Psych Observer – Exposing Bad Psychiatry

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

A criminal investigation has begun into the death of a patient on a waiting room floor at a city-run psychiatric hospital in Brooklyn last year, the Brooklyn district attorney said on Tuesday.

The district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, said that a grand jury had begun an inquiry into the death of Esmin Green, 49, who died early on June 19, 2008, about 24 hours after arriving by ambulance at Kings County Hospital Center’s psychiatric emergency room, where doctors said she was schizophrenic and ordered her to be involuntarily committed.

According to hospital protocol, Ms. Green should have been given a medical examination before she was admitted.

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Feb 4 2009  Birmingham Post

A mental health patient walked out of a Birmingham psychiatric hospital unchallenged with a door security pass belonging to a member of staff.

But West Midlands Police have revealed that the teenager was only reported missing two days later on Sunday morning.

He had used the swipe card to calmly pass through a number of electronically controlled doors and out of the intensive care unit in Edgbaston on Friday and was finally tracked down in Sparkhill by police on Monday afternoon.

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* Story Highlights
* Atypical antipsychotic drugs associated with higher risk of sudden cardiac death
* Atypicals were thought to be safer than older, so-called “typical” antipsychotics
* Three atypical antipsychotics are among the 10 top-selling drugs worldwide
* About 325,000 people in the U.S. die of sudden cardiac death each year

By Anne Harding

Susan Craig’s brother Roger died of a pulmonary embolism in 2007, at age 38. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in high school, he had been on antipsychotic drugs for years. At the time of his death, he was carrying 280 pounds on his 6-foot-4-inch frame.

Craig, a public relations specialist who works at Columbia University in New York City, knew that Roger’s medications could cause weight gain. But she had never been told that the drugs he was taking might be harming his heart.

“We were never counseled by his psychiatrist or his primary care provider to watch for symptoms of heart disease or any risk of sudden death at all,” Craig says. There’s no evidence that Roger’s medications caused his death, but his family might have been able to get him help sooner if they had known about the risks, Craig explains.
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I guess Janssen ’s Haldol and Risperdal doesn’t truly cure schizophrenia after all so they need to create more phony drugs to beguile the public into believing that they have a cure for their so called mental illnesses.  Get ready for more drug commercials advertisements in the future  folks!

Jan 9 (Reuters) – Vanderbilt University will team up with Johnson & Johnson to develop new drugs to treat schizophrenia, according to a media report.

The Tennessee university will receive about $10 million from J&J over the next three years, plus as much as $100 million in additional payments if it meets certain research milestones, the Wall Street Journal said.

The deal is scheduled to be announced Friday, the paper said.
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By Martha Rosenberg
If 100 million Americans have high cholesterol and only 8 million have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, how can AstraZeneca’s Seroquel, not cholesterol pill Crestor, be its second best selling pill?

Right after its number one pill, the Purple Performer Nexium?

Can anyone say disease mongering?

For years, AstraZeneca has tried to convince depressed people they are really bipolar and need to take the atypical antipsychotic Seroquel (quetiapine fumarate) which is only approved for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

“Is It Really Depression or Could It Be Bipolar Disorder?”  trumpet the ads, urging unaware victims to take a Symptom Quiz and find out how sick they really are.

Full color spreads run in general interest magazines showing a rampaging woman her mouth contorted – think female Dark Knight – asking readers is this you?

“Are there periods of time when you have racing thoughts? Fly off the handle at little things? Spend out of control? Need less sleep? Feel irritable? You may need treatment for bipolar disorder.”

Now the FDA says AstraZeneca can not – repeat not – market Seroquel for depression.

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Submitted by DannyHaszard on August 22, 2008 – 12:33pm.

Eli Lilly sells a drug that can cause diabetes and then turn a profit on the drugs that treat the condition that they may have caused in the first place! Zyprexa is the product name for Olanzapine,it is Lilly’s top selling drug.It was approved by the FDA in 1996 ,an ‘atypical’ antipsychotic a newer class of drugs without the motor side effects of the older Thorazine.
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For almost every behavioural issue, these days there’s a medicine to treat it

Roger Dobson reports
Tuesday, 3 June 2008

Spending too much time on the internet? Worried about a low sex drive, shyness or lack of social skills? Or do you lose your temper too easily, blush too readily or spend too much time and money shopping?

Time was when such behaviours might have been regarded as individual differences, or put down to lack of self control and restraint. But not any more. Increasing numbers of behavioural conditions are being treated with drug therapy. Bereavement issues, blushing, low sex drive, high sex drive, sex addiction, lack of orgasm, gambling, fear of public speaking, stealing, domestic violence and phobias are all being targeted with drugs that are either in clinical trials or already available.

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Lori Matthews | American Chronicle
Studies have shown that fish oil may make significant improvements on the mental health of people. The active ingredients are needed for the brain to function properly and have a good overall health.

Fish oil is commonly known as Omega-3. It contains EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid and DHA or docosahexaenoic acid. The key stabilizing element in fish oil is EPA. Taking fish oil in supplement form may be healthier than consuming it through fish because all of the toxins of a fish are taken away when the fish oil liquid or capsules are created. Many people don´t eat enough fish or like it so supplementation is preferred.

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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.

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