Soteria Model Linked to Lower Psychiatric Readmission Rates, Study Finds
The Soteria care model is an alternative to restrictive inpatient psychiatric care for people experiencing psychosis in which patients and service users stay in...
Pharmaceutical Industry Corruption Is Structural, Systemic, and Profitable, New Review Finds
A new empirical review published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics reports that pharmaceutical industry corruption is a structural, industry-wide problem. Author...
Independent Evaluation Finds No Benefit to Coercion Under New York’s Kendra’s Law
Kendra’s Law is a New York State statute that allows courts to force people with “severe mental illness” into involuntary Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT)....
Benzodiazepine Use Tied to Increased Risk of Death, Especially at Higher Doses
Benzodiazepine use is common, with research estimating as many as 12.6% of US adults report past-year use. A 2019 study found significant increases in...
“Assault” and “Torture”: Patients Recall the Institutional Violence of Forced Drugging
A new article published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology finds that patients often experience forced drugging in psychiatric contexts as dehumanizing and violent....
When Therapy Makes Things Worse
This week, Mad in America examines three articles related to negative effects of psychotherapy. The first reviews the literature around negative effects in therapy,...
“Every Time I Took a Pill, I Felt I Was No Longer Myself”: Young...
A new study published online by the Journal of Humanistic Psychology examines young adults’ experience of taking and discontinuing antipsychotic drugs after completing a...
Antidepressants Linked to Suicide Risk, Irregular Heartbeat, and Sudden Death
This week Mad in America examines three studies related to adverse effects of antidepressants. The first study finds that antidepressant use is linked to...
Shifting Acute Mental Health Care to the Home Limits the Cycle of Rehospitalization, Study...
Intensive home treatment (IHT) is an approach to acute psychiatric care that avoids the stressful psychiatric ward admission procedures and allows the patient or...
Study Finds the Majority of Increases in Symptoms During Antidepressant Tapering are Related to...
Past research has framed symptom increases during tapering and discontinuation of psychotropic drugs as a relapse of an underlying “illness.” A new preprint article...
Open Dialogue Studies Highlight Collaboration, Clinician Support, and Stable Costs
This week Mad in America examines three studies related to the Open Dialogue approach in mental healthcare. Open Dialogue is a mental health approach...
“A System Built on Medication:” How Psychiatric Institutions Undermine Drug-Free Care
In 2015, the Norwegian Health Minister issued a directive ordering regional health authorities to create a plan for providing mental healthcare without drugs. A...
“It Was Like They Crushed a Beautiful Flower”: Families Speak Out on the Harms...
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a controversial practice, with recent research finding harm, as well as a lack of efficacy and informed consent. A new...
New Research Links Psychotropic Drugs to Heart and Pancreatic Risks While Keto Diet Shows...
This week Mad in America examines three studies related to the adverse effects of psychotropic drugs and one that investigates the effect of keto...
Research Reveals Pharma Profits Outweigh Anti-Kickback Penalties
The pharmaceutical industry has a well documented history of corruption and placing profit above public health. A new research letter published in JAMA Open...
Questioning the Prescription: Antidepressants and the Medicalization of Childhood
This week Mad in America explores four recently published articles related to antidepressant use in children and adolescents. The first reports that although clinical...
All Major Pharma Companies Implicated in Bribery Schemes, New Report Says
Pfizer, J&J, Eli Lilly, BMS, AstraZeneca, GSK, and more all engaged in systematic bribery schemes, according to decades of OECD reports. That's the finding...
Coercive Measures in Psychiatry are Increasing, Traumatic, and Linked to Systemic Failings
This week, Mad in America explores three studies related to the use of coercive psychiatric measures. The first finds that rates of coercive measures...
TikTok Videos Portray ADHD Stimulants in Overwhelmingly Positive Light, Study Finds
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of pharmaceuticals is a controversial topic within healthcare and psychiatry, with only two countries (US and New Zealand) allowing this practice....
Undisclosed Industry Payments Found in Top Psychiatry Journals
Research has shown that financial conflicts of interest (COIs) are a common issue in medicine and psychiatry, with a 2020 paper finding that 55.7%...
Belief in a Fair Economy Linked to Greater Mental Health Stigma, Study Finds
Recent research from across the world has found that stigma towards people with mental health diagnoses is either increasing or stagnant. While studies from...
Service Users Face Abuse From Mental Health Professionals
People with mental health diagnoses are often the victims of violence and abuse, both within and beyond mental healthcare systems. Media reports of sexual...
Visual Snow Syndrome: Can SSRIs Literally Change How You See the World?
SSRI antidepressants have been linked to a number of adverse effects. A recent study presents evidence that a new condition may need to be...
Weekly Research Digest: Psych Drugs Linked to Poor Heart Health and Gastrointestinal Bleeding
This week Mad in America examines studies related to adverse events associated with antipsychotics and antidepressants, including two studies that found increased risk of...
None of the 22 FDA Approvals for Psychiatric Drugs in the Last Decade Were...
Established drugs were repurposed, “me-too” drugs were approved, and even the few new biological approaches lacked clinical utility.
