Greenberg on DSM: “There are many… who wonder about the sanity…”

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"There are many practitioners, including psychiatrists, who wonder about the sanity and the soundness of the enterprise in general," Gary Greenberg tells the Australian...

“Does Psychotherapy Research with Trauma Survivors Underestimate the Patient-Therapist Relationship?”

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Joan Cook, professor of Psychology at Yale, writes than in her work with military veterans she realized that her psychotherapy techniques mattered much less than her training had indicated. Instead, what mattered was “the bond forged over years of therapy,” known as “the therapeutic alliance.”

Childhood Social Function & Schizophrenia

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A 48-year longitudinal study of 244 subjects, published in Schizophrenia Research, finds that those with schizophrenia-spectrum diagnoses had had the worst social functioning scores at...

Psychosis is Not Unique to Schizophrenia

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In a sample of 3021 adolescents and young adults with anxiety or depression, Dutch researchers found that 27% also had one or more psychotic symptoms. Read...

“Former U.S. Detainees Sue Psychologists Responsible For CIA Torture Program”

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On Tuesday morning, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of three former detainees against the psychologists who collaborated with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to oversee the torture program. According to the Intercept, psychologists James Mitchell and John “Bruce” Jessen and their employees collected over $85 million dollars for designing and implementing techniques, based off of the work of Martin Seligman, that combatted torture-resistance techniques by creating a state of “learned helplessness.” There is, however, no evidence that these techniques gleaned any useful intelligence.

“As Diagnostic Thresholds Are Lowered, Being Normal Ends Up Being as Difficult as Being...

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"We are in the process of turning the disease into the norm and where the normal becomes the exception. If this continues, we will...

“The Guardian’s Bad Hair Day”

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“No, cortisol in hair can’t ‘reveal future mental health risk’ in children.” HealthNewsReview gives a low rating to a recent story in the Guardian that reported that cortisol levels in children’s hair might be a useful mental health screening tool.

HIV Can Infect Brain, Cause Serious Psychological Problems

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-The National Institute of Mental Health reports that HIV can infect brains very quickly and lead to a variety of psychiatric symptoms.

New Resource Guide on Health and Mental Health Threats from Endocrine Disruptor Pollutants

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The Endocrine Society and the global organization of non-profits IPEN have jointly released a new guide documenting the threats that endocrine-disrupting chemicals pose to...

Anxiety Accounts for Bipolar False Positives

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Researchers found that of 1,534 patients assessed at Australia's Black Dog Institute Depression clinic, a significant number received a false positive diagnosis of bipolar...

The Lancet Weighs in on DSM-V “Grief-as-Illness.”

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In a lead editorial, The Lancet took the position that the proposed revision to the DSM that would modify the exclusion for bereavement "is not...

“The ‘Still Face’ Video Still Packs an Emotional Wallop”

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ACES Too High, the blog about Adverse Childhood Experiences, recalls the excruciating experiment and films concerning the impact of childhood neglect.  A one-year-old baby...

“Addressing Trauma as a Health Risk”

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Edward Machtinger, MD, director of UCSF's Women's HIV Program, nearly 84 percent of patients with HIV/AIDS died from trauma, such as physical abuse, neglect, substance...

Trauma, First-Episode Schizophrenia, and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

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A team of Egyptian researchers found, in a sample of 74 outpatients, a relationship between trauma and first-episode schizophrenia, with a "mediating" role of...

Imagining A Different Future in Mental Health

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Robert Whitaker speaks about how the data shows we could have far better outcomes for people diagnosed with mental illness by going to a selective...

Psychotic Symptoms/Childhood Trauma Common in Primary as Well as Psychiatric Care

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Researchers in Finland reviewed questionnaires filled out by 911 primary and psychiatric care patients over 16 years of age. They found that more than...

Exposure to Violence Alters Children’s DNA, Life-Long Health

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In a sample of 236 children recruited from the Environmental-Risk Longitudinal Twin Study, researchers from Duke University and King's College London found that children...

“Sometimes It’s OK To Feel The Feels, Sweetheart”

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“Tell her how you really feel: Dr. Julie Holland is asking women to embrace their inner ‘moody bitches."’   Dana Farrington at NPR discusses Holland’s...

“A Checklist to Stop Misuse of Psychiatric Medication in Kids”

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Former DSM-IV task force chair Allen Frances takes aim at the “massive overuse of psychotropic medication in children” in an article for the Psychiatric Times. He shares a checklist of questions for doctors to consider before prescribing medication to children. Frances warns: “We simply don’t know what will be the long-term impact of bathing a child’s immature brain with powerful chemicals.”

Trauma-Informed Treatment May Lead to Better Outcomes for Psychosis

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Researchers at the New York State Psychiatric Institute wondered why a "surprisingly high percentage of study applicants" for studies in PTSD presented with psychotic...

“Protect California Foster Youth from Dangerous Psychiatric Drugs”

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The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports on legislation being passed in California to go after physicians who overprescribe psychiatric drugs to foster youth. The proposed legislation also targets government agencies that fail to offer nondrug alternative therapies to help foster youth recover from traumatic childhoods.

“Forensic Psychiatric Patients and Staff View the Effects of ‘Mental Illness’ Differently”

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“Offenders sentenced to forensic psychiatric care do not consider their mental illness to be the main reason for their crime. Instead, they point to abuse, poverty or anger toward a particular person.”

Farming with Pesticides Linked to Increased Suicidal Depression

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Exposure to pesticides is linked to significant increases in suicidal depression in farmers, according to a study by US National Institute of Health researchers...

“Double Standard in Medication Compliance for Those Diagnosed with Mental Illness”

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PsychCentral offers a take on noncompliance: "The moment we decide for others why they experience something as they do is the moment at which...

“Mental Illness and Gun Violence: Stigmatizing People Isn’t the Answer”

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In an opinion piece for care2, Katie Medlock discusses how “mental illness” awareness campaigns have shifted, dangerously, “and ended up insinuating that people with mental illness could turn on ‘us’ at any time and should be feared.”