One from the archives, July 2007.
This is the first entry in a series on the implications of psychologists pursuing prescription privileges. What those implications are exactly, is far from clear — they ought to be examined very closely. Others in the series include:
Prescription Privileges for Psychologists: An Intro to “Pro” Arguments
Presciptive Authority: Strong Arguments
Here’s a [...]
Read Full Post »
Here’s a fascinating behavioral account (decisions are not logical they are psychological) of how people decide whether to donate their organs or not. It’s written by Dan Ariely who calls himself a “behavioral economist” and touts his ideas in his book Predictably Irrational.
His hypothesis is that when faced with a difficult emotional we tend to [...]
Read Full Post »
Dr. Steven Reisner is running for American Psychological Association (APA) president. The main thrust of his campaign is that psychologists should not be involved in torture in any way. Here is the beginning of his platform statement:
I am seeking nomination for President of the American Psychological Association because I believe that the APA must take [...]
Read Full Post »
The New York Times ran an article on doctor’s beginning to reject industry pay. The article begins: “With little fanfare, a small number of prominent academic scientists have made a decision that was until recently all but unheard of. They decided to stop accepting payments from food, drug and medical device companies.” Here’s one [...]
Read Full Post »
This past Friday Carlat had a great post listing a number of blows to unscrupulous marketing.
Editorial comment — Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA):
“The profession of medicine, in every aspect — clinical, education, and research — has been inundated with profound influence from the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. This has occurred because physicians have [...]
Read Full Post »
Christopher Lane, author of Shyness: How Normal Behavior Became a Sickness, was recently interviewed by the Chicago Tribune. I got this courtesy of Ken Pope. Here’s how the interview ended:
Q: The diagnosis “social anxiety disorder” opened up a huge new market
for drug companies marketing SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake
inhibitors). What happened?
A: Basically, as soon as SmithKline [...]
Read Full Post »
I chanced upon a blog, Candid psychiatrist: giving contemporary psychiatry the good spanking it deserves. I found therein an interesting essay entitled “The Psychiatrist Cop” that begins:
Years ago it dawned on me that part of my job has nothing whatsoever to do with addressing the clinical complaints of my patients, but rather with enforcing the [...]
Read Full Post »
Interrogation update. From Ken Pope (italics and bold, mine): California Senate Bill SJR 19 includes a measure that “would request the United States Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency to remove all California-licensed health professionals from participating in prisoner and detaineeinterrogations.” The bill is scheduled for a vote tomorrow on the senate [...]
Read Full Post »
Straight from Dr. Carlat’s psychiatry blog. A plea for doctors to resist the trend in drug company marketing. This reminds me of another campaign that offered doctors “amnesty” offering to take all the drug company pens they own. That website is called “No Free Lunch”. Why write about this at all? Because as prescription rights [...]
Read Full Post »
That’s the title (the second part) of a New York Times editorial from April 4. Considering the American Psychological Association’s (APA) stance on torture, this has considerable significance for psychologists. Psychologists are not completely banned from engaging in torture in the current APA ethics code. One argument is that psychologists in the military must follow [...]
Read Full Post »
