ABOUT ME

As mentioned in my Overview of ZAPPED BY PROZAC, I am not a medical doctor and do not have a graduate degree in any medical discipline. However, my peers have always considered me to be a pretty smart guy. I attended a major university on a full academic scholarship, and graduated from law school at the age of 23. Before I was devastated by Prozac, I could write 50-page appellate legal briefs primarily from memory and with virtually no outline--a fairly impressive ability in the legal business.

One might wonder why anyone should listen to anything I have to say about Prozac, other antidepressants and psychiatric drugs, psychiatrists, Big Pharma and the other subjects covered in ZAPPED BY PROZAC. That is a legitimate question. Again, as already mentioned, I begin my answer with the assertion that my greatest asset and most legitimizing qualification is that I am not a medical professional. I have not been brainwashed and duped by Big Pharma and the psychiatric profession, like the vast majority of the medical community. I live and think outside the exclusionary bubble that blocks medical people from acknowledging the dark side of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs. Only the prevailing views perpetuated by the drug-makers and drug-pushers are allowed to penetrate this bubble. Once inside, these views are usually trapped for decades. They control the minds of all bubble dwellers, notwithstanding that they may be dead wrong. The history of medicine is replete with examples of prevailing medical views or theories that were later proven to be absolutely erroneous. One such example is the current view espousing the safety and efficacy of antidepressant drugs foisted on the public, particularly the new-generation SSRIs and SNRIs.

Most doctors and other health care professionals know very little about the dangers of antidepressant drugs, and next to nothing about illicit street drugs. I know and understand far more about these drugs than all the doctors I have ever seen put together. I was the Administrative Director and then Executive Director of a busy drug crisis center and free health clinic for nearly two years in the 1970s. I attended and completed two national drug abuse conferences of two or three days each. I was immersed in the “hippie” counterculture for more than 15 years. I dealt with people who used every street drug imaginable. In the vernacular of that culture, I have “street cred”--something completely lacking in the medical profession. I understand that cocaine, LSD, PCP, Ecstasy and amphetamine are all potent serotonergic drugs, as are Prozac and virtually all other antidepressant drugs, particularly those marketed in America. I know that all of these drugs present pervasive problems of serotonin toxicity. They are all related--all members of the same toxic serotonin family that I refer to as the “toxic serotonin continuum.”

From 1988 until 1992, I placed my trust in psychiatrists and the medical profession in general to help me recover from some chronic pain and a mild depression. They all failed me. In fact, they violated the first and most sacred rule of medicine: “Do no harm.” By the time I realized in 1992 that they were literally destroying me, it was too late. However, I resolved to find out what I needed to know to save my life. Consequently, I have spent the last 18 years researching and studying antidepressant drugs, other psychiatric drugs, the psychiatric profession, Big Pharma, the FDA and the medical profession in general. I have been to the medical library of a major university hospital more than 60 times. I have researched and read hundreds and hundreds of medical journal articles, along with many medical books and pharmacopoeias. I have photocopied hundreds of articles and documents; and amassed a fairly impressive personal library of information regarding the subjects of my book. I have communicated many times with eminent authorities in the U.S. and Europe regarding the safety and efficacy of psychiatric drugs, particularly new-generation antidepressants. I have spent literally thousands of hours on the Internet researching psychiatric drugs and searching for any therapies or treatment options that might help me.

For all of the above reasons, I believe I know what I am talking about, and indeed have become a self-educated expert. I am also well acquainted with one of the foremost authorities in Europe on the dangers and risks associated with new-generation antidepressant drugs. He considers me to be an expert, and has written the Foreword to ZAPPED BY PROZAC.

My hope is that ZAPPED BY PROZAC will be judged to be an informative, well-written and thought-provoking book. It is the 20-year memoir of a victim and survivor of antidepressant drugs and psychiatry, yet it contains invaluable medical and scientific information, some of which will not be found anywhere else. It is all bound together by the knowledge gained from my own personal experiences and 18 years of extensive research and study.

I think you will find ZAPPED BY PROZAC an interesting read.

B. R. Madison

Home | Overview of ZAPPED BY PROZAC | About Me | Download Free Ebook