About Phil Hickey Ph.D

I am a licensed psychologist, presently retired. I have worked in clinical and managerial positions in the mental health, corrections, and addictions fields in the United States and England. My wife Nancy and I have been married since 1970 and have four grown children.

Withdrawal from Benzodiazepines

March 17, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

Important updates on this subject can be found at the posts listed at the bottom of the post. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I’ve recently come across an article by Matt Samet called Social Vacuum. It’s dated March 2013, and was published on Robert… Continue Reading

DSM-5: Another Step in the Wrong Direction

March 16, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

It’s widely known that the initial drafts of DSM-5 received a great deal of negative comment. It’s also known that some of the more controversial proposals have been scrapped, but that others have been retained and sent for printing. All of this was fairly predictable. The APA’s agenda is to widen the “diagnostic” net to… Continue Reading

Mental Health After Newtown

March 13, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

On March 5, 2013, a bipartisan panel of leading mental health experts and parents of children with “mental disorders” held a conversation (that’s newspeak for meeting) in Washington D.C. on the topic: Violence and Severe Mental Illness. The invited panelists were: Thomas Insel, MD, Director of NIMH Harold Koplewicz, MD, President of Child Mind Institute… Continue Reading

“Prescription Drugs Associated with Reports of Violence Towards Others”

March 12, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

This is the title of a 2010 research report by Thomas J. Moore, Joseph Glenmullen, and Curt D. Furberg, published in PLOS One, an online peer-reviewed journal. The authors of the study searched the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System from 2004 to September 2009, and flagged reports indicating violence. They concluded: “Acts of violence towards… Continue Reading