Pathologizing Dissent
From CounterPunch: The existence of antiwar veterans’ groups helps defeat the lie that protest is pathological, and announces to all that knowing right from wrong is not a medical condition.
The Truth About Long-Term Antidepressant Use
From The Guardian: As antidepressant prescriptions rise and have doubled in the past decade, mental health experts are becoming increasingly concerned about adverse effects and...
The Essential Role of an Enlightened Witness in Society | Alice Miller
From alice-miller.com: Formerly abused children will not need to avenge themselves violently for their wounds, or to poison their systems with drugs, if they are helped by empathetic others to grasp the naked truth of their own tragedy.
APA Statement on Proposal to Lengthen Detention of Child Migrants
From the American Psychological Association: "Following is the statement of American Psychological Association President Jessica Henderson Daniel, PhD, in response to the Trump administration’s...
“How Tens of Thousands of Patients Who Weren’t Actually Dying Wound up on Hospice...
The Washington Post reports that one in three patients sent to hospice were not given key information, including the fact that they were foregoing...
“Holding Big Pharma Accountable: Why Suing the Pharmaceutical Industry Isn’t Working”
Writing for the Huffington Post, Caroline Beaton looks into how drugs continue to make billions in sales even after they lose lawsuits for fraud and misconduct. “The persistence of Big Pharma's fraud despite ubiquitous legal action suggests that our present efforts to hold the industry accountable are ineffective,” Beaton writes. “New polices in motion will make potentially unsafe drugs even easier to bring to market and promote.”
“Psychiatric Shock Therapy, Long Controversial, may Face Fresh Restrictions”
For STAT, Judith Graham reports that regulators “are poised to enact new restrictions on psychiatry’s most controversial treatment, electroconvulsive therapy, which treats people with acute mental...
A Likely Culprit for Teen Mental Health Deterioration
From The Conversation: In the five years between 2010 and 2015, U.S. teens' mental health greatly deteriorated. The sudden ascendance of the smartphone is most...
“Should You Tell Work About Your Mental Health Condition?”
For Vice, Hannah Ewens explores how employers react to depression and anxiety in their employees. “In a fair world, employers wouldn't judge you for...
A 9-Year-Old Was Pepper-Sprayed by Police. Here’s What Should Have Happened Instead
From USA TODAY: To expect a child to be able to overcome a biological stress response for the sake of compliance demonstrates a lack of understanding, said child advocate Deb Rosen.
Intelligence: a History
From Aeon: The idea of intelligence - specifically, the primacy of reason and rationality - has been used to justify privilege and domination throughout more than...
Our Health Care System Still Massively Overtreats Patients
From the Center for Health Journalism: It is a commonly held belief that more medical care is always better; however, overtreatment can be harmful to...
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
Gianna Kali reviews the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, "one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and later-life...
The Dangers of Screening Without a Diagnostic Method
A blog post from AbleChild raises questions about efforts in Connecticut to expand psychiatric screening and treatments for children and youth. "Since the...
What Shyamalan’s ‘Split’ Gets Wrong About ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’
Mental health advocates warn that the film stigmatizes dissociative identity disorder and may directly impact those living with it. "You are going to upset and...
Sunday History Channel: Mindcraft Journeys into Hypnotism
The Wellcome Collection has produced a six-part digital story about the rise to popularity of mesmerism and hypnotism in the 1800s, and their fall...
Virginia Deputies Charged With Murder in Man’s Death at Mental Hospital
From AP: Family and attorneys say Irvo Otieno, 28, was subjected to brutal treatment at a local jail and then at the state hospital where he died during the admission process.
“After Taking Antidepressants, My Genitals Felt Numb”
From The Guardian: "I had a normal libido and a good sex life until I was 22 and prescribed an SSRI antidepressant. I had been with...
We’re Historians of Disability. What We Just Found on eBay Horrified Us.
From Slate: We were disturbed to come across a slew of listings for private, highly personal, and revealing medical records from now-closed New York state psychiatric institutions.
Can Employers Force Employees into Psychiatric Evaluations?
-Swaab Attorneys reviews Australian case law to examine when an employer can force an employee to provide medical evidence or submit to a psychiatric evaluation.
The Feeling Child | An Interview With Alice Miller
A good therapy should help the patient evolve from a "silent child" to a feeling and "talking child."
Weaving Beauty Into the Tapestry of the Pandemic
From Psychiatry Today: We want to be sure that just as when we treat psychiatric illness with medications or psychotherapy, there are no unintended consequences
“Biomarker Porn” and the “Hotness” of Telomeres
-James Coyne argues that many of the studies finding associations between trauma and telomere lengths are misleading.
