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Dodging Abilify

Reading up on Abilify told me its side effects were no joke. Like other antipsychotics, it blocked certain dopamine receptors; unlike them, it was a “partial agonist” or stimulator for others. While this made it less likely than Zyprexa or Seroquel to cause obesity, diabetes and sedation, some patients were still plagued with all three. Moreover, “less sedation” had a nasty catch: Abilify caused lots of akathisia, an agonizing mental and physical restlessness that can lead to suicide. The official FDA leaflet said that 10-12% of patients experienced akathisia and an incredible 25% had “agitation,” which I figured was either a layman’s word or a polite euphemism for the same thing.

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 Abilify from the Inside Out

I was glad I had dodged Abilify, and a bit spooked to see how close I’d come to being taken in. To see the entire medical profession falling for it made me really scared—and angry. “Not really an antipsychotic?” Gimme a break. “Little baby doses?” Not really. “True happiness”? Good luck! My doctors’ best arguments turned out not even to be their own – just marketing pitches they’d absorbed without realizing it, possibly sold as Continuing Education. There might be a legitimate use for this drug somewhere, but we’d never find out with marketing in the saddle and medicine trailing behind. Everything, from the drug’s name to the “scientific” studies, seemed built around the sales pitch.

 This Pill Tells Your Doctor if You Didn’t Take It. But Whom Is It Really For?

And though Abilify MyCite is marketed as a way to improve patients’ ability to remember their meds, there’s not actually any evidence it does that. (I reached out to Otsuka for comment twice in the course of my reporting to ask them about this and other concerns experts raised in this piece, but never received a response.) If people have a hard time remembering to take a pill daily, it seems like a big ask to require them to change their patch every week, make sure their phone is connected to that patch via Bluetooth, and track their other symptoms in-app.

Articles of Interest

Understanding Abilify (Aripiprazole): A Comprehensive Guide

Abilify stands out in the psychiatric medication landscape due to its unique mechanism of action as a partial agonist at dopamine (D2) and serotonin (5-HT1A) receptors, rather than blocking these receptors outright. This nuanced approach allows it to modulate neurotransmitter signaling in a more balanced manner, enhancing or inhibiting as necessary, which has led to its characterization as a "Goldilocks drug."

A popular autism drug for children isn’t as safe as its label indicates

A decade’s worth of data suggests that the makers of Abilify haven’t been forthcoming about its side effects.

Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and Me

I nicknamed Abilify “the fear drug,” because of the unbelievably severe and debilitating anxiety side effects I developed all throughout the treatment. From the very moment I got on Abilify, I lived my life in constant fear of everything, even my little dog and air! I would become paralyzed with fear even when I walked outside to get the mail.

Abilify, Tourette Syndrome and You

In our efforts to get our story told, raise awareness about the dangers of antipsychotics, and fight for better treatments for Tourette’s Syndrome and its associated conditions, it was important to get our voice heard at the FDA. When we first discovered that a clinical trial called the Archer Study was seeking FDA approval of Abilify for the treatment of Tourette Syndrome, we were horrified and realized that we had to do something to stop it! This was the very drug that disabled me and made us realize just how awful the treatments for TS are!

Digital mental health drug raises troubling questions

As a society, we should be moving away from a technologically centered framework for treating mental health and toward one in which patients’ interests and agency are positioned at the center of care. This requires a more critical analysis of how the global pharmaceutical industry has taken over mental health care and what kinds of cyborg-like people they are trying to make through their products.

Exploring The Worst Side Effects Of Abilify

Abilify exerts its effects by binding to specific receptors in the brain, such as dopamine D2 and serotonin 5-HT2A receptors. By interacting with these receptors, Abilify alters the activity of these neurotransmitters, which in turn affects the overall neurotransmission in the brain. These neurochemical changes are believed to contribute to the therapeutic effects of Abilify but may also lead to the occurrence of side effects.

FDA Warns Antipsychotic Drug Can Cause Compulsive Sex and Gambling

The FDA said that the compulsive behaviors stopped when users went off the medications, which suggests a close correlation. While these drugs already warn that gambling may be a side effect, the agency announced it had just become aware that compulsive sex, binge eating and shopping might also be associated with the drug.

FDA Warns of Rare Impulse Reactions to Abilify Medication

The drug is prescribed for a range of mental disorders.

First Digital Pill Approved to Worries About Biomedical ‘Big Brother’

While ethical for “a fully competent patient who wants to lash him or herself to the mast,” he said, “‘digital drug’ sounds like a potentially coercive tool.”

How this antipsychotic became America’s best-selling drug

So how did the drug rise to the top? Regulations and advertising may have played some part. Scientists found in a 2006 National Institute of Mental Health study that augmenting an antidepressant with another antidepressant or medication can help patients overcome major depressive disorder. In 2007 the US Food and Drug Administration approved Abilify as an add-on drug to treat major depressive disorder. That set off a huge advertising campaign, which has raised questions about the accuracy of its explanations as to what the drug does.

Patients given aripiprazole ‘should be told of gambling addiction risks’

Expert urges greater monitoring of side-effect of drug used to treat depression, psychosis and schizophrenia.

The Once and Future Abilify: Depot Injections for Everyone?

This column is partly a report on the marketing of Abilify, the atypical antipsychotic that has become America’s best-selling drug. It’s also an appeal for advice and feedback from the RxISK and Mad in America communities, and a call for some brainstorming about strategy. The plans laid out by drugmakers Otsuka and Lundbeck for Abilify’s future, and the cooperation they’re getting from leading universities, are alarming enough to me that reporting on them seems inadequate. We need action, although I’m not sure exactly what kind.

Resources

Abilify Maintena

ABILIFY MAINTENA® (aripiprazole) is a once-monthly* maintenance treatment for bipolar I in adults that may help keep your bipolar I symptoms stable.

StatPearls

Aripiprazole is a medication used to manage and treat schizophrenia, mania associated with bipolar I disorder, irritability associated with an autism spectrum disorder, disjunctive therapy in major depressive disorder, and Tourette syndrome. It is a second-generation antipsychotic medication.