Worried About a Coronavirus Summer Slump? Boost Kids’ Brainpower With Nature
From National Geographic: Time spent outdoors has been linked with improved attention spans, better memory, and enhanced executive function.
What I Wish I Had Known Before I Stopped Taking Antidepressants, and Before I...
From the Washington Examiner: I learned the hard way that doctors can be remarkably casual about things patients can’t afford to be when it comes to putting people on, and taking them off, antidepressants.
NY Times Finally Figures out ADHD Critics May be Onto Something
From The New York Times: "From 2012 to 2022, the total number of prescriptions for stimulants to treat A.D.H.D. increased in the United States...
To Prevent Mass Shootings, Stop Relying on the Myth of Motive; Start Doing Forensic...
From PACEs Connection: The right question is: What happened to this person? What happened to a beautiful baby boy to turn him into an 18-year-old killer spouting racist screed?
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or: Play by the Rules, Hysteric!
From Surviving Psychiatry: The idea that the "DBT clinician" is the "master" who holds the authority to assess individuals’ emotions, experiences, and coping strategies, and to "fix" them is, as a premise, utterly disempowering.
Study: Antidepressants Linked to Higher Gestational Diabetes Risk
From CNN: “Taking antidepressants while pregnant may be associated with an increased risk of gestational diabetes, a new study suggests.
It turned out that the...
Child Frustration Breeds Race Hatred; Columbia Scientist Finds Punishment of Baby Is Seed of...
From Project NoSpank/The New York Times, December 22, 1940: The aggressiveness which adults exhibit, said Dr. Ashley Montagu, is originally produced during childhood by parents, teachers, nurses, or whoever else participates in the process of socializing the child.
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.
Are Psychiatric Medications Safe? The FDA’s Answer May Surprise You
From the Inner Compass Initiative: The real responsibility for determining if a drug is "safe enough" or "worth it", said the Deputy Director for Safety at the FDA’s Division of Psychiatry Products, lies with individual physicians and patients.
The Troubled-Teen Industry Offers Trauma, Not Therapy
From The New York Times: Hundreds of thousands of young Americans have endured harms or assaults in residential boot camps, wilderness therapy and Christian and therapeutic boarding schools.
A Dreaded Part of Teachers’ Jobs: Restraining and Secluding Students
From NPR: "There's a tension within me of knowing that if I am to restrain a student, then I'm essentially putting forth a situation that's going to create trauma for that student."
Some Moms Are Microdosing Mushrooms for Anxiety and Depression
From The Washington Post: “There is no magic pill or plant that allows you to bypass the healing of childhood trauma," says therapist Brooke Novick. But "this sacred medicine, when used with intention, respect and care, can powerfully support us on our paths of healing and evolution.”
He Cheered on Britney Spears—While Fighting a Guardianship Battle of His Own
From The Washington Post: The aftershocks of #FreeBritney could continue to rattle the American legal system long after Spears’s victory.
Mindfulness in Schools Does Not Improve Mental Health, Study Finds
From The Guardian: Students who engaged with the meditation practice benefitted but many were bored by it, say researchers in the UK.
More Parents Seek ADHD Diagnosis and Drugs for Kids to Manage Remote Learning
From NBC News: "I'm watching kids who used to love school become unenthused and unmotivated," said one Michigan-based pediatrician.
Teenagers Pathologized by Traditional Addiction Treatment
From Filter: Traditional treatment can pathologize normal behaviors of adolescence, thereby reinforcing stigma and existing low self-esteem.
Interview with Robert Whitaker – How Psychiatry Lost Its Way
From Witt-Doerring Psychiatry: Robert Whitaker and Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring discuss what is wrong with the way psychiatry is practiced today, why there are so many problems and why they haven't been fixed.
Charles Spencer’s Story of Boarding School Abuse Is Haunting
But parents are still sending children away to board, and it’s still dangerous.
Hundreds of Children Stuck in IL Psych Hospitals Despite State’s Promises to Find Them...
From ProPublica Illinois: “There’s not a whole lot that tells a kid you don’t matter [more] than keeping them locked up in a psych ward for no reason other than there’s nowhere to place them for months on end."
Teenage Hockey Player Working to Destigmatize ‘Mental Health Issues’
From ESPN: "No one with mental health issues should be called a burden," said Morgan Urso. "And that is the stigma I am trying to end."
The Kids Aren’t All Right
From The Atlantic: The youngest among us will bear the larger burdens of trauma and economic fallout from COVID-19.
Pharmed Out Podcast: Paying Attention to ADHD Diagnosis and Treatment in Children
On the latest Pharmanipulation podcast, hosts Dr. Adriane Fugh-Berman and Caroline Renko interview psychologist Dr. Gretchen LeFever Watson and journalist Robert Whitaker about the...
‘More Like Spin-the-Bottle Than Science’: My Mission to Find Proper Treatment for My Son’s...
From The Guardian: After years journeying through the traditional healthcare system, could radical alternatives save my son from an endless cycle of hospital stays and drugs?
Federal Judge Finds Texas Use of Psychotropic Drugs on Foster Children ‘Appalling’
From KERA News: "These children are being repeatedly raped in [DFPS's] care," said Judge Janis Jack. "They’re being drugged in your care if they complain. If their behavior is not up to snuff, they’re getting psychotropic drugs. And that is not safe."
Crisis Hotlines, Like Canada’s New 988, Promise Confidentiality. So Why Do So Many Trace...
In commentary for the Globe and Mail, Rob Wipond, MIA contributor and author of Your Consent Is Not Required: The Rise in Psychiatric Detentions,...
