Tag Archives: depression

Science Mag—This Is Your Brain Off Drugs:Why Pharma May Be Cooling on Psychiatry Drugs—no pathology for mental ‘disease’

Earlier this year, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced it was ceasing drug-discovery research for psychiatric disorders such as depression and schizophrenia…”Basically, from a research perspective, we’re pulling out of the psychiatry space.”— neuroscientist Menelas Pangalos

The BBC—new report challenges psychiatry’s billing bible, the DSM—”Mental Health: Are we all sick now?”

Diagnosing psychiatric illness has always been controversial, mental health experts say. Now some are worried that a new draft of the diagnostic ‘bible’ for mental health medicine could result in almost everyone being diagnosed with a mental condition. The diagnostic ‘bible’ in question is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association.

Antidepressants the same as placebo “If antidepressants work, why is the prevalence of depression not decreasing?”

This is the second article in a five-part series on depression. The first one discussed how there is no medical test to diagnose depression; the interview scales have no known validity or reliability because there is no comparative gold standard; the varying interview scales result in different diagnostic conclusions; and almost every life reaction is considered a symptom for depression — including things such as indecisiveness, inability to concentrate, changes in weight or sleeping pattern. None of this is very scientific.

The Los Angeles Examiner: Psychiatric Overdiagnosis Means “Normal” Could Become Obsolete

Are you normal? Are you sure? A growing number of behaviors and moods are being relabeled as mental disorders, according to two recent articles. Sadness, shyness, personality quirks and the ups and downs of everyday life may qualify almost anyone for a psychiatric diagnosis, effectively pathologizing normality.

SSRIs Render Unfriendly Skies—FOIA documents reveal what FAA failed to consider in allowing pilots on antidepressants to fly

The SSRI antidepressant makers are desperate to find new customers, so they recently have been focusing on capturing groups for which the drugs were usually considered off limits. The latest marketing coup managed to open up sales to roughly 614,000 American pilots. Under a new policy announced on April 5, 2010, pilots diagnosed with depression can seek permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to take one of four SSRIs, including Eli Lilly’s Prozac, Pfizer’s Zoloft, and Forest Laboratories’ Celexa and Lexapro.