How FDA Avoided Finding Adult Antidepressant Suicidality
The studies that the FDA relied upon for adults over age 24 were dismally flawed and untrustworthy compared to the ones used for children. The child studies showed that antidepressants can cause suicidality — the adult studies showed nothing other than FDA collusion with drug companies.
PTSD and Psychiatric Medication Linked to Dementia in Older Veterans
Veterans diagnosed with PTSD and taking SSRIs, novel antidepressants, or atypical antipsychotics are more likely to develop dementia.
Sense of Purpose Reduces Negative Effects of Social Media Use
New research shows that having a strong sense of personal meaning and purpose can reduce the negative effects of social media use.
How Feedback Can Improve Psychotherapy Treatment
Researcher examines the impact of client feedback and progress assessment on improvement in outcomes.
The Violence-Inducing Effects of Psychiatric Medication
On May 17, 2017, we learned that Chris Cornell of Soundgarden had reportedly committed suicide by hanging. Perhaps an “addict turned psychiatric patient,” like so many, Chris Cornell seemed to have left the frying pan of substance abuse for the fire of psychiatric medication risks.
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.
I Am Not the Next Headline in Tragedy
I may be psychotic but I am not the next headline in the news. I am thoughtful and questioning. I am different and unique, but I am not violent and my life will never be anyone's tragedy.
Would you like to stand with me?
Music Therapy Interventions Reduce Depression Symptoms in Dementia
Therapists can use music to meet the emotional and social needs of individuals with dementia.
A Clashing of Worlds (and Perspectives) on the Problem of Suicide
The controversy with 13RW is essentially a clashing of worlds — the world of entertainment (and its predominant audience of teens) and the world of science and practice. Who’s to say those from each perspective cannot find common ground in the service of something with life and death consequences?
Restricting Pharma Reps Contact with Docs Decreases Prescriptions
Implementing policies that regulate pharmaceutical sales representatives’ interaction with physicians may reduce prescription of promoted drugs.
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.
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.
Psychiatric Medications Heighten Risk for Major Bone Fractures
Important assessment tool found to underestimate the risk for fracture in patients on psychiatric medication.
New UN Report: Steps Forward, But No End to Impunity
Dainius Pūras, UN Special Rapporteur on Health, has issued a groundbreaking new report critiquing biopsychiatry and its reliance on coercion, yet he pulls his punches, most unforgivably by treating the obligation to end coercive practices as a matter for gradual rather than immediate implementation.
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’.
Oliver Sacks Helps Me Explain Hypersensitivity
In this passage Oliver Sacks writes about an altered state in which the capacity of the smell sense opens up. That is what it’s like for me all the time — hypersensitivity. I have this sort of acute capacity with all my senses all the time… it’s overwhelming, and it’s also the source of all my healing.
Nassir Ghaemi and The Psychological Fallacy
Rogue psychiatrists are straying from orthodoxy by expressing the belief that people who are burdened by excessive loss or difficulties are understandably depressed, and therefore not "diagnosable," but Dr. Ghaemi is bringing them back to the fold in the fine tradition of psychiatric pedagogy.
Study Highlights Importance of Social Interactions in Psychosis Recovery
Study finds frequency of social interactions predicts long-term remission in first-episode psychosis.
Informed Consent for Benzodiazepines: A Personal Account
I began to have transient moments where I would feel oddly disconnected from my environment or wake up and feel like I was coming out of my skin. I did not know it at the time, but I was experiencing interdose benzodiazepine withdrawal and it would end up leading me down a path of polypharmacy.
Racism Linked to Poor Health Outcomes in Children
New study finds children who have been exposed to discrimination show higher likelihood of anxiety, depression, and ADHD.
Neuroqueering Judaism: Reflections on Mad Passover
For our Haggadah, the reading material that guides the Seder activities, we included a list of the 10 modern plagues: psychiatric incarceration, forced drugging, electroshock therapy, restraint, seclusion, coercive behavior therapies, outpatient commitment, the pathology paradigm, sanism, and societal coercion to recover.
Food Insecurity Linked to Mental Health Globally
Global analysis of 149 countries finds food insecurity is associated with poorer mental health.
Change in Chicago: Playing Go
The jury was out for days. And when they came back it became clear they were wrestling with the issue of who to blame. This was like playing Go, where it can look like the black counters on the board have white encircled until white puts down one more piece and all of a sudden it wins.
Researchers Search for Subgroups Where Antidepressants Are More Effective
The researchers theorized that this increased effectiveness was due not to “antidepressant” properties, but rather to the drug’s side effects, which include insomnia, drowsiness, and nausea.
Inconvenient Truths About Antipsychotics: A Response to Goff et al
The most worrying thing about the Goff et al paper is the minimisation of the evidence that antipsychotics produce brain shrinkage. There are no studies that show progressive brain changes in people diagnosed with schizophrenia or psychosis in the absence of antipsychotic treatment.
