Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Psych Headline News Links 9-22-2015

Can Anyone tell us WHY we keep breaking the Treasury's back to feed this industry?

"Because HOPE Remains For A Cure?"

Remember the last time we made policy based on HOPE?
Real Unemployment Rate 42.9%, Not 5.5%

White House Blocks Petition Seeking Investigation Into Psychiatric Drugs And Violence
A Message From President Obama About Your Petition On Reducing Gun Violence
J&J/PhARMA Parented ObamaCare
Barf Alert! Obama Consults J&J CEO Weldon On Fixing The Economy

madinamerica

September 17, 2015
On Tuesday, the Obama administration nominated Dr. Robert Califf to be the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In a statement, director of the Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, Dr. Michael Carome called on the Senate to reject the nomination.  He contends that Califf “racked up a long history of extensive financial ties to multiple drug and medical device companies, including Amgen, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Merck Sharp & Dohme and Sanofi-Aventis, to name a few.”
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September 17, 2015
Individuals between the ages of 15 and 24 are more likely to commit a violent crime if they are taking an SSRI antidepressant than if they are not, according to new research out of Sweden.  The study published in PLoS Medicine on Tuesday, suggests "warnings about the increased risk of violent behavior among young people taking SSRIs might be needed.”
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September 16, 2015
BMJ issued a press release today after a reanalysis of the antidepressant paroxetine (Paxil) concluded the drug is neither safe nor effective for adolescents with depression. The reanalysis conducted by a team of independent researchers contradicts the original study paid for by the drug manufacturer, known as Study 329.
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September 16, 2015
After 13 years as the director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dr. Thomas Insel is stepping down.  While the NIMH conducts a national search for his replacement, Bruce Cuthbert, Ph.D., will serve as the acting director.
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September 16, 2015
New research published in the August issue of Psychiatric Annals evaluates the results of randomized control trials on the use of various psychotropic drugs for patients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD).  Despite the “American Psychiatric Association’s practice guidelines endorsement of SSRIs as first-line therapies for BPD,” the results of the meta-analysis reveal that pharmacotherapy in BPD is “not supported by the current literature,” and “should be avoided whenever possible.”
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September 14, 2015
“In Gallup's annual measure of 25 major U.S. business sectors, the percentage of Americans with a positive view of the pharmaceutical industry dropped from 40% in 2014 to 35% this year, while the percentage with a negative view rose from 36% to 43%.”
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September 11, 2015
New data on the effects of social support after the onset of psychosis suggests that patients with intense social support function better than those without such help, but than once supports are removed the effects eventually diminish.
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September 10, 2015
Amid growing criticism about the over-prescription of psychotropic medication in foster care, Pennsylvania commissioned PolicyLab to conduct an analysis of the use of psychiatric drugs among all of the state’s Medicaid-enrolled children.  The report, released in June, found that the rates of psychotropic prescriptions among youth in Medicaid and foster care are higher than previous estimates.
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September 9, 2015
Antipsychotics are currently the predominant treatment for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, but there is an accumulating body of research that links the use of these drugs to structural abnormalities in the brain. A recent meta-analysis suggests that gray matter loss in the brain may depend on the dose and class of the antipsychotic.
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September 8, 2015
Antipsychotics are being prescribed to people who may have challenging behaviors but no mental disorder, according to new research published in this month’s issue of BMJ.  In people without intellectual disability, approximately 50% of prescriptions for antipsychotics are given in the absence of a diagnosis of severe mental illness.   According to the new analysis, an even higher proportion (71%) of those with intellectual disabilities receive antipsychotics without such a diagnosis.
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September 7, 2015
This month’s issue of JAMA Psychiatry ran an editorial commenting on recent research revealing that the majority of youth prescribed antipsychotics have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder. For these youth, the harms outweigh the benefits.
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September 4, 2015
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. The authors of the JAMA editorial, Walid Gellad, Kathryn Flynn, and Caleb Alexander, all served on the FDA scientific advisory committee that ultimately recommended approval of flibanserin for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).  They list all of the following factors as explanations for what made the committee’s decision so difficult in this case, but do not offer a thorough explanation as to why the drug was ultimately approved despite these issues.
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September 2, 2015
MedPageToday reports that Janssen Pharmaceuticals omitted data from a 2003 study that connected Risperdal with serious side effects. Earlier this year, a man with autism was awarded $2.5 million after growing breasts while on Risperdal.  According to MedPage, documents from this latest case reveal missing data tables from a 2003 study “designed to ferret out potential adverse effects of long-term risperidone use.”  The missing tables were related to elevated prolactin levels and side effects, including gynecomastia in men.
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August 31, 2015
Bertha Madras, professor of psychobiology at Harvard Medical School, has printed a critique listing 20 flaws to a recent study finding no differences in physical or mental health problems between users and non-users of marijuana. More →
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August 27, 2015
Willingness to interact with someone with a mental health diagnosis may be tied to the misperception that disorders can be transferred from one person to another, according to a new study published in the Journal of Memory & Cognition.More →
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August 26, 2015
Despite updated standards requiring preregistration of clinical trials aimed at improving transparency, most studies published in the top-5 psychiatry journals from 2009 to 2013 do not meet the new guidelines, according to an analysis published in PloS one.More →
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August 25, 2015
The combined use of antidepressants and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) is associated with an increased risk of intracranial hemorrhage, according to a study published last week in BMJMore →
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August 25, 2015
A study carried out by BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver found a 47% increase in the number of pediatric emergency department (PED) visits related to mental health between 2003 and 2012.  This staggering increase compared to a 9% increase in total PED visits. More →
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August 21, 2015
A study published in the journal of Psychiatry Research found that younger childhood age relative to one's classmates may be a risk factor for adult psychotic experiences.  This research supports claims that environmental factors such as school-related difficulties and marginalization contribute to psychosis.More →
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August 19, 2015
On Tuesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Flibanserin (Addyi) to treat low sexual desire in women despite concerns about the drug's limited efficacy and doubts over its clinical relevance.  That the drug is being called the "pink Viagra" can be misleading as Viagra treats erectile dysfunction by improving blood flow while Flibanserin targets the brain, and must be taken daily.
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August 19, 2015
“When people with early-stage symptoms took omega-3 supplements for three months, they had much lower rates of progression than those who did not,” according to research out of Australia covered in this month’s issue of the New ScientistMore →
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August 17, 2015
While current treatment guidelines for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not recommend electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), the NIMH is supporting new research into the use of ECT and deep brain stimulation (DBS) for OCD treatment.  Leonardo Fontenelle and his colleagues at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil set out to examine studies on ECT treatment for OCD and found the existing research to be too limited and inconclusive.More →
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August 17, 2015
The Minnesota State Legislature approved $1 million in funding through 2019 to build a network of community clinics and outreach programs that provide therapy, support and treatment to individuals experiencing an initial presentation of symptoms associated with psychosis.  The first $260,000 of funding will be distributed through grants over the next two years.  The new programs will be modeled after the University at Minnesota’s first episode psychosis program, which has pioneered efforts to incorporate family education and training into therapy focused treatment programs.
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August 12, 2015
Seniors are twice as likely to receive psychotropic prescriptions than younger adults but are much less likely to receive mental health care from psychiatrists or to receive psychotherapy, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.  More →
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August 11, 2015
A long-term study that followed 408 seventh-graders for over 20 years found no association between marijuana use at a young age and an increased risk of psychosis, depression, and anxiety in adulthood.  The study, published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, was led by Jordan Bechtold of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.More →
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August 7, 2015
The Federal jury hearing the first of 5000 claims against Eli Lilly for hiding the risks of withdrawal symptoms associated with Cymbalta found that Lilly did not mislabel the drug, and was not liable for Herrera's withdrawal symptoms.
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August 7, 2015
Calling it “Poison,” plaintiff Claudia Herrera testified she would not have taken Eli Lilly's drug Cymbalta had she known the risks. Lilly hid the risks of withdrawal symptoms such as electric-like “zaps,” anxiety, spasms, and suicidal ideation, Herrera lawsuit claims, alleging that nearly half of users experience withdrawal rather than the 1% Lilly claims.
More →
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August 3, 2015
The majority of children, adolescents and young adults prescribed antipsychotic medications have not been diagnosed with a mental disorder, according to a recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry.  The study, led by Mark Olfson from Columbia University, examined trends in the treatment of young people with antipsychotics in the United States between 2006 and 2010 and raised concerns about the safety and efficacy of prescription practices.
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July 30, 2015
Research published in the May 2015 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry questions the use of exposure therapy, the "gold standard" treatment for patients with PTSD.  Exposure therapy attempts to lessen the power of memories, thoughts, and feelings related to the trauma through the repeated discussion of the trauma-related situations with a therapist.  While prior studies have reported that it is efficacious,  exposure therapy has also been called the “cruelest cure” and criticized for inducing suffering in victims of trauma.
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July 30, 2015
Research lead by Richard Bentall of the University of Liverpool finds that the quality of the therapeutic alliance (TA) in treating early psychosis, long known to be instrumental in achieving positive outcomes, can also lead to poorer outcomes when the quality is negative. "This is the first ever demonstration that TA has a causal effect on symptomatic outcome of a psychological treatment, and that poor TA is actively detrimental, these effects may extend to other therapeutic modalities and disorders," the authors conclude.
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Thank You MIA.


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