“Electronic Health Data for Postmarket Surveillance: A Vision Not Realized”
-Thomas Moore of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices asks, "What has been learned about electronic health data as a primary data source for regulatory decisions regarding the harms of drugs?"
“European Regulator Recommends Suspending Numerous Drugs Over Clinical Trial Problems”
Pharmalot’s Ed Silverman reports that a number of generic drugs, sold by Novartis and Teva Pharmaceuticals, may be pulled off of the shelves after...
NIMH to Host Live ECT Q&A on March 17th
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will hold a live Facebook event on electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on Thursday, March 17, 2016 from 4-5 PM...
“Cannabis Has Been Studied More Than Many FDA Approved Pharmaceuticals”
High Times points out that, with over 20,000 published studies or reviews in the scientific literature that reference cannabis and its active components, science...
First-ever Peer-supported Open Dialogue Conference
-On March 11, 2015, the NHS Foundation and three other Trusts are hosting a free conference to "take stock" after one year of Peer-supported Open Dialogue.
“Amid Public Feuds, A Venerated Medical Journal Finds Itself Under Attack”
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) has come under intense scrutiny for delayed corrections and controversial editorials and articles. “The Journal and its...
Free Online Course in Fundamentals of Neuroscience
Harvard University's HarvardX has posted a "Fundamentals of Neuroscience" online course for free public use. Lessons include video content, interactive content, virtual lab content,...
“Harvard Affiliates Protest at Tufts for ‘Pharma Fools Day’”
Students from Harvard Medical School joined students from Tufts University to protest Joseph DiMasi, who recently published a study that the students claim is...
‘Sesame Street’ Welcomes First Character with Autism
Last Wednesday, Sesame Street added a new character, Julia, to its roster of characters. In an online story, Julia, who has autism, meets Elmo and Abby and Elmo explains why Julia might sometimes do things a little bit differently. The story was written by Leslie Kimmerman, who has a child with autism, and the entire series will be developed in collaboration with parents, advocates, and people with autism.
“Talk Doesn’t Pay, So Psychiatry Turns Instead to Drug Therapy”
From the New York Times, on the changes that have come to psychiatry: "Then, like many psychiatrists, he treated 50 to 60 patients in...
“I have tested/evaluated 30 teenage and young adult murderers”
In The National Psychologist, forensic psychologist David Kirschner writes about his experiences evaluating young murderers, and discusses the negative role that he feels prior...
Psychiatry in Crisis! Mental Health Director Rejects Psychiatric ‘Bible’ and Replaces With… Nothing
John Horgan of Scientific American writes that "in a move sure to rock psychiatry, psychology and other fields that address mental illness, the director...
“No Easy Answer to the Question of Forcible Medication”
Nathaniel Ayers, the violin-playing subject of the 2009 film "The Soloist," continues to fight against efforts to compel him to take antipsychotic medication. "....
“Just Because It’s Legal, Doesn’t Mean It’s Safe”
-Interviews with people who murdered their own loved ones while taking SSRI antidepressants are included in the documentary, "Dark Side of a Pill."
Psychologists To Livestream Summit on Global Interdisciplinary Health Care
The American Psychological Association is hosting a two and half day interdisciplinary summit on November 3rd through 5th entitled Global Approaches to Integrated Care: Translating Science And Best Practices Into Patient-Centered Health Care Delivery. The summit features presentations and discussions on social determinants of health, demographics, culture and health disparities, and patients’ perspectives, among others. It can be livestreamed here.
“On the Wrong Side of the Equation”
1BoringOldMan compares major public events of psychiatry to the hype encountered at the Academy Awards: ". . . Festive, celebratory, celebrity, all designed to ...
Performance Artist Goes “Off Her Meds” For Art
The Daily Beast reports that Brooklyn artist Marni Kotak is weaning herself off a cocktail of antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs in a Brooklyn gallery...
“Why Are Young Westerners Drawn to Terrorist Organizations Like ISIS?”
"ISIS provides existential fast food, and for some of the most spiritually hungry young Westerners, ISIS is like a Big Mac amidst a barren wasteland of an existence,” Omar Hague writes in the Psychiatric Times. “Who actually joins ISIS? Not psychopaths or the brainwashed, but rather everyday young people in social transition, on the margins of society, or amidst a crisis of identity.”
“Positive Thinking and the Name Game”
The Institute for Art and Ideas hosts a debate between psychiatrist David Healy, psychiatrist Dinesh Bhugra, and philosopher Havi Carel on the proposition that "When...
“I Work in Mental Health But Colleagues Don’t Understand My Depression”
-An anonymous mental health nurse describes how struggling with her own depression has given her new insights into the state of mental health care.
Five Key Fantasies Embraced by the DSM
A psychiatrist writes in the Psychiatric Times, "While the diagnostic categories of DSM-III and DSM-IV (and soon DSM-5) have provided the basis for much...
“Involuntary Hospitalization of Drug Users Is Bad Policy”
While plans to involuntary commit drug users have “received virtual across-the-board support,” Susan Sered from TruthOut reports that “there is little to no evidence showing that coerced drug treatment is effective,” and that “having abstained from opiates for several days may set them up to overdose when they return to their former level of drug use, with a reduced tolerance for the drugs.”
Violence Induced by Depression, or by Antidepressants?
-Correspondence in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that a study linking depression to acts of violence should have examined antidepressant medications as possible causes.
“Sales of ADHD Meds Are Skyrocketing. Here’s Why.”
-Mother Jones looks at drug company promotional efforts, expanded diagnostic criteria, and the appeal of amphetamines to high-performance cultures globally.
Throwback Thursday: The Daily Show on the Pharmaceutical Drug Epidemic
On The Daily Show, Michael Che interviews MIA contributor Peter Gøtzsche and discovers that pharmaceutical companies and drug cartels have more in common than one might think.
