I was very much involved in this and related threads with Dr. Aftab, but during the course of the discussion about the very offensive meme that came after this particular discussion, Dr. Aftab blocked me.

Did I get personal? You bet I did. Because I objected to repeatedly being patronized and labelled a conspiracy theorist and an "idealogue." My experiences and those of the community of hundreds of thousands of harmed victims are real.

When I asked Dr. Aftab what he does when a patient reports harm, he said he "listens" and then weighs their complaints against "clinical research." He said something to the effect of he "might not believe them." It all depends what the DRUG COMPANY FUNDED research says is "real."

As Robert Whitaker points out here, the APA statement on efficacy is inaccurate to say the least. But this is indeed the leitmotif that Dr. Aftab and others like Jonathan Stea repeat ad nauseum: "But so many people have been helped" while ignoring comments about harm.

Saying "I am sorry that happened" while saying nothing about any need to stop prescribing certain meds or admitting that this is a serious problem, much an ubiquitous epidemic, in the same discussions that label critics of psych meds as "conspiracy theorists" is demeaning.

As someone who has personally witnessed the nightmarish suffering that these drugs cause and the demeaning ignorance of the mental health system, and as someone who fortunately escaped a tiny, month-long course of Paxil with only a few terrifyingly violent nightmares...

I am physically and emotionally in a position to actively fight for change, unlike so many victims who struggle for years just to survive due to the neurological and other physical harm they experienced after being told the drug their doctor recommend was "safe and effective."