depression

SSRI’s and Suicide Risk for Adolescents

February 27, 2012

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 [...]

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More about Antidepressants and Placebos

February 27, 2012

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! [...]

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A Blood Test for Depression

August 24, 2011

Daniel Carlat in his blog post of August 15 mentions, and critiques, a so-called blood test for depression marketed (for $745) by Ridge Diagnostics. The essence of Dr. Carlat’s criticism is that the test is not predictive of depression, but merely enables one to tell (with some degree of accuracy) whether or not a person [...]

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More Questionable Research

June 9, 2011

The National Institute of Health (NIH) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  It is the primary U.S. Government agency responsible for medical research. The NIH has 27 sub-departments, one of which is the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  The NIMH has an annual budget of $1.5 billion, which [...]

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An Interesting Post On Depression

April 12, 2011

There’s some interesting reading at Mercola.com posted April 6, 2011. Dr. Mercola states that depression is not an illness! – and that this bogus illness was created by psychiatrists and drug companies in order to sell drugs! No surprises there for regular readers of this site.  Unfortunately Dr. Mercola doesn’t take the logic far enough.  [...]

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DSM and Disability

December 12, 2010

Every society in every generation makes errors.  Some of the errors are minor.  Some are major.  One of the great errors of the 20th century was this:  we accepted the spurious notion that a wide range of life’s problems were in fact illnesses.  This spurious notion was initiated with good intentions – to provide shelter [...]

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Drugs, Placebos, and Life

August 23, 2010

I have recently read a very interesting book by Irving Kirsch, PhD. It’s called The Emperor’s New Drugs, and the central theme of the work is that antidepressants are only very slightly more effective than placebos (i.e. sugar pills), and that the difference is not clinically significant. The logic is cogent and the research is [...]

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Depression Is Not An Illness

July 28, 2009

Contrary to the APA’s assertion, depression is not an illness.  In fact, depression is an adaptive mechanism which has served the species well for millions of years.  When things are going well in our lives, we feel good.  This good feeling is nature’s way of telling us to keep doing what we’re doing.  When our [...]

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Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

June 23, 2009

One of the anxiety disorders listed in DSM is posttraumatic stress disorder. The criteria for this condition are listed below: A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present: (1) the person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or [...]

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