Anticholinergic Medications Linked to Dementia Similar to Early Alzheimer’s
A new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, investigates the effects of anticholinergic medications, such as antidepressants and antipsychotics, on cognition in older adults diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Utah Supreme Court Allows Lawsuit for Psychotropic-Induced Murder
Ruling that health care providers, while important, "are not entitled to an elevated status in tort law that would categorically immunize them from liability...
“Mental Illness Plagued Student Who Leaped From Niagara Falls”
Greg Young, who leapt to his death from the top of Niagara Falls, "had been on numerous medications, all of which came with warnings...
Jury Awards $4M for Topamax Birth Defect
After an hour of deliberation, jurors decided that the anticonvulsant Topamax (topiramate) had, in fact, caused April Czimmer's son to be born with a...
Abbott to Pay $700 Million for Off-Label Marketing of Depakote
Pleading guilty to marketing Depakote for behavioral problems in dementia patients, a purpose for which the drug was not approved, a federal judge has...
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.
Abbott to Pay $1.6 Billion for “Elder Abuse”, Off-Label Marketing
Abbott Laboratories has pled guilty to civil and criminal charges of illegally marketing Depakote for the control of agitation and aggression in elderly patients...
Missouri Sued for Over-Drugging Foster Children
From Reuters: Two youth legal advocacy groups have filed a lawsuit against Missouri for over-exposing foster children to psychotropic drugs. The lawsuit seeks a court...
Call for an Investigation Into Psych Meds and Violence
The killing of 20 children and six adults in Newtown has triggered a search for some way of preventing these kinds of tragedies. The...
Prescription Drugs in Great Lakes Don’t Dilute as Expected
Concentrations of pharmaceuticals in Lake Michigan are undiluted two miles from treated sewage outfalls, according to research published in Chemosphere. Research has linked pharmaceuticals...
Nevada Legislation Aims to Curb Psychotropics in Foster Children
A touching article in the Las Vegas Sun follows one child from abandonment through foster placements, polypharmacy, suicidality, delinquency and homelessness to stability off...
Might Antidepressants Create Treatment Resistance?
From Psychiatric Times: A recent study of individuals diagnosed with bipolar II disorder found that patients who have taken antidepressants in the past are less likely to respond...
Antipsychotics Rise in Youth, But Hospitalization Rates Stay the Same
Researchers from Tufts and Harvard find in a review of 233 medical charts of psychiatrically hospitalized youth at three points in time (1991, 1998...
The $3 Billion Research Breakdown
In this piece for Medscape, Jodi S. Cohen chronicles the research malpractice case of child psychiatrist Mani Pavuluri, who put vulnerable children at serious risk...
Sexual Side Effects of Medications in Young People
The effects of antidepressants and mood stabilizers on young people's psychosexual development receive little attention or research, says Kaitlin Bell Barnett (author of "Dosed:...
Bipolar Patients Have High Drug Burden — Especially Women
Over one third of people with bipolar diagnoses admitted to a Rhode Island hospital were on four or more psychiatric medications, says research published...
“FDA Forced to Release Adverse Event Reports on Psychiatric Drugs”
Following a lawsuit brought by Andrew Thibault of Parents Against Pharmaceutical Abuse (PAPA), the FDA has produced adverse event and severe adverse event reports...
Prenatal Valproate Exposure Linked with ADHD Diagnosis in Children
Children who were exposed to anti-seizure drug valproate in utero were 48% more likely to develop ADHD, according to a new study.
The Issue of Over-Diagnosing in Psychiatry
From The Concordian: On October 30th, Dr. Joel Paris, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, gave a lecture about the dangers and consequences of...
