Free Republic

Freudian Falloff by: Bethany Stotts, August 07, 2008 Are Freudian analyses of the human mind becoming a thing of the past? A new study released this month finds that psychiatric practices are increasingly opting for medical therapies over the traditional “couch talks” that once symbolized this mental health profession. Those consumers continuing to seek counseling are increasingly moving away from the psychiatry for counseling, preferring more non-medical approaches—partially because “managed care” such as HMO’s reimburse psychiatrists more for a 15 minute prescription session than for 45 minutes of psychotherapy. Two researchers from Columbia University and Beth Israel Medical Center found...

Drug for deadly prostate cancer Aggressive prostate cancer has a poor prognosis Scientists are hailing a new drug to treat aggressive prostate cancer as potentially the most significant advance in the field for 70 years. Abiraterone could potentially treat up to 80% of patients with a deadly form of the disease resistant to currently available chemotherapy, they say. The drug works by blocking the hormones which fuel the cancer. The Institute of Cancer Research hopes a simple pill form will be available in two to three years. We believe we have made a major step forward in the treatment...

A world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, according to information given Congressional investigators. [excerpt - click here to read the whole article]

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Elderly people who took commonly prescribed drugs for incontinence, allergy or high blood pressure walked more slowly and were less able to take care of themselves than others not taking the drugs, U.S. researchers said on Saturday. They said people who took drugs that block acetylcholine -- a chemical messenger in the nervous system critical for memory -- functioned less well than their peers. "These results were true even in older adults who have normal memory and thinking abilities," said Dr. Kaycee Sink of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, who led the study...

The Medicated Americans: Antidepressant Prescriptions on the Rise Close to 10 percent of men and women in America are now taking drugs to combat depression. How did a once rare condition become so common? I am thinking of the Medicated Americans, those 11 percent of women and 5 percent of men who are taking antidepressants. It is Sunday night. The Medicated American—let’s call her Julie, and let’s place her in Winterset, Iowa—is getting ready for bed. Monday morning and its attendant pressures—the rush to get out of the house, the long commute, the bustle of the office—loom. She opens the...

...The trial results were a major breakthrough in neuroscience, says Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. For 50 years, all medicines for the disease had worked the same way — until Dr. Schoepp and other scientists took a different path. “This drug really looks like it’s quite a different animal,” Dr. Insel says. “This is actually pretty innovative.” Dr. Schoepp and other scientists had focused their attention on the way that glutamate, a powerful neurotransmitter, tied together the brain’s most complex circuits. Every other schizophrenia drug now on the market aims at a different...

Today the Supreme Court will consider a petition to hear a case raising profound issues regarding the right of individuals to make their own health-care decisions. The case is Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. von Eschenbach. The suit claims that FDA violates the due process rights of terminally-ill patients, who have exhausted all approved options and are unable to enter a clinical trial, by prohibiting access to promising investigational drugs. Consider the plight of such patients. They search for clinical trials of new drugs that might extend their lives. Nearly all are ineligible. Of the few...

ADHD Breakthrough by: Amanda Busse, January 09, 2008 A new study suggests that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in children may be a matter of maturity. According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ADHD in children is caused when portions of the brain mature at a slower pace than normal. For many, the condition eventually normalizes and nearly 80 percent of children grow out of the disorder, the researchers found. Researchers used a new image-analysis technique to measure the thickening and thinning of thousands of cortex sites in 223 children with ADHD and...

MONDAY, Sept. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Nearly 9 percent of American children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but only 32 percent of them are getting the medication they need. That's the sobering conclusion of a landmark new study, the first of its kind based on what doctors consider the "gold standard" of diagnostic criteria -- the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. "There is a perception that ADHD is overdiagnosed and overtreated," said lead researcher Dr. Tanya E. Froehlich, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician at Cincinnati Children's Medical Center. "But our study shows that for those who meet the criteria...

Is it safe? Nobody knows.More and more, parents at wit's end are begging doctors to help them calm their aggressive children or control their kids with ADHD. More and more, doctors are prescribing powerful antipsychotic drugs. In the past seven years, the number of Florida children prescribed such drugs has increased some 250 percent. Last year, more than 18,000 state kids on Medicaid were given prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs. Even children as young as 3 years old. Last year, 1,100 Medicaid children under 6 were prescribed antipsychotics, a practice so risky that state regulators say it should be used only...

I'm in a business that I hate, working on the front line between patients and upper management, and I'm considered to be damned good at what I do. I'm a senior customer service representative for a pharmacy benefits manager. I'm praying though, that the job interview I have this morning will get me out of the job I'm currently in, and back into the fairly sterile world of IT. It's not my job to deny benefits, no matter what the patients might think. My job is to explain the denials, explain how the benefits plan works, and to help the...

Virginia Tech Tragedy is a Wake-Up Call to Parents (Ventura, CA) - Researcher and bestselling author George Barna says the current public debate about the implications of the Virginia Tech tragedy is missing the point. "The animated conversations about gun control, campus security, counseling standards, campus communications, drug abuse and mental health funding do not address the core issue raised by this event. This situation is not primarily a challenge to politicians, educators or police. It’s a dramatic wake-up call to parents." Barna indicated that he was sympathetic toward the parents of the college student who murdered 31 classmates and...

I've always been interested in the topic of prescription drug laws because -- even more than laws which prohibit adults from using recreational drugs -- it seems absolutely unjustifiable for the government to prevent adult citizens from deciding for themselves which pharmaceutical products they want to use. Put another way, it seems unfathomable that competent adults are first required to obtain the "permission" of a doctor before being "allowed" to obtain and consume the medications they think they need -- and that they are committing crimes if they do not first obtain that permission (or, worse, if they try to...

After success in a long fight against forced medication, a schizophrenic man gained freedom. But now he is accused of killing his roommate.

In response to Russia's recent anti-Georgian policies, the Russian newspaper Vlast analytical weekly has taken it upon themselves to prepare an important guide of how to deal with Russia's "ring of malice" (referring to countries that border Russia) and methods of combating them to avoid possible treachery, Kommersant daily reports. "In recent weeks, Russians have learned much about the negative role that Georgia and Georgians play in their lives," Kommersant quotes the guide as saying, "Georgians are the backbone of the Russian criminal world and they control the big casinos where Russians are stripped bare and poisoned with poor quality...

I have been treating, educating and caring for children for more than 30 years, half of that time as a child psychiatrist, and the changes I have seen in the practice of child psychiatry are shocking. Psychiatrists are now misdiagnosing and overmedicating children for ordinary defiance and misbehavior. The temper tantrums of belligerent children are increasingly being characterized as psychiatric illnesses. Using such diagnoses as bipolar disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's, doctors are justifying the sedation of difficult kids with powerful psychiatric drugs that may have serious, permanent or even lethal side effects.

A 15-year-old girl and her parents recently came in for a chat with Dr. James Perrin, a Boston pediatrician, because they were concerned about the girl's grades. Previously an A student, she was slipping to B's, and the family was convinced attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was at fault — and that a prescription for Ritalin would boost her brainpower. After examining the girl, Perrin determined she didn't have ADHD. The parents, who had come in demanding a prescription, left empty-handed. Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other physicians...

Michael Savage went weiner on Israel. Earlier this week, he claimed that the "Palestinians" (who are really just Arabs) are descendants of the Philistines and the Canaanites and that they had once been the rulers of Eretz Yisrael since "time immemorial" (a phrase he stole from Joan Peters, since she wrote on this issue), and that their claim to "Palestine" is equal to that of the Jewish people. He also blasted Israel for overreacting and killing "innocent civilians."

Prescribing of hyperactivity drugs is out of control 31 March 2006 NewScientist.com news service Peter Aldhous Rise in ADHA? THE figures are mind-boggling. Nearly 4 million Americans, most of them children and young adults, are being prescribed amphetamine-like stimulants to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Up to a million more may be taking the drugs illegally. Now, amid reports of rare but serious side effects, leading researchers and doctors are calling for a review of the way ADHD is dealt with. Many prescriptions are being written by family doctors with little expertise in diagnosing ADHD, raising doubts about how...

Yaa, you repukes are not doing so well, huh? Imagine, you repukes control the presidency, both houses of Congress, and appointed 7 of the 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet the Supreme Court thre out sodomy laws in all 50 states and recognized the right of government to seize land for any reason. And you couldn't pass your Social Security changes could you? Sorry, that was your last shot. Come November, we're going to start seeing more Democratic faces in the House. It's the end for you guys. You guys are celebrating when Bush's numbers go *up* to 45%. Then Faux...

Bush’s giant Right Wing Noise Machine (RWNM) loves to preach about the Bush economic miracle. In fact, the RWNM’s current thinking is Bush doesn’t spend enough time talking about his economic triumphs. If only he did, then everyone would fall in line and believe in the great Bush economic miracle. There is one problem with this argument: it’s a lie. Any way you look at the Bush economy, it comes up short. Today, I want to compare Bush’s job creation record with other economic recoveries. As usual, Bush comes up way short. The national Bureau of Economic Research has identified...

Why does anybody support George w Bush as President? He is clearly the worst President I have ever seen -- a complete disaster. And before you say anything, I have been a registered Republican for 25 years.

Lies of omission about 9/11 -- stoking fears of terrorism THEY WANT YOU TO BE AFRAID The following post was censored by freerepublic.com shortly after it was posted on their "public" forum on 9/11/04. That forum is designed to appear as though it is a community forum open to all, but this post only received three responses before it and its replies were deleted, and a repeat posting at 4 am PST on 9/20/04 didn't stay online for 5 minutes! Someone is apparently watching closely over the content of the freerepublic.com forums and censoring them 24/7 (though they might have...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Dark chocolate can not only soothe your soul but can lower blood pressure too, researchers reported Monday. The study, published by the American Heart Association, joins a growing body of research that show compounds found in chocolate called flavonoids can help the blood vessels work more smoothly, perhaps reducing the risk of heart disease. "Previous studies suggest flavonoid-rich foods, including fruits, vegetables, tea, red wine and chocolate, might offer cardiovascular benefits, but this is one of the first clinical trials to look specifically at dark chocolate's effect on lowering blood pressure among people with hypertension," said Jeffrey...

The medical field of treating chronic pain is still in its infancy. It was only in the late 1980s that leading physicians trained in treating the chronic pain of terminally ill cancer patients began to recommend that the "opioid therapy"(treatment involving narcotics related to opium) used on their patients also be used for patients suffering from non terminal conditions. The new therapies proved successful, and prescription pain medications saw a huge leap in sales throughout the 1990s. But opioid therapy has always been controversial. The habit-forming nature of some prescription pain medications made many physicians, medical boards, and law enforcement...

Parental Rights Vetoed HB 2431, sponsored by Rep. Mark Anderson, would have required school boards to develop a list of specific parental rights enumerated in statute and then to provide that information to parents. School boards would also have been required to develop policies for parents to learn about school clubs and activities. Gov. Napolitano's veto message expressed general support for the notion of informing parents of their rights, but questioned the completeness of the list of rights in the bill. While we disagree with the veto, Gov. Napolitano has left the door open to producing a similar bill next...

According to MoveOn, apparently the GOP party platform is to end the right to privacy, pollute the air, put arsenic in the drinking water, reduce wages to pennies on the dollar and let employers do human experimentation. The also think we are trying to appoint judges who will rules that Social Security in unconstitutional. These are your modern Democrats. Totally disconnected with reality. ========================== We may only have eight days to stop right-wing Republicans from seizing absolute power to appoint far-right judges. We've created a powerful new ad, "Smashing the Courts," that exposes Republicans^? attempts to break the rules of...

Drugs, not just age and disease, are killing Canadian seniors. As many as 3,300 seniors die every year due to adverse drug reactions, according to a CBC estimate done by analyzing Health Canada's adverse drug reaction database (obtained under Access to Information). It's an estimate that has been judged credible by a number of researchers who study pharmacology and adverse drug reactions. "The 3,300 deaths number and the way it's been calculated by CBC I think is quite cautious and is realistic. It's likely to be higher than that, but nobody at the present time has a way of really...

I keep waiting for someone to notice the way the rash of school shootings the U.S. has experienced has coincided with the massive program of drugging "over-active" students or those deemed to have an "attention deficit." Medicating students has replaced counseling. On December 1, 1997, Michael Carneal, a troubled 14-year-old, killed three students and wounded five others at Heath High School in West Paducah, Kentucky. In 1998, there were three events in which boys, one as young as 11, killed classmates and teachers. Most notorious is the April 20, 1999 Columbine High School massacre by two boys, Eric Harris, 18,...

Good for whatever ails you BY DAVE BARRY Feb. 20, 2005 (This classic Dave Barry column was originally published on June 21, 1998.) Recently, I was lying on the sofa and watching my favorite TV show, which is called, ''Whatever Is on TV When I'm Lying on the Sofa.'' I was in a good mood until the commercial came on. It showed an old man (and when I say ''old man,'' I mean ''a man who is maybe eight years older than I am'') helping his grandson learn to ride a bicycle. I was watching this, wondering what product was...

WICHITA, KS (Talon News) -- Pro-life action group Operation Rescue said on Tuesday that a representative from the La Quinta Inns corporate offices conducted an internal investigation into allegations that one of their hotels in Wichita, Kansas was being used by an abortion doctor. As previously reported by Talon News, Operation Rescue had called on its supporters to boycott the national hotel chain La Quinta Inn in protest of one of their locations being used by a nearby abortion clinic to provide medical services to pregnant women who were in town to have an abortion. La Quinta Inn has denied...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Health professionals applauded the federal government for including people exposed to the HIV virus through isolated episodes of unsafe sex or drug use among those recommended for emergency treatment, calling the new policy an overdue surprise from the Bush administration.Previously, federal health officials advised a preventative 28-day regimen of AIDS drugs only for health care workers accidentally exposed on the job. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its guidelines Thursday, saying rape victims, as well as some individuals who knowingly put themselves at risk, should receive the drug cocktail that can keep them...

By Gene J. Koprowski UPI Science News Published 1/7/2005 10:58 AM CHICAGO, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Physicians now have a technological solution to an all too common scenario -- a cardiac patient forgets to take his heart medication and winds up in the emergency room. Doctors are sending text-message reminders to patients, via mobile phones and personal digital assistants, telling them it's time to take their prescribed angiotensin converting enzyme or ACE inhibitor, like Prinivil, or other medications."One of our major thrusts is going to be moving healthcare related applications to technologies that are more familiar to the patients," said...

Democratic Party dismay has been mounting since Kerry ____ (fill in the blank with your favorite of any of a dozen things). Stoked by a constant barrage of well documented inconvenient facts coming out about Kerry's background and the ever-increasing popularity of President Bush and Vice President Cheney, the heated arguments between the Kerry campaign and the DNC leadership increase. Add in, too, the rousing success of the GOP convention and it appears we can stick a fork in the Democratic Party now because that goose is just about fully cooked. Another good barometer, of course, is the mania displayed...

MONROE — A man who last night shot and killed his 5-year-old grandson before turning the gun on himself suffered from depression and previously alluded to hurting himself, Monroe Police Chief Tim Quenzer said. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office identified the man as Roy Bryan Hetherwick, 58, and the boy as Roy Brennan Hetherwick, 5. According to Hetherwick's wife, Quenzer said, Hetherwick took medication for depression but had never talked of injuring the child. In a release issued this afternoon, Monroe police said officers responded to the house on July 2, when they found Hetherwick "despondent and feeling suicidal."...

VITAL SIGNS Many women who suffer migraines tell their doctors that their headaches are related to the onset of menstruation. Two studies released yesterday lend support to that link and to the idea of timing medication to the menstrual cycle as a preventive measure. Both studies were published in the journal Neurology. The lead author of one of the studies, Dr. E. Anne MacGregor of the City of London Migraine Clinic, said that in general about half of women with migraines say their headaches come on more often and with greater severity just before menstruation. Earlier studies had not found...

I was out working with the plants in the rain. Just wondering how the always fair and unbiased mainstream media treated Teraaaaaaaaayza's comments ("SHOVE IT"- speaking of civility in politics). Would Laura have ever said something like that? How would she be treated if she had? For that matter, what if SandyPants Berger had been Condi? Is the liberal/socialist/Democrat/commie mainstream media SICK enough? Is there any way to get some truth to the average uninspired, uninformed, disinterested voter?

A radical scheme to vaccinate children against future drug addiction is being considered by British ministers, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Under the plans, doctors would immunise children at risk of becoming smokers or drug users with an injection. The scheme could operate in a similar way to the current nationwide measles, mumps and rubella vaccination programme. Childhood immunisation would provide adults with protection from the euphoria that is experienced by users, making drugs such as heroin and cocaine pointless to take. Such vaccinations are being developed by pharmaceutical companies and are due to hit the market within two...

Check your local listings for airtimes. (Current show is updated every weekday at 5pm EST.) HEALTH Health Experts Warn of Antidepressant Dangers for Children, Teens By Darla SittonCBN News Producer In America, Prozac is the only drug the FDA has "approved" for pediatric depression. CBN.com – (CBN News) - As many as one in eight adolescents suffers from clinical depression. And these kids are often treated with anti-depressant drugs that have been tested and approved for adult use. But the drugs may not be safe for children. Corey Baadsgaard doesn't remember storming into his honors English class with a...

Pills vs. Talking When It Comes to Mental Illness, Parents Face Dilemmas Over Medication, Talk Therapy By Bryan Robinson June 7, 2004 — When Chad Taylor noticed his son was apparently experiencing serious side effects from Ritalin prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he decided to take the boy off the medication. Now, he says he may be accused of child abuse. In February, 12-year-old Daniel began displaying some symptoms that his father suspected were related to the use of Ritalin. "He was losing weight, wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating," Taylor told ABC News affiliate KOAT-TV in New Mexico. "[He] just...

http://www.mondobimbo.com/buon-natale/musiche.htm MIDI - UP ON THE HOUSETOP High on the housetop poor Howard stands...Saddam's capture screws his plans He's up there screaming that Bush has lied...last night supporters had really cried Ho ho ho...look out below...ho ho ho...look out below Will be hearing thump, thump, thump Is Howard Dean gonna finally jump Those who sent money are going nuts...once more, Dubya kicks their butts Look at their faces...they all are numb...vanquished again by a guy who's dumb Ho ho ho...look out below...ho ho ho...look out below Will be hearing thump, thump, thump Is Howard Dean gonna finally jump Here come...

Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek with the Rx HexOctober 30, 2003Rush Limbaugh is dancing with a double-edged demon on a crowded floor.  No, this isn’t another skirmish in the “Hate Rush/Love Rush” debate...if only it was that simple.  As Limbaugh explained, “I first started taking prescription painkillers...following spinal surgery...the surgery was unsuccessful...I am still experiencing that pain.”  He is one of over 50 million Americans suffering from some form of chronic pain. The good folks at Lancaster General Hospital explain chronic pain, “...as pain that overwhelms all other symptoms and may become the problem. It may affect people so that often they cannot work,...

Allowing direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs in Canada would be a bonanza for the media, generating an estimated $360-million a year in new ads. But the demand it created would also spur as much as $1.2-billion a year in new drug sales, and the beleaguered medicare system would have to bear most of that cost, according to an editorial in Tuesday's edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In a strongly worded piece, editor John Hoey says prescription drugs should not be advertised in the same manner as other consumer products because that could lead to dangerous excesses, as has...

Allowing direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs in Canada would be a bonanza for the media, generating an estimated $360-million a year in new ads. But the demand it created would also spur as much as $1.2-billion a year in new drug sales, and the beleaguered medicare system would have to bear most of that cost, according to an editorial in Tuesday's edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal. In a strongly worded piece, editor John Hoey says prescription drugs should not be advertised in the same manner as other consumer products because that could lead to dangerous excesses, as has...

PALO ALTO (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Fifteen percent of the 18 million people living with depression experience symptoms such as paranoia and hallucinations. This type of depression, called psychotic depression, is hard to treat with standard medication. Now a controversial treatment is changing the lives of people with this illness. Just a few months ago, this scene was unthinkable for Isabel Camarillo. "I didn't want to live at all. I was always thinking of how to kill myself," she tells Ivanhoe. Camarillo started hearing voices as a teenager. "It was like they were controlling my life," she says. They didn't go...

This is a new thread dedicated to conservative parents of children/teens "at risk". I noticed in my FReeping that there are a lot of other conservative parents like me dealing with children or teens that are socially "at risk". Yes, there are other web sites out there dedicated to this, however they tend to be liberally/socialistically slanted. They have a whinning "poor pitful me" attitude. As conservatives, from talking with many of you, we take a different attitude and require our children to have that same attitude. I FReep Mailed Jim Robinson to get his "blessing" on this thread. If...

A woman was arrested at an airport for "possession" of an illegal substance. That's nothing new; except that this woman did not do anything wrong. A stupid federal law states that it is illegal to transport prescription drugs out of the container provided by the pharmacist. Never mind that every drug store in the country sells special containers for just that purpose; under federal law, it is a felony. Compliance with the intent of the law would mean that every person on medication(s) must box up the complete bottles of every medication they will need during every outing. That is...

Please pray for Freeper Pegita's Father who has been on a ventilator and "could be taken off the ventilator but his oxygen level is dropping" and she urgently needs prayer for him and information on oxygen enhancing drugs. From Pegita: "His blood was iron poor before hospitalization, and my suggestion for the use of this new medicine (originally for rebuilding blood for chemo patients), has not met with any interest."Meaning she needs prayer help and information from any Freeper in the medical field who might have information on medicine that is specifically for "blood rebuilding" - need this information urgently!

Register-Herald Editorial 8/27/02 The death of Rebecca Allen of Fairlea was tragic, but the circumstances do not warrant a lawsuit filed by her widowed husband, Brian Allen. That was the ruling of Greenbrier County Circuit Judge James Rowe in a suit Brian Allen filed against Purdue Pharma L.P. of Connecticut, as well as several other companies. The target of the suit was the drug OxyContin, which generally is administered in time-release capsule form. Rebecca Allen broke open the capsules, crushed them and injected them into her veins. The judge ruled that Rebecca Allen died at age 41 because she and...

Mentally ill prisoners often go unmedicated Jail's psychiatric chief denies lack of treatment, hasty exams 08/01/2002 By TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News Mentally ill prisoners in the Dallas County jail routinely undergo only cursory psychiatric exams and often go days or weeks without the anti-psychotic drugs needed to control their behavior, an investigation by The Dallas Morning News and WFAA-TV (Channel 8) has found. Some exams last less than two minutes a practice that mental health experts say makes it impossible to determine whether an inmate could harm himself or others. The family of one inmate with...