Around The Web

From Yahoo! Finance: The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) has passed a major hurdle on the path to getting MDMA approved for medical use....

Dr. Claudia Gold of Boston.com comments on the recent research finding that "thoughts of suicide, sexual difficulties and emotional numbness as a result of anti-depressants...

The Atlantic features a story about the availability of effective treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  “Many OCD sufferers and their families say finding the...

From The Times: In an age in which benzodiazepine dependence is increasingly becoming a global problem, online forums serve as a lifeline for numerous benzodiazepine...

From NPR: Dr Rhea Boyd says racism's toll threads through the psyche, manifesting in many ways, and shaping the youngest of brains.

From Psychology Today: “Population dependence on mood pills looks like a fantastic marketing strategy, but it must be over-the-top and we must be missing something," said psychiatrist and professor Eugene Breen in Dublin.

-Psychologist James Coyne accuses the authors of the British Psychological Society's "Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia" report of misrepresenting research.

From STAT: Proove Biosciences, which sold dubious DNA tests to predict opioid addiction risk, has been placed into court-ordered receivership for restructuring and asset sale. Experts...

For the Huffington Post, David Freeman asks “By tamping down anxious feelings, could it be that these so-called “anxiolytic” drugs are blunting our empathy and...

From Forbes: Facebook is now using algorithms to monitor users' online activity for warning signs of suicidal ideation or self-harm. Article →­

The International Business Times covers a new study showing “trials for new antidepressant medications may not be applicable to the population at large.” “The finding, published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, shows recent trials are less generalizable than the prior studies, as researchers excluded most depressed patients from drug company-sponsored treatment studies.”

-BPS Research Digest reports on growing efforts to understand the voices that virtually everyone hears in their heads.

A series of interviews with 11 clinical psychologists, published in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, sheds new light on the scepticism and concern felt towards NICE guidelines, and...

Will Davies, author of The Happiness Industry, does a Q&A on the ways companies are misusing psychological research on happiness. “I think that one thing that often gets lost in lots of the discussions of happiness (especially in the business world) is the possibility that happy work may mean less work.”

From Politico: While the hotline says the data it shares is "anonymized," ethics experts and some volunteers are raising concerns about users' lack of meaningful consent.

Monica Cassani reviews an article in the Wilson Quarterly about the changing paradigm of mental illness and the failure of the psychopharmacological era. Beyond Meds...

An article on About.com notes the dangers of lithium. Abstract → 

"Within the last decade," reports The Alternative Daily, "traces of pharmaceuticals have been reported in the water cycle, including surface waters, wastewater, groundwater and to...

From Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights: "My experience as your Human Rights Commissioner has . . . confirmed . . . the vicious circles caused by a coercion-based mental health approach."

-Mother Jones discusses evidence that solitary confinement may actually damage the brain.

From Medical Xpress: Researchers have proposed that psychedelic drugs such as LSD and magic mushrooms may help some people with anxiety, depression, and addiction by dissolving...

-Nick Stockton writes that "psychosurgeons use lasers to burn away mental illness," raising the ire of some commenters.

“Decisions about the effectiveness of drugs are being made with incomplete information because results of almost three-quarters of clinical trials are still not published...

Writing in the Genetic Literacy Project, David Warmflash discusses a recent study that identified two genes "associated with violent crime." Even though people with...

If their clients admit to having suicidal feelings or show evidence of serious psychological problems, how do lawyers' legal responsibilities to their clients change...