“Shire, Maker of Binge-Eating Drug Vyvanse, First Marketed the Disease”
-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”
-"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
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
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
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?”
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 âNot Approvableâ
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
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
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,...
âPsychotic Shooters on the Open Frontier of Profitâ
At CounterPunch, Joseph Natoli connects Big Pharma, mass shootings, and rampant inequality. He writes: âThe 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 âcreatively destroyingâ 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 âsoft landing.ââ
Trump’s Pick to Run Mental Health
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...
Crisis Counseling, Not Therapy, Is What’s Needed in Wake of COVID-19
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
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”
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
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”
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
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
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
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”
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...
âPsychiatry as a Cultural Systemâ
On his Critical Psychiatry blog, Duncan Double responds to Gary Sidleyâs post on MIA about radical change in our mental health systems. âI do...
U.S. Must Provide Mental Health Services to Families Separated at Border
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. Nardoâs Series on Use of Antipsychotics for Depression
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 âprime exampleâ âto illustrate how commercial interests have invaded medical practice.â âBesides the obvious dangers of the Metabolic Syndrome and Tardive Dyskinesia, these drugs donât really do what theyâre advertised to do â make the antidepressants work a lot better.â
Is Daydreaming as Vital to Mind-health as Focusing on Facts?
"If youâre feeling overwhelmed, thereâs a reason: The processing capacity of the conscious mind is limited. This is a result of how the brainâs...
Review of Allen Frances’ Memoir and Critique of the DSM
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...