Top Docs Call Psych Diagnoses by Brain Scans “Modern Phrenology”
The Washington Post profiles Daniel Amen, "the most popular psychiatrist in America," who claims in copious books, DVDs, television and speaking engagements to be...
South Dakota Court Revives Cymbalta Suicide Case
A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court's summary judgment in favor of Eli Lilly, allowing the parents of a South Dakota...
NIH Defends Nemeroff Grant, Issues Talking Points
When it awarded yet another multimillion-dollar grant to Charles Nemeroff, a key figure in the controversy over conflicts of interest involving pharmaceutical research, U.S....
GAO Calls for Patient-Centered Research, Public Comment
The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)'s Methodology Committee released a report dated July 23, 2012, calling for "Standards for Patient-Centered Outcomes Research." In a...
NE Journal of Medicine Backs Congressional Call for Research Transparency
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Trial and Experimental Studies Transparency (TEST) Act into congress on August 2, 2012; a bill aimed at closing...
Nineteen New Zoloft Birth Defect Lawsuits Filed
Nineteen defective drug product liability cases against Prizer have been filed in West Virginia state court by mothers alleging that their children suffered from...
Antipsychotics Rise in Youth, But Hospitalization Rates Stay the Same
Researchers from Tufts and Harvard find in a review of 233 medical charts of psychiatrically hospitalized youth at three points in time (1991, 1998...
BJP Announces “The End of the Psychopharmacological Revolution”
The editor of the British Journal of Psychiatry, in a comment on Morrison et al.'s "Antipsychotics: is it Time to Introduce Patient Choice," announces...
Social Phobia is Not a Neuropsychological Deficit
Researchers at the University of Central Florida, saying "there are relatively few existing studies examining neuropsychological functioning in social phobia," found no difference across...
Only One in Seven Authors Disclose Conflict of Interest
Researchers from Harvard and the University of Melbourne identified physicians and scientists who had financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies named as defendants in U.S....
Antipsychotics for Childhood “Behavioral Problems” Skyrocket
Researchers from Columbia University and other New York institutions found a dramatically increasing use of antipsychotics to treat ADHD and other behavioral problems in...
Authors of BJP Editorial Critical of Antipsychotics Urge Reader Comment
The authors of a recent editorial in the British Journal of Psychiatry that urges a rethinking of the use of antipsychotics are asking that readers...
Is Exercise Best for Depression?
Time magazine reviews the evidence on exercise for depression, finding that exercise alters brain chemistry such that the brain shows less stress in response...
Pharma Execs Barred from Federal Programs
Three former executives from Purdue Pharma have been barred by a federal appeals court from doing business with federal healthcare programs such as Medicare...
U.K. Antidepressant Prescriptions Rise 9% in 2011
Almost 50 million prescriptions for antidepressants were issued in the U.K. in 2011, a rise of 9% over 2010. The increase is attributed, at...
Consumer Reports Recommends Against Antipsychotics for Depression
Consumer Reports recommends against antipsychotic "augmentation therapy" for depression. The consumer watchdog magazine finds that the unproven efficacy, harmful side effects, availability of alternatives,...
British Journal of Psychiatry Editorial Urges Rethinking the Use of Antipsychotics
The August issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry offers an editorial stating that, as "mental health services appear to have overestimated the strength...
Why Implausible Theories Persist in Evidence-Based Research.
David Weinberg writes in Science-Based Medicine that implausible theories must be held to a higher standard of proof in evidence-based research. In a review...
Former Drug Reviewer Speaks Out About FDA Failures
TruthOut interviews a former drug reviewer for the Center For Drug Evaluation and Research at the FDA, who says the center "placed the nation...
Antidepressant is Toxic to Fungus
Zoloft isn't just for depression any more; it also kills fungal meningitis. Researchers from Texas A&M find that "The problem for many current antifungal...
Clinical Judgment, Evidence-Based Medicine, and Psychiatry
Longtime critic of psychiatry Giovanni Fava comments, in what he refers to as "probably the most radical criticism of evidence-based medicine so far," on the "increasing...
Improved Neural Development in Children Moved from Institutional Care
Researchers from Harvard, Tulane, the University of Maryland and Boston Children's hospital compared MRI and EEG scans of 20 normally developing Romanian children with...
Increased Risk of Heart Defects with SSRIs
Danish research found a significantly increased risk of congenital heart defects in both the 4,183 pregnancies exposed to SSRIs throughout the first trimester and the...
Bleuler’s Continued Legacy
This month's Neuropsychobiology reviews, in two articles, the continued legacy of Eugen Bleuler - originator of the term "schizophrenia." An article from Switzerland states that...
Antipsychotics Not Helpful for Anorexia
A review of all research on the use of antipsychotics for the treatment of anorexia nervosa found no demonstrable efficacy in terms of body...
