Patient Advocacy Groups Accept Drug Industry Funds
From The New York Times: A new study has found that more than 80 percent of the nation's patient advocacy groups accept funding from drug...
How Brain Scientists Forgot That Brains Have Owners
From The Atlantic: Five neuroscientists have published a new paper arguing that the field of neuroscience has become too focused on technology and has de-prioritized the...
6-Year-old Boy Committed to a Psych Ward
From BuzzFeed News: A six-year-old boy in Jacksonville, Florida was recently committed to a psychiatric institution for throwing a temper tantrum in school. There, he...
Experts Concerned That Depression Screening Will Lead to Overdiagnosis
Behind the U.S. task force recommendation to screen all children and adults for depression.
We Need to pay Better Attention to Medication Side Effects
From KevinMD.com: Doctors often fail to recognize that their patients' symptoms are side effects of medication.
"Cognitive dissonance, a universal human phenomenon, is based on the assumption...
When Evidence Says no, but Doctors say yes
From ProPublica: Many physicians continue to administer treatments that have long been proven ineffective and even harmful to patients.
"For all the truly wondrous developments of modern medicine...
Big Pharma Enlists Leading Professors to Justify Drug Prices
From ProPublica: The pharmaceutical company has deployed a potent new ally to justify skyrocketing drug prices. Precision Health Economics, a firm comprised of leading economists and...
New Data Show Lack of Efficacy for Antidepressants
An article published this month in the journal BMC Psychiatry suggests that there is a lack of efficacy for SSRIs and that they significantly increase the risk of serious side effects.
College Course Offered on Calling out Scientific Crap
From STAT: Two professors at the University of Washington will be offering a new course, "Calling Bullshit In the Age of Big Data." The class...
Abilify Drives Users to Binge on Risky Behaviors
From Daily Mail: The anti-psychotic drug Abilify is at the center of hundreds of lawsuits accusing the drug of dangerous side effects including compulsive gambling,...
FDA Approved Drugs may Become Riskier
From the Center for Health Journalism: President Trump's plans to speed up the process of FDA drug approvals, in combination with the increase of off-label...
How big Pharma’s Lust for Profit Harms Their Customers
From AlterNet: The increasing pace at which the FDA is approving new drugs can lead to significant risks to patient safety. Drugs that once would have...
I do Hate to Tell you This, but…
In this commentary for In the Pipeline, Derek Lowe highlights the results from a recent FDA report showing that the vast majority of all drugs...
Cancer Drug Offers a Cautionary Tale of Deregulating the FDA
To illustrate the dangers of Trump's plans to deregulate the FDA, Susan Perry from MinnPost provides a cautionary tale about Tarceva, a drug approved by the...
Trump Wants to Blow up the FDA
From STAT: President Trump plans to decrease regulations on the Food and Drug Administration. Medical experts and healthcare professionals have expressed concerns that this could expose...
New Medications Fail to Show Efficacy for Alzheimer’s Disease
Three phase III clinical trials assessing the efficacy of Lundbeck’s investigational drug idalopirdine for Alzheimer’s disease have failed
Physicians Underestimate Harms and Overestimate Benefits of Treatment
A new study analyzed over 13,000 doctors and found that physicians had a poor understanding of risks and benefits in every field, including psychopharmaceutical prescription, to CT scans, and cancer screening.
Children with ‘ADHD’ Commonly Prescribed Antipsychotics
Despite little evidence for benefit, and substantial risk of harm, antipsychotics are commonly prescribed to children diagnosed with ADHD
Researcher Acknowledges His Mistakes in Understanding Schizophrenia
Sir Robin Murray, a professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience in London, states that he ignored social factors that contribute to ‘schizophrenia’ for too long. He also reports that he neglected the negative effects antipsychotic medication has on the brain.
Many Patient Advocacy Organizations Are Funded By Industry
New research investigates the financial conflicts of interest (FCOI) of patient advocacy organizations (PAOs) in the United States.
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.
BPS Releases Review of Alternatives to Antipsychotics
BPS releases report encouraging behavioral interventions for people with dementia, rather than antipsychotics
Acute Respiratory Failure More Likely in COPD Patients Prescribed Antipsychotics
Researchers recommend that healthcare professionals be vigilant regarding the signs of respiratory failure among patients with COPD who are receiving antipsychotics, especially during the initial treatment phase.
Treating Metabolic Conditions May Resolve Some Depressive Symptoms
New research suggests that treatable metabolic abnormalities underlie some treatment-resistant cases of depression—and treating the metabolic condition has the possibility of dramatically reducing depressive symptoms
Medical Interventions Are Overused Worldwide
Lack of “right care” causes physical, psychological and financial harm to patients
