PhD Students at Higher Risk of Developing a Psychiatric Disorder
From Business Insider: According to a new study, PhD students are almost twice as likely to develop symptoms of poor mental health as the highly educated...
Study Finds Greening Urban Land Improves Mental Health
Remediating dilapidated physical environments in urban settings can contribute to better mental health.
Fact Checking the New Yorker, Part Two
In his March 1 article in the New Yorker, Louis Menand wrote that the NIMH's STAR*D trial showed that antidepressants produced a 67% recovery...
Antidepressants Not Superior to Psychotherapy for Severe Depression
On Wednesday, JAMA Psychiatry released a meta-analysis comparing the results of cognitive-behavioral therapy and antidepressant medication in severely depressed populations. Currently, many practice guidelines suggest that antidepressants be used over psychotherapy for major depressive disorder. The analysis, however, found that “patients with more severe depression were no more likely to require medications to improve than patients with less severe depression.”
Thomas Insel Leaves the Google-Spawned Verily for a Start-Up
From Wired: Thomas Insel, neuroscientist and former head of the National Institutes of Mental Health, is leaving his role at the Google-spawned health science company...
Tapering Strips Help People Discontinue Antidepressants
A new study by Peter Groot and Jim van Os has found that tapering strips help people successfully discontinue antidepressant medications.
Importance of Physical Symptoms in Mental Health Evals
Researchers at Harvard Medical School highlight the need for mental health clinicians to explore the meaning of physical symptoms and pain
Skin-to-Skin Contact Benefits Mothers with Post-Partum Depression
In a study of 90 new mothers in Nova Scotia, five hours per day of skin-to-skin contact (SSC) reduced mothers' depression scores in their...
Violence, Depression in Parents Linked to Kids’ ADHD, Depression
A prospective study of 2,422 children from 2004 to 2012 found that children whose parents reported Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and depressive symptoms were...
Difficult Decisions About Antidepressants
In this piece for Research with Plymouth University, Richard Byng discusses the difficulty that both doctors and patients experience in discerning the effectiveness of antidepressants in...
Simple Things
Sometimes it's the simple things that keep us going, especially when the complicated ones seem so overwhelming; when there's too much chaos, too many emotions, too many possibilities and impending disasters. No one can give you a reason to live. You have to find it for yourself. Until you do, try simple things. For me, it was a turtle.
Antidepressants Do Not Prevent Suicides, May Increase Risk
When the CDC released data revealing an increasing suicide rate in the US, some experts, speaking to major media outlets, speculated that the increase...
Estimates of Depression Prevalence are Exaggerated, Study Finds
New research demonstrates that common methods for estimating depression prevalence lead to overestimation and exaggerated statistics.
One in Four Resident Physicians Suffer from Depression
A new study in JAMA reveals that, on average, 25% of beginning physicians meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression. In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Thomas Schwenk, added: "Everybody asks me, because of some of my prior studies, should we have more intense work in diagnosing depression in students? Of course, the answer is 'yes,' but how do you go about that without further stigmatizing them, further labeling them, further singling them out to even greater stigma? It's not just an issue of, 'Let's make better diagnoses and let's provide better treatment'; it’s more complicated than that."
US Government Reviews Antidepressants During and After Pregnancy
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released a meta-analysis “Evidence Report” of the studies into...
“The Surprising Reason Americans Might Feel Helpless and Depressed”
Alternet attributes America's depression epidemic to corporations and right-wing politics, which feed our sense of learned helplessness, exploiting "the various ways that we all...
Individuals With Low Incomes More Likely to Have Chronic Pain
Findings show that participants with lower levels of education and SES suffer from more chronic pain.
Review of Dietary Supplements for Depression
A review of dietary drug supplements for depression in the May issue of the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services finds that...
“Is Depression an Illness? Or Part of the Human Condition?”
Psychotherapist Chantal Marie Gagnon voices her frustration with social media posts and stigma reduction ads that perpetuate the belief that all mental health issues...
Sleep Therapy for Depression
Pending research on the connection between insomnia and depression offers new prospects for treatment, according to recent articles in the New York Times. "Psychiatrists...
Why Social Media can Never Fill the Void in our Depressing Lives
From VICE: According to Marcus Gilroy-Ware, author of Filling the Void: Emotion, Capitalism & Social Media, society's widespread use of social media stems from and is exploited...
Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze
From ABC: The self-help and self-improvement industry are more popular and widely accepted than ever. However, the moral imperative to constantly think positive and always...
Bereaved Parents Prescribed Meds Quickly, Stay on Meds Long-Term
MiA blogger Jeffrey Lacasse's study of psychiatric prescribing in response to perinatal/neonatal death (co-authored with Joanne Cacciatore) finds that 37% of participants in an...
“How Should You Grieve?”
Andrea Volpe, for Mosaic Science, explores the condition of complicated grief and how new approaches to therapy are treating it.
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Strong Placebo Response to Antidepressants Forms Even Before Drug Trials Start
A strong placebo response is apparently more often caused by people's expectations coming into a randomized, blinded clinical trial, than it is caused by...