Andreasen Drops a Bombshell: Antipsychotics Shrink the Brain
In 1991, Nancy Andreasen began a long-running study of first-episode schizophrenia patients, which involved periodically measuring their brain volumes with magnetic resonance scans. In...
February 14, 2011
Bob--
Recently, I saw a thirty-six year-old Bulgarian man for a follow-up visit. He is my age, with three children almost exactly the same ages...
Chapter Six: A Disease of Dis-Ease, and New Hope for a Cure
On the day I arrived as a freshman at Harvard in the fall of 2001, I dropped my belongings in my dorm room, said...
January 31, 2011
Bob--
Today, I saw an intelligent and sarcastic teenage boy for renewal of his Adderall. He presented with his well-meaning but frustrated father, who is...
Speaking at MGH Grand Rounds, and More
As many readers of this blog may know, I spoke at the psychiatric department’s Grand Rounds at Massachusetts General Hospital on January 13, which...
January 17, 2011
Bob--
About a month ago, I started caring for a fifty-five year old Filipino woman. She speaks English well, though with a heavy accent. She...
Antipsychotics and the Scientific Method
In a recent article in the New Yorker, titled, The Truth Wears Off, science writer Jonah Lehrer discusses an intriguing problem in science. The...
January 7, 2011
Bob--
This is the twentieth letter that I'll be posting on your website. I thought I'd use the occasion to reflect on what I've observed...
Psychiatric Drugs and Violence: A Review of FDA Data Finds A Link
There has been an enduring controversy over whether psychiatric medications can trigger violent actions toward others. A review of the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting...
December 22, 2010
Bob--
Many cases I have shared with you have been interactions with patients who are seeking a healthier way of dealing with mood disorders, or...
December 15, 2010
Bob--
I saw a thirty-four year old woman today for a follow-up visit regarding post-partum depression. She delivered her second child two months ago, and...
Chapter Five: Filling the Void
When I returned to boarding school in the fall of my junior year, I brought with me not just duffel bags of clothes, athletic...
December 6, 2010
Bob-
I saw a sixteen-year old girl for a sports physical today. She plays softball for the local high school and also is on the...
Updates on the Epidemic
Here’s a rundown of a hodgepodge of studies that I’ve come across recently that relate to themes I wrote about in Anatomy of an...
Do Psychiatric Drugs Impair Normal Brain Development?
At the recent annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, which was held in San Diego from November 13-17, four poster presentations told of...
The GlaxoSmithKline Ghostwriting Documents, Part Two
On Tuesday, the New York Times reported on how SmithKline Beecham paid a marketing company, Scientific Therapeutics Information (STI), to ghostwrite a medical textbook...
Chapter Four: Eye of the Storm
I settled into my new life in the fall of my sophomore year at a co-ed boarding school in Western Massachusetts and was convinced...
A Ghostwritten Psychiatric Textbook Hints at a Much Larger Problem
The report by the New York Times today that a 1999 medical text authored by Dr. Charles Nemeroff and by Dr. Alan Schatzberg was...
November 26, 2010
Bob--
Very interesting case today, a forty-six year-old woman, new patient, overweight, and very pleasant. She is someone who, at first glance, I never would...
Volunteers for Psychotherapy Is A Finalist for International Award
Volunteers for Psychotherapy, which is located in Hartford, Connecticut, and has for years run an innovative program that gets clients involved in community programs,...
Chapter Three: At War With A Diagnosis
Note: In this third entry, it is still early on in my story. It is the fall of my ninth grade year, I am...
November 11, 2010
Bob--
Today, I saw a bright, athletic lacrosse player who is a high school sophomore. She was seeing me to follow up on a mild...
November 1, 2010
Bob--
Since we've started posting these letters, I've had a number of readers responding to me and asking about my strategies for withdrawal. As you...
November 9, 2010
Bob--
Today, I saw a very friendly, highly intelligent (she has a PhD in economics) and overweight 34 year old woman for a refill of...
