In light of recently released evidence that some drug makers have gone to great lengths to turn scientific articles into marketing vehicles for their products, some influential medical editors are cracking down on industry-financed ghostwriting. And they are getting help from some members of Congress.
New research shows that antidepressants are now the most widely prescribed drugs in the country. According to a report in the August issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, a journal of the American Medical Association, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of antidepressants since l996. It’s not only stressed out middle-aged folks being treated for problems caused by supposed depression, either. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the new study is that it shows a broad expansion in the patient population being put on these drugs — starting with children as young as six.
The journal Archives of General Psychiatry will “look into” whether an author who recommended antidepressants for preschoolers failed to disclose her financial ties to Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Shire, companies which make such drugs, according to Philip Dawdy of Furious Seasons.
The National Perinatal Depression Plan announced in the recent budget proposes to introduce routine screening during pregnancy and after birth. But the researchers say there is little evidence to support such interventions, with screening tools producing high rates of false positives and negatives for depression.
[Unbelievable as it may sound, psychiatrists are now advocating electroshock treatment for pregnant woman and their unborn children. Visit our webpage on the MOTHERS Act to see how psycho/pharma industry is pushing Congress to pass legislation that will get more pregnant women and nursing mothers on drugs
https://www.cchrint.org/cchr-issues/the-mothers-act/]
ECT, which involves an electric current that induces a seizure in the brain, has been “long regarded as a safe and effective treatment for severe depression in pregnancy,” the guidelines say. It may be particularly help for for women who aren’t helped by medication, or when a disorder is life-threatening. It doesn’t appear to be harmful to either the mother-to-be or the unborn children when they are carefully monitored, according to the guidelines.