Research News
“It’s Torture, and People Are Scared”: Patients Describe Trauma of Involuntary Psychiatric Care
A Clinical Nursing Research study finds that patients view involuntary psychiatric treatment as clinically ineffective, nurses are divided, and both report low professional support and family involvement during detention
“Backed Into a Corner”: Inside British Columbia’s Push Toward Involuntary Psychiatry
When voluntary care is scarce, a new qualitative study finds, people and providers are pulled into coercive responses that carry trauma, ethical doubts, and lasting distrust.
Does Calling Addiction a Brain Disease Create Epistemic Injustice?
The article contends that the brain disease model redistributes credibility away from people with lived experience and toward narrow measures of brain change.
Machine Learning Can’t Reliably Predict Suicide Risk, Review Finds
Despite years of hype, new research reveals that predictive models often misclassify individuals at risk for suicide and fail to enhance real-world prevention.
Archival Fragments Revive the History of Mad Activism in Ontario
Sociologist Danielle Landry brings the scattered traces of Canada’s mad movement back into view, revealing how survivor-run enterprises challenged mental-health care.
Neighborhood Factors May Help Explain Racial Disparities in Psychosis Risk
A new U.S. study finds that social and economic inequities at the neighborhood level explain part of the racial gap in psychosis symptoms.
From Knowledge to Being: Expanding What “Lived Experience” Means
Rajvinder Samra calls for an ontological turn in mental health research that values how people live their realities—not just how they explain them.
Study Highlights Tensions Between Biomedical and Indigenous Maya Mental Health Models
Interviews with Maya participants show how language and culture shape the experience of psychosis.
Emotion Regulation May Be Key to Prevent Suicide Attempts in Veterans
A new study in veterans and military personnel identifies the specific elements of therapy that seem to have a protective effect, including emotion regulation and crisis response planning.
From Inclusion to Assimilation in Mental Health Research
A new paper names “participatory assimilation,” showing how mental health projects invite people in, then fold their ideas back into expert agendas.
Less Screen, More Sleep: Cutting Smartphone Use Lifts Mood and Lowers Stress
A randomized trial finds that reducing daily screen time improves well-being and sleep quality among young adults.
Psychiatric Labels Confine More Than They Clarify, Researchers Argue
A new article reviews evidence that diagnostic categories shape identity and worsen outcomes, calling for alternatives to fixed labels.
Medicine Is on the Brink of “AI-Induced Deskilling”
Research is piling up to show that once doctors use artificial intelligence, they begin to lose their vital skills—and trainees may never learn them.
From Molecules to Meanings: Scholars Call for ‘Pharmaceutical Humanities’
The authors contend that pharmacists need narrative competence and a new disciplinary home that joins ethics, culture, and care with pharmacology.
New Research Suggests Early Childhood Behavior May Predict Cluster A Personality Disorders
By tracking children over 12 years, researchers suggest that traits and social experiences together may explain adolescent difficulties.
Study Finds Bipartisan Support for Mental Health Care Without Coercion
The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, suggest that federal calls for increased use of coercive measures run counter to public opinion.
Prescription Stimulant Use Linked to Higher Rates of Psychosis
A systematic study finds a higher incidence of psychotic and bipolar symptoms in individuals diagnosed with ADHD who are prescribed stimulants.
Trauma-Informed Care and the PTMF: How Does It Work in Practice?
The program reduced self-harm, seclusion, and restraint. Now we have a better idea of how it was able to achieve that goal—and the barriers preventing it from being used more often.
Micronutrient Supplements: Better Than Antidepressants for Depressed Pregnant Mothers and Their Babies
In NUTRIMUM, newborns ended up with fewer complications than even the newborns of women who didn’t have depression at all.
AI Study Finds Psychiatric Diagnoses Overlap Too Much to Be Useful
New research shows that attempts to sort human distress into discrete boxes—whether by experts or algorithms—fail to capture lived experience.
Relational Depth in Psychotherapy Linked to Reductions in Depression and Anxiety
New research points to relational depth as a stronger predictor of change than traditional alliance measures.
“Medicine Is Awesome” Mentality Fueling Harmful Antidepressant Use, Say Experts
The authors call for a paradigm shift in mental health care that emphasizes empathy, context, and alternatives to medication as first-line treatments for depression.
German GPs Say They Need More Support to Help Patients Stop Antidepressants
New research from Germany shows how guidelines, system pressures, and lack of collaboration limit deprescribing.
When Peer Support Workers Must Be “Just Mad Enough”
NHS peer workers describe the burden of proving themselves as “success stories” while concealing distress.
Collective Action May Protect Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young Adults
A new study finds that activism protects some LGBTQ+ young adults from the mental health toll of critical consciousness, while trans youth and people of color remain vulnerable.
