Fighting the fog of Mental Illness
In this special report for the Journal Sentinel, Meg Kissinger tells the story of Amanda Farrell, a woman labeled severely mentally ill who eventually recovered...
Anti-depressants: “I’ve Lost My Identity and Who I Am”
From BBC: Mad in America Radio Host and Program Director James Moore speaks about the impact that antidepressant withdrawal has had on his life.
"The 46-year-old has...
âThe Hidden Harm of Antidepressantsâ
The Scientific American reports on an in-depth reanalysis revealing widespread underreporting of negative side effects, including suicide attempts and aggressive behavior.
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A University Ethics Scandal Turns Into a Business Opportunity
From City Pages: In a 2014 University of Minnesota research scandal, a young man was coerced into an experimental drug study conducted by his psychiatrist that...
New Tool Will Make it Easier to Spot Conflicts of Interest
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...
Is Evidence Based Medicine a Form of Microfascism?
In this post for BMJ Opinion, Richard Smith critiques a 2006 paper condemning evidence based medicine as an exclusionary, colonizing form of microfascism that promotes a...
Drug Treatment of ADHD â Tenuous Scientific Basis
From Tidsskriftet: Over the past three decades, there has been a dramatic increase in the diagnosis and pharmacological treatment of ADHD. Recent systematic reviews reveal...
âWhen Meth Was an Antidepressantâ
The Atlantic compares the use of meth as a âtop-line antidepressantâ in the 1930s to the 1950s to debates over the use of medicinal marijuana today. âItâs an example of how pharmaceuticals, at their core, are drugs. Theyâre chemicals that were mixed together and believed to be beneficial to humanity, until they weren't.â
ââDisease AwarenessââHow Big Pharma Preps You to Buy Drugs You Probably Don’t Need”
The latest from Martha Rosenberg: âPharma companies love disease awareness advertising because, unlike direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising, risks and warnings of possible drug treatments do...
Unnecessary Medical Care: More Common Than You Might Think
From NPR: A recent report by the Washington Health Alliance has helped to quantify the epidemic of medical overtreatment and healthcare waste.
"What the group found...
Researchers Expose Pharmaceutical Industry Misconduct and Corruption
Corruption of pharmaceutical industry sponsored clinical trials identified as a âmajor obstacleâ facing evidence-based medicine.
Bill to Force Pharma to Disclose Payments to Advocacy Groups
From STAT: Last month, Senator Claire McCaskill released a report showing that opioid manufacturers had funneled nearly $9 million to patient advocacy groups between 2012...
Foxes Guarding the Henhouse: the Role of the Chief Psychiatrist
I do not wish to discuss an individual patient. I wish to discuss the conduct of the psychiatrists at Upton House, Dr Katz in particular, who have been responsible for the administering of over 50 ECTs consecutively to a patient, and have reportedly repeatedly restrained this patient to a bed, on one occasion for approximately 60 consecutive days.
âMedicating a Prophetâ
In the New York Times Sunday Review, Irene Hurford, a psychiatrist, reflects on the ethics of forced treatment for psychosis. âAs doctors,â she writes,...
âPoliticians and Experts Meet at Parliament to Explore Record Antidepressant Prescribing and Disabilityâ
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence is meeting today, May 11th, to discuss evidence of the link between the rise in disability...
Some Social Scientists are Tired of Asking for Permission
From The New York Times: The Department of Health and Human Services's Office for Human Research Protections recently revised its rules for social science research. Studies...
Experts ‘In Denial’ Over Withdrawal Harm From Prescription Pills
From The Herald: MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) Michelle Ballantyne has spoken out about the epidemic of withdrawal effects of prescription pills, critiquing physicians'...
Ten Simple Things We Can Do Immediately to Reduce Suicide
In this piece for Unthinkable, Dr. Jacob Z. Hess describes ten ways we can all help to reduce suicide, including promoting self-determination and choice in...
What Would Real Informed Consent on Psychiatric Drugs Look Like?
Reforming the process of real informed consent can be brought to the horizon sooner rather than later if we have a solid idea of what the provision of truthful, unbiased research-based information about psychiatric medications should look like. Our upcoming series of webinars for 2019 will focus on just that.
âCanadian Patients Fight Forced Electroshockâ
"A retired nurse, a Harvard-educated musician and others sued British Columbia this week, claiming it forcibly subjects mental health patients to electroconvulsive therapy and...
New Review of Antipsychotics for Schizophrenia Questions Evidence for Long Term Use
A systematic review of the limited research available on the long-term effects of antipsychotics finds fewer symptoms in those off of the drugs.
Nutrient Supplementation Improves Outcomes for Patients Diagnosed with Schizophrenia
A review article and meta-analysis of 18 articles published in the journal of Psychological Medicine reported effects of vitamin and/or mineral supplements on psychiatric symptoms in people diagnosed with schizophrenia. The study provides evidence of the beneficial effects of taking certain vitamins and minerals for improving symptoms associated with schizophrenia.
New Clinical Guidelines on Deprescribing Benzodiazepines
New guidelines recommend deprescribing benzodiazepine receptor agonists for adults.
Sodium Nitroprusside Shows No Efficacy in Schizophrenia Treatment
Researchers question biases of preliminary trials that found that sodium nitroprusside, an antihypertensive drug, has positive effects on schizophrenia symptoms.
Researchers Make Recommendations to Improve FDA Transparency
Organizations, advocates, scholars, and practitioners had a chance to give feedback regarding FDA processes.
