Martin Plöderl
@ploederl.bsky.social
Clinical psychologist and psychotherapist, part-time researcher with a focus on suicide prevention and psychopharmacology. https://ploederlm.github.io/publications/ https://scholar.google.at/citations?user=76cO6AEAAAAJ&hl=de Nature, espresso, cycling.
I’ve been quiet on social media lately, but today I’m launching Audit Clinical Evidence (ACE), an initiative I’ve been developing over the past year. Take a look: AuditClinicalEvidence.org
ACE
Independent audits of published clinical research for statistical errors, data inconsistencies, and research integrity violations.
auditclinicalevidence.org
Irgendwie auch nach fast 50 Jahren aktuell: Als Loriot politisch wurde: »Da gibt’s keinen linken und rechten Weg, es gibt einen richtigen Weg.« 3nach9 (1979)
A Call for a Paradigm Shift in Schizophrenia Treatment: Reassessing Long-Term Antipsychotic Use and the Evidence for Psychosocial Interventions Long term antipsychotic treatment shows diminishing benefits, weak evidence for first episode psychosis www.madinamerica.com/2026/09/a-ca...
A Call for a Paradigm Shift in Schizophrenia Treatment: Reassessing Long-Term Antipsychotic Use and the Evidence for Psychosocial Interventions
The evidence challenges the assumption that lifelong antipsychotic treatment is necessary for most individuals with schizophrenia.
madinamerica.com
1. Bergström's new book arrived. He is an expert and pioneer in the "Open Dialogue" approach. Will post some quotes during reading.
Ever wondered why leading figures in academic medicine have such an impressive publication output? Ghostwriting! "However, a count of changes from the outline to the final draft shows that frontstage author contributions were minimal..."
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
This ketamine study on bipolar depression reported substantial effects. Interestingly, the primary outcome was changed from 2w to 4w after start of recruitment, and one secondary outcome (MADRS suic item) was withdrawn. Unfortunately, no access to PDF jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Serial Ketamine Infusions for Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression
The Ket-BD randomized clinical trial evaluates the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of adjunctive intravenous ketamine compared with midazolam for treatment-resistant bipolar I or II depression.
jamanetwork.com
Friends from the US tell me that lithium became a popular nutritional supplement, based on the belief that it is neuroprotective and life-extending. However, it is not known what a "normal" level of lithium should be, and the literature is far from being conclusive (free access on Researchgate).
Manifestations of Lithium Deficiency in the Human Body: What is Known to Date (A Narrative Review) - Biological Trace Element Research
Lithium is a pharmacological agent with a well-established role in psychopharmacology. Interest in its “trace” doses as a potential nutrient has increased in the context of geochemical variability of ...
link.springer.com
"Remember that each patient a psychiatrist treats is effectively a single-subject prospective, open-label observational trial where the control group is the memory of every other similar patient who the psychiatrist has seen."
Martin Plöderl@ploederl.bsky.social · 3d ago"But in my practice I see that these meds are working!" This is a good piece about the problems underlying such (common) beliefs in our field. Applies not just to psychiatrists of course (as the author points out at the end).
"But in my practice I see that these meds are working!" This is a good piece about the problems underlying such (common) beliefs in our field. Applies not just to psychiatrists of course (as the author points out at the end).
Psychiatrists as superstitious pigeons
Coming to terms with small effects and large variation in treating common disorders
polypharmacy.substack.com
It was nice to have been invited to the 3rd Datathon of @sharectd.bsky.social in Göttingen. Again, three teams worked with Jannsen's IPD data on esketamine. Interesting results which hopefully will be published soon.
Mit meinen großartigen Kolleg*innen sind wir die aktuell wirklich schwierigen Fragen der Psychotherapie angegangen. Es ist ein spannendes Buch geworden (erscheint Anfang 2027).
Nothing new under the sun: "Inter−rater reliability among medical doctors was modest, indicating that diagnostic agreement between two doctors occurred in roughly 55% of cases." 1/4 www.frontiersin.org/journals/psy...
Frontiers | Reliability of psychiatric diagnoses in the 21st century
BackgroundReliable diagnosis is a cornerstone of medical practice, yet concerns about diagnostic reliability have long haunted psychiatry. In the 1970s, the ...
frontiersin.org
«Randomization and other forms of experimental control do not detach research from real-world contexts but, rather, reduce systematic error and uncertainty to better isolate causal effects.» 🎯 www.jclinepi.com/article/S089...
Randomized, controlled, and real
The growing use of the term “real-world evidence” (RWE) has introduced a classification of clinical research based on its perceived proximity to routine practice rather than its methodological charact...
jclinepi.com
Medical terms about to be re-named by Trump edzardernst.com/2026/09/medi...
Medical terms about to be re-named by Trump
You might have noticed: whenever Trump wants to detract the public from something embarrassing or criminal, he makes headlines by re-naming something. That seems to work quite well: for a day or two, the world is outraged by his moronic action. Yet, the public focus on the embarrassment or crime quickly returns, and Trump has
edzardernst.com
Elections in Sachsen Anhalt: rightwing extremist party AfD terrifyingly close to absolute majority, because parties <5% don't make it into parliament in Germany. If BSW were to drop to 4.9%, AfD has ~49.77% at the moment, I believe.
Wiener Beitrag zur #Odyssee. > Penelope, angfressen Dialektgedicht von Elfriede Gerstl (1932 - 2009) #WienLiebe #odyssey
Bonnet height in cars increasing is bad for pedestrians in case of accidents. This is a case of weighing consumer preferences (people like driving in big cars) and public health concerns (more dangerous for pedestrians) against each other. Interesting to see what society as a whole find acceptable.
1. Rant: with the help of BMC Journals, the literature is flooded with potentially fraudulent ketamine/esketamine studies. I just came across this one. SMD = 3.8 on day 7, when administered during anesthesia. Absurd!
Efficacy and safety evaluation of intravenous esketamine in alleviating perioperative depressive symptoms in Parkinson’s disease: a randomized controlled trial - BMC Anesthesiology
Objective Depressive symptoms frequently afflict individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). The current study was consequently conducted to determine the efficacy of low-dose intravenous esketamine in...
link.springer.com
1. No associations between BNDF and response to ketamine in this RCT. This contrasts the common assumption that ketamine works by increasing neuroplasticity. Authors argue that therapeutic levels have not been achieved and refer to a meta-analysis where there WAS an assoc bw BNDF and response -> BUT
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor following oral esketamine in treatment-resistant depression: Results from a randomized placebo-controlled trial
Ketamine and its enantiomer esketamine are efficacious in 30–35% of the patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Increased serum brain-deri…
sciencedirect.com
Evidence of fraud in Study 1 of Ariely and Wertenbroch. We weren't necessarily expecting to interrogate this study, since the recent replication failure focused only on Study 2. But we stumbled on some evidence, which then led us to find an older version of the paper...
Data Colada@datacolada.bsky.social · 2w agoColada[139] Artificial Deadlines Part 2 Evidence of fraud in the 25 year old gradesheet behind the key finding in an influential paper on deadlines and procrastination. datacolada.org/139
“When mayors in other cities ask me how #Copenhagen afforded to invest in its cycling networks, I ask them how on earth they have been able to afford highway projects. We invested in bike lanes because that was the cheapest option.” What the world can learn from Copenhagen’s cycling revolution.
Copenhagen Cycling Revolution: Lessons for Cities
Close to two-thirds of the city’s residents commute by bike to school or work every day.
theprogressplaybook.com
Escitalopram was not superior to placebo in people w anxiety issues. Effect size not reported but is d = -0.1 (-0.7 to 0.5). Results are at odds w common assumptions how meds work. Most studies about escitalopram and anxiety were old industry trials. Study shows we need independent replications!
Brain activation and connectivity after 2–3 weeks of escitalopram administration in anxiety disorders: A randomised trial
Despite the extensive use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) for anxiety treatment worldwide, their neural mechanism of action remains…
sciencedirect.com
Antidepressant use in Germany and Austria, based on the OECD database and, for previous years in Austria, on a publication by Kapusta et al. Germany has a new record in 2024, while in Austria, rates are plateauing since a few years
Antidepressant prescription rates in the US up to 2024, based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Even more prescriptions than in 2023 in all age groups.
Martin Plöderl@ploederl.bsky.social · 12mo agoAntidepressant prescription rates in the US up to 2023, based on the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. Now 12% of the US-population used an antidepressant in 2023, which is an all-time-record.
My new paper on the three foundational pillars of psychotherapy, and how to organise clinical training around them. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
The Three Pillars Model of psychotherapy: A new integrative framework to guide early-career clinical supervision and practice
Integrative psychotherapy is now the most common form of psychotherapeutic practice. Yet, research shows that early-career therapists often struggle to integrate diverse theoretical models in ways ...
tandfonline.com
When Medical Science Refuses to Correct Itself By Ed Pigott, PhD & Jay Amsterdam Two decades of notification that NEJM’s STAR*D publications contain demonstrably false claims should expose the journal to legal consequences for knowingly allowing these claims to remain uncorrected. buff.ly/pC1a0Kt
When Medical Science Refuses to Correct Itself
Science is supposed to be self-correcting. But what happens when the journals entrusted to uphold this principle become its gatekeepers?
madinamerica.com
It was a special moment to deliver a keynote at the ESSSB in front of so many respected suicidologists. Despite my poor English I hope that I managed to deliver my message. I want to share this content because I think it is important, so I made a recording today (including the grammatical erors 😜).
Personal-Recording-ESSSB.mp4
drive.google.com
Martin Plöderl@ploederl.bsky.social · 4w agoHonored to be invited as a keynote speaker at the ESSSB next week. www.conftool.pro/esssb21/inde...
NEW POST: “The IQ Hereditarian Ship Is Sinking (Along with the Race Science Ship)” IQ hereditarianism and “race science” are in the news these days. I took a close look at the body of IQ heritability research. What I found will surprise most people. jayjoseph22.substack.com/p/the-iq-her...
The IQ Hereditarian Ship Is Sinking
(Along with the Race Science Ship)
jayjoseph22.substack.com
