Around The Web

Updates on critical psychiatry postings across the Internet.

From Phrenology to Brain Scans: How Shaky Neuroscience has Influenced Courts

1
In “When Phrenology Was Used in Court,” Geoffrey S. Holtzman writes for Slate about the spurious use of brain science in legal cases. In the 1800’s the “science of phrenology” promised to reveal criminal psychological traits by measuring the skull and today defense teams still employ neurogenetic explanations for their client’s violent behavior.

What Do the OCTET Outpatient Committal Trials Really Tell Us?

2
-Two commentaries in The Lancet Psychiatry debate what the OCTET trials have shown about community treatment orders.

Good People in Bad Systems Perpetrate Acts of Great Evil

0
Ben Goldacre answers readers' questions in the The Guardian. Article → 

What Happens When Therapists Reveal Their Own Inner Struggles?

7
-Counselor and artist Sara Nash asks whether its good that she rarely shares her own experiences of inner pain when she talks to college students about suicidal ideation.

“Why Paul Steinberg Has It All Wrong (and Should Stop Seeing Patients)”

0
Beyond Meds publishes Giovanna Pompele's critique of a New York Times' op-ed written by psychiatrist Paul Steinberg, who's proposed solution to violence such as that...

“Dangerous Work: Behavioural Geneticists Must Tread Carefully to Prevent Their Research Being Misinterpreted”

0
Nature writes, of behavioral genetics, "Although the ability to investigate the genetic factors that underlie the heritability of traits such as intelligence, violent behaviour,...

“Autoimmune Issues Manifest in Many Ways Affecting both Mind and Body”

0
Beyond Meds reflects on the implications of "Autoimmune Attack Behind Some Cases of Schizophrenia," an article in NewScientist. Article →

“Bad Science and Such Big Portions–Drug-Company Funded CMEs Fall Out of Favor”

0
For the USC Center for Health Journalism, Martha Rosenberg points out the absurdity of allowing industry funded doctors to teach classes to practitioners about psychiatric drugs. "What if the written road test drivers take were sponsored by BP or Shell and had marketing messages interspersed?"

Health Professionals Question Using Animals for Studies

2
National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel explains why using mice to try to help solve human psychological problems doesn't work very well....

How Can Two Such Radically Different Experiences Both Be Called “Schizophrenia”?

7
-Psychiatrist Jose Andres Saez Fonseca disposes with the language of the diagnostic manuals, and tries to grapple with different ways of seeing.

“My Suicide Attempt and My Struggles to Get Help”

0
Marine corps veteran Thomas Brennan tells of his PTSD, suicide attempt, and entry into the psychiatric system that he describes as "three days that convinced...

“What Journalists Get Wrong about Social Science”

0
Vox interviews twenty scientists about their biggest gripes with the journalists who report on their studies. For example, “journalists often want clear answers to...

“My Drugged Life: Who’s Really at Home?”

5
Writing under the pseudonym Will Barrett, a person who has been continually on various psychiatric drugs since age 10 philosophically reflects in Salon. "But...

Rising Movement To Replicate Key Psychology Studies

0
Should influential psychology research studies be replicable, as hard science studies commonly are? In a Guardian Headquarters blog post, Cardiff University cognitive neuroscientist Chris...

“When psychiatrists are on Facebook, their patients can get a case of TMI”

5
Washington Post columnist Steven Petrow gets a friend recommendation from Facebook, and it turns out to be his current psychotherapist, who isn't using any...

“France Tightens Rules in Wake of Fatal Clinical Trial Disaster”

0
After a clinical trial killed one person and landed five others in intensive care, the government is demanding that the clinical trial company responsible, Biotrial,...

Mindfulness of Body Linked to Heightened Resilience

1
“To handle stress and adversity more effectively, we should probably pay closer attention to what is happening inside our bodies,” Gretchen Reynolds writes in the New York Times Well blog. “To me, this study says that resilience is largely about body awareness and not rational thinking,” said Dr. Martin Paulus, the scientific director of the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Okla., and the senior author of the study.

“Obama Gun Regs Ease Mental Health Reporting to FBI”

1
"HHS said it took pains to avoid any change to gun check reporting that would weaken physician–patient confidentiality and deter individuals from voluntarily seeking...

“The Halfway Houses Keeping Mental Health Patients Out Of Hospital”

0
For Buzzfeed, Laura Silver reports on the UK recovery houses where mental health patients in psychiatric crisis can work toward a meaningful recovery and avoid institutionalization. Unfortunately, she finds that funding for these houses is under increasing threat.

ABC Radio: Can Philosophy Prevent Overdiagnosis?

0
Professor Wendy Rogers believes that overdiagnosis itself is an epidemic and that the roots of the problem lie in an insufficient naturalistic disease-theory. Overdiagnosis, she adds, “can be harmful for the patient and also cause waste of a lot of resources.”

“What the Quest to Map the Brain Tells Us About Government-Funded Science Revolutions”

2
In the Pacific Standard, Elena Goory asks: “What does it look like, right now, when the government tries to revolutionize an entire field of...

“Psychiatrists From Another Dimension”

0
Neuroskeptic reviews the implications of the new/old interest in "dimensional" diagnosis in DSM-5 (which involves acknowledgment of symptoms across categories of diagnosis, rather than...

“Helping Others Dampens the Effects of Everyday Stress”

1
"The holiday season can be a very stressful time, so think about giving directions, asking someone if they need help, or holding that elevator...

Thomas Insel on “A New Approach to Psychiatric Research”

0
Thomas Insel, in an interview for the Boston Globe, discusses the historical tension within psychiatry about "being medical," saying "Freud himself was apoplectic about...

“Lawmakers Accuse HHS of Delaying FDA Guidelines for Off-Label Marketing”

0
Ed Silverman reports for STAT’s Pharmalot that high-ranking congressmen are accusing the Department of Health and Human Services of deliberately delaying new guidelines on...