Happiness classes ‘depress pupils’

Another experiment in modern psychology gone badly wrong. As seen here.

Classes in happiness and emotional wellbeing, intended to tackle ill-discipline and improve social skills, may instead leave children depressed and self-obsessed, according to a new report.

The research, which draws on the findings of more than 20 international academic studies, describes the government programme in secondary schools as a “large-scale psychological experiment”.

It finds little evidence that the classes, which encourage children to express feelings openly and empathise with others, lead to any long-term improvement in emotional well being or academic success.

Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, announced last week that happiness classes would be introduced to state secondary schools after a successful two-year pilot of the programme. The technique is called Seal - Social and emotional aspects of learning.

Balls said the classes would “help to cultivate the right attitude” and would help tackle indiscipline. But the report by Carol Craig, a psychologist and chief executive of the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing in Glasgow, concludes the classes risk harming some children.

“A focus on the self can create an obsession with how you feel and can lead in some kids to depression,” said Craig. “Seal may work for some children but this is not like arithmetic or French grammar - if it doesn’t work it will lead to psychological problems.”

Craig’s conclusion was supported by Nick Emler, professor of psychology at Surrey University: “It is disturbing that the government wishes to introduce this programme without proper evaluation.”

Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College in Berkshire and a pioneer of happiness classes, defended their merits.

“You are trying to help people with long-term coping skills,” he said. “I don’t think there is any sane way to exist as a human being except to get in touch with your feelings and thoughts.”

Alan Smithers, education professor at Birmingham University, said Seal “looks like a panic measure” to tackle problems highlighted earlier this year by the Unicef table of child well being in which Britain came bottom out of 21 countries.

Mother Mixed Prozac with Applesauce, Gave It to Her Infant Child for Six Months

From this report out of Indiana

A Center Grove area woman is accused of feeding her 12-year-old daughter applesauce spiked with Prozac every night for the past six months.

Karen Walsh, 51, 3712 Chancellor Drive, Greenwood, was arrested on a charge of neglect of a dependent, a Class D felony that carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

Walsh told police she gave her child the antidepressant without the girl's knowledge to help her sleep.

The child is now in the custody of her father, who was unaware that the girl was being fed Prozac, Johnson County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Doug Cox said.

No doctor diagnosed the girl as needing the medication or prescribed it to her.

When not prescribed, Prozac can cause a range of medical problems including heightened suicidal tendencies, three physicians told police.

The Division of Family and Children's Services received a complaint that Walsh was giving her child Prozac and notified police, who questioned her Tuesday.

Walsh, who was taking Prozac prescribed to her, said she didn't want to take her daughter to the doctor for her sleeping problem because she knew he would tell her to stop giving the child Prozac, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Walsh told police she knew giving her child Prozac was wrong and could harm her health, according to the affidavit.

When asked by a detective, she described in detail the side effects an incorrect dosage could cause, such as permanent neurological damage.

She told police she gave her daughter about 10 mg per day, which she described as a "clinical dose."

Every night, she took a 20 mg time-released capsule and broke it open, emptying out the powder. She divided the powder into equal amounts, mixing half into her daughter's applesauce.

Walsh sometimes had to wake her from sleeping to give her the spiked applesauce, she told police.

Police required Walsh to sign a statement that she wouldn't give her daughter any medication in any form.

A physician will need to monitor the girl's health as she gradually stops taking Prozac, Cox said. She will need to stay on a reduced dosage for a while so sudden withdrawal doesn't endanger her health.

"She won't be able to safely quit cold turkey," Cox said.

Walsh was released from the jail Wednesday on $3,000 bond.

Psychologists for an Ethical APA

What a novel Idea!

I cames came across this thought courtesy of the Invictus Weblog

Psychologists for an Ethical APA (PEAPA) has updated their website with a collection of valuable links related to the ongoing crisis in American psychology over the refusal of the APA to ban its membership from participation in interrogations at sites linked to U.S. abuse and indefinite detention of detainees. The latter has been condemned by organizations around the world.

PEAPA is a collection of psychologists within the American Psychological Association who fought for a moratorium against psychologists at detention centers such as Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and CIA "black site" secret prisons. Unfortunately, the craven APA leadership put out a resolution that, while noble in words, and taking certain strong stands against practices such as waterboarding and mock execution, left the door open for practices that allow harm, such as sensory deprivation and overload, solitary confinement/isolation, and the use of drugs in some circumstances.

The new links at PEAPA include: two important articles at Harper's on the recent events at APA by Scott Horton and Mark Benjamin; Amy Goodman's article, "Psychologists in Denial About Torture"; Jean Maria Arrigo's presentation at the 2007 APA convention on how APA politically controlled, with assistance from the Department of Defense, a blue-ribbon APA committee meant to set policy related to interrogations and torture back in 2006; and psychologist Mary Pipher's statement of protest regarding APA policy, made as, in a matter of principle, she returned her 2006 APA presidential citation award; and much more.

Babies Given Antidepressants In New Zealand

Tip of the hat to the Pharmalot weblog, which brings to our attention this report in the New Zealand Herald

Medical authorities are mystified and concerned at figures suggesting antidepressant drugs are being prescribed for children, some less than a year old.

Records of the national drug buying agency Pharmac suggest thousands of prescriptions a year are being written for children under 10.

Antidepressants are powerful psychiatric drugs with potentially severe side-effects.

They are not usually prescribed to children younger than 8, and more commonly are not used on those younger than 13.

Depression is not found in babies and doctors the Herald spoke to could see no reason for prescribing antidepressants for them.

The Government's drugs regulator, Medsafe, warned in 2004 that antidepressants could increase the risk of suicide.

For children and adolescents, it said, the risk of suicidal ideas and behaviour from newer antidepressants called selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) generally outweighed their benefits.

Older "tricyclic" antidepressants were not generally recommended for those under 18 because of the risk of heart problems.

The number of state-funded antidepressant prescriptions has nearly doubled since 2000 to more than a million a year, costing the Government about $30 million.

Figures given by Pharmac to the United Future Party show 4728 antidepressant prescriptions were written for children under 10 in 2004-05, declining to 2425 in the last June year.

Causing most alarm are the figures for babies, even though they dropped sharply during the three years.

For 1-year-olds, 768 prescriptions were written in 2004-05, down to 24 by last year. For those under 1, there were 453 prescriptions in 2004-05 but only nine last year.

The numbers also declined for every other age group under 10, but each group remained in the hundreds last year.

Antidepressants are used for conditions including severe depression, anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and bulimia nervosa.

The tricyclic type were previously used to control bed-wetting, but this could not explain the prescriptions for babies.

Commonly reported side-effects of the SSRIs fluoxetine and paroxetine include diarrhoea, insomnia, sleepiness and tremors.

Pharmac yesterday said that the figures were correct. But it was mystified by them.

"I can't understand them," said medical director Dr Peter Moodie, who had not studied the figures until the Herald contacted him.

He said wrong coding of dates of birth could explain the single-digit figures, "but when it's hundreds, one assumes the figures are right".

Pharmac would re-check them and look to see which doctors had prescribed them to children.

Dr Moodie said he would also ask Medsafe to look at the issue.

Medsafe did not return Herald calls last night.

United Future health spokeswoman Judy Turner said the figures were frightening.

"Babies are born with only 15 per cent of their brain fully developed; 85 per cent of development happens from 0 to 3 years," she said.

"Surely the antidepressants will interfere with the hard-wiring of the children's brains and influence their long-term wellbeing."

The clinical director of paediatrics at Kidz First children's hospital in Otahuhu, Dr Wendy Walker, had never used antidepressants with babies, nor heard of anyone else doing so.

"I would never prescribe them in my practice as a hospital-based acute paediatrician."

Emeritus Professor John Werry, a child psychiatrist, said that "as far as we know" giving SSRIs to babies would not harm them.

"But one doesn't like to give growing and developing kids medications that affect basic bio-cyclic processes because it just doesn't seem like a good idea unless the kid is really in severe difficulty."

It would be rare in NZ to prescribe antidepressants before the teenage years, Professor Werry said.

The youngest child he had prescribed one to was a boy with autism aged 8 or 9, but that was "very exceptional".

Auckland City Hospital neonatal paediatrician Dr Simon Rowley said he would "never dream" of prescribing antidepressants to anyone under about 10. He was sceptical of the Pharmac figures.

The endocrine effects of the psychiatric drug Zyprexa are extremely dangerous, says Swedish Professor in Psychiatry

As reported here with a tip of the hat to Furious Seasons

Speaking out about the harmful effects of the psychiatric drug Zyprexa, the Swedish Professor in Psychiatry, Rolf Adolfsson, said: “There is nothing worse than seeing a young person 17-18 years with a weight gain of 40-50 kg, and no one does anything! What is Swedish psychiatry doing?”

The psychiatrist spoke out in Swedish national television, in a program covering the illegal marketing of Zyprexa and the harmful effects of the new so called atypical neuroleptics. Zyprexa is the 6th most sold drug in Sweden, all categories.

Despite the fact that nine States in the US are suing the manufacturer of Zyprexa, Eli Lilly, and despite the fact that almost 30.000 persons have been awarded 1.2 billion dollars due to the injuries caused by Zyprexa, there has been a complete silence about this affair in Sweden.

Until now.

The Professor, who according to the program has been investigating harmful effects of drugs for the last 7 years, further said:

“I’ve seen so many complications, and I have met so many patients – that I completely choke. Are we so damned gullible, and it must be – there is only one thing – marketing.”

When the reporter takes up the endocrine effects of the new neuroleptics, Professor Adolfsson says that they are extremely dangerous. He says:

“You die prematurely, 10-15 years.”

” And upon the surprised follow-up question from the reporter if he means that the pharmaceutical industry, with these new drugs, drives persons with schizophrenia to an early death, Dr. Adolfsson simply responds:

“Absolutely!” He says: “Everybody knows that weight gain is completely catastrophic for all forms of illness ahead, even cancer.”

And:

“It is the central thing for the development of two things: One is vascular diseases and the other is diabetes.

It is further revealed that the Professor has had a long relationship with Eli Lilly (10-15 years). He says:

“And I have discussed very much with them that you have to be trustworthy – this I maybe said 5-6 years ago – they must come out and say: This is a very dangerous thing with our drug, because people are gaining weight. And you must do these and these tests, and if we have this increase in weight so quickly, then you must switch to another drug.”

But obviously Eli Lilly and Swedish psychiatry did not listen. At that time the Swedish Medical Journal was filled with ads for Zyprexa, with pictures of calm persons, and the key words for Zyprexa were: Strenghth, Carefulness, Simplicity.

And still, in 2007, the marketing material for Zyprexa in Sweden contains these same words.

In addition to that the patient leaflet, in its English version, contains false statements that the condition of the patient is comparable to diabetes and the usual suggestion, that Zyprexa gives a chemical balance in the brain. The known, serious harmful effects are still made to nothing, with the following wording: “People usually experience few or no side effects. Drowsiness or dizziness may occasionally occur, and some people may experience increased appetite, which can lead to weight increase.”

In the program Dr. Adolfsson raises the question: “Why doesn’t Swedish psychiatry react?”

Male Nurse Causes Pregnancy in Psychiatric Patient

From the Daily Record

A [male] nurse who made a former heroin addict patient pregnant was struck off yesterday.

James Meehan, 46, became close to the woman, a childhood sex abuse victim 20 years his junior, when she was an inpatient, a disciplinary hearing was told.

And in November 2001, she told other staff at Gartnavel Hospital in Glasgow that she was pregnant by him.

The committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council were told that before that she had been improving and was clear of opiate drugs.

But consultant psychiatrist Dr Alistair Wilson said her condition worsened after she had an abortion.

The woman, who had a history of self-harming and a personality disorder, was then readmitted as an inpatient.

Meehan, of Clydebank, said he started visiting Miss A at her home because he believed he could help her stay off drugs.

But she told him she wanted the relationship to go further and he finally gave in. Meehan, who had a long-term partner, said Miss A threatened to get him sacked when he tried to call off the affair .

He finally left her in September 2002 when she started taking heroin again.

The committee found Meehan guilty of misconduct and chairman Elizabeth Rush told him: "You abused your privileged relationship with a vulnerable patient who needed care and support.

"This in excusable behaviour led to the patient having to go through a termination of your child.

"You are not fit to practise as a nurse."

State seizes pyschiatrist's records

From the Enquirer in Cincinnati

State investigators are trying to determine whether a Cincinnati psychiatrist improperly billed patients with workers’ compensation claims.

Agents from the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation seized records Tuesday from Dr. Kode Murthy’s two offices in Cincinnati and Milford. They also used search warrants to get records from Murthy’s billing specialist.

The search warrants were not made public, but state investigators confirmed they are looking into allegations of “billing irregularities” by Murthy.

Those irregularities could include billing for services the patient did not receive or billing the state for treatments unrelated to workers’ compensation claims.

Joel Demory, agent in charge of the bureau’s special investigations unit, said information gathered Tuesday would help determine the next step, which could include a referral to prosecutors or a decision not to take action against Murthy.

Efforts to reach Murthy Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Demory would not comment on the records seized or on the nature of the allegations against Murthy, other than to say they involved billing. He also would not say how many complaints the bureau received or how many workers’ compensation patients receive treatment from Murthy.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation handles claims and oversees treatment of people suffering from job-related injuries.

The bureau’s investigations unit examines allegations of fraud by either the workers or the doctors treating them.

In the past year, the unit conducted almost 3,000 investigations and referred about 300 cases for criminal prosecution, a bureau spokesman said. More than 100 of those referrals resulted in indictments.

The investigation into Murthy also involves the Ohio Department of Insurance, the State Medical Board of Ohio and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

Retired Swiss psychiatrist found guilty over assisted suicide

A story that we missed when it first came out. as seen on Youtube, video included below.

Retired Swiss psychiatrist was found guilty over assisted suicide killings. A court in Switzerland has sentenced a retired psychiatrist to three years, for helping three depressed people commit suicide.

Peter Baumann, who ran his own assisted-suicide association, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in a country which has some of the most relaxed assisted-suicide laws in Europe.

N.J. Killer Who Escaped Mental Hospital Nabbed

You would think that they would have better security, just from a public safety standpoint, As reported on Fox News

An admitted killer who walked away from a southern New Jersey psychiatric hospital over the weekend was captured Tuesday in the woods behind the hospital, state police said.

State Police spokesman Steve Jones said William Enman was found clad in camouflage clothing at about 3 p.m. behind Ancora Psychiatric Hospital in Winslow Township, where he walked away from on Sunday.

He was taken into custody without incident, Jones said.

Prenatal Antidepressants Linked to Preterm Births

Via the NewsMax News Wire

Antidepressant drug use during pregnancy, but not depression itself, is associated with an increased risk of preterm birth and lower fetal age at delivery, according to results of a study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

"Depressive symptoms are not uncommon during pregnancy, and...symptoms may occur more frequently during pregnancy than in the postpartum period," write Dr. Rita Suri and colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles. Depression during pregnancy and just after delivery "has been associated with low maternal weight gain, increased frequency of cigarette, alcohol, and substance use, and ambivalence about the pregnancy."

To further investigate, the researchers examined the effects of maternal depression and antidepressant drug use on fetal age and risk of preterm birth in a study of 90 pregnant women.

The women were divided into three groups: 49 women had major depressive disorder and were treated with antidepressant medication for more than 50 percent of their pregnancy; 22 women had major depressive disorder and were briefly treated or not treated with antidepressants during pregnancy; and a comparison group of 19 healthy pregnant women.

The average fetal age at birth was 38.5, 39.4, and 39.7 weeks in the three groups, respectively. The groups also differed in the rates of preterm birth (14.3 percent, 0 percent, and 5.3 percent) and rates of admission to the special care nursery (21 percent, 9 percent, and 0 percent).

No significant between-group differences were observed in actual infant birth weights or Apgar scores.

Based on these findings, the presence of depression per se during pregnancy did not adversely affect outcomes. "This result was surprising to us, as we had anticipated that depression and anxiety during pregnancy would be associated with an increased risk of preterm birth," Suri and colleagues write.

"The two groups of women with depression -- those who were treated with antidepressants and those who were not -- had similar degrees of depression and anxiety during pregnancy," they note.

These findings suggest that antidepressant use, rather than mild-to-moderate depression, was associated with lower fetal age and an increased risk of preterm birth.

SOURCE: American Journal of Psychiatry, August 2007

The truth behind the increase in child suicides

As seen a Psychiatric Services News Report of the American Psychiatric Association

"In 2003, U.S. physicians wrote 15 million antidepressant prescriptions for patients under age 18, according to FDA data. In the first six months of 2004, antidepressant prescriptions for children increased by almost 8 percent, despite the new drug labeling."

The CDC reports an increase in youth suicide from 2003 to 2004 and some "experts" are blaming this increase on the decline in antidepressant use among youth. However, the Black Box warning was not approved until September 2004 and, even then, it took months before the use of antidepressants among youth began to decline.

Data Courtesy of the SSRI Stories Website

End result? The experts are blaming an increase in suicides on a decrease of antidepressants that did not take place.

UPDATE (via the Furious Seasons weblog)

On September 12th the National Center For Health Statistics (a branch of the CDC) released preliminary death data for 2005 (see Table B of report here).

The suicide rate dropped from 10.9 per 100,000 in 2004 to 10.6 per 100,000 in 2005, a decrease of about 3 percent--still unacceptably high. 2005 was the first full year of the black box warning of possible suicides and suicidal ideation, which technically only applied to ages 0 to 14 at the time (it's been expanded through 24 year olds more recently). The new data won't be broken out by age groups, genders and race until next summer, so for now it isn't possible to say how the 2004 and 2005 suicide data compared.

Which confirms the national trend

Factors Involved in Outcome and Recovery in Schizophrenia Patients Not on Antipsychotic Medications

Factors Involved in Outcome and Recovery in Schizophrenia Patients Not on Antipsychotic Medications: A 15-Year Multifollow-Up Study, PDF of the study is hosted on the PsychRights.org website

A longitudinal study of 145 patients found a 40% recovery rate for those who did not take antipsychotics, versus a 5% rate for those who did, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Vol 195, May, 2007, No. 5: 407-414

ABSTRACT:

This prospective longitudinal 15-year multifollow-up research studied whether unmedicated patients with schizophrenia can function as well as schizophrenia patients on antipsychotic medications. If so, can differences in premorbid characteristics and personality factors account for this?

One hundred and forty-five patients, including 64 with schizophrenia, were evaluated on premorbid variables, assessed prospectively at index hospitalization, and then followed up 5 times over 15 years.

At each follow-up, patients were compared on symptoms and global outcome. A larger percent of schizophrenia patients not on antipsychotics showed periods of recovery and better global functioning.

[...]

The current longitudinal data suggest not all schizophrenia patients need to use antipsychotic medications continuously throughout their lives.

The original study is available at the link. but the essential results are summarized above.

Psychiatrist denounces own ghostwritten article as 'crap'

As seen here

The Carlat Psychiatry Blog contacted psychiatrist Prof C. Lindsay DeVane about an article on antidepressant drug interactions he apparently co-authored for the medical journal CNS Spectrums. In reply, DeVane noted that the article was ghost-written on behalf of a drug company and denounced it as "piece of commercial crap" and 'ridiculous', 'inaccurate' and 'simplistic'.

[...]

In this case, it seems the article was written without DeVane's agreement, so it's refreshing to see someone disown it, rather than simply add it as another gold star to their CV.

How Drug Reps Make Friends and Influence Doctors

From an article in PLOS Medicine, with full text available free online. This is well worth reading in full

In 2000, pharmaceutical companies spent more than 15.7 billion dollars on promoting prescription drugs in the United States. More than 4.8 billion dollars was spent on detailing, the one-on-one promotion of drugs to doctors by pharmaceutical sales representatives, commonly called drug reps. The average sales force expenditure for pharmaceutical companies is $875 million annually.

Unlike the door-to-door vendors of cosmetics and vacuum cleaners, drug reps do not sell their product directly to buyers. Consumers pay for prescription drugs, but physicians control access. Drug reps increase drug sales by influencing physicians, and they do so with finely titrated doses of friendship. This article, which grew out of conversations between a former drug rep (SA) and a physician who researches pharmaceutical marketing (AFB), reveals the strategies used by reps to manipulate physician prescribing.

The Shock Doctrine

The Huffington Post is featuring this video regarding the introduction of electroshock and other forms of shock, not just on individuals, but on cultures. This is psychiatry applied to the masses and politics.

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.'

March criminal trial set for child psychiatrist accused of molestation

From the Palo Alto Daily News

Dr. William Ayres, the prominent child psychiatrist accused of molesting dozens of pre-adolescent boys in San Mateo County over decades, pleaded not guilty to all charges against him Thursday in his Superior Court arraignment.

Ayres, a 75-year-old former president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, is facing a jury trial on charges that he improperly touched seven male patients between the ages of 9 and 12.

A San Mateo County Superior Court judge ruled following a preliminary hearing last month that the evidence is "quite strong" that Ayres molested the patients.

A jury trial was set by another judge on Thursday for March 10 - a date that could be set back by a series of defense motions.

Defense attorney Doron Weinberg told the judge that he plans to file two "complex" motions. Outside the courtroom, Weinberg told reporters that the first motion would be to suppress evidence of a search warrant, which yielded the medical records that police used to find alleged victims of Ayres.

Weinberg, who had already told the press in May that he planned to file such a motion, called the search warrant "improper" and said that it "violates the client-psychotherapist privilege.

If a judge agrees that the warrant should never have been issued, the entire case against Ayres could be invalidated, Weinberg said.

Prosecutors were able to initiate their case against Ayres with the help of three alleged victims, each of whom was located after the search warrant was served.

A judge may determine that the four additional alleged victims who surfaced after Ayres was charged last spring may have come only come forward as a result of media coverage of the child psychiatrist's arrest. If that's the case, Weinberg said, a judge may determine that the case of the additional victims is "fruit of the poisonous tree" - a legal term used to refer to evidence gained from an illegal source.

Weinberg also said that he plans to file a second motion seeking to dismiss "insufficient" evidence and "questionable" rulings by the judge during last month's preliminary hearing. He declined to give more details on the nature of the complaint.

There also are doubts whether the alleged victims truly fall within the statute of limitations, said Weinberg. During last month's preliminary hearing, Weinberg argued the same point unsuccessfully. State law requires that molestation charges be brought before the accuser turns 29 or that the alleged crime occurred after Jan. 1, 1988. However, Weinberg attempted to argue that many of the seven alleged victims did not meet the requirements of the statute.

The criminal case against Ayres developed in the wake of a 2004 civil suit filed by a former patient who claims to have been molested by Ayres three decades ago. In 2005, Ayres and the former patient - a man now known as James Doe, now in his 40s - settled the suit outside of court for an undisclosed amount of money.

Last month, Ayres filed a $1 million civil suit in San Mateo County Superior Court against an insurance company that he claims provided him malpractice insurance between 1979 and 1981 - during which time James Doe was his patient.

Ayres is suing the Cranford Insurance Company/Merrill Management, which allegedly issued the policy, charging breach of contract and bad faith for the company's failure to pay the settlement in the Doe case. He is also suing the law firm that represented Peninsula Psychiatric Associates - the now-defunct psychiatric facility where Ayres practiced - for professional negligence. Ayres claims that the firm - Beatty, Slattery, Pfalzer, Borges & Brothers LLP - incorrectly informed his insurance company that his malpractice policy had been misplaced or destroyed.

Meanwhile, the parents of James Doe sat in court on Thursday with the parent of another alleged victim and shook their heads in disbelief after learning that Ayres' jury trial would not occur until March. Although the parents' children are not part of the current criminal case against Ayres - both alleged victims are outside the statute of limitations - they have attended every court date for the child psychiatrist and spoken of the doctor with indignation.

"They're going to hold this trial off until he drops dead, is what they're going to do," said Barbara Morrison, a friend of the alleged victims' parents.

Morrison, who lives in Chico, was once involved in a group that protested a controversial sex-education film produced by Ayres in the '60s.

"All these poor children," she said. "Their lives have been destroyed."

Let kids be kids, without 'magic' pills

Good column from Canton Ohio

Are we overmedicating our kids? Do parents today expect their children to be perfectly behaved adults by age 8, and, if they're not, do we look for a magic pill to make them act the way we want?

Kids who would once have been termed "rambunctious" are now diagnosed with one disorder or another, and in many cases, drugs are prescribed to settle them down.

Does your youngster talk too much? Have trouble concentrating on his school work? Spend too much time thinking about a computer game or TV show and not enough on his homework?

Don't worry. There's a professional somewhere who would be happy to declare your child suffering from some condition, for which, of course, there is a powerful drug to combat it.

TRUE STORY

Consider this:

Six years ago, my daughter was attending a parochial school in a Cleveland suburb. Mary was not doing well. Her grades were abysmal and the principal suggested that she suffered from ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She urged us to take Mary to a psychologist and get treatment.

So we did.

The psychologist referred us to a psychiatrist, who wanted to place Mary on some hardcore psychotropic drugs.

I wouldn't let her. The "symptoms" that she recited to us - Mary's inability to focus on her schoolwork and her obsession with things of interest to her - seemed to me to be the normal tendency of a child. I felt she just needed to be redirected a bit. A lot of successful people did a lot of daydreaming when they were children, I believe.

So we bid farewell to the shrink and instead transferred Mary to another school - a public school - and an amazing thing happened.

Mary got all "A's" and "B's." And has ever since.

And all without drugs.

AN EPIDEMIC?

In Tuesday's Repository, a story headlined, "Are more kids bipolar? Study points to surge; experts doubt 'epidemic'," revealed that there has been a huge increase in the number of U.S. children diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But, the story went on to say, "experts question whether the surge is real and say some kids have been mislabeled. ... The jump coincided with children's rising use of antipsychotic medicine."

Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute suggests that heavy marketing of psychiatric drugs could have contributed to the surge.

Mike Johnson, CEO of Child and Adolescent Service Center in Canton, which provides mental-health care for children, said that of 100 youngsters preliminarily diagnosed with ADHD for whom medication was urged, only 40 actually had the disorder. The rest were basically ordinary kids acting like, well, kids.

I believe too many parents want an easy way out. Instead of providing discipline in the home, teaching a child right from wrong, taking the time to talk to them and guide them on the right path, we want a pill that will keep them quiet and out of our hair.

And what does all this medication do to these kids when they finally reach their teens?

A frightening question, indeed.

Food additives may cause problems misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD

This is a case where children's behavior deteriorates due to something they ate, something that is essentially acting as a poison. This decline in behavior is then diagnosed as a disease. This is a misdiagnosis, but the report doesn't make the connection. As seen on Reuters See also the WSJ Health Blog report

Certain artificial food colorings and other additives can worsen hyperactive behaviors in children aged 3 to 9, British researchers reported on Wednesday.

Tests on more than 300 children showed significant differences in their behavior when they drank fruit drinks spiked with a mixture of food colorings and preservatives, Jim Stevenson and colleagues at the University of Southampton said.

"These findings show that adverse effects are not just seen in children with extreme hyperactivity (such as ADHD) but can also be seen in the general population and across the range of severities of hyperactivity," the researchers wrote in their study, published in the Lancet medical journal.

Stevenson's team, which has been studying the effects of food additives in children for years, made up two mixtures to test in one group of 3-year-olds and a second group of children aged 8 and 9.

They included sunset yellow coloring, also known as E110; carmoisine, or E122; tartrazine, or E102; ponceau 4R, or E124; the preservative sodium benzoate, or E211; and other colors.

One of the two mixtures contained ingredients commonly drunk by young British children in popular drinks, they said. They did not specify what foods might include the additives.

Both mixtures significantly affected the older children. The 3-year-olds were most affected by the mixture that closely resembled the average intake for children that age, Stevenson's team reported.

"The implications of these results for the regulation of food additive use could be substantial," the researchers concluded.

ONGOING DEBATE

The issue of whether food additives can affect children's behavior has been controversial for decades.

Benjamin Feingold, an allergist, has written books arguing that not only did artificial colors, flavors and preservatives affect children but so did natural salicylate compounds found in some fruits and vegetables.

Several studies have contradicted this notion.

Stevenson's team made up several batches of fruit drinks and carefully watched the children after they drank them. Some did not contain the additives.

The children varied in their responses but in general reacted poorly to the cocktails, Stevenson's team reported.

"We have found an adverse effect of food additives on the hyperactive behavior of 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children," they wrote.

Dr. Sue Baic, a registered dietitian at the University of Bristol, said in a statement: "This is a well designed and potentially very important study."

"It supports what dietitians have known for a long time, that feeding children on diets largely consisting of heavily processed foods which may also be high in fat, salt or sugar is not optimal for health."

[...]

Another Psychiatrist Under Investigation Closes Office

From WKRC TV Local 12 in Cincinatti Ohio

A local psychiatrist shuts down his office while state officials are taking a serious look at the way he does business.

Local 12 has learned that, for the last few weeks, investigators from the Kentucky State Medical Board have been looking at the practices of Covington psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Rank.

Allegations have been made against Rank that he over medicates patients, and it's not the first time he's come up on charges.

Local 12's Rich Jaffe says the sudden closing of Rank's store front operation, has left some of his patients wondering what they don't know about their doctor.

Jerry Black showed up today at 12 West Pike Street in Covington, expecting to see his doctor. What he found was a letter saying the office is closed.

Jerry Black, Patient: "Makes me wonder why it's closed, and he didn't tell anybody, didn't send me a letter...makes me curious what he did wrong you know..."

Until recently, Dr. Douglas Rank operated his psychiatric practice out of this store front. His attorney says he advised him to close the doors, while a number of investigations take their course.

An investigation by the Kentucky State Medical Board is based on complaints by Emily Hill that Rank gave her too many drugs. Hill says, with piles of prescriptions, she was sleeping 18 hours a day.

Emily Hill, Ex-Patient: "He just said, well you need these drugs to function, and I said, Doctor Rank I can't function like this. I feel like I'm on too many drugs and he really just kind of blew it off."

Hill's husband, who worked in Dr. Rank's office, says as soon as another doctor took his wife off her meds, she came out of her zombie-like state.

Robert Hill, Patient's Husband: "She starts coming back, recovering, she starts to be the Emily I used to know, and I thought, well gosh, I've got some problems with this you know."

Douglas Rank has been brought up on charges by the Kentucky Medical Board before. In May of 2000, he admitted to having a sexual relationship with a patient... and in November of that year, his license was restricted because he wrote another patient 57 different prescriptions for controlled substances over a 15 month period. As a result of action in Kentucky, he had his license revoked in the state of New York, and Ohio permanently denied him a license to practice in 2003.

"The letter to Dr. Rank's patients on his door says the office is now closed, in the best interest of the patients, he lists a phone number here and since he wasn't available to talk with us on camera we decided to call that number to see what Rank was telling the people who counted on him."

"The office is closed for business in the best interest of our patients. The doctor will call in enough prescription refills for you to find alternate care."

While Rank didn't want to talk with us, a friend and self professed business partner, who's opening an outreach operation in the old office, says Dr. Rank isn't done in Northern Kentucky.

Dennis Northcutt, Noah's Ark: "He's not going to be working straight up forward with us, but he's going to be pointing me in the right direction of how I should get help for people."

Rich Jaffe, Local 12.

We wanted to interview Dr. Rank about these issues, his attorney advised him to decline. As part of his sanctions in 2001, Dr. Rank agreed to probationary terms that included "abstaining from sex with patients, continuing to receive psychiatric treatment, and participation in the Kentucky Impaired Physicians Program. He was also ordered to use a chaperon in all contacts with female patients.

Psychiatrist faces four counts of practicing despite having his license revoked

From ABC7 in Chicago

DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett announced Wednesday that Yong Soo Ha, 67, of Oakbrook Terrace, has been charged with four counts of violating the Illinois Medical Practice Act, a felony.

Ha could face up to three years in prison.

The charges stem from allegations that despite having his medical license revoked in April 2006 by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, Ha continued to practice psychiatry, treat patients and prescribe medication through April 2007, according to the State's Attorney's Office.

"If these allegations are proven to be true, not only did Mr. Ha break the law, he represented himself to his clients as someone who could help them when, in fact, he was in no position to help them at all," said Birkett in a statement.

On August 7, a warrant was issued for Ha's arrest. He was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at his home without incident.

Ha appeared in bond court Wednesday morning in front of Judge Brian Diamond. His bail is set at $100,000.

Other sources say that regulators revoked his medical license in April 2006

[...] after failure to answer allegations that he committed dishonorable, unethical, or unprofessional conduct; immoral conduct; and gross negligence in his psychiatric care and treatment of a patient.

Anna Nicole Smith Psychiatrist Khristine Eroshevich Forced to Close Office Amid Financial Woes

Well look who's back in the news. It's our favorite Hollywood Shrink, who is currently down on her luck. Be sure to check out our earlier reports on her troubles

Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, the Anna Nicole Smith pal who allegedly wrote 11 different prescriptions found in the former model's hotel room after her death, was forced to close one of her three Los Angeles-area offices last month, sources close to the doctor told FOX News.

Apparently, what was once a thriving business is now just hobbling along. Sources said Eroshevich was accustomed to seeing a few patients a day ... but now that's dwindled to a few each month.

The doctor, who is at the center of a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation, blames it on bad press and the fallout from being accused of filling a medicine cabinet on behalf of the Marilyn Monroe-wannabe pin-up girl.

Eroshevich, meanwhile, has threatened to sue any media outlet that she deems responsible for ruining her reputation.

Sources also said Eroshevich is planning to sell her Studio City, Calif., home where she was a neighbor of Smith's and move to New York. She's apparently depressed and simply wants to cut her losses.

FOX News has also learned that lawyers for Eroshevich have been in contact with the DEA. The feds have told reps for the doctor that by law they have five years to file charges against her.

On Tuesday, Eroshevich boarded a plane for the Bahamas, where she will spend a week with Smith's former companion Howard K. Stern.

[...]

SSRI anti-depressants may cause stillbirth

as seen in this report

Canadian researchers at the University of Ottawa compared the health of babies born to 972 women taking SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) with that of babies born to mothers who did not use anti-depressants.

They found that women using the drugs were twice as likely to have a stillbirth. They were also almost twice as likely to have a low birth weight baby, reported the online edition of BBC News.

Babies born to women using SSRIs were also more likely to have seizures, the study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology said.

SSRIs work by increasing levels of the mood chemical serotonin in the brain. Babies born to women using SSRIs were also more likely to have seizures, the researchers said.

"Left untreated, the physical and psychological effects of depression can lead to problems during pregnancy," said Charlotte Davies of Tommy's, the baby charity.

"Sufferers of depression are far more likely to smoke, as well as lose their appetites and in extreme cases are more likely to attempt suicide, which can all have devastating effects on mother and baby."

Whilst this study has found a correlation between SSRIs and pregnancy complications, it has in no way confirmed a clear causal effect between the two.

The researchers said women using these anti-depressants should be fully briefed about the potential risk by their physicians. Pregnant women could opt for other types of anti-depressant medication, they said.

Prozac 'found in drinking water'

Via the BBC

Traces of the antidepressant Prozac can be found in the nation's drinking water, it has been revealed.

An Environment Agency report suggests so many people are taking the drug nowadays it is building up in rivers and groundwater.

A report in Sunday's Observer says the government's environment watchdog has discussed the impact for human health.

A spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said the Prozac found was most likely highly diluted.

'Alarming'

The newspaper says environmentalists are calling for an urgent investigation into the evidence.

It quotes the Liberal Democrats' environment spokesman, Norman Baker MP, as saying the picture emerging looked like "a case of hidden mass medication upon the unsuspecting public".

He says: "It is alarming that there is no monitoring of levels of Prozac and other pharmacy residues in our drinking water."

Experts say the anti-depression drug gets into the rivers and water system via treated sewage water.

Prescriptions increase

The DWI said the Prozac (known technically as fluoxetine) was unlikely to pose a health risk as it was so "watered down".

The Observer says the revelations raise new fears over how many prescriptions for the drug are given out by doctors.

In the decade leading up to 2001, the number of prescriptions for antidepressants went up from nine million per year to 24 million per year, says the paper.

The Environment Agency report concluded that the Prozac in the water table could be potentially toxic and said the drug was a "potential concern".

The exact amount of Prozac in the nation's drinking water is not known.

Mental hospital under fire for neglect

Another mental hospital under investigation

Wisconsin's state-run Winnebago Mental Health Institute is under fire for poor patient supervision after several incidents in which patients were in jeopardy.

Poor supervision and bad judgment on the part of hospital staff are being blamed for three deaths and one rape at Winnebago, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

Almost three dozen acts of violence have been reported at Winnebago, which houses some of the state’s most severely mentally ill patients.

Among the cases recently cited is that of a 15-year-old girl with swallowing problems who, after being taken off her special diet of soft foods, choked to death on a sandwich, the newspaper said.

A 24-year-old patient collapsed and died after staff disregarded her complaints of dizziness. Another woman, who was supposed to be under constant supervision, committed suicide after she was left alone in a bathroom.

Rape is also reportedly an issue at Winnebago, which was cited for an incident in which a 13-year-old boy raped a 14-year-old girl while the two were unsupervised in a shower area.

Winnebago's director, Robert Kneepkens, told the newspaper there has been significant progress toward fixing problems of understaffing and patient neglect.

Introducing Anti-Government Phobia

Another Satirical Disease that might be coming to a shrink near you. (note the author's name Ivor E. Tower = Ivory Tower) As seen here:

This study conclusively demonstrates that unfounded fear of government is a recognizable mental illness, closely related to paranoid schizophrenia. Anti-Government Phobia (AGP) differs from most mental illnesses, however, in that it is highly infectious and has an acute onset. [...]

Having the patient committed to a qualified mental health institution is the best option for family and loved ones. For this reason, all psychiatrists and family physicians should be provided with educational materials which will help them recognize the various symptoms and warning signs accompanying onset. Since comparatively little is known about Anti-Government Phobia at the present time, a government-funded health commission should be set up to oversee, and help focus, future research.

Full satire at the link

Bipolar Diagnosis in Kids Jumps 40-Fold in 10 Years As Companies look for New Uses for Old Drugs

From this Report

The number of children in the U.S. diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness once seen mostly in adults, jumped 40-fold between 1994 and 2003, according to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

By 2003, about 1 percent of children were diagnosed, or 1,003 for every 100,000 people age 19 and younger. The adult rate almost doubled to 1,069. Nine in 10 kids diagnosed with the disorder were on at least one drug, and two-thirds took two or more, said researchers led by Mark Olfson, a psychiatrist at Columbia University in New York.

Doctors said they don't know if the rise was caused by too little diagnosis in the past, or too much now as a one-size- fits-all response to aggressive behavior. The question is sparking debate as companies such as Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. and New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. seek to market drugs for children linked to weight gain and diabetes.

``There's no question that there is misdiagnosis going on,'' said Gary Sachs, director of the bipolar and mood disorders program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, who was not involved with the study. [...]

The absolute number of children treated jumped to 800,000 from 20,000 during the 10-year study, according to data gathered from the National Center for Health Statistics survey of office visits by the researchers. The rate jumped from 25 for every 100,000 people age 19 and younger.

Manic Depression

Bipolar disorder was once known as manic depression. In classic, adult versions of the disease, people stay lodged for weeks or months in states of deep depression, then shift to a manic phase in which they sleep little, have intense energy, talk rapidly, and may engage in risky behavior.

Starting in the mid-1990s, some psychiatrists began to argue that the disorder looks different in children, who may alternate more rapidly between depression and mania. In their view, the key sign of a bipolar child is a high level of irritability and rage. The disorder has been linked to poor school performance and substance abuse.

Sachs said that one-third to one-half of patients who have been referred to his clinic with a diagnosis of bipolar turn out not to have a confirmable case. Patients treated for a diagnosis they don't have won't respond to the treatment and end up getting a lot of different medications, he said.

``They're likely to get more side effects than benefit,'' he said.

[...]

When children are misdiagnosed, the result can be dangerous, said Olfson, a psychiatrist at Columbia University. He said there are several factors that make him question the reliability of many bipolar diagnoses.

The disorder in adults is seen mostly in women, yet about two-thirds of diagnosed children are boys. Also, many children said to have bipolar were also diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, a condition that can look similar, Olfson said.

``If we're getting this wrong, if substantial numbers of kids are being misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, it can have serious consequences,'' Olfson said in an Aug. 31 telephone interview.

Medication Types

Two groups of medications are widely used in children.

Anticonvulsants, developed to treat epileptic seizures, were taken by about half of the children. Drugs in this group include Depakote made by Abbott Laboratories; Johnson & Johnson's Topomax; GlaxoSmithKline Plc's Lamictal; Novartis AG's Tegretol and Pfizer Inc.'s Lyrica and Neurontin.

None are approved by U.S. regulators for treating children with bipolar disorder. Side effects include sedation, weight gain, tremor, and, more rarely, liver and blood problems.

The expanded use of bipolar as a pediatric diagnosis has made children the fastest-growing part of the $11.5 billion U.S. market for antipsychotic drugs.

Nearly half the children took atypical antipsychotics, such as Lilly's Zyprexa, J&J's Risperdal, AstraZeneca Plc's Seroquel, Bristol-Myers' Abilify and Pfizer's Geodon. Side effects caused by this group of medications include weight gain, diabetes and hormonal irregularities.

Lilly is developing an experimental antipsychotic drug that didn't show the same side effects in the second stage of testing regularly required for regulatory clearance, the company said yesterday. That drug targets a different brain chemical than drugs now on the market.

Risperdal in Children

Risperdal was cleared for use in children ages 10 and older on Aug. 22, beating Lilly and Bristol-Myers in a push to expand use of such medicines by younger patients. Risperdal, J&J's top- seller, generated $4.2 billion last year while Lilly's Zyprexa had $4.4 billion in sales. The FDA is reviewing Zyprexa and Bristol's Abilify for teens.

Vivek Kusumakar, global head of Risperdal development for J&J, said when it was approved that the side effects must be weighed against the potentially fatal conditions it treats.

David Healy, a professor of psychological medicine at Cardiff University in Wales, said the rise in the diagnosis was unprecedented. Healy, who has served as an expert witness for lawyers suing drug companies, said he was particularly concerned that so many children were prescribed more than one drug.

``The mismatch between possible benefits and likely harms is great,'' he said.

Political threat to take new-born over fear of imaginary disease

This is an example of the the arbitrary removal of a child by government services for reasons that have nothing to do with reality. As seen in the article, the mother is well educated and well qualified. The pediatrician making the recommendation is a fruit cake misdiagnosing without having even met the mother. From this report

A pregnant woman has been told that her baby will be taken from her at birth because she is deemed capable of "emotional abuse", even though psychiatrists treating her say there is no evidence to suggest that she will harm her child in any way.

Social services' recommendation that the baby should be taken from Fran Lyon, a 22-year-old charity worker who has five A-levels and a degree in neuroscience, was based in part on a letter from a paediatrician she has never met.

Hexham children's services, part of Northumberland County Council, said the decision had been made because Miss Lyon was likely to suffer from Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy, a condition unproven by science in which a mother will make up an illness in her child, or harm it, to draw attention to herself.

Under the plan, a doctor will hand the newborn to a social worker, provided there are no medical complications. Social services' request for an emergency protection order - these are usually granted - will be heard in secret in the family court at Hexham magistrates on the same day.

From then on, anyone discussing the case, including Miss Lyon, will be deemed to be in contempt of the court.

Miss Lyon, from Hexham, who is five months pregnant, is seeking a judicial review of the decision about Molly, as she calls her baby. She described it as "barbaric and draconian", and said it was "scandalous" that social services had not accepted submissions supporting her case.

"The paediatrician has never met me," she said. "He is not a psychiatrist and cannot possibly make assertions about my current or future mental health. Yet his letter was the only one considered in the case conference on August 16 which lasted just 10 minutes."

Northumberland County Council insists that two highly experienced doctors - another consultant paediatrician and a medical consultant - attended the case conference.

The case adds to growing concern, highlighted in a series of articles in The Sunday Telegraph, over a huge rise in the number of babies under a year old being taken from parents. The figure was 2,000 last year, three times the number 10 years ago.

Critics say councils are taking more babies from parents to help them meet adoption "targets".

John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP and chairman of the Justice for Families campaign group, said the case showed "exactly what is wrong with public family law".

He added: "There is absolutely no evidence that Fran would harm her child. However, a vague letter from a paediatrician who has never met her has been used in a decision to remove her baby at birth, while evidence from professionals treating her, that she would have no problems has been ignored."

Mr Hemming was concerned that "vague assertions" of Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy - now known as "fabricated and invented illness" - had been used to remove a number of children from parents in the North-East.

Miss Lyon came under scrutiny because she had a mental health problem when she was 16 after being physically and emotionally abused by her father and raped by a stranger.

She suffered eating disorders and self-harm but, after therapy, graduated from Edinburgh University and now works for two mental health charities, Borderline and Personality Plus.

Dr Stella Newrith, a consultant psychiatrist, who treated Miss Lyon for her childhood trauma for a year, wrote to Northumberland social services stating: "There has never been any clinical evidence to suggest that Fran would put herself or others at risk, and there is certainly no evidence to suggest that she would put a child at risk of emotional, physical or sexual harm."

Despite this support, endorsed by other psychiatrists and Miss Lyon's GP, social services based their recommendation partly on a letter from Dr Martin Ward Platt, a consultant paediatrician, who was unable to attend the meeting.

He wrote: "Even in the absence of a psychological assessment, if the professionals were concerned on the evidence available that Miss Holton (as Miss Lyon was briefly known), probably does fabricate or induce illness, there would be no option but the precautionary principle of taking the baby into foster care at birth, pending a post-natal forensic psychological assessment."

Miss Lyon said she was determined to fight the decision. "I know I can be a good mother to Molly. I just want the chance to prove it," she said.

The council said the recommendation would be subject to further assessment and review. "When making such difficult decisions, safeguarding children is our foremost priority," a spokesman said.

• A recording of social workers threatening to take a newborn into care has been removed from the YouTube website after Calderdale Council in West Yorkshire started legal action, claiming the Data Protection Act was breached.

Vanessa Brookes, 34, taped social workers telling her and her husband that they would seek to place the baby, due next month, in care, while admitting there was "no immediate risk to the child."

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.

Psychotropic Drug Makers Bankroll Prescribing Shrinks Part II

Continuation of a report by Evelyn Pringle

Influence peddling in the field of psychiatry is out of control. An analysis of Minnesota disclosure records by the Pioneer Press and the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen shows that, between 2002 and 2006, 187 Minnesota doctors received payments from drug companies worth a grand total of $7.38 million.

No other field of medicine even comes close to that amount. The next highest specialty was neurology, with 99 doctors receiving $2.89 million, according to the analysis.

In psychiatry, drug makers underwrite decision makers at every level of care, according to a May 10, 2007, report by Gardiner Harris in the New York Times. "They pay doctors who prescribe and recommend drugs, teach about the underlying diseases, perform studies and write guidelines that other doctors often feel bound to follow," Mr Harris states.

He determined that, between 2000 and 2005, payments to Minnesota psychiatrists increased more than six-fold. The Times also analyzed Minnesota Medicaid records, and the report provides details on how the financial relationships between doctors and drug makers have played a major role in the growing use of atypical antipsychotics with children.

The drugs include Zyprexa, marketed by Eli Lilly; Seroquel, by AstraZeneca; Risperdal, marketed by Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen; Geodon, sold by Pfizer, and Abilify, from Bristol-Myers Squibb.

The drugs are the most powerful psychiatric drugs on the market and were FDA-approved only to treat adults with schizophrenia or adults in the manic phase of bipolar disorder.

Over the past three years, every atypical maker has come under fire for influencing doctors to prescribe the drugs off-label to children for uses never approved by the FDA, and they are all currently involved in litigation related to the illegal promotion and sales of the drugs.

A study at Columbia University on the use of antipsychotics with children found that only a small percentage of the kids on the drugs had psychotic disorders and that, most of the time, the drugs were prescribed to treat mood disorders, depression, anxiety and ADHD.

Mr Harris reports that the Minnesota psychiatrists who received the most money from the drug's makers tended to prescribe them to kids the most often. On average, psychiatrists who received at least $5,000 between 2000 to 2005 appeared to have written 3 times as many prescriptions for kids as psychiatrists who received less or no money, the Times notes.

The rising Medicaid costs for atypicals also coincides with the rising payments to doctors. For instance, Minnesota Medicaid spent roughly $521,000 in 2000 on antipsychotics for children; but in 2005, the cost was more than $7 million, or a 14-fold increase.

In June 2007, Vermont officials revealed that disclosure records in that state showed payments to psychiatrists had more than doubled in one year, from an average of $20,835 in 2005, to an average $45,692 in 2005. There, too, antipsychotics were among the highest Medicaid drug expense.

The drug makers have shrinks in their pockets all over the country. However, only 3 states, Minnesota, Vermont and Maine, have laws that require companies to disclose their payments.

The media's recent reporting that members of a Minnesota advisory panel who decide which drugs will be covered by the state's Medicaid program are on the take, adds a new chapter to an old book. This same scam has been used in states all over the country since the late 1990's, and if not for two relentless fraud investigators from Pennsylvania, the fact that the formulary committees are bought and paid for by the pharmaceutical industry might have remained a secret for all time.

The fact that drug makers were bribing state policy makers and members of advisory panels with the ultimate goal of capturing the lucrative Medicaid customer base to increase the sale of psychiatric drugs was first discovered several years ago by Allen Jones, while he was a federal fraud investigator in the Pennsylvania Office of Inspector General Bureau of Special Investigations, and Dr Stefan Kruszewski, a pediatric psychiatrist by trade, who was hired by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare to review the quality of care provided to persons covered by state programs.

According to Mr Jones, "the pharmaceutical industry has systematically infiltrated the mental health service delivery system of this nation."

"The situation uncovered in Minnesota," he says, "will be exposed in every state that demonstrates the political will to force transparency through full disclosure of industry payments to decision makers."

"Thinly veiled bribery of public officials by the pharmaceutical industry is a pervasive and deeply rooted problem," he warns.

During his investigation in Pennsylvania, Mr Jones found a drug money trail to key policy officials who controlled the Medicaid preferred drug list in that state, which eventually led him to Texas and an elaborate scheme that involved influential psychiatrists, including many who served as professors at Texas universities, and state policy officials who developed the preferred drug list known as the "Texas Medication Algorithm Project (TMAP)".

Mr Jones calls the Texas panel the "most transparent example" of industry influence, because all of the project directors had financial ties to the drug makers. It was put into effect, he says, by buying off doctors who were considered "opinion leaders" in the psychiatric field, along with state policy makers in positions of authority with control over the preferred drug lists.

For instance, Dr John Rush, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, served as the TMAP Project Co-Director with Dr Steven Shon, the Medical Director of the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Mr Jones determined that Dr Rush had received grants, research funding and served as a consultant and speaker for atypical makers Bristol-Myers, Janssen, Eli Lilly and Pfizer.

The director for the schizophrenia module was Dr Alexander Miller, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, who also served as a consultant, advisory board member and speaker for AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers, Lilly, Janssen and Pfizer.

The director of the bipolar disorder module was Dr Patricia Suppes, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, who also received grants and research funding and served as a consultant for AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers, Janssen, Lilly and Pfizer.

Other University of Texas professors who participated in the development of TMAP included psychiatrist Dr Graham Emslie, who has received grants and research support and served as a consultant and member of speakers' bureaus for atypical makers Bristol-Myers, Lilly and Pfizer.

Another professor, Dr Karen Dineen Wagner, was a member of the speakers' bureaus for Janssen, Lilly and Pfizer, and a member of a scientific advisory board for Lilly, Janssen and Pfizer and received research funding from the same 3 atypical makers and Bristol-Myers.
Once the formulary was in place in Texas, the drug makers paid Dr Shon to travel around the country to convince policy makers in other states to use the TMAP model for their Medicaid approved list. Pennsylvania adopted the program and called it PennMap.

Mr Jones found that Janssen paid for Dr Shon to fly to Pennsylvania two times, and a document he obtained shows that the grant covering Dr Shon's travel expenses was "to expand atypical usage."

The New York Times reported that some payments were made through patient advocacy groups instead of directly to state officials. In 2002, Janssen gave the Olympia, WA, chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill a grant of $15,000 to fly Dr Shon and other Texas officials to speak to state legislators about the formulary, the Times found.

While reviewing the medical care provided to patients under state care in the summer of 2002, Dr Kruszewski immediately recognized that a mass drugging-for-profit scheme involving Medicaid patients, especially children, was taking place in Pennsylvania, and that several patients had died.

In one case, where the child fortunately survived, Dr Kruszewski found that the girl had been placed on 11 psychiatric drugs at the same time, including 5 antipsychotics, without ever being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder. She exhibited impulsive behaviors and was mentally disabled, but there was nothing in the records to justify the use of all these drugs, he says.

According Dr Kruszewski, the atypicals are associated with an increased the risk of obesity which can lead to diabetes type II, hypertension, heart attacks and stroke. The weight of the girl who was on 11 drugs had ballooned from 106 pounds to 194, Dr Kruszewski found.

In reviewing patient records, he found a state-wide pattern where patients who were not mentally ill were placed on cocktails of 3 or more expensive psychiatric drugs at the same time and kept on the cocktails indefinitely and if patients experienced side effects from the original medications, more drugs were added to the mix.

The sheer greed evidenced by the mass drugging of patients on Medicaid all over the US, similar to that discovered by Dr Kruszewski in Pennsylvania, has forced state Medicaid programs to either put a stop to the drug maker's encouragement of the rampant prescribing of atypicals or go broke.

For instance, Texas Medicaid was charged nearly $15 million for antipsychotics for foster children in 2004, according to the December 2006 Special Report, "Foster Children - Texas Health Care Claims Study." In fact, Texas spent more money on antipsychotics for foster kids than any other class of drugs, and the report said, Zyprexa, Seroquel and Risperdal typically cost an average of $229 per prescription.

The report also pointed out that the drugs were not approved for children, and listed the health risks associated with the atypicals and stated, in part:

"These very powerful and expensive medications were prescribed despite a lack of studies demonstrating their safety and efficacy in children. There are questions regarding the long-term safety of these medications; documented serious side-effects include menstrual irregularities, gynecomastia, galactorrhea, possible pituitary tumors, hyperglycemia, type 2 diabetes and liver function abnormalities."

In a May 10, 2006 Press Release, Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn said she was "particularly concerned" about the use and side effects of the atypical antipsychotic drugs.

"A clear pattern of overmedication and potential misdiagnosis of foster children is evident," she said and the "potential for Medicaid fraud and the possibility of long-term health problems in these children is alarming."

A USA TODAY study of FDA data from 2000 to 2004 found 45 pediatric deaths in which atypicals were the primary suspect, with at least six related to diabetes and other causes ranged from heart and pulmonary problems to suicide, choking and liver failure.

A 15-year-old boy died of an overdose, an 8-year-old boy died of cardiac arrest, a 13-year-old girl experienced diabetic ketoacidosis, a deficiency of insulin, and the youngest death was a 4-year-old boy whose symptoms suggested diabetes complications, who was also taking 10 other drugs.

A July 29, 2007, report by Robert Farley in the St Petersburg Times revealed that in the last 7 years, the cost to Florida tax payers for atypicals prescribed to children jumped nearly 500%, from $4.7 million to $27.5 million, and on average in 2006, it cost the state nearly $1,800 for each child on atypicals.

Mr Farley reported that last year, more than 18,000 kids on Medicaid were prescribed antipsychotics including 1,100 under the age of 6 and some as young as 3, even though guidelines from the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration say children younger than 6 should generally not be given psychotropic drugs and they should "only be considered under the most extraordinary of circumstances."

According to Mr Jones, these new "miracle" drugs have proven to be no better than generics, and, "it is a statistical certainty that many lives have been lost and many others irreparably damaged."

In September 2005, the New England Journal of Medicine, reported that although Zyprexa was the most expensive and most prescribed antipsychotic, it was the only atypical that worked slightly better than the 40-year-old generic drug, perphenazine, but the NEJM also noted that Zyprexa had more side effects. The cost for a 3 month supply of Zyprexa in September, 2005 at drugstore.com, was $1,500, while a 3 month supply of perphenazine was only $135.

And the atypical drugging for profit scheme is not limited to the Medicaid population. An analysis revealed in March 2006 by investment firm CIBC World Markets showed that in the previous 12 months, the top 20 drugs in managed care spending included Zyprexa with $2.6 billion, Seroquel at $2.5 billion, and Risperdal was $2.2 billion.

The corrupt psychiatrists in Minnesota and other states might want to think about what is happening to "professionals" who were involved in similar behavior in Pennsylvania and Texas.

In Pennsylvania, the state Ethics Commission determined that Pfizer operated its own "Advisory Boards," comprised exclusively of formulary committee chairmen from various states who received honorariums and all-expense-paid trips from Pfizer at the same time they were evaluating Pfizer drugs for use in state mental health systems.

The Commission determined that Steven Fiorello, Director of the Pharmacy Services in the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in Pennsylvania, and Chairman of the Formulary Committee, had used his office to obtain private pecuniary benefits for his participation in Pfizer's advisory board meetings in New York when he received honoraria for his participation in the meetings, as well as for his presentations at conferences in Orlando, Florida and Dublin, Ireland.

Mr Jones found that Mr Fiorello traveled to Pfizer's world headquarters in Manhattan 3 times to participate in advisory board meetings, with all expenses paid for by Pfizer, including lodging at Manhattan's Millennium Hotel and he was paid an honorarium of $1,000 for attending each meeting.

The Commission also found a number of additional violations, including Mr Fiorello's receipt of honoraria from other companies for whom he made presentations in connection with his public employment, and ordered Mr Fiorello to make restitution of $27,268.50 and referred the case to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Public Corruption Unit.

On November 21, 2006, Mr Fiorello was charged with two counts of conflicts of interest, one count of accepting honoraria and one count of failing to disclose income on annual Statements of Financial Interests. In a press release, Pennsylvania's Attorney General stated: "As part of his responsibilities, Fiorello served on a committee that decided which drugs would be used for mental health treatment in all state hospitals - decisions which guided more than $9 million in annual drug purchases by the Commonwealth."

He also noted that, "while Fiorello was helping to guide the purchase of various drugs by the Department of Public Welfare, he was also paid more than $12,000 by drug companies for appearances, speeches and presentations, as well as service on a drug company advisory board."

Down in Texas, Dr Shon was fired last fall after the state's attorney general found that Janssen had improperly influenced him to list Risperdal on the state formulary. An October 9, 2006, letter to Dr Shon from Dr Charles Bell, acting commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, obtained by the Austin American-Statesman states: "It is my determination that your services are no longer required by the Department."

"I am, therefore, terminating you as the Medical Director for Behavioral Health effective immediately," Dr Bell wrote.

In addition, Texas is now closely monitoring the prescribing of psychiatric drugs to Medicaid patients, and several psychiatrists have been ordered to reimburse the state for the cost of the drugs they prescribed to foster children.

Texas and Pennsylvania have also recently filed Medicaid fraud lawsuits against the makers of Zyprexa, Risperdal and Seroquel, seeking to recoup the cost of the drugs prescribed to Medicaid patients, as well as the medical care for persons injured by the drugs.

Texas Medical Board suspends license of Psychiatrist Sergio Silva for cocaine use.

From this report in the American Statesman newspaper

An Austin psychiatrist whose license was suspended last fall after a boy he was treating was hospitalized has acknowledged using cocaine but wants to practice again, according to a new order from the Texas Medical Board.

The board last week acted again in the case of Dr. Sergio Silva, indefinitely suspending him from practice and stipulating that he not seek reinstatement before May 11. To regain his license, Silva would have to prove that he can safely practice.

Silva did not respond to a request seeking an interview Friday but said through his attorney, Penny Hobbs of Austin, that the "case was contested" and that the board's latest order represents a compromise.

"He's not admitting or denying" what is outlined in the order, which Silva signed, Hobbs said. "It's a mechanism for him, hopefully, to get his license back someday."

Silva has not practiced since September, when the board temporarily suspended him not only for his treatment of the 7-year-old boy but also for mishandling the care of a housemate. The housemate overdosed on drugs that Silva prescribed, the board determined. It also sanctioned Silva for interfering with that patient's care to the point of losing hospital privileges, for failing to return phone calls to patients and for missing appointments.

In the case of the 7-year-old, the boy's mother told Silva that the child was getting worse while on the Prozac and Strattera that Silva had prescribed. He accused the mother of not complying with his medication orders. Later, he boosted the dosage, which led to the child's hospitalization.

Silva later filed a complaint against the mother with Child Protective Services.

The new order says that from Jan. 8 to 12, Silva took part in the "psychiatric and addictive disease evaluations" at Talbott Recovery Campus in Atlanta. Silva indicated that he had been following a 12-step program since Jan. 22, the order said. Talbott did not recommend that Silva be allowed to resume his psychiatric practice, the order said. It said a Jan. 11 drug screen of his hair was positive for cocaine and two substances involved in cocaine metabolism.

Hobbs declined to comment on specifics in the order.

[...]

The report mentions nothing about possible criminal charges for the cocaine possession.

Woman in police standoff was on Anti-Depressants

We have this report from Washington County in Wisconsin

A Jackson woman who threatened to shoot herself last week and eventually surrendered to a Sheriff's Department SWAT team after an eight-hour siege has been charged with second degree reckless endangerment and failing to comply with an officer, both felonies.

According to a criminal complaint, the Washington County Sheriff's Department unit was called to the home of Edna F. Markowski, 57, at about 10:15 p.m. on Aug. 19 after she threatened to kill herself with a pistol.

Markowski told police she had taken some anti-depressant medication and that she had an abundance of ammunition for the gun, according to the complaint.

Officers, protected by shields, entered the house and saw Markowski lying on a bed. She pointed the pistol at members of the team and then closed the bedroom door, at which point the officers retreated, the complaint says.

Markowski eventually came out of the house on her own at about 6 a.m., according to the complaint.

If convicted, Markowski could be imprisoned 18 years and 6 months.

Attorney for the actor says Owen Wilson had been taking antidepressants

Anti-depressants are well known for destructive side effects. So when actor Owen Wilson as admitted to the hospital, I was expecting them to show up. Finally here is the news tidbit I was expecting, from MSNBC

Police were called to Owen Wilson’s house after the actor slit his wrists. However, contrary to other reports, there was no drug overdose, an attorney for Wilson told “Access Hollywood.”

The attorney also told “Access” that the actor did not have his stomach pumped. The attorney said Wilson had been taking antidepressants, but was not aware of any other drugs in his system at the time of the incident.

While rumors quickly swirled over what sent the actor to the hospital, police call logs confirmed on Tuesday it was an “attempted suicide.” However, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office has announced it will not be releasing the 911 call made regarding Wilson.

Paxil implicated in another murder

From the Nevada County Local News section of the Union newspaper

The murder trial of Richard Williams, accused of killing his estranged wife with a nail gun, is postponed as the court addresses several motions - including the defense attorney's push to exclude testimony from Williams' jail mates, as well as a possible conflict of interest.

According to court records, defense attorney Stephen Munkelt wants to prevent prosecutors from calling former Grass Valley residents Frank Zupan and Larry Watson to the stand during the trial.

For the prosecutors, the testimony of Zupan and Watson is expected to cast doubt on Williams' "unconsciousness" defense: He allegedly killed his wife and attempted to kill himself as a result of withdrawal from the anti-depressant drug Paxil, according to court records.

[...]