Psychiatry Defends Its Antipsychotics: A Case Study of Institutional Corruption
Jeffrey LIeberman and colleagues have published a paper in the American Journal of Psychiatry stating that there is no evidence that psychiatric drugs cause long-term harm, and that the evidence shows that these drugs provide a great benefit to patients. A close examination of their review reveals that it is a classic example of institutional corruption, which was meant to protect guild interests.
Bullying’s Lasting Impact
From Science Daily: A new study shows that students who experience bullying in the fifth grade are at a higher risk for depression and substance use...
Chris Cornell’s Wife Blames Anxiety Medicine for Suicide
From Rolling Stone: On Thursday morning, singer Chris Cornell died by suicide. His wife recently issued a statement speculating that his suicide may have been...
I Smoked Weed Three Times and Ended Up in Rehab Hell
From VICE: In her recently published memoir, The Dead Inside, Cyndy Etler tells her story of being abused and subjected to attack therapy in a teen rehab...
The Virtues of Boredom
From The Atlantic: Like loneliness, boredom is an emotion that almost everyone feels, but almost no one talks about. Boredom may be useful in revealing...
Virtual Reality Promising for Mental Health Treatment
From Healio: A recent review indicated that virtual reality-based treatment may be effective for a variety of mental health concerns including phobias, social anxiety, PTSD,...
Physical Inactivity Associated with Worse Cognitive Functioning in Psychosis
Higher levels of sedentary behavior are associated with poorer cognitive functioning in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia.
A Suicide Therapist’s Secret Past
In this piece for The New York Times, suicidologist and psychotherapist Stacey Freedenthal tells her story of having struggled with suicidality and discusses the importance...
Is School Driving Kids Literally Crazy?
From FEE: School may have a negative impact on children's and teens' mental health: children's psychiatric emergency room visits drop precipitously over the summer and increase...
Music Therapy Interventions Reduce Depression Symptoms in Dementia
Therapists can use music to meet the emotional and social needs of individuals with dementia.
Yes, I Hear Voices, But No, I Don’t Want You to Call Me Mentally...
In this piece for The Independent, Rachel Waddingham describes her experience with hearing voices as well as learning to live with and understand her voices.
"When...
Mental Health is Different for People of Color in These 3 Ways
In this piece for Rest for Resistance, Dom Chatterjee discusses the white-centricism of mental health as well as the specific ways that the mental health system...
PTSD, Psychotropic Medication Increase Dementia Risk
From Healio: Researchers recently found that veterans diagnosed with PTSD and prescribed antidepressants or atypical antipsychotics are at a higher risk for dementia than veterans...
Restricting Pharma Reps Contact with Docs Decreases Prescriptions
Implementing policies that regulate pharmaceutical sales representatives’ interaction with physicians may reduce prescription of promoted drugs.
Crazywise:  Revisioning Narratives of Psychosis
I’m deeply impressed with the people who made this documentary — I’ve never seen such a creative and well constructed piece of film about non-Western views of psychosis. It skillfully turns the biomedical model of mental illness on its head and shows so many different ways of looking at what we call madness.
We Need Ecstasy and Cocaine in Place of Prozac and Xanax
From Aeon: While psychiatric drugs are often ineffective and can have serious side effects, there are many psychedelics and other illicit substances that have proven...
Alcoholism — Is it a Disease?
We are told a story about illness, and that story serves a mindset that underlies the darkness that we feel all around us and within us. The mindset is that we are flesh robots, floating on a dead rock, in the middle of nowhere. But we are in the midst of a paradigm shift.
Psychology vs. Psychiatry – What Can Happen if the System Fails
From Vox Gibraltar: Many people confuse psychology with psychiatry. Too often, general practitioners recommend psychiatric treatment when psychological treatment or therapy could be just as effective without resulting...
Beyond the Hysteria, What “13 Reasons Why” Gets Right
From Medium: "13 Reasons Why," the most-watched series in Netflix history, raises many important real-life concerns that need to be addressed, such as the impact...
Therapists Are Using Dungeons & Dragons to Help Kids
From Kotaku: Therapists across the country are running Dungeons & Dragons therapy groups to help socially isolated kids open up by participating in role-playing games.
"There...
Lancet Psychiatry’s Controversial ADHD Study: Errors, Criticism, and Responses
Amid calls for a retraction, Lancet Psychiatry publishes articles criticizing the original finding and a response from the authors.
Smash the Blue Lights: Autism Speaks is a ‘Danger to Self and Others’
There are few around Mad in America territory who would argue against the dangers of the National Alliance for Mental Illness. But as a movement, we often fail to recognize the dangers of their much younger sibling named ‘Autism Speaks’.
Trump’s Pick to Run Mental Health
From STAT: President Trump has nominated Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a proponent of increased psychiatric treatment for those diagnosed with serious mental illness, to run the Substance...
Is Psychiatry Partisan?
From The Atlantic: This June, the Supreme Court will make an important decision regarding the role of mental health experts in death penalty cases. The...
When Oregon Sent its Most Troubled Patients Into the Woods
From TIME: In 1972, 51 of the most troubled mental health patients at Oregon State Hospital were sent into the woods for a camping trip....
