J&J Settles Risperdal Lawsuit on Opening Day
Johnson & Johnson settled one of about 420 Risperdal-related lawsuits on the trial's opening day. "The case is resolved and the client is satisfied,"...
Imagining the Fall of Antipsychotics
John Read and Phil Thomas imagine the eventual confession and apology by pharmaceutical companies - twenty years from now - of the harm done...
Louisiana Court Rejects J&J’s Bid to Throw Out $258 million Risperdal Award
The state appeals court of Lake Charles, Louisiana found that "the trial court was not manifestly erroneous in casting (Johnson & Johnson owner) Janssen...
More Evidence That Antipsychotics Shrink the Brain
European researchers who reviewed 43 imaging studies of first-episode psychosis found evidence that antipsychotics cause a decrease in gray matter volumes in the brain....
Coming Off Psychiatric Medication with Laura Delano – New Madness Radio Interview
What do you when medications for your emotional problems become worse than the problems themselves? Laura Delano went to a psychiatrist at age 18, and for the next decade was prescribed nineteen different psychiatric drugs. After devastating physical and emotional effects, she began a journey to become medication free -- and re-discover who she is.
Neuroleptic Drugs and Violence
Neuroleptic Drugs and Violence
by
Catherine Clarke SRN, SCM, MSSCH, MBChA.
and Jan Evans MCSP. Grad Dip Phys.
1 Boring Old Man Bores Even More Into Study 329’s Raw Data
1 Boring Old Man bores ever more deeply into the newly available raw data from GlaxoSmithKline's study of Paxil in children, finding that "if...
Low Prevalence of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome in Never-Treated Chronic Schizophrenia
Research from India indicates that "schizophrenia in the absence of antipsychotic drug treatment is not a factor contributing to high prevalence of metabolic abnormalities."
Abstract...
Antipsychotic Nasal Spray
Soulful Sepulcher takes on Alexza's new inhalable version of Loxapine, Adasuve, finding that it may cause respiratory failure.
Spray Antipsychotic →
Search Nursing Home Deficiency Reports
ProPublica offers an interactive tool that lets you search nursing home inspection reports for problems such as antipsychotic overprescribing.
ProPublica Offers Searchable Database of Nursing Home Inspection Reports
ProPublica now offers a searchable database of 20,000 nursing home inspection reports, a service which may assist in determining homes that have violated guidelines...
Type of Treatment for Depression is Less Important than Engagement
An international team of researchers (including Irving Kirsch) found in a review "of 62 pivotal antidepressant trials consisting of data from 13,802 depressed patients"...
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...
Antipsychotics for Childhood “Behavioral Problems” Skyrocket
Researchers from Columbia University and other New York institutions found a dramatically increasing use of antipsychotics to treat ADHD and other behavioral problems in...
Study 329’s Authors: Should Those Who Live in Glass Houses Throw Stones?
For the past several years whenever a critical essay has come along examining the work of Irving Kirsch and his colleagues I have made an effort to examine the validity of the proposed arguments. Kirsch and his colleagues used the Freedom of Information Act to gain access to the unpublished trials of antidepressants and then pooled the clinical trial data – both published and unpublished ─ and analyzed it as a single data set. It is common for pharmaceutical companies to only publish those studies that find their products effective, and to withhold the negative studies, making it difficult to reach accurate conclusions by examining only the published data. Kirsch and his colleagues have reported that in the company sponsored clinical trials, the SSRIs only marginally outperform placebo, with the difference being statistically different but not clinically significant.
Authors of BJP Editorial Critical of Antipsychotics Urge Reader Comment
The authors of a recent editorial in the British Journal of Psychiatry that urges a rethinking of the use of antipsychotics are asking that readers...
Jonah Lehrer was also Wrong About Antipsychotics
We spend a lot of time writing about knowledge dissemination in mental health, and over time, have increasingly recognized the important role of science...
Is Exercise Best for Depression?
Time magazine reviews the evidence on exercise for depression, finding that exercise alters brain chemistry such that the brain shows less stress in response...
Xanax Withdrawal
Xanax Withdrawal is a short 42-page book by Dr. Stuart Shipko, a clinician in Pasadena, California who has focused to some degree on tapering...
U.K. Antidepressant Prescriptions Rise 9% in 2011
Almost 50 million prescriptions for antidepressants were issued in the U.K. in 2011, a rise of 9% over 2010. The increase is attributed, at...
Consumer Reports Recommends Against Antipsychotics for Depression
Consumer Reports recommends against antipsychotic "augmentation therapy" for depression. The consumer watchdog magazine finds that the unproven efficacy, harmful side effects, availability of alternatives,...
British Journal of Psychiatry Editorial Urges Rethinking the Use of Antipsychotics
The August issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry offers an editorial stating that, as "mental health services appear to have overestimated the strength...
Antidepressant is Toxic to Fungus
Zoloft isn't just for depression any more; it also kills fungal meningitis. Researchers from Texas A&M find that "The problem for many current antifungal...
Coming Off Medications Guide – Second Edition – Free Download
The Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs, written by Will Hall and published by The Icarus Project and Freedom Center five years...