Childhood Victimization Connected with Experiences of Psychosis
Childhood victimization associated with experiences of psychosis later in life, and in persons without childhood victimization, there is a bidirectional association between psychosis and adult victimization.
The Role of Intergenerational Trauma in the Perpetuation of Childhood Maltreatment
A new study examines the role parent borderline pathology plays in the perpetuation of childhood maltreatment.
“When the Brain is Under Attack”
The Boston Globe reports on the discovery of a newly recognized neurological disease, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis. The disease is believed to be caused when the body’s immune system attacks proteins in the brain associated with the communication of neurons.
Differing Depression Diagnostic Tools May Influence Research Findings
The type of diagnostic assessment used in research settings, either fully structured or semi-structured interview, may affect which participants in receive a diagnosis of major depression.
School-Based Program for Anxiety and Depression Shows Promise
Researchers evaluate the impact of a school-based prevention program on anxious and depressive symptoms.
The Unsung Psychiatric Impact of Strep Throat
A sea change is needed in the evaluation of children with perceived psychological disturbances. Parents are told that their child has a fictitious biochemical imbalance in the brain while real medical disorders are overlooked. In our family's case, it was Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Strep (PANDAS).
Meta-Analysis Finds Asking About Suicidal Thoughts Does Not Predict Suicide
A recent meta-analysis finds that the association between reported suicidal ideation and later suicide is low.
Kick Big Pharma Out of the Classroom
School-based strategies such as the “talk to your doctor” campaign about any childhood problem have been extremely effective in helping the pharmaceutical industry to marginalize traditional child-rearing practices and replace them with advice from mental health “experts” and the use of dangerous drugs. These campaigns are reminiscent of now-illegal vintage tobacco ads in which doctors endorsed cigarette smoking.
Non-Pharmacological Interventions More Effective For Health in Schizophrenia
Review compares the effectiveness of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions for improving physical health outcomes in people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“Is the Drive for Success Making Our Children Sick?”
In the SundayReview section of the New York Times Vicki Abeles discusses Stuat Slavin’s research on depression and anxiety in US schools. “Many of the health effects are apparent now, but many more will echo through the lives of our children,” says Richard Scheffler, a health economist at the University of California, Berkeley.
“Children Today Suffer From a Deficit of Play”
Boston College Psychologist Peter Gray writes for Aeon about the impact of the gradual erosion of children’s’ play in the United States. “Over the...
Are Students Benefiting From the Growth Mindset Model?
Results from two meta-analyses reveal shortcomings with the growth mindset theory as applied in schools.
New Collaborative and Feedback-Informed Family Therapy Approach
Attempts to bridge the gap between research and practice result in a family therapy approach which employs clients as co-researchers.
“Misuse Of ADHD Drugs By Young Adults Drives Rise In ER Visits”
"It's no secret that stimulant medications such as Adderall that are prescribed to treat symptoms of ADHD are sometimes used as 'study drugs' aimed...
“Robert Neugeboren, Survivor of Psychiatric Abuses, Dies at 72”
Robert Neugeboren, who “spent most of his adult life in institutions, often subject to isolation, physical punishment and numbing medication,” was “a celebrity of sorts in the world of the mentally ill: a survivor of the horrors of mistreatment, a case history for those who point to the positive effects of kindness and talk therapy, and, perhaps most of all, the embodiment of the bottomless mystery of the human mind.”
Time for a Paradigm Shift in School Psychology Interventions
Why do ineffective classification and intervention processes linger in school psychology, and what’s the alternative?
Patients With Schizophrenia Show Better Work Functioning Off Antipsychotics
20-year follow-up study finds that after four years, patients not prescribed antipsychotics have significantly better work functioning.
Why Some Children with Depressed Parents Show Resilience
Children of parents who suffer from depression have a severely heightened risk of mental health problems, but new research points to several factors that seem to strengthen young peoples’ resilience and predict good mental health.
Brave New Apps: The Arrival of Surveillance Psychiatry
Large, centralized, digital social networks and data-gathering platforms have come to dominate our economy and our culture. In the domain of mental health, huge pools of data are being used to train algorithms to identify signs of mental illness. I call this practice surveillance psychiatry.
Large Rigorous Study Debunks Popular Gene-Environment Theory of Depression
A large and rigorous meta-analysis fails to find support for the gene-environment interaction theory of depression.
Stigmatizing Effects of the Psychosis-Risk Label
Study examines the effects on participants of being told they are at risk of developing psychosis.
What Are Best Practices For Psychosis And What Gets In The Way?
Research investigates clinicians’ perspectives on best care practices and the complicated realities of providing care in the face of agency limitations and mechanized interventions.
Researcher Critically Examines Movements for Global Mental Health
China Mills raises concerns that global mental health movements obscure social determinants of health and naturalize Western mental health concepts.
Family Oriented, Home-Based Treatment Best for Youth with Symptoms of Psychosis
A pathbreaking new study out of Finland suggests that early intervention programs for youth experiencing psychotic-like symptoms may see the greatest improvement when treatment works within the home rather than in a hospital setting. The research, to be published in next month’s issue of Psychiatry Research, found greater improvement in functioning, depression, and hopelessness among teens in a new need-adapted Family and Community oriented Integrative Treatment Model (FCTM) program.
More Evidence That Physical Activity Prevents Depression
Higher levels of physical activity serve as a protective factor for the future development of depression.
