Yearly Archives: 2013

"For drugs designed for a relatively small number of very disturbed patients, antipsychotics are now among the most profitable drugs in the world, just...

The Redhall Walled Garden provides a tiny glimpse into the future, as a potential alternative to psychiatric hospitals, halfway houses, and the other oppressive forms of treatment that comprises the current status quo in most countries around the world. We can all learn from this alternative approach, and we should popularize aspects of this program just as we do the Soteria House and the Open Dialogue model.

Cathy A. Levin has been an intelligent, adept organizer in the Recovery Movement in Massachusetts. She led the Emergency Room Rights Campaign, a legislative...

Richard (Red) Lawhern's primary interest is correcting the mis-application of psychosomatic medicine to patients who have unexplained chronic pain. In 18+ years of advocacy for...

IT'S NOT ALL IN YOUR HEAD Richard A. (Red) Lawhern, PhD, is a longtime patient advocate and Web author, although his doctorate (UCLA 1976) is...

First episode psychosis (FEP) and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) remain the foci of great numbers of early intervention programs in Western countries. “Untreated” in DUP-anese is synonymous with unmedicated, which often creates a sense of urgency and a myopic fixation on getting these youth started on anti-psychotics and keeping them on. What is the impact of this medical model and its accompanying chemical imbalance narrative on these emerging adults? How often does it set them on a course of regained functioning and restored hope, or does it serve as a gateway into a lifetime of disability and discouragement?

Representative Jeff Miller, Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, is looking into the role psychiatric medication may have played in the shootings...

The Proactive Planning site is intended to be a resource to those seeking information and resources on learning how to safely reduce or withdraw...

The core of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, is the idea of simply accepting, rather than trying to get rid of, disturbing or unwanted inner experiences like anxiety or voices, and then refocusing on a commitment to take action toward personally chosen values regardless of whether that seems to make the unwanted experiences increase or decrease. This idea is consistent with the emphasis in the recovery movement of finding a way to live a valued life despite any ongoing problems, but ACT has value because of the unique and effective strategies it offers to help people make this shift.

A review of all the relevant research comparing benzodiazepines (BDZ) to antidepressants (AD) for the treatment of anxiety was published Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics this Friday....

Finally, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) director, Thomas Insel recognizes what treatment reform activists and investigative reporter Robert Whitaker have been talking about for years—the research shows that American psychiatry’s standard treatment protocol has hurt many people diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychoses who could have been helped by a more selective and limited use of drugs, and a more diverse approach. What is amazing about this recent announcement by the NIMH director is that it could ultimately mean less money for drug companies which have, through their financial clout, heavily influence standard of care.

It is difficult to overstate the ubiquity and influence of the biomedical model that provides the foundation for psychiatric diagnosis and treatment in the United States. As a clinical psychologist who has spent the past 15 years working in medical centers, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, outpatient mental health clinics, a residential substance abuse treatment center, private practice, and academia, I have encountered the myriad effects of the biomedical model on a daily basis. Among these encounters, five are particularly memorable and help to illustrate the popularity and consequences of characterizing psychological problems in purely biomedical terms.

The American Psychiatric Association, as part of the American Board of Internal Medicine's "Choosing Wisely" initiative, released new practice guidelines yesterday that advise against...

A Federal Judge ruled Monday that the science linking Seroquel to tardive dyskinesia is sufficiently reliable to be heard by a jury, saying that...

John Horgan of Scientific American writes "Once again, antidepressants have been linked to an episode of horrific violence. The New York Times reports that Aaron...

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, authoritative body that interprets this treaty, has now confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt that all mental health incarceration violates Article 14 of the CRPD. All governments should take notice, and incarcerated people and human rights defenders should take heart from this welcome development.

David Cohen's work begins to address a paradox: medication effects are not simply chemical impacts on a biological brain, but rather the complex interactions of social factors, expectation, placebo, "nocebo," and learning. As a harm reduction approach to withdrawal emphasizes, empowerment may be the most important consideration for supporting people's wellness.

Behaviorism and Mental Health takes note of a new blog by Jeffrey Lieberman, the president of the APA, in which he claims both that...

Alternet reviews two new books, ("One Nation Under Stress: The Trouble with Stress as an Idea", and "How Everyone Became Depressed: The Rise and...

From youtube: Published on Sep 17, 2013 SSRIs: More Harm Than Good Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ( SSRI ) Researchers found that antidepressants hinder serotonin regulation and can cause...

Joanna Moncrieff, author of "The Bitterest Pills," recounts the history of antipsychotics, concluding "The way antipsychotics have been misrepresented, their benefits inflated, their dangers...

Tanya Luhrmann writes in The New York Times about how "schizophrenia" and Hearing Voices manifest - and are responded to - in different parts of the...

We suspect that many people would benefit from an alteration in diet and there is certainly growing evidence that improving diet affects physical health. Whether that is true for mental health needs to be more rigorously tested, and we are encouraged that there are studies currently being conducted around the world attempting to manipulate diet to directly test this hypothesis.

People who are considered the highest functioning in American culture such as politicians, lawyers, medical doctors (including psychiatrists), major league sport players, etc., all lack certain abilities that I possess (and, of course, vice-versa). Are their abilities actually the real ones and mine “soft,” surreal, abstract, inaccessible and useless? In order to redefine health, we must redefine worth. Are you sure the “abled” are able to accomplish what you value? Are you sure the “disabled” aren't more able to heal the world?

The New York Times echoes the "Rat Park" experiment in an article that quotes a researcher: "“Eighty to 90 percent of people who use...