Psychiatry Must Admit Failure of Current System and Take New Approach, Claims Stanford Neuroscientist
In an interview with the Scientific American, Stanford psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Amit Etkin, comments on the âwrong pathâ that psychiatry has taken as a...
Employment Lawyers Worried about DSM Diagnostic Expansions
An article in HRHero, a legal resource for human resource professionals, expresses concern about the expanding diagnostic categories in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual...
âSingulair, Montelukast: Asthma Medication Linked to Serious Psychotic Episodes in Childrenâ
ABC News reports on almost 90 cases of children experiencing suicidal thoughts and other psychiatric side effects while taking the common asthma medication Singulair....
âSometimes It’s OK To Feel The Feels, Sweetheartâ
âTell her how you really feel: Dr. Julie Holland is asking women to embrace their inner âmoody bitches."â Â Â Dana Farrington at NPR discusses Hollandâs...
“New Mental Disorder Aimed At People Who Insist On Eating A Clean Diet”
Natural News takes issue with the new, increasingly promoted "disorder" of "overly" desiring to eat healthy foods.
Greenberg on DSM: “There are many… who wonder about the sanity…”
"There are many practitioners, including psychiatrists, who wonder about the sanity and the soundness of the enterprise in general," Gary Greenberg tells the Australian...
âNew ‘Smart’ Drugs Tell Doctor You’re Not Taking Themâ
The Washington Examiner reports that the manufacturer of the antipsychotic Abilify is seeking FDA approval for new digitized pills that would alert doctors if patients fail to take their drugs on schedule.
Half of Us are Mentally Ill — Or are These Numbers Finally Going Too...
The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that some 45 per cent of Australians aged 16 to 85 have been mentally ill at some point...
âHow Poverty Affects Childrenâs Brainsâ
New research is investigating how âpoverty reduction promotes cognitive and brain development.â
âCalifornia Courts Step Up Oversight of Psychotropic Medication Use in Foster Careâ
The Mercury News reports that Californiaâs judicial council is taking major steps to address the rampant use of psychiatric drugs in foster care. The...
âHalf of US Preschoolers Diagnosed with ADHD Get Drugs, Is that Necessary?â
Laura McClure for Ted.com explains why giving amphetamines to children for behaviors deemed abnormal is a societal and public policy issue. âItâs a little...
ADHD and “The Merchants of Speed”
Pediatrician and UCSF professor Lawrence Diller has issued the fourth of a four-part memoir on Huffington Post, recounting the rise of ADHD medicating and...
Why are Kentucky Kids Medicated at Twice the National Rate?
Researchers with the Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support Unit at the University of Louisville have announced the launch of a three-year...
Is Screening for Mental Illness in Children a Bad Idea?
Psychology Salon psychologist Randy Paterson discusses the Mad In America investigative report about a program that trains physicians and school staff to more readily diagnose mental illnesses in children. "Authors of the initiatives almost always talk about the enhancement of social supports, the provision of psychotherapy, involvement with community, and so on," writes Paterson. "But in the real world of medical practice, screening usually translates into prescriptions written."
So Much Care It Hurts: The Impact of Unneeded Treatment
From Kaiser Health News: A growing number of patients and doctors are becoming concerned and speaking out about overtreatment, including unneeded scans, tests, surgeries, and...
âThe Hefty Price of âStudy Drugsâ Misuse on College Campusesâ
For the Conversation, Binghamton University researcher Lina Begdache tackles the issue of the growing use of 'Study Drugs' in the student population. âAnimal studies show...
What’s driving the increase in child medicating?
National Institute of Mental Health Director Thomas Insel suggests in his blog that the fact 4.3% of American children are taking psychostimulants may not...
âA Checklist to Stop Misuse of Psychiatric Medication in Kidsâ
Former DSM-IV task force chair Allen Frances takes aim at the âmassive overuse of psychotropic medication in childrenâ in an article for the Psychiatric Times. He shares a checklist of questions for doctors to consider before prescribing medication to children. Frances warns: âWe simply donât know what will be the long-term impact of bathing a childâs immature brain with powerful chemicals.â
âDrugs, Greed and a Dead Boyâ
New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, relates the story of Andrew Francesco, a boy who began taking Ritalin at age five and died from complications with Seroquel when he was fifteen. His father, a former pharmaceutical industry executive, reveals the industryâs greed in his memoir âOvermedicated and Undertreated.â Now the industry is pushing for a first-amendment right to market its drugs for off-label uses.
âPsychotropic Drug Prescriptions Increase at State Prisonsâ
Thirty-three percent of all inmates in New Mexico are taking at least one psychotropic drug. The rate is up from 25% in 2013, according to a report by The Santa Fe New Mexican. While the prescription rate at the federal level is 10%, 30% of male inmates and 70% of female inmates in New Mexico are prescribed psychotropic drugs.
âPediatricians Vary Widely in Diagnosing ADHD, Depressionâ
Researchers found that pediatricians vary greatly in how often they diagnose and prescribe drugs for ADHD and other mental health conditions. âThe proportion of...
‘A Little Bit of OCD’: The Downside of Mental Health Awareness
From The Guardian: People often claim to experience mental health problems only to excuse their unpleasant or hurtful behaviors. This can exacerbate prejudice toward those...
How Culpable Are Educators and Psychologists in Youth Suicide?
In this piece for Medium, Karen Kilbane discusses the ways that contemporary psychological theories, diagnoses, and behavior modification programs are harming the mental health and emotional...
âKids in Foster Care Three Times More Likely to be Diagnosed with ADHDâ
PsychCentral presents a new study from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that found that foster care children are three times more likely than other children on Medicaid to receive a diagnosis of ADHD. Overall, more than one in four children in foster care receive such a diagnosis. CDC statistician Melissa Danielson interpreted these results as revealing a âsubstantial needâ for more medical and behavioral services for kids in foster care.
âSaving Congressman Murphy from Fraudulent Informationâ
Dennis Embry, a clinical psychologist and government consultant on mental health, shares a letter he sent to congressman Murphy warning him about how he may have been misled concerning his mental health bill. âI am specifically writing you about erroneous, false information youâve been given about the National Registry of Evidence Base Programs and Practices. That erroneous information is likely to cause serious problems, which have been withheld from you.â
