Archive for March, 2014
- America’s Epidemic of Psychiatric Over-Diagnosis
“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, …………….”
- Who Should Take Antidepressants?
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.”
- Some Antidepressants May Raise Gastro Risk
Editor- Remeron and Prozac doubled the rate of infection of the potentially deadly Clostridiuum difficile infection. WebMD characterizes this as ‘may raise gastro risk’.
- Gender Separation in Psychiatry
Female patients show better results when grouped with other females- they feel safer.
- America’s Depression Diagnoses Epidemic and How to Fix It
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.
- Bad Diagnosis For New Psychiatry ‘Bible’
Three experts including one from the APA, and the NIMH discuss DSM (and psychiatric) shortcomings.
- The Problem With Psychiatry, the DSM, and the Way We Study Mental Illness
“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 cultural prejudice influences the DSM.
- Overselling Psychiatry
“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.”
- Antidepressants in Bipolar Disorder: No Benefit, Possible Harm
“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 “
- Teen Smartphone Addiction Correlates With Psychopathology
“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??