Yearly Archives: 2012
Attachment & Psychosis: Implications for Therapeutic Alliance
In what they say is the first study to investigate relationships between emotion regulation, attachment and the therapeutic alliance, researchers in Northwest EnglandĀ recruited 49...
Call For DSM-5 Reform Continues
Over 13,000 mental health professionals have signed an open letter from The Society for Humanistic Psychology (Div. 32 of the APA) to the DSM-5...
Loneliness and Mental Illness
Based on interviews with 7,461 adults randomly selected from the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey in England, researchers found that interventions addressing maladaptive social cognition...
Involuntary Treatment Burdened by Lack of Evidence
A review of Cochrane data finds a lack of evidence for the effectiveness of involuntary treatment; and an ethos of tradition rather than standards....
Disconnect Between Antipsychotic Prescribing and Metabolic Screening
Despite American Diabetes Association and APA recommendations of glucose and lipid testing for all patients started on antipsychotics, there is a disconnect between prescribing...
Army to Study Use of Off-Label Meds for PTSD
The Army will launch a major research initiative next year on the effectiveness of commonly prescribed medication for PTSD. Speaking at the APA meeting...
My “Head in a Bucket” Metaphor
āHow could I not have known?ā This question has been asked of me, as a psychiatrist, with regard to prescribing psychiatric drugs. All those...
DSM-5 Field Trials Fail to Compare New Diagnostic Criteria with DSM-IV Criteria
Field trials for the DSM-5 fail to explicitly compare new proposed diagnostic criteria with those in the DSM-IV, a step that would be too...
Incoming APA President Emphasizes “Positive Psychiatry”
President-elect Dilip Jeste intends to lead the APA into an era of "positive psychiatry." Ā "We should not be satisfied merely with treating symptoms in...
IOM report concludes that the FDA is not doing its job
Two weeks ago, I headlined my blog with this question: Is the FDA violating its own mandate to approve safe drugs? Four days later,...
Depression Linked to Dementia in Later Life
A retrospective study of 13,535 long-term Kaiser Permanente members found that depressive symptoms in mid-life (1964-1973 for this cohort) were associated with a 20%...
Abbott to Pay $1.6 Billion for “Elder Abuse”, Off-Label Marketing
Abbott Laboratories has pled guilty to civil and criminal charges of illegally marketing Depakote for the control of agitation and aggression in elderly patients...
Antipsychotic Drugs and Relapse
Researchers from Germany, Greece and the U.S. reviewed the literature on relapse at 7 to 12 months following initiation of antipsychotic treatment. They conclude...
Weak Field Trials Scuttle DSM-5 Diagnoses
"Mixed anxiety-depressive disorder," "attenuated psychosis syndrome," "obsessive-compulsive personality disorder," "antisocial personality disorder," and "nonsuicidal self-injury" were among diagnoses that met with disappointing results in...
Recovery through Learning Creatura, a Language of Life
There is a language underneath our familiar verbal language. Ordinarily it is called nonverbal communication. It is also called body language. I came to...
Crazy Mother Proposes New Diagnostic Category
My son is dead. He hanged himself at 17 but mehā¦ whateverā¦ thatās yesterdayās news and Iām totally over it now.
I donāt long for...
Benzos Quadruple the Risk of Suicide in Schizophrenia
Finnish researchers found that among 2,588 patients hospitalized for the first time with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, benzodiazepine use predicted almost 4x the rate...
On Recovering from Psychiatric Labels and Psychotropic Medications: An ‘Occupy APA’ Manifesto
To Readers: I've decided to sway, briefly, from my traditional story-telling style on this blog in order to post my short speech from this...
Science-Based Medicine
Science-Based Medicine provides evaluations of alternative medical treatments and products.
The Pond, Learning and Humility
What an amazing ride Iāve had in the past few days on the tsunami of commentary from myĀ previous post. While itās been fun (dare...
The History of Eugenics in the United States & How It Affects Psychiatric Care...
Robert Whitaker speaks in this video, recorded May 2, 2012, on "The History of Eugenics in the United States & How It Affects Psychiatric...
At the Door of the Sausage Factory
Robert Whitakerās book, Anatomy of an Epidemic, has provoked all manner of responses.Ā Some outraged, dismissive, but many supportive and relieved to hear the...
DSM-5 Retreats from Some Controversial Diagnoses
The APA DSM-5 Development website announced today that "Psychosis Risk" and "Mixed Anxiety Depression" will not be included in the DSM-5 (apart from recommendations...
Anti-Authoritarians and Schizophrenia: Do Rebels Who Defy Treatment Do Better?
Preface: Failing in my efforts to get this article published for the general public, apparently only here can I talk about a ācool subculture...
David Ross – Short Bio
Getting From Here to There: David Ross writes about the efforts in Ashland, County Ohio to move itsĀ mental health and drug/alcohol system towards a...
