Bright Light Therapy More Effective Than Medication Alone for Bipolar Depression
A new randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial has found bright light therapy to be a powerful intervention that could provide an alternative to medication for people with “bipolar depression.”
Your Pharmacist is Tattling On You!
A CVS pharmacy recently sent me a standardized form by fax with a dire warning about one of my patients. The form was called “MEDICATION NONADHERENCE THERAPY ADVISORY” and it said: “A review of your patient’s retail and mail prescription history indicates that the patient has not obtained his or her first refill.”
Parental Conflict Changes Emotion Recognition in Children, Study Finds
Study suggests interparental conflict causes lasting damage in the way children are able to recognize and process emotions.
Enjoying the Road Less Traveled
The people that my son and I continued to consult with over the years didn't talk of mental illness as a brain disease, a chemical imbalance, or a problem with one's genes. Depending on the therapy, they spoke in terms of restoring life force energy, changing cellular vibration, learning to listen and understand, and building a self.
Jeffrey Michael Friedman: Trauma and Forced Psychiatric Treatment
An interview with Jeffrey Michael Friedman, clinical social worker and activist in the psychiatric survivors movement who provides trauma-informed therapy to victims of abuse and violence, including those who have survived abuses within the mental health system.
Book Review: The Other Mrs. Smith by Bonnie Burstow
In The Other Mrs. Smith, Dr. Burstow chose to use the fiction format, presumably because she felt it was the best way for readers to understand what it is like to experience electroshock and deal with the aftermath of massive memory loss. In this she succeeds spectacularly.
Study Finds Connection Between Trauma and Psychosis in Children
Researchers connect the impact of early trauma to the development of psychosis in children as young as 7 years old.
Debunking The Latest Gene Study
The researchers suggest that their finding implies a common genetic cause behind five different “disorders.” This is big news! If true, it validates the biomedical view of mental “illness” and suggests that future medical treatments could “cure” these conditions. However, that grand conclusion is not supported by the data.
Letter to The New York Times: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Can’t Quit
Ten years ago, the recent New York Times article entitled “Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Can’t Quit” would have shocked me. I would have dismissed serious medication withdrawal as rare. But I tell my patients something different today.
Chosen Name Use in Transgender Youth Linked to Reduced Depression and Suicide
The ability of transgender youth to use their chosen name is connected to reduced depressive symptoms and suicidal thoughts/behaviors.
“How Did This Happen?” – Being Injured By Pharmaceuticals Once Again
How did it happen to me? It happened because none of us have enough resources for the sort of brain injury and impairment the psychopharmaceutical drugs impart upon us. No one knows what is really being done to our brains and some of us are clearly more sensitive than others.
Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing is Often Wrong
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing has an “alarmingly high” 40% false-positive rate.
Dr. Russell Razzaque: Breaking Down is Waking Up
An interview with Dr. Russell Razzaque, consultant psychiatrist and associate medical director in east London who, together with colleagues, is leading a pioneering multi-centre Open Dialogue pilot in the UK National Health Service.
Physical Activity and Exercise May Prevent Depression, Study Finds
Everyday exercise, regardless of intensity, can prevent the development of depressive symptoms.
Neurodiversity is Dead. Now What?
The neurodiversity movement is a public relations campaign that emphasizes the positive qualities associated with some presentations of autism—creativity, increased tolerance for repetition, enhanced empathy, and exceptional memory—while erasing or minimizing the experiences of autistics who are severely disabled.
The Scientism of Autism
Autism is now simply assumed to represent a real, tangible, identifiable ‘thing.’ But no one is asking the obvious question: On what evidential basis can you conclude that autism represents a natural category that can be differentiated from other natural categories? According to the real science, autism should be seen as a fact of culture, not a fact of nature.
Apply Yourself, Your Whole Self, and Nothing But Yourself
Now, personality tests are being used to determine which side of the wealth gap people will fall on. Who you are is not neutral — the lens your personality-test results will be viewed through is: “are you a good worker?” Any definition of this will likely exclude psychiatric survivors, those labeled by the DSM and those who see, think, hear, speak and feel differently.
Scientists Fight Against the Myth of the Normal or Optimal Brain
A new study out of Yale University uses evolutionary biology to debunk the idea that there is a “normal” or “optimal” brain.
Leon J. Kamin (1927-2017): A Nemesis of Genetic Determinism and Scientific Racism
Leon Kamin should be remembered for his role as an intellectual nemesis of the purveyors of the false ideologies of scientific racism and genetic determinism. The Science and Politics of I.Q., Not in Our Genes, and Kamin’s other writings remain works of major importance.
Childhood Adversity Influences Levels of Distress in Voice Hearers
Research finds that hearing negative voices explains how childhood adversity is related to distress.
“How Long a Time”: Ten Cold Hard Truths For Ending Psychiatric Abuse
Here are the Ten Cold Hard Truths we must ALL confront in our organizing efforts. If we fail to understand and grasp these truths we will ALL be susceptible to “burnout” and/or a slide into dead-end reformist type strategies that will only derail our efforts to reach the day when we can truly end all forms of psychiatric abuse.
Psychiatric Diagnosis Can Lead to Epistemic Injustice, Researchers Claim
A discussion of the role of epistemic injustice in the experiences of patients diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.
Study Calls for Consensus on Overdiagnosis Across Medical Disciplines
Lack of overdiagnosis parameters stifles communication across fields seeking to mitigate its potential harm.
How the Human Stress Response Explains Away “Bipolar Disorder”
Here we'll take a look at so-called 'mania.' We'll go through the criteria for a 'manic episode' symptom by symptom so you can see how the stress response is potentially operating. There's practically nothing that happens in human minds and bodies that the stress response doesn't potentially affect.
The Concerned Parents’ Project: 31 Questions
The Concerned Parents’ Project grew out of the idea that there may be parents out there who are confused and bewildered by the mixed messages on what it is to have normal and healthy childhood experiences. We posted a new question and answer for parents each day in March.
