How to Distinguish Antidepressant Withdrawal from Relapse
Mark Horowitz and David Taylor provide advice on how to tell the difference between antidepressant withdrawal and depression relapse.
Did Psychiatry Ever Endorse the Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression?
With the chemical imbalance theory falling out of fashion, researchers examine the claim that psychiatry never truly endorsed it.
Antidepressants Do Not Improve Quality of Life
A new study found that taking antidepressants did not improve quality of life.
Patient Reports Reveal SSRI Antidepressants Often Lead to Emotional Blunting
According to patient reports, SSRI antidepressants most frequently lead to the subjective experience of emotional blunting.
Many Service Users Interested in Decreasing Antipsychotic Use with Professional Help
New research examines service user attitudes on discontinuing and reducing antipsychotic drugs.
Antipsychotics Often Prescribed Without Informed Consent
New research reveals that patients are often not given fully informed consent before being prescribed antipsychotics.
Antipsychotics Worsen Cognitive Functioning in First-Episode Psychosis
Withholding antipsychotics may be beneficial for memory, the researchers write.
Official Guidelines on Antidepressant Discontinuation Fail Practitioners and Patients
A review of clinical practice guidelines for antidepressant discontinuation from across the English-speaking world reveals major pitfalls.
Medicating Preschoolers for ADHD: How “Evidence-Based” Psychiatry Has Led to a Tragic End
The prescribing of stimulants to preschoolers diagnosed with ADHD is on the rise, which is said to be an "evidence-based" practice. A review of that "evidence base" reveals that claims that ADHD is characterized by genetic and brain abnormalities are belied by the data, and that the NIMH trial of methylphenidate in this age group told of long-term harm.
Shifting Away from ECT and Antidepressants for Depression
Researchers argue that we need a paradigm shift away from the biomedical model of mental illness to one informed by political action and common sense.
Negative Antidepressant Trials Still Unlikely to Be Published
Antidepressant trials with negative results are still more likely than not to either be misleadingly spun as positive or unpublished.
SSRI Antidepressants Do Not Improve Depression After a Stroke
A study in JAMA Neurology finds that antidepressants do not reduce depression symptoms more than placebo in patients recovering from a stroke.
New Review: Antidepressants Come with Minimal Benefits, Several Risks
A review of research on antidepressant efficacy finds that an unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio.
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
Researchers argue that common study methods for psychiatric drugs may inadvertently minimize withdrawal effects and inflate drug efficacy.
Overuse of Psychiatric Drugs is Worsening Public Mental Health, Doctor Argues
A new research article asserts that the overuse of psychiatric drugs may create neurobiological changes that hamper long-term mental health recovery.
What Helps Long-Term Users of Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs Discontinue?
Current long-term users of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs identify barriers and facilitators for discontinuation.
Lithium No Better Than Placebo for Preventing Suicide Attempts
A trial in veterans who had survived a previous suicide attempt was stopped early because the drug was found to be no better than a placebo.
Researchers Push to End Placebo Run-in Periods in Antidepressant Studies
Meta-analysis finds that the placebo run-in methodology reduces the placebo effect and finds antidepressants to be less useful.
Withdrawal Symptoms Cloud Findings of Antidepressant “Relapse” Trial
Leading researchers point out that a new antidepressant study in NEJM failed to account for withdrawal symptoms, casting doubt on the results.
Giovanni Fava – A Different Psychiatry is Possible
In this podcast, we hear from the renowned clinician and researcher Dr. Giovanni Fava about his latest book entitled “Discontinuing Antidepressant Medications”.
Researchers Provide Guidance for Reducing and Stopping Psychiatric Drugs
New guidance on how to taper and discontinue from psychiatric drugs from leading researchers Mark Horowitz and David Taylor.
Manufacturer of Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) Drugs Finds TD Emotionally Devastating
“Patients expressed feeling unaccepted by society or uncomfortable in their own skin… A few indicated that they would rather be dead than have tardive dyskinesia.”
Antipsychotics Linked to Increased Breast Cancer Risk
Long-term exposure to prolactin-increasing antipsychotics increases the odds of developing breast cancer.
New Rating Tool for Tapering Antidepressants and Antipsychotics
Researchers developed a rating scale to better assess service users’ experiences tapering antidepressant and/or antipsychotic medication.
Antipsychotics Increase Risk of Dementia; New Research Illuminates Why
In JAMA psychiatry, researchers outline new theories connecting antipsychotic use in people with schizophrenia and increased dementia risk.
