In a rare behind-the-scenes disclosure (due to a lawsuit), the public is seeing for one of the first times the degree and depth some pharmaceutical companies will go to in order to publish positive results about their drug. Using the same peer-review process that is supposed to prevent abuses by researchers and drug companies and […]

Where would we be without economic researchers to tell us the price of things without context? Probably happier.
If you didn’t know what the average car cost and I try and sell you a Honda for $100,000, you might believe it’s worth it. If you learn most people drive a Honda costing around $20,000, then you […]

An experimental drug, called CP-316, 311 and made by Pfizer, was as effective as placebo (a sugar pill) in its initial clinical trials. At the interim analysis to determine efficacy, the researchers found the drug not to be working to help people with depression, and so the trial was terminated. CP-316, 311 is a selective […]

The Infinite Mind is a long-running weekly public radio show about health issues, psychology and the mind in society, produced by Lichtenstein Creative Media and hosted by Dr. Fred Goodwin. Dr. Fred Goodwin is a Professor of Psychiatry and Director of The Center on Neuroscience, Medical Progress, and Society at The George Washington University Medical […]

Is Prozac (fluoxetine) a good long-term treatment for children and teens grappling with depression to help prevent relapse?
According to a study published in this month’s American Journal of Psychiatry, the answer appears to be, “Yes.”
The researchers examined 168 children and adolescents ages 7 to 18. The study looked at whether or not a person relapsed, […]

What is Pristiq (desvenlafaxine)? The newest antidepressant approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which will hit the U.S. market in a few months. Pristiq is a drug similar in composition to Wyeth’s existing antidepressant, Effexor XR (which loses its patent protection in 2010, 2 years from now). It is Wyeth’s hope that […]

Pages: 1 2 Next »     Single Page Back when I was growing up in the early 1960s, there was a popular song out by Bobby Vee, called “Devil or Angel”. I believe it contained lyrics along the lines of, “Dear, whichever you are, I need you.” The title of the song might […]

Meta-analyses are great research tools, because they allow researchers to look at data across large sets of data published by multiple studies, and see if there are more powerful (or less powerful) effects that no single study has found on its own.
So it’s always interesting to read something that a meta-analysis finds in the data […]

A lot has been written in the past week guessing as to whether Prozac, a commonly-prescribed 20-year-old antidepressant, had any connection to the violence that Steven Kazmierczak (the NIU murderer) perpetrated. Kazmierczak was reportedly previously taking Prozac (usually prescribed for depression), but had stopped taking it 3 weeks prior to the murders.
USA Today has some […]

If your profit margins depends on a supposedly “gold standard” objective scientific process, guess how long it will take before you start imagining ways that process could be manipulated?
If you answered, “Not very,” you’d be right.
The process is peer-reviewed journal articles, of course, which are the “gold standard” for health care research. The theory […]

Dr. Cliff Arnall based his findings that January 21st will be the most depressing day on a special formula that he developed, which takes into account 3 factors; the weather, failed new years resolutions and consumer debt from holiday spending. However, a writer over at the Time website has findings of his own.
Bill […]

While 40% of our happiness (or unhappiness) is due to our own actions, 50% is set by our genes, and another 10% is unaccounted for, at least that’s what psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky says in her new book The How of Happiness. She also notes, “Antidepressants don’t make people happier; they just decrease negative […]