346 Comments
Jan 9, 2023Liked by Toby Rogers

I am in autumn of my life and suffered periods of anguish resulting in taking these SSRI's. I reckon you get the placebo effect, after a period which your doc seems to know but it doesn't last long so he ups the dose. Side effects, lethargy, weight gain, body loathing which makes you depressed again. I just stopped taking them and never looked back. Do I ever get down? Yes, sure I do but I can tell myself it's short lived, which it is. Main thing now is I have stopped being a people pleaser, doing things I am constantly asked of. Now I am brave enough to say no! And do you know what? People accept it. I accepted no from them but somehow I couldn't think they would accept from me. Let's be clear here, some didn't and moved on. That's fine by me as I only heard from them when they wanted a favour. Wish I'd had self respect and assertiveness when much younger. No pills required!

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Imagine that. People paying to become... stupider. (Yes that was on purpose).

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Wurtzel's story is tragic, and you tell it with compassion. Thank you.

I am so grateful for your essays, Toby, and for the robust, fascinating comment section that always follows! Keep up the excellent work -- you are making a difference.

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A fascinating article, Toby - thank you.

I'd like to offer my two cents on the big question you asked - about 'the promise'. I write from a contemplative Christian perspective, and this a take that comes from that tradition, in dialogue with other spiritual traditions:

In the contemplative system, we understand the human person to be a unity of three parts: Body (soma in Greek), soul (psyche in Greek) and spirit (pneuma in Greek)

First, I think your article taps into the (to me, at least) quite obvious truth that pharmacology can't bring the goods of lasting peace, happiness and human fulfillment. Fascinatingly, in the original Greek of the New Testament 'pharmakeia' is listed as one of obstacles to entering into 'the Kingdom of God'. It's usually translated as 'sorcery' because in the ancient world magic and potions/drugs almost always went hand in hand. It could just as easily be translated as 'drugs' or 'pharmaceuticals'. The promise of happiness through manipulating body chemistry seems to me the most superficial and least compelling approach - and an obvious failure if held up to the most basic scrutiny (which you do here). Only in a highly distracted, highly materialist society like our own would this approach have much of a foothold.

Second, the systems of the modern social sciences - psychology, sociology, etc - are all centered around the work of understanding and strengthening the psyche or 'egoic self'. They have made great advances in this realm, and having a strong, integrated psyche is undoubtedly a healthier and more functional state than a weak or unintegrated psyche.

However, in the teachings of the spiritual and contemplative traditions, the psyche is still a relatively finite and limited place to seek lasting happiness. I'd say the experience of the 100 years of so of psychotherapy prior to the rise of psychotherapeutic drugs lends support to this ancient perspective. Psyche-therapy can help people become more functional - but not truly happy or whole, at least, not happy or whole at the depth that the spiritual traditions consider as the meaning of human life.

What the contemplative and mystical traditions posit, each in their own language and systems of spiritual training is that it through intentional spiritual practice it is possible to progressively dis-identify with the psyche as the center of consciousness, and to center one's consciousness at the level of the spirit. From this consciousness comes abiding and unalterable peace, happiness, tranquility, unconditional love for all people, the end of fear of death, and countless other blessings. You can find echos of this in the teachings of many of the Christian saints, as well as in many of the adepts in Sufism, Judiasm, Buddhism and Hinduism, and many indigenous elders. While this has never been attained at a widespread, societal level, the witnesses are there in small pockets in many human wisdom traditions. In each of the major wisdom traditions, you can read very clear articulations of human liberation - at levels far beyond what is conceived of in the work of sociology or psychology.

From this perspective, seeking lasting happiness at the level of the psyche is better than seeking it at the level of manipulated neurochemistry, but still not a secure landing place. The deeper work of the spirit is where the real remedy for the human condition may be found. To add a nuance to the Presbyterian idea that you ended with - I'd suggest that we're flawed in the sense that there's no real hope for liberation IF we try to do the work of liberation without accessing the level of the spirit. And, I do believe that work in the spiritual realm is a dance between divine grace and human effort and intention. It seems very difficult to move beyond primitive instinct working at the levels of body and psyche alone - but with some contact with the spiritual realm, the possibilities expand considerably.

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Oct 16, 2022Liked by Toby Rogers

Another great article. Keep it up. People need to know the dangers of these drugs since their doctors are never going to tell them. Don't forget the 7 million children on speed! Like Tim Leary said: speed kills.

There seems to be a trend in the reluctance to use legitimate opiates for legit pain such as the pain of myocardial infarction. I am trained in pain management and anesthesiology. The trend is to move away from morphine sulfate ( the drug of choice for the last 100 years for heart attacks for several good reasons) to inferior synthetics like Fentanyl (clinical half-life of about 45 min Vs Morphine which clinically lasts much longer and is superior in pain relief). It's shocking how doctors prefer to use Fentanyl in spite of the fact that the country is awash in this dangerous drug. It causes profound respiratory depression and lousy pain relief and it doesn't last. Good old docs can't wait to jump on the bandwagon.

A nurse told me that the DEA sends memorandums to hospitals warning that ALL PATIENTS CANNOT BE TRUSTED AND THAT MANY ARE DRUG SEEKING! This is a dangerous trend which leads to under-treatment of real pain. A disaster waiting to happen. All part of medical tyranny.

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Oct 14, 2022Liked by Toby Rogers

Maybe we can come up with a slate of folks to nominate to adcomms so this BS parade can maybe slow down: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/10/14/2022-22305/request-for-nominations-for-individuals-and-consumer-organizations-for-advisory-committees

Names?

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Oct 10, 2022Liked by Toby Rogers

Always great read Doc!

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I know you probably already are aware of Dr. Peter Breggin, if not here’s a gift. Thank you, for caring, I appreciate and care also.

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Oct 8, 2022·edited Oct 8, 2022Liked by Toby Rogers

Manipulators are among the most clever, accomplished liars.

We are easily fooled and fall into believing everything we see or are told by media. The media are manipulators of the highest order.

They are bought and paid to manipulate.

Question everything. Be a skeptic. Sceptic in the English language

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Oct 7, 2022Liked by Toby Rogers

Thank you for starting yet another important and informative discussion, Toby. And thank you, Zeus, for supplying so much information and resource regarding the fluoride debate. Probably millions of people, by this point, have been adversely affected by SSRIs. And large-scale fluoride poisoning has been going on for so long, perhaps billions have now been exposed to it, over decades, in multiple countries. The fact that governments have conspired with Industry to continue this criminal debacle for 70+ years may provide context for why the Pharma Cartels were so confident they could get away with mRNA poisoning, as well. It wasn't their first rodeo. They've been cultivating incestuous relationships with government and regulatory agencies for a very long time; mRNA poisoning is just the latest chapter in a lengthy horror novel. We marvel at the sheer numbers of people who seem so willing to be deceived, but I'm reminded of a quote for which I don't know the attribution: "Kill one man, you're a murderer. But kill a million, and you could be King." Meaning, when the scale of the crime is so incomprehensibly huge, it's too painful for many people to acknowledge how ghastly what just happened really is. Much easier to go along with the transparent excuse for genocide, which empowers those who orchestrated it. And there's a companion quote: "Most people will embrace a comforting lie, before accepting a painful truth." Though somewhat simplistic, to me, this explains Mass Formation. It's human nature to turn from pain. So I was a bit surprised when discussions of Mass Formation were so loudly scorned in certain quarters, as if it were some bizarre, new "theory." Convincing ourselves that the Ruling Class has our best interests at heart, despite evidence to the contrary, is as old as humanity itself. And in most societies, the majority will resist recognizing that their Rulers have betrayed that sacred duty, to the bitter end. Then, out of fear and frustration, they vote in a Monster to "fix things," a dictator in some form who is usually far worse than what came before. I fear we're at that inflection point now; that even if the masses finally realize the Globalists only wish to enslave them, rather than constructively work to repair the broken system which allowed Globalists to dominate, they'll want a Strong Man to overthrow the system. This cycle has repeated many times throughout world history, and it appears to be leaning that way in many countries again, today. Much as I loathe what's happening now, if The Truth ever achieves critical mass, I anticipate what follows with some apprehension. The current reality is quite terrifying, but I suggest we avoid using the same "fear porn" to wake up the masses that mass media has employed to deceive them -- it could backfire. Frightened populations often choose, unwisely.

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Re. sliding doors: I thought that everyone but me had forgotten that film. Since you have not, you may find this podcast interesting (https://overcast.fm/+xYV_EVfmo). They talk about why multiverses have become a more popular subject for spec fic recently. (Essentially, another fig leaf for a reality without that pesky Designer and Sustainer who leaves His fingerprints everywhere in it.)

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In the early-mid '80s, my parents spent a small fortune to send me to what was, at the time, the top-ranked small liberal arts college in the country... several hours north of yours. :) (I semi-satirized it in my novel, bit.ly/CWS-p.) So, yes and amen to your observations on all of that. (My alma mater's "religion" department was infected and infatuated with Jacques Derrida. As those ugly-nonsensical flowers rot on the larger tapestry of our society, that makes me quite sad.)

But, closer to the point of your thorough and helpful piece here:

You will no doubt be familiar with the haunting verses in the Revelation (9:21 & 18:23) which, in the Greek, utilize the word "pharmakaeia". (Sounds like...) One must needs be careful with simplistic applications which present-ize scripture out of its original context and into ours, but the places where that same word, (Strong's G5331) appear in the Septuagint offer food for thought, as they are applied, first and foremost, to the doomed culture-of-death nation in that realm from which God's people were rescued: Egypt.

Which is all to say that, as an individual, or as a nation, looking to magic-seeming substances as founts of life is looking in the wrong place.

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Interesting connection fluoride to Prozac. Explains a lot. Thanks for pointing this out.

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My 93 y/o cousin died in 2017, a 50-year user of benzodiazepines. Her last 5 years were hell with physicians taking her on and off drugs, without care for withdrawals, and blaming her dementia for everything. It was horrible to watch. We can do better in this country. And the pandemic may be just what we need to disrupt the healthcare-government-pharma complex.

But I do believe in the better world Toby referenced at the beginning; we just have to work for it, do more for ourselves, and consider where taking health as an economic strategy and using personal wellness to create community regeneration could take us. Two friends and I have begun to explore this at https://livingwelllocally.substack.com/p/living-well-locally

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Toby, this is fantastic and your writing is poetry. I wrote about these subjects with the exception of fluoride and the author you referred to in the psych drug sections of Butchered by Healthcare, which has over 300 five-star reviews on Amazon. Your readers can get a free copy at https://dl.bookfunnel.com/4kliod8a9z. I read Kramer's book Listening to Prozac when it was published and was convinced. He must have been paid by Lily. Please make the time to come on my podcast. I'm at robertyoho.substack.com.

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If anyone wants to get the comprehensive scientific case against fluoride BY the ACTUAL EPA scientists over and above the prostituted administrators here is your go-to source. It is a devastating take-down of fluoride that absolutely parallels the Covid vaccines-- i.e. NO proven effectiveness and malignant, extreme harms (http://www.fluoridation.com/epa2.htm)

Here is what the EPA Union of scientists had to say about fluoridation:

Quoting from a May 1, 1999, statement— “Why U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scientists opposes artificial water fluoridation”—written by William Hirzy, PhD, [Union of Scientists] Senior Vice-President, Chapter 280:

“…our opposition to drinking water fluoridation has grown, based on the scientific literature documenting the increasingly out-of-control exposures to fluoride, the lack of benefit to dental health from ingestion of fluoride and the hazards to human health from such ingestion. These hazards include acute toxic hazard, such as to people with impaired kidney function, as well as chronic toxic hazards of gene mutations, cancer, reproductive effects, neurotoxicity, bone pathology and dental fluorosis.”

“In support of this concern are results from two epidemiology studies from China that show decreases in I.Q. in children who get more fluoride than the control groups of children in each study. These decreases are about 5 to 10 I.Q. points in children aged 8 to 13 years.”

“Another troubling brain effect has recently surfaced: fluoride’s interference with the function of the brain’s pineal gland. The pineal gland produces melatonin which, among other roles, mediates the body’s internal clock, doing such things as governing the onset of puberty. Jennifer Luke has shown that fluoride accumulates in the pineal gland and inhibits its production of melatonin. She showed in test animals that this inhibition causes an earlier onset of sexual maturity, an effect reported in humans as well in 1956…”

“EPA fired the Office of Drinking Water’s chief toxicologist, Dr. William Marcus, who also was our local union’s treasurer at the time, for refusing to remain silent on the cancer risk issue. The judge who heard the lawsuit he [Marcus] brought against EPA over the firing made that finding—that EPA fired him over his fluoride work and not for the phony reason put forward by EPA management at his dismissal. Dr. Marcus won his lawsuit and is again at work at EPA.”

“…data showing increases in osteosarcomas in young men in New Jersey, Washington and Iowa based on their drinking fluoridated water. It was his [Dr. Marcus’] analysis, repeated statements about all these and other incriminating cancer data, and his requests for an independent, unbiased evaluation of them that got Dr. Marcus fired.”

“Regarding the effectiveness of fluoride in reducing dental cavities, there has not been any double-blind study of fluoride’s effectiveness as a caries preventative. There have been many, many small scale, selective publications on this issue that proponents cite to justify fluoridation, but the largest and most comprehensive study, one done by dentists trained by the National Institute of Dental Research, on over 39,000 school children aged 5-17 years, shows no significant differences (in terms of decayed, missing and filled teeth) among caries [cavities] incidences in fluoridated, non-fluoridated and partially fluoridated communities. The latest publication on the fifty-year fluoridation experiment in two New York cities, Newburgh and Kingston, shows the same thing. The only significant difference in dental health between the two communities as a whole is that fluoridated Newburgh, N.Y. shows about twice the incidence of dental fluorosis (the first, visible sign of fluoride chronic toxicity) as seen in non-fluoridated Kingston.”

“John Colquhoun’s publication on this point of efficacy is especially important. Dr. Colquhoun was Principal Dental Officer for Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, and a staunch supporter of fluoridation—until he was given the task of looking at the world-wide data on fluoridation’s effectiveness in preventing cavities. The paper is titled, ‘Why I changed My Mind About Water Fluoridation.’ In it Colquhoun provides details on how data were manipulated to support fluoridation in English speaking countries, especially the U.S. and New Zealand. This paper explains why an ethical public health professional was compelled to do a 180 degree turn on fluoridation.”

“…mutation studies…show that fluoride can cause gene mutations in mammalian and lower order tissues at fluoride concentrations estimated to be present in the mouth from fluoridated tooth paste. Further, there were tumors of the oral cavity seen in the NTP cancer study…further strengthening concern over the toxicity of topically applied fluoride.”

“So, in addition to our concern over the toxicity of fluoride, we note the uncontrolled – and apparently uncontrollable – exposures to fluoride that are occurring nationwide via drinking water, processed foods, fluoride pesticide residues and dental care products…For governmental and other organizations to continue to push for more exposure in the face of current levels of over-exposure coupled with an increasing crescendo of adverse toxicity findings is irrational and irresponsible at best.”

“We have also taken a direct step to protect the [EPA] employees we represent from the risks of drinking fluoridated water…the union filed a grievance, asking that EPA provide un-fluoridated drinking water to its employees.”

“The implication for the general public of these calculations is clear. Recent, peer-reviewed toxicity data, when applied to EPA’s standard method for controlling risks from toxic chemicals, require an immediate halt to the use of the nation’s drinking water reservoirs as disposal sites for the toxic waste of the phosphate fertilizer industry.”

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