Psychology Blog

This month’s British Journal of Psychiatry has another one of its regular ‘…in 100 words’ series - this month giving a concise guide to ‘psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry’.

It’s written by psychiatrist and historian of psychopharmacology David Healy, who’s had more than his fair share of heat from the drug industry.

Psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry - in 100 words

Little Pharma made profits by making novel compounds; Big Pharma does it by marketing. Doctors say they consume (prescribe) medication according to the evidence, so marketeers design and run trials to increase a drug’s use. They select the trials, data and authors that suit, publish in quality journals, facilitate incorporation in guidelines, then exhort doctors to practise evidence-based medicine. Because ‘they’re worth it’, doctors consume branded high-cost but less effective ‘evidence-based’ derivatives of older compounds making these drugs worth more than their weight in gold. Posted parcels meanwhile are tracked far more accurately than adverse treatment effects on patients.

Link to psychiatry and the pharma industry in 100 words at the BJP.

Go here to read the rest:
Psychiatry and Big Pharma - in 100 words

Two weeks today will be the annual ‘Blue Monday‘ bullshit festival, where Cliff Arnall and his “formula” are wheeled out in an attempt to make us believe that it tells us about the most depressing day of the year. However, Mind Hacks is running a competition that may prove a useful antedote and you can enter.

To be fair, the day is usually quite depressing, but only because we have to put up with the usual rubbish masquerading as science in the media.

The whole idea is still being pushed by a PR agency, but rather disappointingly, the respected UK charity the Mental Health Foundation have seemingly shelled out hard cash for the dubious pleasure of using the opportunity to try and promote mental well-being.

Promoting mental health is, of course, a fantastic idea, but using utter gibberish and pseudoscience to do so is like trying to promote a healthy diet by telling people that apples are particularly bad for us on certain days.

So, to help cheer us all up we want you to come up with a formula that describes what total bullshit these formulas are.

Be creative. As with the original formula, don’t feel you have to be chained by the laws of maths, or even logic.

The most creative entry will win a prize. Sent to you where ever you are in the world.

Be careful not to say nasty things about Mr Arnall himself, rumour has it has he a tendency to threaten legal action against people who say things that could be interpreted as casting aspersions on him directly, although it would be perfectly acceptable to point out that his formula is utter nonsense.

You can either include your entry as a comment to this post, post them to your own blog and send us a link, or email me directly via this web form.

Not only will you be helping the public understanding of science through sarcasm, you could win a prize and get featured on Mind Hacks.

We will print the best entries a few days before the date itself.

The game is afoot!

Originally posted here:
Blue Monday bullshit competition

Mind Bites is a beautiful photography project by artist Will Lion which combines striking images with quotes from cognitive science research.

You can either view it as a Flickr photo set or as an interactive Flash gallery.

The image pictured here is one of the more abstract pictures, but the full range contains everything from portraits, to landscapes, to still life photos with the research quotes taken from studies on memory to hormonal influence of the earnings of lap dancers.

I can’t help thinking these would make great pictures to have in a psychology department which are usually adorned with faded conference posters and dull oil paintings.

Anyway, the full set of Will Lion’s ‘Mind Bites’ project is both visually engaging and thought-provoking which is the essence of much great art.

Link to images as Flickr photo set.
Link to Mind Bites as interactive Flash gallery.

Read the original here:
Mind bites

Mind Bites is a beautiful photography project by artist Will Lion which combines striking images with quotes from cognitive science research.

You can either view it as a Flickr photo set or as an interactive Flash gallery.

The image pictured here is one of the more abstract pictures, but the full range contains everything from portraits, to landscapes, to still life photos with the research quotes taken from studies on memory to hormonal influence of the earnings of lap dancers.

I can’t help thinking these would make great pictures to have in a psychology department which are usually adorned with faded conference posters and dull oil paintings.

Anyway, the full set of Will Lion’s ‘Mind Bites’ project is both visually engaging and thought-provoking which is the essence of much great art.

Link to images as Flickr photo set.
Link to Mind Bites as interactive Flash gallery.

Here is the original:
Mind bites

Mind Bites is a beautiful photography project by artist Will Lion which combines striking images with quotes from cognitive science research.

You can either view it as a Flickr photo set or as an interactive Flash gallery.

The image pictured here is one of the more abstract pictures, but the full range contains everything from portraits, to landscapes, to still life photos with the research quotes taken from studies on memory to hormonal influence of the earnings of lap dancers.

I can’t help thinking these would make great pictures to have in a psychology department which are usually adorned with faded conference posters and dull oil paintings.

Anyway, the full set of Will Lion’s ‘Mind Bites’ project is both visually engaging and thought-provoking which is the essence of much great art.

Link to images as Flickr photo set.
Link to Mind Bites as interactive Flash gallery.

See original here:
Mind bites