Opinion: The New Ketamine-Based Antidepressant Is a Rip-Off
From VICE: Johnson & Johnson patented a form of the psychedelic with less research and a ridiculous price tag.
Integrating Academic Inquiry and Reformist Activism in Psychiatry
From Psychiatric Times: Dr. Awais Aftab of Conversations in Critical Psychiatry interviews husband-and-wife psychiatrists Dr. Sandra Steingard and Dr. Scott Waterman.
‘Evidence-Based Medicine’ and the Expulsion of Peter Gøtzsche
From Undark: Gøtzsche’s expulsion has crystalized debates about the pharmaceutical industry’s influence on medicine, the research community’s tolerance of dissent, and the proper role of data in the practice of medicine.
Why ‘Deaths of Despair’ Are Rising in the U.S.
From Harvard Chan School of Public Health: Faculty and students from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health delve into the question of whether the deaths represent a political, economic, or spiritual crisis.
The War for the Future of Psychotherapy
From Forbes: Will manuals, algorithms, and automatons prevail? Or will we be able to preserve the centrality of unique and responsive human relationships?
Psychiatrist Engaged in Research Misconduct, Says Gov’t Watchdog
From Medscape: A former NYU psychiatry researcher faked clinical data for research with federally funded grants worth millions of dollars, according to the US Office of Research Integrity.
Having Poor Quality Relationships Is Associated With Greater Distress Than Having Too Few
From The British Psychological Society/Research Digest: "From a societal perspective... efforts should be made to enhance the quality of social connections as opposed to promoting the virtues of larger social networks."
Florida’s Flawed Baker Act Rips Thousands of Kids From School
From Tampa Bay Times: A cop car comes. A child is handcuffed and taken to a mental health facility. The scene is all too frequent at public schools across the state.
‘Warmlines’ Helping to Fill a Gap in Mental Health Care
From the San Francisco Chronicle: Unlike a hotline for those in immediate crisis, warmlines provide early intervention with emotional support that can prevent a crisis — and a more costly 911 call or emergency-room visit.
Waking Up to the Sexual Violence in America’s Psychiatric Units
From KevinMD.com: Starting right now, our health care system should admit that psychiatric patients’ sexual safety warrants the attention that it has long deserved but has never been given.
Screenings Alone Won’t Prevent ACEs—We Must Address Community Trauma
From California Health Report: Traumatized communities experience a breakdown in connection and trust, which gives rise to hopelessness and makes ACEs more likely to occur.
Depression and Suicide Linked to Air Pollution in New Global Study
From The Guardian: Scientists say small increases in risk can still result in harm to many people because more than 90% of the global population lives with air pollution above WHO-recommended levels.
Mental Health Europe Launches Short Guide to Psychiatric Diagnosis
From the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: MHE hopes the Guide will encourage more meaningful discussions with health care professionals and improve the quality of the help and support on offer.
After Fatal School Shootings, Antidepressant Use Surges Among Survivors
From the Los Angeles Times: "School shootings represent a tiny fraction of gun deaths in America, but they are uniquely potentially traumatizing, and may have much larger indirect costs."
Federally Funded Health Researchers Disclose Millions in Conflicts of Interest
From ProPublica: The database of disclosures reported to the NIH, which has not been made public before, details the financial relationships of researchers at universities, hospitals and nonprofit organizations.
Trevor Noah: The Black Community’s Mental Health Treatment Crisis
From Comedy Central/The Daily Show with Trevor Noah: The Daily Show's Trevor Noah wonders if we could help solve the mental health treatment crisis among Black Americans by making therapy a little more like church.
A Dreaded Part of Teachers’ Jobs: Restraining and Secluding Students
From NPR: "There's a tension within me of knowing that if I am to restrain a student, then I'm essentially putting forth a situation that's going to create trauma for that student."
Playing in a Brass Band Can Help People Overcome Depression, Anxiety
From The Telegraph: Sheffield University researchers found that brass band players report perceived improvements in physical health, mental well-being and social engagement.
What’s in a Name? Ghostly Spirits Stalk the Medical Literature
From FairWarning: In an age of distortion, propaganda and fake news, medical literature might seem to be a safe space for honest scientific inquiry, with no room for bias or spin. It isn’t so.
Toxic Schools Worsening Toxic Stress: The Destructive Reign of Standardized Education, Pathology, Medication and...
From HERE This NOW: Advances in science in the last thirty years help us realize the fallacy of "mind over matter," yet we still hold an entrenched belief that children and adults possess 100% conscious control over their behavior.
‘When We Look Back in 20 Years’ Time, This Will Be a Turning Point’
From The Psychologist: "It really is a first for a government-level report to look into [antidepressant withdrawal] in-depth and come out with strong recommendations acknowledging the extent of the problem," said Professor John Read.
US Soldiers Are Carrying the Hidden Trauma of Our Endless Wars
From The Nation: Though it remains controversial in the military world, the concept of "moral injury" has come to be fairly widely regarded as the signature wound of today’s wars.
‘Cannot Be Trusted…Causing Harm’: Top Medical Journal Takes on Big Pharma
From The Age: The BMJ says doctors are being unduly influenced by industry-sponsored education events and industry-funded trials for major drugs.
Half of Millennials, 75% of Gen Zers Have Left a Job for Mental Health...
From CNBC: The statistic highlights several issues plaguing millennials, like a rise in depression and 'deaths of despair' (death from drugs, alcohol and suicide), unaffordable living costs and burnout.
Does ‘Mental Illness’ Exist? The Problem With Psychiatric Diagnosis
From IAI, the Institute of Art and Ideas: We have better ways forward than the current, largely unchallenged understandings of emotional distress which do not reflect reality – either in terms of the evidence, or in terms of people’s lives.
