On this episode of America’s Lawyer, Mike Papantonio talks about the numerous lawsuits pending involving antipsychotic medication Abilify (aripiprazole). Then he reviews a pathetic $4.5 million settlement from an Arizona drug company that has caused overprescription of an addictive narcotic, and this has been compounded by medical insurance policy. Ordinary people are queuing up for this drug, and it may take years for their endorphins to resurrect. Then Farron Cousins investigates why corporate air polluters are being waived from paying pollution fines. Neutrino: With regard to Abilify, it became a popular new antipsychotic because it was less likely to cause obesity than most of the antipsychotics and it lacked the 'negative' 'parkinsonian' side-effects of most. I could immediately see how it might combat obesity, because patients seemed not to be able to stop moving. It was a kind of akathisia, but it didn't seem to bother them. They were impelled forwards as it were, but that was a relief to those who had suffered the negative side effects of inertia, stiffness, and ambivalence, which are also symptoms of schizophrenia. I am not surprised, however, to hear that Abilify has been linked to new compulsive drives, like gambling. The anti-parkinsonian drugs have also been linked to such bizarre changes in character. It takes imagination to realise that the mind is connected to the body and the biochemistry of the brain is fundamental to the personality.
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