Adverse Effects

Review of pediatric antidepressant studies finds the vast majority are negative on primary outcomes and an increased risk for suicidality.

New guidelines recommend deprescribing benzodiazepine receptor agonists for adults.

From CNN: According to a new study, exposure to unprescribed ADHD drugs has increased by more than 60% among U.S. children since 2000. "The study, published Monday...

Results from a Cochrane meta-analysis find that the common practice of prescribing antidepressants to treat insomnia is not supported by current evidence.

Higher levels of physical activity serve as a protective factor for the future development of depression.

From CTV News: A new study found that the risk of premature death increased by 33 percent in people who use antidepressants. Article →

One thing I noticed, from the moment that I stepped out of my psychiatrist’s office, was how strangely blank and yet clear my mind was. I felt surprisingly calm and relaxed, and I decided to go back for another treatment the next week. What I couldn’t have known then was that after that next “treatment,” life would be completely destroyed for me.

A new issue of QuarterWatch critiques the recent Ciprani meta-analysis on antidepressants and reports on the adverse effects of the newest antidepressant, vortioxetine. Report →

Women in Malaysia exposed to intimate partner violence are twice as likely to experience postnatal depression.

In this video for NowThis, Yana Jacobs critiques the mental health industry standard of prescribing drugs as the first-line treatment for "mental illness." She emphasizes...

A systematic review of literature and meta-analysis indicates that there is no clinically or statistically significant effect of antidepressant dose increase after nonresponse to initial treatment.

From Harper's Magazine: People who hear positive, encouraging voices often seen as spiritual guides or messages and people diagnosed with schizophrenia are usually thought of as...

New understandings of medication and withdrawal experiences warrant rethinking conceptualizations of health and “madness."

Many have asked: “Why doesn’t my doctor/provider know what is happening to me?” Benzodiazepine tolerance and withdrawal are not new. So, why isn’t it simple to diagnose and treat? As both a health care provider and a withdrawal sufferer, I’d like to offer an inside and outside perspective on this question.

From BBC: The abuse of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax is becoming widespread among children and adolescents as young as 11 years old. "To gain an idea of the...

From Health Affairs: Although the problem of antipsychotic misuse in nursing homes has been raised to policymakers numerous times over the past six decades, the...

From The Telegraph: A major new study has found a strong association between long-term exposure to antidepressants and risk of dementia. "Researchers warned there may be...

What depressed pregnant women need is compassionate care and accurate information that recognizes the potentially severe consequences of depression while making it clear that chemicals going into a baby throughout its development will likely have consequences for that development.

A partnership designed to decrease antipsychotic use in elderly patients may have led to increased use of medications with even worse risk/benefit profiles.

How did I become someone who could barely function? I was a high-performing sales executive ranked in the top 2% of an international business communications company. But now, after using powerful psych meds for depression and anxiety for more than a decade, I couldn’t do basic things like go to the grocery store, plan a meal, make dinner, or get together with friends.

More than 8,000 people responded to the recent New York Times article on antidepressant withdrawal. Here, reporter Benedict Carey describes differences in the way various...

In this episode of WBUR's On Point Radio, Benedict Carey, author of the recent New York Times report on antidepressant withdrawal, discusses the topic of discontinuing...

The ability of transgender youth to use their chosen name is connected to reduced depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts/behaviors.

How did it happen to me? It happened because none of us have enough resources for the sort of brain injury and impairment the psychopharmaceutical drugs impart upon us. No one knows what is really being done to our brains and some of us are clearly more sensitive than others.

From The New York Times: Global prescription rates and long-term use of antidepressants are rising rapidly. One unanticipated consequence of this trend is that more...