Diagnosis Dispute Traps Teenager in Boston Children’s Hospital
Justina Pelletier, a 15-year-old Connecticut teenager who had been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, remains trapped in Boston Children's Hospital 9 months after a team...
J&J Fraud Plea Prompts Academics to Regret Participation
Following Johnson & Johnson's record $2.2 billion settlement for criminal marketing — including $1.4 billion related to its marketing of Risperdal, making it one of the...
Sleep Therapy for Depression
Pending research on the connection between insomnia and depression offers new prospects for treatment, according to recent articles in the New York Times. "Psychiatrists...
Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Linked to Polypharmacy, Benzos, and Race
Research from London and Taipei finds that neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) is associated with the number of different antipsychotics used (polypharmacy), rather than the overall...
Childhood Social Function & Schizophrenia
A 48-year longitudinal study of 244 subjects, published in Schizophrenia Research, finds that those with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses had had the worst social functioning scores at...
Benzos & Brain Tumors
Researchers in Taiwan found a 3.33x greater risk of benign brain tumors in patients who had been prescribed benzodiazepines for at least 2 months....
Antidepressants & Sexual Function
Two studies of the effects of antidepressants on sexual function - one on the relative effects across classes of antidepressants on men, the other...
Environment is a Primary Factor in Transition to Psychosis
Researchers (including Jim van Os) find, in a three-year cohort study of 1272 people at possible genetic risk of psychosis, that "most transitions (to psychosis)...
Childhood Trauma Linked to Bipolar Diagnosis, Symptoms
Research on a sample of 587 patients with DSM-IV defined bipolar disorder finds that an earlier age at onset of bipolar illness - along...
U.K.’s Guardian Survey: “Your Experiences of Antidepressants”
The U.K. newspaper The Guardian asked readers of five newspapers in the U.K., Germany, France, Spain and Italy to talk about their experiences of...
Call for Papers: Critical Underpinnings of User/Survivor Research and Co-Production
The journal Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology is calling for proposals for papers "aimed at tackling the 'hard' questions implicated in processes of user/survivor inclusion,...
One in Five Diagnosed With ADHD May Develop Cocaine Habit as Adults
Research from Boston University suggests that exposure to stimulant medications such as Ritalin during adolescence may result in cocaine addiction in later life. “You...
New Research on Insomnia & Depression
The New York Times reports on new research from multiple sources that finds focused attention on insomnia is proving to be a "cheap, relatively...
Janssen to Pay $11M for Failure to Warn of Topamax Birth Defects
A Philadelphia jury yesterday ordered Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen to pay $11 million to the parents of a five-year-old boy for failure to warn...
Sinéad O’Connor: Mental Health, the Media, and Human Rights
Sinéad O'Connor discusses mental health issues with TIME magazine this week, singling out the media's tendency to diagnose "without qualification," and adding that "mental health...
$2.2B J&J Settlement: Only the Beginning
At least 250 lawsuits involving Johnson & Johnson's improper marketing of Risperdal are pending in Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, according to information...
Lowered ADHD Threshold “More Harm Than Good” (BMJ)
Analysis in the British Medical Journal concludes that the lowered thresholds for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnosis in DSM-5 will mean "that many children...
Risperdal Lawsuits Continue After $2.2 Billion Settlement
A Texas man filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen, in connection to...
ADHD Unrelated to Dopamine Dysfunction
Research from the University of Cambridge finds that "dopamine dysregulation per se is unlikely to be the primary cause underlying attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder pathology...
When Science Goes Astray
The Los Angeles Times business section explores how it is possible that "so many scientists looking for cures to diseases have been building on...
Obama Administration to Require Mental Health Insurance “Parity”
The Obama administration will announce today, according to the New York Times, regulations that will require insurers to offer care for mental health issues...
J&J Whistleblowers to Collect Record $168 million
The whistleblowers who helped to build the case for prosecuting Johnson & Johnson for illegal marketing of Risperdal will take home nearly $168 million...
J&J Settlement Inspires PA Legislators on False Claims Act
Following Johnson & Johnson's $2.2 billion settlement for off-label marketing and kickbacks related to its antipsychotic Risperdal, Pennsylvania legislators Brandon Neuman and Tony DeLuca...
The Increasing Placebo Response in Antipsychotic Drug Trials
The American Journal of Psychiatry explores the implications for science and ethics of the rising placebo response rate in trials of antipsychotic drugs, in an...
J&J to Pay $2.2B to Settle Off-Label Risperdal Marketing Case
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries will pay more than $2.2 billion - one of the largest health-care fraud settlements in history - to...
