What Every Therapist Should Know About Working With Prescribed Psych Drugs
From The British Psychological Society: The BPS has collaborated to deliver guidance materials for psychological therapists to support them in working with issues of prescribed drug dependence.
Patient Safety: A Letter to the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists
From Hole Ousia/Peter Scott-Gordon: Antidepressants have never been conceptualised as ‘addictive’. This ‘non-addictive’ descriptor is being used to imply drug safety in a highly dangerous way.
Why We Are Sceptical About This Study of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms
From The Guardian Letters: Prof. John Read and Dr. James Davies argue that a recent review’s findings are not relevant to the majority of real-world antidepressant users, while readers offer their own experiences of using the drugs.
Book Review: Truth and Consequences for Medical Whistleblowers
From Undark: In “The Occasional Human Sacrifice,” Carl Elliott notes that those who expose medical wrongdoings are hardly hailed as heroes.
How an Opioid Giant Deployed a Playbook for Moulding Doctors’ Minds
From The BMJ: A document trove released by opioid giant Mallinckrodt shows an extensive marketing playbook designed to influence medical science and opinion, or "ghost manage" medicine.
Bartonella Infection, Psychosis and Tardive Dyskinesia | Beyond Meds
From Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry: In Western medicine, dyskinesia is associated with infection when it’s not associated with a psych drug history, psychosis and neuroleptic drugs.
FDA Panel Rejects MDMA-Aided Therapy for PTSD
From The New York Times: An independent group of experts expressed concerns that the data from clinical trials did not outweigh risks for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Researchers Plan to Retract Landmark Alzheimer’s Paper Containing Doctored Images
From Science: The study has been cited nearly 2500 times, and would be the most cited paper ever to be retracted, according to Retraction Watch data.
‘Illuminating Journeys’: Using Creativity for Change in Mental Health Treatment
From Health Justice: The Illuminating Journeys project supported people with lived experience of involuntary mental health treatment in British Columbia to inform mental health public policy by sharing their lived experience expertise in creative ways.
Grief Is Horrible – But It’s Supposed to Be. We Have to Feel a...
From The Guardian: An undead, colourless half-life lies ahead if we cannot find the courage to give ourselves the cacophonous gift of grief.
In the House of Psychiatry, a Jarring Tale of Violence
From The New York Times: At the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting, a patient described a restraint that haunts him, more than eight years later.
How Anecdotes Sell Drugs: On the 30th Anniversary Edition of “Listening to Prozac”
From L.A. Review of Books: Listening to Prozac’s 30th anniversary edition is a tribute of sorts to the power of celebrity and to the persistence of the myth that depression is a brain disorder that can be abolished by ingesting one of Big Pharma’s magic bullets.
Psychiatric Patients Denied Period Products ‘For Safety Reasons’
From BBC: A former patient has conducted a study, backed by the National Survivor User Network, into patients' experiences after a "humiliating" stay in a psychiatric ward.
Americans Are Paying Billions to Take Drugs That Don’t Work
From Bloomberg: Companies are increasingly using fast-track approval processes to get unproven treatments to patients.
Why You Don’t Want a ‘Diagnosis’ of ‘Borderline Personality Disorder’
From Beam Consultancy: There was a time that I thought the diagnosis was useful and people just needed to understand it better; now I’m convinced that it does more harm than good.
FDA Sued for Not Acting on Petition About Antidepressant Harms
From Maryanne Demasi Reports: It has been six years since the FDA was petitioned to update antidepressant labels to warn of the risk of PSSD, but so far the agency has failed to act.
The STAR*D Scandal: More on the Fraud
IPAK science webinars hosts a science webinar with Robert Whitaker on the "STAR*D Scandal: Fraud in the Largest Antidepressant Trial."
On Your Mind podcast, hosted...
Psychiatric Drugs Unmasked
Mad in America founder Robert Whitaker talks to psychiatrist Hannah Spier on her podcast "Psychobabble."
Most NYC Public Hospitals Deny Psych Patients Time Outside, Lawyers Say
From Gothamist: The lawyers from Mental Hygiene Legal Services and Disability Rights Advocates argue existing laws are sufficient to make the practice of denying New York patients outdoor time illegal.
Doctors Can Be Socialized to Cooperate in “Unthinkable Practices,” Says Bioethicist
From BioEdge: "Academic medicine does not easily tolerate ethical dissent," says bioethicist Carl Elliot. "I doubt the medical profession can be trusted to reform itself."
‘I Felt Kidnapped.’ Another Patient Comes Forward After Investigation Into MI Doc
From WXYZ: "I no longer trust medical professionals to have my well-being at heart," says Sarah Guarino, after she was held against her will by Michigan psychiatrist Nagy Kheir.
We All Want to Cut Out the ‘Bad Parts’ of Ourselves. It Won’t Work,...
From The Guardian: Better mental health is about repairing internal connections, not cutting them.
America’s Drug Safety System is Broken
A webinar presentation byKim Witczak, who serves as the consumer representation on the FDA's psychopharmacologic advisory committee. In her talk, she tells of systemic...
‘The Occasional Human Sacrifice’ Details the Dangers of Whistleblowing and Medical Research Abuse
From Star Tribune: Speaking with fellow whistleblowers, bioethicist Carl Elliott writes about how calling attention to wrongdoing can often mean stepping into trouble you can't imagine.
Why We’re Turning Psychiatric Labels Into Identities
From The New Yorker: So you’re on the spectrum, or you’ve got borderline personality disorder, or you’re a sociopath: once you’re sure that’s who you are, you’ve got a personal stake in a very creaky diagnostic system.
