Research News

Summaries of research findings that tell of a scientific need to "rethink psychiatry."

Illustration of man sitting on a red and white pill. He holds his head with pain symbols in the air above him.

Adding Antipsychotics Worsens Outcomes in Psychotic Depression

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Outcomes were worse for all, with young people on combination therapy twice as likely to experience rehospitalization or death by suicide than those on antidepressants alone.

Antidepressant Withdrawal Misdiagnosed as Functional Disorder

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Adverse physiological symptoms of antidepressant withdrawal are regularly mistaken to be other problems to the detriment of the patient.

ADHD Diagnosis Leads to Worse Quality of Life, Increased Self-Harm in Kids

38
When comparing kids with the same symptoms who were either diagnosed with ADHD or not, those who received the diagnosis had worse outcomes.
Pregnant woman visiting young psychologist

Animal Study Shows Impact of Prozac in Pregnancy on the Child

0
Researchers found that rats born to mothers given the antidepressant Prozac during pregnancy or breastfeeding exhibited varied behavioral and developmental effects, with implications for the understanding of antidepressant impacts during human pregnancies.

Hyperbolic Tapering off Antidepressants Limits Withdrawal

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New research by Jim van Os and Peter Groot finds that using hyperbolic tapering to discontinue antidepressants reduces withdrawal effects.

What Is the Risk of Permanent Sexual Dysfunction from Antidepressants?

4
Males taking antidepressants were at 100 times the risk of erectile dysfunction compared with the healthy population and more than three times the risk even after controlling for other variables.

Peer-Support Groups Were Right, Guidelines Were Wrong: Dr. Mark Horowitz on Tapering Off Antidepressants

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In an interview with MIA, Dr. Horowitz discusses his recent article on why tapering off antidepressants can take months or even years.

Lexapro for Children: Drug With No Meaningful Benefit and Increased Suicidality Gets FDA Approval

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Response and remission rates were the same in the drug versus placebo groups, and Lexapro increased suicidality sixfold.

Lithium Use Leads to Chronic Kidney Disease

7
New evidence suggests that lithium, commonly prescribed for bipolar disorder, can increase the risk of chronic kidney disease.

Newborn Babies Go Through Antidepressant Withdrawal

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A new study finds that newborn babies experience antidepressant withdrawal after birth if their mothers take SSRIs when pregnant.
Pile of pills in blister packs background

Psychiatric Journals’ Pro-Pharma Publication Bias Hides Suicide Risk of Antidepressants

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Selective publication bias in top psychiatry journals was not explained by the quality of the studies, but by financial ties to pharma.

Overuse of Psychiatric Drugs is Worsening Public Mental Health, Doctor Argues

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A new research article asserts that the overuse of psychiatric drugs may create neurobiological changes that hamper long-term mental health recovery.

Antidepressants No Better Than Placebo for About 85% of People

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Researchers can’t predict the 15% who benefit from antidepressants, and the other 85% are unnecessarily exposed to the harms of the drugs.

Robin Williams On Antidepressant at Time of Suicide

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Robin Williams had "therapeutic" levels of the tetra-cyclic antidepressant mirtazapine in his blood at the time of his suicide, according to the coroner's report...

Randomized Controlled Trial Confirms That Antipsychotics Damage the Brain

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A new study published in JAMA Psychiatry connects antipsychotics with damage to the brain in multiple areas.

Mental Health Staff Reluctant to Support Service Users in Tapering Antipsychotics, Study Finds

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Study reveals schizophrenia patients find little support from mental health staff in reducing side effects-heavy drugs.
Top View of Girl Sits on Bed with Scattered Pills. Little Child Sitting on Gray Badcover Near Opened Packing of Medicines Keeps Head with Hands. Unhappy Childhood Concept

Antidepressants Increase Suicide Attempts in Youth; No Preventative Effect

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Researchers find that SSRIs increase suicide attempts up to age 24, and have no preventative effect at any age, even for those at high risk of suicide.
Letter blocks spelling "CANCER" and spilled pills in various colors on a white background

Cancer Risk Higher for Those on Clozapine

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The antipsychotic clozapine, considered the “gold-standard” treatment for psychosis, was found to increase the risk of blood and lymph system cancers.

No Benefit for Adding Antidepressants to CBT in Severe Depression

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For those with severe depression, inpatient CBT was effective but the adding antidepressants did not improve treatment outcomes.

Rigorous Study Finds Antidepressants Worsen Long-Term Outcomes

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A new study conducted by Jeffrey Vittengl at Truman University has found that taking antidepressant medications resulted in more severe depression symptoms after nine years.
The young patient at the reception in the hospital

Patients Express Anger at Doctors’ Ignorance About Antidepressant Withdrawal Effects

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Antidepressant users share their frustrations towards a healthcare system that overprescribes but is ill-equipped to support with discontinuation and withdrawal symptoms.

Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and Benzos All Increase Suicide Attempts in New Study

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In a study of people with borderline personality disorder, only ADHD stimulants were associated with a decrease in suicide.

Recovery Rate Six Times Higher For Those Who Stop Antipsychotics Within Two Years

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People with "serious mental illness" who stop taking antipsychotics are more likely to recover, even when accounting for baseline severity.

Only One of Five Key Xanax Trials Deemed Positive by F.D.A.

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The published literature is misleading, as the negative Xanax trials either went unpublished or were spun to appear positive.

SSRI Use During Pregnancy Alters the Child’s Brain Development

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Reduced brain volumes due to SSRI exposure in pregnancy was not explained by maternal depression alone.