Stephen’s Voice

29/12/2025

25/12/2025

In the UK, a group of about 30 medical experts and politicians discovered that “Rising antidepressant prescribing is not associated with an improvement in mental health outcomes at the population level, which, according to some measures, have worsened as antidepressant prescribing has risen.” They called for a reversal in the rate of antidepressant prescribing (de-prescribing) which includes, stopping the prescribing of antidepressants for mild conditions for new patients, proper informed consent and regular review of harms, as well as funding and delivering a national 24-hour prescribed drug withdrawal helpline and website.

25/12/2025

"The light of the holiday season has dulled since you passed away. May your spirit shine bright this Christmas."

Remembering our friends and family not with us today 🕯

23/12/2025

Christmas can be joyful for many, and painfully heavy for others.

We hold space for those living with iatrogenic illness, those struggling after harm from prescribed drugs, and those carrying the unimaginable grief of losing a loved one to medication-induced su***de.

If Christmas feels quieter, lonelier, or harder this year……you are not failing it. You are surviving it.

Stephen’s Voice exists because truth matters, because harm must be named, and because no one should suffer in silence or be dismissed. Even in the darkest seasons, connection, honesty, and compassion still light the way.

This Christmas, may you feel less alone.
May your pain be believed.
May remembrance sit beside hope.
And may the light return……gently, in its own time.

With solidarity,
Stephen’s Voice 💜

21/12/2025

We’re continually expanding our film library with powerful new additions media around prescribed harm. Recent releases include:

- In Praise of SSRIs with Professor David Healy

- The Best Way to Avoid Antidepressant Withdrawal with Dr Anders Sørenson

- The Therapist’s Role in Deprescribing Psychotropic Drugs with Dr Anne Guy and Angela Peacock, MSW

Explore the world’s largest curated online collection dedicated to prescribed harm, antidepressant risks, recovery, and real-life experiences. From expert talks and breaking news features to personal stories and full-length documentaries, there’s always something new to discover.

👉 Start watching here: https://www.antidepressantrisks.org/library

19/12/2025

( Trigger Warning )

I remember how much I loved to listen to music. The sheer excitement of your favorite songs gripping your emotions in a way that seemed almost intoxicating.

Music has the power to take you away to another place or hypnotize you from all the pain and troubles of this world. Music also heals the heart, or tears it into a thousand pieces. It can be like medicine or it can sting like poison. But either way, music used to be a place I would run to for relief.

An escape from reality.

But 2019, for me, “was the day the music died.”

Everything I enjoyed died. The thought of listening to music while in throes of akathisia would be torture to my already inflamed mind.

The thoughts of what I used to be before akathisia would always be there as fiery needles to remind me of a place I would never return.

Twisting, tightening and groaning for hours on my bed. Convulsing and violently vibrating as the volts and currents of electricity pulsated through my entire body. At times I would be so uncomfortable and exhausted that I would get up at 3am in the morning to sprint around my neighborhood to blunt the hellish energy trapped inside of my trembling brain and body.

The most bizarre part of it all was I was that no one really cared or even understood what I was going through. I couldn’t explain to them that I was terrified and needed to get out of this situation as soon as possible before it kills me. I would pace the floor, rock back and forth, tears streaming down my face as my family just stared in disgust and dismay.

The music died, my family died, my friends all died, my job died, my dreams died, I died. There’s no other explanation that makes sense! What else could I say?
What else could I do. The doctors didn’t know what to do, the psychiatrists didn’t know what to do.

No one had any answers. I was left alone to suffer my fate. When I opened my mouth to try to explain, one would need a translator to be able to understand the jolted broken gibberish coming out of my trembling lips. I would always choose to retreat. Hu**ed up, slouched over, wheezing and shaking back to my bedroom. Many times I would choose the corner floor of my room where the dog usually slept to finish out the day. Panicked into a fetal position I would lay there until the next day.

This will never end. I’m stuck like this forever.
At least I thought. And slowly, very slow I began to heal. Until one day I got out of bed as one rising from the dead. Crawling out of my coffin under the sweet rays of the morning sunshine.

I finally healed. I was alive again. The music was there waiting for me again. But there is no sweeter melody than being set free from the slavery of akathisia.

- Jeff Rose

19/12/2025

Diethylstilboestrol (DES) was a medication commonly prescribed to prevent miscarriage, between 1946 and 1971.

DES went through years of extensive trials before it was approved by the FDA

It wasn’t until almost 30 years later that it’s adverse effects fully came to light and it was subsequently banned.

An estimated four million women in the United States alone took DES while pregnant.

DES can cause a wide range of serious health problems and not only affected the women taking it but their unborn children, including intergenerational infertility.

Anyone who was exposed to DES needs special healthcare, even if they are not having any obvious health problems.

Further links and image credit in the comments ✅

15/12/2025

1 in 100 people taking Sertraline may have suicidal thoughts and behaviours.

For a lot, these thoughts were never there before the medication.

Can you imagine how many people in your country are on this antidepressant.....how many then that this might affect?!

It seems this info was quietly updated on some patient information leaflets, with no warning given publicly or to prescribers (that we are aware of)

Previously, it was 1 in 1000.

We are trying to get to the bottom of why this was changed. Why it seems there are variations in some of the information leaflets. Why the risk was increased.

Were there more clinical trials? Were more adverse events reported by patients? We just don’t know yet but we will find out!

With the amount of people on antidepressants at an all time high and su***de rates ever increasing, this is a very worrying development.

If people were made aware that this is a very realistic side effect from the outset, including prescribers and other mental health professionals, then maybe more lives would be saved.

AWARENESS SAVES LIVES 💜

𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘶𝘱𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘬.𝘰𝘳𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳. 𝘉𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴.

14/12/2025

“𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝟏𝟏 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐛𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐝. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠: ‘𝐦𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐲, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞’.”

𝐕𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐃𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥.𝐨𝐫𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐚𝐲: “Prescription rates for mood and anxiety disorders increased regionally and for the most and least deprived areas between 2019 and 2023, with the rate in the most deprived areas two-thirds higher than in the least deprived areas.

The statistics also showed that in 2021–23 the su***de mortality rate in the most deprived areas was almost three times the rate observed in the least deprived areas, with the gap widening over the analysed period. Northern Ireland already has higher levels of mental illness and su***de rates than other parts of the UK, a trend that is not showing any signs of declining.

Meanwhile, Stormont’s 10-year Mental Health Strategy has now been scaled back due to a lack of funds.”

(Link to full article in comments)

We want to sincerely thank Mary for everything she continues to do, despite the devastating loss of her only son. To carry such grief and still fight for other families takes extraordinary strength. Her advocacy is rooted in lived experience, and that matters more than any policy paper.

Stormont doesn’t necessarily need more funding or yet another strategy to tackle su***de …..it just needs to LISTEN!! To parents. To families. To communities. To those who have watched their loved one deteriorate while being passed through a system that too often defaults to medication over care.

Many families are raising serious concerns about over-prescribing, medication-induced su***de (when the medication itself causes su***de, a known “side effect”), polypharmacy, and the harm this can cause when distress is medicalised rather than understood. These voices are not anti-medication - they are asking for help.

If we are serious about reducing su***de, listening to people like Mary must come first.

?

14/12/2025

By that definition......we guess we are then 🙋🏻‍♀️

‼️Sertraline was invented and developed by scientists at Pfizer.

‼️Pfizer intentionally misrepresented/manipulated its trial data results in the U.K. to get its product approved.

https://samizdathealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Holmes-Appendix-1-Efficacy-Data.pdf

‼️ Pfizer was made to pay $2.3 Billion for Fraudulent Marketing

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-largest-health-care-fraud-settlement-its-history

‼️1 in 100 people taking Sertraline may experience suicidal thoughts/behaviours which weren’t there before, which can and does lead to su***de in some cases

(this is actually outlined in the Patient Information Leaflet which was quietly updated from a risk of 1 in 1000 to 1 in 100 - a significant increase in risk wouldn’t you think??)

‼️But for taking Sertraline, we know Stephen would still be alive today.

💜 Rest in peace to all those killed by medication-induced su***de 💜

A totally preventable and avoidable death caused by lack of transparency from Pfizer and lack of understanding and awareness in our medical system.