Yearly Archives: 2019
Experiences of Depression Connected to Declining Sense of Purpose
In-depth interviews find that those who screened positive for depression did not explain their experience in terms of diagnostic symptoms.
Psychiatrist Engaged in Research Misconduct, Says Gov’t Watchdog
From Medscape: A former NYU psychiatry researcher faked clinical data for research with federally funded grants worth millions of dollars, according to the US Office of Research Integrity.
The Invisibles: Children in Foster Care
Millions of current and former foster children experience multiple kinds of trauma, as documented in a six-part investigative series published in the Kansas City Star this month. Too often invisible, these young people deserve our attention and our care.
Having Poor Quality Relationships Is Associated With Greater Distress Than Having Too Few
From The British Psychological Society/Research Digest: "From a societal perspective... efforts should be made to enhance the quality of social connections as opposed to promoting the virtues of larger social networks."
Biogen Pushes FDA to Approve Failed Alzheimer’s Drug
A new analysis, published in Lancet Neurology, demonstrates how Biogen is spinning results from two failed trials for a new Alzheimer's drug.
The Whistleblower and Penn: A Final Accounting of Study 352
After 18 years, the full story of the scientific corruption in a study of paroxetine for bipolar disorder, and the psychiatrist who blew the whistle.
Florida’s Flawed Baker Act Rips Thousands of Kids From School
From Tampa Bay Times: A cop car comes. A child is handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility. The scene is all too frequent at public schools across the state.
Third Eye by Katarina Bucic
A secret city exists in your mind, where left brain and right brain bind. In the center of your eyes, but hidden behind, where your consciousness is aligned. The source of awareness for mankind
‘Warmlines’ Helping to Fill a Gap in Mental Health Care
From the San Francisco Chronicle: Unlike a hotline for those in immediate crisis, warmlines provide early intervention with emotional support that can prevent a crisis — and a more costly 911 call or emergency-room visit.
Zel Dolinsky: I Have a Right to “Death With Dignity”
Researcher Zel Dolinsky once taught at medical school and worked as a medical writer in the pharmaceutical industry. In his last emails, he told of how the adverse effects of psychiatric drugs led him to choose to end his life.
Waking Up to the Sexual Violence in America’s Psychiatric Units
From KevinMD.com: Starting right now, our health care system should admit that psychiatric patients’ sexual safety warrants the attention that it has long deserved but has never been given.
Screenings Alone Won’t Prevent ACEs—We Must Address Community Trauma
From California Health Report: Traumatized communities experience a breakdown in connection and trust, which gives rise to hopelessness and makes ACEs more likely to occur.
How Western Psychiatry Harms Alternative Understandings of Mental Health
An anthropological look at the Global Mental Health (GMH) movement suggests several ethical problems and contradictions in its mission.
Depression and Suicide Linked to Air Pollution in New Global Study
From The Guardian: Scientists say small increases in risk can still result in harm to many people because more than 90% of the global population lives with air pollution above WHO-recommended levels.
Does Facebook Use Improve Social Connections or Weaken Attention?
A network analysis of participants’ social media use and well-being reveals complex links with social capital but a minimal association with attentional control.
Merry, Beautiful, Unique: YOU
You and me, we are different. We live in the world of magic, where angels appear, where voices scare but also reveal, where visions show us the other, real, parallel world. God blesses only very few of us with such an ability. And that’s why you have to fight for this right.
Initial Trial of Ayahuasca for Depression Shows Promising Results
Ayahuasca found to be effective in treating moderate to severe depression in low-income population.
Anatomy of a Suicide: Stress and the Human Condition
The Defense Cascade is a survival framework that evolutionary researchers are exploring as an explanation for extreme states that many people experience. It can help explain why chronic stress can make us feel like ending our life is the only reasonable way out.
How Pain is Treated Depends on Socioeconomic Status
A new international study reveals how healthcare providers treat patient’s pain may depend on that patient’s socioeconomic status.
Trump Calls for “Keeping Very Dangerous People Off Our Streets” at Mental Health Summit
A common refrain from the pro-forced treatment advocates at the summit was that "four walls" are not the solution to the crisis. Dr. Drew slammed such efforts in California during his presentation: "The vast majority have serious mental illness and drug addiction. Four walls are not going to do anything, if they would even go in."
Mental Health Europe Launches Short Guide to Psychiatric Diagnosis
From the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: MHE hopes the Guide will encourage more meaningful discussions with health care professionals and improve the quality of the help and support on offer.
Researchers Set the Record Straight on Controversial Zoloft Study
An issue of Lancet Psychiatry is devoted to clarifying the lack of efficacy for Zoloft (sertraline).
Healing Youth with Nature and Connection: An Interview with Peter Mayfield
An interview with Peter Mayfield, founder and Executive Director of the Gateway Mountain Center. Peter talks of his journey from mountaineering to his role as an educator and mentor, and how enabling children and adolescents to connect with nature has such a profound effect on their health and wellbeing.
After Fatal School Shootings, Antidepressant Use Surges Among Survivors
From the Los Angeles Times: "School shootings represent a tiny fraction of gun deaths in America, but they are uniquely potentially traumatizing, and may have much larger indirect costs."
Medical Ghostwriting: When an “Author” Is Not Necessarily an “Author”
Ghostwriting, which is prominent in the psychiatry literature, is a scam in which pharmaceutical companies use an academic sleight of hand to stump the naïve reader. It is time for editors of the major medical journals to use the same standards of authorship found in the humanities and social sciences.
