Violence
Fear, Discrimination and Our Ever-Eroding Civil Rights
by Sean Donovan
April 26, 2013
I first learned about the significance of our country’s Bill of Rights around the same time I started on my first doses of SSRIs for depression and suicidal feelings. At the same time I was learning in school about the “inalienable” freedoms to which citizens of the United States are entitled, I was learning in a psychiatrist’s office about how I might be a “danger” to myself and lose some of these freedoms “for my own good.” I don’t claim that I was conscious of the contradictions at the age of 13 or 14, but the significance is not lost on me now.
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Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Suicide, Violence
Grandmother Murders old Friend: Court Accepts SSRI as a Cause
April 23, 2013
Based on a psychiatrist’s recommendation that the effects of citalopram (Celexa) had contributed to a 61 year-old grandmother’s lethal bludgeoning of her friend of over 20 years as they had tea, the High Court in Edinburgh accepted a reduced plea of ‘culpable homicide.’ The psychiatrist indicated that she had been prescribed a dosage “far in excess of what she should have been prescribed.”
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Featured News, In the News, Psychiatric Drugs, Violence
How a “Lapse of Judgement” Became Involuntary Detention,
and a Security Threat
April 12, 2013
The Brattleboro Reformer, citing intense public concern after a county-wide security alert regarding an “autistic” man’s release from involuntary detention, obtained the court transcript in which the judge “concluded that ‘the lapse in judgment’ by the subject in making the threatening statements was not connected to any major mental illness… one of the biggest problems in the State’s case is actually demonstrating from the time (the man) was held against his will… any behavior that really is consistent with an impulse to act on the statements that were so concerning… ”
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
Mental Health Officials Troubled by NY Gun-Control Law
March 31, 2013
Since mid-March, NY has required mental health treatment providers to report when a patient is a potential danger to himself or others. But professionals who must participate in the process say it was hastily designed and broadly written. “When someone drops a whole new set of rules out of the sky, and there isn’t a whole lot of time to discuss them or consider them or appreciate the many dimensions that may be played out in this, it becomes really entangling,” said the chairman of the psychiatry department at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “You trip up on a lot of stuff.”
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
ISEPP Board Member Testifies at Mexican Congressional Hearing on Psych Meds & Violence
March 27, 2013
Dr. Toby Watson, The International Society for Ethical Psychology and Psychiatry’s former executive director, reports on his expert testimony to the Federal Congress and Health Ministry of Mexico.
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Featured News, In the News, Psychiatric Drugs, Violence
Ask Michael Moore About Psychiatric Drugs and Gun Violence
by Jim Gottstein
March 21, 2013
In Michael Moore’s movie, “Bowling for Columbine,” the question is repeatedly asked; “why are there so many gun murders in the United States compared to other countries?” But no answer is given. However, in Gary Null’s recent film, “The Drugging of our Children,” Mr. Moore says that it is quite possible Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold shot all of those students at Columbine for no other reason than they were given psychiatric drugs. He called for an investigation into the role of such drugs in the murders at Columbine, but does not appear to be following up. Now, there is an opportunity to ask him about it!!!
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Categorized in: Antidepressants, Blogs, Featured Blogs, Psychiatric Drugs, Suicide, Uncategorized, Violence
Whether Bullied or Bullying: Increased Psychiatric Disorders
March 15, 2013
A North Carolina study of 1,420 participants finds higher rates of agoraphobia (4.6x), generalized anxiety disorder (2.7x), and panic disorder (3.1x) among victims of bullying. Among those who had been both bullies and victims, the study found higher rates of depression (4.8x), panic disorder (14.5x), agoraphobia (26.7x) and suicidality (18.5x) in both childhood and young adulthood. Results appeared in JAMA Psychiatry.
Categorized in: Addiction, Adult, Anxiety, Anxiety, Childhood Adversity/Trauma, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, Non-Drug Approaches, Trauma/Distress, Violence
Mental Illness Associated with 5X Greater Risk of Being Murdered
March 7, 2013
Research by California’s Stanford University on Sweden’s entire adult population from the years 2001 to 2008 finds that a mental disorder was associated with a 5x greater risk of homicidal death, relative to persons without mental disorders, and irrespective of age, sex, or other characteristics. The research was published this week in the British Medical Journal.
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
Bill to Keep Guns From the Mentally Ill Introduced in Senate
March 7, 2013
Legislation intended “to ensure that those who have been declared an imminent danger to themselves or others aren’t legally able to obtain a firearm” was introduced yesterday by a bipartisan group of senators, lead by South Carolina republican Lindsay Graham. The bill, written with help from the N.R.A., would prevent persons involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital, or declared incompetent to stand trial in a criminal case, or found not guilty by reason of insanity, from buying guns.
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
We are Whole People, Not Broken Brains
by Daniel Fisher, M.D., Ph.D.
February 24, 2013
Many of us in the consumer/survivor movement have begun to worry that recovery is being co-opted. That it is being used too easily, and has lost its meaning. I think we live in bubble. Outside our world, the larger society has not even heard that recovery is possible. In fact, society hears a constant litany, through major media, that emotional distress is due to chemical imbalance. Today young people are told they will never recover, and should accept that they have a life long illness.
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Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Violence
Remembering Our History, and Thinking About Our Future
by Will Hall
February 23, 2013
This is a transcript of my keynote speech at Alternatives 2012, which a Madness Radio listener recently transcribed.
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Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Non-Drug Approaches, Research, Rethinking Psychiatry/Medical Model, Violence
No Link Between Teen Depression and Violent Crime
February 20, 2013
Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, find little evidence that adolescent depression predicts violent crime.
Categorized in: Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Violence
Violence, Depression in Parents Linked to Kids’ ADHD, Depression
February 7, 2013
A prospective study of 2,422 children from 2004 to 2012 found that children whose parents reported Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and depressive symptoms were 4x more likely to have a diagnosis of ADHD, even after adjusting for other variables. Children of parents who reported depressive symptoms alone were 2x more likely to have been prescribed medication.
Categorized in: ADHD, Adult, Children and Adolescents, Depression, Disorders, Featured News, In the News, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychiatric Drugs, Trauma/Distress, Violence
Scapegoating Persons Labelled Mentally Ill: The Politics of Marginalization
by Jack Carney, DSW
January 25, 2013
Scapegoating is an ancient human practice that probably dates from the time the first human beings decided to circle their huts — what we fondly term the dawn of civilization. When things got tense in the compound, penalties got handed out to one or more individuals or families, those usually at the low end of the pole, the politically powerless or vulnerable.
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Categorized in: Blogs, DSM, Featured Blogs, Violence | Tagged as: APA, Gun Control, Kendra's Law, NICS, NRA, SAFE, Scapegoating, U.S. Exceptionalism
NCMHR Does Not Speak for Me
by Tina Minkowitz
January 19, 2013
I am appalled to read a press release by the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery that lauds the proposals emerging from the Vice President’s Task Force and accepts in principle a national database of individuals with mental health diagnoses that is “limited to those with a known history of violence.”
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Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Violence
Youth Violence is a Family Therapy Issue
by Marilyn Wedge
January 18, 2013
Family therapists view violent young people in the context of the wider social systems of which they are a part. This typically means the youth’s parents, but it can also include grandparents, teachers, or even friends. Framing youth violence in terms of the social context or family system–rather than as a psychological problem of the individual– is the most effective way of putting an end to the violent behavior.
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Categorized in: Blogs, Featured Blogs, Non-Drug Approaches, Psychotherapy, Recovery/Empowerment, Trauma/Distress, Violence
“Warning Signs of Violent Acts Often Unclear” – NY Times
January 16, 2013
The New York Times explores the surge in legislative activity related to the mental health system and violence. “New York State legislators on Tuesday passed a gun bill that would require therapists to report to the authorities any client thought to be ‘likely to engage in’ violent behavior … Yet many patient advocates and therapists strongly disagreed, saying it would intrude into the doctor-patient relationship in a way that could dissuade troubled people from speaking their minds, and complicate the many judgment calls therapists already have to make.”
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
Forbes Unpublishes Commentary on Medication/Violence Link
January 15, 2013
A google link to a Forbes magazine article titled “Psychiatric Drugs, Not A Lack Of Gun Control, Are The Common Denominator In Murderous Violence” now leads to a page on the Forbes website that says “Oops!”
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Featured News, In the News, Psychiatric Drugs, Suicide, Violence
Call for an Investigation Into Psych Meds and Violence
January 13, 2013
The killing of 20 children and six adults in Newtown has triggered a search for some way of preventing these kinds of tragedies. The focus has been on gun control, video game violence and a registry of persons diagnosed with …
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Categorized in: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Mood Stabilizers, Op-Eds, Psychiatric Drugs, Violence
Call for a Federal Investigation into the Link between Psychotropic Drugs and Mass Murder
January 11, 2013
In response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, ISEPP, a non-profit mental health research and education network, issues a statement calling for a Federal investigation into the link between psychotropic drugs and mass murder.
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Around The Web, Psychiatric Drugs, Violence
Backsliding in the Bay State
by Jonathan Dosick
January 7, 2013
The drumbeat for more “Risk Management” just gets louder. And nowhere is this so alarmingly evident as a new policy proposed by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) in November 2012.
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Categorized in: Blogs, Community, Featured Blogs, Non-Drug Approaches, Recovery/Empowerment, Trauma/Distress, Violence | Tagged as: Civil rights, complete mental health recovery, Empowerment, Human Rights, mental health advocacy, Mental health care, Recovery
Beyond Meds: “Childhood Abuse is ‘Unpalatable’ and so the Epidemic of Abuse Goes Unchallenged”
January 7, 2013
Beyond Meds, continuing its legacy of bringing attention to the causes and cures of what is often called “mental illness”, presents an article, video, and compendium of resources on child abuse.
Categorized in: Around The Web, Non-Drug Approaches, Trauma/Distress, Violence
Aggression in Psychiatric In-Patients is State and Context-Dependent; Not Trait-Dependent
January 7, 2013
An examination by London-based researchers of the data related to aggression in adult psychiatric in-patient settings, published on January 4, 2013 in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, found that while there were differences between aggressive and non-aggressive patients (being younger, male, involuntarily committed, or unmarried, among others), “the associations found between these actuarial factors and aggression were small. It is therefore important for staff to consider dynamic factors such as a patient’s current state and the context to reduce in-patient aggression.”
Categorized in: Featured News, In the News, Violence
“The Giant, Gaping Hole in Sandy Hook Reporting”
January 7, 2013
David Kupelian, editor of Whistleblower magazine, reviews the evidence for a role of psychiatric medication in violent events such as the Sandy Hook tragedy and asks why the question of a role of medication is persistently ignored.
Categorized in: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, Around The Web, Psychiatric Drugs, Suicide, Violence
What is “Mental Illness”? Not What Caused Newtown
January 3, 2013
I am deeply saddened by the tragic events in Newtown, Connecticut. It is difficult to make sense of the despair that motivated the violence. As one who works in the mental health field, I hear too many of my colleagues …
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Categorized in: Op-Eds, Rethinking Psychiatry/Medical Model, Violence
