SSRIs Increase the Risk of Spontaneous Preterm Birth
A prospective study of 2,793 pregnant women by researchers from Yale, Tufts, and Ohio State University finds that antidepressant treatment doubles the risk of...
Study Finds Deteriorating Mental Health Among Poor White Americans
Researchers find evidence of low socio-economic status White Americans’ rising distress and declining well-being since the mid-1990s.
Scaling Up Psychiatric Interventions Globally May Impede UN Goals
Peter Lehmann argues that administering psychiatric drugs in low-and-middle-income countries works at cross purposes with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Training Health Workers in Therapy Leads to Improvements and Less Medication Use
A Nigerian study finds that more than three-quarters of patients improved, even when only 13% were prescribed medication.
Study Shows Clozapine Can Result in Serious Gastrointestinal Complications
A large observational study published in CNS Drugs sheds light on serious adverse effects of the ‘gold standard’ antipsychotic Clozapine.
“More Evidence that Antipsychotics Shrink the Brain”
New research finds that brain matter loss in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia is correlated with antipsychotic use, according to Psych Central. The analysis suggests that the continued use of antipsychotics is linked with progressive cortical gray matter loss.
FBI Raids Lab That Pays Doctors to Promote Genetic Tests
From STAT: Federal investigators recently searched Proove Biosciences, a genetic testing company that purports to determine an individual's likelihood of becoming addicted to opioids. Proove's genetic...
Locus of Control Less Associated with Anxiety in Collective Societies
Locus of Control (LOC), a measure of the degree to which one perceives control of one's life to be internally- vs. externally-determined, was reviewed...
“Bayer and Monsanto: A Marriage Made in Hell”
For CounterPunch, Martha Rosenberg and Ronnie Cummins comment on the announcement that Bayer has placed a bid to buy Monsanto. “Bayer and Monsanto both...
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising Increases Public Stigma
People who saw an advertisement for Cymbalta were less likely to offer help, endorse recovery, and have positive attitudes regarding self-determination towards people identified with...
Baseline Lipid Monitoring with Antipsychotics “Disappointingly Low”
"Even in an academic setting with active discussions among psychiatrists regarding issues of metabolic risk ... baseline lipid monitoring is disappointingly low" according to...
Dr. Nardo on the Curse of Insel’s Legacy
In his reaction to Dr. Makari’s Opinion piece in the ‘Times, entitled Psychiatry’s Mind-Brain Problem, Dr. Nardo articulates why the legacy of NIMH director Thomas Insel is so dangerous. “He may have kept the researchers from spinning off and following some idiosyncratic path, but he did it by forcing them to follow his own idiosyncratic path.”
Oxytocin – “The Love Hormone” – Improves Cognition in Schizophrenia
Oxytocin, which has "shown promise as a novel antipsychotic in multiple clinical trials," improved cognition in a small sample (n=15) of people with schizophrenia...
Intensive Care Patients at High Risk for PTSD, Psychiatric Symptoms
People who survive life-threatening illnesses in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a hospital are at high risk for depression and anxiety and nearly...
Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?
Psychiatrist and author Allen J. Frances, former chair of the DSM-IV task force, outlines why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of...
“The Big Business of Selling Prescription-Drug Records”
Bloomberg Businessweek investigates the companies involved in buying and selling mass databases of people's prescription-drug histories, and the new ways in which that information is being used by skirting privacy protections.
How Much Do Average People Know About the Risks of Screening?
-Despite an "epidemic" of "expanding disease definitions that medicalize more people," most Australians have no idea that overdiagnosis is a problem.
Childhood Stress Alters Memory and Brain Structure
Researchers from the universities of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Illinois and New Orleans collected MRI scans and assessments of executive functioning and stress exposure from 61...
“What’s it Really Like to Take Antidepressants?”
Britain's HealthTalkOnline.org offers videotaped interviews with 36 people in their homes, talking about their decision to take antidepressants and the impact of that decision...
Pa. Court Hears Arguments in Dismissed Risperdal Case
A lawyer for Pennsylvania urged seven justices of the Pa. Commonwealth Court yesterday to allow the state's case against Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary Janssen...
Wellbeing Enhanced More by Places Than Objects, Study Finds
From The Guardian: New research suggests that people are more likely to experience feelings of wellbeing, contentment, and belonging from places that evoke positive memories...
“Document Claims Drug Makers Deceived a Top Medical Journal”
The New York Times reports that two major pharmaceutical companies may have mislead the editors of a prestigious medical journal in an effort to...
D-Cycloserine Supplement Does Not Add Much to Exposure Therapy
A closer look at a new study reporting that the supplement D-cycloserine improved anxiety when used with exposure therapy.
Agency and Activism as Protective Factors for Children in the Gaza Strip
Researchers recommend a ‘politically-informed focus', including activism, when assessing children and designing interventions in areas of chronic political violence.