Yearly Archives: 2017
The Trump Administration Isn’t Taking on Health Care Waste
From U.S. News: The Trump administration is not taking any actions to address the epidemic of waste, i.e. unnecessary tests and treatments, in the medical...
The Epidemic of “Junk Science”
From The Lown Institute: Every year, we spend $240 billion to fund biomedical research. According to a science reporter and author Richard Harris, as much as half...
Facebook Rolls Out AI to Detect Suicidal Posts
From TechCrunch: Facebook's new artificial intelligence technology will now scan all posts for suicidal thoughts and send mental health resources or contact local first-responders for users...
AVATAR Therapy Shows Some Positive Outcomes, Now What?
In a commentary piece, Ben Alderson-Day and Nev Jones discuss the AVATAR therapy research for psychosis and propose further questions.
A Call for Obligatory Diagnostic Reporting and Appeals Mechanisms
Psychiatric diagnoses are ballooning in scope and in numbers, many have dramatic and life-changing consequences, reliability levels are poor, co-morbidity levels are high, and the validity of many are doubtful. Despite all this, they have escaped any kind of regulation. It's time for that to change.
Situationism in Psych: Milgram & Stanford Prison Experiments
This episode of the podcast The Partially Examined Life explores the way that Stanley Milgram's experiments on obedience and Philip Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment show that...
The Club Where You Bare Your Soul to Strangers
From The Atlantic: A new movement called Authentic Relating is hosting events across the country where people participate in exercises and games to learn the...
Drug May Lead to Early Death for People With Alzheimer’s
From The Washington Post: A recent study found that benzodiazepines are associated with a greater chance of early death for those with Alzheimer's.
"Researchers analyzed data on...
Study Challenges Assumption that Schizophrenia Impairs Cognitive Ability
Secondary factors may impair performance on cognitive tasks, making it difficult for individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia to perform to the best of their ability.
Real People, Real Side Effects: Stories of Sexual Dysfunction
Research shows that psychiatric drugs seem to have an impact on libido, so I decided to collect personal stories to complement the evidence of side effects from psychotropic medication already available. Libido can be directly linked with wellness, and patients need more information to make the choice right for them.
Depathologize Shyness Now!
In this piece for Medium, Jenny Karlsson makes the case for depathologizing shyness by removing "social anxiety disorder" from the DSM.
"Shyness, under the label of,...
Treating Depression Often Lies in a Gray Zone
From The Washington Post: Doctors often turn first to antidepressants when treating patients with depression. However, the evidence shows that alternative treatments such as therapy...
Helpful and Harmful Therapist Behaviors, According to Clients
From The British Psychological Society: A recent study has broken new ground by asking clients to provide detailed feedback on a second-by-second basis of their experience of...
Screen Time Linked to Increased Depressive Symptoms Among Teens
New study examines how increased screen time and social media may be contributing to depressive symptoms and suicide risk in teens
Rebranding Psychiatry
In November of 2017, the British Journal of Psychiatry published a guest editorial titled "Shrink rethink: rebranding psychiatry." The central themes are that psychiatry can be sold to potential recruits and customers using the same tawdry methods found in ad campaigns for soft drinks and shampoo; and that every psychiatrist needs to embrace this perspective wholeheartedly.
“This Needs to Stop”
Electroshock survivor Nancy Rubstein and professor, author, and antipsychiatry theorist Dr. Bonnie Burstow were recently interviewed for CTV News Channel about Dr. Burstow's new book, The...
AI-Controlled Brain Implants for Mood Disorders Tested in People
From Nature: Two teams funded by the US military's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have begun preliminary trials of brain implants...
Badiou, the Event, and Psychiatry, Part 1: Trauma and Event
In this piece for the Blog of the APA, Vincenzo Di Nicola critiques the scientism and methodolatry of contemporary psychiatry, and emphasizes the need for psychiatry...
Children Diagnosed with ADHD Younger are More Likely to get Multiple Medications
New research demonstrates that children diagnosed with ADHD at younger ages are more likely than those diagnosed later to receive multiple medications within five years of their diagnosis.
How Psychiatry Evolved Into A Religion
Biological psychiatry has managed to stealthily become Americaâs first state-sponsored religion, by disguising itself as a helpful, scientific medical field. Millions have been led astray by its lies, and enslaved by its labels and drugs. It will take ten plagues to free them. Psychiatryâs tenth plague has only just begun.
Stop Labelling People Who Commit Crimes ‘Criminals’
In this piece for Aeon, Kimberley Brownlee argues that labelling people who commit crimes as "criminals," "offenders," or "perpetrators" is dehumanizing and reductionistic, defining a...
A Quiet Rise in Wildland-Firefighter Suicides
From The Atlantic: Over the past decade, there has been a quiet acknowledgement that suicide is widespread within the wildland firefighting community. Both the trauma...
What Should Happen When Things Go Wrong?
In this piece for the National Survivor User Network, Martin Coyle highlights some of the shortcomings of the UK's Mental Health Act in light of its...
Beyond Critique: Psychologists Discuss Diagnostic Alternatives
The Journal of Humanistic Psychology compiles diverse research offering diagnostic alternatives toward a paradigm shift in mental health care.
Are Mental Disorders Brain Diseases âIn Waitingâ?
Proponents of the idea that mental disorders are brain diseases argue that even though we may not have discovered the underlying pathology of mental disorders like schizophrenia or depression yet, surely we eventually will? Mental disorders, on this view, can be thought of as brain diseases âin waiting.â
