New And Improved Drugs? No Thanks

As seen on CNN Money

New York psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman has heard Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) sales pitch for the new anti-schizophrenia drug Invega, but he's not too impressed.

Problem is, Invega isn't much different than one of J&J's best-selling drugs, the antipsychotic Risperdal. In late June, Risperdal is scheduled to lose its U.S. patent protection, clearing the way for competing generic copies that are cheaper than Invega, which could further diminish Invega sales, already characterized as a disappointment by J&J.

"I don't think they have a strong case to make," says Lieberman, chairman of the psychiatry department at Columbia University's medical school. "It's basically a me-too drug, and the company hasn't done the studies that would be required to really distinguish it."

Lieberman's skepticism is shared by health insurers and points to a rising challenge for drug makers: a tougher market for so-called follow-on drugs. As a result, some companies - including Wyeth (WYE) and Shire PLC (SHPGY) - are setting prices lower or emphasizing improved dosing for the newer drugs to help overcome any skepticism that they're not much more effective than the older drugs set to lose patent protection.

The growing disdain for follow-on drugs also should reinforce the need for drug makers to come up with truly innovative products, not just marginally better ones, industry watchers say.

Drug companies have used follow-on drugs to try to offset some of the revenue lost when older, top-selling drugs lose patent protection and become exposed to generic knockoffs. The goal is to convince patients, doctors and drug plans to switch to the newer drug that carries a brand-name price and patent protection for years.

A successful example was AstraZeneca PLC's (AZN) promotion of the Nexium heartburn pill when its older drug, Prilosec, became exposed to U.S. generic competition in 2002. Nexium went on to become a huge blockbuster despite being chemically similar to Prilosec, which became available as both a cheaper generic and over-the-counter product.

Such tactics, however, might not work as well in today's environment, in which drug-benefit plans are demanding steeper discounts and pushing use of generic drugs in order to lower costs and bolster profit margins.

"We don't think those opportunities are really going to fly," Deutsche Bank pharmaceutical analyst Barbara Ryan said. "I think managed-care sees them for what they are, extending the franchise."

The skepticism around Invega has contributed to a financial disappointment for J&J. The New Brunswick, N.J., healthcare giant hasn't broken out Invega sales but acknowledges they've been below expectations. Invega's share of U.S. antipsychotic prescriptions was only around 2% for the week ended May 9, according to Verispan, a drug-data marketer. In comparison, Risperdal, which had 2007 sales of more than $4 billion, held a 21% market share.

Insurer Pressure

Some insurers aren't putting certain follow-on drugs on their lists of preferred drugs, or they're requiring members to pay higher out-of-pocket costs for these drugs than for other branded and generics.

"It's a marketing scheme that is not looking at improving healthcare, it's looking at maintaining their revenues coming in," said Mirta Millares, in commenting on the industry's follow-on drug strategy.

Millares is manager of drug information services at Kaiser Permanente, a California health insurer that doesn't include Invega on its list of preferred drugs. The active ingredient of Invega is derived from that of Risperdal, Millares noted, though it was different enough to get a new patent and regulatory approval.

Minneapolis-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), the nation's largest health insurer by revenue, has Invega on the "third tier" of its preferred drug list, which means members have to pay higher copays than if they were to use other schizophrenia drugs on the first and second tiers. The insurer deemed Invega clinically similar to other atypical antipsychotics.

Clinical studies supporting Invega's December 2006 Food and Drug Administration approval primarily compared it with a fake drug, or placebo, but not with Risperdal. In 2007, J&J released data showing Invega improved symptoms over AstraZeneca's Seroquel antipsychotic, which is the market leader for U.S. antipsychotic prescriptions. Also, J&J touts Invega's long-acting formulation and once-daily dosing.

J&J says it's not encouraging patients who are stable on Risperdal to switch to Invega. But it had hoped for Invega's performance to be better by now, making Risperdal's loss of U.S. market exclusivity next month less painful. "We need to do a better job at drawing a differentiation in a difficult-to-treat population, " David Norton, J&J's group chairman of pharmaceuticals, said earlier this month.

Norton said J&J should have ensured Invega had more favorable coverage by drug plans at the time of market launch. Still, he noted that new antipsychotics have historically taken a while to gain acceptance.

J&J has said it plans to seek FDA approval for Invega as a treatment for bipolar disorder, which could bolster sales. It also has applied for FDA approval of a long-acting, injectable version of Invega.

New Marketing Strategies

Despite the challenges, drug-company marketing remains a powerful tool, and it might be too early to write off follow-on campaigns such as that for Invega. The real test may come when Risperdal goes off patent, and J&J reduces its active promotion of Risperdal, leaving sales reps to focus on Invega.

"There are plenty of studies showing physicians are susceptible to marketing practices in their prescribing patterns," said Aaron Kesselheim, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School who researches drug marketing. "My perception is that hasn't changed substantially."

A new marketing campaign that might be meeting with more success is underway at Shire, Basingstoke, U.K., which last year began selling a new drug for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Vyvanse. Shire's top drug, Adderall XR for ADHD, will face generic competition beginning next year.

So far, Vyvanse has captured about 7% of U.S. ADHD drug prescriptions, according to Verispan, which Chief Executive Matthew Emmens calls good progress. Although Shire recently said it expected 2008 Vyvanse sales to come in at the lower end of its forecast range of $350 million to $400 million, Emmens said in an interview he was confident that Vyvanse's market share will eventually surpass Adderall XR's peak market share of about 26%.

Emmens noted that Vyvanse is a different chemical entity than Adderall XR, and he thinks its pricing is attractive to health insurers. "In a general nature, the market has become more price sensitive in the last 10 years," he said. Not incidentally, in the 1990s, Emmens headed the AstraZeneca partnership with Merck & Co. (MRK) that marketed Prilosec and he was involved in the planning for Nexium's marketing.

The next test of the drug-switch campaign?

Wyeth, Madison, N.J., recently began selling Pristiq, an antidepressant that is chemically similar to Wyeth's older antidepressant Effexor XR, which is expected to face limited generic competition this year. Deutsche Bank's Ryan thinks the odds of Pristiq's success are slim because it appears to offer few benefits beyond those of Effexor.

Wyeth has said Pristiq is effective at treating depression, offers a convenient dose regimen for most patients, and is being priced at a 20% discount to Effexor.

TV Shrink Dr, Phil pays bail for the ringleader of the 8 Florida teens arrested for beating another teenager and videotaping it

This sounds like "Doctor" Phil has gone and got himself involved in another sordid case for fun and profit.

A bondsman says TV's Dr. Phil has posted $30 thousand bond for the ringleader of the eight Lakeland teens accused of kidnapping and beating a girl in front of a video camera.

It's believed Mercades Nichols will be talking about the case on his nationally syndicated show soon.

Some parents had complained earlier this week that they could not afford the high bond set by the judge.

However, six of the eight were out of jail Saturday.

All eight teens face kidnapping and battery charges. Kidnapping carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Dr. Phil's show now admits that paying for Nichols bail was a mistake, stating that "certain staff members went beyond show guidelines." While it is not clear as to whether or not those staff members were disciplined, the statement says they've been spoken to.

We of course remember his statement regarding his interaction with Britney Spears

Psychologist's Book Slammed on Amazon After Fox News Debacle

As Reported on Gaming Daily

Syndicated radio talk-show host and psychologist Cooper Lawrence is now getting a taste of the gaming and Internet community following her appearance on Fox News in which she criticized Mass Effect (a game she never played) and appeared to talk in an almost condescending tone to GameTrailers' Geoff Keighley (who was barely given the time of day to defend the game).

In the past few days Lawrence's book The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever has been slammed with negative reviews on Amazon.com as backlash for her comments on Mass Effect. As of press time, out of 565 reviews 503 are 1-star and 48 are 2-star. Only 12 people have rated her book with a 5-star review.

Moreover, the tags customers associated with the product were telling: ignorant (350), hypocrisy (286), garbage (284), hypocrite (267), junk (264), hack (254), terrible (231), bigot (217), bigoted (197), bias (168).

Yesterday Electronic Arts (owner of Mass Effect developer BioWare) sent a letter to Fox News requesting a correction.

Dr. Phil Opinion on a Hollywood Mother.

As noted by one gossip wag and elsewhere:

People Magazine got Dr. Phil to weigh in on the Spears family drama over the weekend, and believe it or not, America's favorite psychologist (and a friend of Brit and Jamie Lynn's folks) says "An asset that Britney and Jamie Lynn both have is a great and dedicated mother."

Ummmmm, maybe if she hadn't been quite so "dedicated" to her daughters' careers she might have noticed that Jamie Lynn was having unprotected sex at the age of 16!

Being a Celebrity Doc(tm), I can imagine that he wants to be supportive of his Hollywood friends. But really, if this was a no name guest on his show, would he be so kind and forgiving?

Update: This story is making the rounds, and was seen in the NY Post as well as Fark

Dr. Phil as the rich man’s Jerry Springer Show

Dr. Phil apparently has made it into into Canada, to the appropriate horror of some. This author has one take that has to be quoted in full:

You know what’s wrong with Dr. Phil? He’s on Canadian television every weekday. Student-friendly rabbit ears pick up a mere three channels around here and this guy bombards one of them for an entire hour before dinner each day.

Who is watching this show?

Those interested in watching an inarticulate psychologist who prefers being referred to by his first name, watch Maury — or so you’d think. Unfortunately the truth is that they may be watching both Maury and Dr. Phil. Worse, there may be a new strain of viewers out there: the upper-middle class in hiding.

It all starts with the name.

Apparently nobody let Phil know that doctors go by their title and last name. Dr. Quinn, medicine woman, lived in the 1860s and still knew this. And yet there is a chance that Phil knows more about marketability than Michaela Quinn.

By establishing himself as "Dr. Phil," Phil McGraw has become a multifaceted marketing icon. Symbolically, the title "Dr." demands respect and announces intellect. Contrastingly, the title "Phil" says, "Hey Amurica, I’m just like y’all." These two elements fused together conjure the illusion of an educated hillbilly.

That sounds familiar. Haven’t we recently observed a lengthy puppet show embodying a similar icon? Oh yes, the presidency of George W. Bush. But the makers of Dr. Phil wouldn’t be chasing that ol’ southern drawl demographic would they? Do all those:yeehaw, buy-me -a-truck, country-music-is-actually- music, Iraq-had-something-to-do with-9/11, denim-tuxedo-wearin’, shot-gun-ownin individuals" make up that large of a demographic? They wish.

The phenomenon that named Dr. Phil the "second highest-rated daytime talk show in the [U.S.]" — according to his website — and has him appearing every evening on your Canadian television set, has something to do with the people in suits — namely, the upper-middle class.

Consider Dr. Phil the rich man’s Jerry Springer Show.

For instance, on the Dr. Phil show for the week of November 19, 2007, audiences will see: a wife dealing with her husband, "who, she just found out, is a sex addict and compulsive liar;" a vicious battle between a physically abusive daughter-in-law and an intrusive, victim-playing mother-in-law; and a "new debate over whether women should go mild or wild," regarding dress.

The difference between these episodes of Dr. Phil and the upcoming Jerry Springer Show — a show which claims to mend relationships with a Thanksgiving food-fight — is the obvious physical crudeness.

The Springer audience will certainly observe a censored breast and an overweight fist-fight, whereas Dr. Phil’s will avoid any such physical indecency. However, that doesn’t mean the underlying sensationalized subjects of each show are not suggestive enough to feed the insatiable appetite of the Springer audience. Because that is precisely what the professional appearance of Dr. Phil hides: a disturbing, Springer-craving personality. The result is a pseudo-normal audience to meet this inarticulate psychology.

In turn, John Doe of the upper-middle class can — and will — sit down in his fancy suit, watch an episode of Dr. Phil, feed this insatiable appetite and still manage to look classy — because frankly, Phil’s a doctor.

The glaring problem is that this type of media now confronts the face of mainstream, day-time television watchers.

While it may be far-fetched to say that this "Dark Side" is pulling in unsuspecting viewers, it is fair to say that Darth-Phil is dumbing us down.

If Canada is a multi-cultural society that differs from the melting pot of the U.S. why are we watching this sensationalist bullshit? There is a tinge of excitement in discovering "whose kid it actually is’"— an attention grabber that both Jerry and Phil use — but do the right thing as educated students: resist the temptation and avoid Darth-Phil with the force of your remote control.

Stevie Nicks: a story of a psychiatric survivor

An excellent story about the adventurous life of Stevie Nicks, Rock and Roll Star. Here is a tidbit:

The psychiatrist, she says, put her on a tranquilliser called Klonopin - 'he said to calm my nerves a little. I didn't want to do it. He said, "You're nervous." And I was nervous; I'm a nervous person. So I finally just said, all right.' Klonopin, Nicks says, is a member of the Valium family. 'It's a tranquilliser, right? And you think, what does tranquilliser mean? It tranquillises you!' Particularly when, as Nicks claims, the drug is radically oversubscribed.

After a year, she realised she was beginning to put on weight and lose interest in her work. 'And the saddest thing, I did an interview in England, and somebody had sent the article to my mother and she read it to me over the phone. And it said, you could see Stevie Nicks in there, but she was very sad and very quiet and she was just a shadow of her former self. And that article broke my heart.

And after that, it got worse, because he kept upping my dose. 1988 into '89, I'm now not even writing songs any more. I was living in a beautiful rented house in the Valley, and just pretty much staying home. Ordering take-in and watching TV. And I've gained 30lb and I'm 5ft 1in tall, and I'm so miserable. And I started to notice that I was shaking all the time, and I'm noticing that everybody else is noticing it too. And then I'm starting to think, do I have some kind of neurological disease and I'm dying?'

So 1993 comes rolling round, and Stevie Nicks is finally convinced that the protracted high dosage of Klonopin might be killing her. So she does exactly what you or I might do. She instructs her personal assistant, Glenn, to take her daily dose - just to see what effect it has.

'I said, it won't kill you, because it hasn't killed me, but I just want to see what you think. Because Glenn was terribly worried about me - everybody was. So I was taking two in the morning, two in the afternoon and two more at night. At that point if I could find a Percoset, because I'm so miserable, I'd take that, or I'd take a Fiorocet - anything.

'So Glenn proceeds to take all my medicine. He was setting up a stereo in the living-room. Well, after half an hour he was just sitting there. And he said, "I can't fix the stereo and I don't think I can drive home." And I said, "Well, good - just stay there, because I'm studying you." And he was almost hallucinating. It was bad. And I called up my psychiatrist, and I said, "I gave Glenn every-thing you've prescribed for me." And the first words out of his mouth were, "Are you trying to kill him?" And the next words out of my mouth were, "Are you trying to kill me?" '

Nicks admitted herself to the Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital in Venice Beach. It took her 47 days to detox. 'Dallas Taylor, the drummer for Crosby, Stills and Nash, was there the whole time. I nearly died. I moulted. My hair turned grey. My skin started to completely peel off. I was in terrible pain.' She shivers at the memory. 'I think it's very good to talk about this to get the message out into the world about addiction to this particular drug. That was the worst period of my life. They stole my forties. It was eight completely wasted years of my life.'

Here's the irony, she says: the 'powers that be' had sent her to the psychiatrist in order to keep her working, but the 'treatment' he gave her made work almost impossible. 'It's very Shakespearean. It's very much a tragedy.'

But what happened to Glenn?

Nicks throws back her hair. 'Glenn was OK, because it was just for one day.'

ADHD drugs: oversold and overused

A Report on the unashamed over-advertising of ADHD medications, via the Baltimore Sun

Back-to-school season is in full swing. Time to pick out a backpack, sneakers and a stimulant medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Nearly 2 million children in the United States are diagnosed with ADHD, which is marked by poor concentration, lack of self-control and/or hyperactivity. Besides time off from school, many kids with ADHD get a summer "vacation" from the prescription medications that help them focus in class.

So August has become a prime time to market the idea that a change in drug for the new school year (Concerta to Adderall?) might help the kids focus better, keep them going longer or have fewer side effects. Direct-to-parent marketing of ADHD drugs - most of which are stimulants - has grown pervasive over the last few years, despite a United Nations treaty banning most of it. Use of such medications increased by more than 60 percent from 2001 to 2005, according to the International Narcotics Control Board.

This month's homemaker-targeted magazines, such as Family Circle, Woman's Day and Redbook, feature advertising spreads for Vyvanse, Shire US Inc.'s new entry in the growing stable of ADHD medications. The ads show "Consistent Kevin through the day, even through homework," picturing a well-groomed boy smiling as he wields his pencil through a worksheet, and "Consistent Sarah," who even at 6 p.m. contentedly pecks away at the piano keys.

ADDitude magazine, published for people with ADHD, has ads for four medications. One ad touts a flavored, chewable form of methylphenidate with the slogan, "Give me the grape." (Methylphenidate is best known under the trade name Ritalin, which is not among those drugs advertised.)

Ads for candy-flavored methylphenidate are a far cry from the vision set forth in 1971 by the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. So far, 159 countries, including the United States, have agreed to ban consumer-targeted marketing of psychotropic medications - which all these ADHD drugs are - that carry the potential for addiction or dependency. For decades, pharmaceutical companies abided by its provisions.

But in 2001, one company began buying ads in the September issue of women's magazines in the United States to draw attention to Metadate CD, a long-acting form of methylphenidate. Other companies quickly followed suit.

Called on the carpet by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, lawyers for the drug companies vowed to defend themselves under the umbrella of First Amendment speech rights. According to former DEA officials, the Department of Justice was unwilling to test this one in court.

Six years later, the results are drastic. Doctors and therapists increasingly see parents seeking to change their child's medication or coming in with their own diagnosis of ADHD and suggestions for medications they have seen advertised. Many of the companies offer coupons for a free-trial supply.

Children in the United States are 10 times more likely to take a stimulant medication for ADHD than are kids in Europe. In fairness, children in Europe are also somewhat less likely to be diagnosed with ADHD because of a stricter set of criteria. But that doesn't nearly account for the difference in prescription rates. The United States, the only nation to violate the U.N. treaty, consumes about 85 percent of the stimulants manufactured for ADHD.

Though the drugs do not appear to be habit-forming in children with ADHD, there's a rising black market for methylphenidate and similar drugs. A report last year by the National Institute on Drug Abuse found that teenage abuse of prescription stimulants was rising.

Drug companies would argue that increased production and use of ADHD drugs are the result of better diagnosis and treatment. But the International Narcotics Control Board holds advertising responsible. In a report earlier this year, the board noted that from 2001 - when the ads first appeared - to 2005, medical consumption of methylphenidate increased by 64 percent.

The Food and Drug Administration should move forward with rules to bring the United States into compliance - in conjunction with the Justice Department. There's legitimate debate about Americans' rush to diagnose and medicate children who fall problematically outside the norm. In some cases, the drugs are the only thing that keeps a child from being expelled for aggressive behavior, or falling into the foster-care system, or believing that he is an impossibly bad or stupid kid. Yet other countries are making do with far less of the medications.

Powerful psychotropic medications should be an option of last resort and uninfluenced deliberation, not another brand-name product to add to the back-to-school shopping list.

Karin Klein, an editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, where this article originally appeared, is writing a book tracking the ADD generation as it reaches adulthood.

Lilly products are among those mentioned frequently on popular television shows

From the Indianapolis Star. Seems like this is making the rounds.

Look fast. Here comes another Eli Lilly and Co. drug on your favorite television show.

When he feels his life is spinning out of control, TV mobster Tony Soprano reaches for Prozac, an antidepressant developed by Lilly.
When trauma doctors on "ER" need to treat a heart patient, they shout for ReoPro, a blood-clot buster co-marketed by Lilly.

When a character in the situation comedy "30 Rock" wants to get ready for Valentine's Day, he takes Cialis, an erectile-dysfunction pill made by Lilly.

In the first half of this year, Lilly products were mentioned 48 times on broadcast and cable TV shows, nearly triple the amount from the same period a year ago, according to Nielsen Product Placement.
But Lilly says it's not paying for those plugs, unlike consumer-product giants such as Coca-Cola, Toyota and BlackBerry, which shell out hundreds of millions of dollars to TV and movie studios to mention their products in story lines.

"We see these when we're at home, sitting on the couch, just like everyone else," said Lilly spokeswoman Judy Kay Moore. "We're not in cahoots with scriptwriters. We don't pay them. If it happens, it's by happenstance."

To be sure, Lilly is not the only drug company when it comes to TV mentions. In fact, Viagra, Vicodin and Botox, made by competitors, outnumber Lilly's products by a wide margin.

There were 462 mentions of prescription drugs on TV last year, more than double the number from just two years earlier.

But drug companies are relatively small players in product placement. None breaks into the top 10. Bigger companies such as Nike and Hewlett-Packard dominate, according to Nielsen. Overall, companies paid $3.36 billion globally last year to place their products in TV, film and other media, up 37 percent from a year earlier, according to PQ Media.

Still, Lilly products are popping up across the dial, from situation comedies ("King of Queens," "Everybody Hates Chris") to medical dramas ("House," "ER") to reality makeover shows ("Freestyle," "What Not to Wear").

Most of the Lilly mentions were for Prozac and Cialis -- two household names that need no explanation -- and are seen as cultural touchstones. But the context isn't always flattering.

In an episode of "Freestyle" on HGTV, a homeowner defined a comforting room in her house as her "Prozac room." In an episode of "House," a sign over the coffee machine in the doctors' conference room says "Good coffee -- cheaper than Prozac!"

"I don't think the drug industry really likes this trend at all," said Rob Frankel, a branding expert in Los Angeles. "Some of the jokes about Viagra and Botox are pretty sarcastic or disparaging. They get darker and deeper when they start mentioning Prozac and Xanax."

The FDA does not have an explicit position on product placement. In normal advertising, drug makers are prohibited from advertising the benefits of their drugs without mentioning possible risks.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, an association that represents many of the country's biggest drug makers, declined to comment on the topic.

Some product mentions on TV, however, seem outright promotional. In the Jan. 16 episode of ABC's "Boston Legal," a teacher got in trouble for failing to administer EpiPen, an injectible medication, to a child who ate peanut candy and died.

The boy's father, testifying on the show, said: "Anaphylactic shock can come on suddenly, which is what happened here. The airways can become clogged in less than 30 seconds. If the EpiPen isn't administered, it can be fatal."

EpiPen's maker, Dey of Napa, Calif., did not return a call seeking comment.

Some pharmaceutical companies have acknowledged paying for TV plugs. In one episode of the NBC situation comedy "Scrubs," a logo for the contraceptive brand NuvaRing appeared 11 times, mostly on posters placed in the background.

The brand's maker, Organon Pharmaceuticals USA of Roseland, N.J., told trade magazine Brandweek that it had done placement deals with several television shows, including CBS' "King of Queens" and ABC's "Grey's Anatomy."

"A lot of the feedback we get is from health-care professionals," brand director Lisa Barkowski told the publication. "They mention it to (our) reps, 'Wow, I saw that poster.' It reinforces in their mind; it makes them think of the product."

The company did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Despite the billions of dollars the pharmaceutical industry spends on direct-to-consumer advertising, drugs still don't have the instant connection with consumers that everyday products such as soft drinks and sports cars have, some media experts say. Therefore, television shows can do only so much to plug a drug.

"On some shows, a character can drink a Coke or hop into a car," said Fariba Zamaniyan, senior vice president for IAG Research in New York. "You can't do that with a pharmaceutical product. . . . It's only a brand name. Unless you talk about what the benefits are, you can't see the value of it."

Famous Wrestlers Who Died Before the Age of 60

The death rate among wrestlers is alarmingly high. Via this post on About.Com.

The point on this is, not only the toll the profession takes on entertainment wrestling, but the damage drugs do is tragic, especially as prescribed by unscrupulous doctors.

Famous Wrestlers Who Died Before the Age of 60

(Since 1985 Before the Age of 60)

Chris Von Erich - 21
Mike Von Erich - 23
Louie Spiccoli - 27
Art Barr - 28
Gino Hernandez - 29
Jay Youngblood - 30
Rick McGraw - 30
Joey Marella - 30
Ed Gatner - 31
Buzz Sawyer - 32
Crash Holly - 32
Kerry Von Erich - 33
D.J. Peterson - 33
Eddie Gilbert - 33
The Renegade - 33
Owen Hart - 33
Chris Candido - 33
Adrian Adonis - 34
Gary Albright - 34
Bobby Duncum Jr. - 34
Yokozuna - 34
Big Dick Dudley - 34
Brian Pillman - 35
Marianna Komlos - 35
Pitbull #2 - 36
The Wall/Malice - 36
Leroy Brown - 38
Mark Curtis - 38
Eddie Guerrero - 38
John Kronus - 38
Davey Boy Smith - 39
Johnny Grunge - 39
Vivian Vachon - 40
Jeep Swenson - 40
Brady Boone - 40
Terry Gordy - 40
Bertha Faye - 40
Billy Joe Travis - 40
Chris Benoit - 40
Larry Cameron - 41
Rick Rude - 41
Randy Anderson - 41
Bruiser Brody - 42
Miss Elizabeth - 42
Big Boss Man - 42
Earthquake - 42
Mike Awesome - 42
Biff Wellington - 42
Brian Adams (Crush) - 43
Ray Candy - 43
Nancy Benoit (Woman) - 43
Dino Bravo - 44
Curt Hennig - 44
Bam Bam Bigelow - 45
Jerry Blackwell - 45
Junkyard Dog - 45
Hercules - 45
Andre the Giant - 46
Big John Studd - 46
Chris Adams - 46
Mike Davis - 46
Hawk - 46
Dick Murdoch - 49
Jumbo Tsuruta - 49
Rocco Rock - 49
Sherri Martel - 49
Moondog Spot - 51
Ken Timbs - 53
Uncle Elmer - 54
Pez Whatley - 54
Eddie Graham - 55
Tarzan Tyler - 55
Haystacks Calhoun- 55
Giant Haystacks - 55
The Spoiler - 56
Kurt Von Hess - 56
Moondog King - 56
Gene Anderson - 58
Dr. Jerry Graham - 58
Bulldog Brown - 58
Tony Parisi - 58

There are also these tidbits that are interesting (slightly edited for content):

Eric Cohen, a bit of an expert on entertainment wrestling, and a guy who actually admits this, says:

“The death rate among wrestlers is alarmingly high. The only time this story was covered by the national media was on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumble. That segment featured Vince McMahon mocking the interviewer and slapping the notes from his hands. In addition, the only wrestler to speak up for the wrestlers, Roddy Piper, was fired after the piece aired.”

Cohen says that the athleticism involved in faking the matches puts a tremendous toll on the wrestlers’ bodies, so prescription pain killer use and abuse is high, and over time, weakens their bodies and kills them. Well, if that’s true, then retired football players would be dropping dead by age 40.

Police found the latest dead WWE wrestler, George Caiazo, AKA: John Kronus, dead in his girlfriend’s apartment. . . Officials are treating it as a "suspicious death" based on his age (38), and the fact that there was no ax sticking out of his head. Autopsy and toxicology reports are still pending.

Deaths in professional wrestling can be traced to ‘wrestling cocktail'

Steroids, alcohol, and the psychiatric drug Xanax can be a very deadly combination. As reported in the Charleston Post and Courier Part of a series, more at the link

The news Monday that yet another professional wrestler had died at a relatively young age made headlines across the country.

But to Marc Mero, who has led an effort to clean up the business, it was just another name on a morbid list of wrestlers who have failed to reach the age of 50.

That's not to say Mero wasn't saddened to hear about the passing of Brian 'Crush' Adams, who was found dead at his home in Tampa, not that far from Orlando where Mero runs a high-end gym. Mero had talked to Adams a couple of weeks earlier, and the 6-6, 300-pounder sounded in good spirits, asking to come down and see Mero's facility.

The cause of the 44-year-old wrestler's death remains a mystery, and further tests have been ordered following an autopsy.

Mero hastened that it would be too early to speculate, but he couldn't help but wonder if his friend had fallen victim to a disturbing trend in the wrestling profession.

'Who knows how he died, but it seems to be the typical MO of ‘a wrestler found dead.' And he was one of the guys I was closer to, and it's just like, here we go again,' says Mero.

Adams had a history of steroids, having been arrested in 1995 on charges of illegal possession of steroids and weapons while living in Hawaii, which led to his WWE release.

Mero, like many, believe a number of elements — not just steroids — were involved in the Chris Benoit double murder-suicide in June. Steroids, painkillers, depression all likely played a part. But, he says, they're all by-products of a business that has a high mortality rate.

'Welcome to the world of professional wrestling,' says Mero. 'It's not one particular thing. It's the wrestling cocktail.'

Mero, who retired from the business several years ago, spoke with a forensic psychologist and his wife, a toxicologist, who told him alcohol, which was found near Benoit's body, and Xanax, which was found in his system, can be a very unpredictable combination.

'Some people can go sleep, and some people can absolutely freak out. They don't even remember what they did. And obviously mixing this with steroids and pain medication ... your body is only wired a certain way, and it can short-circuit.'

Mero still struggles trying to comprehend how Benoit, who he wrestled many times in WCW, could have killed his wife and 7-year-old son.

'It is one of the most baffling things. We all know he loved his son. What caused him to go over the edge and snap like that? One thing we don't talk a lot about is depression. There are many wrestlers who are depressed. I remember once thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, I've got all this money in the bank, everywhere I go people are going to recognize me,' and you try to find happiness through other means. It's a very, very strange life. There are guys who can do it, and those who can't.'

The media, he says, put an emphasis on steroids because it seemed to be the most sensational hook to the story.

'They jumped on the steroid bandwagon since it was a double murder-suicide,' says Mero, who adds that WWE's explanation of what constitutes steroids makes little sense. 'The testosterone they're talking about ... we would have loved to have gotten our hands on that. Now when you get it from your doctor, it's not called steroids, it's called ‘hormone replacement.' I only wish there had been doctors back then, although there were doctors doing it illegally.'

'I don't see these problems that much in baseball or football with doctors prescribing because they don't get to pass go and collect $200 like they do in WWE,' he adds. 'So if we really tighten up the drug program and change the testosterone level from 10/1 to 4/1 like in the other sports and you get to retake it, and if you produce a prescription from your doctor, you pass it. That's something I think will take care of itself.'

Benoit's personal physician, Dr. Phil Astin, was charged with providing more than a million doses of prescription drugs and steroids — in just two years — to patients other than Benoit. A federal agent's affidavit said Astin prescribed a 10-month supply of anabolic steroids to Benoit every three to four weeks between May 2006 and May 2007.

'We really have to get down to these doctors because that's bad,' says Mero. 'Some of them are writing scripts over the Internet. They need to give them some strict penalties. I think because of Dr. Astin coming to light, a lot of doctors are getting real worried, and I guarantee you that a lot of pictures of professional wrestlers on the walls of doctors' offices throughout the country have been taken down.'

The Wackness

Psychiatrists have complained that they aren't portrayed fairly in movies. It's sort of like the Harry Truman quote, people tell the truth about them, and they feel it's hell. There is more than a grain of truth in the satires. And it's time to add one more satire to the pile.

According to Variety, a new movie entitled The Wackness is going into production. It centers on a troubled teenage drug dealer and a drug-addled psychiatrist -- after the former trades pot for therapy sessions, then falls for the doctor's daughter.

It has attracted some slightly controversial attention because of reports that two stars in the film Ben Kingsley and Mary-Kate Olsen will have an extended kiss/make-out scene, despite the obvious age differences. Kingsley plays the corrupt shrink, and Olsen plays one of his patients.

It's billed as a comedy, this mess between a psychiatrist and his drug dealer. It's early in the production, so who knows what changes will take place in the script, etc. between now and the premier.

But it's nice to see something taking advantage of all of the weird press the shrinks get. We wish them luck.

Psychiatrists as Film Critics call 'Hostel II' painfully compelling

From the Boston Globe. Where in a collection of psychiatrists are not terribly disturbed by what could be called the cutting edge in 'torture porn' a slasher flick called 'Hostel: Pasrt II' First the introduction:

On a recent afternoon, five shrinks sat inside a movie theater and watched as a naked lady, hanging upside down over a bathtub, was tortured to death by another nude woman using a scythe.

This was not some twisted version of a Harvard Med School retreat. It was a screening of "Hostel: Part II," the latest slasher flick by Newton native Eli Roth.

Sheldon Roth, the filmmaker's father and a professor of psychiatry at the medical school, organized the outing at the Globe's request. He recruited four others -- two men and two women -- to analyze the film by his son, a writer/director considered to be at the forefront of a genre not so kindly referred to as "torture porn."

"This is one of the most misogynistic films ever made," a New York Times reviewer wrote of the original "Hostel" last year.

None of this worried Sheldon Roth. [Psychiatrist father of the film director]

While we expect that professionals in the field on the human mind to be capable of handling some pretty grim stuff, this does not mean we would expect them to take pleasure in the perverse. But we forgot, these are psychiatrists.

There wasn't much chatter in the theater. The shrinks sat quietly, watching the action as the lead characters, three college-age women taking a tour of Slovakia, were stalked, captured, and eventually offered up to the violent deviants paying to live out their fantasies in a grimy factory building.

Kennedy took a certain amount of pride in not turning away from the screen.

"I had heard about the first 'Hostel' and my kids had said, 'Mom, you're never going to be able to get through this,' " she said.

Fabricant admitted she had to close her eyes during a scene in which a young child was killed. She also found the scythe tough to take. She was asked about another scene, in which a man is castrated by one of the college girls with an pair of scissors.

"I watched that," she said, and the others laughed.

As film critics, they were far more forgiving than the national press. The doctors -- Roth's father was excluded from the vote -- gave the young filmmaker two 3-star rankings, a 3 1/2, and a 4. Gutheil said he was very impressed by Roth's use of insider film references, which included casting Ruggero Deodato, the director of the controversial 1980 film "Cannibal Holocaust," as a cannibal.

[...]

[One psychiatrist] said that while he would encourage fans of horror films to see "Hostel: Part II," he would not recommend it be shown in prisons. Serial killers would also not be a good target audience.

"By fusing the erotic and violent, there are ways you create fantasies that become a playground for serial killers," he said.

The therapists said they did find Roth's characters compelling, particularly Stuart, the haplessly beaten-down family man who directs his anger at a stranger meant to look like the wife he hates and can't confront.

"Displacement," said Hoffer.

"It's subtle," Gutheil joked, "but it's there."

Does Eli Roth have a problem with women? None of the shrinks thought so.

Sheldon, his father, wrapped up the debate, noting that relationships are always complicated.

"I can say I've been married over 40 years," he said, " and I have a lot of learning to do."

Somehow I cannot help but think that such a creative exercise of cruelty would be disturbing to most normal rational folks. There is also traditional folklore that the children of mental health professional, such as psychiatrists, are often the weirdest and craziest kids on the block. [Note that the film maker is a psychiatrist's son]

Thus I find it worrisome that these professionals were so tolerant or admiring of a film of this genre, in a time when we all could wish for a less violent world.

A Brief Introduction (Seroxat : The Mental Health Thalidomide)

As seen on this Blog

This blog has been set up by a concerned group of individuals who have been horrifically affected by the anti-depressant medication SSRI-Seroxat. SSRI’s are a “class” of drugs used primarily to treat depression and other so called “psychiatric disorders”. Seroxat has been the most controversial drug in this class of drugs and possibly of the past decade. While of course the terrible side effects and withdrawals from seroxat have been well documented in all mediums for some years now, the manufacturors of Seroxat, GSK, have not been . While researching Seroxat through forums on the internet, it was discovered that Seroxat is not the first drug or product made by GSK to have caused harm. This site aims to provide readers with portals to documents , links and research which might help them piece together the puzzles of the Seroxat scandal so that they themselves can come to their own conclusions .

Here are a number of links to their excellent stories exposing this drug.

Seroxat Link 1 : The Hypnotic Narcotic
Seroxat Link 2 : NeuroSearch/Buus Lassen : The Birth Of Seroxat
Seroxat Link 3 : The Yugoslavia Trials
Seroxat Link 4 : Seroxat Holocaust : The First Wave : 1991
Seroxat Link 5 : 1998 , Seroxat Holocaust , The Second Wave
Seroxat Link 6 : Scamming Seroxat : the Players

The Seroxat Links ( seroxat story )

Adventures in PsychoPharmacology

A bipolar student's long journey with wrong medications. Gogo Lidz was prescribed more than 15 different drugs in 5 years after being disagnosed with bipolar disorder. She was 16 when prescribed her first mood-altering drug. One patient's strong case for getting a second opinion. Do drugs like Adderall and Zyprexa do more harm than good?

Do you think you've been misdiagnosed or misprescribed? Are doctors too quick to prescribe meds to treat patients? Albow says, "Too many people blindly trust their psychiatrists. If you are not doing well, you need to move on."

Here is the Story on FOX

Anna Nicole Smith's overdose from same drug as Marilyn Monroe (and new reports) have observers arguing whether murder or suicide

From Hollywood Today. What was the role of her psychiatrist 'best friend" Khristine Eroshevich in all of this? Inquiring minds want to know! With friends like these ...

The Anna Nicole Smith circus tent is on fire as reports of toxic levels of sleeping medication chloral hydrate in her body, the same drug found in her hero Marilyn Monroe, have sparked rage and outrage in a furious debate over whether her death was murder, suicide or overdose.

Criminal culpability may be one step closer when the official toxicology finally report comes out Monday, partially stalled until now to allow for police investigation, according to Broward County medical examiner Dr. Joshua Perper.

“The finger is pointed at her entourage… They all stood by and watched her die slowly,” said Nancy Grace on her Headline News show, tinged with her trademark anger over developments. “She was not in any shape to inject herself or take her own nighttime medication.”

The choral hydrate, along with a raging infection will be the cause of death according to the Star and the National Enquirer, not our usual source for any news whatsoever. Nonetheless they appear to have used their hefty checkbooks to pay for a leak of Anna Nicole’s toxicology report. The National Enquirer made its name with the death of Elvis Presley by bribing a relative to photograph the King in his coffin.

Specifically the papers say on Feb. 5 Anna received an unsterilized injection before boarding a plane from the Bahamas to Florida and later developed a painful abscess, not uncommon with junkies and others who take injections with less care and precaution than medically advised. She also reported a bad flu and experienced vomiting, severe diarrhea and couldn’t urinate.

On the day before she died, Wednesday Feb. 7, she reportedly took the choral hydrate at toxic levels with the infection still going — and supposedly never regained consciousness. At 1:33 pm the next day, Thursday Feb. 8, she was reported “unresponsive,” leaving huge questions about the activity of Howard K. Stern as well as her nurse and bodyguard during that time.

More ominous is that the drug was allegedly delivered by injection into her right buttocks, a task likely done by one of the entourage. “Somebody has to help you do that,” according to Dr. William Moroni, a medical examiner in Michigan. “You can’t get the angle. The hand is reversed, thumb position is wrong and you can’t see. You need help.”

James Neaviitt, attorney for Stern, not to be confused with radio personality Howard Stern, said “Speculation running rampant and we will have to wait and see. Dr. Joshua Perper said there were no injection marks on her body last month. On Monday we will find out.”

“Somebody is going to end up paying for this,” said family law attorney Rene Rockwell. “She had a nurse there, she had a bodyguard, she had a boyfriend/lawyer.”

“I think that Howard and the doctors Anna was seeing were keeping her in a stupor” said Dr. Carole Lieberman. “When you consider she had a history of substance abuse and had such psychological problems, the (prescriptions) were particularly dangerous,” the psychiatrist said on Showbiz Tonight.

She noted that many of the laundry list of drugs that were prescribed for Smith in the day’s after her son’s death, including anti-anxiety Lorazepam were in liquid form, fairly unusual. “Since this is a medication that is tasteless and colorless, Whether this was put in her food, in her drink, without her knowledge (is a question).”

Son Daniel allegedly went to a private investigator prior to her death to say he was worried about Stern who was acting like “some Svengali” and administering “mind-bending drug” to her, the PI said on Showbiz.

The fact that Stern is also a figure in the inquest into the overdose death of Smith’s son Daniel and had a role in supplying drugs to both of the departed, has Smith’s mother Vergie Arthur crying murder, most foul. Some of our readers agree and vehemently say so in comments to previous articles. Yet the suicide possibility looms larger, if Perper confirms the choral hydrate presence on Monday.

Since chloral hydrate was the drug found in Monroe’s bloodstream (a form on Nembutal was found in Marilyn’s liver, too) there is a chance Smith was doing yet another imitation of her idol’s habits and affectations. The usually-liquid substance is a fairly uncommon and old-fashioned sleep drug, given more popular new alternatives like Ambien and Lunesta.

This, along with testimony in Florida court last month that she had a “death wish,” sparked a debate on the possibility of suicide, or assisted suicide. David Caplan at Star said that on Oct. 18 after her son’s death, she set emails to several friends saying “I want to die, I wish I could be in a better place.”

Author Susan Lipkins argues that the recent news reports surrounding her death reveal suicidal thoughts. “She had a suicidal plan to the extent she knew what she wanted to cover the coffin with.” I wonder if she came to Florida with knowledge of that. I don’t think she knew about her infection, I’m not sure this was part of a plan for herself.”

As for how Star/Enquirer got the toxicology report, it was only a matter of time till someone succumbed to the tens or hundreds of thousands likely offered for a quick photocopy of the long-delayed report. The leaker “could be prosecuted for leaking out of the medical examiner’s office,” said one attorney. However, the report might also be in the hands of investigating officers in multiple jurisdictions, so they would know what to look for. Furthermore, the two papers are headquartered in Hollywood, FL where Anna was found dead.

Meanwhile, two purloined diaries sold for over $500,000 on eBay, with sex outselling Jesus by a small margin. The 1992 diary, which has the words “I follow my own star” on the cover, Smith confesses: “I hate for men to want sex all the time. I hate sex.” This diary sold for about $285,000. In the second diary Smith writes about the illness of her billionaire husband Howard Marshall, who died in 1995 at age 90, with a religious awakening and featuring lots of references to Jesus. This sold for about $230,000.

Dr. Perper promised a surprise when he announces his autopsy results on Monday and the twist may be that the infection or a blood disease stopped her heart, and not the drug. But whatever the specific cause, her weakened state of health was all part of her spiraling drug use as was the actions and inactions of those around her in the time leading up to her death. So the autopsy is likely to raise as many tough questions as it answers. Especially for Howard K. Stern.

Psychiatrist is haunted by celebrity death

As reported here Anna Nicole Smith's psychiatrist "best friend" Khris Eroshevich is haunted by the memory of her last chat with the tragic model, because she begged her friend not to leave her alone. But over looked in the report is the laundry list of drugs we reported earlier, which she had no problem filling out, and which was refused by more than one pharmacy.

As noted here,

Only in Los Angeles do psychiatrists suddenly pop up as best friends of their patients. It's unclear whether or not Eroshevich actually saw Smith as a patient or if she was just a hanger-on who got close to her in her later years.

This much is certain: It's Eroshevich's mug in the "ET" videos of the funeral, and all its tacky preparations. The good doctor happily gave quotes to the TV show, which sources say paid millions to Howard K. Stern for the right to have a landmark ceiling camera hovering over Smith's casket as it was rolled into the Bahamian church.

But back home, Eroshevich isn't all that popular with the other less famous people with whom she used to work.

One has to be suspicious, and I suspect that this is just another case of folks hanging on for the ride, looking to make as much as they can while they are able to.

Another case of Hollywood leeches. Pardon me if I am cynical, and file this under - deaths associated with "paparazzi shrinks"

UPDATE: and the media circus continues, first with Eroshevich's republican campaign contributions (not that this matters much), and the increasing perception of Eroshevich as an enabler

Here is that report we mentioned at the top

Anna Nicole Smith's physician pal Khristine Eroshevich is haunted by the memory of her last chat with the tragic model, because she begged her friend not to leave her alone.

Eroshevich, who was in Florida with a vacationing Smith, admits she was with the star in the days leading up to her death and recalls her final conversation with her friend.

She says, "She was taking a bath and she was shampooing her hair and I had been with her in the morning. That was Wednesday. I was going back and forth, saying goodbye and she was crying, and she said, 'Please don't leave me,' and I left."

The Bahamas-based doctor tells US TV news show Entertainment Tonight she has felt terrible guilt ever since her friend's death a month ago.

She adds, "I often think, 'Should I have stayed? What would have happened?' Certainly, I could have saved her."

And Eroshevich is keen to play down reports Smith died after suffering a fever, revealing her late pal was recovering from an illness when she left her.

She explains, "She wasn't well... She did spike a fever on Monday night but she got better really quick... I never thought that anything would happen to her. I called that night and was able to find out what she had eaten... and she was doing well. I called in the morning too. I never dreamed (she'd die)."

Antidepressants linked to sleep disorder that causes dreamers to act out their dreams

As seen in the News Sentinel

Living out your dream is one thing.

But acting out your dreams when you're still asleep?

Ouch!

People who do that have REM behavior disorder, and it's potentially dangerous.

"I once had someone who choked his wife until she was almost blue. He was dreaming he was choking a burglar," said Ann Romaker, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at St. Luke's Hospital.

It's also a disorder that researchers suspect may be on the rise as one of the odder and rarer side effects of the broad use of antidepressant medications.

"It's actually not that surprising, knowing what these medications do chemically in the brain," said psychiatrist R. Robert Auger of the class of antidepressants that includes Effexor, Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and other serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Auger, a sleep researcher at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., presented findings on the link between antidepressants and REM behavior disorder last summer at a meeting of sleep researchers. But his work is also part of a broadening interest in a sleep disorder once thought to be an irksome curiosity.

Scientists, for example, have long known that some people who have Parkinson's disease may also suffer REM behavior disorder, acting out their dreams in their sleep, sometimes falling out of bed.

More and more, researchers are coming to believe that, for a small percentage of people, the sleep disorder may also be one of the earlier signs of a Parkinson's disease that has yet to develop. Some studies show that more than 10 to 25 percent of people with REM behavior disorder later develop Parkinson's or some other neurodegenerative disease. Researchers caution that the connection is anything but certain.

"I don't think we need to frighten people," Romaker of St. Luke's said. "I have been dealing with this for 18 years, and most of my patients never go on to develop anything else."

Sleep experts have known about the REM behavior disorder for years.

Auger called it a relatively rare phenomenon. About 0.5 percent of people have it. More than 90 percent of cases occur in men older than 50. But, possibly because of the rise in antidepressant use, younger men, women and children have begun to complain of the disorder.

"We had a 10-year-old boy who had had terrible REM behavior disorder," said Mark Mahowald, a leading researcher on the disorder at the Minnesota Regional Sleep Disorder Center in Minneapolis. "He was being given Effexor for some nondescript learning disorder and was falling out of bed constantly. When you see a 10-year-old boy with REM behavior disorder, you can bet that the first 10 causes are antidepressants, anti depressants, anti depressants."

REM sleep, or rapid-eye movement sleep, is the time in the sleep cycle when people have their most robust dreams. During REM - unlike other periods in the sleep cycle - the brain normally paralyzes the skeletal muscles so that body doesn't run around while sleeping. But this doesn't happen in REM behavior disorder.

Scientists don't know the exact mechanism, but they suspect antidepressants are acting on neurochemicals in the brain stem that typically cause what's known as REM sleep paralysis or atonia. People who later go on to develop Parkinson's may be getting REM behavior disorder early because certain cells in the brain have begun to deteriorate.

REM behavior disorder usually comes to the attention of physicians only after someone has tossed himself out of bed during an active or violent dream or, more common, after inadvertently assaulting a sleeping spouse.

"One of my patients was hitting his wife in the night, and he didn't know it," Romaker said. "They came to me in their 80s. This had been going on for years. His poor wife had never told him until she had a black eye. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. She worried it was due to some repressed feelings he had never told her about."

The range of behaviors is as vast as dreams themselves.

"It can be as simple as someone who sits up at night and turns pages because they're dreaming they're reading a book," Romaker said. "I had one gentleman who thought he was fishing. He was gutting a fish, and he was trying to gut his wife. It was fortunate he didn't actually have anything sharp."

Other patients have hurled themselves from their beds while dreaming of swimming or diving. One of Romaker's patients punched his wife during a dream about fighting a schoolyard bully.

Bob Whitman, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Kansas Hospital, had one patient who was so tired of getting up and bumping into furniture during her dreams, "she would tie herself to the bed," he said. "She had done this for several years so she wouldn't get out."

"Their behavior is completely consistent with the dream," Romaker said. Unlike patients who sleep walk or have night terrors, which don't occur during REM sleep, patients with REM behavior disorder are much easier to wake.

It's unclear how many women have REM behavior disorder. Romaker suspects that it's vastly under diagnosed simply because women may not have dreams that are as violent or active as men's.

Fortunately, REM behavior disorder tends to be treated easily, typically with a prescription tranquilizer such as clonazepam. Those who suffer REM behavior disorder because of antidepressants can often be switched to another antidepressant such Wellbutrin, which does not appear to trigger the disorder.

"I don't think its any reason to fear taking antidepressants," Auger of the Mayo Clinic said. "I just think it's something people need to be aware of."

TV Shrink Dr. Phil calls but gets no answer

In which someone questions the sanity of appearing on the talk show of TV Psychiatrist Dr Phil.

Does someone know something I don't know?

Why would Dr. Phil McGraw issue me a personal invitation to be a guest on his TV show? To be honest, I am not a daytime TV watcher - and am a selective TV watcher even when I do watch it.

I am more of the History Channel and Public Broadcasting type. I had never seen Dr. Phil in action until I received this invitation: "You have been invited to be part of the Dr. Phil Show." The invitation even said it included airfare and hotel accommodations. The show is filmed in Los Angeles.

I decided to take a look at Dr. Phil's show one afternoon. What I saw scared the bejeepers out of me: people baring their personal lives before a live audience and the millions of voyeurs glued to TV screens across America. What disturbed me most was that the guests on the show were getting chastised by the good doctor, who holds a string of degrees in clinical psychology from North Texas State University, with an emphasis on behavioral medicine.

Where did this Texas dude get my name, and why does he think I would go before a national audience and let him delve into my behavioral whatever? I checked him out on his website, which gave a laundry list of upcoming topics. I scanned the list, but so help me, I couldn't find any category I would fit into as a subject for Dr. Phil's brain-probing to reveal my flaws.

Don't get me wrong. I have plenty of flaws, but I remember once calling on an old newspaper friend who got his doctoral degree in education and was teaching English at a California university. I went to his house, rang the doorbell, and a maid answered the door. I told her I was there to see Dr. Williams.

Her reply was: "You know he ain't one of them doctors that can do you no good." Since I had worked with him as a reporter, I knew full well Dr. Williams might know a misplaced metaphor, but I wouldn't trust him with surgery on any of my misplaced body parts.

In fact, I found one of Dr. Phil's website disclaimers says as much: "He does not and will not administer individual, group or medical therapy; his advice, opinions or statements should not be considered ... (as such) ... or a substitute or replacement for those therapies."

In my opinion, anyone who would appear before a live audience and a bunch of TV voyeurs and bare their most intimate secrets needs a psychiatrist. I have long suspected that one of America's greatest problems is that we are a tell-all society.

The following list of topics for upcoming shows confirms my theory: "Is your mom a freeloader?" "Habitual gossiper?" "Is your child the biggest brat in America?" "Tired of daily screaming matches?" "Can't choose between two lovers?" "Involved in a sticky love triangle?" That is just the tip of the iceberg.

So help me, I may sound like a goody two-shoes, but none of the topics fits me. The show I might appear on would not get very high ratings because this guest would be a stick-in-the-mud, dull person with no titillating secrets to bare.

I had decided I was not a good candidate for Dr. Phil's advice, when up popped another invitation - this one to appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. The invitation also offered me free airfare and hotel accommodations, but did give a warning that if I accepted, participation in her show was required.

Either some bad dude has stolen my identity and wants to bare his soul before God and everybody using my name on national TV, or those shows are really hard up for participants. I am declining both invitations and surrendering my 15-minute claim to fame on network TV.

The real Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470.

Psychiatric Talk Show Cancelled

From the NY Post

The Dr. Keith Ablow Show" won't be back for a second season, sources said.

The syndicated daytime show, hosted by the forensic psychiatrist, was not expected to return for the 2007-08 season, but sources say it's now a done deal.

Warner Bros., which distributes the show, has kept quiet on the show's future and declined comment.

"Ablow" (10 a.m./Ch. 5) is the third freshman talk show to bite the dust, following "The Megan Mullally Show" and "The Greg Behrendt Show" out the door.

Warner Bros. exec Ken Werner was asked about the status of "Ablow" last month at NATPE, saying only that "We'll continue to produce the show for TV stations for the balance of the year and support it the way we do with all of our shows."

It's understood that "Ablow" will remain in production through the end of this month or the beginning of next month.