Informed Patient? Don’t bet on it
From The New York Times: Informed consent in health care is disturbingly uncommon. As a patient, it can be helpful to utilize a few strategies to be...
Conflicts of Interest Found in Psychotherapy Research
Research highlights the need for conflict of interest transparency and management in systemic reviews of psychological therapies.
DARPA’s Brain Chip Implants: Breakthrough or Total Disaster?
From Gizmodo: Some researchers believe that deep brain stimulation - a surgical procedure involving the implantation of electrodes that send electrical signals to specific areas...
Potential Dangers and Dubious History of Alternative Medicine
From MinnPost: Two recent articles have exposed some of the potentially dangerous effects of alternative treatments including homeopathy and acupuncture, as well as corruption in...
Patient Advocacy Groups Accept Drug Industry Funds
From The New York Times: A new study has found that more than 80 percent of the nation's patient advocacy groups accept funding from drug...
Your Brain as Laboratory: The Science of Meditation
In this guest blog for Scientific American, John Yates explores the ways that many meditation practices qualify as science.
"In the history of meditation practices that qualify...
How Brain Scientists Forgot That Brains Have Owners
From The Atlantic: Five neuroscientists have published a new paper arguing that the field of neuroscience has become too focused on technology and has de-prioritized the...
Most Off-Label Prescribing of Antidepressants Lacks Strong Scientific Evidence
A new study, published in the British Medical Journal, investigates the prevalence of off-label prescribing for antidepressant medication in primary care settings.
The Role of Pets in Supporting People Living with Mental Distress
From The Mental Elf: Recent research confirms what many animal lovers already know - that pets can play a major role in improving people's mental...
6-Year-old Boy Committed to a Psych Ward
From BuzzFeed News: A six-year-old boy in Jacksonville, Florida was recently committed to a psychiatric institution for throwing a temper tantrum in school. There, he...
The Long History of Discrimination in Pain Medicine
From The Atlantic: Throughout history, doctors have often stigmatized and discounted patients suffering from pain without visible injury. The rise of X-rays and other "objective"...
Despite Increase in Treatments, Prevalence of Mental Health Issues Climbs
Findings show that despite increases in treatment availability, the prevalence of mental health issues has not decreased.
Pro-LGBT Policies Reduce Teen Suicide
A study demonstrates a 7% reduction in suicide attempts for teens in states that had legalized same-sex marriage.
The Dangers of Using the Club Drug Ketamine for Depression
From TIME: The club drug ketamine has been found in some small studies to help treat people categorized as having treatment-resistant depression. However, while ketamine has...
A Study of Adolescent Depression That Doesn’t Make Sense
In this blog post for Quick Thoughts, James Coyne debunks a recent study in Lancet Psychiatry claiming that teens accessing mental health services experience a greater decrease in...
Experts Concerned That Depression Screening Will Lead to Overdiagnosis
Behind the U.S. task force recommendation to screen all children and adults for depression.
We Need to pay Better Attention to Medication Side Effects
From KevinMD.com: Doctors often fail to recognize that their patients' symptoms are side effects of medication.
"Cognitive dissonance, a universal human phenomenon, is based on the assumption...
Transition into Poverty May Worsen Child and Maternal Mental Health
Transitioning into poverty linked to behavioral issues in children, but may be mitigated by mother’s mental health.
Good News, Cats Don’t Cause Mental Health Problems
From USA Today: New research has disproved a previous study's suggestion that having cats in the home is linked to mental health problems. The new study...
When Evidence Says no, but Doctors say yes
From ProPublica: Many physicians continue to administer treatments that have long been proven ineffective and even harmful to patients.
"For all the truly wondrous developments of modern medicine...
Big Pharma Enlists Leading Professors to Justify Drug Prices
From ProPublica: The pharmaceutical company has deployed a potent new ally to justify skyrocketing drug prices. Precision Health Economics, a firm comprised of leading economists and...
Debunking Myths About Creativity and the Brain
From Pacific Standard: Recent studies have debunked two common myths about creativity and the brain: that the right hemisphere is solely responsible for creative thought,...
New Data Show Lack of Efficacy for Antidepressants
An article published this month in the journal BMC Psychiatry suggests that there is a lack of efficacy for SSRIs and that they significantly increase the risk of serious side effects.
Benzodiazepines Continue to be Prescribed Without Psychotherapy to Older Adults
Researchers call for shift toward proven alternatives like psychotherapy in face of continued evidence of safety risks of benzodiazepines.
Same-sex Marriage Laws Linked to Drop in Teen Suicide Attempts
From MinnPost: Laws legalizing same-sex marriage are associated with a significant drop in teen suicide attempts. In states that legalized same-sex marriage before June 2015, when...
