This week I am in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Annual Meeting of the American College of Narcissistic Psychiatrists (Oops! I mean Neuro-Psychopharmacology… or maybe it was Negotiators for Prostitution, since the word is that the original annual meeting was held in the 1960s and 1970s in San Juan, Puerto Rico, since the whores in San Juan were more affordable on the limited salaries of the academic psychiatrists, at least before they themselves became, well…)We’ve had some memorable moments at the annual meetings of the ACNP (of which I am a proud member, at least as of the time of the writing of this post). The narcissistic psychiatrists print out their research results on “posters” and pin them up on boards and then everyone walks around getting drunk while they pretend to read the posters while catching up on gossip. And oh, we have some great gossip to catch up on. Usually we are supposed to print the posters out from computers, but one year one of the narcissistic psychiatrists drew the title of his poster with a crayon. Although the posters are supposed to represent research, another year one of the narcissistic psychiatrists had a poster dedicated to the alleged corruption of another one of our august members. And then there are the numerous inquiries, investigations, accusations, and assorted phlegm sent to the group email list that livelies up our days.

Such fun!

We used to say that the struggles in academia were so great because the rewards were so small, but thanks to payola from Merck, Lilly, Pfizer, and friends, I guess we can’t say that anymore! Cheerio!

Anyhoo, to the point of this post, my dissenting opinion from the official position statement of the ACNP on suicidality and antidepressants. For years the ACNP has been solemnly convening a committee every year to comment on a possible association between suicidality and antidepressants. Even five years ago when I viewed their report (before the more recent uproar over the topic) I saw their list of studies showing that in almost every case the rates of suicidality were doubled. I therefore concluded that the conclusions of my august fellow members were, frankly… bullshit.

Even now the ACNP continues to put its head in the sand and denies a relationship between antidepressants and suicidality. But take a look at the people on the committee ruling on suicidality and antidepressants and you see conflicts abound with members taking speaking and consulting fees from drug companies. And it takes an infinite reach of the imagination to believe that antidepressants making you suicidal are no big deal, as was recently argued by one of the committee members on his NPR show, since it hasn’t been shown that they will make you SUCCESSFULLY kill yourself since suicide is rare and noone has ever shown that something will make you more likely to successfully kill yourself.

Hey buddy, wanna buy some blue pills that are gonna make you think about killing yourself? Dont’ worry, in the end you won’t actually do it.

Originally posted Dec 7 2008

Response to David Braff, MD PhD, President of the ACNP

I got a call yesterday from David Braff MD PhD, President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) and Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD. It seems that some of my fellow ACNP members were miffed about my post “A Dissenting Opinion from the ACNP on Suicidality and Antidepressants”. To set the record straight, the post was meant in jest, although a number of sites picked it up as evidence of “sleazy” behavior of ACNP members. ACNP members don’t routinely get drunk at poster sessions, as I implied. Although beer and wine is served there (as it is at the American Heart Association meeting, per Mrs. Bremner, and a number of other meetings) I hope they don’t stop that practice because of my post! And the comment about the prostitutes being cheaper in Puerto Rico wasn’t meant to imply that ACNP members currently frequent prostitutes. After all, they moved the meeting to Scottsdale, AZ. This was based on a rumour I heard years ago about scurilous activity that occurred back when the meeting started there in the 1960s. But I think it might have been a joke so I take it back. And if I have offended any ACNP members, I apologize.

As for the comments about the person who drew his poster title with a crayon and the other one who sat in a lawn chair next to his poster criticizing another ACNP member, well, what can I say?

On a more positive note, in response to concerns about the influence of the pharmaceutical industry on academic psychiatry through pharma funded educational activities and drug promotional talks and concerns that this compromises the patient-physician relationship, one of the ACNP members, Robert Golden, MD, Dean of the University of Wisconsin Medical School (Madison), has instituted a policy to place signs in clinics alerting patients that their doctors may be receiving payments from drug companies and providing a form so that they can get more information.

The Drug Safety and Health News blog applauds the efforts of Dr. Golden which truly represents a move in a new direction.

Originally posted Jan 13 2009

COMMENTS

If anyone should have the right to question Dr Bremner’s comparative expertise on the going rates asked by prostitutes at past ACNP congress venues, it’s Mrs Bremner, MD. But then Mrs Bremner obviously got the joke.

Why do high-raking members of the ACNP, as the English say, get their knickers in a twist about this? Don’t they have anything more pressing to worry about and comment on, like, uuh, shills being KOLs?

Pease keep up the good work!

Susie (M-1, in Europe)