Researchers Fail to Replicate Evidence for “Biotypes” of Depression
A new study casts doubt on whether such biotypes for depression exist.
Valuing Posttraumatic Growth in Psychosis
Individuals who experience psychosis can also experience posttraumatic growth, which can be a central component of the recovery paradigm.
Media Errors in Covering “Mental Health” – Advice to Fellow Writers and Editors
In 2015, I published a BuzzFeed feature story about Teresa Sheehan, a woman who was diagnosed with "schizoaffective disorder" and was shot by police. At the time I didn’t realize that it was my job to take the point of view of people who’ve been psychiatrically diagnosed very seriously. I was terrified of appearing to challenge the profession of psychiatry.
Lee Coleman – The Insanity Defence, Storytelling on the Witness Stand
An interview with Doctor Lee Coleman, in which we focus on psychiatry in the courtroom and why the psychiatric expert witness role may be failing both the individual on trial and society at large.
The Lonely Wave: On the Failure of Group Therapy
If you put mortally desperate people in a room together, what do you expect? Emotions will spill over and people will jostle for time and topic. In my groups, even the most kindhearted had attempted to either become the center of attention or slink away into silence, often leaving early with a whispered “sorry” and a quick shuffle out of the room.
Antidepressant Use Linked to Longer, More Frequent Psychiatric Rehospitalization
New study finds that antidepressants may negatively impact recovery after psychiatric hospitalization.
The New Yorker Peers into the Psychiatric Abyss… And Loses Its Nerve
The New Yorker's story on Laura Delano and psychiatric drug withdrawal is a glass-half-full story: It addresses a problem in psychiatry and yet hides the deeper story to be told. A story of how her recovery resulted from seeing herself within a counter-narrative that tells of the harm that psychiatry can do.
More Physical Activity-Based Mental Health Interventions Needed in Schools
What physical activity-based programs are being implemented in schools, how are they being researched, and what kind of impact have they made?
Constructing Alternatives to the DSM: An Interview with Dr. Jonathan Raskin
Dr. Raskin discusses psychotherapists’ dissatisfaction with current psychiatric diagnostic systems and explores alternatives.
Struggling Parents, Burdened Social Services: What We Can Change
Parents encounter many obstacles when trying to secure adequate educational, medical, psychological, and social supports for their children. These “dense bureaucracies” hurt not just families, but everyone.
The Impact of Regression to the Mean in Psychiatric Drug Studies
Could the statistical phenomenon of regression to the mean be responsible for the dramatic effects of placebo—as well as the supposed effectiveness of some psychiatric drugs?
Psychosocially Oriented Psychologists Struggle Against the Medical Model
Interviews with psychosocially oriented psychologists demonstrate their experiences of discomfort with the hegemony of the medical model in their place of work and the conflicts that arise when they attempt to provide alternatives.
The Science and Pseudoscience of Women’s Mental Health: Conversation with Kelly Brogan
A conversation with Dr. Kelly Brogan, a leading voice in natural approaches to women’s mental health. With degrees from MIT and Weil Cornell Medical College, triple board certification in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine and integrative holistic medicine, Dr. Brogan is uniquely qualified to challenge the pseudoscience of the chemical imbalance theory and the drug regimens that it spawned.
Mental Health Recovery Narratives Play Central Role in Trauma-Informed Care
New research synthesizes insights from 45 studies to construct a conceptual framework relating different elements of recovery narratives to trauma-informed approaches to care.
ECT Explained by a CET (Certified Engineering Technologist)
A scientific understanding of electricity’s effects on the human body has only been around since the last half of the 20th century. If this understanding of electric shock and electrical injury was had in the first part of the 20th century, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) would likely never have been accepted by modern western medicine.
More Psychological Supports Needed to Manage Antidepressant Discontinuation
Study reviews psychological interventions for antidepressant discontinuation.
Why “Middle-Grounders” May Be as Dangerous as APA Presidents
When above-the-fray/middle-roaders jump on bandwagons and criticize only those aspects of psychiatry that have become fashionable to criticize but don’t challenge the legitimacy of psychiatry as an authority, they hurt more than they help. They provide the false impression that psychiatry is self-correcting and progressing.
Withdrawal Symptoms Routinely Confound Findings of Psychiatric Drug Studies
Researchers examine how rapid discontinuation can mimic the relapse of mental health symptoms and confound psychiatric drug studies.
Psychiatrists View Drug-Free Programs for Psychosis as “Unscientific,” Study Finds
A new study provides an insider’s look into how psychiatrists view the establishment of drug-free programs in Norway.
The Hints That Psychotherapy Clients Drop
Clients regularly hint in passing at what’s causing their distress. The hints we get from a client help us determine which of these many causes are more probable than the others or maybe even which is the cause. Nor is it hard to hear these hints, if we train ourselves to listen for them. Responding to causal hints with a spirit of inquiry and careful talking points deepens the work.
The Therapeutic Role of Blame
When fault is not placed on the right people, innocent people are left vulnerable and alone. They may also begin to question their ability to trust their own feelings and perceptions. When you refuse to blame the people who are legitimately at fault, you gaslight the people their actions are injuring, piling on additional hurt and making it much harder for the wounded to heal.
Higher Minimum Wage May Result in Fewer Suicide Deaths, Study Finds
New research suggests that minimum wage laws provide financial security that may help prevent suicide.
“I Love My Diagnosis”: The Benefits of Mental Illness
What inherent benefits may exist for identifying oneself as mentally ill? Many patients actually hope for a diagnosis. Once granted that special status, they then inform everyone around them—friends, family, the HR department—so that everyone can get on board and act accordingly, altering any expectations they might otherwise have for this person.
International Research Team Proposes a New Taxonomy of Mental Disorders
New data interpreted to suggest a hierarchical, dimensional system of mental disorders will aid future research efforts and improve mental health care.
The Effects of Antidepressant Exposure Across Generations: An Interview with Dr. Vance Trudeau
Dr. Vance Trudeau discusses his study's finding that antidepressants may have far-reaching, adverse effects that last up to three generations.
