Too Much Emotional Intelligence is a bad Thing
From Scientific American: High levels of emotional intelligence may be associated with increased stress as well as feelings of depression and hopelessness.
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WRAP Reduces Depression and Anxiety, Improves Recovery
519 individuals recruited from community mental health settings in Ohio were assigned to Wellness Recovery Action Planning (WRAP) or treatment as usual and assessed...
Pfizer Settles Chantix Lawsuit: Keeps CEO Off the Stand
One week before its court date, Pfizer settled with plaintiff Billy G. Bedsole Jr., who claims that Chantix triggered his suicidal thoughts and other...
The Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) Study: Notes from the Trenches
I was a psychiatrist who participated in the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE ETP). Although I welcomed the positive headlines that heralded the study's results, the reports left me with mixed feelings. What happened to render the notion that talking to people about their experiences and helping them find jobs or go back to school is something novel?
Scholar and Activist Joel Kovel Dies at 81 in New York
From Democracy Now!: Joel Kovel, a well-known psychiatrist who was outspoken in his opposition to the corporate influence over medicine, died last week at the...
Sandra Steingard Article Questioning Psych Meds Published in WaPo
The Washington Post yesterday published an article by MIA blogger Sandra Steingard, titled "A Psychiatrist Thinks Some Patients are Better off Without Antipsychotic Drugs." In...
JAMA Editorial: “Confluence, Not Conflict of Interest”
Yesterday, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) released an editorial entitled “Confluence, Not Conflict of Interest: Name Change Necessary.” The authors argue that the phrase “conflict of interest is pejorative,” and a better term “would be confluence of interest, implying an alingnment of primary and secondary interests.”
Prenatal Exposure to SSRIs Significantly Increases Autism & Developmental Delays
Research on 966 mother-child pairs from the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment (CHARGE) Study finds that prenatal SSRI exposure was nearly 3...
Researchers Faked Data on Epigenetics of Bipolar Disorder
The British Journal of Psychiatry has issued a retraction of an article purporting to have identified evidence of the epigenetic aspects of bipolar disorder,...
Mindfulness Meditation Comparable to Medication for Depression
Researchers from Johns Hopkins, publishing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reviewed the research literature on mindfulness meditation to find that it...
A Dribbling, Suicidal Mess – Until I Kicked the Pills
In this piece for The Sunday Times, Oliver Thring tells the story of Katinka Blackford Newman, a woman who became psychotic after taking antidepressants and...
More Physical Activity-Based Mental Health Interventions Needed in Schools
What physical activity-based programs are being implemented in schools, how are they being researched, and what kind of impact have they made?
Meta-Analysis Finds Asking About Suicidal Thoughts Does Not Predict Suicide
A recent meta-analysis finds that the association between reported suicidal ideation and later suicide is low.
Patient Race Associated with Varied Psychiatric Treatment Experiences
Findings point to association between race and the mental health care experiences of African-American and White veterans.
Drugmaker Group Sets Lobbying Record
From Bloomberg: The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $9.96 million on federal lobbying in the first three months of 2018, representing an...
“Sales of ADHD Meds Are Skyrocketing. Here’s Why.”
-Mother Jones looks at drug company promotional efforts, expanded diagnostic criteria, and the appeal of amphetamines to high-performance cultures globally.
Researchers Explore the Relationship Between Religiosity and Psychotic Experiences
Individuals who identify as religious may be more likely to have symptoms associated with psychosis.
NIMH’s First Follow-Up Study
a) One Year After Discharge. Schooler, N. American Journal of Psychiatry, 123 (1967):986-995.
This NIMH study looked at one-year outcomes for 299 patients who had been treated either...
“I Fooled Millions Into Thinking Chocolate Helps Weight Loss. Here’s How.”
-John Bohannon describes how he conducted a poorly designed study of chocolate and weight loss, got it published in a journal, issued a press release, and watched as the story spread.
Antidepressants Linked to Osteoporosis and Fractures
Researchers from Switzerland, the U.K., Belgium, Denmark, Canada, Italy, Austria and the U.S. review the current evidence linking antidepressants to loss of bone mineral...
Motherhood in Illness & Recovery
Researchers in Norway, publishing in the International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, explore the experiences of being a mother with mental illness; "their way...
University and Petitioners Debate Ethics of Animal Psychiatric Experiment
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is engaged in a public debate with a medical doctor who posted a petition on Change.org that has gathered nearly...
“France Tightens Rules in Wake of Fatal Clinical Trial Disaster”
After a clinical trial killed one person and landed five others in intensive care, the government is demanding that the clinical trial company responsible, Biotrial,...
FDA Investigator: “The Clinical Trial System is Broken”
A featured article in the British Medical Journal relates the perspective of FDA investigator Thomas Marciniak, who says “Drug companies have turned into marketing machines. They’ve kind of...
Antipsychotics During Pregnancy Raise Diabetes Risk
Swedish researchers find, in a study of all women giving birth in Sweden from July 1, 2005 through December 31, 2009 that those taking...
