EVIDENCE·FILE
LAST UPDATED 21.09.2026
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EVIDENCE FILE

THREE GUILTY PLEAS.THEY PAID $7 BILLION.

Four companies. Four psychiatric drugs.
Target: elderly people with dementia, and children.

These are not allegations. They are three guilty pleas filed in United States federal courts and one $520 million civil settlement, death warnings issued by the FDA, and clinical trials shown to have reported the opposite of what their own data said. This page sets them out with a citation to the primary source for each — and separates clearly what is proven from what is still under genuine scientific dispute.

1,800 additional deaths a year, in one country alone. Not from the drugs in the cases below — from antipsychotics given to older people with dementia, in ordinary clinical use. Estimate by the UK Department of Health, 2009 — see the full finding in Part B. And in the United States, the first criminal prosecution for distributing Adderall by telemedicine through a digital health company led in 2026 to a first-instance sentence of 72 months in prison for the founder — an appeal is pending; Part A.

$3.0bn
GLAXOSMITHKLINE · 2012
PAROXETINE TO ADOLESCENTS
$2.2bn
JOHNSON & JOHNSON · 2013
RISPERIDONE IN DEMENTIA
$1.4bn
ELI LILLY · 2009
OLANZAPINE IN DEMENTIA
$520m
ASTRAZENECA · 2010
QUETIAPINE · CIVIL SETTLEMENT

How to read this page

The problem with the material circulating on social media is not that all of it is false. It is that it mixes court-documented fraud with claims that do not hold up — and in doing so discredits both. Every finding here carries its standard of proof:

COURT RECORD

A guilty plea or court settlement. The company admitted it.

REGULATOR

A formal decision by the FDA, EMA, MHRA, NICE or a government review.

PEER-REVIEWED

Published research that is widely accepted in the literature.

DISPUTED

Live scientific disagreement. Both sides are presented.

UNVERIFIED

A circulating claim for which no primary source was found. Listed with the gap stated.

CONTENTS

Ten sections, each documented on its own

Every section stands alone, with its own sources. Start with whichever concerns you.

PART A Courts $7bn in fines and settlements Three companies pleaded guilty in US courts to illegally promoting psychiatric drugs, and a fourth settled a civil case. The target was always the same: elderly people in institutions, and children. Read this section → PART B Regulators 1,800 extra deaths a year, one country The most serious findings do not come from critics of psychiatry, but from the FDA, the MHRA and government-commissioned reviews. Read this section → PART C The research +32% inflation of the apparent benefit Doctors read the published literature. When that literature has been filtered, their decisions are contaminated without their knowing it. Read this section → PART D Children 81.7% of antipsychotics outside approved use In 2013 a company paid $2.2 billion for promoting an antipsychotic to children. What changed since — the answer came in 2025. Read this section → PART E Greece +67% antidepressants, 2015–2024 The Greek data exist and come from the national prescription database. One of the findings overturns the usual narrative. Read this section → PART F Open questions 15% or 55%? the withdrawal dispute Here the science has not settled. Anyone presenting the following as resolved — in either direction — is misinforming you. Read this section → PART G Long term 35% remission in STAR*D, not the 67% reported STAR*D cost the NIMH $35 million and reported 67% remission. Reanalysing the patient-level data under the original protocol gave 35.0%. Read this section → SEDATIVES & SLEEPING PILLS Sedatives 2–4 weeks: the approved duration of use Xanax, Lexotanil, Stilnox, Lyrica: drug by drug, what the regulators have already acknowledged about dependence at the standard dose. Read this section → UNVERIFIED Unverified 5 claims that do not stand as evidence A page that only publishes what suits it does not deserve trust. Here is what I could not prove. Read this section → LINKS Links 10 independent bodies, each labelled I am not asking you to believe me. Here are bodies working on the same subject, independent of this page — some of whom disagree with each other. Read this section →

What this page does not say

The following circulate alongside everything above and are not supported by the evidence. Mixing them in with the documented material is exactly why the real scandal fails to get a hearing:

The scandal is not that psychiatric drugs exist. It is that they were sold on manipulated data, to populations that did not need them, for far longer than was ever approved — and that the people taking them today in good faith pay the price in the distrust they meet.

PRACTICAL

What to do with all this

  1. Change nothing today. No decision to stop a medication is made from a web page. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.
  2. Write down your list. Every drug, dose, since when, who started it — including anything you take without a prescription. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.
  3. Ask how long. If you have been on a sedative or hypnotic for more than four weeks, that is the question to ask. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.
  4. Ask for a stopping plan, not for stopping. A gradual reduction under supervision, at a pace set by your symptoms rather than the calendar. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.
  5. Ask about a non-drug option. For chronic insomnia, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-I) is recommended as first-line treatment, ahead of hypnotics. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.
  6. If it concerns an elderly parent, ask separately. That is where the largest documented risk sits — and where the question is almost never asked. Always with communication, monitoring and proper guidance from your treating doctor.

Frequently asked questions

Short answers based on the text of this page. The sources for every figure are listed below.

Is it dangerous to stop tranquillisers abruptly?

Yes. Abruptly stopping benzodiazepines after prolonged use can cause seizures and delirium, which can be fatal. Discontinuation is done by gradual reduction under medical supervision, at a pace set by symptoms. Do not stop any medication on your own.

How long were benzodiazepines actually approved for?

For short-term use: 2 to 4 weeks in total, including the tapering period. The recommendation comes from the UK Committee on Safety of Medicines (1988) and was incorporated into European product information.

How many people get antidepressant withdrawal?

The science has not settled. A meta-analysis of 79 studies with 21,002 patients (Lancet Psychiatry 2024) gives roughly 15% as the drug-attributable difference. A 2025 reanalysis (Psychological Medicine) restricted to trials using structured assessment gives 55%, or 25–39% after subtracting the placebo effect. Both sides agree that stopping should be gradual.

Have pharmaceutical companies been penalised for promoting psychiatric drugs?

Yes. GlaxoSmithKline ($3 billion, 2012), Johnson & Johnson (more than $2.2 billion, 2013) and Eli Lilly ($1.4 billion, 2009) pleaded guilty; AstraZeneca paid $520 million in 2010 in a civil settlement, with no guilty plea. In all four cases the promotion targeted elderly people with dementia or children, for uses the FDA had not approved.

What did the STAR*D reanalysis find?

STAR*D, funded with $35 million from the NIMH, reported cumulative remission of 67% after up to four antidepressant treatments. A 2023 reanalysis of the patient-level data using the study's own original protocol found 35.0% (BMJ Open 2023;13(7):e063095). The original investigators dispute this and published a reply.

The sister fileFor the practices themselves — Leros and the CPT reports, restraint, involuntary detention, the DSM, ghostwriting — there is a separate file built to the same sourcing rules.

psychpractices.org →

Written by Petros Chatzianastasiou
I am not a doctor. Every claim cites its primary source. Any step you take with your own treatment, always in consultation with your treating doctor and under their monitoring and guidance.

About this site →

All sources

The full list of 99 sources. Each section repeats only the ones it cites.

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