October: National Akathisia Awareness Month?
It’s no secret many health-related organizations deploy special awareness months to gain media coverage that promote strategic goals. It seems autumn is a particularly busy time of the year for such given September was Suicide Prevention Awareness month and October is American Pharmacists
month.
There’s no shortage of advocacy organizations and months designated to wellbeing, but few are specifically focused on adverse drug effects despite that they are a
leading cause of death. One reason this public health concern is barely an audible whisper is because safe patient and consumer advocacy organizations seldom have big corporate donors and large marketing budgets.
While public health and safety organizations don’t readily attract corporate sponsors, there is something authentic advocacy increasingly does have: a growing network of concerned citizens, caregivers, healthcare professionals, patient advocates, and friends and family dedicated to creating positive change. Recently I was fortunate to see old friends and hundreds of new faces at the MISSD annual fundraising event. I’ve noticed every year the turnout increases and MISSD might soon need a larger event space. This is one challenge nonprofit foundations surely welcome.
MISSD, which stands for the Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention and Education Foundation in Memory of Stewart Dolin, has had a busy year filled with worthy accomplishments. For all the below reasons, MISSD gets my vote for October as National Akathisia Awareness month.
Making Akathisia A Household Word
To better educate the public about akathisia, this year MISSD:
· Created a free, accredited Akathisia 101 continuing education course available to all at missd.learnupon.com
· Rolled out a strategic public awareness campaign to include large signage on Chicago buses and trains
· Presented at several national and local conferences, universities, veteran’s groups, etc.
· Released a public service video to help illustrate what Akathisia sometimes looks like, particularly in severe cases
Wendy Dolin (right) with her sister, Marcy
At their annual conference in Toronto last week, the International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry (ISEPP) announced Wendy Dolin, MISSD Founder, is the recipient of this year’s ISEPP Special Achievement Award. The award is intended for a professional or non-professional who has made a significant specific contribution to challenging the conventional mental health system.
It’s great to see efforts to create akathisia awareness and education are valued. Far too many people have learned about akathisia the hard way, but through public education and increased awareness we can prevent avoidable suffering and deaths.
ISEPP Special Achievement Award Citation:
Wendy Dolin is a therapist and activist who founded MISSD, which is an acronym for Medication Induced Suicide in Memory of Stewart Dolin. Stewart was Wendy’s husband of 36 years and a successful senior member of the international defense firm, Reed Smith in Chicago. In July 2010, one week after being prescribed paroxetine for work stress, Stewart ended his life by jumping in front of an oncoming train. This started Wendy’s painful search for an answer and her mission to educate the community about medication-induced suicide. She discovered that the drug company GlaxoSmithKline had been concealing the suicide risk associated with paroxetine and so launched a lawsuit. In March 2017, a jury concluded that the drug manufacturer failed to warn about the suicide risk and awarded Wendy $3 million in damages. However, an appeal court just recently overturned the ruling. Wendy will be petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Wendy’s outstanding efforts to uncover the harmful effects of psychiatric drugs and her devotion to her husband’s memory is inspiring and warrants the receipt of ISEPP’s Special Achievement Award.”
Kristina Kaiser Gehrki
