December 7, 2012

The recent research scandals out of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Psychiatry may be alarming, but they are not new. Back in the 1990s, when the university was working its way towards a crippling probation by the National Institutes of Health (for yet another episode of misconduct (this time in the Department of Surgery), the Department of Psychiatry hosted two spectacular cases of research wrongdoing, both of which resulted in faculty members being disqualified from conducting research by the FDA.
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Categorized in: Addiction, Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Blogs, Featured Blogs, Industry, Schizophrenia and Psychosis, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Substance Abuse/Addiction, Suicide, Uncategorized | Tagged as: Antipsychotics, Barry Garfinkel, CAFE study, Charles Schulz, clinical trials, corruption, fraud, James Halikas, Psychosis, research misconduct, Schizophrenia, Stephen Olson, University of Minnesota

June 21, 2012

Researchers at Harvard, NYU, and the VA say in a study published online today by Schizophrenia Research that the age at which 57 subjects with non-affective psychoses began to use marijuana was directly associated with the age of onset of psychosis and age of first hospitalization. “These associations remain significant after adjusting for potential confounding factors and are consistent with the hypothesis that cannabis could cause or precipitate the onset of psychosis after a prolonged period of time.”

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Categorized in: Adult, Disorders, In the News, Research, Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorders, Substance Abuse/Addiction, Uncategorized

April 26, 2012

In a review of the evidence regarding benzodiazepines, researchers from the University of Michigan find that benzodiazepines used in the treatment of PTSD are associated with withdrawal symptoms and more severe symptoms after discontinuation, and may interfere with patients’ efforts to integrate trauma experiences. The article recommends that benzo use should be short-term for most indications, and includes some recommendations for tapering. The article appears in the April issue of Current Psychiatry.

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Categorized in: Adult, Anxiety, Benzodiazepines, Childhood Adversity/Trauma, Children and Adolescents, Disorders, In the News, Industry, Medication Tapering/Withdrawal, Psychiatric Drugs, Research, Substance Abuse/Addiction

April 24, 2012

An astounding development is the explosion in the numbers of substance abusers being diagnosed with Bipolar. I teach a class in Substance Abuse at Georgia State. Typically, this course draws persons in recovery. In the early 1990s, most were recovering …
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Categorized in: Adult, Antipsychotics, Bipolar, Blogs, Community, Disorders, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychiatric Drugs, Recovery/Empowerment, Substance Abuse/Addiction, Uncategorized