Judge Allows Zoloft Defense in CA Rape Case
A former southern California police detective and Iraq war veteran charged with rape will be allowed to argue that an over-prescription of antidepressants for...
“Why are More Children Being Prescribed Antidepressants? Funding Cuts”
Eleanor Morgan writes in the Guardian opinions that the long waiting times for talk therapy and the increasing use of drugs in the UK...
Internal Pfizer Report Warned of Zoloft and Birth Defect Link
"A Pfizer Inc. report shows a scientist warned executives last year about a potential link between the anti-depressant drug Zoloft and birth defects."
SSRIs Implicated in Drinking Problems
The U.K.'s Mail reports of an effect of SSRIs that, though rare, has shown up in significant numbers of people according to David Healy's...
“B.C. Care Homes Provide Antidepressants Without Diagnoses”
New data reveals that the majority of care homes in British Columbia, Canada are giving out prescriptions for antidepressants and antipsychotics without a diagnosis....
“6 Prescription Drugs That Aren’t as Safe as the Government Claims”
“A quick look at drugs or drug uses that later turned out to be risky shows a disturbing trail of ‘bought’ science in major medical...
More Than 60% of Female Inmates in Canadian Prisons are Prescribed Psychiatric Medication
The average rate of female prisoners in Canada's prison system who receive psychiatric medication has jumped from 42% in 2001 to over 60% today,...
FDA: New Depression Drug “Not Approvable”
Gepirone, a new depression drug by Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals, did not meet the FDAs efficacy standards. The new drug application for gepirone has now received...
Spontaneous Improvement in Depression, With and Without Placebo
Researchers at Columbia University and Queens College reviewed 10 trials of antidepressants that used wait-listed controls in order to determine the contribution of spontaneous...
Emotional Illiteracy in “The Medication Generation”
Katharine Sharpe, author of "Coming of Age on Zoloft," writes for the Wall Street Journal about the particular problems of young people learning about...
“New Depression Meds Not Effective Generally, But Drug Companies Insist Otherwise: Study”
The International Business Times covers a new study showing “trials for new antidepressant medications may not be applicable to the population at large.” “The finding, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, shows recent trials are less generalizable than the prior studies, as researchers excluded most depressed patients from drug company-sponsored treatment studies.”
FDA Adds Warnings to Celexa’s Label
Following up on last August's warning that high doses of Celexa can cause potentially fatal heart rhythm abnormalities, the FDA has added clarification to...
“Survivors Push for Withdrawal Hotline and Change”
“Two Scots whose lives have been ravaged by prescription drugs are battling for recognition of the devastating withdrawal issues as well as proper support for victims,”...
AztraZeneca Struggling as Generic Seroquel Gets the Green Light
With a U.S. judge refusing to grant an injunction against generic versions of it's top-selling drug Seroquel last Friday, the Wall Street Journal reports...
Stress Reduces Gene Activity Thought to Protect Against Depression
Researchers at Yale University found that stress in rats blocks the activity of a gene that promotes healthy neural connections in the brain. The...
ISEPP Board Member Testifies at Mexican Congressional Hearing on Psych Meds & Violence
Dr. Toby Watson, The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry's former executive director, reports on his expert testimony to the Federal Congress and...
“Psychiatric Drugs a Proven Menace”
Brian Daniels writes in the Belfast Telegraph that the role of antidepressants in the Germanwings Flight 9525 crash needs to be investigated. “The safety...
Use of Psychiatric Services “Skyrocketing” in Turkey
The number of people seeking psychiatric treatment in Turkey rose from 3 million people in 2009 to almost 9.2 million in 2013, according to...
“Report Finds Florida Foster Kids Put on Psychotropic Drugs Without Following Proper Procedures”
After the 2009 suicide of a seven-year-old foster kid who had been on two “black box” medications intended for adults, Florida updated its policies to protect vulnerable children from over-prescription. Unfortunately, according to a report by Orlando Weekly, “foster children are still being put on psychotropic medications without caregivers following proper procedures.”
Relabeling “Antidepressants”
Do "the medications we call antidepressants justify the label of antidepressant?" So ask Davids Antonuccio and Healy in Scientifica. "On all of the identified...
“Are We Using Antidepressants to Paper Over the Cracks of a Fractured Society?”
The Guardian writes that "Use of antidepressant drugs has become more common than ever before. Perhaps it's time that we looked at the wider causes...
The Empire of Humbug: Not So Bad Pharma
At the 50th American Psychosomatic Society meeting in New York, Michael Shepherd was speaking. His topic - The Placebo. When the lecture finished, Lou Lasagna said "this paper is now open for questions." Nothing happened. Nobody said anything at all. Lasagna couldn't refrain from commenting: "There are 3 possible explanations. First, you were all asleep and therefore you heard nothing. Secondly, it was so bad that since this speaker has come 3,000 miles you didn't want to embarrass him. Third, it is genuinely so original and new that you don't quite know what to make of it. I'll leave you to decide which it was".
What had Shepherd said?
Blood Test for Depression Announced
Researchers testing the blood of 14 teenage subjects with major depressive disorder and 14 with no disorder for a set of candidate biomarkers from...
“Psychotic Shooters on the Open Frontier of Profit”
At CounterPunch, Joseph Natoli connects Big Pharma, mass shootings, and rampant inequality. He writes: “The Brave New World soma strategy to deal with a population that, were they not doped up, might violently disrupt that brave new world, is useful if a society is ‘creatively destroying’ a growing number of its population each day. While the poor have daily evidence of their poverty, a collapsing middle class live in the illusion that they are middle class and just a short distance, not from ruin, but from fame and fortune. They are, in short, heading for a catastrophic break-down. Big Pharma is already set to give us all a ‘soft landing.’”
“What Can A Rat’s ‘Behavioral Despair’ Tell You?”
"A 'tail suspension test' is exactly what its title implies. Researchers lift a rat by the tail for a few minutes at a time,...
