Large German Anti-Stigma Campaign Shows Little Effect on Attitudes

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“Overall, this study showed that the information and awareness campaign had almost no significant effects on the general public's attitudes toward people affected by either schizophrenia or depression,” the researchers, led by German medical sociologist Anna Makowski, wrote. “One could assume that deeply rooted convictions cannot be modified by rather time-limited and general activities targeted at the public.”

Review of Pediatric Antidepressant Studies Finds Evidence of Benefit Lacking

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Review of pediatric antidepressant studies finds the vast majority are negative on primary outcomes and an increased risk for suicidality.

Can a Conceptual Competence Curriculum Bring Humility to Psychiatry?

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Training for conceptual competence in psychiatry provides a new way forward to address theoretical and philosophical issues in mental health research and practice.

Prominent Patient Safety Advocate Was Taking Kickbacks from Pharma

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ProPublica revisits the story of Dr. Chuck Denham, the previous editor of the Journal of Patient Safety and former "co-chairman of a committee that...

Study Shows Poor Outcomes for the Treatment for Childhood Anxiety

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New research identifies poor long-term outcomes for both CBT and medications for treating anxiety disorders in childhood.

Publication Bias and Meta-Analyses: Tainting the Gold Standard with Lead

For decades the gold standard for medical evidence was the review article - an essay looking at most or (hopefully) all of the research on a particular question and trying to divine a general trend in the data toward some conclusion ("therapy X seems to be good for condition Y," for example). More recently, the format of review articles has shifted - at least where the questions addressed have leant themselves to the new style. The idea has been to look at the original data for all of the studies available, and in effect reanalyze them as though the research participants were all taking part in one gigantic study. By increasing the number of data points and averaging across the vagaries of different studies, a clearer finding might emerge. The meta-analysis has gone on to be revered as a strategy for advancing healthcare. It has vulnerabilities.

Scales Assessing Child and Adolescent Psychopathology Lack Cross-Cultural Validity

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Researchers find few existing "psychopathology scales" are appropriate for global utilization.

Sociologist Questions Effectiveness and Ethics of Mental Health Services

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Medical sociologist David Pilgrim argues that mental health care is neither effective nor “kindly,” as it often relies on flawed research and ineffective treatments.

Researchers Question the “Adequacy and Legitimacy” of ADHD Diagnosis

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A new article, just published online in the journal Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, presents research suggesting that the diagnosis of ADHD is philosophically inadequate.

High Attrition Leads to Misrepresentation of Antipsychotic Efficacy

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Researchers from Manchester and Melbourne assess the impact of high drop-out rates on  Cochrane reviews of five frequently prescribed second-generation antipsychotics. They found that all...

J&J Will Share Research Data, Yale University to Oversee Access

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Yale University has agreed to screen access - with Johnson & Johnson's input - to detailed clinical trial data on the pharmaceutical giant's products.  ...

Nardo on RAISE study: “Spin is for Politicians”

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Dr. Mickey Nardo adds to the ongoing discussion about the RAISE study results. He writes: “If there is ‘spin’ in the reporting of this study, we need to know about it. I personally think that it’s more important for RAISE to be reported completely and honestly than whether it comes out like they [or I] want it to come out. We don’t need some sanitized version of RAISE to tell us we need to turn our attention to a full bodied approach to the treatment of First Episode psychotic patients. We all already know that. What we do need is to have our confidence restored in our research community – that they will honestly and clearly report their findings whether they are clean as a whistle or an unholy mess.”

Alcohol Industry is Misleading Consumers About Cancer Risk

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From MinnPost: According to an international team of researchers, the alcohol industry is misleading the public by misrepresenting and downplaying evidence linking alcohol consumption with cancer. "For...

Biogen Pushes FDA to Approve Failed Alzheimer’s Drug

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A new analysis, published in Lancet Neurology, demonstrates how Biogen is spinning results from two failed trials for a new Alzheimer's drug.

Researchers Find Inadequate Reporting of the Dangers of Ketamine Treatment for Depression

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Researchers report that dangerous side effects are not being adequately reported in the trials of ketamine for depression.

SSRI Ineffective at Treating Depression in Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease

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Dr. Madhukar Trivedi and colleagues find that the SSRI sertraline does not reduce depressive symptoms any more than placebo in people with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Senator Pursues Antipsychotic Prescription Practices

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Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) "inappropriate prescriptions." Finds "shocking" that medicaid prescribers write "more prescriptions than seems humanly possible." Read more            ...

Chairman of DSM-5 Task Force & Others Belatedly Admit Conflict of Interest Related to...

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The authors of a paper that endorses a computerized test for depression have acknowledged failure to disclose joint ownership of a company formed to bring the test to...

Evidence That Sadness When Bereaved is Not Illness

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While the DSM-IV recognizes that depressive symptoms are sometimes normal in bereaved individuals, this "Bereavement Exclusion" is targeted for elimination from the DSM-V. However...

Reading the RIAT Act: A Call to Publish Unpublished Data

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The Restoring Invisible and Abandoned Trials (RIAT) proposal, backed by the British Medical Journal and PLoS ONE last week, calls for the "responsible publication and...

Nature Still Battles Nurture in the World of Social Genomics

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From Nature: In her new book, Social by Nature: The Promise and Peril of Sociogenomics, Catherine Bliss discusses the social context and potentially biodeterministic implications of the...

Justice Asks Judge to Force J&J Chief Executive to Testify Regarding Risperdal

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The Department of Justice, per its ongoing lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson regarding alleged kickbacks to a Omnicare, a provider of pharmacy services, has...

“The Human Cost of a Misleading Drug-Safety Study”

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Writing for the Atlantic, David Dobbs examines how much harm has been done in the 14 years since Paxil was wrongly determined to be safe and effective. “Study 329, as it became known, helped spur a huge increase in Paxil prescriptions,” Dobbs writes. “In 2002 alone, over 2 million prescriptions were written for children and teens, and many more for adults.” “Thousands of children, teens, and young adults attempted or committed suicide while on Paxil,” and the reanalysis of Study 329 in BMJ makes it seem “more likely than ever” that many did because of the drug.

We Need to pay Better Attention to Medication Side Effects

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From KevinMD.com: Doctors often fail to recognize that their patients' symptoms are side effects of medication. "Cognitive dissonance, a universal human phenomenon, is based on the assumption...

Barbara Ehrenreich: Why I’m Giving Up on Preventative Care

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In this piece for Literary Hub, Barbara Ehrenreich critiques the overuse of preventative medicine and describes how our healthcare system's emphasis on screenings and early...