Around The Web

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

“Although there is no established connection between autism and murder, some eagerly leapt to causality and scapegoating,” Andrew Solomon writes in the New York Times. “Tarring the autistic community in this manner — like presuming that most black people are thieves or that most Muslims are terrorists — is an insidious form of profiling. It exacerbates the tendency for people with autism to be excluded, teased and assaulted in childhood and adulthood.”

Benedict Carey of the New York Times reports on the success of new schizophrenia and psychosis programs that provide family counseling and job and...

From Institute for Scientific Freedom: Peter Gøtzsche and 10 people who lost either a child or spouse to suicide after being prescribed an antidepressant have written an open letter to JAACAP and JAMA Psychiatry.

Dr. Vincent Felitti details the connection between childhood trauma and negative mental health outcomes in adulthood in a powerful video.

The Connecticut Forum ("a one-of-a-kind nonprofit based in Hartford, CT that presents live, unscripted panel discussions among renowned experts and celebrities, and community outreach...

From STAT: Every insurance company should be required to keep its provider lists updated so they can’t collect premiums for services they don’t actually provide.

In the New York Times Well Blog, Gretchen Reynolds covers a study published in Biological Psychiatry showing that mindfulness meditation, unlike a placebo, “can change...

From The New York Times: In recent years, politicians have shown increased awareness of the opioid epidemic and have made statements about the need for treatment,...

From the Los Angeles Review of Books: In his new book The Strange Order of Things, neuroscientist Antonio Damasio highlights the role of feeling and subjectivity...

-Salon assistant editor Joanna Rothkopf describes her year of failed efforts to get off the antidepressant Zoloft.

From Science of Us: Temperament, or emotional moderation, may be an important component of psychological well-being and healthier relationships. Article →­

From Science of Us: Over the past few months, multiple studies have linked frequent nightmares to increased risk for both suicidality and self-harm. Article →­

From STAT: According to a recently unsealed lawsuit, Eli Lilly has illegally hired nurses to promote its diabetes treatments to physicians and patients for the...

In the SundayReview section of the New York Times Vicki Abeles discusses Stuat Slavin’s research on depression and anxiety in US schools. “Many of the health effects are apparent now, but many more will echo through the lives of our children,” says Richard Scheffler, a health economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

The UK Times reports that pharmaceutical companies are actively lobbying to limit the release of clinical trial data to the public. Rather than limiting results and data to medical journals, new transparency initiatives are pushing for making the information publically available. The push for transparency comes in the wake of the reanalysis of the Study 329 data on paroxetine (marketed as Seroxat and Paxil), which found that the industry study had misconstrued its results.

In an essay published in Research Ethics, Will Hall writes about contributions by "non-professionals" and psychiatric survivors to research studies -- such a drug-tapering...

Along with hair-pulling and skin-picking, nail biting is under consideration to be included as an OCD-spectrum disorder in the the DSM-5. "The beauty is that...

-Two Harvard University psychologists discuss how to be a more "mindful" clinician.

Beyond Meds provides the information you need if you want to stop section 224 of HR 4302 - A list of senators, and a...

A blog post from AbleChild raises questions about efforts in Connecticut to expand psychiatric screening and treatments for children and youth. "Since the...

John Markowitz, a clinical psychiatrist and professor, argues that the NIMH’s exclusive focus on neuroscience research is failing patients in The New York Times....

Writing for the UK’s Daily Mail, Peter Gøtzsche introduces his new book “Deadly Psychiatry And Organised Denial.” “More than 80 million prescriptions for psychiatric drugs are written in the UK every year, Gøtzsche writes. “Not only are these drugs often entirely unnecessary and ineffective, but they can also turn patients into addicts, cause crippling side-effects - and kill.”

From Belfast Telegraph: Johnny Shields, 14, who tragically took his own life had been prescribed up to a 700% increase of controversial anti-depressant drugs in the months leading up to his death.

-"The civic lawsuit demands that Comptom schools incorporate proven practices that address trauma..."