Scientific Misconduct and Fraud: The Final Nail in Psychiatry’s Antidepressant Coffin

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From CounterPunch: “Researchers have long known that any single antidepressant drug is little more effective than a placebo in the majority of trials, shown to be less effective than a placebo in some studies, and generally found to be ‘clinically negligible’ with respect to depression remission, while often resulting in severe adverse effects; for example, resulting in a higher percentage of sexual dysfunction than depression remission. However, for nearly twenty years, psychiatry and Big Pharma have told us that while one antidepressant may not work for the majority of patients, in the ‘real world,’ doctors provide patients who have been failed by their initial antidepressant with another antidepressant, and if that fails, still another; and that this real-world treatment is successful for nearly 70% of patients. This narrative has been repeatedly reported by the mainstream media, including the New York Times in 2022.

The problem with this ‘nearly 70%’ story is that the research that has been used to justify it, a 2006 report on the results of the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D), has long been disputed by researchers. Moreover, a recent reanalysis of previously undisclosed data reveals that STAR*D, owing to scientific misconduct that dramatically inflated remission rates, may go down in US medical history as one of its most harmful scandals. Among the few journalists in the world who have recognized the implications of STAR*D for the treatment of millions of people is Robert Whitaker, and in his September 2023 report, ‘The STAR*D Scandal: Scientific Misconduct on a Grand Scale,’ he stated: ‘The protocol violations and publication of a fabricated “principal outcome”—the 67% cumulative remission rate—are evidence of scientific misconduct that rises to the level of fraud.'”

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68 COMMENTS

  1. This information wouldn’t be nearly as upsetting if the bastards who call themselves “psychiatrists” had the balls to come out and admit what psychiatry really amounts to: a legalized drug cartel which (when all is said and done) doesn’t give a shit about the people it harms. It acts like any other major corporation, because that’s what it is!

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  2. As it should. They’ve tried to push anti depressants at every appointment, even when you’re not depressed. In pain? Antidepressants have replaced pain management. Upset about real world situations? Take an antidepressant. Have anxiety? Antidepressants. I’ve had to fight every doctor on this for over 10 yrs now. They make you overweight, unsexual, lethargic, etc. I’m pretty convinced most people that feel better are the result of placebo effect. There’s a percentage of people fully able to convince themselves that whatever made them feel better, even if it’s basically a security blanket.

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  3. If the NY Times ever really was “the paper of record,” it hasn’t been that for a very long time. On the subjects of psychiatry, psych drugs, pharma and “mental health”, it spouts the same b.s. as the rest of mainstream media. I guess that’s how their readers like it, and what their advertisers pay for. Most of my comments on NY Times articles get censored…when I’m only telling the truth.

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  4. I am glad to see more independent publications and websites covering these subjects truthfully. At some point, the drips of truth will turn into a stream, then a river powerful enough to burst through the dam that is psychiatry/pharma propaganda.

    At some point maybe even the NY Times will tell the truth, although their readership and advertisers won’t be happy.

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  5. I have tried pharmaceuticals to treat my depression since I was 15 , and nothing ever really worked. I later became a therapist. I made it a mission to help others while quietly still feeling broken because I have ” treatment resistant depression “, pills don’t work. it was out of sheer desperation that I began to study psychedelics as medicine. That was a crazy notion for me, but research and testimonials convinced me to try it. I found a doctor and was prescribed Ketamine for my depression. Then a compounding pharmacy was able to make my low dose Ketamine treatment, and it is absolutely the only thing that has worked like a miracle. I take it every other day and the anxiety and darkness goes away. It isn’t a cure but it makes life possible. I hope more people find what they need. There are options.

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    • I’ve lost everything including most of my mind in the fight to find relief from treatment resistant depression + C-PTSD among other diagnosis’s but I too had a breakthrough with Ketamine infusions.. 24hrs after my 4th infusion I felt the best I’ve felt in YEARS. It was like having layers of agonizing pain I’d been dragging around for yrs. was lifted & I finally felt hope I’d pretty much given up on as an option for me. Unfortunately I was only able to afford 6 infusions but given how intolerably awful I felt to begin with, think I could’ve used a couple more as I feel like I had to stop the min. it started working. And while my insurance “claims” to cover Spravato (w/prior authorization) they only prescribe it as a secondary med (in MA anyways) which requires you to be on an SSRI 1st that I’d rather not do given the at least 10 failed med attempts over past 15yrs I’ve been through with either no or very bad results. To say I’m desperate to get better is an understatement as I’ve already lost everything & HAVE to save my own life. Would you mind sharing how you got from ketamine infusions to whatever forn you’re using now? Are you paying out of pocket via 1 of the hone delivery companies like Mindbloom? Sorry to write a book, your experience just sounds so similar to mine albeit your much happier ending!!! I want that too! Thanks:)

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  6. Millions of people have had their lives changed for the better. Millions are no longer suicidal and their families saved from the horror and grief of burying their loved ones for successfully committing suicide. If your child was suicidal and they could be helped by replacing the serotonin their brain is lacking, would you scoff? Tell them to “buck up”? “Get over it”? These comments are ignorant and disrespectful to the medical providers who treat these patients, as well as the patients themselves!

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    • The “low serotinin” theory of depression has long since been debunked. Additionally antidepressants are notoriously ineffective with youth and especially children. You are operating on faulty assumptions and criticizing others for not sharing them with you. Try reading some of the stories before you judge.

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      • Nope, it sure has not. Depression comes from multiple chemical deficiencies. People with depression caused by low levels of dopamine will not be helped by seretonin medication and visa versa. There are also two other chemical deficiencies that cause depression. For some people they have depression from multiple deficiencies at a time. Or from a condition that also causes depression like bipolar. Depression medication does nothing for depression caused by bipolar. And bipolar? There are multiple medications to treat that too because it’s not only caused by one issue just like depression. Also, this article fails to mention that placebos being as effective as medication only apply to patients with situational depression, not chemical depression. Thats right. There is yet another cause of depression! And wait until you hear about SAD which is caused by seeing less sunlight. Yes, just seeing less sunlight every day can cause depression. Not from a lack of vitamin d, just from not seeing the same amount of sunlight. Same symptoms =/= same cause. Why whoever wrote this and people like you want to hate medication is beyond me, but you can’t gaslight people who know better, which is more people with every new generation born, into believing youre right. Eventually people who think like you will be considered tin hat conspiracists by the majority of society and there’s nothing you can do about it. Even if you were right it wouldnt matter. You are wasting your time.

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    • I agree.
      But as a long term user of anti depression and psychotic mood stabilisers, I really would love to be able to make my own choice about trying other options. I have used mushrooms and find the relief from the darkness such a relief. But they’re not available all the time and then there’s misidentification issues.
      Here in Australia we’re so far behind.

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    • Karen Ploss,
      Many, many people have been seriously and/or permanently harmed by psychiatry’s drugs and your comment is ignorant and disrespectful of the people who’ve been harmed. You need to do some research before you start criticizing those who actually know what they’re talking about, and I speak as a former “patient”.

      No one’s life should be ruined for the convenience of others.

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      • I’m sorry I’m not trying to report your comment I’m trying to comment on it. I just wanted to add or for financial gain and that is all this is about money it’s about big Pharma big government or making money on some of the most vulnerable people on the planet I also speak from much experience. I kept telling them I don’t care how many pills you give me my soul is broken my spirit is torn my heart is dark my mind is shattered I have a broken brain these pills you’re giving me are not changing any of that they never will you cannot take the memories or the experiences that have put me underwater and no pill will pull me out. Thank you for listening

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        • I’m so sorry to hear the pain you are going through. There are some encouraging breakthrough treatments including Stanford’s SAINT study which uses MRI’s and targeted TMS to treat depression (different from your standard TMS). 80% remission in depression. Results were so amazing the FDA gave breakthrough approval. Now Stanford is conducting clinical trials on using their new TMS targeted approach for bipolar, PTSD, OCD and other mental illnesses. No drugs. Not electroshock therapy. Very few side effects. Results usually seen within 3-5 days and last for months or years (without meds). Basically re-directing the brain to a normal rhythm.

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        • Dear Essy,
          I know how you feel. Pills didn’t help me either.

          But self-therapy did help me. I found it by chance on YouTube from someone named Daniel Mackler. I think his approach can be very useful for people not getting what they need from our current mental health system. He’s a former therapist who’s very empathic because he’s aware of how ineffective its pills can be as well as how invalidating it is, especially for sensitive people.
          Take good care, Essy. I hope you feel better soon,
          Birdsong

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    • How did you go from people making skeptical comments about antidepressants to parents with a suicidal child “scoffing” at their suicidal child and telling their suicidal child to “buck up” and “get over it”? No one made that statement in any of the comments and no parent with a suicidal child is going to tell their child to “get over it”. You made that leap in logic yourself and it’s a very harmful statement to make to anyone who has lost a child to suicide. I know parents who have lost children to suicide and they have tried EVERYTHING, including antidepressants. They would have willingly given their life if it would have saved their child. Any parent with a suicidal child will try anything and everything to save their child, so stop with the insensitive accusations to insinuate otherwise.

      The point of the discussion is whether or not antidepressants are as effective as we were initially told. Or do they often cause more harm than good?

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    • As 1 of those suffering individuals you mentioned whose been through 15 or 20 different types of meds which claim to “treat” depression, ADHD, anxiety, OCD, etc.. I assure you~as Harvard Medical & MANY other major institutions are now finally admitting~most if not ALL of those meds DO NOT cure mental illness. Its a proven FACT they work NO better than placebo! Google it yourself & thats exactly what the published data states. I was also recently told that to my face by the head Psychiatrist at Adams Clinical in Watertown, MA where many new types of meds like Esketamine are being studied & on ‘fast-track” clearance from FDA. And just so you know, its impossible to measure ones Serotonin levels in their brain. The chemists themselves who developed all those SSRI’s state they dont know exactly how they work which makes YOU endup the lab rat being pretty much experimented on while given false hope that in 6+ weeks you “may feel better” OR suicidal! I’m not trying to be mean or condemn your beliefs by the way… I too believed the BS for yrs. that there HAD to be at least 1 med out there that would at least lighten the load of my debilitating life & career wrecking symptoms, but I now 100% believe its mostly placebo effect. I did respond very well recently to ketamine infusions but at $500/per visit couldnt afford enough to keep my symptoms calmed down for more than a week. They’re keeping the good meds for the rich people who can afford them which is about as un-equitable as possible but thats another issue. Seriously though, just take a sec. to see what Harvard Medical said re: placebo effect & antidepressants. Its eye-opening. I personally believe from experience a positive, healthy environment, good diet + love/support/empathy help FAR greater than any pill can for depression.

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    • Antidepressants actually incease the risk of suicide, suicidal thoughts and “suicidal behaviour” in children.

      And ALL of those are underreported because somehow reporting goes through pharma, and they hide such bad outcomes from their sponsored or conducted studies.

      Peter Gotzsche has covered SSRIs in children here at MIA.

      KateL has very acurately pointed, if I remember correctly, paraphrasing, ALL those in favor of psychiatry and it’s treatments are using straw man fallacies.

      Supporters, promoters and defenders are arguing, poorly, rhetorically not logicallly nor scientifically for a few things that SEEM positive: I felt better, my friend felt better, some people improve, etc.

      Without accounting for those who were harmed, and the fact that on average and on the aggregate they cause poorer outcomes than not using any psychiatric medication in the AGGREGATE and on AVERAGE.

      And historical outcomes and number of diagnosis, prognosis, disability, etc, had either not budged or worsened. Antidepressants make depression deeper, longer lasting, more disabling, etc. Robert Whitaker has covered that extensively, I think here.

      That’s a straw man fallacy. As a personal opinion it’s perhaps acceptable, as an ARGUMENT is fallacious.

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      • Abilify is an antipsychotic, most definitely prescribed frequently for “bipolar disorder.” It is only used as an adjunct for depression if regular “antidepressants” are judged not to work. Not sure where you’re getting this false information.

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    • Abilify is one of those psychiatric drugs that affects multiple neurochemical pathways.

      It’s individual effects, therefore will be more difficult to predict.

      I bet there are patterns of withdrawal reactions, then again, given the multiple receptors it affects, I guess it would be difficult to guess.

      And I bet withdrawal causes early anxiety/akathisia, which in some probably does early in the withdrawal, later somnolence and confusion, probably moderate to severe.

      Which gives it preference to be prescribed: patients, if true, will be incapacitated, very callous…

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  7. I am a psychiatrist.
    In residency we were taught from STAR*D, CATIE, TORDIA, TADS, MTA, and so on.
    As I also trained to be a child & adolescent family therapist, I started to see that therapy is the true mainstay.

    Medications do help some folks, but they’re hardly the panacea they were touted as. The “Pharm sales” lunches felt weird & finally apparent as disgusting sales pitches to prescribe brand name drugs.

    There’s evidence for non-Rx safe alternatives like omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) & n-acetyl-cysteine, significant & growing.

    Exercise & physical activity remains very strongly supported for all ages.

    The growing evidence for hypnotic & perception modifiers as well as low impact neurotherapeutics is exciting.
    I’m going to get trained in TMS & have been reducing my Rx pad. These companies cannot be trusted.

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    • Adam C: Have you been following Stanford SAINT study and their novel approach to TMS? Very promising. I’m glad psychiatrists like you are looking at exercise too. Anxiety runs on my side of the family. My oldest son inherited it (unfortunately). I took up running 40 years ago to help with my anxiety and I tried to get my son to find some sort of exercise to help him deal with his. Unfortunately the lockdowns and the pandemic broke him and he took his life (he showed NO signs other than anxiety, which he’d had all his life. But I still blame myself)

      When my son died I went into full blown PTSD. My anxiety became a 7×24 panic attack. I felt my brain was literally on fire. I wanted to end my life. My doctor prescribed Xanax which I truly believe saved my life. Xanax quieted my mind just enough so that I could absorb some of what my grief counselor was telling me (versus constant racing thoughts).

      I was very careful to take a minimal dose of Xanax. The most I allowed myself was a single .5 mg a day. The first 2 weeks after my sons death I couldn’t leave the house, let alone go on a run. When I went on my first run after my sons death I noticed that run had the same calming effect to my brain as Xanax. I had never taken an anti-anxiety drug like Xanax before so had no idea what their effect. Well, running felt like taking a Xanax. So I KNOW the intense exercise was making a difference in my brain.

      Now, 2 years out, I continue my running and only take maybe a single .5 mg Xanax a week and only of I feel a panic attack coming on.

      I guess my point is I know, absolutely, that exercise makes the same physical changes in my brain as the Xanax. I’ve seen studies where intense exercise works better than antidepressants, especially follow up after 8 weeks (antidepressant effect waned, exercise effect did not). So exercise CAN help.

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  8. I keep a list of the 14 antidepressants I’ve tried over the last 25 years I have suffered with Depression. Both my children have Bipolar Ds and I have witnessed the horrible side effects of the drugs they were prescribed. I am interested in Ketamine but there is no clinic close. I have become very disappointed in Psychiatry in general. My therapist has helped me more than any Psychiatrist.

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  9. I didn’t respond to medication and ECT only helped me for about a year. It wasn’t high on my list to go through it again. It’s not painful or disturbing, I just don’t like being sedated where I’m out of commission for a whole day two to three times a week.

    Shrooms can be hard to find and even harder to dose consistently. And some studies raise questions about microdosing versus placebo (a full trip may be the most effective but the nausea for me is horrific).

    Oddly the thing that worked is a little known MAOI called Emsam. I’ve talked to doctors that don’t even know what an MAOI is. This article explains it along with the failure of standard treatments. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4200016/

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  10. I’m shocked and amazed it’s taken this long for the truth to be released to the ‘John Does & families of the world.
    I’ve been on antidepressants for 38 years with excellent results. I, naively, assumed most folks have been experiencing the same outcomes. I shall place myself on high alert in the future to pursue the truth from independant publications and web sites (with thanks, KateL).

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  11. Scientific research shows anti depressants work great on depression and anxiety. Including myself. I suffered severe depression and panic attacks, social anxiety disorder, agoraphobia. I took Zoloft and it worked like MAGIC. I have my life back again. this article is not written by a medical doctor. this is a BLOGGER.

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    • I would not argue in favor of picking correctly a can of food, an airplane or a car, to expect to derive NET benefit from them in a safe, effective manner.

      That speaks of MD treatments for depression being way too unreliable. It requires judgement on the buyer to be safe and served?.

      Let’s get real, why people argue in favor of being “carefull” when choosing an MD, a therapist or a psychiatrist?.

      We don’t to that for airplanes, cars or canned food: we expect them to work without further ado, and not cause harm, specially net harm. Period.

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  12. My daughter has Boarder Line Personality Disorder. Heavy on anxiety and depression. She took Xanax for a little while. She stopped because of the side effects. She’s been managing her symptoms with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. No medication. But occasionally when her depression and anxiety are too much to control. She does what she calls a reset. By taking mushrooms. The results she has gotten from the mushrooms has been amazing. The only downside, is not knowing the precise amount to take. Because it’s a restricted substance. Much better than any antidepressant, or antianxiety drug she’s ever had.

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  13. Just because an antidepressant may not have helped you, does not mean that it will not help someone else. Often times, on the internet we read these biased opinion pieces or cherry picked data interpretation written with an agenda, and personal anecdotal stories of how an antidepressant or other psychotropic medication had horrible side effects or made someone feel worse, and ultimately just did not work. What you usually will not read are the success stories. The stories of people who have regained their life back. The stories of people who feel “better” again. The stories of people who did not commit suicide where they may have if they were not on an antidepressant medication. Those people are usually not out campaigning on the internet about how great the medication is, they’re just out there living their lives, relieved to be feeling “better”. For every scientific study about the lack of efficacy of antidepressants there’s just as many scientific studies supporting the efficacy of antidepressants. It will always be this way. People will always choose their sides for whatever reason. As a psychiatric provider, I’ve watched with my own eyes antidepressants have a positive effect on people. No, they don’t work for everyone but I’ve found this to be an exception not a rule. Do they have side effects, yes possibly, but not always, and if so not always intolerable. In those cases we must consider risk versus benefit. All medications and supplements and even some foods have the potential for side effects, this includes aspirin, melatonin, Benadryl, coffee, you name it. Efficacy as well as side effect prominence is more individualized than anything and is multifaceted, layered in genetics, physical health, environmental exposures, socioeconomic circumstances, brain development, and the list goes on… The brain is a complex organ, and several neurotransmitters have a complex, ever-changing interplay regarding their activity levels that coincide with mood changes (euthymic, depressed, anxious, manic, psychotic, etc…). Ultimately, regarding antidepressant medications, let’s be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. They do have efficacy, and they do have their place in behavioral health.

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    • Again, arguing partially in favor of something IS a straw person fallacy.

      You are arguing with fallacies, straw person one’s,and anecdotal: I have seen it, I know it works, etc.

      Even if there are causal succesfull stories, despite psychiatry has not proven causality at ALL, particularly in “depression”, those stories do not negate there is NET HARM, by psychiatric treatments for depression.

      Having some positive trials and some negative ones is precisely the PROOF of ZERO net benefit. That’s why meta-analysis are done… and there is publishing bias, fabrication, misconduct, etc., the garbage in, garbage out pickle of meta-analysis.

      A psychiatric provider should KNOW that!. And not showing effectively that knowledge shows said “knowledgable” opinion is no such thing. It’s an expert fallacy!.

      But, as humans, it’s understandable that providers turn to irrationality MORE when confronted with actual evidence to their inefficacy or harming behaviour.

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  14. Thank you for sharing. I have tried many antidepressants (and they did not work for me either.)

    My husband got me a Dexcom and I was hypoglycemic. He told me the name of an integrative medicine doctor, who checked me for nutrition levels in my blood stream and on a cellular level.

    On a cellular level I tested deficient in Thiamin (Vit B1), Vitamin D, L Threonine, L Lysine, Omega 3. My blood level of Vitamin D was high and Copper level was low. On a cellular level my copper was normal, but I added Copper supplement to see if it makes a difference.

    I feel significantly better taking the supplements. Far better than I ever felt from antidepressants. Insurance covered none of the nutrition testing or appointments. Endocrinologist charged me $70 to look at my Dexcom data after I already paid $70 for the sensor. Endocrinologist had nothing to offer as a solution. Insurance discounted the Endocrinology charges to “insurance negotiated rates” and then I paid that bill.

    The insurance is not set up to fix the problem(s) that causes “depression”.

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    • It’s a horrible disease and I so wish society would recognize depression as a disease and not some sort of “character flaw”. The problem is that antidepressants work for some and don’t work at all for others, or make their depression worse. The brain is SO complex so we need a lot of research into alternative treatments if antidepressants don’t work. Things like ketamine, or targeted TMS (Google “Stanford SAINT study”)

      I am so very glad antidepressants worked for you. Again, depression is extremely painful and it is NOT something people can “positive think” their way out of! Just like any other human disease (cancer, diabetes, MLS). Would we tell someone with diabetes to “will” their pancreas to create insulin? No. So why do we think someone suffering for depression can somehow “will” themselves to be happy? It’s an organic issue with the brain!

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      • Not organic, not brain issue.

        There is no proof of it. No causal explanation for depression.

        50% of some comunities, even 75% of them can’t have a brain organic disease.

        That happens only in infectious, toxicological diseases, etc., not in mental ones.

        There are NO genetics for depression, none, zero, nada.

        TMS, hallucinogenics, disociative anesthesics are just another FAD, another fashion, another failure of psychiatry.

        Failure after failure in the real world have to be peddled with irrationality: tms, ketamine, mushrooms, I know it works, I felt better, it save my life!, those persons are bloggers, etc.

        The published record clearly shows that psychiatric treatments for depression cause NET harm.

        Arguing against THAT evidence will necessarily require irrationality, and sometimes ill-will.

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  15. My husband started Sprovato treatments over a year ago. It has been a life saver as he was suicidal and had lost hope that any antidepressant would work. Today he is a new person. He was able to lose weight and get back surgery a couple of months ago. He did have to work with therapist as well. The treatments brought back long buried childhood trauma. He was desparate to feel better and has worked very hard to be in a better place. I also have had to work with a therapist as the change was really significant in the first month of treatments. And there have been some bumps in the road especially after his back surgery. It triggered some more issues. But overall he is productive and happy. We have been able to work on our relationship which was damaged by 5 years of severe depression.

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  16. A note:

    Scientific misconduct, in practice, is not something attributable by a third, objective, otherwise not interested party.

    It does not come from impartial judgement. There is no process of adding, weighting, contrasting or refuting evidence. There are no appeals with such characteristics. There are no definitory courts that settle things definitively.

    It’s a statement uttered by the people inside the clique of “scientific” research, publishing and funding. On top, in psychiatry and clinical psychology, “researchers” are not scientists even if they use chemicals, trials, randomization and statistics*: they are humanities researchers at best. Like literati speaking of the work of Virginia Wolf, or divinity studies. There is no science to it, those are also humanities.

    So, scientific misconduct is an inside job. A self monitoring and evaluation assesment, nothing more.

    There’s the public opinion, but can only lead to shame, guilt, frustration and anger. At least because no one, particularly insiders can be judges of the misconduct within their own communities: they can’t be objective, they aren’t otherwise uninterested third parties, that’s “tribal” behaviour at best. There are no procedures to reach a judgement with said characteristics to weight evidence and finish the quabbles that said misconduct originates.

    Cases of “scientific misconduct”, therefore, are egregious, are notorious, and mostly undeniable.

    But the majority of “scientific misconduct” is not like that, in great part, almost determinantly is because it’s the involved that reach that determination. They have no incentive to smear themselves in that guilt, shame, anger, frustration, negligence, etc. No incentive at all.

    If having no incentive at all sounds too broad deep claim, let’s consider very few studies are replicated. Very few are even attempted to replicate. No one wants to see “scientific research” as a charade, at least on replicability. It spoils the fun and career of people pretending to do “scientific research”.

    That to me shows incentives matter, and “researchers”, whole communities of them, are too unreliable to let themselves be monitored.

    Scientific misconduct does not have a normative framework: it is not law, morality, etiquette nor divine stuff**.

    It looks like morality because it is self imposed, can’t be coerced by outside entities, like the State, and can only lead to shame and guilt. Despite it has consequences that fall squarely on the legal normative framework.

    That is a deception too: evading the law, making it a moral issue. That’s such a psychiatric behaviour.

    * Gamblers use chemicals, statistics, trials and randomization and are definitively not scientists even if they do “research”.

    ** Some churches have something called Cannon Law. Those institutions know the value of having impartial people and procedures to make judgements about misconduct, even if they do not involve people outside the clique, on top, in the divinity stuff NORMATIVE framework!. That did not work very well for those institutions because it abstracts them from the coercive power of the state too. So, perhaps, scientific misconduct is more akin to Cannon law than morality…

    The state has to use it’s coercitive power to stop “scientific misconduct”, it cannot be left to “self monitoring”. Scientific misconduct has real life consequences outside academia and funds misuse. It’s a public safety issue, and I don’t see any executive nor legislator doing enough to make THAT good conduct happening. Research in psychiatry, particularly when misconduct happens looks a lot like divinity framework institutions to me!.

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