An interview with Dr Roger McFillin, a radically different clinical psychologist.

8.6 million people in England were prescribed antidepressants in 2022 to 2023. This is the double the number since 2011. Can you explain this increase, the motivations driving the overprescription of psychiatric drugs and the problems attached to them? Are human emotions being misdiagnosed as mental illness?

We are witnessing the effects of mass conditioning amongst western societies to medicalise the human condition in efforts to increase the customer base for psychiatric drugs. Financially, it’s a numbers game for the pharmaceutical executives. The more people identifying with “mental illness”, the more pills they can sell. It's a profit-driven initiative, and the pharmaceutical companies are beholden to their shareholders, not to our collective well-being.

Let's face it, being human is not easy. We're all dealing with our fair share of fear, grief, sadness, distress, and tough times. The promise of a quick fix is really enticing. To boost the sales of psychiatric drugs, the pharmaceutical industry deployed a sophisticated and multi-faceted strategy.

The notion of "biological depression" caused by a chemical imbalance of specific brain chemicals was a marketing campaign that manipulated people into perceiving these inherent struggles as genetic and beyond their control. This, in itself, undermines our ability to understand and cope with these experiences. Paradoxically, this increases emotional distress and raises the likelihood that people will feel worse.

They aligned with academic psychiatry to push this narrative of biological depression by recruiting prominent academics as thought leaders, essentially turning them into paid spokespeople. These influencers are ghostwriting scientific papers, authoring medical textbooks, and presenting at major medical conferences. They go on media tours and misrepresent the science to support the use of pharmaceutical drugs. It's a strategic alliance that has effectively shaped the discourse around mental health.

Psychiatry, once considered a fringe medical specialty, strategically transformed the narrative around mental and emotional suffering. By framing these challenges as brain disorders treatable within the allopathic medical system, they successfully legitimised themselves as physicians. This shift in perspective positioned psychiatry within the mainstream medical landscape, garnering recognition and acceptance within the broader healthcare community.

Pharmaceutical ad dollars exert a massive influence on media, shaping the narratives we encounter and emphasising drug-centric solutions while marginalising alternative perspectives. The surge in psychiatric drug prescriptions can be traced directly to their concerted efforts to integrate these drugs into general family medicine practices. Now most antidepressants are prescribed by GP’s.

By funding major medical organizations and influencing treatment guidelines, they’ve misrepresented the safety and efficacy of antidepressants. In the United States, pharmaceutical sales professionals wield significant power, shaping physicians' understanding of scientific findings. The harms of these drugs are downplayed or kept from practicing physicians, while potential benefits are exaggerated.

The outcomes have been nothing less than catastrophic. SSRI’s and SNRI’s (antidepressants) carry significant and potentially fatal consequences. They create drug dependence, more than double the risk of a suicide event, worsen the long-term severity and chronicity of depression, and inducing debilitating side effects such as Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD). In some cases, they induce manic episodes, psychosis, and violent behavior.

The notion that human emotions are mere symptoms of an undetectable neurochemical deficiency is a manipulative tactic designed to erode our rational thinking, resilience, and coping capacities. The full spectrum of human emotions are powerful messages, representing opportunities for transformation.

While acknowledging that human suffering, depression, and fear can indeed pose genuine challenges, how we frame these experiences is crucial to our ability to overcome them. It's not a denial of the biological dimension—every thought, memory, perception, and experience influences our body. Our diet, relationships, sleep, sun exposure, health and willingness to exercise all contribute to our mental well-being. Yet, mental health has been deliberately oversimplified to mass-manipulate people and drive the sales of these drugs. It's a reductionist approach that diminishes the richness of the human experience for the sake of profit-driven pharmaceutical interests.

Moreover, within the highlighted years, we are witnessing a rapid transformation in the functioning of modern society, propelled by the advancements in the internet, social media, and smartphones/technology. Our adaptation to this technological surge has presented challenges, leading to a more sedentary, isolated lifestyle, where we are increasingly immersed in a virtual world. The repercussions of this shift have notably impacted the decline in mental health.

There are two potential consequences of SSRIs that I heard about recently which I found very shocking.

First, the connection potential connection between SSRIs and mass shootings. Mass shootings in the US are recent phenomenon, although there have always been guns in the US. Antidepressants are known to increase the risk of violence and suicide. Can you explain the potential connection with the proliferation of SSRI drugs?

Second, the ‘A’ in the LGBTQIA* spectrum is also a modern phenomenon. Do you think SSRIs could be one of the causes of the growth in asexuality?

It's true that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) have been associated with an increased risk of suicide and violence. Antidepressants can induce agitation, anxiety, irritability, mania, psychosis, and even lead to violence and suicide, in people with no history of suicide or violence. There is no question and the scientific literature supports these findings.

Drug regulatory agencies worldwide have issued warnings about the potential for increased violence and suicidal thoughts linked to these medications. There is established case law holding pharmaceutical companies liable for wrongful death, with internal documents clearly demonstrating the link between SSRIs and these adverse effects. Many mass shooters were found to be on at least one psychiatric drug.

Antidepressant drugs are recognised for their potential to induce emotional numbness, extending even to the genitals. They have the capacity to decrease or entirely eliminate libido, modify sexual attraction, and hinder the ability to achieve orgasm.

This condition, known as Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD), is potentially permanent and has affected an unknown amount of patients worldwide. There is a dire need for further research with growing attention on this issue being driven by harmed patients.

The mass prescribing of these drugs to adolescents during critical stages of sexual development must be recognised as a causal factor in asexuality and problems with sexual health. Ignoring the potential dangers of these drugs and their possible connection to this phenomenon would be a disservice to those affected. To deny this link would be to ignore the clear dangers of these drugs, the growing community of patients experiencing PSSD and the rapid rise of this phenomenon in lockstep with these prescriptions.

I am most proud of my children and the commitment my wife and I have made to raising them. I am proud of who they are becoming and the potential they have to contribute positively to society. In my opinion, our younger generations will face unprecedented challenges, and it will be essential for them to exhibit courage, compassion, and critical thinking to help steer society in a better direction.

From a career perspective, I am proud of my determination to challenge the dominant narrative, speak the truth, and uphold my commitment and ethical code as a clinical psychologist. The Radically Genuine Podcast helps serve this mission.

I believe my most significant achievement will be in the future, as I am dedicating my efforts to better inform the general public about the potential harm of psychiatric diagnoses, medications, and the misrepresentation of science that can undermine our health, autonomy, and medical freedom.

The majority of people still struggle to comprehend that psychiatric diagnoses are not discrete, legitimate medical conditions supported by a scientific consensus. For example, there is no identifiable medical condition called ADHD. I receive a lot of backlash for my commentary on ADHD.

Despite a growing number of individuals identifying with this purported disorder, it remains a social construct rather than a genuine illness. There is a pervasive societal influence leading people to believe that every struggle, difficulty in focusing, memory lapse, or impulsive behavior is tied to an elusive brain ailment termed ADHD. This narrative appears to be a tactic to promote the sale of stimulant drugs and erroneously label the expected variations in skills, interests, personality, and behavior among individuals as pathological.

While there may be legitimate reasons why someone might exhibit problems with focus, attention, impulsivity, or behavioral problems, these reasons are NOT due to having ADHD. ADHD as a broad label provides no explanatory value. The real reasons why people experience these symptoms can range from poor parenting, screen addiction, nutrient deficiencies, environmental toxicity, worrying, anxiety, traumatic stress, drug use, head trauma, or an infinite number of other possibilities. ADHD is a prime example of how susceptible the masses are to conditioning. It has become a collective delusion. One that prevents the actual investigation into someones struggles and instead promotes stimulant drugs.

The biggest epiphany I had was during the COVID pandemic as I was examining decades of research on SSRI's and engaged in discussions with other experts around the globe. I discovered that the same manipulation of data and marketing playbook was being used to mass condition people into believing that mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations were safe and effective. This realisation made me more aware of the sophisticated and successful strategies employed by the pharmaceutical industry to manipulate scientific findings to support their interests.

As a result of my epiphany during the COVID pandemic, I became more aware of the "sick care industry" and how toxic food, fear provocation, disease mongering fuel dependence on drugs. Big food and toxic chemicals fuel a sickness that drives the use of pharmaceuticals and other medical interventions. Basically, the sicker we are the richer they are.

Executives in pharmaceuticals, food, chemicals, biotech, petroleum, and finance wield significant control over world governments, influencing health recommendations disseminated to the public. In many instances, these recommendations are less grounded in sound and accepted science and more shaped by the interests of these powerful industries.

Unveiling the inner workings of this system and understanding how rules are crafted to support these industries has been frightening. Whether it's the approval of drugs by government regulatory agencies, the classification of diseases, the strategic promotion of "science," the shaping of medical education, or the formulation of policies – it all intricately weaves into what can be described as a sick care model.

If you could rewind a few decades, would you choose a new career, or would you do something differently?

Hindsight is often crystal clear, they say. Yet, in retrospect, I wouldn't alter my chosen path. It seems as though I was destined to become a clinical psychologist, and every facet of my work brings me immense joy and a profound sense of purpose and meaning. While I do wish I had acquired more knowledge earlier on, I recognize that it's the journey itself that has allowed me to get to this stage and I look forward to the adventure ahead.

I consider medical freedom a pivotal issue of our era, and in light of my current understanding, it seems we're treading a perilous path where global governments might mandate medical interventions on their citizens. Any legislation safeguarding bodily autonomy and medical freedom would, in my view, be of utmost importance and merit top priority.

I learned about the historical context and adverse effects of hormonal birth control and its role as an endocrine disruptor, its role in depression, and potentially contributing to the development of autoimmune conditions, cancer, and various other detrimental health effects. This is a crucial aspect often overlooked by psychologists and healthcare professionals when women present with depression, anxiety, thyroid disorders, PCOS, and autoimmune disease.

Additionally, I find quantum mechanics and psychoneuroimmunology utterly fascinating, recognising their potential to revolutionise humanity. The intersection of these fields holds the promise of unlocking profound insights that could reshape our understanding of the mind-body connection and advance our collective well-being. My interest and connection to greater spiritual concepts continues to grow and I am becoming more educated in how findings in quantum physics can support various forms of energy healing and the continued expansion of human consciousness.

I am in the process of starting a non-profit organisation to align conscious and ethical healthcare professionals and mental health specialists. Our bold mission is to cultivate a community where individuals and families engage with ethical mental health specialists and healthcare professionals dedicated to upholding the principles of informed consent, medical freedom, and respect for personal autonomy. In the face of widespread ideological and industrial deception, we aim to provide access to a spectrum of science-based health information across disciplines, empowering people to make informed decisions about their mental health and overall well-being.

Roger K. McFillin, Psy.D., ABPP is a Clinical Psychologist, writer, and host of the internationally popular “Radically Genuine Podcast with Dr. Roger McFillin". He is Board Certified in Behavioral and Cognitive Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and specializes in the treatment of post traumatic stress, eating disorders & those struggling with anxiety, mood and chronic suicidal behaviors. Dr. McFillin is an outspoken critic of the psychiatric diagnostic system, prescription drug culture, harmful treatments and the misrepresentation of science in healthcare.

Sunshine- vitamin D- is the only effective medication for clinical depression which includes the cyclical manic depression. In England with its raininess and low angle sunshine(which is shared by New York on about the same latitude) vitamin D supplements will cure most if not all clinical depression. I have watched apparently radical transformations of the mental state of now numerous people by taking vitamin D3 supplements or by , in the summer, just getting sun on bare arms every day. In the southern tier of States that sunshine is effective for a longer part of each year. Antidepressants “cure” depression by cutting off access to emotion at both ends of the scale and makes for emotionless people with an elevated rate of suicide.

The dream of the Pharm industry is to have everyone on some kind of pill...preferably those they still have a patent on.

Not to worry...they will find a new better pill if the patent time has run out...and so it goes...

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