Cognitive Therapy is Effective for Schizophrenia
Noting that antipsychotic medications and psychosocial interventions have shown limited efficacy, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania followed 60 low-functioning individuals with schizophrenia diagnoses...
No Difference in Symptom Severity 10 Years After Early Intervention for Psychosis
Researchers in Norway and the U.S. followed 281 people after a first-episode psychosis, comparing those who received Treatment and Intervention in Psychosis (TIPS) with...
How drug companies continue to hide the true story of Tamiflu and other drugs...
I’ve been reading Dr. David Healy’s new book, Pharmageddon, and while some of it may seem like old news, I was struck by his...
The Effectiveness of Electroconvulsive Therapy
A literature review by John Read and Richard Bentall
SUMMARY
Aim – To review the literature on the efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy , with a particular...
J&J Fined $1.1 Billion for Hidden Risks of Risperdal
Judge Tim Fox fined Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen $1.1 billion today for nearly 240,000 violations of Arkansas' Medicaid fraud law. Yesterday a...
SSRIs Significantly Increase Falls in Dementia, Even at Low Doses
Researchers in the Netherlands followed 248 nursing home residents with dementia for two years, finding that even 25% of the defined daily dose of...
Welcome to Kermit: Ground Zero of the Prescription Drug Epidemic
Kermit, West Virginia is home to the Kermit Sav-Rite Pharmacy, whose owner has pleaded guilty to fraudulent sales of prescription drugs. The Centers for...
No Publication Bias in Meta-Analyses of Psychotherapy for Schizophrenia
A review by German researchers of all meta-analyses (with sufficient data) of psychotherapeutic interventions for schizophrenia up to September, 2010 found evidence that psychosocial...
Multiple Medications Associated With Poorer Outcomes
Research from Germany finds that people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective diagnoses given multiple medications - an antipsychotic plus a benzodiazepine or more than one...
Labels Initiates Core Social Support, Lose Peripheral Ties
Article Abstract:
Although research supports the stigma and labeling perspective, empirical evidence also indicates that a social safety net remains intact for those with mental...
Personal Narrative Mediates the Impact of Social Deficits in Schizophrenia
"Although negative symptoms are a barrier to recovery," says a study in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, "little is understood about the...
Closing Arguments Begin in Arkansas Risperdal Trial
Arkansas is asking for a minimum of $1.2 billion in fines for the 250,000 Risperdal prescriptions issued under its medicaid program. Fletch Trammel, lawyer...
High Attrition Leads to Misrepresentation of Antipsychotic Efficacy
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...
Mountain Hiking Improves Hopelessness, Depression, and Suicidal Ideation in High-Level Suicide Risk
Researchers in Salzburg, Austria found that 20 participants who had attempted suicide at least once showed a significant reduction in hopelessness (P < 0.0001),...
Yoga Improves Both Positive and Negative Symptoms and Quality of Life in Schizophrenia
In a review of randomized controlled trials, researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands found that yoga significantly improved both positive and negative symptoms as...
Working the assembly line at the human experimentation factory
If the past decade had an emblematic moment for clinical research, it was probably November 12, 2005, the day when Bloomberg Markets published its...
Fast-Food and Commercial Baked Goods Cause Depression
Researchers in Spain followed 8.964 subjects who had never been diagnosed with depression followed for over six years, finding that consumers of fast food...
Lawyers Starting to Blame Military’s Psychotropic Drugs For Aberrant Behavior
Military psychiatrists and judges are beginning to see the effects of an eightfold increase of SSRI use in the military since 2005, according to...
Study Deems Support, Not Drugs, Best for Youth at Risk of Psychosis
Research by five U.K. universities across multiple sites for up to two years divided 288 young adults (14-35 years) deemed at risk for psychosis...
Trauma-Informed Treatment May Lead to Better Outcomes for Psychosis
Researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute wondered why a "surprisingly high percentage of study applicants" for studies in PTSD presented with psychotic...
Stable Housing Leads to Stable Lives
The Mental Health Commission of Canada will release an interim report this summer of its nationwide "Housing First" study - 1000 people with mental...
Vermont Governor Signs Mental Health Overhaul
Saying "we will no longer rely on a decrepit hospital to house those patients" (displaced by Hurricane Irene), Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law...
The Legal and Moral Issues of Drugging Children
Jim Gottstein’s presentation March 29, 2012 at the APA’s Humanistic Division. Mr. Gottstein talks about the the legal and moral issues of the massive number...
The Positive Side of Bipolar Disorder
Researchers in the U.K. explored the sense of participants in a small study (10 individuals) that "numerous" aspects of their bipolar experiences were positive,...
Benzodiazepine & SSRI Addiction and Withdrawal
The May issue of Addiction includes a review of pharmacological and phenomenological issues around benzodiazepine (BZD) and SSRI discontinuation.  Definitions, perceptions and management of the...
