Frightening report on the ABC about dangers of anti-psychotic drug Seroquel

Concerns grow over top-selling drug's side effects. 7.30.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 27/11/2013
Reporter: Louise Milligan
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3900419.htm

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-27/growing-concerns-over-side-effects-of-seroquel/5120554

"....doctors are warning the drug is being massively overprescribed and the potentially dangerous side-effects are being ignored."

This is a shocking and important report. Nice work Louise. 

The drug Quetiapine (brand name Seroquel) stands out among other anti-psychotic drugs for two reasons: the astronomical increase in the rate of prescription of this drug in the last ten years in Australia far outstrips the rates of prescription of other anti-psychotic drugs, and the measured rate of cases of serious harm to patients from side-effects of the drug also far outstrip those of other anti-psychotic drugs. As if that is crazy enough, consider the fact that that this drug is also prescribed for depression even though it comes with an increased risk of suicide compared to other anti-psychotic drugs. Something must be seriously wrong with medicine in Australia when increased potential for harm sit alongside spectacular prescriber popularity. 

Grave concerns about side effects are by no means the only reason why this drug has been hitting the headlines in the last few years. Readers of this blog might recall that the celebrity psychiatrist Prof. Patrick McGorry tried to trial this drug on patients thought to be at risk of developing psychosis in 2011 in a trial that was known as the NEURAPRO-Q study, but that study was closed down following objections from McGorry’s international peers. The drug has also been the subject of a deluge of litigation in the United States, which should surprise no one. So why does this drug continue to elicit such huge popularity with Australian doctors, and is even sought after by some as a drug of abuse? I think there’s no over-estimating the power of marketing and there’s no under-estimating the common sense of my fellow Australians. 

John Mendoza still an a******e

Shame, John Mendoza, SHAME! Your psychiatric slur against Rudd is grossly unprofessional and clearly motivated by personal emnity, and says so much more about you than it says anything at all about Mr Rudd.

One reason why I find myself in the position of being a solid Rudd supporter, despite what I believe is a good understanding of his many personal flaws and political wrongs, is that so many of the people who speak out against Rudd and might gain more power in Rudd's absence from the leadership role, are a******es. Plain and simple. A******es. Sunshine Coast "Adjunct Professor" Mendoza included.

Words of wisdom about mental health from Jon Jureidini on the radio

I so much love the concept of the "unexplanation" in relation to mental illness labels which child psychiatrist Prof. Jon Jureidini has created and used in his talk which was recently broadcast on ABC radio, on the radio show All in the Mind on Radio National 810am. Prof. Jureidini cites depression and most mental health labels as "unexplanations", and I'd certainly agree with him on that point. We should never be satisfied with "unexplanations" from doctors or psychiatrists or psychologists or counsellors. We deserve so much more from highly paid and highly educated professionals who wield a lot of power in our society.

Prof. Jureidini is one of many critics (including myself) of Prof. Patrick McGorry who has had a great level of influence on federal government mental health policy, particularly under the Gillard Government, and this has concerned many people. Many thanks to Natasha Mitchell and the ABC's Radio National for giving airtime in two different radio shows to rational and science-based critics of "big pharma" such as Prof. Jureidini and the multi-award-winning Australian health journalist and author Ray Moynihan.

Juredini, Jon (2011) Sick, Screwed Up or Just Lazy? - 2011 Adelaide Festival of Ideas. All in the Mind. ABC Radio National. 22 October 2011.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/allinthemind/stories/2011/3340004.htm

Moynihan, Ray (2011) A noble cause. Background Briefing. October 16th 2011.
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2011/3337618.htm

Healthy Skepticism.
http://www.healthyskepticism.org/global

Some bad publicity for Australian mental health organization Beyondblue

This petition was started only hours ago at the US-based political website Change.org, but already the petition apparently has nearly two and a half thousand signatures. How naive to expect that Jeff Kennett should behave like a nice fellow just because he is associated with an organization that is supposed to be about mental health advocacy. So much stuff that passes for mental health advocacy in Australia is really about careers and empires and imposing narrow definitions of normality onto the population in general. Professor Ian Hickie was once a Clinical Advisor and CEO of Beyondblue. I don't think much of Prof. Hickie, and I never thought much of Jeff Kennett, who is currently a director of the organization and was an inaugural chairperson.

Jeff Kennett: End discrimination & support mental health for gay and lesbian young people. (petition)
Change.org
http://www.change.org/petitions/jeff-kennett-end-discrimination-support-mental-health-for-gay-and-lesbian-young-people

A political quote to ponder

".... I carried you through the whole 1984-1987 parliament, insisting you look like the prime minister, even if your staff, the Manchu Court I called them, were otherwise prepared to leave you in your emotional hole. No other prime minister would have survived going missing for that long. But with my help, you were able to. Kevin Rudd had two months of bad polls and you were the first to say he should be replaced. And you have since repeated it."

- Former PM of Australia and former Deputy PM Paul Keating in a letter to former PM Bob Hawke

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/keating-hits-back-hawke-only-survived-as-pm-with-my-help/story-e6frgczf-1225891811095