Publication of the Power Threat Meaning Framework
The Framework is an ambitious attempt to outline a conceptual alternative to the diagnostic model of mental distress. It builds on the Division of Clinical Psychology’s 2013 Position Statement recommending work in conjunction with service users to develop a multi-factorial and contextual approach.
The Medicalization of Conversation
Language, and how we use it, are important to counselling’s conversational work. As a counsellor, my language for understanding and addressing client concerns often fits poorly with the diagnostic and treatment language used to manage services within that system.
Neoliberalism Drives Increase in Perfectionism Among College Students
Meta-analytic study detects upsurge in patterns of perfectionism in young adults and explores how neoliberalism contributes to this trend.
The Scientism of Psychiatry
Psychiatry likes to portray itself as a scientific discipline, and indeed there is a lot of useful science to draw on when evaluating the evidence base connected to mental health problems. Sadly, most of the mainstream psychiatric literature of recent decades has shown a marked preference for rhetoric over scientific accuracy.
Psychiatrist Calls for Increased Attention to Therapeutic Alliance
Sandra Steingard, writing in the journal Psychiatric Services, reviews a recent article finding that the quality of the therapeutic relationship impacts the efficacy of medication treatment.
Interventions that Promote Disclosure Among Voice-Hearers
The perspectives of the voice-hearers featured in the research underscore that stigma and negative perceptions of voice hearing present significant obstacles within early intervention programs.
It’s Unlikely That ‘Antidepressants’ Have a True Effect on Depression
I submitted a letter to the editor of JAMA pointing out the likely explanation for the lack of effect of sertraline. JAMA rejected my letter, as it has done many times. Explaining why psychiatric drugs don’t work is not a priority for medical journals, it seems.
Subtle Ways Psychiatry Has Harmed Us
We’re not dysfunctional or bad just because there are two of us in here. What’s more important than being a socially acceptable single person is that we know how to get along and manage our trauma and our life together. We just need to be accepted as we are.
Dr. Jennifer Bahr: Treating the Whole Person
An interview with Dr. Jennifer Bahr, who is a passionate advocate for naturopathic approaches to health and wellbeing. She is the founder of Resilience Naturopathic, which was founded with a mission to provide an alternative to those who struggle with their mental health.
Stealing Blankets from the Hospital: How Life Really Works on a Psych Ward
Every time that I have been confined in a psych hospital, I have collected as many trophies as possible. Sometimes I go out of my way to steal the silverware, or the sheets, or the blankets from the beds, or even the signs off the walls. But it’s the really forbidden stuff that attracts me.
Preventing Long-term Benzodiazepine Use
Researchers Identify risk factors for long-term benzodiazepine use to prevent harmful effects.
Letter From Israel
Here in Israel we are assigned to only one hospital according to our address — there is no freedom of choice. Why is the choice of psychiatric institution so important and urgent? Because conditions in psychiatric hospitals are often unbearable. We believe that if people have a right to choose, the worst hospitals will have to improve.
Researchers Present Structural Competency Training Model for Psychiatrists
Researchers argue that a structural competency and social determinants of health approach must be made central to psychiatry training.
2017: A Wake-up Call on Mental Health and Human Rights
At Mental Health Europe, we see 2017 as having been a crossroads for mental health and human rights. Let’s ensure that this yields concrete change in 2018 with the support of like-minded communities ready to take the discussion to the next level and truly enact this as a civil rights movement.
Mediterranean Diet Improves Mental Health, Study Finds
A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and fish has repeatedly been found to improve mental health.
New Review Suggests Higher Recovery and Remission Rates for Psychosis
Meta-analysis gives updated recovery and remission rates for persons identified as having a first-episode psychosis and those diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Florida’s “Free Kill” Law – A Death Trap for the State’s Populace and Visitors
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act essentially denies residents and visitors alike the right to live once they enter a hospital. The law has been dubbed “Free Kill” because while it can cost money to correct mistakes, keep hospitals safely staffed and update equipment, it is free to kill.
Micronutrients for ADHD Symptoms in Children
Over and over again, we have shown that additional nutrients positively affect behaviour and mental states. This research offers further evidence that children with ADHD, mood dysregulation and symptoms of aggression should be given the opportunity to try micronutrient treatment FIRST.
Researchers Push for Transparency of Mental Health Outcome Data
A new analysis of UK mental health data suggests the way organizations deliver mental health services can alter patient outcomes.
People Are Dying Prematurely Due to Polypharmacy
Our son, Mark, is an example of the deadly effects of polypharmacy. He died at the young age of 46 and his death was caused by toxicity/cardiac failure from two of the five medications he was taking, at higher than recommended doses, as prescribed by his psychiatrist.
Critical Influence of Nutrition on Psychosocial Wellbeing in Childhood
The bidirectional relationship between diet and nutrition and social, emotional, and educational factors among European youth.
The Upcoming MDMA Research Will Transform Mental Health Care
If MDMA can effectively treat and perhaps even cure PTSD it will create clear documentation that the core premises of the chemical imbalance theory are dead wrong. It is ironic and only fitting that a chemical molecule will finally bury the chemical imbalance theory and allow us to move on.
Reducing Antipsychotic Use May Improve Health for People with Mental Health Diagnoses
A new study offers radical solutions for improving the cardiovascular health of people with mental health diagnoses: reducing antipsychotic prescriptions..
Researchers Call for Structural Competency in Psychiatry
Structural competency in psychiatry emphasizes the social factors shaping patient presentations and encourages physician advocacy.
Dickens’ Christmas Carol: A Psychiatric Primer of Character and Redemption
Scrooge’s character was forged from his own emotional pain. Indeed, we can change the course of our lives through facing and mourning that pain. Want, deprivation and cruelty create the evils of the world. Mourning and trust, in the context of love, are its antidotes.
