Disorders

-The Atlantic reports on the growth of "autism-friendly" movie theaters, sports arenas and now live theaters.

Researchers found some antipsychotics to be worse than others for causing sexual dysfunction.

-MIA Bloggers Jonathan Leo and Jeffrey Lacasse review the New York Times' history of reporting on ADHD and the ensuing epidemic of ADHD.

A JAMA Psychiatry study found links between PTSD, type 2 diabetes, and antidepressants.

Antipsychotic drugs increased the risk of children developing diabetes by 50%, and with an antidepressant added, their risk doubled.

About one in five children on Medicaid who are being given long-acting stimulants for ADHD are also being given antipsychotics, often for unapproved conditions.

Over 1% of preschoolers on Medicaid in 36 US states are being given antipsychotics, antidepressants, amphetamine stimulants and other psychiatric drugs.

One-third of US children aged 4-5 who've been diagnosed with ADHD are being prescribed stimulant drugs.

-Ashley Zlatopolsky writes about how receiving a benzodiazepine for anxiety led to a severe, problematic addiction.

-Nearly one in five families in New South Wales, Australia admitted that they give tranquilizing drugs to their children during long road trips.

Over 70% of schizophrenia patients who are "treatment resistant" have apparently developed dopamine supersensitivity psychosis from long-term use of antipsychotic medications.

-A recent study of 1,099 children, adolescents and young adults found poverty associated in a dose-response manner with poorer brain development.

There are a lot of publication and reporting biases in studies of the efficacy of second-generation antidepressants for the treatment of anxiety.

-A prominent Canadian psychiatrist argues that "gender identity disorder" has no biological basis, and therefore all "conversion therapy" should not be outright banned.

An editorial in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society has called for a ban on advertisements about testosterone replacement therapy, and the FDA has issued warnings about the practice.

-Various experts weigh in on whether the boom in diagnosing psychological and physical problems as being caused by "low testosterone" is "disease-mongering."

-Pharmaceutical policy researcher Alan Cassels critically reviews a spate of effusive news coverage about a tiny, experimental study of a drug treatment for Alzheimer's.

I thought I would make a small contribution to the discussion about how coverage of the recent airline tragedy focuses so much on the supposed ‘mental illness’ of the pilot and not so much on the possible role of antidepressants. Of course we will never know the answer to these questions but it is important, I think, to combat the simplistic nonsense wheeled out after most such tragedies, the nonsense that says the person had an illness that made them do awful things. So, just to confirm what many recipients of antidepressants, clinicians and researchers have been saying for a long time, here are some findings from our recent New Zealand survey of over 1,800 people taking anti-depressants, which we think is the largest survey to date.

-MIA Blogger Dick Russell recounts the story of his son and Malidoma Somé.

-Peter Hitchens argues that the public discussion about the Germanwings crash has to start distinguishing between whether depressed people should be flying and whether people taking antidepressants should be.

Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk explores his field's long, complex, and stubborn history with trauma. Dr. van der Kolk explains how psychiatry as a...

Do you remember feeling pressure as a child to do better at school, fit in socially, or behave more appropriately? Making the right decision was not always as easy as adults and cheerful children's books sometimes painted it. Today's expectations and demands placed on children for Disney-like perfection, however, are exponentially greater and strangely different. At an ever increasingly early age, we are expecting kids to behave years beyond their developmental ability and maturation.

The majority of people taking antidepressant medications have never had major depressive disorder, and 38% have never met criteria for having any mental disorder.

The more a country's system of medical care expands, the sicker people feel -- and much of that effect seems related to psychiatry.

Antipsychotic medications that are commonly being used to help control behaviors in elderly people with dementia seem to be causing premature deaths at high rates.