“Detention Gag Orders Make It Impossible For Doctors To Do Their Job”
-People could be sentenced to two years in jail for publicly disclosing information about health and mental health conditions in Australian immigration detention centers.
Major Canadian Professional Psychiatric Groups Speak Out Against Overusing of Psychotropics
-A joint working group of the Canadian Psychiatric Association, the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Canadian Academy of Geriatric Psychiatry has issued a 13-point list of recommendations to physicians for reducing the inappropriate use of psychotropic medications.
“It’s Not About Mental Illness: The Big Lie That Always Follows Mass Shootings By...
-Discussion of the Charleston massacre was very different in Salon, Fox, and Newsweek.
Crowd-sourced Clinical Trials on the Horizon?
-NIMH's Thomas Insel asks how internet-driven and crowd-sourced approaches could be applied to medical and psychiatric research.
“Electronic Health Data for Postmarket Surveillance: A Vision Not Realized”
-Thomas Moore of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices asks, "What has been learned about electronic health data as a primary data source for regulatory decisions regarding the harms of drugs?"
House of Lords Speaker Addresses Harms From Psychiatric Drugs and Prescription Addictions
-The Earl of Sandwich criticizes physicians and the government for not helping people who are suffering long-term harms from psychiatric medications or unwitting addictions to prescription medicines.
“You Calling Me Crazy? The Perils of Misdiagnosis”
-Lisa Di Venuta recounts how a visit to a university counselor about her mild depression quickly got her onto a downward spiral with multiple psychiatric medications and increasing disability.
“One Nation, Under Sedation”
-In 2013 when Medicare officially started paying for anti-anxiety drugs, more than 40 million prescriptions worth more than $377 million were doled out.
“On Human Experiments”
-The Conversation has run a seven-article series discussing the history, politics and philosophical underpinnings of ethically questionable medical research.
“Toward a New Definition of Mental Health”
-A team of psychiatrists argues that the World Health Organization's definition of "mental health" is too closely identified with having only "positive" feelings and having "mastery" over one's environment.
“Scientists Push to Renew Psychedelic Drug Research for Psychiatry”
-CBC Radio interviews UK neuropsychopharmacologist David Nutt, Mark Haden of MAPS, and historian Erika Dyck about the past and present politics and science of psychedelic research.
Psychologists Criticized For Roles In Forcing “Psycho-interventions” On The Unemployed
-"Curing unemployment is a growth market for psychologists. Job Centres are becoming medical centres, claimants are becoming patients, and unemployment is being redefined as a psychological disorder."
“Zap Mama: My Long, Slow, Dizzy Breakup With My Antidepressant”
-Salon assistant editor Joanna Rothkopf describes her year of failed efforts to get off the antidepressant Zoloft.
Sunday Meditation: Is True Mindfulness Even Meant to Be “Good for You”?
-"Mindfulness has been separated from its roots, stripped of its ethical and spiritual connotations, and sold to us as a therapeutic tool."
New, Med-free Soteria House Opens in Vermont
-A residential facility for people experiencing psychological crises who do not want to take medications has launched in Burlington, Vermont.
Mental Imagery, Pain and Healing
-Mental "imagery" plays a role in psychological suffering prompted by vivid memories, and also in healing modalities such as creative visualization.
Some Nursing Homes Trying To Move Beyond Antipsychotics
-Some nursing homes are changing their approaches since the US federal government began more closely regulating the use of antipsychotic medications in elderly patients with dementia.
“Don’t Use John Nash To Promote The Use Of Antipsychotic Drugs”
-Clare Allan writes that the late John Nash often expressed how important it was for him to find his own balance between conventional and unconventional thinking.
“The Manual of Psychedelic Support”
-Zevic Mishor writes about the development and release of a free guide to supporting people through extreme states induced by the use of psychedelic drugs.
“I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here’s How.”
-John Bohannon describes how he conducted a poorly designed study of chocolate and weight loss, got it published in a journal, issued a press release, and watched as the story spread.
“Poverty Shapes How Children Think About Themselves”
-Children's ways of thinking and feeling are being strongly shaped and delimited, as early as the age of five, through the imposition of social categories and stereotypes.
Australian Government Proposes Taking Welfare from Psychiatric Patients
-Green Party Senator Rachel Siewert calls "insidious" an Australian government plan to take income support away from anyone undergoing psychiatric confinement.
Ketamine is Coming
-NPR interviews some of the psychiatrists who feel that the fast-acting drug ketamine is a "revolution" in depression treatment.
“Folk Healing”
-Therapist and herbalist Jon Keyes discusses approaches to helping people in psychological distress that have been practiced in other cultures.
“Could Better Tests Have Predicted the Rare Circumstances of the Germanwings Crash? Probably Not”
-Medical professor Norman Paradis gives a primer on the poor reliability of even the best screening tests -- let alone psychological ones.
