Childhood Anxiety Disorders Are Treatable With Therapies
From MinnPost: According to psychologist Hal Pickett, childhood anxiety is best reduced through self-care and common-sense therapies such as getting enough sleep, maintaining a balanced...
Dickensâ Christmas Carol: A Psychiatric Primer of Character and Redemption
Scroogeâs character was forged from his own emotional pain. Indeed, we can change the course of our lives through facing and mourning that pain. Want, deprivation and cruelty create the evils of the world. Mourning and trust, in the context of love, are its antidotes.Â
Out-of-home Placements for Children Increase Odds of Psychiatric Issues
When controlling for social and family characteristics, separating children from parents into out-of-home care increases psychiatric issues, prescriptions, and criminal activity.
Johann Hari Continues to Speak Out
Johann Hari, British journalist and author of the new book Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depressionâand the Unexpected Solutions, continues to speak out...
ADHD Diagnosis Based on âIllogical Rhetoric,â Analysis Claims
In a philosophically rigorous article, Spanish researcher Marino PĂ©rez-Ălvarez examines the logic of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Psychotic Symptoms/Childhood Trauma Common in Primary as Well as Psychiatric Care
Researchers in Finland reviewed questionnaires filled out by 911 primary and psychiatric care patients over 16 years of age. They found that more than...
“Double Standard in Medication Compliance for Those Diagnosed with Mental Illness”
PsychCentral offers a take on noncompliance: "The moment we decide for others why they experience something as they do is the moment at which...
âThe Hidden Harms of Antidepressantsâ
In a new article for Scientific American, Diana Kwon reports on how the true risks for suicide and aggression in children and teens taking...
ââActing Outâ or Suffering from Trauma?â
Eve Troeh and Mallory Falk explore the use of trauma informed curriculum in the New Orleans school system following Hurricane Katrina. âConsider the everyday...
Moving Schools Linked to Psychosis in Early Adolescence
Furthering findings that social adversity and urbanicity increase the risk of psychosis, research in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry finds that moving schools, family adversity,...
Psychosocial Adversities Should be Included in Diagnosis
Proposal to include psychosocial adversities that impact mental health in ICD and DSM diagnoses.
Foster Youths Meet Psychiatry: First â Do No pHarm
When a foster youth encounters a Psychiatrist, chances are high that s/he will get medicated. Traumatized foster youth are often prescribed powerful psychotropics due to exhibiting a wide variety of ânormal reactions to abnormal events,â such as despair, agitation, anxiety and self-harm. The practice has been well documented; foster children are prescribed psychotropics at a 2.7 to 4.5 times higher rate than non-foster youth. The National Center for Youth Law aptly summarizes the problem as; too many (25% of foster youth medicated), too soon (300 children under the age of 5 in California are given psychotropics annually) too much (adult dosages) and for too long (no planning or reviews for possible discontinuation).
âCalifornia Courts Step Up Oversight of Psychotropic Medication Use in Foster Careâ
The Mercury News reports that Californiaâs judicial council is taking major steps to address the rampant use of psychiatric drugs in foster care. The...
Multisystemic Therapy No More Effective than Standard Care for Antisocial Behavior
Study counters previous evidence supporting multisystemic therapy, finding adolescents are just as likely to have out-of-home placements when receiving multisystemic therapy versus management as usual.
Family Oriented, Home-Based Treatment Best for Youth with Symptoms of Psychosis
A pathbreaking new study out of Finland suggests that early intervention programs for youth experiencing psychotic-like symptoms may see the greatest improvement when treatment works within the home rather than in a hospital setting. The research, to be published in next monthâs issue of Psychiatry Research, found greater improvement in functioning, depression, and hopelessness among teens in a new need-adapted Family and Community oriented Integrative Treatment Model (FCTM) program.
Individuals with Psychosis Symptoms More Likely to be Victimized
Individuals diagnosed with a psychotic disorder are 4-6 times more likely than the general population to experience victimization.
How Love, Support, and Exercise Build Resilience After Trauma
In this piece for ABC News, Farz Edraki and Lucy Fahey present five stories of people who have recovered from traumatic events through various means,...
Researchers Question the Utility of an ADHD Diagnosis
A new article examines the usefulness of the ADHD diagnosis and suggests alternatives
âBullied Children Need Support Not Antidepressantsâ
Nick Harrop, a campaign manager at YoungMinds, supporting young peopleâs mental health and wellbeing, said antidepressants for children should never be the only course of action....
More Physical Activity-Based Mental Health Interventions Needed in Schools
What physical activity-based programs are being implemented in schools, how are they being researched, and what kind of impact have they made?
How Trauma Lodges in the Body
In this episode of On Being, psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk discusses the role that bodywork including yoga and eye movement therapy can have...
Researchers Argue that âADHDâ Doesnât Meet DSM Definition of a Disorder
New research questions whether the diagnosis of ADHD even meets the criteria for a disorder, as set out in the manuals used by the medical and psychiatric fields.
Good Relationships are all in the Family
From Scientific American: A decades-long study recently found that men raised in warmer, more nurturing family environments have stronger relationships in adulthood.
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When International Psychiatric Aid Gets it Wrong: Street Children in Cairo
Study questions how international psychiatric treatment of street children in Cairo could be reinforcing their marginality and vulnerability.
Screen Time Linked to Increased Depressive Symptoms Among Teens
New study examines how increased screen time and social media may be contributing to depressive symptoms and suicide risk in teens