Ioannidis Questions Strength of Psychology and Neuroscience Literature
Last week, well-known Stanford scientist John Ioannidis and his colleague Denes Szucs released a new analysis online. They examined research published in eighteen prominent...
Researchers Search for Subgroups Where Antidepressants Are More Effective
The researchers theorized that this increased effectiveness was due not to “antidepressant” properties, but rather to the drug’s side effects, which include insomnia, drowsiness, and nausea.
New Study Concludes that Antidepressants are “Largely Ineffective and Potentially Harmful”
A new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry concludes that “antidepressants are largely ineffective and potentially harmful.”
A Tale of Two Studies
With increasing evidence that psychiatric drugs do more harm than good over the long term, the field of psychiatry often seems focused on sifting through the mounds of research data it has collected, eager to at last sit up and cry, here’s a shiny speck of gold! Our drugs do work! One recently published study on withdrawal of antipsychotics tells of long-term benefits. A second tells of long-term harm. Which one is convincing?
Researchers Test Harms and Benefits of Long Term Antipsychotic Use
Researchers from the City College of New York and Columbia University published a study this month testing the hypothesis that people diagnosed with schizophrenia treated long-term with antipsychotic drugs have worse outcomes than patients with no exposure to these drugs. They concluded that there is not a sufficient evidence base for the standard practice of long-term use of antipsychotic medications.
Psychiatry Defends Its Antipsychotics: A Case Study of Institutional Corruption
Jeffrey LIeberman and colleagues have published a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry stating that there is no evidence that psychiatric drugs cause long-term harm, and that the evidence shows that these drugs provide a great benefit to patients. A close examination of their review reveals that it is a classic example of institutional corruption, which was meant to protect guild interests.
Guidelines Recommending Antidepressants “in Contradiction with the Current Evidence”
Researchers critique the German S3 guidelines for depression promoting antidepressants.
Researchers Expose Pharmaceutical Industry Misconduct and Corruption
Corruption of pharmaceutical industry sponsored clinical trials identified as a “major obstacle” facing evidence-based medicine.
Study Finds ADHD Drugs Alter Developing Brain
A new study, published in the JAMA Psychiatry, investigates the effect of stimulant ‘ADHD’ drugs on the brains of children and young adults. The...
Members of FDA Advisory Committee Offer Perspectives on Flibanserin Approval in JAMA
In the September issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) three FDA advisory committee members describe the convergence of factors that made the committee’s recommendation to approve flibanserin especially challenging and politically charged.
Mental Health Concerns Not “Brain Disorders,” Say Researchers
The latest issue of the journal Behavioral and Brain Sciences features several prominent researchers arguing that mental health concerns are not “brain disorders.”
The Impact of Regression to the Mean in Psychiatric Drug Studies
Could the statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean be responsible for the dramatic effects of placebo—as well as the supposed effectiveness of some psychiatric drugs?
Brain Scans Cannot Differentiate Between Mental Health Conditions
A new study analyzing over 21,000 participants found that differences in activation of brain regions in different psychological “disorders” may have been overestimated, and confirms that there is still no brain scan capable of diagnosing a mental health concern.
Lancet Psychiatry’s Controversial ADHD Study: Errors, Criticism, and Responses
Amid calls for a retraction, Lancet Psychiatry publishes articles criticizing the original finding and a response from the authors.
Multiple Researchers Examining the Same Data Find Very Different Results
A new study demonstrates how the choice of statistical techniques when examining data plays a large role in scientific outcomes.
Researchers Set the Record Straight on Controversial Zoloft Study
An issue of Lancet Psychiatry is devoted to clarifying the lack of efficacy for Zoloft (sertraline).
It is Time to Abandon the Candidate-Gene Approach to Depression
The candidate-gene approach to depression goes unsupported and is likely based on bad science, new research finds.
No Brain Connectivity Differences Between Autism, ADHD, and “Typical Development”
Neuroscience researchers find no differences in brain connectivity between children with diagnoses of autism, ADHD, and those with no diagnoses.
Therapy Recommended As First Line Treatment for Depression
Following an extensive systematic review of treatments for major depression, the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a recommendation to clinicians suggesting cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a first-line treatment for major depressive disorder along with second-generation antidepressants. The results of the review revealed that CBT and antidepressants have similar levels of effectiveness but that antidepressants present serious side-effects and higher relapse rates.
What is the Evidence for Empirically Supported Treatments in Psychology?
New meta-scientific review questions the evidence for the gold standard psychotherapies and empirically supported treatments.
Biogen Pushes FDA to Approve Failed Alzheimer’s Drug
A new analysis, published in Lancet Neurology, demonstrates how Biogen is spinning results from two failed trials for a new Alzheimer's drug.
Rigorous Study Finds Antidepressants Worsen Long-Term Outcomes
A new study conducted by Jeffrey Vittengl at Truman University has found that taking antidepressant medications resulted in more severe depression symptoms after nine years.
Safety Analysis Weighs Harms and Benefits of Antipsychotic Drugs
The researchers find that the drug effects for reducing psychosis are small and that treatment failure and severe side effects are common.
Reanalysis of STAR*D Study Suggests Overestimation of Antidepressant Efficacy
Reanalysis of the original primary outcome measure in the STAR*D study suggests STAR*D findings inflate improvement on antidepressant medication and exclusion criteria in conventional clinical trials results in overestimation of antidepressant efficacy.
Withdrawal Symptoms Routinely Confound Findings of Psychiatric Drug Studies
Researchers examine how rapid discontinuation can mimic the relapse of mental health symptoms and confound psychiatric drug studies.
