“Florida Doctor Pleads Guilty to Fraud — Years After Complaints About His Prescribing”
Charles Ornstein at ProPublica reports on how long it took regulators to take action against the top prescriber of antipsychotic drugs in Florida’s Medicaid...
Call For Abstracts: Philosophical Perspectives on Critical Psychiatry
The Association for Advancement in Philosophy and Psychiatry is issuing a call for abstracts, with a particular interest in submissions from service users. The...
Critical Psychiatry: “Stop Psychiatric Abuse”
On his Critical Psychiatry blog, Duncan Double offers his response to Peter Gøtzsche’s and Peter Breggin’s latest blogs on forced treatment. “They want to...
Pharmacists Join Physicians’ Rallying Cry for a Ban on Pharma’s DTC Advertising
This week a national pharmacist group, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, joined the physicians of the American Medical Association in a call to...
“You Could Be Paying More for Less Effective Medicine”
A new study by Lisa Cosgrove, "Under the Influence: The Interplay among Industry, Publishing, and Drug Regulation," suggests that weak drug regulation can lead...
This Ranking of the 10 Most Harmful Drugs May Surprise You
From Sarah Beller at the influence: “Two leading UK health organizations— the Royal Society for Public Health and the Faculty of Public Health–have just...
“Held in a Hospital: Bellevue Hospital is Refusing to Acknowledge Derya Demirtas’s Diagnosis”
Derya Demitras, a young honors student from Amherst College, is being held in the Bellevue psychiatric hospital against her wishes and the wishes of...
“FAA: No Psychological Testing Needed of Airline Pilots”
The Federal Aviation Administration has ruled out requiring psychological testing for airline pilots in favor of enhanced mental health support programs in response to a crash...
“What is Serotonin and Signs of Serotonin Deficiency?”
Helen Sanders reports in Health Ambition on ways to address a hypothetical serotonin deficiency; "Exercise is known to reduce stress, relieve depression, and increase...
“Science Needs to Evolve”
The Watchdogs cover a new paper, titled “The Natural Selection of Bad Science.” The researchers write that “some of the most powerful incentives in...
“Comic Books. Lesson Plans. How Drug Companies Target Kids”
For STAT, Rebecca Robbins investigates how drug and medical companies bankroll classroom lesson plans, print comic books, and promote smartphone apps aimed at teaching...
Beyond Awareness: ‘Mental Illness’ and the Ableism of Capitalism
In American work culture “we value people based on their ability to produce” rather than “the meaningfulness of one’s contribution,” Katie Klabusich writes for...
“Can Mindfulness Help Treat PTSD?”
University of California Berkely's Greater Good Science Center reports a study that finds "adding mindfulness to traditional therapy could be beneficial for soldiers with PTSD."
Article...
NBC’s ‘Bitter Pill’ To Cover Antipsychotic Overmedication
As part of NBC's 'On Assignment' series reporter Kate Snow took a closer look at the prescribing of antipsychotic drugs "off-label" to children. The...
“A Poor Brain is as Worthy as a Rich Brain: Psychotherapy’s Privilege Problem”
“Researchers argue poor communities and communities of colour face an inordinate amount of suffering and trauma, by virtue of their positioning at the very...
“If Antidepressants Don’t Work Well, Why Are They So Popular?”
“The true balance of risk versus benefit for people taking these kinds of antidepressants will probably only emerge when independent researchers have access to...
Dateline NBC to Cover Child Psychiatric Overmedication Epidemic This Sunday
This Sunday, June 12 at 7pm (EDT) on NBCs Dateline will cover MIA author Steve Francesco's book, Overmedicated and Undertreated: How I Lost My...
The Scientology-Based “Re-Education” Program for American Prisoners, Sponsored by Goldman Sachs
In an investigative report for the influence, Sarah Beller traces down the influences on “Moral Reconation Therapy” a common substance abuse program used in...
“Can Neuroscience Understand Donkey Kong, Let Alone a Brain?”
The Atlantic covers an experiment by two researchers who tried to use neuroscience techniques to understand the working of an old microprocessor. “Forget attention,...
“Sometimes Embracing Emotional Distress Is the Best Medicine”
“An unfortunate side effect of the biological revolution of psychiatry is in perceiving emotional discomfort as undesirable or bad, something we shouldn’t feel, something...
“Philosophy versus Neuroscience on the Question of Free Will”
For Scientific American, philosopher Hanoch Ben-Yami critiques the dismissal of free will by neuroscientists. “Although we have learned a lot from cognitive psychology and...
Correction: No “Charges” Against Former FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg
Our headline on an Around the Web item posted on June 8 stating that the former head of the FDA, Margaret Hamburg, had been "charged"...
New Video For World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day
In a new video for World Benzodiazepine Awareness Day (W-BAD) people from all over the world share about the iatrogenic harm they sustained from taking...
European Expert Group Calls for Investment in Community Based Services
In Europe, millions of people live in segregated institutional settings, excluded from mainstream society. Without adequate, person-centered support in the community, institutionalisation will sadly continue.
“Tasty and Easy to Take, A New ADHD Drug Alarms Some Psychiatrists”
For STAT, Meghana Kashavan reports on a new, candy-flavored, chewable, fruity, amphetamine drug on the market for children diagnosed with ADHD. “It’s a move...
