Around The Web

Updates on critical psychiatry postings across the Internet.

“Shire, Maker of Binge-Eating Drug Vyvanse, First Marketed the Disease”

7
-The New York Times looks at the rising campaign to "educate" the public and physicians about "binge eating disorder" and how to "treat" it with an amphetamine.

“The 6 Blessings of Mental Illness”

4
-"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.

Antidepressants May Cause Antibiotic Resistance

0
From Medical Xpress: "A key ingredient in common antidepressants such as Prozac could be causing antibiotic resistance, according to new University of Queensland research. A...

The Man With the Most Famous Brain in Science

1
From STAT: In 1998, a graduate student at the Montreal Neurological Institute named Colin Holmes underwent 27 brain scans and combined them into one high-quality...

Activists, Suicide Prevention Groups Seek Bans on Conversion Therapy for Minors

0
From NPR: "Conversion therapy...is telling somebody that there's something fundamentally broken with them and...it needs to be fixed. That's a lot of trauma."

“Is the World More Depressed?”

0
Tanya Luhrmann writes in the NY Times that, although diagnosis and pathologization of human experience has increased, "there is reason to believe that mental...

FDA: New Depression Drug “Not Approvable”

1
Gepirone, a new depression drug by Fabre-Kramer Pharmaceuticals, did not meet the FDAs efficacy standards. The new drug application for gepirone has now received...

This is What Self-Care Really Means

0
In this piece for Thought Catalog, Brianna West redefines self-care as actions we take to build a life that feels fulfilling, not a reprieve from...

How Midcentury Arab Thinkers Embraced the Ideas of Freud

0
In this piece for Aeon, Omnia El Shakry highlights the role that Freudian ideas and psychoanalysis played in midcentury Arab literature, education, politics, and culture. "For some,...

“Psychotic Shooters on the Open Frontier of Profit”

2
At CounterPunch, Joseph Natoli connects Big Pharma, mass shootings, and rampant inequality. He writes: “The Brave New World soma strategy to deal with a population that, were they not doped up, might violently disrupt that brave new world, is useful if a society is ‘creatively destroying’ a growing number of its population each day. While the poor have daily evidence of their poverty, a collapsing middle class live in the illusion that they are middle class and just a short distance, not from ruin, but from fame and fortune. They are, in short, heading for a catastrophic break-down. Big Pharma is already set to give us all a ‘soft landing.’”

Trump’s Pick to Run Mental Health

4
From STAT: President Trump has nominated Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a proponent of increased psychiatric treatment for those diagnosed with serious mental illness, to run the Substance...
ATW Crisis counseling needed

Crisis Counseling, Not Therapy, Is What’s Needed in Wake of COVID-19

2
From Medscape: The mental health system must step up to assuage fears and anxieties around the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

Army Lifts Ban on Waivers for Recruits With Mental Health Issues

3
From USA Today: The Army will now allow recruits with a history of self-harm, bipolar disorder, depression, and drug and alcohol abuse to seek waivers...

Teenage Antidepressants “Doing More Harm Than Good”

0
From BBC: A leading UK psychiatrist, Dr. David Healy, speaks out about the dangers of the growing prescription of antidepressants to young people under age...

CDC: U.S. Suicide Rates Have Climbed Dramatically

0
From NPR: Suicide rates have increased in nearly every state over the past two decades, and half of the states have seen suicide rates...

“Plan for Your Next Breakdown”

4
Start shopping for the best hospitals, doctors and therapies while you're feeling good, suggests Lisa Keith on her PsychCentral blog Bipolar Lifehacks, because when...

Benzodiazepine Withdrawal Syndrome Awareness Video

0
Members of the group Benzodiazepine Recovery have created a video to raise awareness for benzodiazepine withdrawal syndrome. It is estimated that 30 percent of people...

RxISK: Medications Compromising COVID Infections

0
From RxISK: "In the present situation of pandemia by SARS-CoV-2, it is imperative to avoid pneumonia or pneumonitis and related risk factors as much...

The Uphill Battle Against Los Angeles Police Killings

0
From The Guardian: "Police shot Mack, a 30-year-old father of two, in the middle of a mall on the afternoon of 10 April, as...

“Neuroplasticity: Enormous Implications for Anyone Who has been Labeled with a Psychiatric Illness”

1
Beyond Meds offers a compendium of our new knowledge about the ways we can change our brain's function and, in fact, its structure. "There...

“Psychiatry as a Cultural System”

3
On his Critical Psychiatry blog, Duncan Double responds to Gary Sidley’s post on MIA about radical change in our mental health systems.  “I do...

U.S. Must Provide Mental Health Services to Families Separated at Border

4
From The New York Times: The ruling marks a rare instance of the government being held legally accountable for mental trauma brought about by its policies.

Dr. Nardo’s Series on Use of Antipsychotics for Depression

1
On his website, Dr. Nardo details the hidden risks and bad science behind the growing practice of using atypical antipsychotics to augment antidepressant treatment for severe depression. The story of Atypical Antipsychotic Augmentation of Treatment Resistant Depression is a “prime example” “to illustrate how commercial interests have invaded medical practice.” “Besides the obvious dangers of the Metabolic Syndrome and Tardive Dyskinesia, these drugs don’t really do what they’re advertised to do – make the antidepressants work a lot better.”

Is Daydreaming as Vital to Mind-health as Focusing on Facts?

2
"If you’re feeling overwhelmed, there’s a reason: The processing capacity of the conscious mind is limited. This is a result of how the brain’s...

Review of Allen Frances’ Memoir and Critique of the DSM

1
Christian Perring of the invaluable Metapsychology Online reviews "Saving Normal: An Insider's Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of...