Bait and Switch: the Great Ketamine ‘Breakthrough’
From RxISK: Spravato may do little for depressed people, but as a guarantor of future profits, it may be just the "game changer" drug companies have been yearning for.
Why ‘Happy’ Doctors Die by Suicide
From Pamela Wible MD: Physician suicide is a global public health crisis. In the U.S., more than one million Americans lose their doctors each year to suicide.
Freedom of Speech Award Given to Norwegian Psych Survivor Merete Nesset
From University of South-Eastern Norway: "This so-called treatment is so cruel and inhuman that I need[ed] to make use of it for something, someday... all this suffering must not be in vain."
As Students Struggle With Stress and Depression, Colleges Act as Counselors
From The New York Times: More than 60 percent of college students experienced "overwhelming anxiety" in the past year; over 40 percent felt so depressed they had difficulty functioning.
Psychedelics and Psychosis: The Limitations and Risks of Chaos Consciousness
From Psychedelic Support: When a person's brain is in the middle of a blizzard, they don’t need their metaphorical snow globe shaken.
The Lonely Hell of Quitting Antidepressants
From MEL: Many are pushed to internet forums and medical journals to figure out, for themselves, how a successful withdrawal from antidepressants is supposed to work.
Criminal Case Spurs a Rethink of Euthanasia for ‘Mental Illness’
From Medscape: The criminal allegations are related to the 2010 death in Belgium of a 38-year-old woman with Asperger syndrome, a mild form of autism.
Child Baker Acts On the Rise in FL: Are We Listening?
From the Hernando Sun: Convincing an impressionable 1st grader that she isn’t a bad person while her wrists are clamped together by cold, locked bracelets of metal is difficult. She will always remember this day.
ECT Could Cause Permanent Brain Damage, ‘Should Be Stopped’, Leading Expert Warns
From the Daily Mail: U.K. Health watchdog NICE has announced a review of treatments for depression, which may include an update on guidelines for use of ECT.
‘I Own You’: Prominent Psychiatrist Accused of Sexually Exploiting Patients
From The Boston Globe: The women say they relocated from other states, at Ablow’s request, to be closer to his Newburyport office where he treated them with infusions of Ketamine.
Esketamine Nears FDA Approval, Prompting Both Excitement and Concern
From Lown Institute: Some researchers are concerned that the panel recommendation to approve esketamine represents a further lowering of the bar for clinical evidence.
ERs ‘Flooded’ With ‘Mentally Ill’ Patients With No Place Else to Turn
From CNN: "They strip away your dignity, your clothes, everything, and the doctor comes in and treats you like dirt because you're taking up a bed."
Look to the Medicine Wheel for Mental Health, First Nations Elders Advise
From Medical Xpress: "Traditional teachings have to come back [for us] to know who we are and how to balance ourselves...the mind, the body and the soul [have to] reconnect."
Attachment Theory: How Your Childhood Affects Your Relationships
From Sprouts Schools: Attachment theory argues that a strong emotional and physical bond to one primary caregiver in our first years of life is critical to our development.
Veterans Are Committing Suicide in VA Parking Lots: Report
From Military Times: Some are worried this is a gruesome form of protest by veterans to highlight how little help they were given in their time of need by the VA system.
Harvard Study Shows the Dangers of Early School Enrollment
From Intellectual Takeout: When children have educational experiences that aren't geared to their developmental level, it causes them feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and confusion.
Facebook Is Predicting If You’ll Kill Yourself. That’s Wrong
From The Guardian: Facebook is taking on the role of a healthcare provider; the suicide predictions are its diagnoses and the wellness checks are its treatments.
15 Signs You Had An Emotionally Abusive Parent But Didn’t Know It
From Bustle: Once someone is able to understand what they experienced, they can become aware of how it impacts them as an adult and can work to make changes.
Talk Radio Therapy: Buenos Aires Psychiatric Hospital Radio Program Brings Healing
From VICE: "We don’t correct or force whoever got lost in the universe of words to return to the fold...We provide the water to a dry riverbed so that it can return to being a river."
OxyContin Maker Explored Expansion Into ‘Attractive’ Anti-Addiction Market
From ProPublica: In internal correspondence, Purdue Pharma executives discussed how the sale of opioids and the treatment of opioid addiction are "naturally linked."
Benzos Increasingly Prescribed for Dubious Indications, Study Shows
From Lown Institute: The largest increases in benzo prescriptions from 2003 to 2015 were for conditions for which opioids used to be prescribed, like back pain and chronic pain.
Medical Marketing Has Skyrocketed, While Oversight Remains Limited
From Medical Xpress: Direct-to-consumer advertising increased most rapidly, from $2.1 billion (11.9% of total spending) in 1997 to $9.6 billion (32% of total spending) in 2016.
Our Cities Are Designed for Loneliness
From VICE: The confluence of our built environments and human connection is where many urban planners are now looking to solve what has become a pervasive problem.
Separate, Unequal and Overlooked: Inside Black America’s Opioid Crisis
From U.S. News & World Report: The black opioid crisis is criminalized and largely ignored, even as statistics show black opioid users dying at a skyrocketing pace.
I’ve Been Committed To A Psych Ward Three Times — And It Never Helped
From BuzzFeed News: “I don’t know how anyone gets better in [that place]...There was no care. I just sat there with the nurses and begged them to let me go.”
