āVirtual Autismā May Explain Explosive Rise in ASD Diagnoses
New clinical case studies have found that many young children who spend too much screen timeāon TVās, video games, tablets and computersāhave symptoms labeled as āautism.ā When parents take away the screens for a few months the childās symptoms disappear.
Researchers Search for Subgroups Where Antidepressants Are More Effective
The researchers theorized that this increased effectiveness was due not to āantidepressantā properties, but rather to the drugās side effects, which include insomnia, drowsiness, and nausea.
Peer-Support Groups Were Right, Guidelines Were Wrong: Dr. Mark Horowitz on Tapering Off Antidepressants
In an interview with MIA, Dr. Horowitz discusses his recent article on why tapering off antidepressants can take months or even years.
Victim Blaming: Childhood Trauma, Mental Illness & Diagnostic Distractions?
Why, despite the fact that the vast majority of people diagnosed with a mental illness have suffered from some form of childhood trauma, is it still so difficult to talk about? Why, despite the enormous amount of research about the impact of trauma on the brain and subsequent effect on behaviour, does there seem to be such an extraordinary refusal for the implication of this research to change attitudes towards those who are mentally ill? Why, when our program and others like it have shown people can heal from the effects of trauma, are so many people left with the self-blame and the feeling they will never get better that my colleague writes about below?
Schizophrenia Deconstructed
After a few weeks it became clear to me the complete lack of comprehension that I faced as a person claiming to have been cured of psychosis. Being a schizophrenic claiming to no longer suffer from schizophrenia only made me seem more schizophrenic due to the current culture of psychiatry.
Suicide in the Age of Prozac
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.
No, There is no Such Thing as ADHD
Somewhere along the line we have lost the understanding that kids come in all shapes and sizes. Some kids are active, some are quiet; some kids are dreamers, others are daring; some kids are dramatic, others are observers; some impulsive, others reserved; some leaders, others followers; some athletic, others thinkers. Where did we ever get the notion that kids should all be one way?
Neurodiversity is Dead. Now What?
The neurodiversity movement is a public relations campaign that emphasizes the positive qualities associated withĀ someĀ presentations of autismācreativity, increased tolerance for repetition, enhanced empathy, and exceptional memoryāwhile erasing or minimizing the experiences of autistics who are severely disabled.
Hereditary Madness? The Genain Sisters’ Tragic Story
The story of the Genain quadruplets has long been cited as evidence proving something about the supposed hereditary nature of schizophrenia. But who wouldnāt fall apart after surviving a childhood like theirs? The doctors attributed their problems to menstrual difficulties or excessive masturbation ā anything except abuse.
How āMental Health Awarenessā Exploits Schoolchildren
Imagine being a parent at a meeting with educators to discuss Johnny's academics or behavior. Suddenly, your childās teacher is telling you that he needs to see a doctor for an assessment of a suspected āmental disorder,ā which usually leads to a prescription for medication. Warned of āthe risks against failing to intervene,ā you will likely acquiesce.
I Want Change
Only two hours after we got home, Dan fearlessly told me of the suicide plan that he'd devised while in the hospital. He had all that time to think about it while nobody was listening. He'd lost his dignity, his identity and his place in society. He had lost the will to live.
Helping Children With Angry Outbursts
Finnish psychiatrist Ben Furman reviews various non-drug therapies for children with aggressive outbursts of anger, including the Kids' Skills approach that he and social psychologist Tapani Ahola developed. These approaches focus on helping children come up with their own ideas for overcoming their problems with the help of family and friends.
Q&A: How Can I Motivate My “Deadbeat” Teenager?
My 19-year-old son has been diagnosed with ADHD, depression, and ODD. He refuses to go to school or get a job; instead, he just hangs around and plays video games. He has prescriptions but refuses to take them. Frankly, he contributes nothing to the household but stress and is a bad role model for his siblings. How can I make him take his meds and shape up?
Traditional South African Healers Use Connection in Suicide Prevention
Study finds that traditional healers in South Africa, whose services are widely used by the countryās population, perform important suicide prevention work.
The Scientism of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Calling ADHD a diagnosis, i.e., something with the capacity to explain the behaviours that it describes, is like saying the headache isĀ causingĀ the pain in my head or the inattention isĀ causedĀ by inattention. Scientism has turned ADHD from a vague, difficult to pin down concept into a fact of culture masquerading as a fact of nature.
Study Finds Hearing Voices Groups Improve Social and Emotional Wellbeing
Hearing Voices Network self-help groups are an important resource for coping with voice hearing, study finds.
Suicide Rates Rise While Antidepressant Use Climbs
Multiple media sources are reporting on new dataĀ from the CDC revealing a substantial increase in the suicide rate in the United States between 1999...
Childhood Bipolar Disorder, Deconstructed
Diagnosing children with juvenile or pediatric bipolar disorder is largely an American phenomenon. Do we actually have more ābipolarā children in the United Statesāor are we simply labeling more of them as such? If it is ever fair to call a child āmanic,ā isnāt the childās environment the direction in which we should look?
Q&A: Is My Child Being Overdrugged?
My eight-year-old daughter has diagnoses of ADHD, depression, anxiety, and ODD. She is taking four prescribed drugs, but she is still suffering and her behavior hasnāt changed much. Her doctor is suggesting adding yet another med. Iām wondering how many drugs are enough? I am starting to think she should go off some of them. I want to trust the psychiatrist, but Iām just not sure anymore.
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...
Study Confirms Higher Suicide Risk for Sexual Minority Adolescents
Researchers report that sexual minority adolescents have considered, planned, and attempted suicide substantially more than their heterosexual peers.
The Real Myth of the Schizophrenogenic Mother
Acknowledging the role of trauma inflicted by a given individualās mother is not the same as laying all blame for āmental illnessā at the feet of motherhood. Meanwhile, a mountain of evidence has accumulated linking schizophrenia to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and many other categories of adverse childhood experiences.
Q&A: My Child Is Self-Harming. How Can I Help?
I walked in on my teenaged daughter cutting her upper leg with a razor. I have also noticed multiple cuts and what look like cigarette burns on her wrists and torso. Sheās always made excuses about them, but now I realize she has been self-harming for a while. She swears she isnāt suicidal. Whatās this all about, and what can I do?
New Study Concludes that Antidepressants are “Largely Ineffective and Potentially Harmfulā
A new study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry concludes that āantidepressants are largely ineffective and potentially harmful.ā
Antidepressant-Induced Mania
It is generally recognized in antipsychiatry circles that antidepressant drugs induce manic or hypomanic episodes in some of the individuals who take them. Psychiatry's usual response to this is to assert that the individual must have had an underlying latent bipolar disorder that has "emerged" in response to the improvement in mood. The problem with such a notion is that it is fundamentally unverifiable.