Pain Increases Later Risk for Anxiety and Depression
Experiencing moderate to severe pain, or having at least moderate life interference from pain, doubles risk for anxiety or depression.
Yoga Improves Quality of Life for Elementary Students
A new study finds that a school-based yoga program improves third graders’ emotional and psychosocial quality of life.
Xanax: Children As Young As 11 Taking Anxiety Drug
From BBC: The abuse of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax is becoming widespread among children and adolescents as young as 11 years old.
"To gain an idea of the...
Usage of Depression Pills Almost Halved Among Children in Denmark
After a number of years with a steadily increasing sales curve, the number of children and adolescents in treatment with depression pills decreased by 41% in Denmark. Despite this welcome development, pharmaceutical companies and psychiatry professors continue to deceive the population and deny the facts about these drugs.
Social Support Improves Antipsychotic Discontinuation, Study Finds
A new study explores how people manage to discontinue antipsychotic medication and examines how social supports may improve outcomes.
Antidepressant Use Leads to Worse Long Term Outcomes, Study Finds
Results from a 30-year prospective study demonstrated worse outcomes for people who took antidepressants, even after controlling for gender, education level, marriage, baseline severity, other affective disorders, suicidality, and family history of depression.
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).
The Unique Way the Dutch Treat Mentally Ill Prisoners
In this piece for BBC, Melissa Hogenboom reports on the way that people who have been convicted of crimes and diagnosed with mental illness are...
Researchers Explore the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychotic Experiences
Individuals who identify as religious may be more likely to have symptoms associated with psychosis.
Primary Care Practitioners May Mistake Irritability as Bipolar Disorder in Youth
Family medicine and pediatric providers are less confident in their assessment of irritability in youth than psychiatric providers, which may lead to overdiagnosis of bipolar disorder.
Do Social Network Sites Help or Harm Well Being?
How does social network site use influence well-being? Researchers suggest this depends on the extent to which site use is “connection-promoting."
I’m Withdrawing From Antidepressants After Nearly 20 Years
From The Lily: In light of the recent New York Times article highlighting the effects antidepressant withdrawal, Ashley Abramson shares her personal story of deciding to...
Bright Light Therapy More Effective Than Medication Alone for Bipolar Depression
A new randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial has found bright light therapy to be a powerful intervention that could provide an alternative to medication for people with “bipolar depression.”
Parental Conflict Changes Emotion Recognition in Children, Study Finds
Study suggests interparental conflict causes lasting damage in the way children are able to recognize and process emotions.
Enjoying the Road Less Traveled
The people that my son and I continued to consult with over the years didn't talk of mental illness as a brain disease, a chemical imbalance, or a problem with one's genes. Depending on the therapy, they spoke in terms of restoring life force energy, changing cellular vibration, learning to listen and understand, and building a self.
Study Finds Connection Between Trauma and Psychosis in Children
Researchers connect the impact of early trauma to the development of psychosis in children as young as 7 years old.
Autistic People Are Breaking Stereotypes And Connecting Online
From BESE: While several recent articles and blogs have argued that social media can have a negative impact on our mental health, many members of the...
Physical Activity and Exercise May Prevent Depression, Study Finds
Everyday exercise, regardless of intensity, can prevent the development of depressive symptoms.
Neurodiversity is Dead. Now What?
The neurodiversity movement is a public relations campaign that emphasizes the positive qualities associated with some presentations of autism—creativity, increased tolerance for repetition, enhanced empathy, and exceptional memory—while erasing or minimizing the experiences of autistics who are severely disabled.
The Scientism of Autism
Autism is now simply assumed to represent a real, tangible, identifiable ‘thing.’ But no one is asking the obvious question: On what evidential basis can you conclude that autism represents a natural category that can be differentiated from other natural categories? According to the real science, autism should be seen as a fact of culture, not a fact of nature.
How Babies Learn – And Why Robots Can’t Compete
In this piece for The Guardian, Alex Beard compares robot learning to language acquisition and development in children. While robot learning is abstract and formulaic, learning...
Overprescribing for Medicaid Kids Due to Shortage of Alternatives
From Modern Healthcare: Physicians may be overprescribing psychotropic medications to children on Medicaid or CHIP, which may be partly due to inadequate access to alternatives...
The Nazi History Behind “Asperger”
From The New York Times: Although the official diagnosis of Asperger's disorder has recently been dropped from the DSM, it is still included in the...
The Mind-Expanding Ideas of Andy Clark
In this piece for The New Yorker, Larissa MacFarquhar profiles the philosopher and cognitive scientist Andy Clark, whose work argues that our minds are inseparable...
Childhood Adversity Influences Levels of Distress in Voice Hearers
Research finds that hearing negative voices explains how childhood adversity is related to distress.
