Why (And How) Do We Long for Utopia?
From Psychology Today: A new wave of positive psychology scholarship emphasizes the dialectal nature of wellbeing, arguing that well-being does not only comprise happy or...
When Doctors Don’t Listen
From SAPIENS: I know how fragile life is in the throes of illness and how easily it can be clipped with the shears of domination and misunderstanding.
I Spent 16 Months of My Childhood Locked in a Warehouse
From HuffPost: The warehouse was occupied by a "tough love" drug rehab program called Straight Inc., which the ACLU branded "a concentration camp for throwaway teens."
Neuroscientists Make a Case against Solitary Confinement
From Scientific American: "There are an estimated 80,000 people, mostly men, in solitary confinement in U.S. prisons. They are confined to windowless cells roughly...
“The Curious Case of the Antidepressant, Anti-Anxiety Backyard Garden”
“My vegetable beds have even buoyed me through more acute stressors, such as my medical internship, my daughter’s departure for college, and a loved one’s cancer treatment,” writes Dr. Daphne Miller. Now neuroscientists are attempting to study the antidepressant effects of soil microbes in hopes of unlocking the secrets of a powerful mood enhancer.
“How To Escape from a Psychiatric Hospital”
Speak Out Against Psychiatry offers this helpful primer on an important subject.
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Mental Health Act Reforms Aim to Tackle High Rate of Black People Sectioned
From The Guardian: Mental health advocates have described the proposed reforms as an important step forward to treating people with respect and dignity.
In Yemen’s Secret Prisons, UAE Tortures and US Interrogates
From The Associated Press: The United Arab Emirates and Yemeni forces run a secret network of prisons where terrorism suspects are brutally tortured. Several U.S....
“The ‘Still Face’ Video Still Packs an Emotional Wallop”
ACES Too High, the blog about Adverse Childhood Experiences, recalls the excruciating experiment and films concerning the impact of childhood neglect. Â A one-year-old baby...
“Best Antidepressant Ever: Squeaking Adorable Baby Otters”
"This video will make your heart melt with cuteness."
Sputnik News →
“Largely Ineffective and Potentially Harmful”
In this interview for SciLogs, Dr. Michael P. Hengartner critiques the current research on antidepressant drugs and the state of biological psychiatry.
"One has to realize...
“Antidepressant Paxil Is Unsafe for Teenagers, New Analysis Says”
In a major story, the New York Times presents the re-analysis by David Healy, Jon Jureidini, Mickey Nardo and others of Study 329, published in...
“The Psychological is Political”
Joanna Moncrieff writes in Occupied Times that "The concept of mental illness is useful partly because it provides a conveniently elastic justification for control and...
“The Rise and Fall of the Blockbuster Antipsychotic Seroquel”
Martha Rosenberg highlights how the popular antipsychotic Seroquel is a perfect example of how direct-to-consumer advertising made billion dollar blockbuster drugs possible before side-effects...
“What Does Scientific Reproducibility Mean, Anyway?”
The Watchdogs at STAT, Ivan Oransky and Adam Marcus, dive into the replication crisis in medicine and psychology ask wonder, “what does reproducibility really...
The Therapist who Saved my Life
In this creative nonfiction piece for Literary Hub, one woman shares her story of trauma, depression, and suicidality, and recounts the unconventional approach of the...
A Suicide Therapist’s Secret Past
In this piece for The New York Times, suicidologist and psychotherapist Stacey Freedenthal tells her story of having struggled with suicidality and discusses the importance...
TV Doctors Not Disclosing Conflicts of Interest
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...
New Zealand Man Died After Being Restrained in Japan
From The Guardian: Kelly Savage, a 27-year-old New Zealand man working abroad as an English teacher in Japan, was admitted to a Japanese psychiatric hospital...
How to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children
From TED: What would it be like if we helped parents unpack their own childhood, so they don’t have to carry that baggage and put it on their children’s shoulders?
“Cultivating the Next Generation Of Psychiatrists”
1BoringOldMan on the declining rolls of APA membership, his own early disaffection with the organization, and a hidden force in shaping its history: "People...
IIPDW Open Letter to NICE in the UK Regarding Antipsychotics Withdrawal
From IIPDW: The International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal is requesting, for the second time, that NICE reverse its decision to exclude antipsychotic medications from its published withdrawal guidelines.
“What Do Scientific Studies Show?”
The New York Times explores the problematic nature of reporting science and of science reporting.
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Thanks, Anonymous, for pointing this out.
‘Our Son Has Been Locked Up Like an Animal for 21 Years…for Being Autistic’
From The Daily Mail: Families give shattering testimony of their battle against a hidden injustice in the British care system.
“Closed Thinking: Without Scientific Competition and Open Debate, Much Psychology Research Goes Nowhere”
Science News offers an excellent review of the the perils and pitfalls of the scientific method as it is practiced in psychology today, concluding...
