Is Spanking Harmful? Study Finds Link With Future Mental Illness
FromĀ The Kansas City Star: A new study from the University of Michigan has found a link between spanking andĀ serious problems in adulthood includingĀ mental health...
Vampire Medicines
In this piece, Dr. David Healy describes the various factors contributing to the lack of awareness surrounding the harmful and potentially dangerous effects of...
How a Focus on Rich Educated People Skews Brain Studies
FromĀ The Atlantic: Neuroimaging studies have traditionally scanned the brains of unrepresentative samples, focusing on Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic populations. Although the results...
Treatment of Insomnia Reduces Paranoia and Hallucinations
Treating insomnia using online cognitive-behavioral therapy appears to improve a variety of mental health concerns.
Conflicts of Interest at World Conference of Science Journalists
FromĀ HealthNewsReview.org: The 10th World Conference of Science Journalists, which occurred recently in San Francisco, received $600,000 total from pharmaceutical and healthcare product companies. In...
More Lavish the Gifts to Doctors Means Costlier Drugs Prescribed
FromĀ The New York Times:Ā A new study found that when drug companies give gifts to doctors, the doctors prescribe higher quantities ofĀ ā and more expensiveĀ ā...
So Much Care It Hurts: The Impact of Unneeded Treatment
FromĀ Kaiser Health News: A growing number of patients and doctors are becoming concerned and speaking out about overtreatment, including unneeded scans, tests, surgeries, and...
The Power of Placebo is Strengthened by Having a Warm and Competent Practitioner
The effect of individual expectations on treatment outcomes is found to be influenced by physician attributes.
Drug Company Sales Reps Should be Banned From Hospitals
FromĀ STAT: Despite evidence that drug company sales reps skew prescribing habits, relatively few hospitals have taken the step of barring them. This is a...
How to Override Your Own Personality
FromĀ Science of Us: We are often told to "just be ourselves" as if the self is a fixed, unchanging concept. However our personalities change...
Is Philosophy Therapy, or is it Simply a Search for Truth?
In this interview forĀ Aeon, Nigel Warburton and Jules Evans explore the potentialĀ therapeutic valueĀ and shortcomings of using ancient philosophy to overcome emotional suffering.
"Personally, Iām not...
SSRI Ineffective at Treating Depression in Individuals with Chronic Kidney Disease
Dr. Madhukar Trivedi and colleagues find that the SSRI sertraline does not reduce depressive symptoms any more than placebo in people with Chronic Kidney Disease.
The Drug Being Pushed on Nursing Home Residents
FromĀ Next Avenue: The drug Nuedexta has only been approved for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the maker of...
Gilead Says Drug Profits Must Stay High to Pay for ‘Innovation’
From theĀ Los Angeles Times: In attempting to justify skyrocketing drug prices, John C. Martin, the executive chairman of Gilead Sciences, claimed that pharmaceutical companies...
Minority and Immigration Status Associated with Psychosis Risk
Ethnic minorities and those who migrated during childhood have an elevated risk for psychosis, study finds.
Bias and Deception in Behavioral Research
Contrary to popular belief, science is not immune to the corrupting influences of the society it operates in. When false results produced by p-hacked research have social, scientific, and political importance, and affect or harm the lives of millions of people while entire fields look on, it constitutes a scientific scandal.
Health Care? More Like Health Scare!
From theĀ Lown Institute: For pharmaceutical companies who use scare tactics to sell drugs, every day is like Halloween. This list of egregious advertisements shows...
The Placebo Effect is Amplified When Doctors Appear Likeable
FromĀ The British Psychological Society: A new study found that the placebo effect is enhanced by the impression of warmth and competence.
"Howe and her team...
Western āDepressionā is Not Universal
Derek Summerfield, consultant psychiatrist at South London and Maudsley National Health Service Foundation Trust, challenges the assumption that Western depression is a universal condition.
Low-Carbohydrate Diet Superior to Antipsychotic Medications
FromĀ Psychology Today: Research and case studies show that the ketogenicĀ diet may be a promising treatment for psychosis and other mental health challenges. The ketogenic...
Mirror, Mirror: Study Challenges Notion of a Narcissism Epidemic Among Youth
One study indicates that pointed fingers incriminating youth for narcissism may be pointed in the wrong direction.
Humans Had to Evolve to Acknowledge Octopus Consciousness
In this pieceĀ forĀ Quartz, Ephrat Livni explores our evolving attitudes toward octopuses, from initial fear and revulsion to contemporary respect and inquiry. Now, scientists are...
Teaching Psychology Students to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse
FromĀ The Conversation: An undergraduate course in behavioral psychology at Bangor University now includes a fully gamified module that immerses students in a zombie apocalypse...
Zombies Must Be Dualists
In this piece forĀ Nautilus, Sean Carroll introduces the idea of a "philosophical zombie," beings that look and behave exactly like humans, but lack the...
Rigorous Study Finds Antidepressants Worsen Long-Term Outcomes
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.
