“Preventing the Onset of Psychosis: Not Quite There Yet”

2
Robert Heinssen and Thomas Insel of the National Institute of Mental Health argue in Schizophrenia Bulletin that the balance of evidence does not support...

AVATAR Therapy Shows Some Positive Outcomes, Now What?

4
In a commentary piece, Ben Alderson-Day and Nev Jones discuss the AVATAR therapy research for psychosis and propose further questions.

Our World: My Child, ECT and Me

0
A new episode of BBC's Our World investigates the increased usage of electroconvulsive therapy on children in America.

Are Drug Side Effects Driving Depression Rates?

3
A new study finds that more than a third of Americans are taking prescription drugs that can cause depressive symptoms as a side-effect.

Part II: Michelle Starts Prozac and Sees the Devil

35
By 2011, anyone who read the scientific literature would have known that children cannot tolerate SSRIs and should not be given them. Neither Conrad nor Michelle seemed to have been warned about the common adverse effects (such as nightmares and compulsive suicidality) of the SSRI antidepressants they were on.

REFOCUS Psychosis Recovery Intervention Ready for Trials

7
A new pro-recovery manualized intervention – called the REFOCUS intervention – has been developed and will now be evaluated in a multisite randomized control trials. The strengths-based intervention, which focuses on promoting relationships, is outlined in the latest issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry.
definition of relapse

What Does ‘Relapse’ Mean? Definitions Used in Antipsychotic Trials Are Unclear

15
Antipsychotic drugs are prescribed on the basis of trials that demonstrate a higher rate of ‘relapse’ in people who are withdrawn from these drugs compared to those who continue to take them. Yet, incredibly, there is no consensus about what ‘relapse’ means in this situation.

Q&A: My Child Is Self-Harming. How Can I Help?

5
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. She’s always made excuses about them, but now I realize she has been self-harming for a while. She swears she isn’t suicidal. What’s this all about, and what can I do?

Allen Frances and the “Overdiagnosing” of Children

53
What Dr. Frances calls "massive mislabeling" is not the assignment of psychiatry's spurious labels as such, but rather what he calls the overuse of these labels. This notion of conservative, careful and accurate diagnosis is a common theme in Dr. Frances's writing, but in fact, it's an empty exhortation, because the criteria are inherently vague and ill-defined.

First They Ignore You: Impressions From Today’s Hearing on H.R. 3717

57
As I walked alone up the stairs to the Rayburn House Office Building this morning to attend the hearing of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health on H.R. 3717 - the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act - I thought about how I wasn’t truly alone. In spirit with me were all the people who had experienced scary, coercive, and dehumanizing interventions in the name of help. In spirit with me was every mental health provider who went into the field hoping to really make a difference in their communities, but became cynical and discouraged in the face of so many broken systems and broken spirits.

“Life, Animated: A Remarkable Story of How a Family Reached Their Autistic Son Through...

1
A new documentary “Life, Animated,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the story of a man with autism who learned to interact...

“Study Finds Risks for Teens of Mothers Who Took Certain Antidepressants”

1
“Adolescents whose mothers took certain antidepressants while pregnant with them are more than four times as likely to become depressed by age 15, compared with...

Therapy Recommended As First Line Treatment for Depression

5
Following an extensive systematic review of treatments for major depression, the American College of Physicians (ACP) issued a recommendation to clinicians suggesting cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) as a first-line treatment for major depressive disorder along with second-generation antidepressants. The results of the review revealed that CBT and antidepressants have similar levels of effectiveness but that antidepressants present serious side-effects and higher relapse rates.

“Misuse of ADHD Label as Symptom of a Broken Health Care System”

0
Pediatrician Claudia Gold writes "The economic reality of primary care practice, due in large part to the administrative costs of managing a huge array...

Do We Really Need Mental Health Professionals?

138
Professionals across the Western world, from a range of disciplines, earn their livings by offering services to reduce the misery and suffering of the people who seek their help. Do these paid helpers represent a fundamental force for healing, facilitating the recovery journeys of people with mental health problems, or are they a substantial part of the problem by maintaining our modestly effective and often damaging system?

Learning Family Recovery Skills: Krista Mackinnon on Madness Radio

17
Many families trying to support someone in psychosis fall into the same trap professionals find themselves caught in: power struggles: "How can I make my relative change? What should I do to get them to see they are sick?" While it's hard to argue with wanting someone to get better, control and conformity are at the heart of everything wrong with the standard psychiatric approach. The deeper families dig themselves into forcing change on their relative, the more they flounder.

“Treatment Resistant” Schizophrenia Strongly Linked to Dopamine Supersensitivity

25
Over 70% of schizophrenia patients who are "treatment resistant" have apparently developed dopamine supersensitivity psychosis from long-term use of antipsychotic medications.

Traditional South African Healers Use Connection in Suicide Prevention

3
Study finds that traditional healers in South Africa, whose services are widely used by the country’s population, perform important suicide prevention work.

Current Immigration Policies Create Mental Health Vulnerabilities for Families

1
Researchers investigate the impact of immigration policies on the mental health of arriving Mexican and Central American immigrants.

Sensitivity to Threatening Faces Predicts Depression

0
Researchers in China found that among 27 young adults with early-onset major depressive disorder matched against 25 healthy controls, MRI detected elevated response in...

Mobile Apps for Mental Health Lack Transparency in Data Sharing

4
Research illustrates privacy concerns with how mental health applications collect and share users’ data.

Top Ten Things You May Not Know About the ICD-10

1
In this piece for Psychology Today, Dr. Jonathan D. Raskin lists 10 facts about the current version of the International Classification of Diseases, which is...

Study Confirms Higher Suicide Risk for Sexual Minority Adolescents

0
Researchers report that sexual minority adolescents have considered, planned, and attempted suicide substantially more than their heterosexual peers.

Dr. Andrew Weil Says We’re Taking Too Many Medicines

0
From The New York Times: According to Dr. Andrew Weil, who is best known for popularizing the concept of integrative medicine, the problem of overmedication...

You, Your Kids, or the Doctor… Who’s Running the Show?

5
Let’s face it, as our kids slowly developing brains wrestle with behavioral and maturity issues while also trying to juggle expectations related to academic and social challenges, some of the behaviors they display can be quite concerning. Understandably, after trying what seems like everything in the books plus the kitchen, bathroom and laundry room sinks, caring and often exhausted parents are actively looking for help, resources and answers. But guess what? Without any need for pharmaceutical intervention or “drug therapy,” for centuries parents have been quite capable of helping challenged children overcome semi-annoying and concerning behaviors that some “experts” want to label today as symptoms of a mental disorder. Behaviors that a billion kids worldwide display every day.