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You are here: Home / Archives for antipsychotics

Deep Sleep “Therapy” in Australia in the 1960’s and 70’s. Could Something Like This Happen Today?

August 27, 2020 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

Here’s an interesting story from Australia, recently back in the spotlight. From 1962 to 1979, psychiatrist Harry Bailey, MD, serving as chief psychiatrist at Chelmsford Private Hospital in New South Wales, practiced “deep sleep therapy”, which involved keeping people in barbiturate-induced comas for days or even weeks.  Twenty-four of the individuals who received this “treatment”… Continue Reading

Carrie Fisher, Dead at Age 60

January 2, 2017 By Phil Hickey | 18 Comments

Actress Carrie Fisher died on December 27, 2016, at the early age of 60. In a 2001 article on Healthy Place,  she was described as “Perhaps one of manic-depression’s best-known champions…” Here’s another quote from the same article: “I’m fine, but I’m bipolar. I’m on seven medications, and I take medication three times a day…. Continue Reading

Allen Frances on the Benefits of “Antipsychotics”

March 11, 2016 By Phil Hickey | 35 Comments

On February 1, Allen Frances, MD, published an interesting article on the Huffington Post blog.  The article is called Do Antipsychotics Help or Harm Psychotic Symptoms?, and is a response to Robert Whitaker’s post of January 27:  “Me, Allen Frances, and Climbing Out of a Pigeonhole.  This post, in turn, was a response to Dr…. Continue Reading

Allen Frances ‘Replies’

June 24, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 20 Comments

BACKGROUND On June 19, 2015, I published a post titled Allen Frances’ Ties to Johnson & Johnson.  In that post, I set out some very serious allegations against Dr. Frances.  I drew these allegations from a document titled Special Witness Report dated October 15, 2010.  The report was written by David Rothman, PhD, Professor of… Continue Reading

Allen Frances’ Ties to Johnson & Johnson

June 19, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 13 Comments

INTRODUCTION I recently came across an article titled Diagnosisgate: Conflict of Interest at the Top of the Psychiatric Apparatus, by Paula Caplan, PhD.  The article was published in Aporia, the University of Ottawa nursing journal, in January 2015.  Aporia is “a peer-reviewed, bilingual, and open access journal dedicated to scholarly debates in nursing and the… Continue Reading

Neuroleptic Drugs And Mortality

June 1, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 3 Comments

In November of last year, the Schizophrenia Bulletin published online a research study:  Antipsychotic Treatment and Mortality in Schizophrenia, by Minna Torniainen et al.  The research was conducted in Sweden. The authors offer the following background for the study: “It is generally believed that long-term use of antipsychotics increases mortality and, especially, the risk of… Continue Reading

The Drugging of Children in Foster Care

March 16, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 32 Comments

It’s no secret that here in America, foster children are being prescribed psychiatric drugs, especially neuroleptics, as a means of controlling their behavior.  A great deal has been said and written on the matter.  Politicians have declared the practice deplorable.  Children’s advocacy groups have expressed concern, and, of course, those of us in the antipsychiatry… Continue Reading

Thomas Insel: “Are Children Overmedicated?”

February 10, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 60 Comments

Thomas Insel, MD, is the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.  In June of last year, he published, on the Director’s Blog, an article titled Are Children Overmedicated?  The gist of the article is that children are not being overmedicated, but rather that there is an increase in “severe psychiatric problems” in this… Continue Reading

Neuroleptics and Tardive Dyskinesia in Children

February 26, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 10 Comments

There’s an interesting February 11, 2014, article on Peter Breggin’s website:  $1.5 Million Award in Child Tardive Dyskinesia Malpractice.  Thanks to Mad in America for the link. Here’s the opening paragraph: “On February 11, 2014 a Chicago jury awarded $1.5 million to an autistic child who developed a severe case of tardive dyskinesia and tardive… Continue Reading

Psychiatry’s Over Reliance On Pharma

January 3, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 10 Comments

I recently read The NIMH-CATIE Schizophrenia Study: What Did We Learn? by Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, and T. Scott Stroup, MD, MPH.  The article was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry 168:8, August 2011.   Here are two quotes: “When the CATIE study was designed in 1999-2000, the prevailing opinion of researchers and clinicians alike was… Continue Reading

Psychiatric Dogmatism

January 2, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 5 Comments

In November, Joanna Moncrieff, MD, a British psychiatrist who works as a Senior Lecturer in psychiatry at University College London and a practicing consultant psychiatrist, started her own blog.  What’s remarkable about this blog is that it is highly critical of psychiatry.  Dr. Moncrieff marshals important facts and arguments in this area, and it is… Continue Reading

CAFÉ Study: Real Science or Marketing Exercise?

December 18, 2013 By Phil Hickey | 2 Comments

BACKGROUND On December 8,  I received the following question from a reader:  (The subject matter is the controversial CAFÉ – Comparisons of Atypicals in First Episode of Psychosis – study.  This was the study in which Dan Markingson committed suicide.) “It appears that there was no head-to-head with a control group taking a placebo pill…. Continue Reading

Neuroleptics for Children: Harvard’s Shame

December 4, 2013 By Phil Hickey | 31 Comments

In December 2012, Mark Olfson, MD, et al, published an article in the Archives of General Psychiatry.  The title is National Trends in the Office-Based Treatment of Children, Adolescents, and Adults with Antipsychotics.  The authors collected data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys for the period 1993-2009, and looked for trends in antipsychotic prescribing… Continue Reading

Neuroleptics in Nursing Homes

June 20, 2013 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

Earlier this year, The American Society of Consultant Pharmacists published a report on the use of neuroleptic drugs in nursing homes.  According to this report, 25% of nursing home residents receive neuroleptic drugs. In general, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) consider these prescriptions appropriate only if the recipient is psychotic.  (Obviously we… Continue Reading

 

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The phrase "mental health" as used in the name of this website is simply a term of convenience. It specifically does not imply that the human problems embraced by this term are illnesses, or that their absence constitutes health. Indeed, the fundamental tenet of this site is that there are no mental illnesses, and that conceptualizing human problems in this way is spurious, destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing.

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