Royal College of Psychiatrists Accused of Misleading Claims
From The Herald: A group of mental health experts and patients have submitted a formal letter of complaint accusing the Royal College of Psychiatrists of...
Medicine Can Soothe a Troubled Mind, but Not Without Costs
From The New York Times: In a new book, Blue Dreams, psychologist and patient Lauren Slater critiques the drug-based model of psychiatric care, debunking the chemical...
Prozac Preschool
From Pacific Standard: Young children are increasingly being prescribed psychiatric drugs. However, there is very little research on the safety and efficacy of psychotropic drugs...
“Largely Ineffective and Potentially Harmful”
In this interview for SciLogs, Dr. Michael P. Hengartner critiques the current research on antidepressant drugs and the state of biological psychiatry.
"One has to realize...
Two Who Died in Psychiatric Hospitals Were Improperly Medicated
From The Boston Globe: According to a new report from the Disability Law Center in Boston, two patients who died at Arbour Health System psychiatric...
Rewarding the Companies That Cheated the Most in Antidepressant Trials
When I first saw this Lancet 2018 network meta-analysis of antidepressant trials, my thought was that the authors had rewarded those companies that had cheated the most with their trials. My suspicion was strengthened when I looked at the results in their abstract and the three drugs they claimed were more effective and better tolerated.
New Site Names Companies Who Fail to Report on Clinical Trials
From Pacific Standard: The U.S. government has never penalized anyone for breaking a law that requires institutions to report the results of clinical trials. A...
For-Profit Medicine Incentivizes Overmedicating Our Elderly
From NBC: According to human rights investigators, anti-psychotic drugs are often administered to nursing home residents to address behavioral issues. Our nation's lack of funding...
The Opioid Diaries
From TIME: Over the past year, photographer James Nachtwey set out to document the opioid crisis, the worst addiction epidemic in American history. Here, Nachtwey's...
We Need to Encourage People to Make Advance Directives
In this piece for STAT, Jennifer Adaeze Okwerekwu describes the value of psychiatric advance directives for those at risk of experiencing an emotional crisis.
"'Itâs something that can...
More Critiques of the Lancet Antidepressant Study
Researchers and advocates have continued to critique The Lancet's recent study claiming to prove definitively that antidepressants are more effective than placebo. Below are a...
The Epidemic of Sadness Cannot Be Solved With Antidepressants
From the International Business Times: While people are living longer, healthier lives in more affluent circumstances than ever before, the rate of depression is skyrocketing. Potential...
Benzodiazepines: Our Other Prescription Drug Epidemic
From STAT: Although benzodiazepines are some of the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medications in the U.S., few people realize how dangerous and addictive these drugs can be.
"Highly...
8 Years of Mental Health Research Distilled to 4 Infographics
Pictures are worth a thousand words. So Iâve chosen pictures to distill the mountain of mental health research Iâve examined over the last eight years. Three infographics summarize research on psychiatric drugs, and one asserts why I think Integrative Mental Health is the best path available for mental health recovery.
What Is “Normal” Anyway?
From Scientific American: Although "normal" technically means average or typical, both researchers and the general public often view normality as a standard we should all...
Anti-depressants: “I’ve Lost My Identity and Who I Am”
From BBC: Mad in America Radio Host and Program Director James Moore speaks about the impact that antidepressant withdrawal has had on his life.
"The 46-year-old has...
Johann Hari Continues to Speak Out
Johann Hari, British journalist and author of the new book Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depressionâand the Unexpected Solutions, continues to speak out...
Difficult Decisions About Antidepressants
In this piece for Research with Plymouth University, Richard Byng discusses the difficulty that both doctors and patients experience in discerning the effectiveness of antidepressants in...
Study Explores Meanings of Bipolar Disorder to Those Diagnosed
The narratives about Bipolar Disorder promoted by drug companies may influence how those diagnosed understand themselves.
Challenging the New Hype About Antidepressants
The extraordinary media hype over the latest meta-analysis of antidepressants puts the discussion of these drugs back years. Despite the fact that rates of prescribing have doubled over the last decade, the authors of the analysis are calling for yet more prescribing. But this latest meta-analysis simply repeats the errors of previous analyses.
The Female Subject in Psychiatry From Pathology to Prozac
In this piece for The New Inquiry, Sophie Putka chronicles the mental health profession's long history of pathologizing, diagnosing, and medicating women's emotions.
"With Freudâs claims...
Critiques of a New Research Study on Antidepressants
A new meta-analysis claiming to prove once and for all that antidepressants are an effective treatment for moderate to severe depression was published just a few days...
Race and Class Affect Teacher Perceptions of ADHD Medication Use
Study uncovers teachersâ attitudes surrounding ADHD medication use and examines the influence of race and social class on teacher beliefs.
A Case Against Antidepressants
From Newsroom: University of Auckland researchers make a case against the chemical imbalance theory of mental illness, arguing that biological explanations and treatments for emotional...
Deprescribing Starts With Shared Decision Making
From The Lown Institute: Many of the current guidelines and tools available for deprescribing medications use a "one-size-fits-all" approach, merely providing lists of harmful drugs...
