"A theory that is wrong is considered preferable to admitting our ignorance." - Elliot Vallenstein, Ph.D. The idea that depression and other mental health conditions are caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain is so deeply ingrained in our psyche that it seems almost sacrilegious to question it. Direct-to-consumer-advertising (DCTA) campaigns, which have expanded the size of the antidepressant market (Donohue et al., 2004), revolve around the claim that SSRIs (the most popular class of antidepressants) ...
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I'd like to thank everyone for their comments, both online and "offline" about my recent "Placebos as Effective as Antidepressants" article. Some very good questions were raised in a comment from Stephan, author of the highly recommended Whole Health Blog that I would like to address in today's article. The tricky thing about doing scientific research, as I explained in last week's article, is that conflicts of interest between doctors, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have become ...
In the last two weeks alone three articles have appeared in the scientific press about new studies reporting on vitamin D's many crucial roles in the body. Along with promoting strong bones, a healthy immune system and protection against some types of cancer, recent studies suggest vitamin D can treat heart failure, protect against heart attacks and reduce the risk of death from both cardiovascular and overall causes. Back in April I wrote an article called ...
