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A Self-Effacing Scholar Is Psychiatry's Gadfly
NY Times ^ | November 15, 2005 | BENEDICT CAREY

Posted on 11/16/2005 5:37:36 AM PST by neverdem

Scientist at Work | David Healy

His mother in Ireland is entirely unaware of his international reputation, as far as he can tell. His neighbors in the hamlet of Porthaethwy, on an island off the coast of Wales, are equally oblivious, or indifferent. His wife, who knows too well the furor he has caused, says simply, "How could you be right and everyone else wrong?"

Dr. David Healy, a psychiatrist at the University of Cardiff and a vocal critic of his profession's overselling of psychiatric drugs, has achieved a rare kind of scientific celebrity: he is internationally known as both a scholar and a pariah.

In 1997 he established himself as a leading historian of modern psychiatry with the book "The Antidepressant Era." Around the same time, he became more prominent for insisting in news media interviews and scientific papers that antidepressants could increase the risk of suicide, an unpopular position among his psychiatric colleagues, most of whom denied any link. By 2004, British and American drug regulators, responding in part to Dr. Healy and other critics, issued strong warnings that the drugs could cause suicidal thinking and behavior in some children and adolescents.

But Dr. Healy went still further, accusing academic psychiatry of being complicit, wittingly or not, with the pharmaceutical industry in portraying many drugs as more effective and safer than the data showed.

He regularly gets invitations to lecture around the world. But virtually none of his colleagues publicly take his side, at least not in North America.

"It's strange. I don't even know about friends, what they think about me," Dr. Healy said in New York, as he waited for a flight after giving a lecture at Columbia. "You don't really know who you can trust."

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: drugs; mentaldisorders; mentalhealth; pharmaceuticals; ssri; ssriantidepressants; suicideattempts; suicides
Has any one read or heard if the latest school shooting in Tennessee has been associated with the shooter taking psychiatric drugs?
1 posted on 11/16/2005 5:37:36 AM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Don't know but I suspect that the feeding of psychiactric drugs to students can't be good. My ex always thought Columbine was caused by this.


2 posted on 11/16/2005 5:44:42 AM PST by bkepley
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To: neverdem

If someone decides to seek out psychological counseling, they can expect to be sent to a psychiatrist and handed a prescription. I'm not saying that anti-depressants aren't a valuable treatment option, but rather they are the first if not the only method many, many psychology professionals use regardless of how depressed a patient might be or why. And, unfortunately, the side effects of these drugs are often worse than the "disease" they attempt to treat.


3 posted on 11/16/2005 5:46:10 AM PST by GBA (I believe Congressman Weldon! MSM do your job.)
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To: neverdem
No, I haven't heard that yet, but I do know that the best buddy of my son killed himself a year ago this week, after his parents put him on anti-depressants!
4 posted on 11/16/2005 5:46:56 AM PST by ladiesview61
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To: neverdem
in the hamlet of Porthaethwy, on an island off the coast of Wales

Isn't this where The Prisioner was filmed? An ironic place for a psychiatrist to live for sure.

5 posted on 11/16/2005 6:12:33 AM PST by Ford4000
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To: El Gato; JudyB1938; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Robert A. Cook, PE; lepton; LadyDoc; jb6; tiamat; PGalt; ..
Eating out linked to health risks in children

Half-hour walks can add 3 years to life expectancy, study finds

A Daily Workout Could Add 4 Years to Life, Study Says WaPo's take on the same story.

FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list. Anyone can post any unrelated link as they see fit.

6 posted on 11/16/2005 6:13:26 AM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem
"Fees for an expert witness cannot be made contingent on the outcome of a case, but Healy is a repeat player in these legal actions, and future opportunities depend on past performance and a credible, predictable testimony," Dr. James Coyne of the University of Pennsylvania wrote in a recent article in The American Journal of Bioethics: "Lessons in Conflict of Interest: The Construction of the Martyrdom of David Healy and the Dilemma of Bioethics."

Funny - if you look up that paper, what it makes clear is that, not only is Healy making money off of testifying against SSRI's in court, he has a vested interest in trashing SSRI's because he's working for a drug company that makes competing anti-depressants (reboxetine), and has taken on a role actively promoting reboxetine, despite the fact that his own work shows it to be no more effective than SSRI's.

It's nice to think of the lone cowboy, courageously standing up against the mob, but it's a myth. Healy's no lone cowboy - he's just another hired gun.

7 posted on 11/16/2005 6:23:18 AM PST by Senator Bedfellow
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To: neverdem

1. This isn't anything new, though the mass media and the medical establishment are acting very surprised about these revelations. Twenty-five years ago when the only anti-depressants most psychiatrists had in their pharmacopia were MAO inhibitors and tricyclics, we were warned that sometimes giving an anti-depressant to a depressed patient could cause him to commit suicide. It isn't just some magic about the SSRIs like Prozac that makes this happen.
2. I know John Davis, mentioned in this article, and he used to admit the same thing in private situations.


8 posted on 11/16/2005 6:26:27 AM PST by Capriole (I don't have any problems that can't be solved by more chocolate or more ammunition.)
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To: neverdem

Read Peter Breggin on the same subject - a psychiatrist practicing in Baltimore who has gone against pharmaceutical psychiatry for years and written a number of books on the subject.


9 posted on 11/16/2005 6:53:51 AM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: neverdem

My brother is a psychiatrist, and a big-time advocate of anti-depressants and other mood-altering drugs. I understand that psychiatrists feel too overwhelmed by the workload for traditional analysis, but I can't believe that drugs are a great alternative in a society in which drug abuse is such a problem. Maybe we ought to train more psychiatrists, psychologists and therapists, if we can get the AMA, APA, DEA, CDC, etc. to go along.


10 posted on 11/16/2005 6:54:06 AM PST by pawdoggie
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To: pawdoggie

What if the rise in depression in this era has to do with hopelessness, which has to do with the loss of Christianity as a foundational belief in our society. Existential angst, I think they call it. Drugs are SO not the solution.


11 posted on 11/16/2005 7:03:53 AM PST by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: neverdem
My late wife was prescribed SSRI's after her brain surgery for epilepsy. Turns out that the SSRI (Zoloft) has a side effect of casuing mania/depression episodes in something like .4% of people. Of course my wife fell into that. She would have a manic atttack followed 6 to twelve hours later by absolutely crushing suicidal depression.

So to counteract the mania they put her on ativan. Which causes crushing depression in some small percentage of people. After presenting our case to her psychiatrist he agreed that the drugs were causing the problems. and took her off the drugs.

So, yes these drugs do cause suicidal depression in some people.

Eventually she was put on a non-SSRI type drug Cymbalta that worked well for her. There is no reason why the patient should have to diagnose the problem. That's what the doctors are for. But they don't. They just prescribe more drugs.

My wife died of a seizure while in the hospital after one of these manic attacks. Turns out that her anti-seizure drugs were also mood stabilizers and as we adjusted her epilepsy drugs it unbalanced her cymbalta so she had a manic attack. A simple adjust of the cymbalta was called for but she died before that could be done.

12 posted on 11/16/2005 8:36:17 AM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: John O

John, how tragic. I am so sorry about your loss. It is good you were aware of her meds as much as you could be. I hear stories about how much people have been helped by these drugs, so I never toss the whole thing. But the variables are so compelling.


13 posted on 11/16/2005 8:56:12 AM PST by bboop (Stealth Tutor)
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To: bboop
I hear stories about how much people have been helped by these drugs, so I never toss the whole thing.

The drugs can do a world of good. But they can also doa world of harm. The doctors need to do more than jsut prescribe the drugs, Tehy need better diagnosis (what is the problem) and much better follow up. (If I can ask, please keep myself and my 5yo daughter in your prayers. It's been 8 weeks and we are still trying to get over the shock of it and get back to living a normal life like my wife would have wanted)

14 posted on 11/16/2005 10:02:36 AM PST by John O (God Save America (Please))
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To: bboop
I hear stories about how much people have been helped by these drugs, so I never toss the whole thing.

I'm a firm believer in better living through chemistry. However, I do take a holistic approach -- I'd never suggest fighting a way using just one weapon. And not any single thing will work for every person.

15 posted on 11/16/2005 1:45:56 PM PST by technochick99 (Firearm of choice: Sig Sauer....)
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To: John O

You have my sincere sympathy for your loss. You and your daughter will get my prayers.


16 posted on 11/16/2005 2:00:47 PM PST by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: technochick99
I'm a firm believer in better living through chemistry. However, I do take a holistic approach -- I'd never suggest fighting a way using just one weapon. And not any single thing will work for every person.

Remedy Find is a great site where you can find the best treatments/combinations of treatments for different disorders etc. Rated by the patients themselves.

Me? My life is much, MUCH better because of a combination of treatments, including meds.....which are a key component. For every bit of bad news, there are dozens of good stories going quietly about their lives.

17 posted on 11/16/2005 2:10:40 PM PST by najida (OK, so I have a new obsession. Ain't life grand :))
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