The word "shrink" means: To make smaller. Psychiatric pharmaceuticals can destroy the brain, by attacking the cells in the nervous system.

Countless medical studies by researchers have definitively shown that the use of "neuroleptic" psychiatric drugs, known as antipsychotics, is associated with structural changes and damages to the brain. Changes in brain cells and damages to the brain structure more often than not result in dysfunction of the neurotransmitters. These are chemical compounds or substances that are responsible for carrying, transferring, and processing, impulses (messages or signals) in the brain. This nervous system dysfunction can result in psychosis, including visual and auditory hallucination, delusion, and paranoia. Those drugs are also prone to result in neuromuscular disorders, with symptoms that include:

• Muscle weakness that can lead to twitching, cramps, aches and pains

• Muscle loss

• Involuntary muscle movement

• Loss of balance

• Numbness, tingling and burning sensations

• Droopy eyelids

• Double and blurry vision

• Trouble swallowing

• Trouble breathing

• Death

Scientific article: Neuroleptic (antipsychotic) drugs may cause cell death.

This medical research revealed that the neuroleptics (also known as antipsychotics) may not only shrink the brain, but cause actual cell death. People diagnosed with dementia have been found to be particularly susceptible to brain cell damage caused by the use of antipsychotic medication or neuroleptics.

Neuroleptic psychiatric drugs apparently impact brain cell numbers.

Here’s a follow-up study to the other study of monkeys given neuroleptics (see related content below), “Effect of Chronic Exposure to Antipsychotic Medication on Cell Numbers in the Parietal Cortex of Macaque Monkeys”

A Conversation With Nancy C. Andreasen

The New York Times reports an extremely important discussion with psychiatrist and neuroscientist Nancy C. Andreasen. In he conversation, Prof. Andreasen speaks out about her findings that neuroleptic psychiatric drugs (also known as “antipsychotics”) are leading to significant brain atrophy — or shrinkage — in patients.

A new study piblished in the Los Angeles Timesfinds that one the fastest-growing classes of prescription drugs in the United States is linked to shrinkage in the brains of those who take it, raising some new questions about the widening use ofantipsychotic medications.

Ron Unger: Latest News on Brain Tissue Shrinkage from Antipsychotic Drugs

Ron Unger, chair of MindFreedom Lane County affiliate, is a full time mental health counselor, who has raised concerns about the way the neuroleptic or “antipsychotic” psychiatric drugs have been linked to shrinkage of brain tissue.

Medical articles on neuroleptic brain damage

These are a few of the many mainstream medical articles indicating that using neuroleptic psychiatric drugs (also known as antipsychotics) can lead to significant structural brain damage.

Archives of General Psychiatry: Neuroleptics Shrink Brain Volume

An article in the February 2011 Archives of General Psychiatry, “Long-term Antipsychotic Treatment and Brain Volumes” by Ho, Andreasen, et al. describes a study that points to antipsychotic drugs as a major cause of brain shrinkage. The study found that over 7 to 14 years, “More antipsychotic drug treatment, including duration and intensity, was linked to greater declines in brain volume. Severity of disease, alcohol and illegal drug use had no effect.”