Are Americans a Broken People?
From Alternet: A psychologist asks: Have consumerism, suburbanization and a malevolent corporate-government partnership so beaten us down that we no longer have the will...
Big New Study Challenges a Genetic Link to Stress, Depression
From Psych Central: A new meta-analysis found no evidence for a previously reported connection between the serotonin gene, depression, and stress.
"For years, scientists have been trying...
Mental Imagery, Pain and Healing
-Mental "imagery" plays a role in psychological suffering prompted by vivid memories, and also in healing modalities such as creative visualization.
“500 Drugs Updated With Directions for Child Use Since 2002”
From Salon magazine: "Despite the 500 changes made in pediatric drug-labeling updates since 2002, doctors still must rely only on clinical experience and existing scientific literature...
Art and Images in Psychiatry
Between 2002 and 2014, JAMA Psychiatry published monthly essays by Dr. James C. Harris exploring the role of visual arts in representing emotional distress, trauma, life...
U of Buffalo Studies Show Protective Effects of Maternal Love
From The Buffalow News: Even for children born to parents who used alcohol, cocaine or other drugs, a supportive, respectful primary caregiver lowered their future health and relationship risks.
Science is Broken
In this piece for Aeon, Siddhartha Roy and Marc A. Edwards explore how increasingly perverse incentives and the academic business model are affecting scientific practices and...
Scientists Start to Tease Out the Ways Racism Hurts Health
From NPR: Scientists are beginning to understand the subtle ways that experiences of racism and discrimination affect people's health on both a physiological and psychological...
Transgender No Longer a ‘Mental Disorder,’ According to WHO
From TIME: According to the ICD-11, "gender identity disorders" have been reframed as "gender incongruence" and have been moved to a chapter on sexual health.
How Psychology Undermines Feminist Activism
In this piece for the Feminist Current, Tove Happonen argues that the therapy model pathologizes women's responses to systemic injustice, aiming to change their emotional reactions...
Why Getting out of our Head is Good for us
From Philosophy for Life: Though often pathologized by psychiatry and western science, spiritual experiences and altered states of consciousness can actually be highly therapeutic and valuable.
"Having...
Why Did I Go Mad?
An upcoming episode of BBC's Horizon will follow three people who live with voices, paranoia, and hallucinations and explore various psychological, biological, social, and environmental...
Big Pharma: The Global Effect
In this piece for Vision Magazine, Danit Felber details the U.S. pharmaceutical industry's efforts to stomp out foreign competition.
"What does this mean practically? A nonprofit...
How Learning New Words Could Make You Happier
From TIME: Learning new words to describe different types of happiness, well-being, and joy can increase our ability to connect with and feel those emotions....
If Autism Isn’t a Brain Structure Difference, Then What?
In Discover magazine, Neuroskeptic examines a new, large-scale study of brain anatomies of people with autism, calling it an "earthquake" in autism research and...
More Discussion of Antidepressant Withdrawal Effects
-Forensic psychiatrist Andrew Shepherd reviews a recent study on withdrawal effects from coming off antidepressant drugs.
Capitalism and Mental Health
From Monthly Review: The alleviation of mental distress is only possible "in a society without exploitation and oppression," says professor of social work Iain Ferguson.
What a New University in Africa is Doing to Decolonize Education
From The Conversation: A new university in Africa is taking steps toward decolonizing the social sciences, including assigning students non-English texts, studying non-textual sources, and...
Ancient Singing Tradition Helps People Cope With Trauma in the Modern World
From YES! Magazine: "Lament [singing] is a very old, traditional way to express your feelings...If you are hurt or you have sorrows...you cry it out, you let it come out. That’s what they would do in the old times."
Brain Imaging Study Paused After LGBTQ+ Advocates Complain
From MedPage Today: Ezak Perez of Gender Justice LA said the "research design unapologetically aims to cause mental health distress to trigger 'dysphoria' to an already marginalized and vulnerable community."
“Childhood Adversity and Psychosis: Generalised or Specific Effects?”
Eleanor Longden and John Reed look at the "relationships between childhood adversity and the presence of characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia." They conclude: "The current...
“Running as Therapy”
Jen A. Miller writes in the New York Times "Exercise after heartbreak is not a new idea . . . Exercise makes us feel...
The Foods That Can Help and Harm Your Brain
From The Guardian: Nutrition can have a major impact on the health of our brains, including our risk for dementia and cognitive decline. Here is...
Selling Bad Therapy to Trauma Victims
From Psychology Today: The American Psychological Association has just issued guidelines for treating trauma that are backed by faulty science. The research behind the guidelines...
Girls’s Powerful Insight on Trauma
From The Atlantic: A recent episode of the TV show Girls renders a poignant portrayal of gender-based violence and explores the individual and collective impact of...
