SSRIs in Pregnancy Linked to Early Depression in Children

4
A new study finds that prenatal exposure to antidepressant drugs, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs, is associated with higher rates of...

“Why You Should Stop Taking Your Antidepressants”

0
The New York Post reprints an excerpt on antidepressants from the latest book by MIA contributor, Kelly Brogan, MD, “A Mind of Your Own:...

“The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Role in U.S. Medical Education”

0
“Pharmaceutical industry influence can harm the social and moral character of medical students. In medicine, the traditional virtues of benevolence, compassion, integrity, respectfulness, honesty...

“There are no ‘Schizophrenia Genes’: Here’s Why”

6
Richard Bentall and David Pilgrim offer their critique of genetic theories of schizophrenia for the Conversation. "The high heritability estimates reported in earlier quantitative...

Our Day in Mental Health Court

49
For weeks I had been trying to get released from the psychiatric ward, and none of my arguments, compliance, or attempted air of normality had made an impression on the barely-visible ward psychiatrist. I had, I was told, made a very serious suicide attempt and this was a predictor of future attempts. They would let me know when they thought I was sufficiently remorseful and stabilized to be released.

Update: Massachusetts Benzodiazepine Bill Hearing

11
The hearing for Bill H4062: Informed Consent for Benzodiazepines and Non-benzodiazepine Hypnotics took place on Monday – in the middle of an April snowstorm! The discussion clarified some important points in the legislation and gave survivors an opportunity to tell their stories. I was so proud to be there and witness the courage, camaraderie, resilience, advocacy, and vulnerability of fellow survivors. This legislation is our chance to be heard. As one survivor said, through tears, to the committee, “Do not let my suffering be in vain. I beg you to pass this bill.”

Amphetamines Have Long-Term Effects on Adolescent Brain, Study Finds

13
A new study published in the journal Neuroscience finds that rats given regular doses of amphetamines during adolescence have brain and behavioral changes in adulthood....

“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...

“Pediatricians Vary Widely in Diagnosing ADHD, Depression”

1
Researchers found that pediatricians vary greatly in how often they diagnose and prescribe drugs for ADHD and other mental health conditions. “The proportion of...

“Brain Changes Seen in Veterans with PTSD after Mindfulness Training”

0
Veterans with PTSD experience observable changes to the brain after mindfulness training, according to new research published in Depression and Anxiety. “The brain findings suggest...

Epidemiologists Decry Major Problems in US Psychiatric Practice

10
In an exchange published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, researchers take turns highlighting major problems in the way psychiatry is currently practiced in the United States. In response to an article by Vinay Prasad calling for an insistence on randomized control trials in “evidence-based” medicine, Jose de Leon, from the Mental Health Research Center at the University of Kentucky begins the back-and-forth by pointing out that this type of evidence has been detrimental to the field of mental health.

“Attention Deficit After Kids’ Critical Illness Linked to Medical Tubes”

0
Past research has revealed the children who get hospitalized in the intensive care unit are more likely to develop the symptoms associated with ADHD....

“Transgender Veterans Have High Rates of Mental Health Problems”

1
A new study finds that ninety percent of military veterans who identify as transgender have at least one mental health diagnosis. “Traumatic brain injuries...
turtle reason to live

Simple Things

24
Sometimes it's the simple things that keep us going, especially when the complicated ones seem so overwhelming; when there's too much chaos, too many emotions, too many possibilities and impending disasters. No one can give you a reason to live. You have to find it for yourself. Until you do, try simple things. For me, it was a turtle.

“In Surprise Decision, FDA Blocks Crucial Cognitive Claim for Takeda’s Brintellix”

1
Takeda and Lundbeck had prepared to advertise that their latest antidepressant Brintellix (Vortioxetine) could give patients a cognitive boost and help them think and...

“Microbes Can Play Games With The Mind”

2
In the April issue of Science News, Laura Sanders covers recent studies that have begun turning up tantalizing hints about how microbes, the bacteria...

“Social Media Use and Depression Linked in Large Study”

0
New research coming out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine suggests that the more time young adults spend on social media, the...

“Mental Illness Mostly Caused by Life Events Not Genetics, Argue Psychologists”

61
According to psychologists, “mental illness is largely caused by social crises such as unemployment or childhood abuse.” If this is so, why are we...

Young Transgender Women Burdened with High Rates of Psychiatric Diagnoses

27
New research published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that transgender women have more than double the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses than the general US population. The study found that the women, who had been assigned male at birth and now identified as female, had a high prevalence of suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder.

“Misdiagnosed Bipolar: One Girl’s Struggle”

1
The San Jose Mercury News tells the story of Tessa Gallo, who was wrongly diagnosed with bipolar disorder in sixth-grade when she actually had...

“Psychiatric Drugs and Veteran Suicides”

1
US Congressman David Jolly has introduced a bill calling for studies on the link between veteran suicides and psychiatric drugs. The International Society for...

“Doctors Tell Sinead O’Connor: ‘You’re Not Bipolar’”

0
Sinead says she was misdiagnosed after giving birth eight years ago and has suffered greatly from the psychiatric drugs she was prescribed. “They are...

Antipsychotics Increase Mortality Risk in Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

15
A new study in JAMA Neurology finds that the use of antipsychotic drugs more than doubled the risk of death in patients with Parkinson’s...

Is Increasing Antidepressant Use Contributing to the Obesity Epidemic?

11
Since the 1980s, antidepressant use has risen by at least four-hundred percent and obesity rates have climbed to include thirty percent of the population....

Do 5 Million Americans Really Have Bipolar Disorder?

25
5.7 million Americans say they have "Bipolar Disorder." These patients have been labeled, categorized, and offered an understanding of themselves as diseased, sick, and permanently broken. It is considered one of the more severe "mental illnesses," perhaps because it presents almost as an amalgamation of psychosis and depression in a particularly volatile form. In my training, I was taught to medicate these patients, often with multiple medications, and often against their will. Poetically, though, these patients — desperate to understand who they are in a system that condemns them to a life of struggle and suffering — will be vindicated by modern science.