Only if one assumes that the FDA sees the drug industry as its client can some sense be made of December 13th meeting of the FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee in Silver Springs, Maryland.
Psych Drugs
AHRQ No Evidence to Support Off-Label Uses of Atypical Antipsychotics
"Most off-label use occurs without scientific support." Continue reading →
Science Refutes Claims of Drug Benefit: Antipsychotics Found Harmful_NEJM
"The drugs most commonly used to soothe agitation and aggression in people with Alzheimer’s disease are no more effective than placebos for most patients, and put them at risk of serious side effects, including confusion, sleepiness and Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms, researchers are reporting
today." Continue reading →
Antidepressants and Violence: Problems at the Interface of Medicine and Law_PLoS
Evidence of an association between violence and widely prescribed antidepressant drugs is the focus of this Infomail. Continue reading →
FDA Strengthens Warnings on ADHD psychostimulant Drug Risks_NYT
The New York Times reports (below) that after months of foot dragging, the FDA has finally issued additional warnings on the labels of widely
prescribed psychostimulant drugs–Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta. Continue reading →
Did regulators fail over SSRIs? BMJ
Dr. David Healy, a formidable critic of the iron grip pharmaceutical corporations wield on the practice of psychiatry as well as on psychiatry’s deficient journal reports, directs his criticism at drug regulators in an article in the current British Medical Journal (BMJ). Continue reading →
Drug-induced Diabetes “One More Burden for the Mentally Ill”
A front page report in The New York Times describes a psychotropic drug-induced catastrophe that has befallen patients who obeyed their
psychiatrists, and swallowed the antipsychotic drugs prescribed by psychiatrists who insisted the drugs were for the patients own good.
Continue reading →
Health Canada Warns Heart Patients to AVOID ADHD Drugs
Health Canada has taken constructive step to warn people with high blood pressure, heart disease and other medical ailments NOT to take psychostimulant drugs–which are essentially amphetamines.
Are Drugs Always Needed for Schizophrenia? What does the Scientific Evidence Show?
“Medication-Free Research in Early Episode Schizophrenia: Evidence of Long-Term Harm?” An article in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, by Dr. John Bola that dares to question the validity of the unexamined treatment paradigm in schizophrenia:
Continue reading →
DAWN: “Disposition of Emergency Department Visits for Drug-Related Suicide Attempts by Adolescents:
A report by the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), reveals some sobering facts about teenage suicide attempts that involve drugs. Continue reading →
“Some of the children were prescribed anti-psychotics, rather than discontinued from ADHD therapy.”
"That thing I’m worried about…where the MedGuide would help, where it might even warrant a black box, if this is common, where somebody hallucinates and then gets put on an anti-psychotic drug. That would really be something worth making sure it doesn’t happen,"
Continue reading →
2.5 Million US Children Prescribed Antipsychotics_ FDA ADHD–ADR Review
The Associated Press reports that a just released study that found that a staggering, two and half million children in the U.S. are being prescribed antipsychotics annually–that’s 40 out of every 1,000 children.
Continue reading →