Scientists Clarify Risks of Augmenting with Antipsychotic Medications for Depression
The researchers found that while antipsychotic drugs may be slightly more effective than alternative antidepressants, they come with a much higher side effect burden.
Is the FDA Withholding Data to Protect a Drug Manufacturer?
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...
A Massachusetts Benzo Bill That Mandates Informed Consent
H. 3594 would require pharmacists to distribute pamphlets containing information on benzodiazepine misuse and abuse, risk of dependency and addiction, handling and addiction treatment resources. This would be a major legislative response to the prescribing patterns for these drugs today.
Are Nurses the New Sales Reps? Doctors Should be Aware
From STAT: According to a recently unsealed lawsuit, Eli Lilly has illegally hired nurses to promote its diabetes treatments to physicians and patients for the...
The Trump Administration Isn’t Taking on Health Care Waste
From U.S. News: The Trump administration is not taking any actions to address the epidemic of waste, i.e. unnecessary tests and treatments, in the medical...
The Epidemic of “Junk Science”
From The Lown Institute: Every year, we spend $240 billion to fund biomedical research. According to a science reporter and author Richard Harris, as much as half...
Facebook Rolls Out AI to Detect Suicidal Posts
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...
Drug May Lead to Early Death for People With Alzheimer’s
From The Washington Post: A recent study found that benzodiazepines are associated with a greater chance of early death for those with Alzheimer's.
"Researchers analyzed data on...
Children Diagnosed with ADHD Younger are More Likely to get Multiple Medications
New research demonstrates that children diagnosed with ADHD at younger ages are more likely than those diagnosed later to receive multiple medications within five years of their diagnosis.
What Should Happen When Things Go Wrong?
In this piece for the National Survivor User Network, Martin Coyle highlights some of the shortcomings of the UK's Mental Health Act in light of its...
Science is Broken
In this piece for Aeon, Siddhartha Roy and Marc A. Edwards explore how increasingly perverse incentives and the academic business model are affecting scientific practices and...
Scientists Call for Increased Transparency in Research
Scientists at the Yale Collaboration for Research Integrity and Transparency (CRIT) published a new policy paper this month criticizing the current state of biomedical research and calling for improved transparency in research methods.
Vermont Probes Whether Drug Makers Violated its Gift Ban
From STAT: The Vermont attorney general is currently investigating whether drug and medical device companies may have violated state law by giving gifts or payments to health...
What New Zealand’s “Unfortunate Experiment” Can Teach Us
From the Boston Review: In his new book Doctors in Denial: The Forgotten Women in the "Unfortunate Experiment," Ronald W. Jones chronicles the history of New...
Outcome Reporting Bias in Antipsychotic Medication Trials
A new study in the journal Translational Psychiatry, an influential journal in biological psychiatry published by Nature, challenges the state of the research on antipsychotic drugs.
How Culpable Are Educators and Psychologists in Youth Suicide?
In this piece for Medium, Karen Kilbane discusses the ways that contemporary psychological theories, diagnoses, and behavior modification programs are harming the mental health and emotional...
Voluntary Psychiatric Patients May Face Exploitation
From WFAA: Many patients who check themselves into psychiatric hospitals voluntarily may have difficulty when attempting to check out. In one recent incident in Denton,...
Pharmaceutical Industry Gifts Linked to Costlier Prescribing Practices
New study finds that pharmaceutical industry gifts to medical providers in Washington D.C. are associated with higher cost, higher volume prescribing behavior.
Vampire Medicines
In this piece, Dr. David Healy describes the various factors contributing to the lack of awareness surrounding the harmful and potentially dangerous effects of...
More Lavish the Gifts to Doctors Means Costlier Drugs Prescribed
From The New York Times: A new study found that when drug companies give gifts to doctors, the doctors prescribe higher quantities of — and more expensive —...
Drug Company Sales Reps Should be Banned From Hospitals
From STAT: Despite evidence that drug company sales reps skew prescribing habits, relatively few hospitals have taken the step of barring them. This is a...
SSRI Ineffective at Treating Depression in Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease
Dr. Madhukar Trivedi and colleagues find that the SSRI sertraline does not reduce depressive symptoms any more than placebo in people with Chronic Kidney Disease.
Health Care? More Like Health Scare!
From the Lown Institute: For pharmaceutical companies who use scare tactics to sell drugs, every day is like Halloween. This list of egregious advertisements shows...
Depressed Patients on Antidepressants Do Worse in the Long Run
From Medical Xpress: A new analysis of the long-term effects of antidepressants found that symptoms of depression were more sharply elevated nine years following treatment...
Rigorous Study Finds Antidepressants Worsen Long-Term Outcomes
A new study conducted by Jeffrey Vittengl at Truman University has found that taking antidepressant medications resulted in more severe depression symptoms after nine years.
