Dr. David Healy

Psychiatrist. Psychopharmacologist. Scientist. Author.

Blog

The Spin That No Data Can Overcome

3 Comments

Roger Shepard's above illustration shows two tables of exactly the same size and shape. It’s an extraordinary example of how even when you know that the table tops are the same, the data changes nothing. The dynamics of perspective mean we continue to see things in the wrong way. Early on in the Prozac and Suicide controversy, Eli Lilly adopted a strategy that has “put … [Read more...] about The Spin That No Data Can Overcome

False Friends

6 Comments

‘Evidence’ is what the French call a false friend. You think you understand the word but you don’t. In French or Dutch, the Evidence in Evidence Based Medicine means that something is self-evident – as in using a parachute when jumping from a plane or penicillin for septicemia or an antipsychotic to tranquilize. You don’t need a clinical trial to work out what the right thing … [Read more...] about False Friends

Petra’s Story: Cymbalta

4 Comments

This piece is the first of a series showing people struggling with the Kafkka-esque absurdities of modern healthcare. It is written anonymously. If you'd like to share your story, please contact us. — David Healy A little over two years ago my daughter’s partner was killed in a tragic accident while in the company of my son. Naturally, this caused terrible grief and sadness … [Read more...] about Petra’s Story: Cymbalta

Randomized God

11 Comments

Several controlled clinical trials have recently been reported in which patients with cardiac conditions who were prayed for appeared to do better than those not prayed for (1, 2, 3). The surprise that prayer seems to do something has to be matched by surprise at the fact that its effects are relatively weak. If we are to build on this, we need to work out are these weak … [Read more...] about Randomized God

Coincidence a Fine Thing

4 Comments

Coincidence can be a fine thing. No sooner had I finished The tricks that drug companies do live after them, asking for examples of maneuvers to add to a generally available repository of tricks, than up pops Robert Gibbons' paper, Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior With Antidepressant Treatment, with not one but two maneuvers and reminders of others.‎ Dangerous liaisons First … [Read more...] about Coincidence a Fine Thing

The tricks that drug companies do live after them, their patients are oft interred with their trials

3 Comments

One of the hopes of this blog is to create a repository of maneuvers through which clinical trials can be gamed to get results. The series of posts laying out some of the less well known tricks are filed under the Hiding the Bodies blog category. To be more generally useful, this repository needs others to contribute further maneuvers to make it comprehensive and to … [Read more...] about The tricks that drug companies do live after them, their patients are oft interred with their trials

Where Were The Adults?

5 Comments

Along with Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline (see Drug companies use studies the way a drunk uses a lamppost), Pfizer created ghost suicidal acts on placebo. Other companies did further things that concealed the suicide problem. Did Pfizer? Black box warning on pediatric use of antidepressants In 2004, following the lead of the British Regulator (MHRA), the FDA put a Black Box … [Read more...] about Where Were The Adults?

Heads We Win, Tails You Lose

3 Comments

In the late 1980s, Eli Lilly, when faced with an excess of suicidal behaviors in Prozac trials, set up a trial of Prozac in an interesting group of patients. These patients had what is often called borderline personality disorder or intermittent brief depressive disorder or recurrent brief depressive disorder. The trial terminated early. Placebo was sweepingly statistically … [Read more...] about Heads We Win, Tails You Lose