APA President-Elect Responds to DSM Criticism on Fox News
Dr. Keith Ablow, a former APA member who resigned "in protest," criticized the DSM on FoxNews.com last week. Dr. Joseph Lieberman, president-elect of the...
American Psychological Association Begins Inquiry into Torture Allegations
"The American Psychological Association (APA) last week named a former federal prosecutor to lead an investigation into its role in supporting the U.S. government’s...
Lower Education Linked to Higher Antipsychotic Use in Swedish Elderly
Elderly people in Sweden are five times more likely to be taking antipsychotics if they have a diagnosis of dementia, according to research published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. And among those people with dementia, the lower their education the higher the likelihood they’re taking antipsychotics.
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...
Pharma Says Its Antidepressant Fails to Beat Placebo
Vanda Pharmaceuticals, Inc., announced this week that its new antidepressant Tasimelteon failed to beat placebo in trials, and that it has hence ended its...
NY Times: A.D.H.D. Experts Re-Evaluate Zeal for Drugs
Authors of a 1999 paper that promoted medication over behavioral therapy for A.D.H.D., in fact dismissing behavioral therapy as unnecessary in light of the apparent...
Medicaid Fraud Argued Before 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
MIA blogger (and lawyer) Jim Gottstein presented a 20-minute Oral Argument in ex rel Watson v. King-Vassel in front of the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago last Thursday. "The technical issue on appeal is a lawyer nerd question about whether expert testimony is required," said Gottstein, "but I like to think it contains a succinct and clear explanation of why even though a doctor can prescribe a drug for anything, if they prescribe one off-label to a child they are causing a False Claim (committing Medicaid Fraud) unless the use has support in at least one of the specified drug references called Compendia."
$2.2B J&J Settlement: Only the Beginning
At least 250 lawsuits involving Johnson & Johnson's improper marketing of Risperdal are pending in Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, according to information...
Military Court Hears Arguments Re: Chantix-Related Murder Defense
Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces heard arguments on Tuesday for the defense of former Army paratrooper George D.B....
J&J Fighting Federal Risperdal Deal Over Language Regarding Breasts
Johnson & Johnson is negotiating with federal authorities over language that might be used in dozens of civil lawsuits regarding abnormal breast development and...
Hearing Voices Researched at Edinburgh Book Festival
Researchers from Durham University's Hearing the Voice project are attending the Edinburgh International Book Festival through August as part of a study, asking both...
“Zoloft Defense” to Start Monday
The defense phase of the trial of Anthony Nicholas Orban begins on Monday, with Mr. Orban's lawyer presenting evidence that Orban was so overwhelmed...
ADHD Prescribing Differs Substantially in UK vs. US
An article in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry finds that the UK's new guidelines for treating attention and depression problems in children recommend a...
Researchers Gain Insight into Stimulant Effects on Brain
Researchers believe that they have gained a clearer understanding of how cocaine, amphetamines and related psychostimulant drugs "disrupt the normal functioning of the dopamine transporter in the brain."
University of Minnesota Leadership “Can’t Regain Trust”
The University of Minnesota's psychiatry department continues its scandal-plagued run at making national news...
Happiness and First-Episode Schizophrenia
Canadian researchers find that 31 people with first-episode schizophrenia diagnoses were as happy as 29 controls, according to a self-reported questionnaire measuring happiness, life...
Peter Breggin Testifies for the “Zoloft Defense”
Dr. Peter Breggin, acting as an expert witness for the defense in former police officer Anthony Orban's California trial for kidnapping and rape, testified...
PA Supreme Court Rules Pharmas Responsible for Defective Drugs
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that pharmaceutical companies can be held liable for negligent design and marketing of drugs, agreeing with the family...
“Hearing Voices: tracing the borders of normality”
-Rhianna Goozee discusses the development of the Hearing Voices Movement and how research has blurred the lines between "healthy" and "normal" minds.
Sham Paper Published by 149 Open-Access Journals
An article ostensibly showing cancer growth inhibition by a molecule derived from lichen — but which was in fact a spoof written by an editor...
J&J Settles Five Cases After Former FDA Chief Says It Illegally Marketed Risperdal for...
Former FDA Commissioner David Kessler testified in an "Expert Report" submitted for a trial set to begin Oct. 9 that "(Johnson & Johnson subsidiary) Janssen's promotion...
Psychiatry is “Committing Professional Suicide”
David Healy "likened psychiatry’s attitude toward its faltering legitimacy to the Vatican’s widely derided response to its child sex abuse scandal by priests —...
Senator Pursues Questionable Pharma/Academic Ties
Senator Chuck Grassley continues his pursuit of questionable financial ties between the pharmaceutical companies and research by asking the National Institutes of Health (NIH)...
Glaxo Paid Dr. Drew $275k to Promote Wellbutrin
Part of the case against GlaxoSmithKline settled yesterday involved the company's use of paid experts to promote non-FDA approved uses of its drugs. One...
