Monthly Archives: June 2012
Norway Prosecutors Ask for Psychiatric Care, Not Prison
Saying "in our opinion, it is worse that a psychotic person is sentenced to preventative detention than a nonpsychotic person is sentenced to compulsory...
“Mental Illness” and the Spiral of Shame
A researcher from the University of California in Santa Barbara writes today in the Journal of Social Psychiatry that "one reason that theories of...
Association Between Age of Psychosis Onset and Cannabis Use
Researchers at Harvard, NYU, and the VA say in a study published online today by Schizophrenia Research that the age at which 57 subjects...
Amygdala Development and Caregiver Absence
A researcher from UCLA writes in Developmental Psychobiology of the effects of caregiver absence on the development of the amygdala, suggesting that caregiver deprivation...
“Zoloft Defense” Defendant Testifies on His Own Behalf
Anthony Orban, the defendant in a California trial for kidnap and rape, who is claiming that a Zoloft-driven psychosis rendered him unaware of his...
Updates on Johnson & Johnson
Arkansas judge Tim Fox, who ruled earlier this year that Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson had concealed risks associated with...
British Psychological Society Critiques the DSM-5
The British Psychological Society has "serious concerns about many aspects of the framework. In our response we have argued that the categorical framework of...
Hyperactivity Meds Jump 46%
Following an FDA study that found a 46% rise in ADHD prescriptions from 2002-2010, a review in Death and Taxes looks at better marketing...
“Zoloft Defense” Trial Enters “Sanity Phase”
The trial of Anthony Orban enters the "sanity phase," during which jurors will decide whether Orban was in control of his actions at the...
“Psychiatry Takes a Beating” in Norway
"Anders Behring Breivik is not standing trial alone in Oslo. Psychiatry is being judged as well," says Time magazine, as the trial nears its...
Senate to Hear Testimony on Deinstitutionalization on Olmstead Act’s 13th Anniversary
Alabama Mental Health Commissioner Zelia Baugh is scheduled to testify before a U.S. Senate committee Thursday about community treatment of the mentally ill and...
The Psychopathology of American Life
‘I’m severely depressed.’
These were the words that Donesha*, a 35 year-old African American woman repeatedly uttered to me.
Need-Adapted Treatment Funded in NY
"Parachute NYC: an alternative approach to mental health treatment and crisis services" has been awarded $17,608,085 to fund "a need-adapted treatment model (NATM) intervention for...
Personal Responsibility and Advance Directives
Thursday afternoon, June 21 from 2-3 Pm EST, I am presenting a free webinar, open to all, on the Advance Directive or Crisis Plan....
Vivek Datta – Short Bio
The Psychopathology of American Life: A British physician explores how the concept of mental disorder has vastly expanded over the past century, reporting from...
Antipsychotics Aren’t Helpful to Children
Researchers from London, writing in European Psychiatry, reviewed "all RCTs involving children and young people with a diagnosis of childhood onset schizophrenia comparing any...
The Biochemical Basis for “Mental Illness” – Finally Solved!
I wanted to explain to you the biochemical and genetic and epigentic basis for all "mental illness." I want you to know that I...
Bringing Human Rights Home
The United Nations calls on countries to repeal their mental health laws that authorize involuntary commitment, and to ensure that mental health services are...
Nevada Legislation Aims to Curb Psychotropics in Foster Children
A touching article in the Las Vegas Sun follows one child from abandonment through foster placements, polypharmacy, suicidality, delinquency and homelessness to stability off...
Military Suicides Outnumber Combat Deaths
In a reversal of an historic rate of suicides below that of the general population, suicides in the military have surged. Newsweek explores the...
Call For Psych Beds Surges
Debate abounds about the factors driving a nationwide "shortage" of psychiatric hospital beds.
Article →
Treating Anxiety by Tapering Off Antidepressants
Researchers from Samaritan Mental Health in Corvallis, Oregon successfully treated 12 patients for anxiety by discontinuing their antidepressant medications. Some received alternative medications for...
The Icarus Project: One Very Good Reason I Sleep Better at Night!
"You are not alone." If you are mad, that is the Icarus Project's bold promise to you. Every time I read it, it moves...
Long-Acting Risperidone (Consta) Increases Costs, Lowers Outcomes
Writing in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, researchers from the Health Economics Resource Center studied the effects of long-acting injectable risperidone (Consta) on 369 patients...
The Dopamine Hypothesis of Schizophrenia: An Historical Perspective
A chapter from the soon-to-be-released "Targets and Emerging Therapies for Schizophrenia" explores the history of the dopamine hypothesis, finding that "although blocking of D2DR ameliorates psychosis,...
