PUBLIC FORUM ON ANTIDEPRESSANT DRUGS
Established Risks,
Proven Alternatives

Speaker Biographys
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Karen Barth Menzies
Karen Barth Menzies is a partner of Baum Hedlund and heads the Los Angeles firm's SSRI Antidepressant Litigation Department. She filed the first Paxil withdrawal/dependence class action against GlaxoSmithKline, the makers of Paxil, in 2001, and has
subsequently filed cases in all 50 states.
Ms. Barth Menzies twice testified before the FDA Advisory Committee in 2004 regarding antidepressant-induced suicidality. And on numerous occasions, she traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress (from both the House and Senate) to discuss antidepressant safety issues.
As the most quoted attorney concerning the risks of antidepressants, Ms. Menzies has appeared in the news hundreds
of times, including Larry King Live, CNN, Fox News Channel, Good Morning America, MSNBC, USA Today, Wall St. Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times and The Guardian.
In the past year Karen Barth Menzies was named one of California Lawyer Magazine's "California Lawyers of the Year" and was among 10 lawyers in the nation named "Lawyer of the Year" by Lawyer's Weekly USA for her "Crusade for Suicide Warnings on Antidepressants." She was also chosen by The National Law
Journal to be included in their "40 Under 40" for her "extraordinary achievements" and "impressive track record" for "stepping up her fight in the past few years, advocating that pharmaceutical companies should warn about the alleged risks of antidepressant drugs."
Two Congressional hearings took place after Ms. Barth Menzies' 2004 appearances on Capitol Hill, wherein Congress interrogated the heads of antidepressant manufacturers and the FDA using documents provided to Congress by Ms. Barth Menzies. These Congressional investigations exposed a number of wide-ranging problems, not only with respect to the risks posed by these drugs, but also generally, the negative influence of the pharmaceutical industry on clinical research and FDA laxity. Black box warnings have since been issued for children and adolescents, as well as a public health advisory concerning the suicide risk in adults. In addition, the FDA has instituted plans to "strengthen the safety program for marketed drugs." As a result of Ms. Menzies' efforts, along with victims, doctors, consumer advocates and FDA whistleblowers, public safety has been greatly improved. She has also testified before the California State Senate regarding antidepressant drugs and suicide.
Baum Hedlund represents dozens of suicide and/or suicide attempt victims and their families across the country involving Zoloft or Paxil and thousands of Paxil withdrawal/dependence cases from every state. Among the many antidepressant drug product liability cases the firm has handled, Baum Hedlund represented the widow of 1960s rock star, Del Shannon, in a Prozac-induced suicide case, and the family of comedian Phil Hartman and his wife, Brynn in a Zoloft-induced murder/suicide case. Ms. Barth Menzies also co-defended, pro-bono, 15-year-old Christopher Pittman in a high-profile Zoloft-induced murder case in South Carolina in February, 2005.
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Julia Ross, MA, MFT
Julia Ross, M.A., M.F.T. is a pioneer in the field of nutritional psychology and the author of The Diet Cure (Penguin, 2000), which has sold over 150,000 copies in the US, UK and Australia, and The Mood Cure (Penguin, 2002), AlternativeMentalHealth.Com's "Book of the Year" and finalist for the prestigious "Books for a Better Life" Award. Ross a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has founded and directed seven treatment programs for mood problems, eating disorders and addictions in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1980. She is now Executive Director of the Recovery Systems Clinic in Mill Valley, California. Since founding the clinic in 1988, Ross and her team of psychotherapists, nutritionists, naturopaths and other holistic physicians have developed an innovative treatment model incorporating individualized nutrient therapy and biochemical rebalancing.
Ross lectures nationally and has taught at several universities since 1994, including the graduate departments of John F. Kennedy University in California and National University of Health Sciences in Illinois. She has made standing room only presentations at the American College for the Advancement in Medicine Conference and for Grand Rounds at Portland's National College of Naturopathic Medicine.
Ross's work has been featured in such publications as the Journal of Molecular Psychiatry, Journal of the Division of Humanistic Psychology, Psychology Today, and Alternative Medicine. A frequent guest expert on radio and television, her alternative methods for treating depression have been featured on NBC news programs throughout the country.

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Beth McDougall, MD
Beth McDougall, MD is Medical Director of the Clear Center of Health, a Mill Valley holistic medical center that she founded in 2002. Trained extensively in both Western Allopathic Medicine and Complementary Alternative Medicine (CAM), Dr. McDougall has dedicated her career to bridging these two disciplines. In addition to Integrative Medicine, she specializes in a number of conditions and methods, including Mood Disorders, Detoxification Strategies, Functional, Metabolic, Orthomolecular and Nutritional Medicine, Natural Hormone Balancing, Food Allergies, Environmental Illness, and Longevity Medicine.
In the past year, Dr. McDougall has worked with Julia Ross and others to develop an intravenous nutrient therapy to minimize discomfort for patients withdrawing from antidepressants, benzodiazepines and opiate (pain) medication. This technique combines targeted amino acids along with high dose Vitamin C and other vitamins and minerals that have been found for many years to be useful for detoxification.
Dr. McDougall graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1991, Magna Cum Laude. She completed medical school and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Minnesota. While in Minnesota, she organized educational CAM symposia for the allopathic medical community, planned interdisciplinary health science curricula on CAM, and helped start a department that coordinates research, clinical services and education in the areas of spirituality, cross-cultural medicine and CAM at the University of Minnesota. For these and other efforts Dr. McDougall was named "Student of the Year " by the American Holistic Medical Association.
Dr. McDougall has also studied the basic tenants of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, China and has obtained advanced training in Nutritional Biochemistry and the emerging field of Functional Medicine with Dr. Jeffrey Bland.

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Antidepressant Forum Informational Links
• Antidepressant Forum
• Sponsor Information
• Effective Alternatives to Antidepressants: Background and Research
• Antidepressant Drug Risks: Side Effects, Lawsuits, Studies and Government Warnings
• SSRI Withdrawal Support

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Antidepressant Forum Sponsored by Safe Harbor,
Hawthorn Health & Nutrition Institute,
The Recovery Systems Clinic and
Clear Center of Health
For further information click on the links above or call
The Recovery Systems Clinic at (415) 383-3611