Congressional Inquiry into Alzheimer’s Drug Faults Its Maker and FDA
From The New York Times: The agency’s actions "raise serious concerns about FDA’s lapses in protocol," the report concluded. Nevertheless, the FDA is now evaluating two other Alzheimer’s drugs for approval early next year.
The New York Times Uncritically Repeats Discredited Antidepressant Claims
From CounterPunch/Bruce Levine, PhD: Once again, as with their reporting on WMDs in Iraq, the paper showed no skepticism about declarations from sources with powerful motives to sell a self-serving narrative that conflicts with the evidence.
Problem-Solving Through Skills-Building: Motivating Kids to Change
Children can overcome all sorts of difficulties by learning specific behavioural or emotional skills with the help and support of their social network.
A House on Shaky Ground: Eight Structural Flaws of the Western Worldview
From Tikkun/Jeremy Lent: Many of the ideas we hold sacrosanct in modern society are actually myths that emerged from erroneous assumptions made at different times and places in history.
Babies Feel Pain More Intensely Than Adults, Brain Imaging Study Finds
From Return to Now: Researchers found that babies are actually four times more sensitive to pain than adults, even though painful procedures are still routinely performed on them with no pain relief.
Mad in America’s 10 Most Popular Articles in 2022
A roundup of Mad in America's most read blogs and personal stories of 2022 as chosen by our readers.
Assisted Dying Laws Are Devastating for Suicide Prevention, Warns New Research
From Scottish Daily Express: European countries and US states that have introduced systems to allow for euthanasia have reported an increase in the number of non-assisted suicides.
‘Restraint and Seclusion’ Harms Kids. So Why Is It Used in Schools?
From The Washington Post: What if you went five days a week to a school that regularly locked you up or physically held you down? Most of us would walk in ready for a fight, not to learn.
Ghosts Popping out Everywhere: The Shifting Times We Live in and the Process of...
We are living in challenging times. Every day we hear or read or hear stories of racism, sexism, inequalities, oppression. Emerging, there are experiences...
I Was Hospitalized Against My Will. I Know Firsthand the Harm It Can Cause
From The Guardian: As Mayor Eric Adams recently announced a dramatic expansion of New York City’s involuntary hospitalization policy, I listened in disbelief, overcome with both rage and grief.
When Violence Hits Home, Can We Keep Growing?
We want to share conversation we had coming out of these events in the hopes it might help others explore how to keep growing emotionally in an uncertain and sometimes violent world.
‘Transparent Replications’ Project Aims to Improve Reliability in Psychological Research
From Clearer Thinking: The new initiative, launched by Clearer Thinking, will replicate a substantial fraction of papers coming out in top psychology journals.
A Brain for Our Emancipation
In times of crisis, we are required to adapt to conditions of suffering to safeguard capitalist production. We are asked to adapt our flexible brains to a hostile environment, and the possibility of transforming that environment is suppressed.
Celebrating Steps Toward Humane Approaches to Distress
From John Read, PhD/Psychology Today: 2022 saw many examples of the ongoing international struggle for effective mental health services. Here is my list of some of the year's successes.
Antidepressants Plus Immune Response Terminate Pregnancies in Mice
Also, male mice born to mothers with an immune response exhibited “autistic-like” behaviors, scientists report.
Consumer Advisory Board Chair: NYC Mayor Adams Did Not Consult With Us on New...
I chair the Consumer Advisory Board for the NYC Department of Mental Hygiene (DOMH). And I can tell you firsthand: We were not consulted before this plan came to fruition.
The Bipolar Rollercoaster: Looking Beyond the Labels
Removing assumptions evoked by my family member’s diagnoses has transformed my understanding of their experience and increased my ability to arrive at solutions applicable to their expressed needs.
Psychotherapy: Less Expensive and Better Than Pills, It’s What the Patients Want but Don’t...
Studies with long-term follow-up show that psychotherapy has an enduring effect that outperforms pharmacotherapy. Psychiatry does not deliver what the customers want.
Dubious Science: Downplaying the Risks of Antidepressants in Pregnancy
When popular websites, such as Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic, downplay the possible risks of antidepressant use in pregnancy, they are ignoring the evidence.
Researchers Identify Factors to Predict Risk of Antidepressant Withdrawal
Paroxetine, SNRIs, and MAOIs were associated with the highest risk of withdrawal, as was long duration of use and whether the person experienced withdrawal in the past.
The Wisdom of the Symptom Bearer: It’s Always the ‘Crazy’ One Who Knows the...
From Medium/Rev. Sheri Heller, LCSW: The 'symptom bearer' or 'identified patient' is the scapegoat who carries the evidence of the familial dysfunction.
Data on Your Mind: Good Public Health or Mental Health Surveillance?
The ethics of data harvesting are murky and echo global concerns around the ways in which profiling technologies can be used to perpetuate discrimination.
Civil Rights Advocates Call U.S. Child Welfare System a ‘National Problem’
From The Imprint: A new report says the child welfare system fails to adequately address the needs of families and often harms the very kids it's designed to protect.
Why Is Stigma Toward ‘Schizophrenia’ Getting Worse?
From Psychology Today/Justin Garson, PhD: Intriguingly, the greatest increase in stigma toward 'schizophrenia' occurred from 1990 to 2001, the so-called "decade of the brain."
Tardive Dyskinesia, Chronic Lyme Disease, and Infection
The Bartonella bacteria, which is almost always associated with chronic Lyme disease, can cause dyskinesia too and it looks and is experienced the same as “tardive” dyskinesia.
