Fighting the Wrong War on Drugs
August 30th 2012Seventy percent of antidepressants are prescribed by primary care doctors with little training in their proper use, under intense pressure from Big Pharma, drug salespeople, and misled patients, after rushed 7-minute appointments and subject to no systematic auditing. The cash-strapped FDA is beholden to industry for funding. And it gets worse.
Psychiatric Considerations in Colorado Shooting
August 6th 2012The shooting in Colorado is obviously a tragedy for the victims and their families which will never be forgotten by those close to anyone touched by this event. It will cause painful grieving among the families and friends of those who lost their lives.
Personalized Biological Testing in Psychiatry: Inevitable Reality or Impossible Dream?
July 19th 2012Our current diagnostic system is based more on subjective clinical judgments and less biological psychiatry. There is not one way to develop symptoms of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or autistim or OCD.
Is There Really an “Epidemic” of Psychiatric Illness in the US?
May 2nd 2012If claims in the non-professional media can be believed, there is a “raging epidemic of mental illness” in the US, if not world-wide-and, in one version of this narrative, psychiatric treatment itself is identified as the culprit.
Grief, Mourning-and the Denial of Death
January 13th 2012In today’s world, we are witnessing a de-emphasis and depersonalization of how the bereaved experience the death of a loved one. In fact, the occasion of death is frequently referred to as a “celebration,” despite the pain and suffering that can occur. Death is not an occasion for a celebration. Death is a time for mourning by family and friends. Death is a loss-not only to the deceased, who lost everything, but to all those who care about the deceased.
Should Temper Tantrums Be Made Into A DSM-5 Diagnosis?
October 13th 2011A recent front page story by Shari Roan in the Los Angeles Times explores the heated controversy over the DSM-5 proposal to include a Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD) in DSM-5. I very much oppose the inclusion of this new "disorder."
Another Step Toward Ending The Paraphilia NOS Fad: The California DMH Takes A Stand
October 11th 2011The misdiagnosis of rape as a mental disorder has been a forensic disaster-allowing the widespread misuse of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization to facilitate a form of questionably constitutional preventive detention. Fortunately, there is now considerable hope that this sad episode will soon come to a much needed end.
More Questions For Professor McGorry Arrive From Australia
October 8th 2011I have previously framed a series of questions inviting Professor McGorry to state clearly his current positions on: the accuracy and suitability of attempting to predict psychosis; the types of preventive interventions that he believes are indicated and those (perhaps antipsychotics) that clearly are not . . .
PTSD, DSM-5, and Forensic Misuse
September 30th 2011In preparing DSM-IV, we worked hard to avoid causing confusion in forensic settings. Realizing that lawyers read documents in their own special way, we had a panel of forensic psychiatrists go over every word to reduce the risks that DSM IV could be misused in the courts.