Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) came into favor in the wake of thalidomide as a method to evaluate drugs and their risks. They were supposed to keep ineffective drugs off the market, but companies have learned that you can do any number of trials and if even some show a marginal benefit they can get their drug on the market and the others can be suppressed so no one has … [Read more...] about We Need To Talk About Doctors
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Out of My Mind. Driven to Drink
Author: Anne-Marie (This story epitomizes what RxISK.org is all about. It shows one woman extraordinarily getting to grips with a problem she has on treatment. The hope when RxISK is up and running is that we will be able to make it easier for people like Anne-Marie to engage with their doctors to solve problems like this. Unfortunately even though clearly a drug-induced … [Read more...] about Out of My Mind. Driven to Drink
Watch where you wave that Wand
It was a white wand — the kind a little girl might have. White ribbon wound round a long straw, at the top of which a double pair of white wings was set. Another more delicate white ribbon looped around the wings, to the front of which was fixed a downy feather, and behind which the ribbon was tied in a bow. Crusoe was facing her most difficult patient. A man with … [Read more...] about Watch where you wave that Wand
Notes on a Scandal
In 1996 Zoe Heller, the author of Notes on a Scandal, took part in a widely reported debate with Roy Porter about Prozac. She defended the drug. It had restored her to life. He said today’s miracle invariably ended up in tomorrow’s tragedy and asked, Why is it that we never learn? The story of a schoolteacher who seduced one of her male pupils In 2003, Notes on a Scandal came … [Read more...] about Notes on a Scandal
Model Doctors?
Another inquest may bring out the risks to doctors from their professional associations behaving as the American Psychiatric Association (APA) or the Irish College of Psychiatry has done (see Professional suicide – the Clancy case). She posed no suicide risk. She was put on citalopram Yvonne Woodley, a 42-year-old woman with two young daughters, ran into difficulties with her … [Read more...] about Model Doctors?
Professional Suicide – The Clancy Case
Shane Clancy, a 22-year-old going to University in Dublin, broke up with his girlfriend, Jennifer Hannigan, in April 2009. Despite his having broken the relationship off, he found it difficult without her. She, meanwhile, had found someone new: Sebastian Creane. Shane took a trip to Thailand and Australia, but aborted his travel and came home unhappy. His mother took him to … [Read more...] about Professional Suicide – The Clancy Case
Professional Suicide
On October 15, 2004, after FDA had put a Black Box Warning on antidepressants to draw attention to the risk that they can cause suicide, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) came out with a news release whose key statement was: ‘The American Psychiatric Association believes that Antidepressants save lives.” This was perhaps the first professional suicide note in … [Read more...] about Professional Suicide
The Story of SSRI Stories
Rosie Meysenburg's story For anyone interested in the effects of drugs, the website SSRI stories has been an inspiration. Rosie Meysenburg, its creator, was recently diagnosed with cancer and is terminally ill. The story of how she came to create SSRI stories shows what people can do to hold the powers that be to account. —David Healy DH: How did you get started … [Read more...] about The Story of SSRI Stories
Zoloft Study: Mystery in Leeds
In my blog post The best bias that money can buy I outlined how doing trials of their drugs in conditions like depression is the ultimate way companies hide bodies. That what is needed instead are studies of drugs in healthy volunteers. Here’s a good example of what a healthy volunteer (phase 1) study can show, and how the story of antidepressants and suicide might have … [Read more...] about Zoloft Study: Mystery in Leeds
The Best Bias That Money Can Buy
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were adopted by FDA in 1962 following the thalidomide disaster. This was a way to manage the risks posed by potential poisons. If the toxicity from a drug could be shown to overcome to some extent the toxicity stemming from the illness, a risk-benefit ratio would be set up that would warrant taking the risk of giving the poison. But what … [Read more...] about The Best Bias That Money Can Buy