“The DEA Is Placing Kratom and Mitragynine On Schedule I”
The US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is moving to place Kratom, a southeast Asian plant often used in teas, on the schedule 1 banned...
Whistleblower Files Lawsuit Against AstraZeneca
From the Chicago Tribune: Former drug sales representative Allison Zayas became a whistleblower against her old company, AstraZeneca, after learning that a combination of Seroquel...
“With Sobering Science, Doctor Debunks 12-Step Recovery”
NPR interviews Dr. Lance Dodes, author of The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind Twelve-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry. Despite the fact...
The Important Drugs Debate Question That Nobody’s Asking
In this piece for Vice, Max Daly explores the impact of societal attitudes toward drug use and drug users on the drug policy debate over prohibition...
Do Some Trauma Survivors Cope by Overworking?
From The Atlantic: Like other addictions, workaholism may be a response to trauma. Overworking is the way that some trauma survivors cope with hypervigilance, grief, and...
Is Addiction a Disease?
From Scientific American: The current medical consensus is that addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease in which drug use becomes involuntary despite its...
“War, on Drugs”
Historian Peter Frankopan delves into the use of drugs to fuel combat “from berserkers to jihadis.” “Of the US pilots who took part in...
New Meta-Analysis: Mindfulness Interventions Effective for Psychiatric Disorders
A meta-analysis of mindfulness-based interventions shows efficacy for treating depression, physical pain, smoking, and addictive disorders.
“Suicide, Mental Illness Risks Increase During Recessions”
The latest economic recession led to a spike in diagnoses for mental illnesses, suicide attempts, and suicide, according to report out of the University...
Parent Marijuana Use Associated With Substance Use in Children
A new study examines longitudinal, intergenerational patterns associated with marijuana use.
“Cashing in on Addiction to Alcohol and Illicit Drugs”
For AlterNet, Evelyn Pringle and Martha Rosenberg reveal how addiction psychiatry is becoming big business. Addiction is thought of “like often-cited diabetes and hypertensive...
After the Xanax Wears Off…
Many personal stories of people struggling with an addiction that they were never told could happen punctuate an article about indiscriminate benzodiazepine prescribing in...
“Woman Can Sue Study Sponsor for Suicide Try”
A woman in Texas attempted suicide while in the active group of a clinical trial for smoking-cassation drugs Chantix and Zyban, both known to...
“Culturally Specific Treatment Center Knows That One Approach Doesn’t Work for All”
"What was going on inside Turning Point was an experiment: a community-based treatment center designed to serve low-income African-Americans. After a few bumpy early...
The Impact of Regression to the Mean in Psychiatric Drug Studies
Could the statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean be responsible for the dramatic effects of placebo—as well as the supposed effectiveness of some psychiatric drugs?
New York Times Hosts Debate on Psychiatric Institutionalization
In the Room for Debate section of this weekend's New York Times, specialists in ethics, psychiatry, social work, addiction, and human rights hash out their...
UK Woman Speaks Out About 22 Year Addiction With Prescribed Ativan
ITV features and article and video today about the widespread problem of addiction and withdrawal from benzodiazepine drugs used to treat anxiety, including Ativan, Librium, Diazepam and Temazepam. Mother of three Sandra Minshull shares her story and discusses how Ativan “robbed her of her life.”
“Barry Takes Center Stage for World Benzo Day Launch”
Mad In America contributor and prescription drug addiction reformer Barry Haslam has “taken his fight to the world stage by helping create an international...
Colleges Get Proactive in Addressing Depression on Campus
From The New York Times: The number of college students with mental health concerns is rapidly increasing, straining many universities' mental health and counseling centers. Colleges...
Protecting the LGBT Community is Good Health Policy
From The Hill: Research shows that LGBT individuals experience higher rates of physical and mental health problems than heterosexual people. Legislative policies that protect the rights of...
Psychiatry: We Need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Mental Health
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.
Marshmallows Aren’t Likely to Fix Low-Income Kids’ Problems
From BOLD Blog: Starting in the late 1960s, researchers conducted an experiment offering young children a choice between one marshmallow at the present or two...
Few Counselors Are Trained to Treat Racial Trauma
From ThinkProgress: A new study found that the majority of counselors in the United States are not prepared to identify or treat race-based trauma, which...
Study Claims Marijuana Can Treat “ADHD”
A small study of 30 participants in Germany claims that cannabis can be used to treat “ADHD” because it increases the availability of dopamine. "This then has the same effect but is a different mechanism of action than stimulants like Ritalin and dexedrine amphetamine, which act by binding to the dopamine and interfering with the metabolic breakdown of dopamine." According to the report, 22 of the 30 participants opted to discontinue their prescriptions in favor of medical marijuana.
“As Opioid Deaths Reach Record High, Drug Industry Resists Efforts to Rein in Prescriptions”
“In 2014, the number of people who died from drug overdoses in the United States reached 47,055 — an all-time high, according to a disturbing report published Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),” but “the effort to get physicians to curb their prescribing of these drugs may be faltering amid stiff resistance from drugmakers, industry-funded groups and, now, even other public health officials.”
