In March, friend Nancy Wilson ran across an article syndicated in multiple small town papers hawking the antidepressant, Viibryd®, with commentary by Madhukar Trivedi – not labeled as an advertisement [the article…, Viibryd® – coming to a hamlet near you…]. Trivedi is at UT Southwestern where he heads their Depression Clinic. She wrote the chairman [...]
In Nashville with a sick friend. Back Sunday.
I had a patient long ago who was struggling to find a way to describe her Mom and why she was so conflicted about her – being both devoted to and oppressed by their relationship. She said, "She’s just crazy-making!" That phrase stuck with me and was probably the nidus for a later old saying [...]
The agenda of the launch of the DSM-5 has been redirected by Dr. Insel’s Transforming Diagnosis. One example among many: The New Criteria for Mental Disorders New Yorker by Maria Konnikova May 8, 2013 … The director of the National Institute of Mental Health, Thomas Insel, announced last week that the institute would be officially [...]
Will Male Breasts Derail A J&J Settlement Over Risperdal Marketing? Pharmalot by Ed Silverman 05/10/2013 A much-anticipated settlement of various federal government probes into Johnson & Johnson marketing of the Risperdal antipsychotic, as well as other medications, is being delayed over language the health care giant fears may cause difficulties for a raft of private [...]
There’s a newish blog in town: Psychology Today‘s "How Everyone Became Depressed: The rise and fall of the nervous breakdown" by Dr. Edward Shorter, medical and psychiatric historian at the University of Toronto. This week, he weighs in on the NIMH v. DSM-5 story and coming APA Meeting [with a very apt title] and also [...]
Spent yesterday with matters medical, mostly local. When I passed by the television as the day settled down this afternoon, CNN was going strong with coverage of the verdict in the Jodi Arias trial – media frenzy at its highest pitch. Every commentator and quaisi-expert in America has something to say. Later, I finally sat [...]
Willie Nelson and Diane Carroll sang a duet in their country music classic Honeysuckle Rose: There must be two sides to every story. And who’s to say, who’s right and who is wrong?… Well here’s one now – two sides: Glaxo And Its Transparency Effort Finally Moves Forward Pharmalot by Ed Silverman 05/07/2013 Witty [...]
It was a working morning for me at the free clinic where I volunteer. As always, a full schedule. By the standards of the urban set I’m used to from Atlanta, the people of Appalachia live pretty hard lives; often out of work; a lot of alcohol and drug abuse; "broken homes" in more ways [...]
Psychiatry’s Guide Is Out of Touch With Science, Experts Say New York Times By PAM BELLUCK and BENEDICT CAREY May 6, 2013 Just weeks before the long-awaited publication of a new edition of the so-called bible of mental disorders, the federal government’s most prominent psychiatric expert has said the book suffers from a scientific “lack [...]