This article by Dr. Peter Gøtzsche has been published by Mad in America. It begins:
“Tuva Andersson was 37 years old when she committed suicide in 2019 in her apartment where she lived alone in Sweden. Her mother, Karina Hjelm, wanted me to tell her story hoping it might prevent other tragic and unnecessary deaths. She also needed an expert report to be used for her complaint to the prosecutor about serious medical malpractice. This summary is based on my 60-page report.
Tuva suffered from anxiety. This should have been handled by psychosocial interventions. Instead, she was exposed to professional incompetence, gross medical negligence, malpractice, stigmatisation by a variety of fluffy, ever changing, and unspecific diagnoses, and polypharmacy which included forced treatment with a depot neuroleptic that made it impossible for her to withdraw from it.
During the last year of Tuva’s life, her psychiatrists took away her hope of ever leaving psychiatry and becoming better. This is the worst thing a psychiatrist can do to a patient, as it increases the suicide risk dramatically.
Tuva ended up being at very high risk of suicide. She had nothing to live for, and yet the psychiatrists’ only concern was to continue to write prescriptions for drugs that harmed her. When she had difficulty concentrating and focussing or had other issues, the psychiatrists consistently ascribed this to her psychiatric ‘illness,’ not to their drugs, in contrast to some alert nurses.
Tuva would likely not have died if the psychiatrists had not ignored her observations, wishes, and crucial questions. She so much wanted to come off her drugs, and she did not get the psychotherapy she requested repeatedly, which would likely have saved her life …”
You can read more from here.
