Smoke and Flames: Silence In A World On Fire
A corrupt world is built brick by brick by individual acts of shame and silence. Can we break the silence that protects misconduct even while it means being exposed ourselves? Psychiatry and the mental health system are failing, but they are also just sets of human relationships, relationships we are also part of.
Benzodiazepine Prescriptions in Older Adults Used in Rural and Low Income Areas
Benzodiazepine prescription practices may be in response to an epidemic of distress, rather than being used to treat specific mental health diagnoses.
Prazosin Ineffective for Preventing Suicidal Thoughts — May Worsen Nightmares
A new study found that prazosin was associated with increased insomnia and nightmares, and did not reduce suicidal thoughts.
Study Highlights Mental Health Consequences of Parent Emotion Suppression
New research suggests that when parents model emotion suppression strategies in social interactions, their children’s approaches to social engagement may suffer.
Anatomy of an Opioid Epidemic
Long-term opioid prescribing has not only been shown to not be helpful for chronic pain; it in fact worsens pain by repeatedly causing tolerance and withdrawals (the main symptom of which is pain). This is analogous to how psychiatric drug use, though often helpful initially, ultimately can cause people to become chronically “mentally ill.”
How “Schizophrenia” Helped Me Find My Soul Mate
Dating someone when you have a history of “schizophrenia” is very hard. I figured that if people left me for something as common as depression, anyone hearing my story of psychosis would give me an immediate boot. My initial efforts were awkward and lacked discretion — into each date I’d burst, willing to commit for an eternity with unconditional love.
My Fight Against Antidepressants, Part III: Breaking Free
I had managed to get off the drugs again, this time with practically no withdrawal reactions other than some disturbances to my sleep which eventually settled down. I truly feel that I have been given a second chance because I am aware of how many people struggle terribly with these drugs just as I did.
Researchers Suggest Traumatic Experiences May Cause Psychotic Symptoms
A new study in JAMA Psychiatry investigates the relationship between trauma and psychotic experiences.
Research Progresses on Mindfulness Based Interventions for Adolescents
A new meta-analysis analyzes randomized control trials of Mindfulness-Based Interventions for adolescents.
Mindfulness and Complex Trauma: The Rewards and the Risks
What media hype and those selling mindfulness don’t tell you is that mindfulness is a process that can radically transform you, and it’s not always safe, nor is it easy or straightforward. We make it safer by being aware of the risks and learning to listen to our own bodies about when it is or isn’t okay for us. No one else actually knows.
Researchers Warn of “Brain Atrophy” in Children Prescribed Antipsychotics
Researchers discuss the evidence that antipsychotic medications may cause brain atrophy in children, whose brains are still developing.
Are Emotional Disorders Really Disorders of Love?
Could the whole array of psychiatric diagnostic categories, to the extent that they have any validity at all, be expressions of the failure to love and to accept love? Do successful psychotherapies really work by means of the therapist’s ability to encourage people to experience love through how positively he or she relates to them?
Therapist Empathy Predicts Success in Psychotherapy
An updated meta-analysis reveals that therapist empathy is a predictor of better psychotherapy outcomes.
Invisible Trauma: The Children Left Behind When Parents Are Hospitalized
It would take decades before I recognized the trauma caused by repeatedly being separated from my mom when she was hospitalized. I grieved almost exactly the way children did who had lost a parent to death. Yet it was grief without closure because my mom was not dead, just... gone.
The Real Attention Deficit Disorder
The fact that we shame people for acting like they need attention (and for actually needing attention) is self-defeating and maddening, not to mention absurd. Living in a society that punishes people for having fundamental needs like attention is probably one of the reasons people have developed behaviors “just” to “get attention.”
Filling the Crack in the Liberty Bell
Instead of an echo-chamber conference, in which treatment “experts” present to other treatment providers, and those with lived experience gather in their own rooms, the ISPS-US conference allowed for the clash of diverse opinions, which could sometimes amalgamate into something greater than the sum of its parts.
Study Identifies Benefits and Drawbacks of E-Mental Health
Study suggests that clinicians believe that rewards outweigh risks for using e-mental health resources in therapy.
Mental Health Service Users’ Perspectives on Family-Focused Recovery
Study explores a multifaceted approach to promote family-focused recovery practice.
Exploring the Role of Community Engagement in School Psychology
New research emphasizes the impact of school connectedness and community engagement interventions on students' mental health.
What Would Real Informed Consent on Psychiatric Drugs Look Like?
Reforming the process of real informed consent can be brought to the horizon sooner rather than later if we have a solid idea of what the provision of truthful, unbiased research-based information about psychiatric medications should look like. Our upcoming series of webinars for 2019 will focus on just that.
Some Herbal Supplements May Contain Dangerous Pharmaceuticals
Between 2007 and 2016, the FDA identified 776 herbal supplements containing active, unapproved pharmaceutical chemicals.
Study Finds Deteriorating Mental Health Among Poor White Americans
Researchers find evidence of low socio-economic status White Americans’ rising distress and declining well-being since the mid-1990s.
The Agonizing Nightmare of Drug-Induced Akathisia
Take every horrific feeling you’ve ever had in your life, all at once. Now, times them by 200, right in your gut. That is how akathisia pain feels. When I tell doctors I have drug-induced akathisia, and that it's incredibly painful, they do not believe me. They say my pain is a mental health issue, and they have all methodically undermined my credibility in my permanent record.
Trauma Outside the Box: How the ‘Trauma-Informed’ Trend Falls Short
Becoming "trauma-informed" is often just a way to advance one's career and feel good about oneself while pretty much doing nothing different. Here's a glimpse into the ways in which mainstream services and trauma specialists are perpetuating harm while patting themselves on the back for being progressive and aware.
Litigation Update: ECT Device Manufacturer Issues “Permanent Brain Damage” Warning
After spending the entire litigation vehemently denying that brain injury was even a possible result of ECT, Somatics, LLC has now issued a warning of "permanent brain damage" in its new risk disclosures. We think this makes the case of anyone who underwent ECT within the statute of limitations MUCH stronger.
