Thread by @samhall404

🧵1/ The @JAMAPsych antidepressant WD paper by @sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael & others was supposed to reinforce psychiatry’s party line. It set out to downplay withdrawal, blur it with “relapse” and reassure clinicians it’s “mild and brief.” Instead, it detonated.

2/ The strategy was clear; blur withdrawal with relapse, present a sanitised version of reality and hope patients stayed quiet.

3/ They didn’t. Harmed patients and clinicians who actually see the damage dismantled the study in real time. The backlash was so fierce the authors and their cheerleaders seem to have spontaneously combusted from X 💥

4/ Imagine the emails in the days after release:
“We underestimated pushback.”
“Do we respond or ignore?”
“Better to go quiet.”
Silence suddenly became the safest strategy 🤫

5/ That silence is deafening. You don’t disappear when you’re confident in your science. You disappear when lived reality exposes your distortions.

6/ @sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael et al. wanted to close the book. Instead, they opened it wider. The quiet on here says everything; their narrative cannot withstand scrutiny.

@sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael 7/ People aren’t tolerating pharma spin anymore. The bullshit is transparent. The knockout blows are now coming from patient advocates dismantling these weak, biased studies 🥊

@sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael 8/ Let’s not forget; the conflicts of interest behind this paper are extensive. When industry ties meet minimisation of harm, silence isn’t science, it’s self preservation.

@sameerjauhar @GemmaLewis13 @kalfas_michael 9/ That’s why I’m bringing it up again, and will continue to until these people are exposed for the frauds they are. We’re not letting those who stood on the wrong side of history fade into silence. They will be remembered as perpetrators of mass harm.