Dr. Peter Breggin's Empathic Therapy Newsletter
	08/25/2010 - Volume1, Issue 6

	In This Issue Study Shows Empathic Visits Help New Mothers! More Americans Being Treated Only with Psychiatric Drugs New Study Shows Big Pharma Produces Lots of Drug Lemons Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to Fraud in Clinical Trial of Children and Paxil Empathic Therapy Network Expanding! Empathic Therapy EmpathicTherapy.org 1-607-272-5328			Dear [Contact.First Name], Our new reform organization, the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, is growing by leaps and bounds.  Over the summer we have created a number of activities and projects designed to help us stay connected, informed and growing. See our story for the latest news. Although the study did not use the term 'empathy' it is clear that the novel idea of using trained persons who visit with new months for a period of time over the course of the first year after birth is a great deterrent to postpartum depression.  In my view this is one more study that shows the value of humane, empathic counseling for the population of new mothers who are prone to isolation while caring for their newborn. Another new study by a sociologist from Princeton delves into why pharmaceutical companies produce so many drug 'lemons.'  See the story below. See also the story and statistics about how more Americans are being treated with only psychiatric drugs (instead of with counseling or therapy).  And finally, there has been new legal action taken against a clinical investigator who has now pleaded to multiple counts of fraud in her clinical drug trials involving children and Paxil--a potentially deadly combination. Enjoy the last of your summer! Very best, Ginger Breggin, Editor European Study Demonstrates that 'Health Visitors' Help New Mothers Keep Postpartum Depression Away The United Kingdom Independent reported the following: Quote:  A "world's first" clinical trial has shown that the use of "Health Visitors" offering psychological support to new moms after childbirth keeps postpartum depression away.  Terry Brugha, FRCPsych, professor of psychiatry in the health sciences department at the College of Medicine, Biological Sciences and Psychology, University of Leicester, led the study and explained to Relaxnews on August 17 that health visitors "work within the National Health Services" in the UK and may be comparable in training to "public health nurses who provide home based postnatal care in some other countries." This breakthrough study published in the August 17 edition of Psychological Medicine, a Cambridge University Press journal, "examined the effect of a new 8 day training course" that included "a basic and simple form of the training given to psychologsts and psychiatrists" in identifying, managing and preventing postpartum depression. "This training is unique to this study. It has not been use elsewhere in the UK." New moms with health visitor care after childbirth were able to "prevent the development of depression over the following year" whereas "women receiving usual care were significantly more likely to develop depression six months after childbirth," noted Brugha.    End Quote Read more --'Health Visitors' keep new moms in good spirits~  More Americans Being Treated with "Drugs Only" for Psychiatric Conditions TWLS-TV out of Chicago Il. Released the following short story that offers some confirmation of the sense many have that patients seeking psychological help are more often being offered psychiatric drugs only. WLS-TV reported:  "August 19, 2010 (WLS) -- More Americans with psychiatric conditions are now being treated with drugs only.  A new study also finds talk therapy either by itself or in combination with medication is on the decline. Researchers call this is a fairly dramatic shift in mental health treatment, indicating that outpatient mental health care in the U.S. is being redefined. These results are reported in the American Journal of Psychiatry and are based on data from two government health surveys conducted in 1998 and 2007."  Read more here~ Professor Releases New Study that Big Pharma Produces Drug 'Lemons' Another study demonstrating that many drugs are 'lemons' and don't work has been produced.  Donald Light, a professor of comparative health policy at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has produced a new study presented at the annual American Sociologists' Association's meeting.  ''Sometimes drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side-effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs' benefits,' said Professor Light. Ivanhoe Newswire reported: "In one study of 111 final applications for drug approval, Light said 42 percent lacked adequately randomized trials, 40 percent had flawed testing of doses, 39 percent lacked evidence of clinical efficacy, and 49 percent raised concerns about adverse side effects. "Sometimes, drug companies hide or downplay information about serious side effects of new drugs and overstate the drugs' benefits," Light was quoted as saying. "Then, they spend two- to three-times more on marketing than research to persuade doctors to prescribe these new drugs. Doctors may get misleading information and then misinform patients about the risks of a new drug. It's really a two-tier market for lemons." Read more in the Ivanhoe Newswire story~ Clinical Investigator and Psychiatrist Pleads Guilty to 15 Counts of Intent to Mislead and Defraud in Drug Trials of Paxil for Children Dr. Maria Carmen Palazzo, age 58, pled guilty in federal court today before U. S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to fifteen (15) counts of failing to prepare and maintain records, with intent to defraud and mislead, in connection with clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Paxil in children and adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten. According to court documents, Palazzo, who specialized in psychiatry, was a clinical investigator for GlaxoSmithKline. She  was involved in two clinical trials evaluating Paxil's safety and effectiveness in children and adolescents. Some of the study records indicated that Palazzo included psychiatric diagnoses inconsistent with patients' psychiatric histories; prepared multiple psychiatric evaluations on study patients which contained different diagnoses and treatment plans; reported symptoms of OCD when Palazzo knew that the study subject did not demonstrate such symptoms; and reported that Palazzo examined study subjects when she had not. Palazzo is currently serving an 87 month prison sentence after being convicted of 39 counts of health care fraud following a 12-day trial in April 2008 ..Read more here~ In a related story, the US Department of Justice brought a Qui Tam case (a kind legal case that investigates fraud against the federal government including Medicare and Medicaid fraud) against the New Orleans hospital that worked with Dr. Palazzo and this case was settled with the Department of Justice for $1.75 million.  Read more here~ Our Empathic Therapy Organization and Network is Rapidly Expanding! Our Empathic Therapy network is just blossoming.  Here is a rundown of all our activities that we have developed since April 2010: Our new reform organization is the Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy http://www.empathictherapy.org and this organization has two goals.  One goal is to blow the whistle and alert the public about the failure of psychiatry to offer genuine help as well as illuminating psychiatry's many dangers. Our second goal is to develop and encourage better and empathic human approaches to the genuine emotional suffering that many experience.  We are receiving tremendous response to our greater emphasis upon empathic, person-centered therapy approaches.  And of course, folks appreciate the knowledge base we have developed concerning the lack of efficacy and dangerousness of psychiatric labeling and 'treatments.'  We are sponsoring our first annual Empathic Therapy Conference, April 8-10 2011 in Syracuse, NY, and already have a couple dozen sign ups.   Join us! We have also developed the following social networking and information programs: In order to help folks become aware of our new work, I have established a 'Peter R Breggin-MD' (public figure) page on Facebook.  This page helps people to casually share ideas and conversation and to learn more about our Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy and about Dr. Breggin's activities. We now have a professional 'social' network, the Empathic Therapy Network, where our colleagues, advocates, families, and concerned individuals can gather and share information and inspiration.  All the content on our social site is available to search engines and is able to be read by anyone.  Members blog and post notes, events, and videos that are on-topic.  This social network has only been up for 3 weeks and is new.  It will provide a repository for information, blogs and resources for professionals involved in human services. And of course, we have this monthly newsletter with over 1600 subscribers. To be involved, we suggest the following: 1.  Join our reform organization The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy 2.  Register for our Spring Empathic Therapy Conference 3.  Join our free social network. Write about your work and share your ideas and news 4.  Sign up for our free e-newsletter Together we can help change our cultures, change our minds, and improve our world through independent, empathic therapies and human sciences and services and honest information about the hazards of psychiatry. Until next month--take care!   Ginger Breggin, Executive Director Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy