Childhood Maltreatment Reduces Hippocampal Volume

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Researchers at Harvard University, in the largest and most detailed study on the topic to date, found that childhood maltreatment is significantly associated with...

Benzo Discontinuation Improves Quality of Life and Reduces Symptoms of Schizophrenia

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Researchers in Japan find that tapering or reducing benzodiazepines has a positive effect on quality of life, verbal and working memory, and psychiatric symptoms...

Non-Drug Therapies Outperform Drug Therapies in Preventing Relapse

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In a study of 597 outpatients who were perceived as likely nonadherers to oral antipsychotic interventions, Spanish researchers found that relapse was lower in...

Responding to Madness With Loving Receptivity: a Practical Guide

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In my last three blogs I posed the question- "If madness isn't what psychiatry says it is, then what is it?" Now I'm asking-...

Beliefs About Illness and Rehabilitation Predict Outcome in Depression

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Researchers in Germany found that in a sample of 98 patients, beliefs about illness and rehabilitation predicted outcome for depression independent of medical or...

Antidepressants Have No Effect On Bipolar Depression

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In a review of 68 articles published between 2005 and 2011, Israeli researchers found that most well-controlled studies failed to show a significant effect of...

African-Americans More Likely to be Diagnosed Schizophrenic

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In a study of 610 psychiatric inpatients and outpatients from six academic medical centers across the United States, African Americans were almost three times...

England Seeks to Stop Antipsychotics For Dementia

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English health minister Paul Burstow is seeking to outlaw the 'silent scandal' of inappropriate antipsychotics for dementia by proposing legislation that imposes up to...

David Healy Critiques Gibbons’ Reanalysis of Antidepressants and Suicide

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David Healy critiques the reanalysis by Robert Gibbons of antidepressants and suicidality in children and adolescents that was reported on this page yesterday. He...

Cognitive Therapy Shown to be Effective For Schizophrenia

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Researchers report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry that cognitive therapy improved both positive and negative symptoms in "low-functioning" patients with...

Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior With Antidepressant Treatment: A Reanalysis

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In 2004 and 2006, the FDA concluded that SSRI antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal ideation in children and adolescents. However, in this month's...

Lawsuit Filed for Alleged Zoloft-Related Birth Defects

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Lawyers in St. Louis have filed a lawsuit against Pfizer that alleges 18 children were born with birth defects caused by the antidepressant Zoloft...

Eli Lilly To Freeze Base Pay in 2012

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Citing financial pressure from the loss of its patent on Zyprexa, Eli Lilly announced that it will freeze base pay for most of its...

Voice Hearing as a Dissociative Rather Than Psychotic Phenomenon

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Researchers in England review in depth the evidence for voice hearing as dissociation, rather than psychosis, and suggest that voice hearing is a common...

First Personal Injury Lawsuit Over Risperdal Starts in New Jersey

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Gary Skala's claim that 14 years of Risperdal caused his diabetes went to trial in New Jersey yesterday in the first personal injury lawsuit...

Adverse Childhood Events Contribute Significantly to Most Mental Health Problems

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John Read and Richard Bentall write in the British Journal of Psychiatry about the growing understanding and acceptance of the significant role adverse childhood...

Bribery Alleged in Largest Antidepressant Study Ever Conducted

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A 2011 whistleblower complaint that was unsealed on January 20 of this year alleges that Forest Pharmaceuticals bribed a principle investigator of the STAR*D...

Assessing Increased Mortality Risks of Antipsychotics and Mood Stabilizers in Dementia

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An article in January's American Journal of Psychiatry weighs the relative risk of mortality associated with various antipsychotics and mood stabilizers used in the treatment of...

Religion and Spirituality Protect Against Depression

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In The American Journal of Psychiatry, a longitudinal study of 114 persons at high risk for depression found that those who reported more religiosity...

Psychosis is Not Unique to Schizophrenia

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In a sample of 3021 adolescents and young adults with anxiety or depression, Dutch researchers found that 27% also had one or more psychotic symptoms. Read...

Medications May Add to Mortality Rate in Schizophrenia

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Dutch researchers write in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology that, in a prospective study of 7415 persons with diagnoses of schizophrenia, use of a first-generation...

No Long-Term Efficacy For A.D.D. Medication

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L. Alan Sroufe, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Minnesota, writes in the New York Times Sunday Review that there is no...

Legal Coercion, Recovery, and Human Rights

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Mary O'Hagan, an international mental health leader with lived experience, writes on the paradox of increasing legal coercion of psychiatric patients, even as the...

Antidepressants Increase Suicide Risk in Children and Adolescents

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In a meta-analysis of studies of 6039 individuals, researchers in the UK determined that, consistent with previous meta-analysses, antidepressants increased "suicide-related outcomes."  Read more    ...

Stress Associated With Brain Shrinkage in Healthy People

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In studies of healthy people experiencing stress, Yale researchers found tissue loss in brain areas regulating emotion, self-control and other behaviors.  Read more      ...