ā€œGoogle’s Latest Hire Has a Creepy Plan to Track Your Mental Healthā€

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Google has hired the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Thomas Insel, with plans to create ā€œa wearable sensor to measure mood, cognition and anxiety.ā€ Gizmodo points out the problems with this idea:ā€œOne can easily imagine a message popping up on some poor desk jockey’s monitor: ā€˜You’re not in the right mood today. Please take a day of unpaid leave.’ Or, worse: ā€˜We’ve detected signs of mental instability, based on how you’ve been talking and sleeping. Please report to a doctor immediately.ā€™ā€

“Clients and Suicide: The Lawyer’s Dilemma”

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If their clients admit to having suicidal feelings or show evidence of serious psychological problems, how do lawyers' legal responsibilities to their clients change...

ā€œNew ‘Smart’ Drugs Tell Doctor You’re Not Taking Themā€

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The Washington Examiner reports that the manufacturer of the antipsychotic Abilify is seeking FDA approval for new digitized pills that would alert doctors if patients fail to take their drugs on schedule.

FDA Defends Decision to Approve Digital Aripiprazole

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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.

ā€œBig Pharma and the Big Push for Patients to Take Their Medsā€

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ā€œThe pharma industry losesĀ tens of billions in worldwide sales each year when patients don’t fill, orĀ refill, their prescriptions,ā€ Rebecca Robbins reports for STAT. So...

The Ghost of Research Future

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Two facts about Robert Califf are beyond question. He is an expert on clinical trials, who is already seen as a leading architect of the future of medical research. And as the New York Times put it, he has ā€œdeeper ties to the pharmaceutical industry than any FDA commissioner in recent memoryā€. A lot of senior figures in medicine support Califf in spite of his ties to Pharma. The guy is just so bright, and understands the nuts and bolts of drug research so well! Surely a person like this is more useful than some outsider who offers only a squeaky-clean resume, they argue.

Police Killings Vicariously Impact Mental Health of Black Americans

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New research provides evidence that police killings of unarmed Black Americans impact the mental health of Black Americans.

Researcher Critically Examines Movements for Global Mental Health

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China Mills raises concerns that global mental health movements obscure social determinants of health and naturalize Western mental health concepts.

Researchers Fail to Predict Criminal Intent with Brain Scans

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A new study in the journal PNAS explores whether brain scans are ineffective at identifying criminal intent in carefully designed situations.

Google Will Now Ask Users: “Are You Depressed?”

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FromĀ Yahoo! Finance: Google is launching a new search feature that will help check whether users are depressed. People who make depression-related queries will now...

ā€œWhy Are Young Westerners Drawn to Terrorist Organizations Like ISIS?ā€

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"ISIS provides existential fast food, and for some of the most spiritually hungry young Westerners, ISIS is like a Big Mac amidst a barren wasteland of an existence,ā€ Omar Hague writes in the Psychiatric Times. ā€œWho actually joins ISIS? Not psychopaths or the brainwashed, but rather everyday young people in social transition, on the margins of society, or amidst a crisis of identity.ā€

Underestimating Social Determinants of Health Linked to Right-Wing Authoritarianism

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Social determinants have been seen to have an equal, if not greater, influence on health as individual behaviors, yet this evidence is largely ignored. Researchers investigate why this is the case.

ā€œThe Secret Documents That Detail How Patients’ Privacy is Breachedā€

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ā€œWhen the federal government takes the rare step of fining medical providers for violating the privacy and security of patients’ medical information, it issues...

Psychologists for Social Responsibility Oppose APA CEO Search

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Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR), one of the groups that led the push for changes to the American Psychological Association’s (APA) collusion in the CIA torture program (as detailed in the Hoffman report), is again calling on the APA for a change in policies.

Perfectionism May Lead to Significant Psychological Distress, Study Suggests

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A new study suggests needing to appear perfect to others leads to mental health stigma and a higher risk of untreated psychological distress.

Linking Screen Time, Smartphones, and Stress Among Young Adults

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New review ties increased screen time to increasing anxiety and depression among young adults throughout the United States.

Smartphone Based Interventions for Depressive Symptoms

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New meta-analysis of smartphone based interventions demonstrates small-to-moderate effect.

Ethical Failings in Experimental Drug Safety Trials

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Leading human subjects ethics researcher questions exploitation of uninsured minorities in experimental drug trials.

ā€œLetter to the Editor: Guns and Mental Illnessā€

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The president and president-elect of the American Psychological Association penned a letter to the New York Times calling on ā€œCongress and other policy makers to address these factors with interventions supported by evidence rather than avoiding them by scapegoating the mentally ill.ā€

Depression Test May be Inaccurate for Black Adolescents, Study Finds

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Researchers find that psychometric properties in the CES-D, developed for White adults, may not adequately measure the lived experience for Black adolescents.

ā€œPersonalized Medicine: A Faustian Bargain?ā€

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In a guest blog for the Scientific American, Eleonore Pauwels and Jim Drawta write about the ā€œdark side of the data revolution —the successor to the Industrial Revolution, with personal data as the new coal, oil or shale gas to be extracted or traded away, enshrined in an updated Faustian pact.ā€

“Do You Google Your Shrink?”

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-"I knew my psychiatric practice was forever changed the day a patient arrived with a manila folder stuffed with printouts and announced that it contained the contents of a Google search that he had done on me."

Sense of Purpose Reduces Negative Effects of Social Media Use

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New research shows that having a strong sense of personal meaning and purpose can reduce the negative effects of social media use.

Western ā€˜Depression’ is Not Universal

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Derek Summerfield, consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, challenges the assumption that Western depression is a universal condition.

The Mental Health System Can’t Stop Mass Shooters

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In this piece forĀ The New York Times, psychiatrist Amy Barnhorst explains why it isĀ not feasible for mental health professionals to identify or treat people...