Legislation & Regulation

Researchers question the overstated results of a large antidepressant meta-analysis and point to cultural pressures to turn to these drugs for a quick fix.

Researchers identify simple ways for clinicians to begin deprescribing conversations.

John Ioannidis, a leading expert on research methods, takes a critical look at the way professional societies write treatment guidelines.

Critical participatory action research conducted on the higher education programs offered in prison leads to mobilized advocacy and shifts in public policy.

Study finds that elderly patients taking at least 5 medications were at increased risk of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.

Dr. Dainius Pūras argues that the status quo in mental health treatment is no longer acceptable and demands political action to promote human rights.

In an effort to reduce coercion, researchers isolate associated factors including age, relationship status, location, and diagnosis.

At my job as an inpatient mental health counselor, I had to confront the reality of a hospitalization system with serious and devastating flaws. I felt immensely powerless and understood how my coworkers could end up so negligent, numb, and at times abusive. And I understood how patients could become violent or self-injurious after years in these dismal hospitals.

Attempting to locate the mechanisms of psychiatric disorder is a step in the wrong direction and fails to challenge potentially unjust social practices.

A new paper explores how the disputed nature of psychiatric knowledge influences public perceptions and debates within the field of mental health.

A new study examines the benefits of collaborating with mental health consumers in research.

A new study has found that children and adolescents taking a high dose of antipsychotics are almost twice as likely to die of any cause than children on other types of medications.

An international group of researchers, including several with financial ties to manufacturers of antidepressants, explore possible explanations for why long-term users of antidepressants become chronically depressed.

In a MIA survey of people who had been patients in mental hospitals, nearly 500 respondents told of an experience that was often traumatic, and frequently characterized by a violation of their legal rights, forced treatment with drugs, and physical or sexual abuse. Only 17% said they were “satisfied” with the “quality of the psychiatric treatment” they received.

Benzodiazepine prescription practices may be in response to an epidemic of distress, rather than being used to treat specific mental health diagnoses.

A new study found that prazosin was associated with increased insomnia and nightmares, and did not reduce suicidal thoughts.

Researchers discuss the evidence that antipsychotic medications may cause brain atrophy in children, whose brains are still developing.

It would take decades before I recognized the trauma caused by repeatedly being separated from my mom when she was hospitalized. I grieved almost exactly the way children did who had lost a parent to death. Yet it was grief without closure because my mom was not dead, just... gone.

Reforming the process of real informed consent can be brought to the horizon sooner rather than later if we have a solid idea of what the provision of truthful, unbiased research-based information about psychiatric medications should look like. Our upcoming series of webinars for 2019 will focus on just that.

Between 2007 and 2016, the FDA identified 776 herbal supplements containing active, unapproved pharmaceutical chemicals.

Journal releases a compilation of articles detailing how zero-tolerance policy may impact mental health.

Psychiatrist and psychologist outline pharmacological and psychotherapeutic strategies for discontinuing antidepressants.

Researchers investigate the impact of immigration policies on the mental health of arriving Mexican and Central American immigrants.

A recent Cochrane review has found that serious adverse events occur for about 1% of children and adolescents treated with Ritalin.

Peru has moved closer to full compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities than any other country in the world. Here I analyze the Peruvian reform as it pertains to legal capacity and the right to be free from disability-based detention and forced medical interventions.