Furious Seasons is Off Da Hook

In a post that can only be described as “off the hook,” Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons describes what 2007 appears to hold in terms of psychiatric treatment research. I read the same article as did Dawdy last week regarding this year's psych med research and thought, “yeah, I’ll get to that.” Well, I’m glad I never got around to it because I could not have matched what he has written. Here are some snippets from Dawdy…

“There was an interesting story last week in Psychiatric Times. It was a curtain raiser on what the reporter promises will be a big year of data for psych MDs. Lots of studies on using atypicals in kids and adolescents--I predict that these short-term studies will show limited efficacy with big weight gain in the kiddos”

—SNIP—

"And new data on one drug, Zyprexa (olanzapine), will likely be submitted to the FDA this year in anticipation of earning a pediatric indication for either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder."

Oh my. After all the problems that have cropped up around Zyprexa's use in adults, Eli Lilly is pushing to have it approved for kids? That ought to be one very interesting filing with the FDA.

—SNIP—

I am against sticking four to six year olds full of an antipsychotic, especially Seroquel. It's well known to cause weight gain in adults and creates so much cognitive slowing and the fifth of whiskey head the next morning that it is utterly unfair to give this to children.

OK, I have to stop stealing his words. Believe me – it just gets even better in his post; I only scratched the surface. In fact, it is one of the best posts I have ever read. So get going and read it in full. Warning: His post contains adult language (and appropriately so, in my humble opinion).