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You are here: Home / Archives for conflict of interest

The “Essential Principles” of Psychiatric Practice: More Psychiatric Cheerleading

June 20, 2018 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

In the May 2018 issue of Current Psychiatry, there’s an editorial by Henry Nasrallah, MD.  Dr. Nasrallah is a highly renowned psychiatrist, and is Editor-in-Chief of the journal.  He is also chair of the St. Louis University Department of Psychiatry. Here’s the opening paragraph of the article. “As the end of the academic year approaches,… Continue Reading

Robert Whitaker Refutes Jeffrey Lieberman; But Is Psychiatry Reformable?

June 22, 2017 By Phil Hickey | 12 Comments

INTRODUCTION On May 5, 2017, Donald Goff, MD and seven other psychiatrists, including the very eminent Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, published an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry.  The title is: The Long-Term Effects of Antipsychotic Medication on Clinical Course in Schizophrenia. Here’s the abstract: “Concerns have been raised that treatment with antipsychotic medication might… Continue Reading

Mental Health First Aid: Another Psychiatric Expansionist Tool

January 23, 2017 By Phil Hickey | 16 Comments

On December 25, 2016, the Baltimore Sun published an excellent article titled Drug companies prey on children, by Patrick D. Hahn, PhD.  Dr. Hahn is an affiliate professor of biology at Loyola University, Maryland.  Here are some quotes: “I recently attended Youth Mental Health First Aid Training at a local public school. It was an… Continue Reading

The Mental Health Reform Act of 2016 (SB 2680) Would Be a Huge Step Backwards

September 30, 2016 By Phil Hickey | 6 Comments

On July 6, HB 2646 (the Tim Murphy Bill) passed the US House and was sent to the Senate. At the present time, a related bill is working its way through the Senate.  This is SB 2680, The Mental Health Reform Act 2016.  It is sponsored by Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Patty Murray (D-WA), Bill Cassidy… Continue Reading

My Response To Dr. Pies

November 17, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 8 Comments

In the October 2015 issue of the Behavior Therapist (pages 206-213), Jeffrey Lacasse, PhD, and Jonathan Leo, PhD, published an article titled Antidepressants and the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression: A Reflection and Update on the Discourse, I thought the article had particular merit, and I drew attention to it in a post dated November… 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

Antidepressant Drugs and Suicide Rates

March 2, 2015 By Phil Hickey | 8 Comments

In 2010, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica published a study by Göran Isacsson et al.  The paper was titled Antidepressant medication prevents suicide in depression.  Here’s the conclusion: “The finding that in-patient care for depression did not increase the probability of the detection of antidepressants in suicides is difficult to explain other than by the assumption that… Continue Reading

Pharma-funded Research

September 26, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 12 Comments

On August 20, 2014, Psychiatry Advisor published an article on its website.  The article was written by Leslie Citrome, MD, a professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY, and a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.  The article is called Is Bias Against Pharma-Funded… Continue Reading

From Hell to Hope

June 12, 2014 By A reader | 2 Comments

  Can.you tell I have a cat just by looking at me?  Can you tell I have a mental illness just by looking at me?I began to change in my early teens, be it hormones and my shifting brain chemistry, or the stress of my parents seperating. Something stressor from the outside flipped on the switch to… Continue Reading

The FDA:  The Fox Guards the Hen House

May 7, 2014 By Phil Hickey | Leave a Comment

In their Fall 2013 issue, the Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics published a symposium of papers by members of the Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics.  The symposium was called Institutional Corruption and Pharmaceutical Policy. The symposium focuses on pharmaceutical products generally, but all the material is relevant and important in the context… Continue Reading

Sluggish Cognitive Tempo – A New Diagnosis?

April 29, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 14 Comments

On April 11, 2014, journalist Alan Schwarz (brief bio here) published an article in the New York Times on this topic, titled Idea of New attention Disorder Spurs Research, and Debate.  Alan has written extensively on the rising rates of the condition known as ADHD, and on the abuse of the drugs that are used… Continue Reading

‘ADHD’ and Dangerous Driving

April 22, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 13 Comments

In 2006, Laurence Jerome, a Canadian psychiatrist, and two colleagues wrote a paper titled What We Know About ADHD and Driving Risk: A Literature Review, Meta-Analysis and Critique.  It was published in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in August, 2006. The primary result of the meta-analysis was: “Current data… Continue Reading

Investigation of Dan Markingson’s Death

April 11, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 11 Comments

I have written on Dan Markingson’s death in an earlier post, and I encourage readers who are not familiar with the case to have a look. It is generally accepted by those of us on this side of the debate that psychiatry does more harm than good, and is organizationally and individually responsible for a… Continue Reading

Justina Pelletier and Boston Children’s Hospital

March 6, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 23 Comments

Justina Pelletier is the 15-year-old girl who is at the center of a dispute between her parents and the Psychiatry Department at Boston Children’s Hospital. Justina, who lived with her parents in Connecticut, had been diagnosed with mitochondrial disease, a rare and debilitating illness, and had been receiving treatment for this from Mark Korson, MD,… Continue Reading

A Blood Test for Schizophrenia with 83% Accuracy?

March 4, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 9 Comments

INTRODUCTION An NBC online News article dated October 15, 2010, carried the noteworthy title New blood test may help detect schizophrenia.  Thanks to Francesca for the link. The article was written by Natasha Allen, a freelance medical journalist.  The gist of the article is that there is a new blood test called VeriPsych which “researchers… Continue Reading

DSM-5: Dimensionality: Conflicts of Interest

January 25, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 10 Comments

In DSM-5 – Dimensional Diagnoses – More Conflicts of Interest? which I posted on December 23, 2013, I drew attention to the fact that David Kupfer, MD, in his position as head of the DSM-5 Task Force, was vigorously promoting a dimensional model of assessment while at the same time was positioning himself to benefit… Continue Reading

Training Of Psychiatrists: What The Future Holds

January 20, 2014 By Phil Hickey | 6 Comments

Joel Yager, MD, is a Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado at Denver School of Medicine.  He started his career as a US Army psychiatrist in 1969, and has held a wide range of clinical and teaching positions in the intervening years.  He has received numerous awards, including lifetime achievement awards from the National Eating… 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

Dr. Lieberman Thanks Dr. Scully

December 28, 2013 By Phil Hickey | 5 Comments

As my regular readers know, I am a big fan of Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, eminent President of the American Psychiatric Association.  I study his bulletins on Psychiatric News avidly, not only for the insights they provide in the areas of human frailty and self-deception, but also for their literary qualities of obfuscation and semantic distortion…. Continue Reading

DSM-5 – Dimensional Diagnoses – More Conflicts of Interest?

December 23, 2013 By Phil Hickey | 27 Comments

BACKGROUND On November 20, JAMA Psychiatry (formerly Archives of General Psychiatry) published an interesting letter.  It was headed: Failure to Report Financial Disclosure Information,  and was signed by Robert D. Gibbons PhD, David J Weiss PhD, Paul A. Pilkonis PhD, Ellen Frank, PhD , and David J. Kupfer MD. The letter is an apology for… 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

Causes of High Mortality in People Labeled ‘Mentally Ill’

November 12, 2013 By Phil Hickey | 5 Comments

ANOTHER VIDEO FROM DR. LIEBERMAN On October 28, Jeffrey Lieberman, MD, President of the APA, made another video.  This one is titled An Important Look at Mortality in Mental Illness: A Decade of Data on Psychotropic Drugs, and was made for Medscape.  You can see the transcript at the same site.  Medscape is a web… Continue Reading

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