Psychology Today Interviews Furious Seasons' Philip Dawdy

"The bipolar child is a purely American phenomenon": An interview with Philip Dawdy

By Christopher Lane, Ph.D. on April 7, 2009 - 12:17pm in Side Effects

Philip Dawdy, a prize-winning investigative journalist, has for several years written a powerful, well-researched, and well-regarded weblog, Furious Seasons, which focuses on American psychiatry, mental health, and the way we think about treatment options. Given his intensive work on the issues, I wanted to ask him several burning questions about ADHD, bipolar disorder, and other controversies in American psychiatry.

You've written extensively about the psychiatric diagnosis of teens and preschoolers. How do you account for the astonishing rise in the number of diagnoses we're seeing in these age groups, especially with regard to ADHD and bipolar disorder?

To me, you can lay all of this squarely at the feet of the pharma companies, which had a slew of newish drugs come online in the 80s and 90s and wanted them taken by as many humans as possible—consequences for the patients be damned—and a crew of child psychiatrists at Harvard/MGH who see deeply-flawed, ill-for-life children where other psychiatrists might see personality disorders and issues that will burn out over time. The pharma companies and the Harvard crew worked hand-in-hand to bring America a generation of ADHD kids and bipolar children, and their profound influence can be seen in the millions of children and teens who now carry lifetime diagnoses and take gobs of psychotropic drugs each day, often to their detriment.

That may sound extreme to some people, but it's worth noting that the rest of the world has not embraced these diagnostic and treatment paradigms—except Britain, where there was an initial embrace of ADHD and stimulants, but where there's now a significant backlash. Meanwhile, in France and Italy ADHD is rarely diagnosed and it's difficult to see where French and Italian culture have suffered as a result. As for bipolar disorder in kids (meaning pre-teens and younger), it's simply not an issue in the rest of the world. The bipolar child is a purely American phenomenon, as big a metaphor of our times as credit swaps, subprime loans, and government bailouts.

Continues at Link

Rolling Stone article plagiarizes Furious Seasons

Furious Seasons blog owner and investigative journalist Philip Dawdy writes,

"This news brought to you courtesy of the Zyprexa documents, which Rolling Stone apparently used in reporting its recent lengthy story on Zyprexa, but didn't attribute to the appropriate source. They are just referred to as "internal documents" in the article, completely ignoring the very substantial risks some folks went to to make those documents public.
Yes, the RS article is now online and I've read it. I want to re-read it before deciding whether to take out a plinging gun or a .50 caliber machine gun.
Despite giving the reporter loads of help for his story and going unmentioned and unattributed, one thing I'll tell you right now is that the article is entitled "Bitter Pill." Ironically enough, last year I wrote an article for Willamette Week on how negative anti-depressant clinical trials data had been suppressed for decades. The article's title was "Bitter Pill." While article titles are up for grabs, it just charms me beyond belief that RS chose, coincidentally I'm sure, a title I'd already used. Classic."

RS article is here

A fine shout-out to Dawdy's giant-killing work at Furious Seasons is
here. - Why doesn't Rolling Stone hire Philip Dawdy?

NAMI: PACT, Pharma's slush fund, and Mrs. Doonesbury

NAMI gets the money to run its "meds to your door and we'll watch while you take them" program, called PACT,
from Big Pharma.

Read NAMI's PACT pamphlet here

Investigative journalist Jane Pauley and her husband Garry Trudeau, freedom-loving creator of DOONESBURY, should learn about PACT before she accepts an award from NAMI.
Will most people who hear about her breakdown through NAMI ever know that she became ill while taking steroids and antidepressants - because of medication?


Pauley and a crew of Pharma movers and shakers are
big money-makers.

As a celebrity spokesperson (whose speaker's fee is "Category E - $50,000 to $100,000"), Pauley broadcasts the prescription dictum promoted (in unison) by leading psychiat lists and the drug industry.
In a New York Times Magazine Eli Lilly Advertising Supplement, (October 30, 2005), Pauley embraces drug-dependency for life without an iota of skepticism or reservation:

"Although I had only one episode, no one can tell me whether I will have another one, so I must take medication for the rest of my life."
She says she takes both Lithium and an antidepressant.

To understand how Big Pharma buys influence, The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) is a good example.
DBSA bills itself as a grass roots organization that: "throughout 2003 over 4 million people asked DSBA for help."
The DBSA website has multiple "self assessment" tools to assist interested persons in self-diagnosis for a variety of conditions.
The site offers "testimonials" from "real people" who credit medications for their recoveries.
(To see their self-tests online - so bad they are embarassing - go here)

While claiming to be member supported, at a minimum 90% of DBSA'a income comes from the drug industry.
The DBSA 2003 annual report shows who the major donors are:


The “Leadership Circle” consists of donors of $150,000 or more. Listed are: Abbott Labs, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Meyers Squibb,Elan Pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen and Pfizer.
The “Founders Club” consists of donors of $10,000 to $149,000. These include: Cyberonics, Forest Labs, Merck, Organon, Wyeth.
The “Advocate Council” consists of donors of $5,000 to $9,999. These include: the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association (SAMSHA).
The “Platinum” donors of $1,000 to $4,999 include TAP Pharmaceutical
See: http://www.dbsalliance.org/PDF/AnnReptFINAL.pdf

Is NAMI Jane's Bag?














Images from http://www.namipharma.org


Is it time to give that Cronkite Award back?

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