fight flight stress

Traumatic Immobility: Depression as a Stress Response

47
What if we don't have a depression epidemic, but a stress epidemic of traumatic proportions? What if we've been steered away from learning how our minds and bodies actually work, and into believing that our attempts to survive traumatic, threatening real-life circumstances are "symptoms of mental illness"?

Flexible Treatment Planning Improves Depression Outcomes in Youth

1
Researchers explore the effects of augmented treatment at various points in interpersonal psychotherapy for adolescents diagnosed with depression, highlighting previously unidentified critical decision points (i.e., relatively early in the treatment sequence).

Can Cultural Engagement Protect Against Depression?

11
A new study examines the preventative effects of cultural engagement has on depression among older adults.

More Research Needed on Climate Change-Related Ecological Grief

24
Researchers outline the concept of ecologically driven grief due to climate change and recommend future research to better understand the psychological impact of climate change.

Researchers Push Back Against Recommendation to Combine Antidepressants for Suicide Prevention

23
Researchers challenge the recommendation of starting two antidepressants simultaneously to increase preventative effects against suicide.

Researchers Ask, ‘Why Do Antidepressants Stop Working?’

24
An international group of researchers, including several with financial ties to manufacturers of antidepressants, explore possible explanations for why long-term users of antidepressants become chronically depressed.

Large Rigorous Study Debunks Popular Gene-Environment Theory of Depression

18
A large and rigorous meta-analysis fails to find support for the gene-environment interaction theory of depression.
freedom from antidepressants

My Fight Against Antidepressants, Part III: Breaking Free

28
I had managed to get off the drugs again, this time with practically no withdrawal reactions other than some disturbances to my sleep which eventually settled down. I truly feel that I have been given a second chance because I am aware of how many people struggle terribly with these drugs just as I did.

Study Explores Connections Between Diet and ‘Serious Mental Illnesses’

36
Study finds that individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression have diets that are more inflammatory and higher in calories.

New Study Explores Approaches to Discontinuing Antidepressants

12
Psychiatrist and psychologist outline pharmacological and psychotherapeutic strategies for discontinuing antidepressants.

Are Depression Guidelines Missing the Evidence for Exercise?

7
A recent review suggests that depression guidelines do not incorporate evidence for exercise within a stepped-care approach and may be over-reliant on pharmacological treatments.
off meds onto nutrients

What Happened When I Went Off Meds and Onto Nutrients

17
I remember clearly thinking, “I’m done. I’m not putting myself through this again.” I wasn’t going to settle for the side effects of a marginally better than placebo treatment again. Here is a brief look into my rollercoaster journey of recovery, returning to work, having my trauma re-triggered, finding a way through, and finally living well.

SNRIs Added to the List of Drugs with Potential Withdrawal Symptoms

7
New research suggests that clinicians should exercise caution prescribing SNRIs as first-line treatment for mood and anxiety disorders.

Systematic Review Finds Antidepressant Withdrawal Common and Potentially Long-lasting

27
Prominent researchers conduct a review of antidepressant withdrawal incidence, duration, and severity. Results lead to call for new clinical guidelines.

Reanalysis of STAR*D Study Suggests Overestimation of Antidepressant Efficacy

3
Reanalysis of the original primary outcome measure in the STAR*D study suggests STAR*D findings inflate improvement on antidepressant medication and exclusion criteria in conventional clinical trials results in overestimation of antidepressant efficacy.

Antidepressant Use Climbs as Patients Find it Difficult to Discontinue

4
Findings point to the role of withdrawal symptoms and prescriber practices in long-term antidepressant use.

Are Drug Side Effects Driving Depression Rates?

3
A new study finds that more than a third of Americans are taking prescription drugs that can cause depressive symptoms as a side-effect.

Study Finds Greening Urban Land Improves Mental Health

6
Remediating dilapidated physical environments in urban settings can contribute to better mental health.

Adolescent Suicide and The Black Box Warning: STAT Gets It All Wrong

71
STAT recently published an opinion piece arguing that the black box warning on antidepressants has led to an increase in adolescent suicide. It is easily debunked, and reveals once again how our society is regularly misled about research findings related to psychiatric drugs. STAT has lent its good name to a false story that, unfortunately, will resonate loudly with the public.

Research Emphasizes Association Between Inflammation, Diet, and Depression

16
Study finds adults with a pro-inflammatory diet have a greater incidence of depression.

What Stops People From Using Exercise to Treat Depression?

25
New research examines important factors of adherence when prescribing exercise to treat depression.

Suicide in the Age of Prozac

94
During the past twenty years, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and American psychiatry have adopted a "medicalized" approach to preventing suicide, claiming that antidepressants are protective against suicide. Yet, the suicide rate in the United States has increased 30% since 2000, a time of rising usage of antidepressants. A review of studies of the effects of mental health treatment and antidepressants on suicide reveals why this medicalized approach has not only failed, but pushed suicide rates higher.

The Effect of Psychiatric Diagnosis on Young People’s Sense of Self and Social Identity

23
A new review highlights the effects that psychiatric diagnosis has on children and adolescents’ social relationships and views of self.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation No Better Than Placebo for Treatment-Resistant Depression

21
A new study in JAMA Psychiatry found that transcranial magnetic stimulation was no better than placebo for treatment-resistant depression.

Anti-Stigma Campaigns Enable Inequality, Sociologists Argue

103
Scholars contend that stigma functions as a mechanism of power in analysis of UK Heads Together mental health campaign.