Many Psychiatric Patients Sent Home With Multiple Antipsychotics Against Guidelines
Despite the fact that clinical practice guidelines specifically recommend against the use of more than one antipsychotic at once, new research reveals that as...
Researchers Investigate Antidepressant-Induced Suicidal Ideation
An increase in suicidal thoughts is a known and serious side-effect for various types of antidepressants. Recent studies suggest that there may be some...
“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...
Study Finds Improved Functioning for ‘Schizophrenia’ Without Antipsychotics
Long-term treatment with antipsychotic drugs is currently considered the standard treatment for patients diagnosed with ‘schizophrenia.’ A new study challenges this practice, however. The...
“Selling Side Effects: Big Pharma’s Marketing Machine?”
Drug Watch releases an in-depth investigation into the marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies in the United States. “Companies spend billions advertising to doctors to...
More Children Receiving ‘Off-Label’ Antipsychotics for ‘ADHD’
Over the past twenty years, the number of prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics written to children and young adults between four and eighteen has increased...
Most People with Common ‘Mental Disorders’ Get Better Without Treatment, Study Finds
A new study suggests that most people diagnosed with depressive, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders recover without treatment within a year of diagnosis. “This...
Despite Official Recommendations, Depression Screening in Children is Not Supported by Research
Earlier this year, the US Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) came out with the controversial recommendation that all adolescent and adult patients undergo depression...
Researchers Discover How Antipsychotics Lead To Parkinsonism
A new study published this month in the journal Neuron identifies the mechanism by which antipsychotic drugs can induce parkinsonism, a condition involving movement...
Antidepressants Often Prescribed to Enforce Heteronormativity, Study Concludes
A new study investigating fifteen years of patient records at a Midwestern hospital found that psychiatrists almost always responded to patient complaints about their relationships by prescribing antidepressants, despite the fact that these complaints had little to do with the DSM criteria for depression. The study’s lead author, Jonathan Metzl, a professor of Sociology and Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt, suggests that after the decision in 1974 to remove homosexuality from the DSM, psychiatry continued to enforce socially accepted forms of relationships through the prescription of antidepressants.
SSRI Does Not Improve Outcomes or Mood for Patients with Heart Failure
A study released this week in JAMA examined whether giving patients with chronic heart failure and depression the SSRI antidepressant escitalopram (Lexapro) for two...
“Are Anxiety Drugs Making Us Less Eager To Lend A Helping Hand?”
For the Huffington Post, David Freeman asks “By tamping down anxious feelings, could it be that these so-called “anxiolytic” drugs are blunting our empathy and...
“Antipsychotic Medication for Children Could Have Lasting Effects, Research Suggests”
Neuroscientists have just released the results of a study on the long-term use of antipsychotic drugs in children. The growing brain adapts to the...
“Florida Doctor Pleads Guilty to Fraud — Years After Complaints About His Prescribing”
Charles Ornstein at ProPublica reports on how long it took regulators to take action against the top prescriber of antipsychotic drugs in Florida’s Medicaid...
How Can We Address the Corruption Problem in Clinical Trials?
Recently, major researchers, including David Healy, Jon Juriedini, Mickey Nardo, and their colleagues, have brought a great deal of attention to issues of corruption...
New Study Finds Brain Changes in Newborns Exposed to Antidepressants
A fist of its kind neuroscience study, published this month in Cerebral Cortex, found changes in the brain electrical activity of infants exposed to SSRI antidepressants during pregnancy.
Many Foster Kids Are Still Being Prescribed Antipsychotic Drugs
Many experts expressed concern when the rate of antipsychotic prescriptions to children in foster care showed a rapid increase, peaking in 2008, and new recommendations and policies have tried to curb the use of these drugs. While the rate has plateaued, a new study points out that the “new normal” prescription levels are still dangerously high. The data reveals that almost one in ten children in foster care are currently being prescribed antipsychotic drugs with dangerous side-effects, many for diagnoses like ‘ADHD’ and disruptive behavior.
JAMA Review Questions Use of Ritalin for ‘ADHD’
In December, MIA reported on a systematic Cochrane review on the research for the safety and effectiveness of Ritalin (methylphenidate) that found substantial bias...
NBC’s ‘Bitter Pill’ To Cover Antipsychotic Overmedication
As part of NBC's 'On Assignment' series reporter Kate Snow took a closer look at the prescribing of antipsychotic drugs "off-label" to children. The...
Major Review Finds Antidepressants Ineffective, Potentially Harmful for Children and Teens
In a large review study published this week in The Lancet, researchers assessed the effectiveness and potential harms of fourteen different antidepressants for their use in children and adolescents. The negative results, familiar to MIA readers, are now making major headlines.
Dateline NBC to Cover Child Psychiatric Overmedication Epidemic This Sunday
This Sunday, June 12 at 7pm (EDT) on NBCs Dateline will cover MIA author Steve Francesco's book, Overmedicated and Undertreated: How I Lost My...
Correction: No “Charges” Against Former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg
Our headline on an Around the Web item posted on June 8 stating that the former head of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, had been "charged"...
Antidepressant Use in Pregnancy Increases Risk of Preterm Birth, Latest Review Finds
Antidepressant use during pregnancy has been associated with a number of fetal and developmental complications. The latest meta-analysis of the effect of SSRI antidepressants...
“Tasty and Easy to Take, A New ADHD Drug Alarms Some Psychiatrists”
For STAT, Meghana Kashavan reports on a new, candy-flavored, chewable, fruity, amphetamine drug on the market for children diagnosed with ADHD. “It’s a move...
Despite Official Recommendations, Young Children Are Still Receiving Drugs Instead of Therapy for ‘ADHD’
In 2011 the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued guidelines recommending therapy over stimulant drugs as the primary treatment for children diagnosed with ‘ADHD.’ New research from the CDC reveals, however, that children between ages 2 and 5 are still being prescribed medications before receiving the recommended therapy or psychological services. Overall, the researchers found that 75% of these children are being prescribed “ADHD’ drugs while no more than 55% receive psychological treatments. Incredibly, among children on private insurances, the percentage of children receiving psychological services for ‘ADHD’ showed no increase following the 2011 recommendations.
