Around The Web

From Psychology Today: An exhaustive new review debunks the “chemical imbalance” theory of depression, despite its persistence among physicians and the public.

From Fugitive Psychiatrist: "I can’t believe I have patients walking around on 800mg of this stuff. There’s no way in good conscience I could dose this BID (sic) unless a patient consented to 20 hours of sleep a day."

From The Joe Rogan Experience: "The so-called experts say that ADHD is 'the most heritable mental illness there is,'" says renowned physician Gabor Maté. "But I say, it's neither an illness, nor is it heritable."

From Uplift: "The Western culture has consistently ignored the birth of the healer. Consequently, there will be a tendency... to keep trying as many people as possible in an attempt to get somebody's attention."

From Curious Mind Magazine: Jerome Kagan, one of the most influential psychologists of the 20th century, believes that the diagnosis of ADHD is a mere...

From IAI, the Institute of Art and Ideas: We have better ways forward than the current, largely unchallenged understandings of emotional distress which do not reflect reality – either in terms of the evidence, or in terms of people’s lives.

Collective Evolution discusses a recent commentary by the editor of The Lancet stating that "much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue."

From Mental Hellth: Today I believe OCD is a trauma response. But at the time I believed what the psychiatrist told me, that there was something structurally wrong with my brain.

From National Post: "The medication almost killed my dad. He’s a psychologist and even he wasn’t aware of how bad these medications are for some people," writes Mikhaila Peterson.

From The Independent: Armchair diagnoses of personality disorders are a rising trend, from speculations that President Trump has narcissistic personality disorder to viral articles about discerning...

From HERE This NOW: Advances in science in the last thirty years help us realize the fallacy of "mind over matter," yet we still hold an entrenched belief that children and adults possess 100% conscious control over their behavior.

From Aeon: If there is such a thing as hypersanity, the implication is that mere sanity is not all it’s cracked up to be, a state of dormancy and dullness with less vital potential even than madness.

From the Institute for Attachment and Child Development: Two articles discuss the primary cause of many mental, physical, and behavioral health problems, which often goes unaddressed in mainstream approaches.

WSJ Pharmalot links to comedian John Oliver's satirical criticism of marketing in medicine, and provides responses from the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America and the American Medical Association.

From the Washington Examiner: I learned the hard way that doctors can be remarkably casual about things patients can’t afford to be when it comes to putting people on, and taking them off, antidepressants.

A new three-part series from Parents Opposed to Pot explores the link between marijuana and suicide. Part 1: Marijuana and Suicide, a Growing Risk for Our...

-Chandra Bozelko has been involuntarily committed and imprisoned, and has strong opinions on which is more therapeutic.

From Disability Visibility Project: CBT as a modality is based around gaslighting. It's about telling a patient that the world is safe, bad feelings are temporary, and that pain is a 'faulty or unhelpful' distortion of thinking.

Patient Drug News advises avoiding use of the antidepressant Vortioxetine (also called Brintellix or Trintellix), because the most recent evidence from the FDA shows...

From Atlas Obscura: In the 1930s, hundreds of people with mental disabilities committed to the now abandoned DeJarnette Sanitarium were forcibly sterilized and experimented on by the hospital's eugenicist namesake.

From Quartz: Despite its inaccuracy, the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness continues to persist in public consciousness. The prevalence of this myth may be...

FromThe Daily Mail: If lessons about pregabalin aren't quickly learned, "it might push prescriptions up even more. We could be facing a nightmare," said the director of the online drug information service Drugwise.

From National Post: Many physicians are prescribing a low dose of Seroquel, an atypical antipsychotic, to patients with insomnia. Experts warn that even a low...

From Bad Benzos: "Please educate yourselves, the medical community, and the general public about the devastating effects of benzodiazepines."

From The Conversation: Thinking about BPD in terms of its underlying cause would lead to better treatment and reinforce the importance of preventing child abuse and neglect in the first place.