Yearly Archives: 2012
International Society Removes “Schizophrenia” From Its Name
Calling "schizophrenia" an unscientific and stigmatizingĀ construct - with little or no reliability or validity - that implies people with the diagnosis have an irreversibleĀ brain...
We Need to Talk About Doctors
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) came into favor in the wake of thalidomide as a method to evaluate drugs and their risks.
They were supposed to...
We Need Drugs
The truth is we live in a horribly miserable time. There is no getting around it. It cannot be candy coated. Self-help books about...
High Cost to Medicaid Programs For Off-Label Use of Antipsychotics
A study of 42 stateĀ Medicaid programsĀ found that 58% of prescriptions for antipsychoticsĀ were not for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Off-label prescribing was most prevalent...
Antipsychotic Polypharmacy Commonly Prescribed Ahead of Guidelines
InĀ one day at a psychiatric hospital in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, of the 201 patients admitted 172 were prescribed antipsychotic drugs and 47% of those were...
Rampant Prescription Errors in CA Nursing Homes
Recent investigations by the California Department of Public Health found that in 18 of 31 nursing homes in San Francisco (plus one outside of...
Mother Sues Pfizer for Alleged Zoloft-Related Birth Defects
The latest in a series of Zoloft-related birth defect lawsuits was filed in St. Louis yesterday, by a firm that claims to represent hundreds...
Millionaire Psychiatrist Accused of Deliberate Misdiagnosis for Gain
Multimillionaire U.K.Ā psychiatrist Dr. George Hibbert is being investigated - potentially by Parliament -Ā for deliberately misdiagnosing hundreds of parents with 'personality disorders' in order to...
Polypharmacy and Excessive Dosing
Researchers in Japan investigated 139 patients with schizophrenia diagnoses due to be discharged from 19 acute psychiatric units in Japanese hospitals. Polypharmacy and excessive...
Chapter Twenty-Five: “Paranoid Android”
It is Christmas Eve of 2008. I am leaning against the kitchen counter of an old friendās house, arms tucked tightly across my stomach,...
Brain Science Doesn’t Explain All
In an essay in the Sydney Morning Herald, a psychiatrist explores how the same blind faith in reductionist economicĀ models that lead to a global...
Why Can’t They Hear Our Truth? We Have a Cure.
There is a guy named David Kennedy who, along with other people, figured out how to cut the murder rate of a city in...
Snake Medicine: Transforming Our Stories
The stories we tell ourselves and others have the power to heal or to harm. This is a story about how we define mental health, the challenges we face in pursuit of it, and the power of transforming our stories.
In Praise of Families
This anecdote is offered as a story in praise of families and a recognition of their importance to the process of recovery.
Out of my Mind. Driven to Drink.
This is an article written by a woman named Anne-Marie. I am publishing it here because it epitomizes what RxISK.org, a company I have founded, is all about. It tells of one woman extraordinarily getting to grips with a problem she has on treatment. My hope is that when RxISK.org is up and running we will be able to make it easier for people like Anne-Marie to engage with their doctors to solve problems like this.
45% of Children and Adolescent Inpatients Prescribed Antipsychotics
In a rare long-term study of antipsychotics used in children and adolescent inpatients, the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT followed 3,851 consecutive admissions...
Vermont Moves to Community Care After Hurricane Destroys State Hospital
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin "is going to use this tragedy of losing our State Hospital during (hurricane) Irene as an opportunity to deliver the...
Diagnosing Conflict-of-Interest Disorder
Article by Lisa Cosgrove from June, 2010 reviewing conflicts of interest related to the DSM.
Article āĀ Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā ...
Effort to Curb Antipsychotics for Dementia Announced
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is launching an initiative to curb the use of antipsychotic medications for nursing home residents with dementia....
Anhedonia in Schizophrenia Reflects Beliefs, Not Deficits
Researchers at the University of Maryland investigated "the emotion paradox" in schizophrenia; the tendency of individuals with schizophrenia to report similar levels of positive...
Staff Behaviors Precede Violence and Aggression Among In-Patients
A review of articles and reports pertaining to violence and aggression in in-patient settings Ā finds that limiting patients' freedoms is the most frequent antecedent...
Mindfulness-Based Therapy for Psychosis
Researchers in Amsterdam investigated the use of a mindfulness-based therapy for 16 people recovering from a recent experience of first-episode psychosis. Ā 13 completed the...
Recovery Involves Social Support, Self-Reliance, and Trust
Researchers in Brazil followed sixteen individuals after a first-episode psychotic experience to understand their subjective experience of recovery. Ā They found that the participants described...
DSM Panels Rife With Conflicts of Interest
Safeguards ostensibly put in place to ensure "a transparent process of development for the DSM," and an "unbiased, evidence-based DSM, free from any conflicts...
Justice Department Raises J&J Settlement to $1.8 Billion
Following Johnson & Johnson's $158 million resolution with Texas several states have demanded higher payments, leading the U.S. Justice Department to raise its demand...
