Monthly Archives: July 2010

SSRIs Render Unfriendly Skies—FOIA documents reveal what FAA failed to consider in allowing pilots on antidepressants to fly

The SSRI antidepressant makers are desperate to find new customers, so they recently have been focusing on capturing groups for which the drugs were usually considered off limits. The latest marketing coup managed to open up sales to roughly 614,000 American pilots. Under a new policy announced on April 5, 2010, pilots diagnosed with depression can seek permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to take one of four SSRIs, including Eli Lilly’s Prozac, Pfizer’s Zoloft, and Forest Laboratories’ Celexa and Lexapro.

The Huffington Post—Life is Not a Mental Disorder

The Bible (or really any religious text) can be made to say and mean anything the author wishes. The “Bible” of psychiatry, that fabled and hoary text, the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders written by the American Psychiatric Association), is no different. Conceived as an instrument to identify and help heal disorders of the mind, it has morphed as to both form and function.

Pfizer Makes Bank from DrugsThat Can Kill You—To say Pfizers been accused of wrongdoing is like saying BP had an oil spill

The drug company Pfizer is best known for Lipitor, a drug that brings cholesterol down and Viagra, a drug that brings other things up. But the “world’s largest research-based pharmaceutical company” which sits between Goldman Sachs and Marathon Oil on the Fortune 500, is also closely associated with a seemingly never-ending series of scandals.

Heavy Doses—Drug Company J&J Pays Docs Millions for “speaking & consulting gigs”

Speaking and consulting gigs for drug companies can be lucrative for doctors. Birmingham, Alabama, psychiatrist James E. Parker was paid more than $21,000 in speaking fees between January and March by a Johnson & Johnson company that sells mental health drugs.

The Daily Mail: Fussy eaters could be classified as having an ‘Eating Disorder’ in new psychiatric manual (DSM)

They are the nightmare guests at dinner parties. But picky eaters have no control over what they like and could be suffering from an eating disorder, according to psychologists. US researchers are considering giving picky eaters an official classification for the first time and plan to put them in the same bracket as those who have anorexia and bulimia.