supporting your right to just say 'no' since 1964
Profits all around
It’s very sad that our veterans receive such a lousy shake in their needs and healthcare when they get home, as this article points out.
I think the key concept, however, is here:
Ironically, yet not surprisingly, pay-to-play in Washington becomes more egregious every day. Heather Bresch, daughter of U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, (D-WV) was recently named CEO of WV drug-maker Mylan Inc., that recently contracted with the DoD for over 20 million doses of Seroquel.
One reason that these antipsychotics are among the most profitable products for the pharmaceutical industry is that many of the purchases are paid for by the US government.
Another reason that makes them the cash cows of the pharmaceutical industry is that patients are required to take them by force of court order, with Medicaid being the most likely payor.
I always found it odd that CEOs would embrace these government subsidies over private enterprise and the free markets. I guess it all depends on what makes you the easiest and quickest buck.
Freud would have called this ‘wishful thinking’
from the New York TimesIn a survey of more than 2,000 American psychologists scheduled to be published this year, Leslie John of Harvard Business School and two colleagues found that 70 percent had acknowledged, anonymously, to cutting some corners in reporting data. About a third said they had reported an unexpected finding as predicted from the start, and about 1 percent admitted to falsifying data.
Also common is a self-serving statistical sloppiness. In an analysis published this year, Dr. Wicherts and Marjan Bakker, also at the University of Amsterdam, searched a random sample of 281 psychology papers for statistical errors. They found that about half of the papers in high-end journals contained some statistical error, and that about 15 percent of all papers had at least one error that changed a reported finding — almost always in opposition to the authors’ hypothesis.
(Caution: Graphic Video!)
Oklahoma University Professor Accused Of Questionable Medical Practices On Students
OKLAHOMA CITY — Using students as guinea pigs and making deals with companies to make money off his research. These are serious allegations against an OU professor.
A former teaching assistant is speaking out about the questionable experiments. This graduate student and several others went to the university to report what they say are questionable practices.
Now that professor is on a leave of absence, and another professor has left the university as well. And we must warn you, some of the video and pictures in this story are graphic.
The graduate student gave us some videos, which show some of the procedures performed on his teaching assistants, and other student volunteers. Many times these procedures were painful and sometimes led to internal bleeding and awful bruises.
Besides the injuries, many students were told to keep certain research practices secret.
And this student said sometimes, results were even altered by the professor, who was allegedly getting payments from companies for his research, while on the university dime.
Reporter: “Did the university know he was doing these procedures?”
Student: “Yes, but the thing is he told them we were doing this in a sterile environment, using sterile equipment, sterile gloves, taking all the precautions needed and they trusted him.”
But this whistle blower said he betrayed that trust.
“In the videos you could see that, like this video’s not going anywhere. Don’t say anything to anyone about this. I’ll deny deny deny, I mean that was his main motto,” the student said.
The Professor in question is named Chad Kerksick. An OU Spokesperson confirms that Kerksick was hired as an Assistant Professor for the Department of Health and Exercise Science in August of 2006. He is currently on a leave of absence without pay, but she would not say why, citing it was a personnel matter.
News 9 was given some documents which confirmed the university did launch an investigation into the allegations against Kerksick and terminated his research. We went to Kerksick’s Norman home, but he was not there. And repeated calls to him went unanswered.
The student that endured this just wants to make sure Kerksick’s activities are known.
We’ve learned another professor who worked with Kerksick on a lot of this research just moved to Florida. The university is not commenting on his departure either.
We’ve also learned a complaint has been filed with the FDA and a special investigator has been assigned to look into the accusations.
No. There is no overpopulation problem. There’s an over-consumption problem, a racism problem, a blaming-the-poor problem.
What countries are responsible for the most environmental damage? The wealthy countries, with low population growth rates.
What countries are responsible for exponential resource depletion? The wealthy countries. The US, for example, has 5% of the world’s population and consumes 25-30% of the world’s resources, and contributes 30% of the world’s greenhouse gases.
The population growth rate is slowing down, and we will reach our peak in approximately 2050, at 9 billion. There is enough food produced right now to feed that many people.
People aren’t starving because of our population. The environment isn’t being destroyed because of population. So why are we blaming our problems on population? The only reason I can think of is to lift the blame from the wealthy nations, from ourselves. Treat people in the Third World like over-breeding cattle who can’t think for themselves. Force sterilisation on unwilling women. Breathe a sigh of guilty relief when a few of those cattle die from a natural disaster (that was most likely caused by global warming, a problem created by industrialised nations).
Stop playing the anti-PC game: You know, the one where you claim that anybody who suggests being humane and looking at facts is just being “politically correct.”
I’m glad some of you found solace in the fact that the OP feels the same way you do. Just know that that doesn’t make you any more of a moral person.
A place where you can learn about realities previously unnoticed
A place where you can bring headphones and hide in the bathroom
A place where artistic expression is paramount, but formal art groups are dumbed-down.
The inpatients are the sane ones.
Corruption is rampant.
Meds are pushed.
A place for respite.
It is hard to sleep even with sedatives.
There is violence.
Knocking their heads against the wall to pass time. Overflowing a bathtub just to get attention.
Need to avoid making waves in the face of adversity…what is human?
A place that is difficult to get in and out of.
We mess with each other. We fall in love with each other. We get punished for it.
Crush on a nurse…and,
the rules shift paradigm.
A concentrated reflection of many lives.
The scent of hypersensitivity.
The place of which is no longer an option.
A world within a world.
View comments (via psyout)
Do we need a DSM-V?
Asks an editorial from The Psychiatric Times:
…with each revision [of the DSM], the number of diagnosable conditions increases. With each increase, psychiatry is criticized for ‘creating’ diagnoses to: 1) increase revenue to clinicians; 2) partner with big pharma to expand the mental health market; or 3) simply raise money for the DSM publishers. Consequently, in the absence of research demonstrating that new definitions meaningfully advance the utility of our diagnoses, our credibility with the public and our medical colleagues is challenged with each DSM revision. Only when we first accumulate research supporting changes in our diagnostic systems will we meet these challenges effectively. We are not at this point now…
And then an astute commentator nails it on the the head:
Meh, the American public is literally eating it up. Sadly the question of an uninformed/disengaged population is one of the key driving factors in most of our health woes as a country with no magic pill in sight for that social ill. Maybe we should start a contest to come up with a diagnosis for that.
And in the biopsychiatric model the patient’s problems are always blamed on the patient and the malfunctioning brain. A toxic environment could never cause them.
Oh, and the shrink probably wasn’t any fun at parties. Doctors never are. The lawyers and law enforcement people always have the best stories.
David Bates
Its been 31 years and counting, since my first experience of psychosis was labeled as schizophrenia within 15 minutes - an all-too-quick reaction that left me bewildered and re-traumatized by the subsequent heavy-handed use and sole reliance on psychotropic medications. The…
RT @DrTwittenheimer: I know it’s not really fair to compare economics with astrology, seeing as how there is at least some entertainment …
The Commonwealth Times, Virginia Commonwealth University’s paper, interviewed Icarus Project member Megan at the Richmond Zine Fest this past Saturday.
What’s in a zine?
For Megan Osborn, a junior statistics major at VCU, it’s a chance to fight the stereotypes associated with mental illness.
A member of The Icarus Project, Osborn represented the grassroots mental health organization at the Richmond Zine Fest this past Saturday at the Gay Community Center of Richmond.
3 notes View comments (via psyout)
My mental health is greatly improved when I pay absolutely no attention to DJ Jaffe.
I completely don’t buy the argument of this HuffPo article. The author asserts that the stigma around mental health, just like around cancer and left handedness, is dead. And that if it isn’t, that we can just declare it dead and move on and there are more important issues around mental health to be focusing on.
I want to know if this author has ever read or listened to a news feature about a violent crime, particularly one performed by a white person. The first question asked is almost always if they suffer from mental illness. Or, alternatively, if a person with a mental illness commits a violent crime, the two become immediately associated, even if they aren’t actually related.
Stigma takes a different from today, maybe, but it still exists. We, the community of people with mental illnesses, experience stigma based on how comfortable people are with us. Are we taking our medication? If we still don’t seem right, maybe we should take more? Other people need us to make them feel comfortable and they force that expectation on us, sometimes against our will.
(I’m not even going to talk about the recent study that using a biological argument for mental illness when explaining it to someone, rather than a trauma based explanation, actually increased stigma.)
Stigma dead? Absolutely not. Different? Maybe.
We still aren’t considered safe or reliable. Mental health “problems” become both scapegoats and deep flaws in our identities, when so often they are a rich part of how we experience the world, even if that experience is not wholly positive.
Both descriptions are wrong. Cause and effect is a myth we tell ourselves to make sense of the world. It has never been proven to exist beyond a reasonable doubt.
Time simply measures the passing of successive sunrises/sunsets. Although the sunrise is never guaranteed tomorrow, from what we can tell so far, sunrises/sunsets are not wibbly wobbly time-y wimey events. Their passing can be calculated with certainty, so far as we know, by studying angles in three-dimensional space.
(Source: mac-lovin)
28,569 notes View comments (via lightupyourtorch & mac-lovin)
Beta Sheep
Drugs and alcohol, coupled with an over-the-top attitude, pretty much caused my problems.
I have an old Axis Report where they reference “alcohol abuse, episodic; mixed substance abuse, continuous.” They list some other things on it: depression, paranoid delusions, a sketchy work…
WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL BETTER WHEN YOU ARE IN A BAD MOOD?
going to the gym and slinging some iron
