Many Patient Advocacy Organizations Are Funded By Industry
New research investigates the financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) of patient advocacy organizations (PAOs) in the United States.
BPS Releases Review of Alternatives to Antipsychotics
BPS releases report encouraging behavioral interventions for people with dementia, rather than antipsychotics
Medical Interventions Are Overused Worldwide
Lack of “right care” causes physical, psychological and financial harm to patients
Study Finds Excess Pills Prescribed for Post-Operative Pain
Researchers find that patients are prescribed more pills than necessary after common surgical procedures
Increase in ED Visits Due to Drug Related Adverse Events
A recently published article in the Journal of the American Medical Association highlights an increase in emergency department (ED) visits due to drug-related adverse or negative events.
“21st Century Cures Bill Would Weaken Requirements for Disclosing Industry Ties”
Ed Silverman reports for STAT that a provision tucked into the 21st Century Cares legislation exempts companies from reporting payments made to doctors, journals,...
“For One Condition, the Drugs Came Before the Disorder”
An investigative report in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel explores the pharmaceutical industries involvement in the creation of the ‘mental illness’ known as Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder...
How ‘Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder’ was Created by Pharma
For MinnPost, Susan Perry discusses that the pharmaceutical industry played in the creation of the ‘mental disorder’ known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD....
“House Passes Controversial Medical Funding ‘Cures’ Bill”
“Democrats and consumer groups were upset with the bill's streamlining of some Food and Drug Administration processes, including making it easier for companies to...
“Bernie Sanders Attacks the 21st Century Cures Act and Pharmaceutical Industry ‘Greed’”
“At a time when Americans pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, this bill provides absolutely no relief for...
FDA Safety Warning For Citalopram Did Not Improve Outcomes for Vets
Instead of reducing risk, the dose reduction recommendation made by the FDA in their safety message was associated with an increase in hospitalizations.
“A Frenzy Of Lobbying On 21st Century Cures”
Kaiser Health News and NPR report on the immense lobbying effort aimed at passing the "21st Century Cures" Act which would fast-track FDA approval...
“21st Century Cures Act will get Vote this Week”
Several members of Congress spoke this weekend signaling that they were ready to vote on legislation designed to speed federal approval of new drugs...
Safety Analysis Weighs Harms and Benefits of Antipsychotic Drugs
The researchers find that the drug effects for reducing psychosis are small and that treatment failure and severe side effects are common.
Kids Diagnosed with Autism More Likely to Get Psychotropic Drugs
Children diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are much more likely to be prescribed a psychotropic medication.
Study Finds No Benefit for Testosterone Treatments
Researchers find no benefits for testosterone as a treatment for improving mood, psychological well-being, and cognitive function.
“A River of Lost Souls Runs Through Western Colorado”
The Washington Post investigates the epidemic of suicide and the overuse of psychiatric drugs that is sweeping through towns in Colorado.
Evolution or Revolution? Why Western Psychiatry Won’t Change by Incremental Steps
...but how realistic is it to expect that the biological skew of Western psychiatry can be sustainably changed one small step at a time?
Many Psychiatric Patients Sent Home With Multiple Antipsychotics Against Guidelines
Despite the fact that clinical practice guidelines specifically recommend against the use of more than one antipsychotic at once, new research reveals that as...
“Selling Side Effects: Big Pharma’s Marketing Machine?”
Drug Watch releases an in-depth investigation into the marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies in the United States. “Companies spend billions advertising to doctors to...
Violence Caused by Antidepressants: An Update after Munich
The media is now reporting details about the 18-year-old who shot and killed nine and wounded many others before killing himself on July 22 in Munich. My clinical and forensic experience leads to a distinction among people who murder under the influence of psychiatric drugs. Those who kill only one or two people, or close family members, often have little or no history of mental disturbance and violent tendencies. The drug itself seems like the sole cause of the violent outburst. On the other hand, most of those who commit mass violence while taking psychiatric drugs often have a long history of mental disturbance and sometimes violence. For these people, the mental health system seems to have provoked increasing violence without recognizing the danger.
More Children Receiving ‘Off-Label’ Antipsychotics for ‘ADHD’
Over the past twenty years, the number of prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics written to children and young adults between four and eighteen has increased...
Antidepressants Often Prescribed to Enforce Heteronormativity, Study Concludes
A new study investigating fifteen years of patient records at a Midwestern hospital found that psychiatrists almost always responded to patient complaints about their relationships by prescribing antidepressants, despite the fact that these complaints had little to do with the DSM criteria for depression. The study’s lead author, Jonathan Metzl, a professor of Sociology and Medicine, Health and Society at Vanderbilt, suggests that after the decision in 1974 to remove homosexuality from the DSM, psychiatry continued to enforce socially accepted forms of relationships through the prescription of antidepressants.
“Florida Doctor Pleads Guilty to Fraud — Years After Complaints About His Prescribing”
Charles Ornstein at ProPublica reports on how long it took regulators to take action against the top prescriber of antipsychotic drugs in Florida’s Medicaid...
Many Foster Kids Are Still Being Prescribed Antipsychotic Drugs
Many experts expressed concern when the rate of antipsychotic prescriptions to children in foster care showed a rapid increase, peaking in 2008, and new recommendations and policies have tried to curb the use of these drugs. While the rate has plateaued, a new study points out that the “new normal” prescription levels are still dangerously high. The data reveals that almost one in ten children in foster care are currently being prescribed antipsychotic drugs with dangerous side-effects, many for diagnoses like ‘ADHD’ and disruptive behavior.
