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...
Not an Onion Study: Laughing Gas vs Air for Treatment of Depression
"Nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, has shown early promise as a potential treatment for severe depression in patients whose symptoms don’t respond to standard therapies," stated a press release about a widely-reported study that was published in Biological Psychiatry. The press release also stated that over a third of the patients improved after being given air.
Thoughtful Insight, Not Lack of It, Drives Some Patients to Quit Psychiatric Medications
Rather than a "lack of insight," it is actually a thoughtful weighing of complex risks and benefits that ultimately drives some people diagnosed with bipolar disorder to eschew psychiatric medications, according to a qualitative study in the Journal of Affective Disorders. And these people often develop sophisticated strategies in their efforts to manage without medications.
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...
Do Insurance Companies Profit from Rising Drug Costs?
Many insurance companies have little interest in slowing the rise of inappropriate over-prescribing of pharmaceutical drugs, according to a study in Health Policy. That's...
Antipsychotic Drug Associated with Potentially Fatal Skin Rash
The US Food and Drug Administration is warning the public that the antipsychotic medication ziprasidone "is associated with a rare but serious skin reaction...
Psychiatrists’ Prescriptions for First-time Psychosis Often Don’t Follow Guidelines
"Many patients with first-episode psychosis receive medications that do not comply with recommended guidelines for first-episode treatment," states a National Institute of Mental Health...
Strong Placebo Response to Antidepressants Forms Even Before Drug Trials Start
A strong placebo response is apparently more often caused by people's expectations coming into a randomized, blinded clinical trial, than it is caused by...
Psychologists “Devised” and Played “Central Role” in CIA Torture Program
Professional psychologists designed most of the main techniques and strategies and played ongoing, active, central roles in the CIA's torture of people it was...
Some Antidepressants Worse than Others for Causing Sexual Dysfunction
In a review of the scientific evidence about sexual dysfunction caused by antidepressants, Australian researchers determined that some of the medications are worse than...
Biological Explanations for Antidepressant Withdrawal
Two South African researchers review scientific understanding of the brain changes that lead to antidepressant discontinuation syndrome (ADS) in Human Psycho-pharmacology: Clinical and Experimental....
Nurse with Secret Recordings Exposes More about University of Minnesota Research Scandal
A senior nurse who has been involved for 22 years with the University of Minnesota's psychiatric research program is accusing the university of a...
Common Benzodiazepine Sedatives May Induce Aggression
Benzodiazepine medications that are commonly used for calming or sedating people can sometimes apparently cause violent or aggressive responses in some people, according to...
Two Canadian Sources of Independent Health & Mental Health Research Shut Down
The Canadian Women's Health Network (CWHN), for two decades a major source of critical, independent research and information on women's health and mental health,...
California Foster Care Physicians Taking Double the Average in Pharma Money
Drug companies spent over $14 million from 2010 to 2013 to "woo" California doctors who specialize in treating foster children, according to part three...
American Psychological Association Begins Inquiry into Torture Allegations
"The American Psychological Association (APA) last week named a former federal prosecutor to lead an investigation into its role in supporting the U.S. government’s...
Global Rise in ADHD Diagnoses: Medicine or Marketing?
The dramatic rise in ADHD spreading from the United States to the rest of the world is more an "economic and cultural plague" than...
US Government Proposes Stronger Rules for Disclosure of Medical Trial Results
The US government is proposing to toughen the rules governing medical trials involving human subjects, to help ensure the trials are registered in advance...
Psychiatrists and Psychologists Not Reliable Expert Witnesses
Psychiatrists and psychologists who work as expert witnesses for the courts are generally no more scientifically knowledgeable or accurate about issues that involve human...
Nature Neuroscience Dedicates Special Issue to Big Data Efforts
The November issue of Nature Neuroscience is focused on discussions of "big data" initiatives for mapping the brain, finding genetic clues to psychology questions,...
Psychiatric Medication Use Associated with Triple the Risk of Stroke
Common psychiatric medications double the risk of heart attack and triple the risk of stroke, according to research presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress...
Completely New Naming System for Psychotropic Drugs Proposed
A group of influential organizations are beginning an effort to change the entire way that psychiatric medications are named, according to a press release...
High-profile Psychiatrist Criticized for Remote, Politicized Diagnosing
The Associated Press reports on Fox television and Tufts University psychiatrist Keith Ablow, who routinely diagnoses President Barack Obama without ever having met him,...
Robin Williams On Antidepressant at Time of Suicide
Robin Williams had "therapeutic" levels of the tetra-cyclic antidepressant mirtazapine in his blood at the time of his suicide, according to the coroner's report...
