RESEARCH NEWS
Summaries of research findings that tell of a scientific need to “rethink psychiatry.”
An archive of research reports on psychiatric drugs can also be found here.
Research News
What If Psychology Started With the Heart Instead of the Mind?
A new study explores how Chinese and Japanese traditions of “heart-mind” open alternatives to psychiatry’s brain-bound models of distress and healing.
No Subgroup of Patients for Whom Antidepressants Are Effective
A reanalysis of STAR*D finds no support for the theorized subgroup of patients who do well on antidepressants.
Psychiatric Coercion Lacks Ethical or Legal Justification, Scholar Argues
Dirk Richter reviews the five ethical and legal standards for forced treatment and finds none are met.
How People Around the World Make Sense of Psychosis
Findings highlight the importance of cultural and spiritual frameworks in how people make sense of psychosis.
How Mental Health Rights Are Misused to Entrench Psychiatric Coercion
Emmanuelle Bernheim argues that legal rights often reinforce, rather than dismantle, coercive psychiatric practices.
Childhood Trauma Is a Global Mental Health Crisis, Researchers Warn
A survey of more than 16,000 youth across three countries shows a clear link between adverse experiences and mental illness.
Researchers Criticize Putting Preschoolers on Stimulant Drugs
Against guideline recommendations, preschoolers were often prescribed stimulants without even having the chance to try family behavioral therapy.
Scientists Warn of Overlooked Mental Health Effects From PFAS
A review of PFAS exposure highlights gaps in research but points to disproportionate risks for marginalized communities.
Adolescents Diagnosed With ADHD and Autism Describe What Upsets Them
Young people say school rules, social exclusion, and sensory overload often trigger distress. A new study centers their voices and challenges deficit-based models.
Psychosis Severity Tied to Childhood Trauma, Not Inherited Mental Illness
A cross-national study shows trauma’s lasting impact on psychosis is not explained by parental mental illness.
ChatGPT Doesn’t Identify Well-Known Retracted Studies, Claims They Are “Internationally Excellent”
ChatGPT correctly identified none of the most well-known study retractions. Most of the time, it claimed these studies were world-leading.
Preliminary Results Suggest WHO Rights-Based Training Linked to Reduced Stigma
Global evaluation finds QualityRights e-training reduces support for coercive practices and negative attitudes; future independent studies will be important.
In Colombia, Disability Rights Advance on Paper but Stigma Endures in Daily Life
A preprint study shows that legal recognition has not dismantled deep cultural and institutional biases against people with psychosocial disabilities.
“Tailored to the Treatment”: Patients Criticize Formulaic Therapy in NHS
Qualitative research highlights the frustration of patients who felt their sessions were scripted, with many calling instead for personalization and stronger therapeutic bonds.
‘Technoference’ in Parenting Raises Concerns for Child Development
Parental technology use in front of kids, or technoference, is tied to weaker attachment and more behavioral problems.
Patients Tell of ECT Harms
A new survey of patients who had ECT finds that while some found it helpful, the majority found it unhelpful or damaging on every measure.
Human Rights Frame New Mental Health Standards in Asylum Centers
A global panel calls for culturally informed, human rights–based support for asylum seekers, pushing back against the one-size-fits-all model of global mental health.
Study Warns of Overreliance on Rapid Tranquillisation in Women’s Psychiatric Care
A national audit of psychiatric wards in England shows that women in crisis are disproportionately subjected to rapid tranquillisation, often in response to self-harm.
Doctors Who Accept Industry Cash Get More Patient Complaints, Study Finds
Physicians paid by drug and device companies are more likely to receive unsolicited complaints, pointing to the corrosive effects of industry influence on care.
Doctors: Patients Don’t Want You to Use AI
New survey shows patients will avoid doctors who use AI, considering them less trustworthy, skilled, and empathetic.
U.K. Crisis Care Model Prioritizes Trauma, Empathy, and Collaboration
A new approach known as Comprehend, Cope, and Connect is reshaping mental health crisis care in the United Kingdom, with promising early results across inpatient and community settings.
How an Ecological View of Mind Could Rewrite Psychology and Psychiatry
A radical shift in comparative cognition is exposing the limits of mainstream psychology and psychiatry’s theories of what a mind is.
‘Mad or Bad?’ How Judges Weigh Mental Health in Federal Court
A study reveals that mental health diagnoses interact with race and sex in complex ways, challenging the promise of uniform federal sentencing guidelines.
Safety Alerts Rarely Change How Doctors Prescribe, Review Finds
A systematic review finds that most drug safety communications have only modest effects on prescriber behavior, leaving patients exposed to avoidable harm.
Fully Recovered after Psychosis, Without Antipsychotic Drugs
A new study demonstrates that far more people are able to fully recover from psychosis than typically thought—and that many can do so without antipsychotic drugs.
Rethinking Trust in Psychiatry: When Mistrust Is Misread as Madness
A new paper challenges the idea that therapeutic mistrust is pathological, reframing it as a rational stance against historical and cultural marginalization.
Study Finds Key Role for Emotion Recognition in Adolescent Well-Being
Longitudinal research links alexithymia to worsening emotional regulation and psychological distress in adolescence.
Cannabinoids Linked to Worse Psychosis Outcomes in Longitudinal Study
Natural cannabis users improved less than non-users. Synthetic cannabis users showed the worst outcomes across nearly all clinical dimensions.
Forced Hospitalization Increases Suicide and Violent Crime
Proponents claim involuntary treatment is necessary to reduce suicide and crime, but new research shows it doubles the risk of these outcomes.
Mental Health Workers Say They Want Recovery-Oriented Care. So Why Do They Still Endorse...
A new study in Greece reveals that mental health professionals often accept involuntary hospitalization as a “necessary evil,” despite supporting community-based care.
Psychological Disorders Are “Shapeshifters,” Not Fixed Labels, Study Finds
Internalizing disorders, including depression and anxiety, shift their shape depending on cultural, physiological, and personal factors.
Philosophy Majors Improve in Critical Thinking, New Study Finds
A study by two philosophers finds evidence that majoring in philosophy increases one’s verbal reasoning ability, open-mindedness, and other essential intellectual virtues.
Early Life Adversity Predicts Later Mental Health Issues Around the World
Exposure to childhood trauma raises the risk of adult mental illness by 66%, according to a global systematic review.
Many Herbal Supplements As Good or Better Than Antidepressants
Herbal supplements like St. John's Wort, saffron, vitamin D, and probiotics beat placebo more consistently than antidepressants. St. John's Wort beat antidepressants in head-to-head comparisons too.
Before Involuntary Commitment: Coercion in the Shadows
New study reveals that psychiatric force is frequently applied long before formal admission procedures begin.
Participatory Research in India Redefines Who Gets to Create Mental Health Knowledge
Participatory action research yields novel insights and elicits a sense of pride and empowerment, particularly in low-resource settings.
What Clients Say They Get From Therapy—And It’s Not Just Fewer Symptoms
New study shows that clients value growth, self-understanding, and connection more than diagnostic relief.
UK Study Finds Ethnic Minorities More Likely to Face Psychiatric Detention
New research links racial and migration status to disproportionate use of involuntary hospitalization.
It’s Not Just in Your Head: Experts Urge Focus on Poverty, Discrimination, and Housing
Despite widespread recognition of social causes, clinical care remains focused on individual diagnosis.
Mental Health Needs Anthropology: A New Humanism for Psychology
An interview between several Norwegian psychologists and anthropologist Tim Ingold explores how mental health practitioners could engage more directly and ethically with service users.
UN Guidance Fails to Curb Psychiatric Coercion, British Legal Scholar Warns
Despite nearly two decades since the CRPD’s adoption, forced treatment and institutionalization remain widespread, a new review of UK law and international policy finds.
Youth Adversity Linked to Depression and Anxiety Regardless of Background, New Study Finds
Drawing on data from over 5,600 London adolescents, researchers found a strong, consistent link between childhood adversity and mental health struggles across 16 demographic profiles.
National Study Ties LGBTQ+ Mental Health Disparities to Structural Oppression, Not Individual Pathology
As anti-LGBTQ+ laws multiply, so do mental health struggles and psychiatric diagnoses. Experts say structural violence is the real driver of distress.
Gardening Best Depression Treatment in Elderly—Antidepressants Worst
“Horticulture therapy,” CBT, and exercise all beat usual care for the elderly, while antidepressants led to worse outcomes than usual care.
Psychiatry Hinders the Relational Capacity of Those with Anomalous Experiences
Psychiatry fails to consider the intersubjective element of hallucinations and psychosis, further isolating those with anomalous experiences.
AI Technologies Likely to Entrench Exploitation of Service Users
Corporate profit and government control valued over service user consent and wellbeing, warns critical law professor
Improving Mental Health Care by Centering Peers in Open Dialogue
A new study calls for rethinking Open Dialogue practices by placing peer practitioners at the heart of therapeutic work.
Growing Up Poor Has Long-Term Mental Health Costs, Danish Study Finds
New research traces depressive symptoms, psychiatric diagnoses, and drug use across nearly two decades, linking them to socioeconomic status at age 15.
ECT Proponents Deny Harms as the Tide Begins to Shift
WHO and APA guidance now recognizes the risks of electroshock, but proponents continue to cherry-pick data and deny the harms.
Study Finds Increase in Psychiatric Framing of Emotions in Czech Journalism
Czech media increasingly frames ordinary emotions like sadness and shyness in clinical language, raising concerns about cultural psychiatrization.