Yearly Archives: 2017
More Follow Up Needed for Drugs Granted Accelerated FDA Approval
Drugs to treat serious or life-threatening conditions can receive accelerated FDA approval, but may expose patients to increased safety risks and reduced efficacy.
Part VI: How Adult Society Betrayed Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy
The story of Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy is not only a tragedy within itself and for all those involved with them, it is emblematic of the situation faced by millions of young people in the western world and increasingly around the entire planet. Final installment in the series.
Study Finds Antidepressants Increase Risk of Death
From the New York Post: A recent study found that taking antidepressant drugs increases the risk of death by 33 percent. Those who take antidepressants were...
A Blow to STAT’s Credibility: Ghostwriting/PR Influence
From HealthNewsReview.org: STAT recently published an op-ed praising the role of drug company sales representatives. The physician listed as the author has now revealed that he did...
We Should Not Forcibly Commit the Homeless During Hurricanes
From Pacific Standard: In an effort to protect homeless individuals from the effects of Hurricane Irma, officials from the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust used the...
Replacing Pain with Pain: Hazards of Antidepressant Use for Chronic Pain Relief
The paradox of relieving chronic pain with an antidepressant (and a new set of symptoms).
Language of Mental Illness “Others” People: It’s a Human Rights Violation
When separation and microaggressions are legitimized and put into public policy and discourse, we become second class citizens and subhumans. This is oppression and bigotry systemically supported and then denied by almost everyone, including those most seriously affected. We come to believe these lies.
Health Disparity Project Cuts Out the Recovery Movement
Lots of funders are now doing initiatives to address health disparities. But once again we have found that a project designated to help our community has gone astray without even bothering to ask our community what we need. Here's why that matters and what grassroots advocates can do about it.
New Tool to Assess Usefulness of Clinical Guidelines
From Medical Xpress: A new tool, G-TRUST (the Guideline Trustworthiness, Relevance, and Utility Scoring Tool) has been developed to help clinicians assess the usefulness of...
Lawsuit Over a Suicide Points to a Risk of Antidepressants
From The New York Times: The recent trial of Wendy Dolin, whose husband died of suicide after starting the antidepressant paroxetine, demonstrates our need for more...
APA to Release Guidelines for Fat-Shaming Kids for Profit
From Ravishly: The American Psychological Association has released a draft of their "Clinical Practice Guideline for the Behavioral Treatment of Obesity and Overweight in Children...
FDA Approves Drug for the Annoyingly Cheerful (The Onion)
From The Onion: "Made by Pfizer, Despondex is the first drug designed to treat the symptoms of excessive perkiness."
Video →
Why do People Self-Harm? You Asked – Here’s the Answer
In this piece for The Guardian, Jay Watts explores the social and societal factors that often lead to self-harm and explains how psychiatric labeling can exacerbate self-harm.
"Self-harm...
Psych Journal Issuing Caution About Torture Paper
From Retraction Watch: The psychology journal Teaching of Psychology plans to issue an editor's note about a controversial paper exploring the APA's involvement in the torture...
The Most Promoted Drugs are Those with Little Therapeutic Value, Study Finds
Majority of top-selling and most promoted drugs in Canada are rated as having very limited safety and efficacy.
Peter Breggin, MD: The Conscience of Psychiatry (part 2)
Dr Beggin tells us about recent developments with the Michelle Carter trial, and we discuss alternatives to psychiatric drugs and the value of the therapeutic relationship.
The Salvation of Psychiatry
Hope lies in psychotherapy. It is a purely human practice, based on the development of real trust and genuine responsiveness. It is not an analytic process, but a feeling one. We need to return to a psychiatry that respects the complexity of human nature. We need to go beyond ‘do no harm’ and promote genuine healing.
More Students Than Ever Suffer Mental Ill Health
From The Guardian: The number of children and young adults experiencing mental health problems is rapidly rising. More than ever, young people are growing up in...
Reflections on the Cruel and Subtle Costs of Racism and Bigotry
In this essay for the Psychiatric Times, Dr. Edward Khantzian reflects on the pain and grief caused by all forms of racism and bigotry, from...
The Smartphone Psychiatrist
In this piece for The Atlantic, David Dobbs delves into the life of former NIMH director Thomas Insel, his critiques of research within the field of...
US Congressman, 64, Admits to an Affair with ‘Close Friend’
From Daily Mail: U.S. Representative Tim Murphy, who proposed the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, which includes provisions to expand coercive treatment, has...
Silicon Valley Courts Brand-Name Teachers, Raising Ethics Issues
From The New York Times: Tech companies are increasingly recruiting school teachers to help improve and promote their education tools in exchange for perks, including...
Antidepressants are Accumulating in Fish Brains in the Wild
From the International Business Times: Americans are taking so many antidepressants that they are showing up in wild fish. Ten different species of fish in...
Trauma-Ignored Care? Going to the MAT on Opioids
Our current, reductionistic approach to mental health issues doesn’t offer any insights or explanations on the etiology of most mental disturbances. Similarly, medication assisted treatment (MAT) focuses on the surface symptoms of opiate abuse without addressing the underlying causes of overwhelming distress and pain.
Disturbed Sleep Patterns May be Key to ADHD
From The Guardian: New research has linked symptoms of ADHD, such as struggling to concentrate, having too much energy, and being unable to control behavior,...
