Shire Seeks to Overcome European Resistance to ADHD Medication
Bloomberg reports that "The European debut of a pill to treat children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder faces a major hurdle: convincing people the...
Childhood Maltreatment Alters Neurobiology of Emotion Perception and Regulation
Martin Teicher, noted researcher of the neurobiology of child abuse, finds in an MRI study of 265 maltreated 18-25 year-olds that "Maltreatment was associated...
Int’l Task Force Doesn’t Endorse Antidepressants for Bipolar
Noting a "striking incongruity between the wide use of and the weak evidence base for the efficacy and safety of antidepressant drugs in bipolar,"...
David Cohen on Madness Radio: The Meaning of Medications
David Cohen's work begins to address a paradox: medication effects are not simply chemical impacts on a biological brain, but rather the complex interactions of social factors, expectation, placebo, "nocebo," and learning. As a harm reduction approach to withdrawal emphasizes, empowerment may be the most important consideration for supporting people's wellness.
As Lawyers and Bureaucrats Delay, The Body Count Rises
It took over twenty years for the state medical board to sanction a Minnesota psychiatrist who was responsible for the deaths and injuries of 46 patients. Today, in the Markingson case, it looks as if history is repeating itself. How many patients die while bureaucrats delay?
Why Journals Resist Drug Trial Registration
Although publication bias is known to be a serious problem that public drug trial registration is meant to address, only a fraction of journals...
Prescription Drugs in Great Lakes Don’t Dilute as Expected
Concentrations of pharmaceuticals in Lake Michigan are undiluted two miles from treated sewage outfalls, according to research published in Chemosphere. Research has linked pharmaceuticals...
Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime: How Big Pharma Has Corrupted Health Care
In 2012, I found out that the ten biggest drug companies in the world commit repeated and serious crimes to such a degree that they fulfill the criteria for organised crime under US law. I also found out how huge the consequences of the crimes are. They involve colossal thefts of public monies and they contribute substantially to the fact that our drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
Germany Rejects New ADHD Drug
Finding that Shire's study of its successor to Adderall XR, Vyvanse, (lisdexamfetamine; known in Germany as Elvanse) was too short and did not look at the drug...
5,012 Englishwomen Poisoned Last Year by Benzos, 8,501 by SSRIs
Addiction Today reports "Attention on illicit drugs has deflected focus from the gigantic scale of harms by legal, prescribed drugs. We give you the...
Parents’ Goals Affect Choice of Medication vs. Behavior Therapy
Researchers find that parents who are focused on their child's academic achievement are twice as likely to start the child on ADHD medications as...
Color of Light Affects Mood
In research that may have implications for depression in humans, researchers at Ohio State find that hamsters exposed to blue and white light rather...
A Journey Into Madness and Back Again: Part 2
In 1995 I had a very frightening experience that I have never discussed publicly before. At that time the main symptoms I was experiencing...
NIMH Director Thomas Insel Acknowledges That Antipsychotics May Worsen Long-Term Outcomes
Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), acknowledged yesterday in his "Director's Blog" that the long-term outcome studies of...
Appeals Court States Psychiatrists May Commit Medicaid Fraud by Prescribing Drugs Off-Label
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected a lower court's dismissal of Watson v. King-Vassel, saying that a jury is in fact sufficiently able...
The Slow Torture of Mary Weiss
Dan Markingson was floridly psychotic and unable to give informed consent when University of Minnesota researchers coerced him into an industry-funded drug study. His mother, Mary Weiss, warned the researchers that Dan was in danger of killing himself, but she was ignored. Dan committed a violent suicide in 2004. Last week, after fighting the university and research regulators for nine years, Mary suffered a severe stroke. Her struggle for justice is in serious danger.
LERNing Through Research, Advocacy, and Experience
The Lived Experience Research Network Issue Briefs series promotes change through multiple perspectives. We recently launched our inaugural Fall 2013 edition of the LERN Issue Briefs series. These two-page briefs highlight issues of importance in the behavioral health and disabilities fields.
Negative Symptoms Are Key to Recovery From Psychosis
Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark find from a 10-year follow-up of participants in a randomized controlled study of brief antipsychotic medication (the OPUS...
U.S Behavioral Research Studies Skew Toward Positive Results
Researchers from the Universities of Stanford and Edinburgh found, in a comparison of 1,174 primary outcomes from 82 meta-anlyses of biological and behavioral research,...
The Today Show and ECT: The Full Story & Informed Consent
The Today Show chose to air a segment on ECT, and only interview people who were happy with their experiences — one of whom is a famous author, which gives his testimony more weight. We all know that many people are happy with their ECT experiences. That's why most of us are not asking for a ban on ECT — just for the opportunity for truly informed consent so that people can accurately weigh the potential benefits along with the serious risk of adverse effects.
The Future of Evidence-Based Psychotherapy
Researchers from the Brown University School of Medicine, writing in Clinical Psychology Review November special issue on the future of evidence-based psychotherapy, report that psychotherapy...
2X Risk of Postpartum Hemorrhage Antidepressants
A study of 106,000 pregnant women with a diagnosis of mood or anxiety disorder, by researchers from Harvard, Duke, Michigan State and the university...
Antipsychotics Triple the Risk of Diabetes in Children and Youth
Researchers from Vanderbilt and Columbia Universities and the FDA find that, through a retrospective cohort study of 28,858 patients of the Tennessee Medicaid program...
Shooting the ADHD Messenger
A paper in the Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy chronicles the history of MiA blogger Gretchen LeFever Watson's effort to improve ADHD treatment in southeastern...
Is a Little Stigma Better Than None?
An anti-anti-stigma campaign
The whole anti-stigma campaign is something of a joke. Google the word “stigma,” see for yourself. Mental health labels are inherently stigmatizing,...
