Humorous Psychiatry - You Tube Clips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPAt5ynZdE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyuRj6TsyvQ

The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry

In 2005 the British government's Health Committee undertook a official report into the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. It stated that "The consequences of lax oversight is  that the industry’s influence has expanded and a number of practices have developed which act against the public interest". The practices they list are:


"that clinical trials were not adequately designed – that they could be
designed to show the new drug in the best light – and sometimes fail to indicate the true
effects of a medicine on health outcomes relevant to the patient. We were informed of
several high-profile cases of suppression of trial results. We also heard of selective
publication strategies and ghost-writing. The suppression of negative clinical trial findings
leads to a body of evidence that does not reflect the true risk: benefit profile of the medicine  
in question".

The report is interesting see:
 http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200405/cmselect/cmhealth/42/42.pdf

The Importance of Suffering

My new book has just been published on this topic by Routledge. It is called 'The Importance of Suffering' - you can view it here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Importance-Suffering-Meaning-Emotional-Discontent/dp/0415667801/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322334067&sr=1-1

BBC's Breakfast Doctor gets paid by Pharmaceutical Companies

I recently discovered that the BBC’s Breakfast Doctor, Dr Rosemary Leonard, who has advocated antidepressants in the media, gets paid by a number of pharmaceutical companies for PR activities on their behalf. Once again, current editorial policy does not protect the millions of people who follow her advice everyday from the potential conflict of interest she may have and the biasing effects of this interest. Here is the evidence for her pharmaceutical ties: Firstly, there is a statement on her website this says, and I quote: "In view of her extensive experience, she is often asked to present medical corporate videos and take part in PR activities for drug companies"  http://www.drrosemaryleonard.co.uk/about   

The financial nature of Dr Leonard’s ties are declared to the “Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency”. The following PDFs from the MHRA website show that Dr Leonard has undertaken paid PR work for pharmaceutical companies like Lilly, Crookes Healthcare and GlaxoSmithKline. You can find confirmation of this here:   http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/pl-p/documents/committeedocument/con003471.pdf

and here:

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/home/groups/es-cb/documents/committeedocument/con2015695.pdf