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.
Suicidal Feelings: Mental Disorder or Important Philosophical Concern?
-Is the psychiatric approach hindering understanding of feelings that were historically more often seen as having "theological, philosophical, legal, and aesthetical" import?
A Non-medical Suicide Center Staffed By Volunteers
-London, England's Maytree Suicide Respite Centre runs with a few paid staff and nearly a hundred volunteers.
Sunday Humor: Inside the Human Brain Project Launch
-A short video feature of an interview with a Neuroscience Laboratory Manager talking about the Human Brain Project.
Half of New Zealanders Not Comfortable Having a New Neighbor with a Mental Illness
-The 2014 New Zealand General Social Survey showed many New Zealanders feel more comfortable having neighbors with different sexual orientations or from minority groups than with mental illness.
Violence Induced by Depression, or by Antidepressants?
-Correspondence in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that a study linking depression to acts of violence should have examined antidepressant medications as possible causes.
Mental Health Providers with “Understanding of Aboriginal Approaches” Wanted
-"Aboriginal youth are nine times more likely to be depressed and three times more likely to think about suicide compared to non-aboriginal youth."
Emotional Triggers, Safe Spaces, PTSD and Politically Correct Language
-Emphasis on language "political correctness" on many college and university campuses may have less to do with politics than with how we process trauma.
Former NEJM Editors Attack Journal’s “Flawed” and “Rambling” Conflict-of-interest Articles
-Three former editors of the New England Journal of Medicine criticize the NEJM for its recent publication of a series of articles downplaying conflicts of interest.
“A Preliminary Taxonomy of the Voices Inside Your Head”
-BPS Research Digest reports on growing efforts to understand the voices that virtually everyone hears in their heads.
An Honor Code for Medical Trials is a Fragile Thing
-Carl Elliott reflects on the scandals at UMinn, and explains why he worries that medical and psychiatric research at other universities and institutions may be just as unethical.
How Much Do Average People Know About the Risks of Screening?
-Despite an "epidemic" of "expanding disease definitions that medicalize more people," most Australians have no idea that overdiagnosis is a problem.
“The Case for Publicly Funded Therapy”
-An article in Canada's Globe and Mail makes the case for expanding public funding of mental health services beyond psychiatrists.
“What Does fMRI Measure?”
-An accessible explanation of what fMRI brain scan devices actually measure.
