Informed Consent

ProPublica is well known for creating interesting data bases that allow anyone hooked up to a computer to see by name whether a physician is accepting Big Pharma payments — from dinners to speaking engagements to consulting services. What may be lesser known is that occasionally ProPublica will publish other data that when carefully mined can reveal even more about the use of psychiatric drugs especially when there is a public funding source available.

To what extent are healthcare providers equipped to assess nuance in the experiences of pain among nonverbal children?

From TechCrunch: Facebook's new artificial intelligence technology will now scan all posts for suicidal thoughts and send mental health resources or contact local first-responders for users...

Meta-analyses including studies that detail these trials could be presenting misleading information.

Plaintiffs allege that Bristol-Myers Squibb and Otsuka Pharmaceutical failed to warn doctors and patients about the risk for compulsive behaviors when taking the atypical...

Yesterday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a warning that the antipsychotic drug aripiprazole or Abilify is associated with compulsive and uncontrollable...

The most important data in an RCT is not whether the drug provides a statistically significant benefit over placebo. The most important data is the “number needed to treat” calculation (NNT). For the person considering taking an antidepressant or an antipsychotic, the NNT data provides the “math” needed to weigh the potential benefit of taking the drug against the potential harm of doing so.

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...

From Benzinga: The FDA has suggested that drug commercials may intentionally list potential side effects in such a rapid-fire, overwhelming way that the warning messages...

For the New York Times, Cornell psychiatrist Richard Friedman proposes new regulations to make direct-to-consumer drug ads reveal the relative price and effectiveness information that...

From Scientific American: The FDA seems determined to prevent the public from accessing valuable data about the safety, efficacy, and potential adverse effects of the...

An editorial in the Guardian discusses the fact that the number of people with intellectual or learning disabilities “who are being treated with psychotropic drugs far exceeds those with mental illness.” The authors of a new study examining the overuse of psychotropic drugs on people with learning disabilities, published this month in BMJ, argue: “If people without mental illness are given psychotropic drugs… it is probably to control their behavior.”

Veterans diagnosed with PTSD and taking SSRIs, novel antidepressants, or atypical antipsychotics are more likely to develop dementia.

A new study suggests that some antihypertensive drugs are associated with increased risk of bipolar disorder and depression, while other antihypertensive drugs are actually associated with decreased risk.

From STAT: A small biotech company, AveXis, recently offered a $3,000 honorarium along with paid airfare and lodging to several experts to attend a so-called...

From Medical Xpress: A group of 21 prominent physicians have released a comprehensive proposal to guarantee everyone access to safe, innovative, and affordable medication. The proposed reforms...

From The Lown Institute: Many of the current guidelines and tools available for deprescribing medications use a "one-size-fits-all" approach, merely providing lists of harmful drugs...

Industry-funded continuing medical education (CME) influences physicians to prescribe more opioids, focus less on the consequences.

Legislation is being advanced that would speed up the FDA’s approval process for new drugs and medical devices, according to a report by the Pacific Standard. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies have been lobbying heavily to reduce regulations and are winning over bipartisan support by attaching these measures to increased mental health funding.

From The Lown Institute: The recent deaths of several beloved musicians, actors, and other public figures have brought to light the dangers of taking multiple, potentially fatal drugs. "In...

From STAT: President Trump has nominated Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a proponent of increased psychiatric treatment for those diagnosed with serious mental illness, to run the Substance...

Martha Rosenberg calls the reanalysis of Paxil and Study 329 “a victory for safety activists, medical reporters, the public and freedom of the press.” But, she warns, “many pro-pill doctors continue to fight evidence of Paxil’s suicide risks and similar SSRIs.”

From STAT: Two professors at the University of Washington will be offering a new course, "Calling Bullshit In the Age of Big Data." The class...

From Vox: PubMed, a search engine for medical abstracts, has begun displaying conflict of interest data in search results. The abstracts now include a Conflict...

The Mercury News reports that California’s judicial council is taking major steps to address the rampant use of psychiatric drugs in foster care. The...