Around The Web

-Salon looks at people's increasing obsessions with eating "properly," and how many of these tendencies are starting to look like their own kinds of eating "disorders."

-A prominent advocate against forced psychiatric treatment was recently involuntarily committed.

-There's a resurgence in interest in small peer-run centers that help people who might otherwise land in psychiatric hospitals.

WSJ Pharmalot links to comedian John Oliver's satirical criticism of marketing in medicine, and provides responses from the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America and the American Medical Association.

-Clay Dillow tries a new electronic headset from neuroscience startup Thync.

-What evidence base is there to guide a patient switching from one type of psychotherapeutic treatment to another?

-On March 11, 2015, the NHS Foundation and three other Trusts are hosting a free conference to "take stock" after one year of Peer-supported Open Dialogue.

-The Center for the Study of Empathic Therapy, Education and Living hosts a conference in Michigan on April 17-19, 2015.

Columbia Journalism Review examines the new database of drug company payments to physicians, and finds some high-profile physicians who appear on TV have not...

Kathleen Flaherty argues that it is understandable why some people think involuntary outpatient commitment will improve Connecticut's mental health system, but the belief is misguided.

-"I could not have written those six words 30 years ago, when panic episodes, anxiety disorders and Tourette's syndrome clouded my view," writes Jonathan Friesen.

-An atheist psychiatrist stated that she had enough understanding of religious beliefs to successfully treat a religious believer, but a Christian Post article questioned that.

The Toronto Star interviews the man "who brought neuroplasticity to the masses."

-Rebecca Vipond Brink recounts her difficult experiences with various different types of mental health professionals as she seeks help with recovering from abuse.

Amit Sood of the Mayo Clinic discusses his efforts to educate the public about building "mental health" through "creating intentionality" in one's thinking and attention.

-A survivor of abuse tells of how she was victimized again by her own therapist, and is now trying to rally support to change the laws that govern therapists.

-An article In Disability and Society asks why iacademic research approaches which "at first seem inviting and like they might even help to disrupt psychiatric control," so often seem to "ultimately resort to marginalising mad people’s own knowledge."

-In Patient POV, Laura Newman argues that nursing homes are hiding their poor health and mental health practices -- including racist ones -- from the general public.

-"It's hard to imagine that any psychiatrist judged responsible for the deaths and injuries of forty-six patients -- including five suicides - would still be allowed to practice medicine."

-ProPublica found a situation where drug companies have a remarkable tendency to frequently misspell their own names and the names of their drugs.

-Longreads has posted links to online stories about being committed to psychiatric hospitals.

-James Coyne argues that many of the studies finding associations between trauma and telomere lengths are misleading.

-It took researchers only three hours to get ordinary students convinced that they'd had traumatic experiences or committed crimes in their childhood which had never actually occurred.

-Artists who have "outsider" ways of thinking and expressing are reportedly becoming more popular with some galleries and collectors.

-The Edinburgh International Book Festival hosted a discussion exploring religious beliefs, creative inspiration, and whether hearing "the voice of God" should be regarded as a symptom of mental illness.