âPotential biomarker that could predictâ? â caveats about psychiatric brain imaging
-HealthNewsReview.org takes on Dr. Richard Friedman's description of a âpotential biomarker in the brain that would help psychiatrists direct depressed patients towards treatment to which they would more likely respond.â
Study Begins into Violence Against People with Mental Health Issues
A study into prejudice, hatred and violence directed against people with mental health issues is seeking public input.
Prominent Psychiatrists Discuss “the Crisis of Confidence in Medical Research”
-A large excerpt from a post by David Healy is sandwiched between commentary by psychiatrist Allen Frances.
European Medicines Agency Calls for Suspending Generic Forms of Four Common Psychiatric Drugs
The European Medicines Agency has called for the suspension of sales of many commonly used generic drugs, including at least four widely used psychiatric medications.
Is Everyone Too Afraid to Conduct Real Research into the Causes of Gun Violence?
-A Washington Post story suggests that Centers for Disease Control researchers are worried about what they'll find if they investigate the causes of gun violence.
“Randomized Controlled Trials in Environmental Health Research: Unethical or Underutilized?”
-Simon Fraser University health scientists argue that we need to start doing more randomized controlled trials to better understand the negative impacts of environmental pollutants on human bodies and brains.
“We Need Publicly Funded Research Centers”
-Are publicly funded research centers the answer to curbing corruption and bias in medical and psychiatric studies?
Antipsychotic Trial Designs Still Not Reaching Scientific Standards
Too many studies of atypical antipsychotic medications are still not meeting even the minimum scientific standards of the internationally agreed-upon CONSORT guidelines for drug trials.
Chronic Publication Bias Found in Clinical Studies
Systematic reviews of the medical literature may not be as reliable or helpful as often believed.
An Insider’s Perspective on the “Debacle” of the APA’s Support for Torture
"I spent almost 20 years inside the inner sanctum of the American Psychological Association," writes Bryant Welch in The Huffington Post. "A psychologist and attorney, I was the first Executive Director of Professional Practice for the APA and in 1986 built much of the advocacy structure still in place to advocate for clinical psychologists." Welch offers his perspectives on how and why the APA started to support the US torture program after his departure.
Sunday History Channel: When Diagnosing Celebrities in the Media Was Unethical
Mind Hacks discusses the first historical case of a celebrity (presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964) being "diagnosed" in the media by psychiatrists and...
Retraction Watch and HealthNewsReview.org Get Large Grants to Expand
Early in December, HealthNewsReview.org announced receipt of a $1.3 million grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation to re-start and significantly expand its operations. And in late December Retraction Watch announced that it had received $400,000 from the MacArthur Foundation. Both websites specialize in monitoring and reporting on poor practices in science, medicine and psychiatry.
Unregulated Troubled Teen Industry Still Profiting
The Fix reviews the past and present of the estimated $2 billion/year industry of trying to "improve" the behaviors and attitudes of "troubled teens."
Adolescence...
Medscape Reports on Survey Exploring Physicians’ Thoughts on Ethics
Medscape surveyed 21,000 physicians on a wide range of ethical issues, and provides slides summarizing their answers.
A small sampling:
"Would you ever perform a procedure...
Insel’s Best of 2014
National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel reviews his list of the best discoveries and developments in mental health in 2014.
Directorâs Blog: Best...
“The Big Business of Selling Prescription-Drug Records”
Bloomberg Businessweek investigates the companies involved in buying and selling mass databases of people's prescription-drug histories, and the new ways in which that information is being used by skirting privacy protections.
Head Movements Have Been Producing Consistent Bias in Brain Scans
A new study has shown that brain scans have an inherent bias towards making people with movement disorders seem to have less grey matter, writes Neuroskeptic in Discover. The findings, he writes, may be significant with respect to studies involving brain scans of people taking psychiatric drugs that either induce or reduce movement.
Paying Doctors to Diagnose More Depression is Unethical
It is "unethical" for the British government to establish expected rates of depression and to pay doctors per diagnosis to increase the diagnosing of...
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...
Why are Kentucky Kids Medicated at Twice the National Rate?
Researchers with the Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support Unit at the University of Louisville have announced the launch of a three-year...
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...
New Form of Mice Experiment Reveals Antidepressant’s Dangers Earlier
Scientists from the University of Utah say they have discovered a new way of doing mice experiments that more sensitively and quickly reveals negative...
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...
The Truth About Antidepressant Research: An Invitation to Dialogue
The Finnish Psychological Association held a meeting in Helsinki on 1 Sept 2014 titled âMental Health and Medicalization.â I spoke at the meeting and four days later I sent a letter to another speaker, psychiatrist Erkki Isometsä. Professor Isometsä replied: âI will respond to it in detail within a few days..." As "Open Dialogue" is essential in science, I have published my letter to Isometsä here as well as on my own website, although I didnât succeed in starting a dialogue.
Interview with Gary Greenberg: The DSM is the Key to the Health Care Treasury
BrainBlogger has an interview with Gary Greenberg, psychotherapist and author of The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry. "The (Diagnostic...
