Author: blackfordnewman

Three years ago, I found myself in a mental hospital in London. I looked down and saw welts on my arms where I had torn my skin apart. There was a mirror in the tiny room where I’d spent most of the last 5 weeks going through agonizing cold turkey from being taken off 5 antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. I stood on the metal bed and struggled to recognize my body beneath the hospital gown. I used to be a keep-fit fanatic. Now I was about 40 pounds heavier. But that was the least of my problems. I had a…

The following is an excerpt from Katinka Blackford Newman’s book, The Pill That Steals Lives, which will released on September 15. My ex-husband Robert and I have been separated for 8 months and we’re barely on speaking terms. All night I’ve been lying awake with terrible heart palpitations, an unnamed anxiety, a feeling of inexorable doom and need for antidepressants. I’ve been feeling strange for two days now, ever since I went to see a psychiatrist near Harley Street. I visited him in desperation after I hit a wall of gloom on realising we had to sell our family home…