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.

More Lame Excuses from Dr. Lieberman

September 4, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

It’s that time of the month, and Dr. Lieberman has written another post, Change, Challenge and Opportunity: Psychiatry in Age of Reform and Enlightenment, on the APA’s website, Psychiatric News. He tells us that these are changing times, and that he, for one, is choosing to see these changes as positive. He leads with a… Continue Reading

ECT – Benefits Are Short-lived

September 3, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

Last Monday (August 26), Lauren Spiro published a post on Mad in America. The post is titled The Today Show and ECT: The Full Story & Informed Consent. Here’s the gist of Lauren’s article. On August 20, the Today Show ran a segment on ECT (electric shock “treatment”). Lauren contends that the coverage was not… Continue Reading

Poverty and Cognitive Performance

September 2, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

There’s an interesting article, Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function, by Anandi Mani et al in the current issue of Science. Here’s the abstract: “The poor often behave in less capable ways, which can further perpetuate poverty. We hypothesize that poverty directly impedes cognitive function and present two studies that test this hypothesis. First, we experimentally induced… Continue Reading

SSRI’s and Postpartum Hemorrhaging

August 31, 2013 By Phil Hickey |

There’s an interesting study in the British Medical Journal (August 2013). It’s called Use of antidepressants near delivery and risk of postpartum hemorrhage: cohort study of low income women in the United States, and it was written by Kristin Palmsten et al. The study examined nationwide Medicaid data from 2000-2007, and followed 106,000 pregnant women… Continue Reading