Abstracts and Academic Press Releases Mislead Journalists and Public
In Bad Science and in the British Medical Journal, Ben Goldacre discusses a recent BMJ study that found a strong tendency for abstracts and...
“Medical Research: The Dangers to the Human Subjects”
Marcia Angell in the New York Review of Books writes about the inherent conflict in clinical trials between “the search for scientific answers," on one hand, and “the rights and welfare of human subjects,” on the other.
Female Brains are More Active?
From Discover Magazine: Headlines in various news sources reporting on a new study claim that women's brains have been found to be more active than...
“Study Finds Risks for Teens of Mothers Who Took Certain Antidepressants”
“Adolescents whose mothers took certain antidepressants while pregnant with them are more than four times as likely to become depressed by age 15, compared with...
Gallup: “Americans’ Views of Pharmaceutical Industry Take a Tumble”
“In Gallup's annual measure of 25 major U.S. business sectors, the percentage of Americans with a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry dropped from 40% in 2014 to 35% this year, while the percentage with a negative view rose from 36% to 43%.”
“Early Behavior Therapy Found to Aid Children With A.D.H.D.”
“Children with attention-deficit problems improve faster when the first treatment they receive is behavioral therapy — like instruction in basic social skills — than...
Psychiatrists Overestimate Antidepressants, Underestimate Placebo
Recent meta-analyses of antidepressant clinical trials have revealed that up to 82% of the effects associated with the drugs may be attributed to placebo and non-medication factors. A new study examined the attitudes of psychiatrists toward these non-pharmacologic factors and found a large discrepancy between their beliefs and the empirical evidence.
“Why You Should Stop Taking Your Antidepressants”
The New York Post reprints an excerpt on antidepressants from the latest book by MIA contributor, Kelly Brogan, MD, “A Mind of Your Own:...
“Robert Neugeboren, Survivor of Psychiatric Abuses, Dies at 72”
Robert Neugeboren, who “spent most of his adult life in institutions, often subject to isolation, physical punishment and numbing medication,” was “a celebrity of sorts in the world of the mentally ill: a survivor of the horrors of mistreatment, a case history for those who point to the positive effects of kindness and talk therapy, and, perhaps most of all, the embodiment of the bottomless mystery of the human mind.”
Pharma-Funded Charities v. Health and Human Services
From The Health Law & Policy Brief: Last month, Patient Services Inc. (PSI), a pharmaceutical industry-funded charity, launched a lawsuit against the Department of Health...
Pharma, Under Attack for Drug Prices, Started an Industry War
From The Washington Post: In 2017, numerous politicians, advocacy groups, and other stakeholders began to raise questions about the rising costs of prescription drugs. Under attack,...
Newly-Revised List of Industry-Independent Experts for Journalists
From HealthNewsReview: For nine years, HealthNewsReview has hosted a one-of-a-kind list of health care industry-independent experts for journalists. The list has now been revised with new...
“Kids in Foster Care Three Times More Likely to be Diagnosed with ADHD”
PsychCentral presents a new study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that found that foster care children are three times more likely than other children on Medicaid to receive a diagnosis of ADHD. Overall, more than one in four children in foster care receive such a diagnosis. CDC statistician Melissa Danielson interpreted these results as revealing a “substantial need” for more medical and behavioral services for kids in foster care.
Media and Public Frequently Exaggerate Significance of Behavioral Genetics Findings
Other studies have shown that abstracts and press releases often mislead journalists about the significance of findings in behavioral genetics; but a new study...
“The Drug Docs”
In part six of a seven-part “Drugging Our Kids” series by The Mercury News, Karen de Sa and Tracy Seipel unveil California’s top foster...
The Persistence of the Radioactive Bogeyman
From Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Since 1950, a noteworthy number of American and European horror movies have used radiation as a plot device. The...
Psychiatrists Discuss Psychiatry’s Poor Public Image and What to Do About It
The January 2015 issue of Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica has a section of freely available articles discussing the public image of psychiatry from a variety...
“Wage Gap May Help Explain Why More Women Are Anxious and Depressed Than Men”
“According to a new study, the consequences of this wage gap extend beyond the checking account: women who earn less than their male peers...
Conflicts of Interest at World Conference of Science Journalists
From HealthNewsReview.org: The 10th World Conference of Science Journalists, which occurred recently in San Francisco, received $600,000 total from pharmaceutical and healthcare product companies. In...
“Health News Review and What’s Wrong (and Right) With the Media”
HealthNewsReview.org founder Gary Schwitzer talks to New York Magazine on the media coverage of medical research. “We in journalism have to look in the mirror...
“Medication and Female Moods”
Listen: NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook discusses the new book “Moody Bitches: The Truth About the Drugs You’re Taking, The Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not Having and What’s Really Making You Crazy,” by the psychiatrist Julie Holland.
“Does Schizophrenia Exist on an Autism-Like Spectrum?”
The results of epidemiological studies of the prevalence of hallucinations strongly imply that psychosis exists on a spectrum, according to the Scientific American. This suggests “that the standard treatment for a psychotic episode might be due for an overhaul.”
“6 Hospitalized, One of Them Brain-Dead, After Drug Trial in France”
Six men were hospitalized and one was pronounced brain dead after participating in a phase 1 clinical drug for a mood, anxiety, and motor dysfunction drug manufactured by Bial and administered by Biotrial. Carl Elliott, a bioethicist at the University of Minnesota, said investigators should look into questions like how much the men were paid and whether they properly consented to the trial. “Many Phase 1 trial volunteers are poor and unemployed, and they volunteer for trials like this because they are desperate for money,” he said. “This means they are easily exploited.”
“Does Health Journalism Do More Harm Than Good?”
One of the consultants for John Oliver’s latest takedown on science reporting and health journalism was Gary Schwitzer, publisher of Health News Review. In...
“Pharma Executives Worry About Presidential Candidates Demanding Reform”
Reporting for The Intercept, Lee Fang reveals that pharma executives "have told investors that they are working actively to influence the political debate.” After...
