Compassion and the Voice of the Tormentor
I'd like to share some personal thoughts on the nature of the Hearing Voices group method, and the insights that this kind of support generates. Through these groups, a tradition of mutual healing is being created that honors subjective experiences, and sharing our stories with each other in this way propels this exciting movement forward.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids May Help Prevent Transition to Psychosis
“When people with early-stage symptoms took omega-3 supplements for three months, they had much lower rates of progression than those who did not,” according to research out of Australia covered in this month’s issue of the New Scientist.
Controversial Exposure Therapy for PTSD Challenged
Research published in the May 2015 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry questions the use of exposure therapy, the "gold standard" treatment for patients...
Depression Widespread Among CEOs of Startups?
-Business Insider explores some of the psychosocial factors that may be contributing to depression in the high tech industry.
Researcher: Antidepressants Protect Against Brain Shrinkage, Despite Our Findings
A Molecular Psychiatry study found that people who had recurrent depression developed smaller hippocampi and antidepressants protected against that effect -- except insofar as the study evidence seemed to show the opposite of what the media reported on it.
Psychiatrists’ Fear of Death Linked to Negative Feelings Towards Certain Patients
-A survey of 120 psychiatrists found that the more psychiatrists fear death, the more negative emotions they have towards people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Addiction is Not a Disease; It is Learned by the Brain and Can Be...
-Salon discusses the ideas of neuroscientist Marc Lewis, a psychologist, former addict, and author of the book, The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease.
“Can Schizophrenia Really Be Treated by ‘Talk Therapy’ Alone?”
-On the Oxford University Press blog, a professor of psychiatry and psychology weighs in on recent studies using therapy as a response to problematic psychosis symptoms.
Many Physicians Don’t Understand Key Facts about Prescription Opioid Addictions
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health survey of 1000 US primary care physicians found that many do not understand basic medical facts about the addictive nature of the opioids they are prescribing.
Are Eating Disorder Centers a “Rehab Racket”?
-She won a seminal court case requiring insurance companies to pay for stays in residential treatment centers for eating disorders, and now Jeanene Harlick has begun an investigative expose on those same centers' poor practices.
Centers For Medicare & Medicaid Keep Pushing To Reduce Antipsychotic Use In Elderly
-"The push for long-term care facilities to abandon the use of off-label use of antipsychotic medications for residents with dementia will intensify over the next two years."
Antidepressants Worsen Rapid Cycling in Bipolar Depression
-SSRI antidepressant medications contribute to a significant worsening of emotional "rapid cycling" in patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
“Does Air Pollution Cause Dementia?”
-Mother Jones examines the growing body of research implicating air pollution in dementia.
“The Isolating Effects of Anxiety”
-Daniel Yudkin discusses studies examining some of the ways in which anxiety can change how people think, and inhibit social connections and understanding.
Antipsychotic Dose Reduction Linked To Long-term Improvements In First-Episode Schizophrenia Patients
Careful reductions in dosage levels of antipsychotic medications over time improved long-term rates of recovery and functional remission in patients diagnosed with a first-episode psychosis.
No Treatments Have “Clinically Meaningful” Impacts On Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
While most treatments have had "statistically significant" success in clinical trials, no common psychiatric or psychological treatments improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia at levels that are "clinically meaningful."
Antidepressants During Pregnancy Do Not Appear To Reduce Relapses And Hospitalizations
Continuing to take antidepressants during pregnancy was associated with higher rates of depressive relapses and hospitalizations than discontinuing.
Not an Onion Study: Underpowered Analysis Of Poor Quality Data Finds Antipsychotics Actually Aren’t...
University of Groningen researchers analyzed only small, short-term clinical trials of generally poor quality to determine that antipsychotics are not linked to increased risk of death in elderly people with dementia.
Mental Imagery, Pain and Healing
-Mental "imagery" plays a role in psychological suffering prompted by vivid memories, and also in healing modalities such as creative visualization.
Some Nursing Homes Trying To Move Beyond Antipsychotics
-Some nursing homes are changing their approaches since the US federal government began more closely regulating the use of antipsychotic medications in elderly patients with dementia.
Evidence Strengthening that Common Benzodiazepine Sedatives May Cause Dementia
A meta-analysis of studies found that the risk of dementia increased 22% for every additional twenty daily doses of benzodiazepine medications annually.
Ketamine is Coming
-NPR interviews some of the psychiatrists who feel that the fast-acting drug ketamine is a "revolution" in depression treatment.
Violence Induced by Depression, or by Antidepressants?
-Correspondence in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests that a study linking depression to acts of violence should have examined antidepressant medications as possible causes.
Depression During Pregnancy, Unhealthy Diet, and Child Emotional Dysregulation
One reason that depression is linked to later psychological problems in children could be because depressed mothers often have less healthy diets.
Emotional Triggers, Safe Spaces, PTSD and Politically Correct Language
-Emphasis on language "political correctness" on many college and university campuses may have less to do with politics than with how we process trauma.
