Western ‘Depression’ is Not Universal
Derek Summerfield, consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, challenges the assumption that Western depression is a universal condition.
What Does Social Justice Really Mean for Psychologists?
Without clarity and consensus around what social justice means, psychologists risk perpetuating injustices that undermine their stated mission.
Mobile Apps for Mental Health Lack Transparency in Data Sharing
Research illustrates privacy concerns with how mental health applications collect and share users’ data.
Psychotropic Medications Serve as Powerful Tools for U.S. Military, Imperialism
Ethnographic research sheds light on extensive psychopharmaceutical use by soldiers in post 9/11 U.S. wars.
The Paradox of White Americans’ Mental Health
Are White Americans’ poor mental health outcomes caused by Whiteness?
Does Psychotherapy Reproduce or Disrupt Neoliberal Capitalism?
Researchers explore neoliberal influences on interactions in psychotherapy and question whether the radical potential of psychotherapy can counter prevailing social systems.
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.
Psychology Must Become a Sanctuary Discipline to Heal Racial Trauma
Researchers explore pathways of healing racial trauma in Latinx immigrant communities.
You Can Have Any Kind of Treatment You Want, Providing it’s Our Kind
Mental health nurse education supports institutional psychiatric practice in an insufficiently questioning way. Its formal curricula in universities are often undermined by the informal curricula of practice environments. As an institution, mental health nursing pays insufficient attention to both these issues because it is an arguably un-reflexive and rule-following discipline.
Sense of Purpose Reduces Negative Effects of Social Media Use
New research shows that having a strong sense of personal meaning and purpose can reduce the negative effects of social media use.
Speaking, Not Texting, May Prevent Dehumanization in Disagreements
Researchers found participants were less likely to dehumanize those with whom they disagreed when they heard their voices.
Criticism of Coercion and Forced Treatment in Psychiatry
A recent editorial, published in BMJ, argues there is an increase in coercive measures in psychiatry that are damaging to individuals diagnosed with mental illness.
Experts Raise Ethical Concerns About Machine Learning in Medicine
The use of machine learning algorithms (known as artificial intelligence) in the medical field raises a slew of ethical concerns.
The Orwellian New Digital Abilify Will Subjugate Vulnerable People Across the US
The FDA approved the prescribing and sale of a new hi-tech compliance-monitoring “antipsychotic” drug this week. A new chapter in human darkness has descended — one that is applauded by the alliance of control addicts that made it happen.
To Live and (Almost) Die in L.A.: A Survivor’s Tale
After 25 years of chronic emergency, 22 mental hospitalizations, a stint at a “community mental health center,” 13 years in a "board & care," repeated withdrawals from addictions to legal drugs, and a 12-year marriage, I plan to live every last breath out as a survivor, an advocate, and an artist.
Feral Psychiatry: More on the Garth Daniels Case
On Wednesday, May 18th, Daniels had what was probably his 102nd consecutive episode of ECT. As always, he told the staff that he did not want it and did not consent to it; as always, he got it. Later on the next afternoon, Garth left to join his family in Brisbane. None of us have a crystal ball but his position now seems much better than at any stage in the past. Let's look at some of the facts and opinions surrounding this case.
The Proactive Search for Mental Illnesses in Children
Part one of a two-part Mad In America investigation into the expansion of psychological screening and electronic surveillance of children and youth. A new government-funded mental health training program for British Columbia family physicians and school staff promotes screening for mental disorders in all children and youth. Critics say the program omits key scientific evidence, seems more like drug promotion than medical education, and downplays serious potential harms. Nevertheless, programs like it are rolling out across Canada and the US.
FDA Defends Decision to Approve Digital Aripiprazole
Members of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Psychiatry Products division go on the defensive in a new article, responding to concerns about the agency’s approval of digital aripiprazole.
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.
Police Violence Victims at Increased Risk of Psychotic Symptoms
Researchers examine links between police victimization and psychotic symptoms in a topical new study.
Evolution or Revolution? Why Western Psychiatry Won’t Change by Incremental Steps
...but how realistic is it to expect that the biological skew of Western psychiatry can be sustainably changed one small step at a time?
Study Finds Mistreatment and Psychological Distress Among LGBT Prisoners in the US
The rate of incarceration for lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals is roughly three times that of the general population and they experience significantly higher rates of victimization and mistreatment in prison.
Researcher Critically Examines Movements for Global Mental Health
China Mills raises concerns that global mental health movements obscure social determinants of health and naturalize Western mental health concepts.
Patient Race Associated with Varied Psychiatric Treatment Experiences
Findings point to association between race and the mental health care experiences of African-American and White veterans.
A Declaration of Interdependence for the Era of the Murphy Bill
How we think about health, happiness, and self-fulfillment, how they are linked with flawed systems of government has been assigned to the domain of social scientists. The most influential of those are the psychiatrists who have been given the government-mandated power to diagnose, incarcerate and forcibly drug those who are perceived to have a form of mental illness. I believe that such power is arbitrary, unjust and frequently harmful.
