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Headlines of Today's Posts

Why Your Brain Needs Other People

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From The Guardian: Developmental psychology has long recognised the social element in thinking. The emergence of individual thought can be understood as the internalisation of interpersonal dialogue, as the Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky observed almost a hundred years ago.
Photo of broken glass

Iatrogenic Practices in Psychiatry: Kindling

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Psychiatric practices can have very painful and destabilizing consequences, including "kindling" or neuronal sensitization.

Ghosts in the Machine: The Fantasies of Psychopharmacology | David Healy

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From David Healy/RxISK: This lecture outlines a radical new view about what antidepressants do and don't do. It covers issues that need input from everyone on how best to move forward with these treatments.

Lessons from a Global Psychiatric Conference: The Good, the Bad, and the Complicated

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Has the global mental health movement truly reformed its tone-deaf universalist attitudes?

Landmark Win for Patient Autonomy in CA Supreme Court ECT Device Ruling

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From Wisner Baum: The Court rejected the argument by Somatics LLC that it should be immune from liability because the plaintiff’s doctor would have prescribed ECT anyway, even with a warning of the risk of brain damage.
Illustration of colored splotches emerging from the back of a head

What Are We Overlooking? Reviewing Current and Alternative Treatments for Psychosis

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We should explore a raft of interventions, as susceptibility to psychosis isn’t separable from a person’s general well-being.

Paris Hilton Testifies She Was ‘Force-Fed Medications and Sexually Abused’ While Institutionalized as a...

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From The Guardian: The socialite has called on lawmakers to pass the Stop Institutional Child Abuse act and is an advocate for a “Bill of Rights” for children in youth facilities.

I Take ‘One of the Worst’ Antidepressants for Withdrawal – And Don’t I Know...

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From LancsLive: It's like I can hear the blood flowing through my ears. It is truly terrifying and impossible to ignore

Who Is Being Targeted for Forced Medical Treatment in NYC? We Require Answers

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I’m concerned for those forcibly drugged under Mayor Adams' policy. But also because New York City sets a national precedent.

What Every Therapist Should Know About Working With Prescribed Psych Drugs

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From The British Psychological Society: The BPS has collaborated to deliver guidance materials for psychological therapists to support them in working with issues of prescribed drug dependence.

Youth Antipsychotic Use Linked to Increased Risk of Death within Five Years

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Those aged 18-24 had an increased risk of death within five years on doses above 100 mg chlorpromazine equivalents.

The TikTokification of Mental Health on Campus

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Many people view their social media feeds as reflections of their identities—and when posts center on a specific diagnosis, it can feel like the platform is diagnosing them.
Illustration of poison jars labeled with a skull and the words "COGNITIVE DISSONANCE"

It’s You, It’s Not Me: Treatment Resistant Depression and the Psychiatric Breakup

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"Treatment resistance" is best explained not as a medical issue but as a way for psychiatry to resolve cognitive dissonance.

Patient Safety: A Letter to the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists

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From Hole Ousia/Peter Scott-Gordon: Antidepressants have never been conceptualised as ‘addictive’. This ‘non-addictive’ descriptor is being used to imply drug safety in a highly dangerous way.
White pills on a green leaf, close-up photo

Prescription Drugs: The Hidden Costs to Health and the Planet

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Pharmaceuticals seem to overtake every facet of life, but it’s important to start thinking critically about what we are putting in our bodies.

Why We Are Sceptical About This Study of Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms

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From The Guardian Letters: Prof. John Read and Dr. James Davies argue that a recent review’s findings are not relevant to the majority of real-world antidepressant users, while readers offer their own experiences of using the drugs.

“War Cry For Change”: Veterans Launch Campaign for Informed Consent and Safe Deprescribing at...

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Derek Blumke and Timothy Jensen: The Grunt Style Foundation leads a new phase in the movement to combat psychiatric drug harm.

Book Review: Truth and Consequences for Medical Whistleblowers

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From Undark: In “The Occasional Human Sacrifice,” Carl Elliott notes that those who expose medical wrongdoings are hardly hailed as heroes.
Young handsome doctor man pointing with finger at you as if inviting come closer.

Doctors Are Not Trained to Think Critically

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University students are expected to to ask questions, but medical students are expected to give "correct" answers.

How an Opioid Giant Deployed a Playbook for Moulding Doctors’ Minds

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From The BMJ: A document trove released by opioid giant Mallinckrodt shows an extensive marketing playbook designed to influence medical science and opinion, or "ghost manage" medicine.

Bartonella Infection, Psychosis and Tardive Dyskinesia | Beyond Meds

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From Beyond Meds: Alternatives to Psychiatry: In Western medicine, dyskinesia is associated with infection when it’s not associated with a psych drug history, psychosis and neuroleptic drugs.
Illustration of a plant growing through a maze of darkness to emerge into sunlight

Reframing Mental and Emotional Pain from a Buddhist Psychology Perspective

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The Five Hindrances perspective encourages exploring the underlying causes of suffering and developing strategies for coping and resilience.
Illustration of a magnet pulling the glowing word "data" out of a laptop computer

“Confidential” 988 Conversation Records Shared with Corporations

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Recordings of 988 callers’ voice, text, and chat conversations are being shared with researchers, AI developers, and corporations without consent.

FDA Panel Rejects MDMA-Aided Therapy for PTSD

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From The New York Times: An independent group of experts expressed concerns that the data from clinical trials did not outweigh risks for treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder.
A screenshot from Dr. Strangelove depicting Major Kong riding a bomb and waving his cowboy hat

How to Explain Top Psychiatrists’ “Dr. Strangelove Exuberance” Unchecked by Reality

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Leading psychiatrists appear unfazed that their theories and treatments are repeatedly proven to be scientifically invalid and discarded.