“Post-Katrina Stress Disorder: Climate Change and Mental Health”

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Writing for Truth-Out, hurricane Katrina survivor G. Maris Jones writes: “To adapt to a changing climate, survivors of these catastrophes - especially those in marginalized, low-income communities - need long-term physical and mental health services.” She adds a concurrent call to “assume our responsibility to make positive change through action on climate change.”

“The Isolating Effects of Anxiety”

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-Daniel Yudkin discusses studies examining some of the ways in which anxiety can change how people think, and inhibit social connections and understanding.

Negative Studies about Antidepressants (Still) Less Likely to Be Published

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-Pharmaceutical companies and psychiatric researchers still "aren't telling you the whole truth" about treating anxiety.

Relaxation Techniques for Depression and Anxiety in the Elderly

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-Time magazine looks at the effects of a number of relaxation techniques on depression and anxiety in elderly people.

A Lot of “Spin” in Studies of Using Antidepressants for Treating Anxiety

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There are a lot of publication and reporting biases in studies of the efficacy of second-generation antidepressants for the treatment of anxiety.

Have We Found The “Overhype Gene”?

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-John Horgan criticizes psychiatrist Richard Friedman's effusive portrayal of a study that allegedly identified the "feel-good" gene in humans.

How Come the Word “Antipsychiatry” is so Challenging?

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So here we go again; another meeting with another young person who describes how he is in an acute crisis - you may call it - and is diagnosed and prescribed neuroleptics. He is told by the doctor that he suffers from a life-long illness and he will from now on be dependent on his “medication.” As long as people are met this way I see no alternative than showing that there are alternatives. If that means being "antipsychiatry," then I am more than happy to define myself and our work in that way.

“Is being a worrier a sign of intelligence?”

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The British Psychological Society's Research Digest examines a recent study that found that certain higher ratings of intelligence in people seemed to be correlated with higher ratings of anxiety and rumination as well.

“Do I Have to Feel so Badly About Myself?” – The Legacies of Guilt,...

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Guilt, shame and anxiety appear in every known culture. Neither children nor adults seem to escape feeling some of these potentially disabling emotions and probably almost everyone has experienced all three. In my forensic experience, even the most hardened criminals who feel no guilt or shame about committing murder are nonetheless likely to feel guilty about something else, such as thinking or talking negatively about their father or mother. They surely feel shame, and overwhelming shame may have ended up fueling, rather than inhibiting, their murderous reactions. Meanwhile, it is highly unlikely that anyone, criminal or not, has avoided feeling anxiety.

“Unexpected Advantages of Anxiety”

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PsyBlog discusses various studies that show "unexpected advantages" to having somewhat higher levels of anxiety. Many people feel that those who are more easily...

Emotional Abuse Is Far Worse Than You Think

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Though attention tends to be drawn to physical forms of violence, it may actually be the more invisible forms of violence - abuse and...

Psychosis and Dissociation, Part 2: On Diagnosis, and Beyond

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Recently I wrote an article on MIA entitled Trauma, Psychosis, and Dissociation. Several people responded privately with some very thought-provoking questions that I would like to explore and possibly answer to some extent here. Dedicated readers of the MIA website are all too familiar with the myriad problems that exist with diagnoses in general, the stereotypical (and often untrue) assumptions associated with these various categories, and their lack of scientific validity or reliability. First, though, I want to state that my area of experience and research is with trauma, psychosis, and dissociation . . .

Mindfulness “Potent” in Preventing Relapses in Chronic Depression

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Two psychologists writing for Scientific American Mind review some of the evidence base for the impacts of mindfulness meditation on problematic psychological states. They...

Hope for Everyone

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I am a very optimistic psychologist, but with reason. For 25 years I've been working with people who have had psychological problems in every conceivable area. Many psychologists have problems with burnout, especially early in their careers. For me, this has been very different. By using the treatment techniques that I do, I feel anti-burned out. It is so gratifying to see people get out of their serious problems, that I look forward to every day of clinical work.

Unpublished Trials Reveal Antidepressant Provides Little Benefit For Depression or Anxiety

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Upon reviewing all of GlaxoSmithKline's data from both published and unpublished trials of the antidepressant paroxetine, researchers found the drug provided almost no benefits...

Positive Explanations for Psychological Problems

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I am a clinical psychologist working in an anxiety and OCD Clinic at the University of Oslo, Norway. In this clinic we do almost all the treatment without starting drugs, and for many patients we help them taper the drugs. One of the reasons for this is that taking drugs for psychological problems often may be seen as avoidance behavior, and this is exactly what maintains the anxiety, or in many cases makes it worse.

Fear is Life Force … (in Clinical Circles it’s Often Called Anxiety) – An...

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It’s not just in spiritual circles but also in psychiatric and mental health circles that fear and anxiety are too often medicated away instead of worked with. It’s not easy to work with it and a lot of professionals don’t know how to hold such space for such courageous facing of the dark parts of psyche and so many people don’t learn that it’s actually possible. For those of us who’ve come off psych drugs and faced severe psychiatric drug withdrawal syndrome it becomes a necessary and often heinously difficult initiation . . . Learning to embrace my experience and surrender to it was the way through for me.

Deconstructing Psychiatric Diagnoses: An Attempt At Humor

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Based on my experience both as a therapist and client in the mental health field, I have learned that when therapists or psychiatrists give you the following diagnoses all too often here is what they really mean:

Psychiatry: We Need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Mental Health

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My name is Leah Harris and I'm a survivor. I am a survivor of psychiatric abuse and trauma. My parents died largely as a result of terrible psychiatric practice. Psychiatric practice that took them when they were young adults and struggling with experiences they didn’t understand. Experiences that were labeled as schizophrenia. Bipolar disorder. My parents were turned from people into permanent patients. They suffered the indignities of forced treatment. Seclusion and restraint. Forced electroshock. Involuntary outpatient commitment. And a shocking amount of disabling heavy-duty psychiatric drugs. And they died young, from a combination of the toxic effects of overmedication, and broken spirits.

“5 Reasons It’s So Hard to Combat Anxiety and Depression and What You Can...

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Alternet tells us that "Negative emotions can be a challenge, but there are effective ways to cope." 5 Reasons It's So Hard to Combat Anxiety...

The Role of Emotion and Internal Experience in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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Research from Newcastle University in the U.K. finds that "Increasing attention has focused on the role of emotion and internal experience in obsessive compulsive...

Kelly McGonigal: How to Make Stress Your Friend

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This TED Talk sheds new light on stress. "... While stress has been made into a public health enemy, new research suggests that stress...

Fluoxetine in Adolescence Raises Sensitivity to Stress in Adults

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Research on neurochemicals associated with moods in mice and rats finds that, while less depression-like behavior was observed in those receiving fluoxetine (Prozac) administration...

Childhood Stress Subtypes Predict Adult Psychiatric Subtypes

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A review of the literature from 2001 to 2011 on child abuse, neglect, and psychiatric disorders finds that early life stress subtypes can predict...

Living in One of R. D. Laing’s Post-Kingsley Hall Households

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Kingsley Hall was the first of Laing’s household communities that served as a place where you could live through madness until you could get it together and live independently. It was conceived as an “asylum” from forms of treatment — psychiatric or otherwise — that many were convinced were not helpful, and even contributed to their difficulties. By the time I arrived in London in 1973 to study with Laing there were four or five such places. Getting in wasn’t easy.