Children and Adolescents

From U.S. News & World Report: While some medical marijuana advocates claim that certain strands of weed may help with depression, research on the effects of...

On Saturday morning, Susan Inman, writing for HuffPost Canada, published “What You’re not Hearing About the Hearing Voices Movement.” In it, she criticizes HVM for “failing to differentiate between the needs of people who actually have psychotic disorders and those who don't.” On Sunday the Bay Area Hearing Voices Network published an open letter in response, writing: “Ms. Inman has profoundly mischaracterized hearing voices networks (HVNs) and also demonstrates a troubling lack of understanding of the empirical literature on psychosis, optimal psychosocial intervention and recovery.”

-"Temper, Anxiety, Homework Trouble Are Medical Issues? Many Parents Don’t Realize It," stated a University of Michigan press release and survey report.

-Mother Jones looks at drug company promotional efforts, expanded diagnostic criteria, and the appeal of amphetamines to high-performance cultures globally.

PsychCentral offers a take on noncompliance: "The moment we decide for others why they experience something as they do is the moment at which...

At Alternet, Jay Syrmopoulos of The Free Thought Project discusses new research on the use of medical marijuana as a treatment for ADHD within the context of the ongoing debate over the validity of the ADHD diagnosis.

According to Jesse Singal, “ever since the 1930s, young people in America have reported feeling increasingly anxious and depressed. And no one knows exactly...

The BBC reports that the number of people in Scotland taking antidepressants has increased by 5% in the past year with most of the patients being women and those in the poorest parts of the country. “We are now looking at the flabbergasting statistic of more than one in seven people in Scotland being prescribed antidepressants this year,” Conservative health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said. “We urgently have to look at better alternatives than simply parking people on medication in the hope things don't get any worse, with no aspiration for complete recovery."

From The New York Times: New research suggests that Instagram users who have been diagnosed with depression tend to post darker, bluer, and grayer photos...

-A debate between one of the co-authors of the Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia report, and two authors whose meta-analysis of cognitive behavioral therapy was cited in that report.

A team of American pediatric physicians has published an article in the journal Pediatrics examining the many ways in which medical overdiagnosis may be...

Writing in The Atlantic, James Hamblin reports that research continues to show that physical exercise is integral to “childhood cognition and brain health,” especially for children who exhibit symptoms associated with ADHD. These findings, Hamblin comments, have been discussed with a “phenomenal degree of reservation compared to the haste with which millions of kids have been introduced to amphetamines and other stimulants to address said ADHD.”

From The Concordian: On October 30th, Dr. Joel Paris, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, gave a lecture about the dangers and consequences of...

From AP News: In response to research showing the long-term health impact of adverse childhood experiences, pediatricians, mental health specialists, educators and community leaders are...

From Scientific American: Although "normal" technically means average or typical, both researchers and the general public often view normality as a standard we should all...

Psychologist William Copeland writes for Mental Health Recovery that “bullying can occur at any age and the effects of which remain harmful long after the behavior has been endured.” “We, as a society, are just beginning to understand and come to terms with the havoc that bullying wreaks on the emotional lives of its victims.

The New York Times returns to the question of whether the explosion of ADHD diagnosis reflects a previously undetected population that was pathologically hyperactive,...

Two companies have committed to FDA review for video games that they claim can be used to treat “ADHD,” but many scientists remain skeptical. “At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry on Wednesday, Akili Interactive Labs presented data from a pilot study of its video game, Project: EVO, that showed some positive results in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).”

From CNN: From 1999 to 2015, 1,309 children ages 5 to 12 died by suicide in the U.S. That means that on average, one child under...

In this blog post for Quick Thoughts, James Coyne debunks a recent study in Lancet Psychiatry claiming that teens accessing mental health services experience a greater decrease in...

After seven suicides in two years, students have come together to develop community building interventions including a texting hotline, artificial light boxes, and conversation...

In this short audio clip, psychologist Sheldon Solomon discusses what research on our unconscious fears about death can tell us about terrorism, intolerance, and radicalism. “In the wake of the Paris attacks, we examine the worm that some people think is eating away at our core — our fear of death.”

For The Influence, addiction expert Stanton Peele criticizes our current genetic and biological “brain disease” approaches to addiction and mental health. Article →

The November/December issue of the Psychotherapy Networker is called "Depression Unmasked: Exposing a Hidden Epidemic." It includes articles such as, "Can Mood Science Save...

Gianna Kali reviews the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study, "one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and later-life...