Big Pharma

“A large study of pregnant women diagnosed with a mood or anxiety disorder and conducted by investigators at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston showed about a1.5-fold increased risk for postpartum hemorrhage associated with all classes of antidepressants and not just selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs).”

“Our study suggests that all classes of antidepressants are associated with an increased risk of abnormal bleeding,” the investigators write.”

Biochemical Mapping Helps Explain Who Will Respond to Antidepressants

Posted July 18, 2013 science News

Chemical changes are measured as people become less depressed yet the article shows no proof that antidepressants caused the changes. Where is the double blind study?

Ingestion sensors track psychiatric medication adherence

Posted July 31, 2013 Journal of Clinical Psychiatry

The future of psychiatry and voodoo medicine if given a chance? Embedded sensors are the latest money making scheme being conceived.

Is Big Pharma Addicted to Fraud?

Posted Forbes July 29, 2013

Can they treat this behavioral disorder (addiction to fraud) with a drug? The insignificant fines paid are just the cost of doing business. (Editor)

Big pharma mobilizing patients in battle over drugs trials data

Posted The Guardian, July 21, 2013

Some drug companies gearing up to fight against transparency.

Antidepressants and School Shootings: Doctors Write Prescriptions for Murder

Posted June 29, 2013 News with Views.com

Excerpt: ‘Harvard psychologist Dr. Joseph Glenmullen discussing SSRIs said: “We don’t know what these drugs are doing to real life human beings. When you look at all the documents, you see a pattern of misleading doctors who then unwittingly mislead patients. This is a betrayal of the public trust in physicians behind the scenes by the drug industry and it must stop.”’

Visit this site also for links to “Holistic, non-toxic approaches to mood enhancement “

Drugs and Doctors: Little Clinic Says No to Big Pharma

Posted Kitsap Sun July 15, 2013

Slow news week but interesting tidbit- Doctors at a small clinic take a principled approach to drug pushers. Also some good information overall about how drugs,expensive, even harmful ones, are marketed, by health reporter Markian Hawryluk.

More Challenges to Drug “Research”

Posted NYTimes.com June 30, 2013

“EARLIER this month, Dr. Doshi opened what he hopes will be a new chapter in his quest for greater understanding of clinical trials. He and several other researchers published what amounted to an ultimatum to drug companies: publish your data, or we’ll do it for you. ”

What Doctor’s Don’t Know About the Drugs They Prescribe

Posted June 2012 TEDMED (Posted here July 4, 2013)

Perhaps the most engaging lecturer in medicine, Dr. Ben Goldacre opens up about pharmaceutical malfeasance and how it creates Doctor’s who do not have the knowledge to make informed decisions. I drove 40 miles to hear and pay for a similar lecture. Here it is available for all and well worth it as he gets right to the relevant points and supports them profoundly. The TEDMED website is also quite interesting. (Editor)

It’s easier to simply believe

Posted The Sandusky Register Ruth Haag Jul 2, 2013

This is the issue most ignored perhaps because the implications are the most profound. SSRI’s may be the missing link explaining all these weird violent episodes that society never experienced to this degree in the past. An intelligent discussion which begs answers and more serious consideration. (Editor)

More than 1 in 10 Take Antidepressants

Posted CNN Health June 25, 2013

11% over the age of 12 take antidepressants. The rate of depression has doubled in the last 15 years – antidepressant use up 400% since the late 1980′s. Is there a connection between SSRI use and chronic depression? This article from an associate professor of psychiatry does not address that. Instead they make the case that social ills and lifestyle problems have occurred at the same time as the availability and heavy marketing of SSRI’s. (Editor)

America’s Epidemic of Psychiatric Over-Diagnosis

Posted Daily Beast June 21, 2013

“The next time you’re in a crowded room, look around. A scary percentage of the people in the room with you are suffering from a mental disorder. Or at least that’s what we’ve been led to believe, …………….”

America’s Depression Diagnoses Epidemic and How to Fix It

Posted Daily Beast March 30, 2013

A new book reveals why a third of Americans convinced themselves they’re depressed—and what we can do to get sensible diagnoses. Historian Edward Shorter speaks to Jesse Singal about depression hysteria.

In his new book How Everyone Became Depressed: The Rise and Fall of the Nervous Breakdown, the University of Toronto historian of psychiatry Edward Shorter takes aim at the what he sees as the massive overdiagnosis of depression in America.

Overselling Psychiatry

Posted Reason Magazine July 2013 Issue

“Allen Frances, former head of the Duke University School of Medicine’s psychiatry department and a man The New York Times once called “perhaps the most powerful psychiatrist in America,” was chair of the APA task force for DSM-IV (issued in 1994). Frances has become the loudest and most influential public voice questioning the DSM’s latest revamp.”

Who Should Take Antidepressants?

Posted June 14, 2013 The Atlantic

James Hamblin, MD finds much to question re: psychiatry and the diagnosis of depression. For example, a recent study at Johns Hopkins found that more than 60 percent of adults who were diagnosed by their doctor as having depression actually did not meet the official diagnostic criteria for the disorder upon re-evaluation by Hopkins psychiatrists. Some of them may have been prescribed antidepressant medications when their real problem was something else entirely.”

Bad Diagnosis For New Psychiatry ‘Bible’

May 31, 2013 1:00 PM NPR RECORDED DIALOGUE

Three experts including one from the APA, and the NIMH discuss DSM (and psychiatric) shortcomings.

Antidepressants in Bipolar Disorder: No Benefit, Possible Harm

Posted May 30, 2013 Medscape News from the APA 2013 Annual Meeting

“The reason clinicians persist in prescribing antidepressants in this patient population when the evidence suggests they confer no benefit is unclear. However, Dr. Warner speculated that it may be due to the fact that there are so few effective treatment options for this severely ill population.”

“After controlling for anxiety, they found that patients who were discharged while receiving venlafaxine were 3 times more likely to be readmitted compared with those who did not receive an antidepressant at discharge or those who received other antidepressants “

Some Antidepressants May Raise Gastro Risk

Posted 2013 WebMB

Editor- Remeron and Prozac doubled the rate of infection of the potentially deadly Clostridiuum difficile infection. WebMD characterizes this as ‘may raise gastro risk’.

The Problem With Psychiatry, the ‘DSM,’ and the Way We Study Mental Illness

Posted Pacific Standard Magazine June 3, 2013

“Psychiatry is under attack for not being scientific enough, but the real problem is its blindness to culture. When it comes to mental illness, we wear the disorders that come off the rack.” How cultral prejudice influences the DSM.

Teen smartphone addiction correlates with psychopathology

Posted Clinical Psychiatry News June 3, 2013

“Recess traditionally has been a time for kids to run and play between classes, but only five or six students were playing soccer during this lunch break. The rest were gathered in clusters by the bleachers next to the soccer field, looking at smartphones.” And the answer is – more drugs??

Gender Separation in Psychiatry

Posted Medical Press June 3, 2013

Female patients show better results when grouped with other females- feel safer.

Is the new ‘bible of psychiatry’ a weapon for the courts?

Posted www.theverge.com May 28, 2013

“While the DSM’s text is introduced with a caveat that it’s only to be used for clinical, educational, and research purposes, the book has another key application: It’s often used as a way to make decisions within governing bodies, in court, and in the criminal justice system.”

Medical Marijuana: Big Pharma’s Campaign to Eliminate State-Sanctioned Cannabis Competitors?

Posted Global Research May 20, 2013

“In a study conducted by Reiman, 66 percent of patients used cannabis as a substitute for prescription drugs while 68 percent used cannabis as a subsitute for prescription drugs to treat chronic illness. And 85 percent of patients reported that cannabis had fewer side effects than other prescribed medicine”

Big Pharma Wants Fish Oil After All,………..

Posted May 28, 2013 www.thestreet.com

Illness risk following rapid versus gradual discontinuation of antidepressants.

Posted August 2010 National Institute of Health US National Library of Medicine

The recurrence risk for depression or panic was much shorter after rapid than after gradual discontinuation of antidepressants. These findings have implications for both clinical management and the design and interpretation of clinical trials.

Antipsychotics linked to sudden cardian death risk

Oregon Health and Science University ongoing study

Posted Clinical Psychiatry News May 24, 2013

“Both the second-generation as well as the first-generation antipsychotic agents proved independently associated with greater than threefold increased risks of sudden cardiac death, according to results from a large, population-based study.” Olanzapine (Zyprexa), risperdal implicated. Abilify- not a large enough control group studied. All classes seem to imply the same risks of SCD- sudden cardiac death.

Study: Vitamin B could curb dementia

Posted Market Watch wall Street Journal May 24, 2013

More disappointing news for pharma investors and industry insiders. Doctors discover Vitamin B at pennies per dose seems to dramatically curb symptoms associated with dementia. Two year study.

NIMH: Neorology Trumps Psychiatry

Posted: Huffington Post May 16, 2013

The director of the NIMH claims the DSM-5 “lacks validity”. The Onion captured it best: “More U.S. Children Being Diagnosed with Youthful Tendency Disorder”.

Taking on Big Pharma

A Mental Health Declaration of Independence

Posted Counterpunch May 21, 2013

A psychologist Bruce Levine discusses the insidious state of affairs between government, medicine, and big pharma – the “psychiatric-pharmaceutical industrial complex” and states the practices involved need to be abolished by law.

NIMH Director’s Blog – Transforming Diagnosis

Posted by www.nimh.nih.gov April 29, 2013

Director Thomas Insel writes about the shortcomings of the DSM and the new direction of the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) towards a more vliad, scientific approach.

“The Book of Woe” – Psychiatry’s Last Stand

Posted www.salon.com May 5, 2013 Review of book written by psychotherapist Gary Greenberg

An account of the making of the new DSM questions whether psychiatry is — or should be — a science

NIMH Won’t Follow Psychiatry Bible

Posted www.sciencemag.org May 2013

The NIMH has been developing its new framework, called the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), since 2009. The system replaces DSM diagnoses with broad research categories based on basic cognitive, behavioural and neural mechanisms.

Psychiatry Seismic Shift Will Happen Slowly

Posted May 8, 2013 by Forbes

NIMH seriously skeptical of DSM-5. Seeking other alternatives. Driven by huge disappointments in psychiatric research over the last two decades.

Psychiatry’s New Guide Falls Short Experts Say

Posted May 7, 2013 New York Times.com

Psychiatry’s guide out of touch with science.

Bi-Polar Writer Comments on Debate over Crisis in Psychiatry

Posted May 7, 2013 Scientific American Writer’s Blog

Conflicting personal feelings discussed by prominent SA writer about psychiatry and its current issues.

Anti-Depressant Medication Linked with increased Infection Risk

Posted www.foxnews.com/Health May 7, 2013

Researchers from the University of Michigan revealed that individuals who suffer from depression and those taking antidepressants such as mirtazapine and fluoxetine had a much higher chance of contracting Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) – a life threatening infection that can cause severe diarrhea and inflammation of the colon.

How Big Pharma Wants to Profit from your Health Concerns

Posted www.salon.com 4/28/2013

6 ways pharma fuels the drug machine for additional profits by Martha Rosenberg

Big Pharma Mocked Patients who got Jawbone Death Drug

“Ma toot hurt so bad”

Posted Alternet December 3, 2012

Article by Martha Rosenberg. Merck mocks patients with serious and documented health concerns.

America’s Overpaid Doctors

Posted Slate Monday, Feb. 25, 2013

Often overlooked is how are we expected to pay for all of this. Lawyers could also be added to this list to make it fair.

Overdose Deaths Continue to Climb

(Posted February 19, 2013 on New York Times)

“Drug overdose deaths in the United States increased for the 11th consecutive year in 2010, rising 3.6 percent from 2009, federal officials reported Tuesday. There were 38,329 drug overdose deaths in 2010. Prescription drugs were involved in more than half of all overdoses, with 22,134 deaths from them, up 6 percent from 2009…”

Psychiatry By Numbers

(Posted February 8, 2013 on Scientific American)

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cargo-cult-contrarian/2013/02/08/diagnosis/

“Anyway, I filled the prescription, came home and researched it a bunch, sat on it for a couple weeks and finally tried it because I was so sick of not being able to sleep. Turns out it’s more physiologically addictive than Adderall or coke or even speed. The pharmaceutical company that manufactures it does not authorize it for use longer than three weeks. No doctor, nurse, or pharmacist ever mentioned that to me.”

Depression And The Limits Of Psychiatry

(Posted February 6, 2013 on The New York Times)

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/06/the-limits-of-psychiatry/

“What we call psychiatric practice,” he says, “is a certain moral tactic . . . covered over by the myths of positivism.” Indeed, what psychiatry presents as the “liberation of the mad” (from mental illness) is in fact a “gigantic moral imprisonment.”

Psychiatric Medications’ Effect On Brain Structure Varies

(Posted January 30, 2013 on Science Daily)

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508103915.htm

It is increasingly recognized that chronic psychotropic drug treatment may lead to structural remodeling of the brain. Indeed, clinical studies in humans present an intriguing picture: antipsychotics, used for the treatment of schizophrenia and psychosis, may contribute to cortical gray matter loss in patients, whereas lithium, used for the treatment of bipolar disorder and mania, may preserve gray matter in patients.

Are Common US Prescription Medications Linked To Violence?

(Posted January 23, 2013 on RxISK)

http://wp.rxisk.org/rxisk-forum-on-rx-drug-induced-violence-nyc/

“With over 90% of school shooters on antidepressants, we need to have a serious discussion about the role that prescription drugs might have played in the recent Connecticut massacre and other mass killings”, says Dr. Healy, CEO of RxISK.org.

Websites

Featured

RxISK

https://www.rxisk.org/Default.aspx

Making medicines safer for all of us.

SSRI’s and Violence

www.ssristories.com

Focuses on potential links between drug use and violence including a database of actual events.

Mad In America

http://www.madinamerica.com

Science, Psychiatry, and Community

Mind Freedom

http://www.mindfreedom.org

Activism for Human Rights in Mental Health

Robert Whitaker (official website)

http://www.robertwhitaker.uorg

Official Website of Robert Whitaker, author of Anatomy of an Epidemic

Psychiatric Drug Facts

http://en.breggin.org

…with Dr. Peter Breggin

Special Coverage: DRUGS

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/

…on alternet.org

Pharma

http://www.pharma-mag.com

Pharmaceutical industry magazine

Cochrane Reviews

http://www.cochrane.org/cochrane-reviews

Contributes to Worldwide Medical Integrity

Books

Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consentby Dr. Grace JacksonAre patients aware of the fact that pharmacological therapies stress the brain in ways which may prevent or postpone symptomatic and functional recovery? – Dr. Grace Jackson is a board certified psychiatrist who graduated summa cum laude from California Lutheran University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Biology, as well as a Masters Degree in Public Administration. She earned her Medical Degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in 1996 and completed her internship and residency while in the U. S. Navy.

Bad Pharmaby Dr. Ben GoldacreDrugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques which are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer. When trials throw up results that companies don’t like, they are perfectly entitled to hide them from doctors and patients, so we only ever see a distorted picture of any drug’s true effects. Regulators see most of the trial data, but only from early on in its life, and even then they don’t give this data to doctors or patients, or even to other parts of government. This distorted evidence is then communicated and applied in a distorted fashion.

People of Influence

Dr. David Healy | Dr. Joanna Moncrieff | Kelly Brogan, MD