Withdrawing Kids from Psych Drugs: Why, How, and When
Here are methods for reducing or eliminating a child's psychiatric medications that I have seen work well over years of supporting families through this process.
Supporting Children and Parents to Withdraw from Psychiatric Medication
The main problem with prescribing psychiatric drugs to children is that it hasnât been very effective.
What If This Pandemic Is the Best Thing to Happen to Children with Challenges?
Families may be worried that the stress of lockdown may aggravate their childâs struggles. Yet, we hear some parents say the situation has changed their child for the better. Why might that be? In this interview, Dr. Nicole Beurkens talks about the impact of âquarantine lifeâ on children with different types of behavioral, emotional, and neurodevelopmental challenges.
Awakening: Shedding the “Mentally Ill” Identity and Reclaiming My Life
If I had not crumbled, brought to my knees beneath the weight of the misdiagnoses and sordid side-effects of the medications, I would not have had the opportunity to rise up and gain such a strong sense of selfâsomething for which many spend their whole life searching.
Jordan B. Petersonâs Support of Corporal Punishment for Children: A Critique
In his book 12 Rules for Life, supposedly based on "cutting-edge research," Jordan Peterson attempts to justify the hitting of children as a form of discipline. But Peterson does so without citing a single study to support his view. In fact, this entire section of the book is bereft of any reference to any research supporting the effectiveness of corporal punishment.
Sam Himelstein â The Impact of COVID-19 and Social Distancing on Adolescents
Psychologist Sam Himelstein, PhD, talks about the impact of the coronavirus crisis and âsocial distancingâ policies on adolescents, taking a look at the unique needs of teenagers and young adults and the challenges they may present for parents, caregivers, and other family members.
Lockdown Reading to End DSM Psychiatry?
A review of the "Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents" books by Lindsay Gibson. Even though adults experience emotional loneliness, such loneliness can also start in childhood when we might have felt (and I would submit, actually were) unseen emotionally by self-preoccupied parents.
 Just Like Viruses, Emotions are Contagious
Now is not the time for family members to be nursing old hurts or believe the all-too-common delusion we all periodically fall prey toâyou can get, without giving, when it comes to goodwill. Gestures of decency, gratitude and appreciation will need to prevail.
Antidepressant Use Continues to Climb Among Youth on Medicaid
New study finds that Medicaid enrolled youth were 14 times more likely to be on an antidepressant in 2014 than in 1987.
Researchers Find Paroxetine Harms Developing Brain
Researchers at Johns Hopkins test paroxetine on developing brain cells and discover numerous neurotoxic effects.
Tending Hearts and Minds: Changing the Mental Health Paradigm in Our Schools
Our school professionals are under constant pressure to help funnel children into the mental health system and ultimatelyâand tragically for manyâtoward psychotropic drugs. So we designed a professional development symposium to address alternatives.
National Boards of Health Are Unresponsive to Children Driven to Suicide by Depression Pills
Peter C. Gøtzsche reports what happened, or rather did not happen, when he contacted National Boards of Health in eight countries with his serious concern that the use of depression pills in children is increasing and leads to more suicides. The continued official denial that these drugs cause suicide and that something substantial needs to be done is appalling.
Mental Hell-Care: My Sibling’s Story
Doctors refuse to believe psychiatric medications have caused my sibling, Pat, any harm. Over a three-year period, however, Pat's insurance companies have paid out more than one million dollars to warehouse Pat and to provide "treatment" that has caused complete disability.
School Discipline is Racially Biased and Increases Misbehavior
School discipline that punishes minor misbehavior may increase adolescentsâ misconduct and lead to racial inequalities in school discipline.
Transgender Children Development Consistent with Current Gender, Not Sex Assigned at Birth
Transgender children show strong identification and preferences stereotypically associated with their current gender identities, not their sex assigned at birth.
Committed at 16: Memories of a State Hospital
While most of the sting is gone, even now â almost sixty years on â I canât get through a single day without thinking about shock treatment and the state hospital. I regularly have dreams or nightmares about being lost in a strange place and someone making me feel like dirt.
The Real Myth of the Schizophrenogenic Mother
Acknowledging the role of trauma inflicted by a given individualâs mother is not the same as laying all blame for âmental illnessâ at the feet of motherhood. Meanwhile, a mountain of evidence has accumulated linking schizophrenia to sexual, physical, and emotional abuse and many other categories of adverse childhood experiences.
Study Links Emotional Intelligence and School Achievement
A new meta-analysis highlights a positive relationship between student emotional intelligence and academic achievement.
No, Dr. Friedman: The Solution to Teen Suicide is Not So Simple
In the largest newspaper in the world this week, one of the largest problems in the world was proposed as having a very simple solution. No, the answer to our suicide crisis among youth is not to encourage more teens to embrace more treatment. Itâs to pursue multifaceted answers to a complex, multifaceted problem.
Experiences of Depression Connected to Declining Sense of Purpose
In-depth interviews find that those who screened positive for depression did not explain their experience in terms of diagnostic symptoms.
The Invisibles: Children in Foster Care
Millions of current and former foster children experience multiple kinds of trauma, as documented in a six-part investigative series published in the Kansas City Star this month. Too often invisible, these young people deserve our attention and our care.
Does Facebook Use Improve Social Connections or Weaken Attention?
A network analysis of participantsâ social media use and well-being reveals complex links with social capital but a minimal association with attentional control.
Growing Research Connects Nutrition and Mental Health
A new article reviews studies in the field of nutritional psychiatry and how nutrition can prevent and treat mental health issues.
Peter Breggin and Michael Cornwall – Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children
An interview with Drs. Peter Breggin and Michael Cornwall who discuss their new initiative, Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children (SPAC!). SPAC! was formed in response to the introduction of the Monarch eTNS, an electrical stimulation device worn on a childâs forehead at night that was fast-tracked by FDA with little testing.
How Antidepressants Shape Young Women’s Sense of Self
Young womenâs narratives indicate ways antidepressants have shaped their sense of self.