Shire Seeks to Overcome European Resistance to ADHD Medication
Bloomberg reports that "The European debut of a pill to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder faces a major hurdle: convincing people the...
Diagnosis and Treatment Have Changed: Depression and Anxiety Have Not
Researchers investigating the state of mental health in Canadians from 1994 to 2008 found no change over time, but "the frequency of diagnosis and...
When Science Goes Astray
The Los Angeles Times business section explores how it is possible that "so many scientists looking for cures to diseases have been building on...
“Fuzzy Thinking” Common to Bipolar and Depression? Or to Psychotropics?
Women diagnosed with bipolar or depression did not perform as well on tests measuring the ability to "sustain attention and respond quickly."
Antipsychotics for Dementia: Not Justified and Risky
In a study of antipsychotics used to treat 75,445 patients in nursing homes in the United States, researchers from Harvard Medical School, Columbia and...
Schizophrenia Subtypes Disappearing From the Literature
Schizophrenia Bulletin publishes a review of published articles that finds the use of schizophrenia subtypes (Catatonic, Disorganized, Paranoid, Residual & Undifferentiated), "while widely used...
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...
Psychotic Symptoms/Childhood Trauma Common in Primary as Well as Psychiatric Care
Researchers in Finland reviewed questionnaires filled out by 911 primary and psychiatric care patients over 16 years of age. They found that more than...
Ritalin Causes Long-Lasting Change in Prefrontal Neurons
Drexel University researchers found that methylphenidate (Ritalin) administered to juvenile rats produced significant depressive effects on pyramidal neurons. The authors conclude that "the juvenile...
Is the GSK Settlement Sufficient
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine asks whether settlements such as the $3 billion GlaxoSmithKline agreed to last July regarding off-label...
Schizophrenia, Trauma and The Immune System
To test the hypothesis that a heightened immune system response associated with schizophrenia is also associated with childhood trauma, researchers in Ireland looked at...
Risperdal Lawsuits Continue After $2.2 Billion Settlement
A Texas man filed a lawsuit in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas against Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary, Janssen, in connection to...
Antipsychotics and Drug Addiction
Dopamine supersensitivity as a result of sustained antipsychotic treatment can lead to compulsive drug seeking and drug-taking behavior, according to the theory offered by...
Trials Comparing Treatments for Depression Favor Pharmacotherapy when Statisticians Involved
A meta-analysis looks at the effects of researcher background on study findings for trials comparing pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for depression.
Jury Rejects Zoloft Defense
Former CA policeman Anthony Orban now faces a possible life sentence following the jury's rejection of his argument that a Zoloft-driven psychotic episode had...
Lowered ADHD Threshold “More Harm Than Good” (BMJ)
Analysis in the British Medical Journal concludes that the lowered thresholds for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder diagnosis in DSM-5 will mean "that many children...
Why Implausible Theories Persist in Evidence-Based Research.
David Weinberg writes in Science-Based Medicine that implausible theories must be held to a higher standard of proof in evidence-based research. In a review...
Antidepressants Linked to Risk of Adult-Onset Diabetes
A meta-analysis of studies of 168,435 adults who were free of diabetes at baseline found that those who used antidepressant medication were 68% more...
Antipsychotics Increase Retrovirus Activity in Humans
Endogenous retroviruses, remnants of ancient infections that have become part of the human genome, have been associated with the development of schizophrenia. But researchers...
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:...
Has Evidence Based Medicine Been Hijacked?
John Ioannidis claims that the idea of evidence based medicine has been “hijacked to serve agendas different from what it was originally aimed for,” in a newly published critical essay in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. Ioannidis frames the essay as a continuation of a conversation with David Sackett, widely considered the founder of evidence based medicine.
New Report Points to Gaps in the Evidence for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder
A new report on pediatric bipolar critically examines the current evidence base and calls for more research before the diagnosis is used.
Psychiatrist Census is Declining
The declining number of U.S. medical students choosing psychiatry as a specialty will exacerbate what the A.P.A. already calls a shortage of psychiatrists, according...
J&J Will Share Research Data, Yale University to Oversee Access
Yale University has agreed to screen access - with Johnson & Johnson's input - to detailed clinical trial data on the pharmaceutical giant's products. ...
In-school Exercise a Help for Attention Deficits
Researcher Michele Tine of Dartmouth College’s Poverty and Learning Lab reports in the journal Frontiers in Psychology that 12 minutes of aerobic exercise caused...
