Around The Web

Updates on critical psychiatry postings across the Internet.

We Still Buy the Lie That Chemical Imbalances Cause Depression

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From Quartz: Despite its inaccuracy, the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness continues to persist in public consciousness. The prevalence of this myth may be...

Why The C in C-PTSD Will Haunt You

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From Gemini Adams: Unlike PTSD, the symptoms of CPTSD are often entrenched in an individual's personality, having taken root during formative years, when attachment styles and brain development are fragile and still maturing.

Stockholm Syndrome Is the Norm for Children in Families | Daniel Mackler

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From Daniel Mackler/Wild Truth: People who have been traumatized, especially children, often end up not hating the people who traumatized them but rather identifying with and defending them.

Expert Urges Doctors to Stop Prescribing Seroquel for Insomnia

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From National Post: Many physicians are prescribing a low dose of Seroquel, an atypical antipsychotic, to patients with insomnia. Experts warn that even a low...

The Dangers of Being Too Nice | Gabor Maté, MD

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From Way of Thinking: The irresolvable tension between authenticity and attachment that many children in our society are faced with results in their self-suppression. And one possible outcome is the development of niceness as a coping mechanism.

“The Only Cure for OCD Is Expensive, Elusive, and Scary”

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The Atlantic features a story about the availability of effective treatments for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).  “Many OCD sufferers and their families say finding the...

Parental Rescue Fantasy: Exploration of the Psychological Concept

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From Daniel Mackler: People who were failed in important ways as children often grow up with the hope of finding someone who will finally meet all their unmet childhood needs.

Christy Huff, Medical Director of Benzodiazepine Information Coalition, Dies

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From Benzodiazepine Information Coalition: Dr. Huff was a cardiologist who experienced a benzodiazepine injury firsthand, leading her to become a fierce advocate for better education and safe tapering of these drugs.

Bad Benzos: Cass Narburgh’s Parting Message to the World

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From Bad Benzos: "Please educate yourselves, the medical community, and the general public about the devastating effects of benzodiazepines."

Psychiatrists Still Promoting Low-Serotonin Theory of Depression

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-A psychiatrist asserts that psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies never promoted the idea that serotonin deficiencies could cause depression, and suggests that no one at Mad in America has evidence that they did.

‘Joker’ Tells the Truth About ‘Mental Illness’ and It’s Long Overdue

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From The Toronto Star: Here is a movie that says, loudly and clearly: screw the just-go-get-help discourse that’s been dominating our discussions about mental illness. Because things are not all right. The system is really broken.

A Mindbody Approach to Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal

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From gustav f./unlearnwithdrawal.substack.com: What we call ‘protracted withdrawal’ is not technically withdrawal; it’s more like withdrawal memories that the brain has learned to play back over and over again.

ADHD Drugs Are Convenient to Get Online. Maybe Too Convenient

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From Bloomberg Businessweek: Backed by SoftBank and promoted by Simone Biles, Cerebral has built the fastest-growing online mental health business. Former employees say the rapid expansion comes at the expense of patient care.

The Delusions of Western Medicine

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From Terry Baranski/Healing the Self: Western Medicine is firmly entrenched in three fundamental ideologies when it comes to chronic mental and physical pathology: A disease-based perspective, symptom-focused treatment, and mind/body separation.

When Psychotherapists Are Less Healthy Than Their Clients

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From Daniel Mackler: It is common for therapy clients to be healthier than their therapists, for two reasons: clients are often humble whereas therapists often are not; and clients are often actively grappling with their feelings whereas many therapists are stuck in dissociation from theirs.

Musician Feared Antidepressant Was ‘Poisoning’ Him, Inquest Told

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From Belfast Telegraph: "He said: 'This drug is poisoning me. It's giving me problems I never had before.' He's handing them the diagnosis on a plate, and the system is not listening," said Professor David Healey.

‘Psychology Is’ Podcast: The Scientific Emptiness of Psychiatry, With Dr. David Cohen

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From Psychology Is: The field is comprised of psychiatrists who primarily act as drug prescribers and justify their practices on the basis of "silly theories that are continually refuted," said the UCLA professor.

Infancy and Early Childhood Matter So Much Because of Attachment

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From The Conversation: What we learn throughout infancy and childhood are a set of behaviours and ways of thinking and feeling about ourselves and others, or what psychologists call a working model of the world.

Rap Embraces Schizophrenia and Owns It

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Vanderbilt University psychiatrist Jonathan Metzl, author of The Protest Psychosis, has published a brief history of "schizophrenia" in relation to African American culture in...

We’ve Got Depression All Wrong. It’s Trying to Save Us.

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From Psychology Today: When a threat is so bad or goes on for so long, and there is no way to fight or flee, the nervous system decides there is only one option left: immobilization.

For-Profit Psych Hospital Corp. US HealthVest Brings Peril to 3 States

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From The Seattle Times: No private mental-health care operator in Washington state in recent years has pushed to expand as rapidly or racked up as many serious violations as quickly.

“New Course on ‘Making Sense’ of Trauma, Creating a Coherent Narrative”

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PsychAlive is releasing a new blog and e-course on “Making Sense of Your Life,” with psychologists Lisa Firestone and Dan Siegel. They draw upon the...

ADHD and the Pitfalls of Reification: An Interview With Sanne Te Meerman

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From Terapeutiska Tankar: Reification happens when constructs that describe but do not explain behaviors, such as ADHD, are mistaken for causes of behavior. 

Do We Live in a Brave New World? Aldous Huxley’s Warning to the World

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From Academy of Ideas: "In 1931, when Brave New World was being written, I was convinced that there was still plenty of time," wrote Huxley. "Twenty-seven years later…I feel a good deal less optimistic…The nightmare of total organization…is now awaiting us, just around the next corner."

Could the Blackfoot Wisdom That Inspired Maslow Guide Us Now?

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From GatherFor/Medium: At the Blackfoot Reserve, "Maslow saw a place where what he would later call self-actualization was the norm," said researcher Ryan Heavy Head. This observation "totally changed his trajectory."