Big Pharma
NEWS THAT IS NOT SPONSORED BY BIG PHARMA or the APA
Who Should Take Antidepressants?
Posted June 14, 2013 The AtlanticJames 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’
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 WebMBEditor- 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, 2013Female 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.comIllness risk following rapid versus gradual discontinuation of antidepressants.
Posted August 2010 National Institute of Health US National Library of MedicineThe 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 riskOregon 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, 2013More 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, 2013The 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, 2013Director 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 GreenbergAn 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 2013The 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 ForbesNIMH 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.comPsychiatry’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 BlogConflicting 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, 2013Researchers 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 4/28/20136 ways pharma fuels the drug machine for additional profits by Martha Rosenberg
Big Pharma Mocked Patients who got Jawbone Death Drug
Posted Alternet December 3, 2012Article by Martha Rosenberg. Merck mocks patients with serious and documented health concerns.
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.htmIt 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.
WebsitesFeatured https://www.rxisk.org/Default.aspx Making medicines safer for all of us. http://www.madinamerica.com Science, Psychiatry, and Community 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 http://en.breggin.org …with Dr. Peter Breggin http://www.alternet.org/drugs/ …on alternet.org http://www.pharma-mag.com Pharmaceutical industry magazine |
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People of Interest
Dr. Marcia Angell | Dr. Martha Rosenberg | Dr. Ben Goldacre | Robert Whitaker | Dr. Peter Breggin |