Yearly Archives: 2012
Cognitive and Perceptual Origins of Social Isolation and Psychosis in Schizophrenia
The American Journal of Psychiatry reviews recent research by three leading research groups that "provide intriguing evidence of the cognitive and perceptual impairments that...
Minimal Empirical Support for Antidepressant Treatment in Young People
Researchers from Australia reviewed the existing literature for good-quality evidence of effective prevention and treatment of depression in young people. Prevention research was dominated...
Cognitive Therapy is Effective for Schizophrenia
Noting that antipsychotic medications and psychosocial interventions have shown limited efficacy, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania followed 60 low-functioning individuals with schizophrenia diagnoses...
No Difference in Symptom Severity 10 Years After Early Intervention for Psychosis
Researchers in Norway and the U.S. followed 281 people after a first-episode psychosis, comparing those who received Treatment and Intervention in Psychosis (TIPS) with...
How drug companies continue to hide the true story of Tamiflu and other drugs...
Iāve been reading Dr. David Healyās new book, Pharmageddon, and while some of it may seem like old news, I was struck by his...
When university attorneys play hardball with patients
Everyone knows that some attorneys have a reputation for playing hardball.Ā In fact, many of us even seek out attorneys who play hardball. But...
Should Children Have Consent Rights For Psychosurgery, ECT and Sterilization?
"Madness!" was the vehement one word response from my friendĀ whenĀ IĀ told herĀ that the Mental Health Minister of Western AustraliaĀ hasĀ proposed legislation to allow childrenĀ as young as...
The Effectiveness of Electroconvulsive Therapy
A literature review by John Read and Richard Bentall
SUMMARY
Aim ā To review the literature on the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy , with a particular...
J&J Fined $1.1 Billion for Hidden Risks of Risperdal
Judge Tim Fox fined Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary JanssenĀ $1.1 billion today for nearly 240,000 violations of Arkansas' Medicaid fraud law. Yesterday a...
SSRIs Significantly Increase Falls in Dementia, Even at Low Doses
Researchers in the Netherlands followed 248 nursing home residents with dementia for two years, finding that even 25% of the defined daily dose of...
Welcome to Kermit: Ground Zero of the Prescription Drug Epidemic
Kermit, West Virginia is home to the Kermit Sav-Rite Pharmacy, whose owner has pleaded guilty to fraudulent sales of prescription drugs. The Centers for...
Letters from the Front Lines
Dear Bob--
Here's a story of stark contrasts.
I saw a man for a physical recently, mid-50's.Ā He was the picture of health, on no medications...
New Study on a Non-Toxic Intervention for Those at High Risk of Psychosis
A new multi-centered study was released about using cognitive therapy for young people who were seen as being at high risk of psychosis.
The article reporting the study is on the British Medical Journal website, available in full ā http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.e2233. Itās curious to see how it is being reported in the press.
No Publication Bias in Meta-Analyses of Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia
A review by German researchers of all meta-analyses (with sufficient data) of psychotherapeutic interventions for schizophrenia up to September, 2010 found evidence that psychosocial...
Multiple Medications Associated With Poorer Outcomes
Research from Germany finds that people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective diagnoses given multiple medications - an antipsychotic plus a benzodiazepine or more than one...
Labels Initiates Core Social Support, Lose Peripheral Ties
Article Abstract:
Although research supports the stigma and labeling perspective, empirical evidence also indicates that a social safety net remains intact for those with mental...
Personal Narrative Mediates the Impact of Social Deficits in Schizophrenia
"Although negative symptoms are a barrier to recovery," says a study in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, "little is understood about the...
Closing Arguments Begin in Arkansas Risperdal Trial
Arkansas is asking for a minimum of $1.2 billion in fines for the 250,000 Risperdal prescriptions issued under its medicaid program. Fletch Trammel, lawyer...
High Attrition Leads to Misrepresentation of Antipsychotic Efficacy
Researchers from Manchester and Melbourne assess the impact of high drop-out rates onĀ Ā Cochrane reviews of five frequently prescribed second-generation antipsychotics. They found that all...
Mountain Hiking Improves Hopelessness, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation in High-Level Suicide Risk
Researchers in Salzburg, Austria found that 20 participants who had attempted suicide at least once showed a significant reduction in hopelessness (P < 0.0001),...
Yoga Improves Both Positive and Negative Symptoms and Quality of Life in Schizophrenia
In a review of randomized controlled trials, researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands found that yoga significantly improved both positive and negative symptoms as...
Why We Should Be Customers and Not Charity Cases
Recently I posted about mental health social entrepreneurship, where we can use market based principles to solve our problems accessing effective care. Some people...
Working the assembly line at the human experimentation factory
If the past decade had an emblematic moment for clinical research, it was probably November 12, 2005, the day when Bloomberg Markets published its...
Fast-Food and Commercial Baked Goods Cause Depression
Researchers in Spain followed 8.964 subjects who had never been diagnosed with depression followed for over six years, finding that consumers of fast food...
You Are What You Eat
Food is the most important thing any of us ingests and it seems foolish to not pay careful attention to the foods we choose to eat.
