Workplace Wellness Programs Have Little Benefit, Study Finds
From The New York Times: An Oxford researcher measured the effect of popular workplace mental health interventions, and discovered little to none.
Scientific Misconduct and Fraud: The Final Nail in Psychiatry’s Antidepressant Coffin
From CounterPunch: A recent reanalysis of previously undisclosed data reveals that STAR*D may go down in US medical history as one of its most harmful scandals.
What It Was Like to Be a Black Patient in a Jim Crow Asylum
From Mother Jones: "You see a society that was comfortable discarding people," says author Antonia Hylton. "I think a lot of families are still allowing loved ones who are suffering to slowly disappear."
The Longest Journey – or, What Can We Expect from Psychotherapy? | Alice Miller
From Alice Miller: Child Abuse and Mistreatment: The longest journey of my life was the journey to my own self. Successful therapy should shorten this long journey.
Attitudes Towards and Patterns of Medication Use Among Persons With ‘SMI’
From Mifrasim Institute for Psychotherapy Research and Teaching: A recent conference in Israel explored how attitudes and patterns of medication use are related to different aspects of the identity and domains of recovery.
Financial Conflicts of Interest Persist in DSM-5-TR Panel Members
From the BMJ: Lisa Cosgrove and colleagues report that 60% of the panel and task-force members of the DSM-5-TR received payments from industry. Collectively,...
Why We Need More Soteria Houses
From Compassionate Mental Health: "Strong feelings are often at the bottom of psychosis – we need to be able to power down the emotions with interpersonal and physical environments where emotional relaxation is possible," says psychiatrist Luc Ciompi.
Improving Outcomes for Psychosis: Psychiatric Survivor and Critical Psychiatry Perspectives
"If I and the people around me could have been helped to see that there was some significance in what I was proclaiming, that I could actually do something meaningful in the world, something with impact, something with power to affect change -- was that so crazy? Or did it come true?" ~ Dina Tyler
The Influence of Paid Opinion Leaders on Antidepressant Prescribing in the UK
From Hole Ousia: Paid opinion leaders who generally control the narrative in relation to psychiatric drug prescribing continue to be very much a thing of the present.
Deep Flaws in FDA Oversight of Medical Devices, and Patient Harm, Exposed in Lawsuits
From KFF Health News: A yearlong investigation by KFF Health News revealed that a series of FDA-cleared products have been suspected of contributing to thousands of injuries and patient deaths.
The Power of Distress in an Unhealthy World
From Psychology Today/Joanna Cheek MD: Diagnoses take on a life of their own, when we try to treat "the depression" instead of addressing the problem it’s signaling.
An Inability to Visualize the Future (Let Alone a Positive One) Is a Hallmark...
From Psychology Today/Annie Wright, LMFT: It sounds unbelievable to someone with a trauma history that there are people who can think forward decades into the future, visualize a happy outcome for themselves and then work backward, taking steps that secure that future.
As Foundation for ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis Cracks, Fallout Spreads
From KFF Health News: The campaign against excited delirium seeks to transform the way police deal with people undergoing mental health crises. “This is really about saving lives,” said attorney Joanna Naples-Mitchell.
FDA Warning and Matthew Perry’s Death Darken Ketamine’s Glow
From The Washington Post: Federal health authorities are intensifying their scrutiny of the drug ketamine for "treating mental health disorders," as the mind-altering compound grows in popularity despite the lack of regulatory approval for such use.
The Infant as Reflection of Soul: The Time Before There Was Self
From World Association for Infant Mental Health: By the time most of us reach adulthood, we have not only lost the capacity to regularly access states that we achieved routinely as infants, but we have also lost awareness of that loss.
Can the Rate of Antidepressant Prescribing Be Reversed?
From Psychology Today: “Population dependence on mood pills looks like a fantastic marketing strategy, but it must be over-the-top and we must be missing something," said psychiatrist and professor Eugene Breen in Dublin.
Idaho Keeps Some Psych Patients in Prison, Ignoring Decades of Warnings About the Practice
From ProPublica: A temporary program for “dangerously mentally ill” patients has continued for five decades, despite calls from critics to provide better care. Soon, Idaho will be the only state still using prisons to house patients who face no criminal charges.
Irish Orgs. Pledge to Adopt ‘Human Rights-Based Approach’ to Mental Health Care
From The Irish Times: A new training approach to mental health care was launched by the Irish Mental Health Commission, coinciding with a report finding the use of restraints and seclusion has been decreasing in the country.
Trauma? Not Me
From CPTSD Foundation: When I talk to people in the workplace about trauma, all the air gets sucked out of the room and they try to change the subject as quickly as possible. I am curious about what is driving this response.
Mental Health App That Cost Australian Taxpayers $33m Did Not Result in ‘Clinical Outcomes’
From The Guardian: Dr Piers Gooding, a senior research fellow with Melbourne Law School, said: “Digital approaches are often presented as an unquestioned good, particularly in the mental health field...There is hype around digital technology like AI – and industry pressure – that can shut down critical reflection."
We’ve Got the Mental Health Crisis All Wrong
From OK Doomer: Almost everything in our culture attempts to convince us that mental health is a personal responsibility, a performance we owe to society, not the result of a society where we take care of each other.
A School Promised Not to Send Kids to the ER for Misbehavior – But...
From AP News: Schools across the country are sending children to the ER for psych evaluations in response to behaviors prompted by bullying or frustration over assignments.
Antidepressants and the Tangle of Treatment-Related Suicidality
From Psychiatry at the Margins: What can be said with quite some certainty, says clinical psychologist Martin Plöderl, is that antidepressants overall do not decrease suicidal behavior.
Experts Call for Reversing Rate of Antidepressant Prescribing in UK
From The Guardian: An open letter to the government from experts and politicians says rising antidepressant usage "is a clear example of over-medicalisation."
Psych Patient Held Against Will Discharged After FOX31 News Inquiry
From FOX31 Denver KDVR: “I suspect they’re extending his stay here so they can keep on using his insurance until it expires at the end of the month,” said the man's cousin, who contacted Fox 31.
