Are Depression Guidelines Missing the Evidence for Exercise?
A recent review suggests that depression guidelines do not incorporate evidence for exercise within a stepped-care approach and may be over-reliant on pharmacological treatments.
Suicide Hotlines, Risk Assessment and Rights: Whose Safety Matters?
The hotline “counselor” will tell you that, if you’re unable to keep yourself safe, they will have to send you some “help.” We all know that what they mean is not a friend or a therapist but the police. Because strangers, usually big white men with guns, keep everyone safe and are not triggering, traumatizing or on power trips at all.
Current Immigration Policies Create Mental Health Vulnerabilities for Families
Researchers investigate the impact of immigration policies on the mental health of arriving Mexican and Central American immigrants.
Global Mental Health – The Hypocrisy of Mental Health in The Age of Austerity
Dr. China Mills shares her reactions to recent events focused on Global Mental Health, elaborating on deeper issues with the framing of mental health as a “burden” and the underlying implications of coloniality, technology, and medicalization.
Huge Breakthrough in Lawsuits Against ECT Shock Device Manufacturers
A major electroconvulsive therapy case that was on the eve of trial just settled to the satisfaction of the injured ECT patients and the DK Law Group, LLP. As an expert in the case I am pleased to report that this is a significant victory. The evidence secured has paved the way for more suits against ECT manufacturers that are on the way.
About 1 in 100 Children Treated with Ritalin Experience a Serious Adverse Event
A recent Cochrane review has found that serious adverse events occur for about 1% of children and adolescents treated with Ritalin.
New Report Points to Gaps in the Evidence for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder
A new report on pediatric bipolar critically examines the current evidence base and calls for more research before the diagnosis is used.
How Our Government Helps Drug-Dealing Doctors Kill Us
In the 1800s, the British East India Company, aided by England’s parliament which invested in it, profited greatly by selling opium in China. This began what China calls its “century of humiliation” in which a great empire was brought to its knees. Are we at the start of our own lost century, with psych pill and opioid dispensers taking on the BEIC’s role?
Global Mental Health: An Old System Wearing New Clothes
On October 10th, 2018, World Mental Health Day, The Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development published a report outlining a proposal to “scale up” mental health care globally. In this podcast series, we discuss the implications.
Peruvian Legal Capacity Reform – Celebration and Analysis
Peru has moved closer to full compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities than any other country in the world. Here I analyze the Peruvian reform as it pertains to legal capacity and the right to be free from disability-based detention and forced medical interventions.
Gradual Tapering is Most Successful for Withdrawal from Antipsychotics
Mixed-Methods study explores the experiences of antipsychotic discontinuation among service users.
Do Family Interventions for Psychosis Translate in China?
Researchers explore how family interventions for psychosis might be adapted to China’s emerging integrated mental health care landscape.
55 Steps to Informed Consent
55 Steps is a new film based on a true story that centers around two women: Collette, a lawyer with a tendency to work long hours, and Eleanor, who has spent far too much time incarcerated in hospitals. Over the course of five years, Collette fights for Eleanor’s right to choose whether or not she takes psychiatric drugs. This film is imperfect, but its importance can’t be ignored.
The Conflicts That Result From Globalizing Euro-American Psychology in India
Researchers examine the transformation of work, life, and identity in India as a result of Western corporate and psychological culture.
Trauma Blocks the Frontal Lobes – “Verbal Physiotherapy” Can Unblock Them
Trauma makes the speech centers of the brain shut down. This is why talking about abuse is so difficult: the words are blocked. If you reclassify trauma effects as trauma-strokes, and you adapt physiotherapy to take this clinical evidence into account, then you come up with Verbal Physiotherapy.
Pooling Data May Hide Negative Outcomes for Antidepressants
A new study, published in Psychological Medicine, found evidence for a specific type of publication bias distorting the evidence about antidepressant efficacy.
The Connection Between Sleep, Exercise, Screen Time and Cognition in Childhood
Can current guidelines for sleep, exercise, and screen time in childhood be linked to positive cognitive outcomes?
What Happened When I Went Off Meds and Onto Nutrients
I remember clearly thinking, “I’m done. I’m not putting myself through this again.” I wasn’t going to settle for the side effects of a marginally better than placebo treatment again. Here is a brief look into my rollercoaster journey of recovery, returning to work, having my trauma re-triggered, finding a way through, and finally living well.
Community-Driven Healthcare for the Homeless Reduces Hospital Costs
Direct access to care in safe locations is key in reducing healthcare costs and increasing quality of life for homeless populations.
The Cochrane Collaboration Has Failed Us All
The "independent report" that investigated the complaints against Peter Gøtzsche (which included a complaint from E. Fuller Torrey) reveals that they arose in connection with his criticisms of psychiatric drugs. The Cochrane Collaboration's ouster of Gøtzsche betrays a commitment to open-minded science that is vital to serving the public good.
The Global ‘Mental Health’ Movement – Cause For Concern
On October 10th, 2018, World Mental Health Day, The Lancet Commission on Global Mental Health and Sustainable Development published a report outlining a proposal to “scale up” mental health care globally.
TCI ASIA Pacific: Engaging the Global Mental Health Movement in Dialogue
The "North driving the South" phenomenon has evoked a strong counter response from TCI Asia Pacific and allied organizations (from Africa and Latin America) — especially when we know by now that the western model of psychiatry, based on colonial practices of isolation, seclusion, and coercion, is a failure.
How Well Do Neuroleptics Work?
A recent paper published in Schizophrenia Bulletin reported on a meta-analysis of antipsychotic drugs which found that a significant number of people do not experience a remission of psychotic symptoms. The evidence base suggests that it is time for us to reappraise the effectiveness of these drugs and shift our practice patterns accordingly.
Two-Thirds of Schizophrenia Patients Do Not Remit on Antipsychotics
A new analysis of antipsychotic treatment of schizophrenia (published in Schizophrenia Bulletin) has found that two-thirds of patients treated this way do not experience symptom remission.
Systematic Review Finds Antidepressant Withdrawal Common and Potentially Long-lasting
Prominent researchers conduct a review of antidepressant withdrawal incidence, duration, and severity. Results lead to call for new clinical guidelines.
