Around The Web

Updates on critical psychiatry postings across the Internet.

It Feels Better to be Allowed to Feel Bad

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Today discusses a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology that found people with low self-esteem don’t like it when...

Psychologists To Livestream Summit on Global Interdisciplinary Health Care

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The American Psychological Association is hosting a two and half day interdisciplinary summit on November 3rd through 5th entitled Global Approaches to Integrated Care: Translating Science And Best Practices Into Patient-Centered Health Care Delivery. The summit features presentations and discussions on social determinants of health, demographics, culture and health disparities, and patients’ perspectives, among others. It can be livestreamed here.

“Direct-to-Consumer Advertising — Selling Drugs or Diseases?”

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With the American Medical Association (AMA) declaring its opposition to direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug advertising, Martha Rosenberg asks, did DTC increase the number of people who have "diseases"?

Daydream Disorder Stirs Controversy

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"The name of a 'new attention disorder' sounds like an Onion-style parody: sluggish cognitive tempo," writes Slate. "It also sounds like a classic case...

“The FDA Now Officially Belongs to Big Pharma”

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“Robert Califf's ties to Big Pharma run deep and the Obama nominee for the FDA just sailed through the U.S. Senate.” Article →

“Empathy for Outsiders Can Be Taught”

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"Our findings show that empathy with an out-group member can be learned, and generalizes to other out-group individuals," a research team led by Grit Hein of the University of Zurich writes in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Here are 20 Drug Combinations that you Should Absolutely Avoid”

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"Most opioid-related fatalities, for example, do not involve opioids alone but opioids combined with other drugs, typically sedatives such as benzodiazepines or alcohol," says an article in...

“MIT Students Turn Their Brainpower Toward Suicide Prevention”

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After seven suicides in two years, students have come together to develop community building interventions including a texting hotline, artificial light boxes, and conversation...

“Antidepressants Linked to Tooth Implant Failure, New Study Finds”

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Researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo (UB) found that antidepressants weaken bone growth which can disrupt procedures like tooth implants....

“Sales of ADHD Meds Are Skyrocketing. Here’s Why.”

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-Mother Jones looks at drug company promotional efforts, expanded diagnostic criteria, and the appeal of amphetamines to high-performance cultures globally.

“Sweat is the Best Antidepressant”

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The University of Toronto recently opened a Mental Health and Physical Activity Research Centre to work with individual students, and to study the link...

“Mother’s Little Anti-Psychotic Is Worth $6.9 Billion A Year”

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In the Daily Beast, Jay Michaelson struggles to make sense of the fact that the antipsychotic Abilify is America's top-selling drug, even while its...

Artistic Depictions of Madness Through History

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-A historical article by MIA Blogger Andrew Scull in The Paris Review includes early artistic depictions of madness.

“From Birth to Death, Diet Affects the Brain’s Health”

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LiveScience reports from the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting, and provides brief summaries of a plethora of recent research into the effects of diet...

“Was Sexism Really Responsible for the FDA’s Hesitancy to Sign Off on Flibanserin?”

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“The Food and Drug Administration’s approval of pharmaceutical treatment for low sexual desire in women has launched a heated debate over the dangers and benefits of medicalizing sex,” Maya Dusenbery writes in the Pacific Standard. Is “female Viagra” a feminist victory or a product of clever faux-feminist marketing by Big Pharma?

Medical Community Split on Easing of Drug Company Gift ban

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From VTDigger: A new bill has been introduced in Vermont that would scale back the state's law banning pharmaceutical companies from providing certain gifts to health care...

Are FDA Scientists Being Muzzled?

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-A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists graded the level of employee freedom of speech at 17 US federal agencies.

“Can We Replace Misleading Terms Like Mental Illness, Patient, and Schizophrenia?”

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-Psychiatrist Allen Frances discusses his mixed feelings about many commonly used but misleading psychiatric terms.

“Not Yet Kicked: The Consequences of Big Tobacco’s Targeting of Mentally Ill People”

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“Two big lies—that smoking relieves the symptoms of psychosis, depression and anxiety and that mentally ill people have a special immunity to tobacco-related diseases—were...

“Personalized Medicine: A Faustian Bargain?”

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In a guest blog for the Scientific American, Eleonore Pauwels and Jim Drawta write about the “dark side of the data revolution —the successor to the Industrial Revolution, with personal data as the new coal, oil or shale gas to be extracted or traded away, enshrined in an updated Faustian pact.”

Sunday Meditation: Are Non-ordinary States “Freeing” the Brain to Truly See?

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On his blog Metaphysical Speculations, Bernardo Kastrup challenges conventional psychiatric assumptions that the brain produces and controls consciousness. Kastrup cites two recent studies published...

Sunday History Channel: Seventy-five Years of Psychedelic Psychiatry

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Mo Costandi provides a brief history in The Guardian of research activities using psychedelic substances such as LSD for psychiatric and psychotherapeutic purposes. Costandi...

Bullying & its Long-Term Effects on Wellness

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Psychologist William Copeland writes for Mental Health Recovery that “bullying can occur at any age and the effects of which remain harmful long after the behavior has been endured.” “We, as a society, are just beginning to understand and come to terms with the havoc that bullying wreaks on the emotional lives of its victims.

“How Unconscious Fear Of Death May Skew Your Judgment — In Life And 2016...

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WBUR covers a recent talk at the Boston Museum of Science by Sheldon Solomon,  co-author the new book, “The Worm At The Core: On...

“The Weak Science Behind the Wrongly Named Moral Molecule”

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The latest research shows that the effect of the “moral molecule” oxytocin has a much more complicated effect on human behavior than we think, according to Ed Yong in a recent article for The Atlantic. “Several scientists have shown that this tower of evidence for oxytocin’s positive influence is built on weak foundations,” he writes.