MISSD is very excited to announce its most recent awareness campaign; signage on CTA busses and trains! MISSD signage will be advertised on 100 trains and busses in the Chicagoland area. We would like to thank YOU, as it is the attention and donations to MISSD that make this important programming possible with the ultimate goal to prevent needless deaths.  We hope this signage will reach an even bigger population and create more awareness about medication-induced reactions and akathisia.

Other commonly prescribed drugs are now being linked to mental health side effects.

https://www.theindychannel.com/news/call-6-investigators/fda-warns-of-antibiotics-mental-health-risks-years-after-purdue-university-student-s-death

We wanted to share a powerful story we received all the way from Australia. Maria found MISSD’s website and reached out to us. We are so grateful our message has reached international attention and hope these stories will further our efforts of raising awareness. Thank you, Maria, for writing in to MISSD.

Hi MISSD,

We lost my brother (50yrs old) last year in 2017, in a similar circumstance to Stewart Dolin. Unfortunately the Coroner does not understand the link between the medication that was increased the day before my brother died.

My brother was a popular and successful husband and father of 2 boys who took pride in his health. He went to a Dr (general practitioner – GP) due to stress from his work who prescribed an anti-depressant and 9 days later he tragically took his life.

He had difficulty sleeping, became more agitated and restless and developed suicidal thoughts 2 days before he died. A psychologist and another GP (at the same medical practice as the original GP) did not recognise his symptoms but instead recommended the dose of his antidepressant be increased.

Despite knowing he had been researching ways to kill himself he was sent home to his wife and boys. No one told him not to go to work despite his behaviour and he tragically took his life the next morning at his workplace.

I work in health care and cannot understand that our mental health system is so inadequate and the dangers of SSRI antidepressants are not recognised. For anxiety and work-related stress to cause you to take your own life just does not make sense. Further, my brother did not have thoughts of self-harm until days after commencing the medication however no one recognised that this could be due to his medication not worsening illness.

Thank you for you great work and I was so pleased to read that someone has been able to fight a pharmaceutical company for damages with success. Glad someone is exposing this terrible side effect and you have gained some power for the vulnerable people who need advocacy.

Kind regards,

Maria Boyle

MISSD board advisor Kim Witczak is mentioned in the article below.

https://kellybroganmd.com/the-violence-inducing-effects-of-psychiatric-medication/

Medication side effects making the Chicago nightly news on NBC 5.

https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/common-medications-may-increase-depression-risk-for-adults-1255227971697

A very interesting article in The New York Times about medication and side effects.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/well/prescription-drugs-depression-suicide.html?mabReward=ACBMG2&recid=15xkZiqRzsCwRZXLSvO1rSS3vFU&recp=0&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&region=CColumn&module=Recommendation&src=rechp&WT.nav=RecEngine

Looking for a way to support MISSD with your purchases? If you go to Amazon Smile, a percentage of proceeds from your purchases on Amazon will go to MISSD. Just make sure you chose MISSD as the organization you would like support. You must go to Amazon Smile to place your order and not the regular site. Please read the link below with some more details. As always thanks for your support!

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/chpf/about/ref=smi_aas_redirect?ie=UTF8&pd_rd_r=31075a6c-69df-4bb8-90bb-2954ee7794e1&pd_rd_w=fb7Lo&pd_rd_wg=oBmXo&qid=1527343791&ref=sxts_snpl_3_0_6837998325425784793

Please join No Shame On U on WEDNESDAY, MAY 16th at 7:30pm at AMC Village Crossing in Skokie for our screening of Suicide: The Ripple Effect. The film chronicles the story of Kevin Hines, who at age 19 attempted to take his life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Since then, Kevin has been on a mission to use his story to help others stay alive and find recovery.

MISSD Founder, Wendy Dolin will be participating in a discussion panel after the movie.

Tickets: https://gathr.us/screening/22726

MISSD executive board members attended, the LOSS Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, 27th Annual Blossoms of Hope fundraiser on April 29.  The organization was founded by Father Rubey, who is pictured below, with MISSD founder Wendy Dolin and executive board member Nikki Carvelli.