By:  Les Ruthven, Ph.D. clinical psychology/health consultant Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com In my recent book on healthcare, “Much of U.S. Healthcare is Broken—How to Fix it?, perhaps my number one criticism of current healthcare is (1) we have a disease conception of health problems when the vast majority of health problems are caused by non-organic factors and (2) the 10 minute physician office visit is the result of number 1. The diseasing of healthcare promotes a strong bias for physicians to look for bio physical treatments such as drugs ..read more

John R.H. Wilding et al. N Eng. J Med, 2021. Review of  Semaglutide weight loss drugs by Les Ruthven, Ph.D. Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com In this study 1961 adults, none with diabetes, were randomly assigned in a 2 to 1 ratio to 2.4 mg of once weekly Semaglutide or placebo injections plus “lifestyle” intervention for 68 weeks.  The average weight loss from baseline to 68-weeks was -14.9% weight for the drug group and -2.4% weight loss for the placebo group; this translates to a net superiority of 12.4% weight loss in favor of the drug. S ..read more

Reported in Medscape psychiatry online Nov. 1, 2023 Review of the case study by Leslie “Les” Ruthven, Ph.D. in clinical psychology Email:  dr.les.ruthven@ gmail.com Blog: www.ruthvenassessments.com In this case study a 36 year old obese woman on Semaglutide 2.4 mg for six months and life style changes lost about 30 pounds, from 220 to 190 pounds (about a 14% weight loss) for 6 months of therapy.  In my recent book I said that for over 50 years the attempts to find an effective weight loss drug failed and I suggested that healthcare turn from drugs to psychologists teaching overweight ..read more

By Leslie “Les” Ruthven, Ph.D. in clinical psychology Email:  dr.les.ruthven.gmail.com Health blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com Don’t get me wrong, these diagnostic procedures such as X-ray, MRI, CT Scans and many others were and are major advancements to improving the practice of everyday medical care.  However, no matter how excellent the diagnostic procedure (e.g., an MRI of the brain can show the surgeon exactly where the tumor is located) each of these procedures has limitations and these limitations must be kept in mind by the physicians who employ them in everyday practic ..read more

Medscape psychiatry review of “Ketamine No Better for Depression than Placebo” By Leslie “Les” Ruthven, Ph.D. in clinical psychology Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.co Blog:  ruthvenassessments.com   Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic that has hallucinogenic effects and makes one feel disconnected and lacking personal control, much like many of the street drugs today.  The patient under major surgery with Ketamine feels detached from the pain and the environment.  The drug often produces hallucinations and may cause side effects such as agitation, which is a most serio ..read more

…a brief summary of “Much of U.S. Healthcare is broken—How to fix it” by Les Ruthven, Ph.D. Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com Physicians and other medically trained professionals are largely trained in the biophysical sciences, which is proper because there are biologically caused diseases.  However, the sound research finds that less than 10% of health problems arrive at the door of physicians, psychologists or psychiatrists are due to “real” disease vs. 90% are due to non-organic causes such as the patient’s self-injurious behaviors and other p ..read more

By:  Les Ruthven, Ph.D. in clinical psychology Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com This was a large study that appeared in the J. Pharmacol. Pharmacother. in Dec. 2013. 543 mostly white women took a steroid drug (zuranolone 50 mg/daily) for 14 days.  The subjects met criteria for Major Depression and 30 % were taking antidepressants at the time of the study. Steroid and placebo subjects took the HAM-D 17 item depression rating scale prior to and on the 14th day to measure symptom reduction.  Steroid Subjects had a depression symptom reduction of -14.1 vs. -12.3 for inert plac ..read more

By:  Les Ruthven, Ph.D. clinical psychology/health management Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com This was a large study that appeared in the J. Pharmacol. Pharmacother. in Dec. 2013. 543 mostly white women took a steroid drug (zuranolone 50 mg/daily) for 14 days.  The subjects met criteria for Major Depression and 30 % were taking antidepressants at the time of the study. Had the 70% with diagnosed Major Depression given up on treating their depression? Steroid and placebo subjects took the HAM-D 17 item depression rating scale prior to and o ..read more

By:  Les Ruthven, Ph.D. clinical psychology/health management Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com Since 1987 when Prozac appeared on the scene psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry and even the non-profit mental health associations combined to “educate” the public that the mental disorders are just like other medical problems, that is, they are essentially brain diseases which can be effectively treated by the appropriate psychiatric drug.  The “theory” was that in the mental disorders there is a chemical imbalance in the brain and the right ..read more

By:  Les Ruthven, Ph.D. clinical psychology and health management Blog:  www.ruthvenassessments.com Email:  dr.les.ruthven@gmail.com Is your doctor sufficiently trained in this specialized health area? General physicians, including other medical professionals (physician assistants, nurse practitioners and even pharmacists with additional training), have become the largest “mental health” profession in the country! These medically trained providers, usually in a 10 minute office visit, listen to  the patient’s complaints and with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the ..read more