How Our Ancestors’ Trauma May Influence Who We Are
In this blog post, Dale M. KushnerĀ explains how the field of epigenetics can illustrate the role of ancestral and transgenerational trauma in shaping our...
The Simple Treatment That Beats Antidepressants
FromĀ PsyBlog: Research suggests that taking a brisk walk three times a week may be more effectiveĀ in alleviating depression than antidepressants. Almost two-thirds of study...
Sleep Deprivation is an Effective Anti-Depressant
FromĀ Science Blog: According to a new meta-analysis, sleep deprivation reduces symptoms in nearly half of depression patients. Partial sleep deprivation (sleep for three to...
āDoes Animal-Assisted Therapy Help Adolescents With Psychiatric Problems?ā
The Pacific Standard covers a study out of Florence, finding that adolescents in mental health crisis who received animal-assisted therapy had better school attendance, higher global functioning, and spent less time in the hospital.
How do we Know if a Drug Actually Works?
FromĀ Scientific American: The effectiveness of a particular medical treatment is often highly subjective and dependent on each individual's definition of the term "effective." Many...
Stand Firm: Resisting the Self-Improvement Craze
FromĀ ABC: The self-help and self-improvement industry are more popular and widely accepted than ever. However, the moral imperative to constantly think positive and always...
Yoga and Meditation Can Change Your Genes, Study Says
FromĀ TIME: A new scientific review suggests that yoga, meditation, and other mindfulness activities can reverse stress-related changes in genes linked to health problems and...
Is Mindfulness Meditation Good for Kids?
FromĀ Vox: Mindfulness-based interventions are increasingly being introduced in schools and touted as helpful methods of reducing students' anxiety and attention problems. However, the research...
Dr. Andrew Weil Says We’re Taking Too Many Medicines
FromĀ The New York Times: According to Dr. Andrew Weil, who is best known for popularizing the concept of integrative medicine, the problem of overmedication...
What Meditation can do for us, and What it Can’t
In recent years, American scholars and thinkers have increasingly argued for the secularization and modernization of Buddhism, proposing meditation as a fully secular form...
Psychiatrist Who Revolutionized Family Therapy Dies at 96
FromĀ The Washington Post: Salvador Minuchin, the psychiatrist who played an instrumental role inĀ pioneering family therapy, died on October 30th at age 96. Minuchin was...
āDoctors Say Exercise Can Relieve Depression Symptomsā
āDoctors say one of the best anti-depressants isn't even a drug, it's exercise,ā CNN reports. āExperts say many cases of depression can be treated effectively with, for example, a pair of running shoes.ā
Webinar Discussion – Rethinking Madness
A free recordingĀ of last week's webinar anchored to Phil Borges'Ā Crazywise, a documentary exploring alternative approaches to mental health, is now available. Over 4,000 people...
Tripping for Knowledge: The Psychedelic Epistemologist
In this interview forĀ 3:AM Magazine, Chris Letheby argues that even though psychedelics may induce delusions or imaginary phenomena, theirĀ use can also lead to accurate...
Online Communities for Drug Withdrawal: What Can We Learn?
FromĀ Psychiatric Times:Ā Patients are increasingly turning to the internet as a source of information and support for antidepressant and benzodiazepine withdrawal due to the psychiatric...
A Standing Meditation for Self-Care
In this piece forĀ On Being, Sharon Salzberg discusses the importance of self-care and describes a meditation technique that can help increase self-love and self-compassion.
Expert Urges Doctors to Stop Prescribing Seroquel for Insomnia
FromĀ National Post: Many physicians are prescribing a low dose of Seroquel, an atypical antipsychotic, to patients with insomnia. Experts warn that even a low...
Women are Flocking to Wellness due to Sexism in Healthcare
FromĀ Quartz:Ā Seeking healthcare in the medical system can be a dehumanizing experience for women: doctors often dismiss women's pain as psychological rather than physiological, and...
The Social Life of Opioids
FromĀ Scientific American: Increasing prescription rates of opioid painkillers are often blamed for America's current opioid crisis. However, a growing body of research suggests that...
Temperamentally Blessed
FromĀ Aeon: The finding that only one in five people avoid any kind of mental health problems or psychiatric diagnoses through their lives has prompted...
How to Cope With Social Anxiety Over Thanksgiving
In this piece forĀ Medical News Today, Jasmin Collier describes five non drug-related ways to cope with social anxiety over the Thanksgiving holiday: preparing in...
Suffering From Nature Deficit Disorder? Try Forest Bathing
FromĀ NPR: People who live in urban areas may experience a poorer quality of life due to spending insufficient time outdoors. In a new book,Ā Forest...
āMindfulness at Risk of Being ‘Turned into a Free Market Commodity’ā
The Guardian reports growing concerns from the Buddhist Society conference: āJon Kabat-Zinn, who created the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine at the University of Massachusetts medical school, warned last week that some people feared a āsort of superficial āMcMindfulnessā is taking over, which ignores the ethical foundations of the meditative practices and traditions from which mindfulness has emerged, and divorces it from its profoundly transformative potential.āā
Eating Oily Fish While Pregnant Could Prevent Schizophrenia
FromĀ The Conversation: According to a recent study from Japan, pregnant mice that are deprived of an essential fatty acid, called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are...
Eating Vegetables, Fruit & Whole Grains May Combat Depression
FromĀ The Telegraph: A recent study found thatĀ participantsĀ who avoided red meat, saturated fats and sugar, and stuck to healthy vegetables, fruit and whole grains were...
