On July 25, 2017, Fredrik Hieronymus et al published a meta-analysis in Molecular Psychiatry. The study is titled Efficacy of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in the absence of side effects: a mega-analysis of citalopram and paroxetine in adult depression. Elias Eriksson, PhD, Head of the Department of Pharmacology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, is the principal… Continue Reading
The FDA: The Fox Guards the Hen House
In their Fall 2013 issue, the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics published a symposium of papers by members of the Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. The symposium was called Institutional Corruption and Pharmaceutical Policy. The symposium focuses on pharmaceutical products generally, but all the material is relevant and important in the context… Continue Reading
Sluggish Cognitive Tempo – A New Diagnosis?
On April 11, 2014, journalist Alan Schwarz (brief bio here) published an article in the New York Times on this topic, titled Idea of New attention Disorder Spurs Research, and Debate. Alan has written extensively on the rising rates of the condition known as ADHD, and on the abuse of the drugs that are used… Continue Reading
Revitalizing Psychiatric Therapeutics?
In January of this year, Steven Hyman MD, former Director of NIMH and currently a leading psychiatric researcher at MIT and Harvard, published Revitalizing Psychiatric Therapeutics in Neuropsychopharmacology. The article is in the journal’s commentary section and is essentially an opinion piece. Here’s Dr. Hyman’s summary: “Despite high prevalence and enormous unmet medical need, the… Continue Reading
CAFÉ Study: Real Science or Marketing Exercise?
BACKGROUND On December 8, I received the following question from a reader: (The subject matter is the controversial CAFÉ – Comparisons of Atypicals in First Episode of Psychosis – study. This was the study in which Dan Markingson committed suicide.) “It appears that there was no head-to-head with a control group taking a placebo pill…. Continue Reading
U of Minnesota Faculty Senate Vote To Review Dan Markingson’s Death
In 2004, 26-year-old Dan Markingson committed suicide. Since then, numerous concerns have been expressed about the events that led up to his death. In particular, it has been claimed that he was coerced into the CAFE study, and that he was too delusional to understand what was involved. It has also been reported widely that… Continue Reading
Neuroleptics for Children: Harvard’s Shame
In December 2012, Mark Olfson, MD, et al, published an article in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The title is National Trends in the Office-Based Treatment of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Antipsychotics. The authors collected data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys for the period 1993-2009, and looked for trends in antipsychotic prescribing… Continue Reading
Jon Rappoport’s Blog
If you haven’t seen Jon Rappoport’s blog, please take a look. Here are two quotes from his September 22 post, Psychiatry targets college students for destruction: “The concept called ‘mental disorder’ is a sales pitch backed up by extraordinary PR, money, academic gibberish, and government-granted official status.” “People need to wake up to the fact… Continue Reading
Pharma Mobilizing Consumer Groups Over Drug Trials Data
There was an interesting article Big pharma mobilising patients in battle over drugs trials data in last Sunday’s Guardian, a UK newspaper. It was written by Ian Sample, the Guardian’s science correspondent. Here are the two opening sentences: “The pharmaceutical industry has ‘mobilised’ an army of patient groups to lobby against plans to force companies… Continue Reading
The CAFE Study: Dr. Lieberman’s High Moral Ground
BACKGROUND The CAFE Study, conducted by Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, et al between 2002 and 2005, has been the subject of much comment. Carl Elliott, in particular, has written extensively on the matter, including his article The Deadly Corruption of Clinical Trials in Mother Jones. In order to address the issues involved in the CAFE study, we… Continue Reading
Pharma Payments to Psychiatrists
On March 12 of this year, the Los Angeles Daily News ran an article by Susan Abram titled: Doctors report big pharma payouts for drug endorsements. It discusses the financial ties between physicians and drug companies in California. Here are some quotes: “In fact, hundreds of physicians, psychiatrists, and medical school faculty members across California… Continue Reading
Postpartum Depression Not an Illness
BACKGROUND The primary purpose of the bio-psychiatric-pharma faction is to expand turf and sell more drugs. This is a multi-faceted endeavor, one component of which is disease mongering. This consists of using marketing techniques to persuade large numbers of people that they have an illness which needs to be treated with drugs. With regards to… Continue Reading
Pharma’s Subtle but Pernicious Marketing
Alice Keys, MD, has recently written a short article for Mad in America. You can see it here. Dr. Keys points out that to maintain a medical license, one must accumulate continuing education credits, and that these credits have to be approved by state licensing boards. It’s widely known that pharmaceutical companies have largely hijacked… Continue Reading
Lab Tests for Psychiatric Disorders – More Promises
I’ve recently come across (courtesy of Tallaght Trialogue) an article in Current Psychiatry (Feb 2013) on this topic. The author is Henry A. Nasrallah, M.D., and you can see it here. Dr. Nasrallah, who is Editor-in-Chief of Current Psychiatry, states that there are 273 bio-markers for schizophrenia. But wait. Dr. Nasrallah goes on to say:… Continue Reading
Lancet Gene Study
Yesterday (February 28) the Lancet published a study called “Identification of risk loci with shared effects on five major psychiatric disorders: a genome-wide analysis.” The study was conducted by the Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) was formed in 2007. Its purpose is “…to undertake meta-analyses of genome-wide association… Continue Reading
More Thoughts on Dr. Novella’s Articles
This post is a continuation of my post Steven Novella M.D. and Mental Illness Denial. In Mental Illness Denial Part I, Dr. Novella makes the point that various parts of the brain enable us to do certain things, and that if we are doing these things dysfunctionally, or not well, or perhaps not at all,… Continue Reading
Childhood Bipolar Disorder
Prior to about 1994, childhood bipolar disorder was virtually unheard of. DSM-III-R (1987), in the section on manic episode, states, “…studies indicate that the mean age at onset is in the early 20s. However…a sizable number of new cases appear after age 50.”(p 216) Of course a mean age of onset in the early 20’s… Continue Reading
Corruption of Research by Drug Companies
At present the pharmaceutical companies are responsible for testing the effectiveness and safety of their own products. In recent years there have been numerous reports of dishonest practices in this area, including suppression of unfavorable results and massaging of data to create the impression that a drug is more effective than is actually the case…. Continue Reading