Branding Diseases—How Drug Companies Market Psychiatric Conditions: An Interview with Ray Moynihan

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Ray Moynihan about the marketing of disorders, broadening of diagnoses, and harmful treatments.

Very Slow Taper Best for Antipsychotic Discontinuation

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An article in JAMA Psychiatry advises very slow tapering for best results when discontinuing antipsychotic drugs.

How to Distinguish Antidepressant Withdrawal from Relapse

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Mark Horowitz and David Taylor provide advice on how to tell the difference between antidepressant withdrawal and depression relapse.

Beyond Paternalism or Abandonment in Mental Health Care: An Interview with Neil Gong

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Neil Gong exposes the false choice in mental health policy between tolerant containment for the poor and paternalistic surveillance for the rich.

ADHD Drugs Linked to Psychosis and Mania

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In one analysis, those on a high dose of prescription amphetamines were more than 13 times more likely to develop psychosis/mania.

Demedicalizing Depression: An Interview with Milutin Kostić

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Justin Karter interviews Milutin Kostić on the fundamental flaws in depression research and its neglect of human complexity.

Long-term Outcomes Better for Those Who Stop Taking Antipsychotics

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Research undermines the prolonged use of antipsychotics in schizophrenia treatment, suggesting improved social functioning and quality of life with discontinuation.

Fighting for the Meaning of Madness: An Interview with Dr. John Read

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Akansha Vaswani interviews Dr. John Read about the influences on his work and his research on madness, psychosis, and the mental health industry.

Psychiatric Drugs Do Not Improve Disease or Reduce Mortality

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Nassir Ghaemi: “Most psychiatric medications are purely symptomatic, with no known or proven effect on the underlying disease. They are like 50 variations of aspirin, used for fever or headache, rather than drugs that treat the causes of fever or headache.”

Māori Approach to Mental Health Offers Empowering Alternative to Western Psychiatry

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A new article explores Mahi a Atua, an affirming indigenous Māori healing practice which stands in contrast to the Western psychiatric methods typically promoted by the Movement for Global Mental Health.
A boy is holding a head. He is unhappy and upset.

The Faulty Reasoning That Turned ADHD Into a Disease

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Leading ADHD researchers outline four mistakes that turned ADHD from a description of behavior into a medical disease.

Psychology is Not What You Think: An Interview with Critical Psychologist Ian Parker

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Ian Parker about critical psychology, discourse and political action, and whether psychology has anything left to offer.

When Psychology Speaks for You, Without You: Sunil Bhatia on Decolonizing Psychology

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Sunil Bhatia about decolonizing psychology, confronting the field’s racist past, colonial foundations, and neoliberal present.

Largest Survey of Antipsychotic Experiences Reveals Negative Results

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A new survey exploring antipsychotic user experience finds that more than half of the participants report only negative experiences.

What Is the Risk of Permanent Sexual Dysfunction from Antidepressants?

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Males taking antidepressants were at 100 times the risk of erectile dysfunction compared with the healthy population and more than three times the risk even after controlling for other variables.

Benzodiazepines Linked to Treatment Resistant Depression

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Prior use of benzodiazepines, such as Xanax, Librium, or Ativan, may increase the risk of treatment-resistant depression (TRD), according to a new study published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.

Psych Concepts Creep Into Our Everyday Experiences: An Interview with Nicholas Haslam

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Nicholas Haslam about how psychiatric terms get diluted and creep into everyday language, altering our experiences.

Remembering Bhargavi Davar: A Global Leader in the Struggle for Human Rights

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Bhargavi Davar was a global leader in the struggle for human rights, with her work as a psychiatric survivor activist simply one aspect of that work.
3D render of placebo pills isolated over wood background

Placebo Effect—Not Antidepressants—Responsible for Depression Improvement

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In adolescent depression treatment, those who received a placebo but thought they received Prozac improved more than those who received the drug and knew it.
Bruce Cohen

The Failings of “Mental Health”: How a Seemingly Benign Concept Might be Dangerous

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MIA’s Ayurdhi Dhar interviews Bruce Cohen about dismissive psychiatrists, pervasive psychiatry, and the field's ties to neoliberal capitalism.

Experts Raise Ethical Concerns About Machine Learning in Medicine

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The use of machine learning algorithms (known as artificial intelligence) in the medical field raises a slew of ethical concerns.

Stopping SSRI Antidepressants Can Cause Long, Intense Withdrawal Problems

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In the first systematic review of withdrawal problems that patients experience when trying to get off SSRI antidepressant medications, researchers found that withdrawing from SSRIs was comparable to trying to quit addictive benzodiazepines.

Wunderink: Antipsychotics Can Be Tapered Safely Without Increasing Relapse Risk

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Tapering antipsychotics slowly and with supported decision-making may improve care for patients with psychosis.

NICE Guideline Update Acknowledges Severe Antidepressant Withdrawal

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A new update to the NICE guideline for depression suggests providers discuss long-term, severe antidepressant withdrawal symptoms.

Responsibility Without Blame in Therapeutic Communities: Interview with Philosopher Hanna Pickard

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Hanna Pickard on the elusive middle ground between personal responsibility and systemic factors in our understandings of addiction.