The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a pretty harrowing movie. In brief a new SS Kommandant and his family come to a camp. The Kommandant seems like a reasonable man. His family seem very normal. His son makes friends with a boy behind the wire. They ultimately create a hole in the fence between them and get to spend time together. Finally the Boy in the Striped Pajamas is … [Read more...] about It Couldn’t Happen Here: Consent to “Treatment”
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Drug Bites Man
Editorial note: This post follows up on Leonie Fennell's post earlier this week - Dogs and Serotonin. The follow up comes from a celebrated event that happened over a decade ago, reported as follows in the WSJ with follow-up comments. What to Say in the TV Ads ---- By Chris Adams, The Wall Street Journal You might call it a made-for-TV drug. Approved for human use in the … [Read more...] about Drug Bites Man
Dogs and Serotonin
Editorial Note: This post by Leonie Fennell is the first of two on related themes. We would love to hear any observations you or your veterinarian have on drugs in animals in general. Depression, once a disease deemed too rare to merit study, has become so common that it is now a booming business. More and more people are asking: “When we stop at the pharmacy to pick up our … [Read more...] about Dogs and Serotonin
RxISK Prize
Over on RxISK, we have launched a RxISK Prize. The hope is to find an answer to the debilitating disorders of Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction, PSSD, Post-Finasteride Syndrome, PFS, and Post Retinoid Sexual Dysfunction (PRSD). Please check this out and pass the word on to any pharmacologist, physiologist, endocrinologist, biologist, electrical engineer, doctor, herbalist, and … [Read more...] about RxISK Prize
Alt Medicine
Editorial Note: When I raised the specter of the Science Media Center and Sense about Science recently, some of the Americans I knew fell about laughing, figuring we are still a long way off being as censored as the US of A is. After calming down, one of them Johanna Ryan wrote this post. In June 2014 the BMJ published a study by Lu et al supposedly of … [Read more...] about Alt Medicine
The Junkies Take over the Asylum
Some markers first. I am a committed believer in what may now be a last millennium concept - the medical model. I think antidepressants - the older tricyclics and ECT, not the more recent SSRI and other antidepressants - can save lives. I figure conflict of interest, crucially important in other areas of life, is of minor importance if not irrelevant in science. Although by … [Read more...] about The Junkies Take over the Asylum
Grassy Knoll or Slippery Slope?
Health Warning: Let me put down some markers before riffing on the Grassy Knoll theme. I am a committed believer in what may now be a last millenium concept - the medical model. I think antidepressants - the older tricyclics and ECT, not the more recent SSRI and other antidepressants - can save lives. I figure conflict of interest, crucially important in other areas of life, is … [Read more...] about Grassy Knoll or Slippery Slope?
From the Grassy Knoll
Editorial Note: The image is of Science Media Centre funding from their website. This post links to Whats Going on Here, Honey I Shrunk the Shrinks, and to the two Prescription for Murder Posts on RxISK. When AF's email came in first, it seemed far from private as he now claims. The choice of people seemed anything but accidental - especially SW. It seemed likely SW would … [Read more...] about From the Grassy Knoll
What’s going on Here?
Editorial Note: This arrived out of the blue. The list of those copied in makes it look like its anything but spontaneous. Simon Wessely is recently vacated president of Royal College of Psychiatrists, and one of the Trustees of the Science Media Centre. Paul Summergrad and Jeff Lieberman are former presidents of APA. JL offered views on the Holmes case. There is no … [Read more...] about What’s going on Here?
Honey I Shrunk the Shrinks
Editorial Note: Prior to the Panorama program Prescription for Murder tonight, a flurry of experts denounced the scaremongering. This didn't just happen by accident. The denunciation effort was also more intense than the pressure brought to bear on the original Panorama programs in 2002-2004. The change is in part down to the fact that Sense about Science, which … [Read more...] about Honey I Shrunk the Shrinks