November 8, 2010

The show opens with Dr. Breggin’s vivid description of his participation as a medical expert in the infamous trial of mass murderer Joseph Wesbecker in 1994. Drug company Eli Lilly fixed the trial in order to stem the tide of product liability suits for violence and suicide induced by Prozac. Today’s guest is Dr. Ed Pigott, a Maryland psychologist in private practice who has helped develop and evaluate effective alternative approaches including “mobile intensive crisis intervention” through which teams of professionals respond to emergencies without resorting to psychiatric hospitalization. Dr. Pigott also discusses his soon-to-be published “deconstruction” of the famous Star*D study in which the federal government wasted millions on one more flawed and manipulated attempt to show that antidepressants work.