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Section 13B(a)(ii)

 

Gail Bell's book The Worried Well and Rebekah Beddoe's book Dying for a Cure

Essays like Gail Bell's The Worried Well and medical journal reports attest that these drugs, without a support network often render the ill person materially worse off, particularly people who were experiencing only mild Depression.

 

Australian, Rebekah Beddoe's, recently released book "Dying for a Cure: A memoir of antidepressants, misdiagnosis and madness" provides a personal account of an ambitious, successful career woman who was prescribed anti-depressants, after being diagnosed with post natal depression.  Rebekah rapidly transformed into chronic psychiatric patient. Two years after being prescribed an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) by her GP, Rebekah was taking six different drugs, including lithium, a tranquilliser, an antipsychotic, and anti-depressants.  She had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder; given electric-shock therapy; made numerous attempts on her life; and was alternately manic and consumed by crippling despair during which she could barely move.  Another legacy is Type 1 Diabetes.  Rebekah's book, Dying for a Cure, and listening to her lucid, coherent accounts when interviewed on ABC Radio in early April is patent testimony that not all people suffering a bout of Depression can take an SSRI, and many more should not without an effective support network.  Yet 12 million are prescribed annually in Australia.