The Increasing Placebo Response in Antipsychotic Drug Trials
The American Journal of Psychiatry explores the implications for science and ethics of the rising placebo response rate in trials of antipsychotic drugs, in an...
J&J to Pay $2.2B to Settle Off-Label Risperdal Marketing Case
Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries will pay more than $2.2 billion - one of the largest health-care fraud settlements in history - to...
“Persuasive” Evidence for Peer Support
The Journal of Psychosocial Nursing reviews the evidence for peer support, finding "outcomes across a range of measures no different than when services had...
Higher Genetic Risk for Schizophrenia Linked to Lower Risk of Psychotic Experiences
Research from the universities of Cardiff, Cambridge and Bristol finds no evidence of a link between genetic associations with schizophrenia and adolescent psychotic experiences....
Mood Instability Linked to Psychosis
Research drawing on the British national survey finds that, despite the fact that psychotic conditions and mood disorders have historically been approached as separate...
Links Between Maternal Behavior and Psychological Sequelae
Researchers from Taiwan and the United States find, in a study of 1,752 inner-city infants born between 1960 and 1965 (the Johns Hopkins Pathways...
Louisiana Sues Pfizer Over Fraudulent Zoloft Marketing
The Attorney General of Louisiana has filed suit against Pfizer, Inc. for concealing "serious issues" regarding Zoloft's efficacy. Citing a "deliberate, systematic practice" of...
Early Life Stress Can Cause Adult PTSD, Even Without Memories
Research from UCLA finds that rats exposed to early life trauma showed aberrations of stress hormones, receptors in the amygdala, and inhibited or avoidant...
Sleep Sweeps Toxic Metabolites Out of the Brain
Adding to our knowledge about the connection between sleep and mental health, researchers from the University of Rochester and N.Y.U. find that sleep creates...
The Upside of Sadness
Being morose provides benefits, according to research suggesting that detail-oriented, analytical thinking styles can accompany periods of sadness. Science News reports that people experiencing...
Traumatic Life Events, Not Genetics or Chemical Imbalance Cause Depression and Anxiety
Researchers from three U.K. Universities analyzed the responses of 32,827 people to online questionnaires, finding that social deprivation and traumatic or abusive life-experiences strongly...
State Of Mind Series Highlights Changes To Vermont Mental Health System
Vermont Public Radio's series State of Mind will explore the ripples through Vermont's mental health system since Tropical Storm Irene washed away the State Hospital. In...
Schizophrenia as Stress-Induced Dopamine Supersensitivity
Researchers from the University of Toronto departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, publishing in Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, propose that various forms of stress,...
U.S. Antidepressant Sales Down: $9.4b From $12b Peak in 2008
Antidepressants are still the most consumed class of medication in the U.S., with 270 million prescriptions per year. But sales revenue has gone down,...
Postpartum Depression Crosses Generations
Researchers at Tufts University exposed rats and their children to early life stress, resulting in depressed maternal care, aggression, increased restlessness and anxiety-related...
Oxytocin for Autism, Schizophrenia?
The September/October issue of the Harvard Review of Psychiatry reviews the biological and therapeutic research findings for the role of oxytocin in attachment, and...
Maternal Skin-to Skin Contact Affects Long-Term Development
Israeli researchers find that maternal skin-to-skin contact with pre-term infants are related to "dynamic cascades of child physiological regulation and parental provisions in shaping...
“Why Wunderink Matters”
Sandra Steingard writes in Community Psychiatrist about Lex Wunderink's study, published in the August JAMA Psychiatry, which found that people who discontinued medication have...
Schizophrenia Neurotoxicity Redux
Researchers in Spain and the U.K. find a similar pattern of brain volume changes in a group 76 controls and 109 patients with schizophrenia...
“Critics Claim Antidepressants Are Being Handed Out Like Sweets. Now Our Shocking Experiment Uncovers…...
The Mail sent three women to their doctors, reporting fictional symptoms of short-term, mild depression. Two walked out with prescriptions for medication, despite expressions...
Most Clinical Trials Don’t Report Results
An article in PLoS One, by researchers at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, finds that less than half (45%) of clinical...
Majority of Drug Ads Found to Be Misleading or False
Researchers at Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that 60% of prescription drug ads and 80% percent of over the counter drug...
More Than Half of 4th-Year Medical Students and Residents Receive Drug Company Gifts
A study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine asked 1,620 medical students and 739 residents doctors-in-training across the U.S. about their contacts...
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...
Serious Warnings on Drugs Paradoxically Increase Sales
Researchers from Tel Aviv, Singapore and New York find that although "Warnings that a promoted product can have adverse side effects (e.g., smoking cigarettes...
