BusinessWeek had a wonderful cover article last week about the myth of evidence-based medicine, as Dr. David Eddy has spent a career in illustrating to other doctors and anybody else who will listen. As noted below, somewhere in the range of 20-25% of our medicine practices are evidence-based — that is, there is strong objective […]

This recently came across my desk via the medical web list, and I thought it might be interesting to those who track the intersection of health and wikis:
The Clinical Informatics Wiki — Clinfowiki
http://www.informatics-review.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
RHIO Wiki: The Only Online, Real-time Forum on RHIOs and Health Information Exchanges
http://www.rhiowiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Home_Page
Child and Youth Mental Health Wiki:
A Pilot Project Wiki Sante mentale […]

Psychiatric drugs fare favorably when companies pay for studies
You may have missed this last week, as I did, that yet another study confirms the bias in clinical drug trials as favoring the company who pays for the study.

Drug companies fund a growing number of the studies in leading psychiatric journals, and drugs fare much better […]

Teens’ Heavy Cellphone Use Could Signal Unhappiness, Study Finds
The Los Angeles Times reports on a bogus study:

A survey of 575 South Korean high school students found that the top third of users — students who used their phones more than 90 times a day — frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. They […]

Botox Appears to Ease Depression Symptoms
This is fascinating finding, because, as the article suggests, perhaps it is the physical act of smiling (or being able to smile) that can change one’s mood as readily as any antidepressant. Smile more and your mood will improve naturally.
Therapists have long encouraged their clients to do things that didn’t […]

The first generic version of Lexapro, one of the most widely prescribed antidepressants, with more than $2 billion in sales last year, received federal approval Monday.
Ivax Corp. of Miami, part of Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., becomes the first company cleared to make a generic version of the prescription drug, according to the Web site […]

Federal advisers back cervical cancer vaccine
Cancer is a debilitating physical illness, but it also has a devastating impact on a person’s emotional health and well-being. Among women with cancer, cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer. If a woman gets this diagnosis, it can be the worst day of her life.
New hope comes […]

Viewed 3249 Times is a powerful self-portrait posted to Flickr along with stigma-busting facts about mental health.

By the time I upload this photo, more than 3249 people will have seen it. It’s always been my hope that one day, through my art, I would be able to beat the stigma of mental illness, one […]

A recent Newsweek article titled Not Always ‘The Happiest Time’ looks at pregnancy and depression. Although roughly 20% of pregnant women suffer depression (comparable to the general population) it may be overlooked due to assumptions that pregnancy makes you happy or somehow wards against depression.
Even as postpartum depression has become morning-television fodder, the problem […]

It’s all about me: Why e-mails are so easily misunderstood | csmonitor.com
The Christian Science Monitor has a great article that describes the difficulty with online communication:

Though e-mail is a powerful and convenient medium, researchers have identified three major problems. First and foremost, e-mail lacks cues like facial expression and tone of voice. That makes it […]

How “Daddy” affects your job
Successes or failures of employees in the workplace can be traced to what kind of father they had, a psychologist argues in a new book.
In “The Father Factor,” Stephan Poulter lists five styles of fathers — super-achieving, time bomb, passive, absent and compassionate/mentor — who have powerful influences on the careers […]

William E. Pelham, Jr., Ph.D., professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry at the University at Buffalo and one of the leading experts in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, has received a total of $5.8 million to begin two new studies of treatment approaches for the condition.
The Centers for Disease Control […]