THERE were some recent thought-provoking articles about the efficacy of antidepressants, which also addressed the idea that some people were being shamed for taking them.

I have nothing but empathy for those who have taken and who are currently taking antidepressants.

These people have gone in search of help to address whatever troubles they have been or are experiencing, and have instinctively placed their trust in those granted a license to prescribe antidepressants.

But are these people being given the opportunity to make a fully informed decision about the drugs?

Giving a person or a parent the opportunity to make a fully informed choice is of paramount importance, especially when an ever-growing list of effects includes, but is not limited to violence, aggression, suicidal thoughts and suicidal behaviour.

Armed with this information, it is testimony to the psychiatric spin doctors, their impressive marketing techniques and propaganda that people continue to take the pills.

Assuming the person is informed and accepts all of the liabilities linked to the drugs, another tripwire is the idea of a "chemical imbalance."

It's the notion that there's an imbalance of chemicals in the brain and that the antidepressant drug corrects the imbalance.

It's a notion that has generated billions for pharmaceutical companies, but which has never been scientifically validated.

If there's any shaming to be done, it should be aimed at the psychiatric industry and drug manufacturers, the unholy alliance that puts business above real medicine and which perpetuates illness rather than finding a cure.

Brian Daniels, National spokesperson, Citizens Commission on Human Rights