Yearly Archives: 2019
Psychiatrists Argue For More Attention to Iatrogenic Harms
Psychiatrists argue that current practice fails to account for the interaction of biological, psychosocial and iatrogenic factors.
As Suicides Rise, Insurers Find Ways to Deny Mental Health Coverage
From Bloomberg: "There’s an incentive for managed-care companies to do the wrong thing, because they know that at the end of the day they don’t stand to be punished monetarily."
Transgender No Longer a ‘Mental Disorder,’ According to WHO
From TIME: According to the ICD-11, "gender identity disorders" have been reframed as "gender incongruence" and have been moved to a chapter on sexual health.
Conversations in Critical Psychiatry: Allen Frances, MD
From Pyschiatric Times: In many ways, Dr. Frances is one of the architects of modern psychiatry, yet he has also emerged as one of its most prominent critics.
Māori Approach to Mental Health Offers Empowering Alternative to Western Psychiatry
A new article explores Mahi a Atua, an affirming indigenous Māori healing practice which stands in contrast to the Western psychiatric methods typically promoted by the Movement for Global Mental Health.
I’m Introverted, Not Depressed!
Urging introverts to act more extroverted as a pathway to greater life satisfaction is wrongheaded. Elizabeth's case is one where the demoralization and despondency she experiences—forced to sacrifice her needs as an introvert to comply with the social scripts required to live in an extroverted world—masquerades as depression.
The APA Meeting: A Photo Essay
From Slate Star Codex: It turns out that having 15,000 psychiatrists in one building sparks a drug company feeding frenzy that makes piranhas look sedate by comparison.
Open Dialogue Approach Reduces Future Need for Mental Health Services
The Open Dialogue psychiatric treatment approach is associated with reduced utilization of mental and general health services for Danish youth.
NHS to Tackle Elderly Over-Medication With 200 New Pharmacists
From PharmaTimes: The pharmacists will prevent care home residents from being given too many medicines as part of a package of measures to improve older people’s health and care.
Capitalism and Mental Health
From Monthly Review: The alleviation of mental distress is only possible "in a society without exploitation and oppression," says professor of social work Iain Ferguson.
Neuroscientists Attempt to Diagnose Leonardo Da Vinci with ADHD
In a short editorial in the scientific journal Brain, neuroscientists Marco Catani and Paolo Mazzarello argued that Da Vinci had ADHD.
Years After My Son Died in NHS Care, State-Sanctioned Torture Continues
From The Guardian: I’m still puzzling over the peculiar inability of the government to even discuss whether the CQC report (and others like it) documents torture.
Marginalized Youth Feel Unheard and Unhelped By Mental Health Professionals
A new study suggests the way that marginalized youth view the mental health treatment they have received plays a role in the continuation of their care once they reach adulthood.
A Contrarian View of Digital Health
From Quillette: By transforming pain, illness, and death from a personal challenge into a technical problem, medical practice becomes the source of a new kind of un-health.
Adverse Childhood Experiences: When Will the Lessons of the ACE Study Inform Societal Care?
The ACE study tells of how adverse childhood experiences increase the risk of psychological and physical problems in adulthood. When will we start incorporating these findings into public health policy and medical care?
Blaming the System May Be the Best Therapy
If this were an old sci-fi movie, psychiatry would be the evil alien race on a collision course with earth that plans to completely take it over as soon as it can. That we are not treating psychiatry as the malevolent invader that it is shows only how deeply we’ve fallen for its facade of helping people.
Healing as a Subversive Act | Gabor Maté, MD
From Psychotherapy Networker: Whether in a medical or more direct psychotherapeutic sense, healing is about subverting people's self-image as isolated, simply biological or simply psychological creatures.
The Connection Between Traumatic Brain Injury and Young Adult Suicide Risk
Researchers present evidence of a connection between the experience of traumatic brain injury in childhood and increased risk for suicide attempt in early adulthood.
Clinical Guidelines on Antidepressant Withdrawal Urgently Need Updating
From The BMJ Letters: NICE’s current position on antidepressant withdrawal not only was advanced on insufficient evidence but is now widely countered by subsequent research.
Psychotropic Medications Serve as Powerful Tools for U.S. Military, Imperialism
Ethnographic research sheds light on extensive psychopharmaceutical use by soldiers in post 9/11 U.S. wars.
The Bipolar Artist: A Lifelong Sentence to Bear
I was told that I had only two choices: Do not have children, or take lithium while I was pregnant—the drug that posed the least amount of birth defects, and the very medication that had killed the painter in me years ago. I refused both options and set out on my own, and luckily found a willing psychiatrist to help me taper off the meds.
Helping Children to Overcome OCD: 6 Creative Strategies for Parents
Here, Dr. Ben Furman offers a creative approach to helping children who struggle with OCD. Explaining why behaviors like reasoning, reassuring, and superstitious rituals don’t work, he suggests engaging alternatives that teach kids how to manage their “worry monster” and make sense of their distressing experience.
FDA Approves Using Electricity All Night Long on Children’s Brains
The FDA just approved sales of an electrical device called the Monarch eTNS to be used on the brains of children diagnosed with so-called ADHD. The device “sends therapeutic signals to the parts of the brain thought to be involved in ADHD,” according to the FDA press release. “Therapeutic signals”? Really?
5-HTTLPR, the “Depression Gene”: A Pointed Review
From Slate Star Codex: This is a rare case where methodological improvements allowed a conclusive test of a popular hypothesis, and it failed badly. How many other cases like this are there?
Yoga and Mindfulness Benefit Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorder
A new review finds preliminary evidence for yoga and mindfulness-based interventions for youth diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
