More States Requiring Mental Health Education by Law
From TODAY: "Often, it's like the elephant in a room. It's something that they feel like, 'Oh, it's only me,'" said one teacher. "Letting them know that they're not alone...is so important."
Reanalyses of Depression, Chronic Pain Drug Trials Aim to Unearth New Data
From Science: An initiative called Restoring Invisible and Abandoned Trials or RIAT recently awarded two grants to researchers reanalyzing the STAR*D and gabapentin clinical trials.
Much Madness: A Survivor’s Guide to Extreme States for Young Adults
From Hive Mutual Support Network: A new collection of personal stories shares what eight people who experienced psychosis or extreme states in their youth found helpful in their journies.
It’s Time for Psychology to Lead, Not Follow
From Psychology Today: Mind depends on brain and cannot exist apart from it. But knowledge of brain is not knowledge of mental life. They are different levels of analysis requiring different concepts and methods.
Bernie Sanders Wants to Alleviate Senior Loneliness
From Jacobin: Senior isolation is correlated not just to a decline in mental wellbeing but also physical wellbeing: lonely people are 50 percent more likely to die prematurely than those with healthy social connections.
NH Woman Detained in Hospital for Weeks Joins Lawsuit Against State
From NPR: The ACLU of New Hampshire is bringing a federal class-action lawsuit against the state for not providing hearings to involuntary psychiatric patients sooner.
UK’s National Survivor User Network Announces New CEO
From the National Survivor User Network: In January 2020, Akiko Hart will join NSUN as CEO with the goal of amplifying the voices of people with personal experience and fighting for rights-based changes in mental health.
Taking the Cops Out of Mental Health-Related 911 Calls
From Kaiser Health News: Denver and at least seven other cities are considering an Oregon program that diverts nonviolent, often mental health-related 911 calls to a medic and a mental health professional instead of law enforcement.
‘Joker’ Tells the Truth About ‘Mental Illness’ and It’s Long Overdue
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.
Why Parents Should Be Concerned With ‘EQ,’ Not Just IQ
From The Washington Post: We’ve long underestimated and ignored emotional intelligence, especially in kids, instead focusing on academic success and testing them to measure it.
Suicide Attempts Among Black Youth Rising at Alarming Rates, Study Finds
From CBS News: Self-reported suicide attempts for black adolescents rose by 73% between 1991 to 2017, while falling by 7.5% for white adolescents over the same period.
CDC: More American Young People Dying by Suicide, Homicide
From CBS News: Suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds increased 7% annually from 2013 to 2017, while homicide deaths in this age group rose 18% from 2014 to 2017.
A Strange New Culprit Behind Eating Disorders
From The Atlantic: Recent evidence suggests a relationship between upper-respiratory-tract infections and the development of eating disorders in some children.
Not Just Opioids: What Doctors Want You to Know About Benzos
From CNN: "If we don't turn our attention to benzos, if we ignore this pattern that we're beginning to see, we may...find ourselves in the same position that we have with opioids."
As Trump Calls for More ‘Institutions,’ GOP Shifts Focus to Mental Health
From The Washington Post: "I do want people to remember the words 'mental illness.' These people are mentally ill," Trump said after the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton.
Overdose Epidemic Sending More and More Children to Foster Care
From Mother Jones: The total number of foster care entries has slowly dwindled, but entries due to parental drug use jumped from roughly 40,000 in 2000 to nearly 100,000 in 2017.
Canada’s Decision to Make Public More Clinical Trial Data Pressures FDA
From NPR: Canada's move follows a similar policy enacted by the European Union, but the FDA continues to treat this information as confidential to companies and rarely makes it public.
Groundbreaking Program Supports People Without Force in Belgium
From Human Rights Watch: "There are only two rules...We don’t abandon someone, and we don’t force someone. When people call us, they’re a citizen. Not a sick person, not a patient, not a user, not a client.”
‘Clearly a Game’: Opioid Lawsuit Settlements Give Tax Breaks to Drug Firms
From USA TODAY: "When corporations deduct settlements for wrongdoing [from their taxes], the public is doubly harmed," said a report by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.
Jury Says J&J Must Pay $8B in Risperdal Male Breast Growth Case
From ABC News: "Johnson & Johnson and Janssen chose billions over children... [This] is a company which has lost its way," attorneys for the plaintiff said.
You’re Trapped. They’re Cashing In: North Tampa Behavioral Health
From Tampa Bay Times: A Tampa Bay Times investigation has found that North Tampa Behavioral makes huge profits by exploiting patients held under Florida’s Baker Act.
Beyond Well: Science, Ep.11 – Why Hearing Voices Support Groups Heal
From Open Excellence: Psychologist and researcher Gail Hornstein, PhD, talks about her research into what makes the Hearing Voices peer support group approach so healing.
Free to Check In, But Not to Leave: WA State’s For-Profit Psych Hospitals
From The Seattle Times: For-profit psychiatric hospitals in Washington routinely have held patients by claiming they wouldn’t be safe if released, only to be contradicted by government evaluators who find no grounds for committing them.
International Experts Call for Services for Millions Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs
From the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal: The 40 experts attending last weekend’s meeting of the International Institute for Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal voted to endorse the recent Public Health England recommendations on prescribed medicines.
Hi, I’m David. I’m a Drug Addict
From Los Angeles Times: "Most people aren’t prepared for the changes these drugs can cause to the body," says Adam Bisaga, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center.
