Posted by med_empowered on February 18, 2005, at 13:16:52
In reply to The influence of the pharmaceutical industry, posted by ed_uk on February 18, 2005, at 10:01:19
I think everyone, especially everyone who posts on this board, should read MAD IN AMERICA. In the few published reviews it got, it was totally trashed by dogmatic psychiatrists like E. Fuller Torrey (the STAUNCH advocate of making it easier to hospitalize people against their will in the US)...that said, the data is sound (in addition to my sociology major, I do a lot statistics in college right now, so I checked this stuff out) and the information is AMAZING...for instance:
1) The FDA has PROHIBITED the Risperdal people from advertising their product as superior to older drugs. Why? THe comparison studies were highly flawed, using excessive amounts of Haldol (known to cause all kinds of problems) as a control. Of all the "atypicals," available data seems to suggest the Risperdal is the most likely to cause EPS and tardive dyskinesia.
2) Lobotomy is back! "Refined" versions of brain hacking (ummm..."neurosurgery") popped up in the late 40s, early 50s...with the fall of lobotomy, these "targeted" procedures, which often involve burning lesions into brain tissue, have been used on a very small number of patients in the US and an untold number abroad.
Really, its an awesome book.
poster:med_empowered
thread:459814
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050217/msgs/459961.html