be happening right under their noses.... In 1976 a round table of US psychiatrists under the chairmanship of Dr. Leo Hollister was convened to assess the dangers of benzodiazepine withdrawal. The general consensus of the panel was that benzo withdrawal was rarely a problem. One of the esteemed panel said confidently: " I have never seen a case of benzodiazepine dependence" Another said withdrawal was "astonishing unusual event" We now know different. How likely do you think it is true that these esteemed clinicians had never seen a case of benzodiazepine withdrawal?

Are newborns blank slates? Does it matter to them from whom the oocyte for their conception came or who gestated and birthed them? Using research from adoption, donor conception and surrogacy, this paper argues for consideration of the child's experience in surrogacy language.

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.

Most nonfiction authors know this feeling too well: There are days the reporting feels endless, the writing insurmountable. I’ve told @trishaposner too many times, “I’ll never finish this one.” The angst and anxiety doesn’t stop there — publisher review, then publication day: Will anyone actually care about some topic that has had me on fire for years? This panoramic shot from the Detroit Book Fair luncheon — where I spoke about God’s Bankers, my history of Vatican finances — is the perfect reminder that sometimes we writers just worry too much. Hundreds of readers packed the room, genuinely excited. Books do find their audience. We just have to remind ourselves of that sometimes when hitting the inevitable speed bumps of putting it together.

What it's like to be an owl – the strange and wondrous science of seeing with sound themarginalian.org/2023/12/24/owl…

Hinterland Who's Who: The Willow Ptarmigan nfb.ca/film/hinterlan…

This illustrates the reality of lack of sufficient maternity leave and inadequate workplace breastfeeding provisions. The author is incorrect, this is not what being a parent looks like, male parents do not have this experience. This is sexism experienced by women who are mothers

@factpostnews Hetrick 2012, 2021. SSRI efficacy is low to negligible, with very small effect size. Suicide ideation is significantly increased. See RIAT, etc. It's no secret. "Decades of research shows SSRIs are safe and effective." = denial.