Popular on Amzeal
- From Courtroom to Coinstore: Gram Trading Launches, Marking Lantah's Defiant Trademark Victory
- Generative AI University and Small Business Results Unite to Help Entrepreneurs Optimize Marketing and Growth
- Letters Of Hope ! Postal Apocalypse #LettersOfHope
- New Automated Platform Expands VSA's Omnichannel Capabilities
- Unmissable Lease-to-Own Opportunity: Luxury Home in Rotonda West with a Thriving Airbnb Business
- THINKWARE Announces Labor Day Dash Cam Specials
- DialCare Announces New Chief Information Officer
- Tobu Railway Is Operating the "Oze Night Train 23:45" On Select Dates in August, September, and October 2024!
- EVO Solar Inverters in Stock: Celebrate the 15th Anniversary with New Product Launch
- Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology magazine is proud to announce its highly-anticipated list of the "Top 50 to Watch in Tech"
Similar on Amzeal
- College Campus Safety: The Importance of Self Defense Keychains for Women
- CCHR Seeks Redress for Those Forcibly Held and Harmed in Behavioral Facilities
- DocVilla Introduces Best All-in-One Customizable Cloud-Based EHR Practice Management Software for Multi-Specialty and Small Practices
- Sycamore Hills Dentistry Welcomes the Yomi Robot: The Future of Dental Implant Surgery
- Cooking with Claudine Re-Launches in September with Fresh, Organic, and Gluten-Free Meal Delivery in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Dr. Seth Chambers Shares Journey to Success in Implant Dentistry on Unofficial Podcast's Summer Series: "Mind, Body, & Arches"
- Health is for EveryBODY™ Campaign Partners with Chip In™
- Melanated Cares Foundation to Host 2024 Annual Camping Retreat "Melanated Campout" Powered by Winnebago Industries Foundation
- Health is for EveryBODY™ Welcomes Ciba Health as a Sponsor
- I Feel Fine coming-of-age movie set for release on National Suicide Prevention Day
Study Questions Serious Flaws in $35 Million Antidepressant Research
Amzeal News/10558821
CCHR says millions of taxpayer dollars are wasted on psychotropic drug research later found to be flawed and harmful to consumers
LOS ANGELES - Amzeal -- Researchers have reanalyzed data from a $35 million U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study, challenging its conclusions and raising further concerns about flaws in antidepressant research. Published in BMJ, the study debunks the 2006 Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study, which claimed a 67% depression remission rate for antidepressants. Instead, it suggests a success rate of only 35%—only half of what was previously thought—questioning past psychiatric research and treatment decisions.[1] Indeed, other studies also indicate that antidepressants may be largely ineffective and potentially harmful. The mental health industry watchdog, Citizens Commission on Human Rights International, says this is another example of inflated results about antidepressant efficacy, which can mislead consumers into taking antidepressants and could be a driving force behind why 45 million Americans currently take the drugs.
The BMJ authors concluded that "STAR*D's cumulative remission rate was approximately half of that reported" originally and response rates were significantly inflated.
In an article in the Psychiatric Times titled "The STAR*D Dethroned?," the author, John J. Miller, M.D. stated, "For us in psychiatry, if the BMJ authors are correct, this is a huge setback, as all of the publications and policy decisions based on the STAR*D findings that became clinical dogma since 2006 will need to be reviewed, revisited, and possibly retracted."
Michael P. Hengartner from the Department of Applied Psychology, Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, analyzed discontinuation trials focusing on the efficacy of antidepressants in maintenance therapy, finding them questionable. He also found that "a growing body of evidence from hundreds of randomized controlled trials suggests that antidepressants cause suicidality, but this risk is underestimated because data from industry-funded trials are systematically flawed. The strong reliance on industry-funded research results in an uncritical approval of antidepressants." The harm, he added, "is systematically underestimated."[2]
More on Amzeal News
Such potential harm was flagged in 2022 when a major study by researchers at the University College of London disproved the decades-old theory that a brain-based chemical abnormality causes depression requiring antidepressants to correct it.[3] Since the early 1990s, the industry has propagated this fabricated theory, and as lead author Professor Joanna Moncrieff, M.D. said, "The popularity of the 'chemical imbalance' theory has coincided with a huge increase in the use of antidepressants."[4]
In 2018, Prof. Moncrieff was asked to review the first reports of the primary outcome measure of STAR*D, 14 years after the study was finished. "The paper I was asked to review, which is now published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and Practice, is written by a group led by Irving Kirsch and based on the original data obtained through the NIMH."
"Whatever the reason," she said, based on the follow-up, "people taking antidepressants do not do very well. In fact, given that for the vast majority of people depression is a naturally remitting condition, it is difficult to believe that people treated with antidepressants do any better than people who are offered no treatment at all."[5]
Ed Pigott, Ph.D., added this: "Before STAR*D, I wasn't prone to believing in conspiracy theories but as we peeled back its layers I found myself spinning theories about how this study became so profoundly misrepresented given all of the actors involved (20+ top-tier researchers/NIMH), anyone of whom could have objected and 'blown the whistle;' but none did." He went a great deal further saying STAR*D's results were "falsely portrayed in ways that harm those who suffer with depression."[6]
Pigott cited Thomas Insel, head of NIMH, who observed that "The unfortunate reality is that current medications help too few people to get better and very few people to get well."
"What a sad commentary on the 50+ years of psychotropic drug research efforts," Piggot wrote.
Thirteen of the 16 authors of the original STAR*D study reported financial affiliations with numerous pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline, Organon, Pfizer, and King Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth that provided medications at no cost for this trial.[7]
More on Amzeal News
Indeed, the lead researcher was under U.S. Senate investigation in 2008 for his undisclosed conflicts of interest for reporting only $3,000 of the nearly $18,000 that Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of antidepressants, paid him in 2001. Between 2000 and 2007, he failed to report another $12,000 from various drug companies.[8] That inquiry, headed by Senator Charles Grassley, looked at seven psychiatrists who had failed to declare nearly $9.9 million between them to universities and agencies with whom they worked and who required such disclosure.[9]
Because of the serious potential harm psychotropic drugs can cause, CCHR says flawed studies should be retracted and independently investigated for consumer fraud.
About CCHR: CCHR was founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry and prolific author of books on psychiatry. It successfully campaigned for the FDA black box warning about antidepressant-induced suicide.
Sources:
[1] www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/star-d-dethroned
[2] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5725408/
[3] www.cchrint.org/2022/08/19/with-the-chemical-imbalance-myth-exposed-thats-not-all-psychiatry-got-wrong/ citing www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[4] www.cchrint.org/2022/07/22/cchr-lauds-study-disproving-chemical-imbalance-causes-depression/ citing www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11035903/Expert-says-psychiatrists-KNOW-theory-low-serotonin-levels-cause-depression-incomplete.html; www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[5] www.madinamerica.com/2018/10/results-world-largest-antidepressant-study-look-dismal/
[6] www.madinamerica.com/2011/03/%EF%BB%BFan-introduction-the-story-of-bias-in-the-stard-trial-more/
[7] John Rush, et al., "Acute and Longer-Term Outcomes in Depressed Outpatients Requiring One or Several Treatment Steps: A STAR*D Report," American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006
[8] www.cchrint.org/2010/05/21/dsm-panel-members-still-getting-pharma-funds/; globalhealth.duke.edu/news/dr-augustus-john-rush-joins-duke-nus-graduate-medical-school-vice-dean-clinical-sciences
[9] www.cchrint.org/issues/psycho-pharmaceutical-front-groups/dbsa-advisory-board/
The BMJ authors concluded that "STAR*D's cumulative remission rate was approximately half of that reported" originally and response rates were significantly inflated.
In an article in the Psychiatric Times titled "The STAR*D Dethroned?," the author, John J. Miller, M.D. stated, "For us in psychiatry, if the BMJ authors are correct, this is a huge setback, as all of the publications and policy decisions based on the STAR*D findings that became clinical dogma since 2006 will need to be reviewed, revisited, and possibly retracted."
Michael P. Hengartner from the Department of Applied Psychology, Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland, analyzed discontinuation trials focusing on the efficacy of antidepressants in maintenance therapy, finding them questionable. He also found that "a growing body of evidence from hundreds of randomized controlled trials suggests that antidepressants cause suicidality, but this risk is underestimated because data from industry-funded trials are systematically flawed. The strong reliance on industry-funded research results in an uncritical approval of antidepressants." The harm, he added, "is systematically underestimated."[2]
More on Amzeal News
- DocVilla Introduces Best All-in-One Customizable Cloud-Based EHR Practice Management Software for Multi-Specialty and Small Practices
- Life with Lucia and Glynn: A Global Duo Spreading Joy Through Matching Shirts and Adventures
- Luxury Real Estate Agent James Edmunds lists luxury beach home in the heart of Deerfield Beach
- Sycamore Hills Dentistry Welcomes the Yomi Robot: The Future of Dental Implant Surgery
- MGN Logistics, Inc. and Arvo A.I. Ltd Forge Game-Changing Partnership to Supercharge Freight Management!
Such potential harm was flagged in 2022 when a major study by researchers at the University College of London disproved the decades-old theory that a brain-based chemical abnormality causes depression requiring antidepressants to correct it.[3] Since the early 1990s, the industry has propagated this fabricated theory, and as lead author Professor Joanna Moncrieff, M.D. said, "The popularity of the 'chemical imbalance' theory has coincided with a huge increase in the use of antidepressants."[4]
In 2018, Prof. Moncrieff was asked to review the first reports of the primary outcome measure of STAR*D, 14 years after the study was finished. "The paper I was asked to review, which is now published in Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research and Practice, is written by a group led by Irving Kirsch and based on the original data obtained through the NIMH."
"Whatever the reason," she said, based on the follow-up, "people taking antidepressants do not do very well. In fact, given that for the vast majority of people depression is a naturally remitting condition, it is difficult to believe that people treated with antidepressants do any better than people who are offered no treatment at all."[5]
Ed Pigott, Ph.D., added this: "Before STAR*D, I wasn't prone to believing in conspiracy theories but as we peeled back its layers I found myself spinning theories about how this study became so profoundly misrepresented given all of the actors involved (20+ top-tier researchers/NIMH), anyone of whom could have objected and 'blown the whistle;' but none did." He went a great deal further saying STAR*D's results were "falsely portrayed in ways that harm those who suffer with depression."[6]
Pigott cited Thomas Insel, head of NIMH, who observed that "The unfortunate reality is that current medications help too few people to get better and very few people to get well."
"What a sad commentary on the 50+ years of psychotropic drug research efforts," Piggot wrote.
Thirteen of the 16 authors of the original STAR*D study reported financial affiliations with numerous pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Forest Laboratories, GlaxoSmithKline, Organon, Pfizer, and King Pharmaceuticals and Wyeth that provided medications at no cost for this trial.[7]
More on Amzeal News
- HFES Launches Refreshed Website Design for Inclusive Collaboration and Engagement
- Take care of your pregnancy health with us
- The Kendall Project Accelerating AI Roadmapping Efforts Across Key Industries
- Jenni Lee Launches Kona Houses For Sale, Offering Comprehensive Real Estate Services in Kona, Hawaii and Surrounding Areas
- Cooking with Claudine Re-Launches in September with Fresh, Organic, and Gluten-Free Meal Delivery in the San Francisco Bay Area
Indeed, the lead researcher was under U.S. Senate investigation in 2008 for his undisclosed conflicts of interest for reporting only $3,000 of the nearly $18,000 that Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of antidepressants, paid him in 2001. Between 2000 and 2007, he failed to report another $12,000 from various drug companies.[8] That inquiry, headed by Senator Charles Grassley, looked at seven psychiatrists who had failed to declare nearly $9.9 million between them to universities and agencies with whom they worked and who required such disclosure.[9]
Because of the serious potential harm psychotropic drugs can cause, CCHR says flawed studies should be retracted and independently investigated for consumer fraud.
About CCHR: CCHR was founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and the late Dr. Thomas Szasz, Professor of Psychiatry and prolific author of books on psychiatry. It successfully campaigned for the FDA black box warning about antidepressant-induced suicide.
Sources:
[1] www.psychiatrictimes.com/view/star-d-dethroned
[2] www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5725408/
[3] www.cchrint.org/2022/08/19/with-the-chemical-imbalance-myth-exposed-thats-not-all-psychiatry-got-wrong/ citing www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[4] www.cchrint.org/2022/07/22/cchr-lauds-study-disproving-chemical-imbalance-causes-depression/ citing www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11035903/Expert-says-psychiatrists-KNOW-theory-low-serotonin-levels-cause-depression-incomplete.html; www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
[5] www.madinamerica.com/2018/10/results-world-largest-antidepressant-study-look-dismal/
[6] www.madinamerica.com/2011/03/%EF%BB%BFan-introduction-the-story-of-bias-in-the-stard-trial-more/
[7] John Rush, et al., "Acute and Longer-Term Outcomes in Depressed Outpatients Requiring One or Several Treatment Steps: A STAR*D Report," American Journal of Psychiatry, 2006
[8] www.cchrint.org/2010/05/21/dsm-panel-members-still-getting-pharma-funds/; globalhealth.duke.edu/news/dr-augustus-john-rush-joins-duke-nus-graduate-medical-school-vice-dean-clinical-sciences
[9] www.cchrint.org/issues/psycho-pharmaceutical-front-groups/dbsa-advisory-board/
Source: Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
0 Comments
Latest on Amzeal News
- I Feel Fine coming-of-age movie set for release on National Suicide Prevention Day
- BroadSource EMU Calling and Provisioning Protection (CAPP)
- SteepleMate Unveils AI-Powered Assist Tool to Revolutionize Church Management
- Women of Color STEM Conference Launches Inaugural Impact Awards
- VisualOn and Norlys Mark 10 Years of OTT Innovation, Reach Samsung Smart TV Integration Milestone
- Lineus Medical Announces a Reduction in Price for SafeBreak Vascular
- Finance Mentor: Revolutionizing Financial Coaching
- Empowering Artistry: The Fierce Feminine of ReFi Collection Debuts
- Youth Mental Health Abuse: Drugs, Sexual Assault, and Electroshock Exposed
- The Misfits Magazine Makes it Debut
- Oliver Sean's "Mama Taught Me (Dance Mix)" Featuring DJ Xquizit Hits #1 in Multiple Countries Within 24 Hours of Release
- Epic Fit Fest Celebrates Diversity, Wellness, and Community in Grand Prairie, Texas
- New Jersey Pediatric Neuroscience Institute Opens State-of-the-Art Pediatric Neuroscience Center in Hamilton, NJ
- THINKWARE Announces Labor Day Dash Cam Specials
- Black Women Talk Tech's 'Roadmap to Billions' Conference Debuts in Toronto – Empowering Black Women in Tech
- Kaplan Morrell Named Exclusive Workers' Compensation Firm for Greeley Police Officers Association
- Hoffman Homes Unveils New Brand
- Hanover Area YMCA Academy of Early Learning Awarded ECHO Innovation Grant
- An Officer and Gentlewoman, LLC Hired as Public Relations Partner for The Annual Atlanta Fashion and Polo Classic
- Point Source Audio Partners w/ Industry Leaders to Explore Theatre Miking Techniques in New Webinar