This issue has been debated for years, but was finally considered to have been put to rest by NIMH’s 2004 Treatment for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS). This study essentially “found” that fluoxetine (Prozac) was effective in treating depression and did not involve an increased risk of suicide. Robert Whitaker’s most recent post points out… Continue Reading
Archives for February 2012
More about Antidepressants and Placebos
The debate is over. Antidepressants are only very marginally more effective than placebos. And yet the “depression-is-an-illness” lobby continues to grasp for straws. Fiona Godlee, editor of the British Medical Journal, recently cited “evidence” of the efficacy of antidepressants. For a critique of the Godlee article go to Duncan Double’s website “Critical Psychiatry.” Surprise finding!… Continue Reading
Gender Identity Disorder Is Not An Illness
In 1973 the APA removed homosexuality from its list of “diagnoses,” and in its place they created a new “diagnosis” – gender identity disorder. The essential feature of this so-called illness is a marked and persistent rejection of one’s biological gender and a repeated desire to be of the opposite gender. I’ve touched on these… Continue Reading
Another Good Book by Stephen Ray Flora
A few weeks ago I recommended Taking America Off Drugs by Stephen Ray Flora. Well, he has also written The Power of Reinforcement (State University of New York Press, 2004), and this also is well worth reading. Reinforcement is a crucial concept in psychology, and in this book Dr. Flora clarifies the matter and dispels the… Continue Reading