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In the wake of recent senseless acts of violence, especially in schools, the mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) urged state authorities and educators not to adopt “mental health screening” in schools in the false hope that it could prevent the violence... the newer antidepressants “boost serotonin levels in the brain” and “in rare cases, they can contribute to extreme violence, murder and suicide, particularly in the first few weeks they are taken.... Dr. Effrem stated, “There are so many problems with the foundation of these programs, it is difficult to know where to begin. Let’s...

Pills used to treat depression also help mend ailing hearts, a study has found. Seroxat, a widely-used anti-depressant, worked ‘far better’ than the standard treatment for heart failure. The so-called happy pills not only stopped the heart from deteriorating further – they actually helped mend it.

Fort Hood shooter was taking "prescription drugs for depression and anxiety". SSRIs? "Lopez was undergoing a variety of treatments for conditions including depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances, McHugh said. He was prescribed drugs that included Ambien, a sleep aid. Lopez was fully examined last month by a psychiatrist. There was no record of any sign he was likely to commit violence against himself or others, according to McHugh. "So the plan (going) forward was just to continue to monitor and treat him as deemed appropriate," he said." They say that he was "prescribed drugs" but only named one, Ambien, which...

Tonight's Organizing For Action conference call with President Obama was billed as "exclusive," and indeed it was . . . in the sense that anyone in the world who signed up for it could listen in. I was one of the lucky few hundred thousand, and was dumbstruck by how depressed President Obama seemed. Looks like SNL was onto something. Listen to the brief, edited audio clip from the conference call, and compare and contrast the super-subdued tone with the soaring rhetoric from the good old hope 'n change days of the 2008 campaign. More here.

Suicides and Homicides in Patients Taking Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft: Why They Keep Happening -- And Why They Will Continue Underlying Causes That Continue to Be Ignored by Mainstream Medicine and the Media From almost the day that they were introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, sudden, unexpected suicides and homicides have been reported in patients taking serotonin-enhancing antidepressants such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. I'm not surprised this problem hasn't disappeared, nor will it unless we look deeper. I never hesitate to say that these drugs -- selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) -- help millions of people....

GlaxoSmithKline agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and to pay $1 billion in criminal fines and forfeitures for the illegal marketing and promotion of the drugs Paxil and Wellbutrin. Officials said the company between 1998 and 2003 unlawfully promoted Paxil for treating depression in patients under the age of 18. The Food and Drug Administration has not approved that use of the drug, DOJ officials said. The officials said GlaxoSmithKline illegally promoted Wellbutrin for uses that included weight loss, substance abuse and sexual dysfunction. DOJ officials said the company will...

WASHINGTON -- GlaxoSmithKline LLC will pay $3 billion and plead guilty to promoting two popular drugs for unapproved uses and to failing to disclose important safety information on a third in the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, the Justice Department said Monday. Accompanying the criminal case was a civil settlement in which the government said the company's improper marketing included providing doctors with expensive resort vacations, European hunting trips, high-paid speaking tours and even tickets to a Madonna concert. The $3 billion combined criminal-civil fine will be the largest penalty ever paid by a drug company, Deputy...

Some widely prescribed drugs for depression provide relief in extreme cases but are no more effective than placebo pills for most patients, according to a new analysis released Tuesday. The latest study may settle a debate about drugs like Prozac. The findings could help settle a longstanding debate about antidepressants. While the study does not imply that the drugs are worthless for anyone with moderate to serious depression — many such people do seem to benefit — it does provide one likely explanation for the sharp disagreement among experts about the drugs’ overall effectiveness.

Such sexual symptoms have long been known side effects of the popular Prozac class of antidepressants, but a growing body of research suggests that they are far more common than previously thought, perhaps affecting half or more of patients. And a handful of recent medical and psychological journal articles document a small number of cases in which sexual problems remain even after a patient goes off the drugs. "This is such an upsetting issue," said Aline Zoldbrod, a Lexington psychologist and sex therapist. "There are people for whom SSRIs are really life-saving, I think, but the idea that someone would...

Had to go to the doctor yesterday and there I was, stuck in a small waiting room with no way to escape. See, there was this flatpanel on one wall tuned into CNN and I couldn't change the channel or sound, and unfortunately, McCain was speaking. I expect blather, falsehoods, socialism, innuendos, garbage and BS from BO but there is McCain with blather, falsehoods, socialism, innuendos, garbage and BS. I was looking for the nearest chair to put thru the screen. Decided it probably was not the best thing to do. If he had half a brain, and I'm sure...

Exclusive: Mysterious Deaths Posted Friday, February 29, 2008 ; 06:11 PM Updated Friday, February 29, 2008 ; 10:22 PM Watch Story Video Three West Virginia military men die within a three week period, but they weren't at war when they lost their lives. Share your reaction Story by Sara Gavin Email | Bio | Other Stories by Sara Gavin CHARLESTON -- The last time Janette Layne saw her husband Eric was January 24th. "He would normally stay up watching TV at night because it was hard for him to sleep and I went ahead and went to bed. The next...

Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Suicide rates among the youngest and oldest Americans have steadily declined since the late 1980s, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday in a finding that contradicts popular conceptions that rates were rising. The study suggests that new antidepressant drugs may not raise the risk of suicide after all, the researchers said, but they acknowledge they are mystified by what might be causing the decline, because it is not affecting people aged 25 to 64. "For 40 years adolescent suicide rates rose," said Dr. Robert McKeown, a professor at the University of South Carolina's school...

FALMOUTH, Ky. - Used boots fetch $3 and old salt-and-pepper shakers bring in a buck at a makeshift flea market along Highway 27, presumably not what President Bush and Republicans have in mind when they herald a vibrant economy. ADVERTISEMENT Times are "very good for the rich and very, very bad for the poor" who "can't afford to live," laments Larry Mitchell, 43, a now-and-then merchant peddling his wares recently in a submarine sandwich shop parking lot. He says the middle class is "having a hard time." In the Ohio River Valley, where people decry high gas prices, stagnant wages,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers will question some leading government and industry economists about the perils of a possible 'housing bubble' in a Wednesday hearing. Lawmakers wanted the session "because we've heard a great deal about the possibility of a housing bubble for several years now," said Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican from Colorado. The hearing, "The Housing Bubble and its Implications for the Economy," will be held in an open session of the Senate Banking Committee at 10 a.m.. Next week, the same committee will hold a hearing on the growth of innovative mortgage products that have mushroomed along...

Get used to it ¡ª the seller's market is closing up shop. The days of fat, fast home value increases are gone. Pack away those flipping fantasies. "The boom is definitely over, there's no debate about that," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of West Chester, Pa.-based research firm Moody's Economy.com. "Now the question is more how hard is it going to land, if it lands at all." The answer? Depends who you ask ¡ª and what location you're talking about. How to feel about it? Depends which side of the market you're on ¡ª and what location you're talking about....

He, of all people, should have known better. The president of the National Association of Realtors, Thomas M. Stevens of Vienna, admits he didn't follow his agents' advice when the real estate market started to cool. That, he says, is why his old house in Great Falls has now been on the market for a year at the price of $1.45 million. "What I should have done," confessed the senior vice president of NRT Inc., parent of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, "was listened to my agent and cut the price by $50,000 to $100,000 early on, and the property would...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investment bank HSBC has revised downward its forecast for 2007 economic growth and cautioned that the risk of an outright recession is growing as a retreat in housing threatens household balance sheets. ADVERTISEMENT The company argues that while corporate profits have remained sky-high, the incomes of most Americans have effectively fallen over the last 18 months. That, say economists Stephen King and Ian Morris, could be a recipe for hard times in an economy that relies on consumers for over two-thirds of its strength. "Never before have households been so hard hit at a time companies...

Falling prices have created a new twist in the suburban Boston real estate market: More homes are selling for less than their assessed values. Massachusetts house prices slumped 3.5 percent in July, the biggest monthly drop since 1993, as a slowdown in sales brought about by rising interest rates created a glut of homes on the market. which are the estimated values communities place on homes to determine property taxes, their primary source of revenue. State law requires communities to assess properties at ``full and fair cash value." * * * But for the past five years, most homes sold...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home sales will be a good deal weaker this year than earlier thought as potential buyers remain on the sidelines waiting for better deals, a national real estate group said on Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The National Association of Realtors said sales of existing homes were likely to drop 7.6 percent this year to 6.54 million. A month ago, the group thought existing homes sales would fall only 6.5 percent to 6.61 million. The association, which said housing prices were likely to dip temporarily below year-ago levels, also revised lower its forecasts for new homes sales and housing...

MATTHEWS: Draw us a picture of what happened in Haditha. MURTHA: Well I'll tell you exactly what happened. One Marine was killed and the Marines just said we're gonna take care...we don't know who the enemy is, the pressure was too much on them, so they went into houses and actually killed civilians and...I... MATTHEWS: Was this My Lai? When you say cold blood Congressman, a lot of people think you're basically saying you've got some civilians sitting in a room or out in a field and they're executed on purpose... MURTHA: That's exactly what happened. MATTHEWS: ...not because any...