First They Ignore You: Impressions From Today’s Hearing on H.R. 3717
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.
Meta-analysis Links Childhood Trauma to Psychosis Symptoms
The study results suggest that experiences of childhood trauma impact the development of symptoms associated with psychosis.
MRI Studies
During the 1990s, researchers using MRI technology discovered that antipsychotics shrink the frontal lobes and cause an enlargement of the basal ganglia. In the...
Tapering Off Medications When “Symptoms Have Remitted”: Does That Make Sense?
While a 2-year outcome study by Wunderink, et al. has been cited as evidence that guided discontinuation of antipsychotics for people whose psychosis has remitted results in twice as much “relapse,” a not-yet-published followup of that study, extending it to 7 years using a naturalistic followup, finds that the guided discontinuation group had twice the recovery rates, and no greater overall relapse rate (with a trend toward the medication group having more relapse.)
No Treatments Have “Clinically Meaningful” Impacts On Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia
While most treatments have had "statistically significant" success in clinical trials, no common psychiatric or psychological treatments improve the negative symptoms of schizophrenia at levels that are "clinically meaningful."
Study Explores Māori Community’s Multifaceted Understanding of “Psychosis”
A new study explores how “psychosis” and “schizophrenia” are viewed within the Māori community in New Zealand.
Psychiatric Teams Have a Responsibility to Think About the Psychosis/Sexual Abuse Link
In England, childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has become big news. The increasing understanding of the level of childhood sexual abuse and how this produces mental anguish has of course reached the psychosis arena, and encouraged academic study. Whilst the majority of psychiatrists continue to privilege a biological explanation of psychosis, more and more workers recognise abuse as at least a trigger if not a cause of psychosis. It's important to develop thinking points for teams struggling with, or more generally avoiding, the CSA/psychosis link.
Study Explores Cognitive Effects of Antipsychotics
Reduced usage of antipsychotics in first-episode psychosis was associated with improved executive functioning.
Researchers Make the Case to Rename Schizophrenia
The authors outline reasons for renaming schizophrenia and the way a change can reform practice.
Different Forms of Childhood Adversity Related to Specific Psychosis Symptoms
In this month’s issue of Psychological Medicine, researchers from King’s College London found evidence for associations between different types of childhood adversity and specific symptoms associated with psychosis. As current categorical approaches to psychosis and schizophrenia diagnoses come under increasing scrutiny, this study adds support to sociological and psychological theories and treatments.
Stigmatizing Effects of the Psychosis-Risk Label
Study examines the effects on participants of being told they are at risk of developing psychosis.
Study Shows Success With Reduced Antipsychotic Use
People who reduced antipsychotic use by tapering were doing just as well after five years as those who continued using the drugs.
Better Outcomes Off Medication for Those Recovered from First-Episode Schizophrenia
A new study has found that of 10 people who were fully recovered from their first episode of schizophrenia (FES), those not taking antipsychotics did better in terms of cognitive, social, and role functioning—and reached full recovery more quickly.
Japan Leads the Way Away From “Schizophrenia” as a Concept
Schizophrenia Bulletin follows the movement change to the name and concept of "Schizophrenia", revealing that Japan has taken the lead. Japan, to remove the...
Antipsychotic Use Does Not Correlate With Conversion to Psychosis
Researchers in Brazil find, in a meta-analysis, that only 30% of youth deemed to be of ultra high risk of psychosis do in fact...
The Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) Study: Notes from the Trenches
I was a psychiatrist who participated in the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE ETP). Although I welcomed the positive headlines that heralded the study's results, the reports left me with mixed feelings. What happened to render the notion that talking to people about their experiences and helping them find jobs or go back to school is something novel?
Sodium Nitroprusside Shows No Efficacy in Schizophrenia Treatment
Researchers question biases of preliminary trials that found that sodium nitroprusside, an antihypertensive drug, has positive effects on schizophrenia symptoms.
Traumagenic Neurodevelopmental Model of Psychosis — Revisited
The traumagenic neurodevelopment model of psychosis, introduced in 2001, highlighted similarities between brain abnormalities found both in people who have been abused and those...
Leading Researchers Critique Current Paradigm for Studying ‘Schizophrenia’ Risk
Re-conceptualizing the Clinical-High-Risk/Ultra-High-Risk Paradigm: A critique and reappraisal
Half of Government-Insured Colorado Children Prescribed Antipsychotics are not Psychotic
According to a report prepared by Colorado University and released to the Denver Post, half of the children on government insurance in Colorado who...
Cannabis May Precipitate Psychosis
In a study of 785 patients with a psychotic disorder, researchers from The Netherlands found that cannabis us was associated with an earlier onset...
Large German Anti-Stigma Campaign Shows Little Effect on Attitudes
“Overall, this study showed that the information and awareness campaign had almost no significant effects on the general public's attitudes toward people affected by either schizophrenia or depression,” the researchers, led by German medical sociologist Anna Makowski, wrote. “One could assume that deeply rooted convictions cannot be modified by rather time-limited and general activities targeted at the public.”
Antipsychotics Aren’t Helpful to Children
Researchers from London, writing in European Psychiatry, reviewed "all RCTs involving children and young people with a diagnosis of childhood onset schizophrenia comparing any...
Antipsychotics Associated with High Risk of Death in Children
A new study has found that children and adolescents taking a high dose of antipsychotics are almost twice as likely to die of any cause than children on other types of medications.
Many Foster Kids Are Still Being Prescribed Antipsychotic Drugs
Many experts expressed concern when the rate of antipsychotic prescriptions to children in foster care showed a rapid increase, peaking in 2008, and new recommendations and policies have tried to curb the use of these drugs. While the rate has plateaued, a new study points out that the “new normal” prescription levels are still dangerously high. The data reveals that almost one in ten children in foster care are currently being prescribed antipsychotic drugs with dangerous side-effects, many for diagnoses like ‘ADHD’ and disruptive behavior.