Side Effects

From quirky to serious, trends in psychology and psychiatry
Christopher Lane, Ph.D.
The FDA, the DSM, Gender Equality, and “Female Viagra”

The FDA, the DSM, Gender Equality, and “Female Viagra”

Will the FDA succumb to lobbyists accusing it of gender bias?
An Epidemic of Questionable Care

An Epidemic of Questionable Care

When does “low-value care” become no-value care?
Faulty Reporting on ADHD

Faulty Reporting on ADHD

Newspaper of record criticized for its tardy response to overmedicalization.
“Side Effects” Turns A Million

“Side Effects” Turns A Million

The blog "Side Effects" receives its millionth consecutive click.
New DSM-5 Disorder Spurs FDA Drug Approval, Expanded Market

New DSM-5 Disorder Spurs FDA Drug Approval, Expanded Market

A drug-maker's blunt challenge: “increase the numbers of patients diagnosed.”
Personalized Genomics, Data-Hoarding, and Drug Companies

Personalized Genomics, Data-Hoarding, and Drug Companies

Genetic-testing kits have been hailed for advancing medical research and disease prevention. But who owns the data and what are the risks of them being sold or misused?
Tackling Childhood Obesity: What Works, What Doesn’t

Tackling Childhood Obesity: What Works, What Doesn’t

How childhood obesity became a global problem, and what some countries are doing about it.
Ebola, a Promising Serum, and Kent Brantly’s Recovery

Ebola, a Promising Serum, and Kent Brantly’s Recovery

On his recovery from the Ebola virus, after treatment by an experimental serum, Dr. Kent Brantly asserted, "God saved my life."
The Business of Medicalizing Infancy

The Business of Medicalizing Infancy

What has happened to the medical principle “First, do no harm"?
The Hidden Dangers of Benzodiazepines

The Hidden Dangers of Benzodiazepines

What Americans don’t know about some of their most widely prescribed drugs.
Higher Penalties for Big Pharma: Data Destruction Alleged

Higher Penalties for Big Pharma: Data Destruction Alleged

Will the latest record fine against the pharmaceutical industry end its worst practices?
Income Inequality Is Making Americans Sick

Income Inequality Is Making Americans Sick

Health in America is determined as much by zip code as by genetic code.
The Mathematics of Happiness Turns Out to Be a Fraud

The Mathematics of Happiness Turns Out to Be a Fraud

The idea that Positive Psychology can give us a "happiness ratio" has been well and truly debunked.
The OECD Warns on Antidepressant Overprescribing

The OECD Warns on Antidepressant Overprescribing

Antidepressant consumption is not matched by an increase in global diagnoses, raising fresh concerns about overuse.
Crazy Like Us: How the U.S. Exports Its Models of Illness

Crazy Like Us: How the U.S. Exports Its Models of Illness

DSM-5 is Americanizing the world's understanding of the mind. Is that beneficial or problematic?
Hoarding, Collecting, Accumulating: DSM-5 and American Life

Hoarding, Collecting, Accumulating: DSM-5 and American Life

Hoarding: how a major new disorder developed from “a line carved in sand.”
The Push for More Accountability

The Push for More Accountability

The drive for open-access data is making rapid headway.
The Distortion of Grief

The Distortion of Grief

The implication, in DSM-5, that mourning should be fast and efficient is unnecessary and disturbing.
Should Lack of Lust Be a Psychiatric Condition?

Should Lack of Lust Be a Psychiatric Condition?

Does lack of lust really belong in a manual of mental disorders?
The NIMH Withdraws Support for DSM-5

The NIMH Withdraws Support for DSM-5

In a humiliating blow to the APA, the National Institute of Mental Health has indicated that it is withdrawing support for DSM-5.
A More Transparent Future

A More Transparent Future

Could secrecy about data soon be a thing of the past?
Why DSM-5 Concerns European Psychiatrists

Why DSM-5 Concerns European Psychiatrists

If you think DSM-5 will affect only Americans, think again.
Trace Elements of Psychiatric Drugs Alter Fish Behavior

Trace Elements of Psychiatric Drugs Alter Fish Behavior

If psychiatric medication is having this effect on fish in their natural habitat, what is it doing to children, a population on whom it has not been formally tested?
DSM-5 Has Gone to Press Containing a Major Scientific Gaffe

DSM-5 Has Gone to Press Containing a Major Scientific Gaffe

Why did the APA not correct such a glaring, sweeping error while it still could?
"Low T": The Latest Ad Campaign Targeting Men

"Low T": The Latest Ad Campaign Targeting Men

With the latest products aimed at men with "low T," "Caveat emptor."
DSM-5, A Disaster for Childhood Diagnoses

DSM-5, A Disaster for Childhood Diagnoses

Meant to correct flaws in DSM-IV, the next edition of the manual will make a bad situation worse.
The DSM-5 Field Trials' Decidedly Mixed Results

The DSM-5 Field Trials' Decidedly Mixed Results

Far from being a ringing endorsement of DSM-5, the field trials set off fresh alarm bells.
Young Earth Baloney on the House Science Committee

Young Earth Baloney on the House Science Committee

Are Republicans truly interested in setting high education standards? If they were, wouldn't they staff the House Science Committee with people who have a basic understanding of science?
The Tranquilizer Trap

The Tranquilizer Trap

The scandal over benzodiazepines is getting quite different attention in the UK.
Anti-DSM Sentiment Rises in France

Anti-DSM Sentiment Rises in France

Why French psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychoanalysts are increasingly opposed to the diagnostic manual.

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