Thoughts on the Meaning of Neuroscience

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For me there are at least four separate questions to be addressed. The first is whether neuroscience is capable of understanding human emotion and higher level cognitive experiences. The second is the extent to which that understanding - even if it is achievable - is critical to our being able to help people in distress. The third is whether is it is correct to assume, as many people seem to do, that if we come to some basic understanding of brain function as it pertains to core human emotion and suffering that this will automatically translate into treatments that are commonly thought of as "biological," such as drug treatment. The fourth relates to the limitations and relevance of studying the brain in isolation when we are constantly in interaction with our environment.

“To CDC on Children’s Mental Health: Consider Office of Homeland Attachment Security”

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Claudia Gold writes in the Boston Globe, "The time has come to recognize the overwhelming evidence regarding the importance of early relationships in healthy...

Chaya Grossberg – Long Bio

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ALL OF US OR NONE OF US Chaya Grossberg is a writer, teacher, coach and group facilitator living in San Francisco. She teaches classes and...

Did Electroshock Save my Life?

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In July 2006, I wrote about Electroconvulsive Therapy and stated, “If I had the opportunity to have another series of treatments I would do...

My Place in the Crisis

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Editor's Note: To ensure the security of her job, the author has opted to use only her first name. My relationship with the mental health...

Life, Liberty, & the Pursuit of Happiness? Protesting the Legislation of Systematic Civil...

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On March 26th, a small group of us gathered outside the State House in Boston, Massachusetts, to rally and protest against several oppressive, dehumanizing, and dangerous bills put forth by the House and Senate.  If you’re interested in reading more about them, go to www.malegislature.gov/Bills, and search for House Bills 110, 141, 1802, 3253, 1792, and Senate Bill 41.  This is my speech from the event.

Ask Michael Moore About Psychiatric Drugs and Gun Violence

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In Michael Moore's movie, "Bowling for Columbine," the question is repeatedly asked; "why are there so many gun murders in the United States compared to other countries?" But no answer is given. However, in Gary Null's recent film, "The Drugging of our Children," Mr. Moore says that it is quite possible Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold shot all of those students at Columbine for no other reason than they were given psychiatric drugs. He called for an investigation into the role of such drugs in the murders at Columbine, but does not appear to be following up. Now, there is an opportunity to ask him about it!!!

The Truth is Often Ugly…

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Beyond Meds' Monica Cassani is amused and befuddled by critics who slam psychiatry then advise having "a doctor to help them withdraw from drugs…as...

“They Need to be Held Accountable”

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Psychiatrists at the University of Minnesota forced a young man into a profitable study of antipsychotic drugs over the objections of his mother, who desperately warned that his condition was deteriorating and that he was in danger of killing himself. On May 8, 2004, Mary Weiss' only son, Dan Markingson, committed suicide. A petition to the governor of Minnesota now asks for an investigation.

Trauma, First-Episode Schizophrenia, and Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor

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A team of Egyptian researchers found, in a sample of 74 outpatients, a relationship between trauma and first-episode schizophrenia, with a "mediating" role of...

RxISK Stories: If You’re Going to Look After Patients, Man Up

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Pharmalot has just posted a piece - 'Controversial FDA official, Tom Laughren, retires.' This is a must read for anyone with anything to do with mental health - both the post and the comments afterwards where some have posted that they still believe the Black Box warnings on antidepressants arose because of pressure from the Church of Scientology rather than in response to the data.The post will likely seem boring to many. But the comments won't - they seethe with anger.

My Journey Home to Self

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It is not the responsibility of those exposed to demonstrate danger, it is the responsibility of pharmaceutical, commercial, and industrial companies to properly evaluate the long-term safety of such exposures, including an evaluation of the severe risks to a potentially genetically vulnerable minority. Only then can a governing body be in a position to sanction, condone, or even promote such chemicals.

Building a Bridge to Hope

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Hope heals. Thousand of years of experience and, more recently, numerous hope studies, prove this to be true. Yet hope is still a 4-letter word in many mental health settings. How can we build a bridge to hope from hope-stealing physical and emotional pain, hopeless diagnoses and prognoses, and hope-numbing side effects?

The Road to Perdition

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The recent research scandals out of the University of Minnesota’s Department of Psychiatry may be alarming, but they are not new. Back in the 1990s, when the university was working its way towards a crippling probation by the National Institutes of Health (for yet another episode of misconduct (this time in the Department of Surgery), the Department of Psychiatry hosted two spectacular cases of research wrongdoing, both of which resulted in faculty members being disqualified from conducting research by the FDA.

A Recent Study of Atypical Neuroleptics: “The Results of our Study are Sobering”

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This week, MIA highlighted a recently published study of the four most commonly prescribed neurolpetics. As noted in the post, the major outcome was that these drugs were not found to be effective or safe. This important study, co-authored by Dilip Jeste the current president of the American Psychiatric Association, is worth reviewing in greater detail.

See What You Want to See

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(August, 1985) My first academic article, entitled, “Dissociation and Psychotic Symptoms” is published in The American Journal of Psychiatry. It was a case report of a young girl who experienced visions and voices. We thought that she had dissociative symptoms and we had taught her how to control these experiences through self hypnosis. In the same month, an article was published in another academic journal. This was entitled, “Treatment of Bulimia and Rapid-Cycling Bipolar Disorder with Sodium Valproate: A case Report .” We were describing the same young girl. Our treatments were concurrent. How could this be?

Common Sense, Deferred: Lessons From the “Fresh Air” Fight, Part Two

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How and why the right to fresh air is continuously blocked by money, politics and ignorance. Plus, personal reflections on how nature heals.

In Search of Change: My Journey

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It is more helpful to focus on what clients do well than what they are lacking. These are simple things, but it takes a lot of discipline for professionals to stay focused, stay simple, respect clients as the expert on their life and listen intensely for their strengths and resources.

The United Met States of Psychiatry

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Psychiatry’s desperate drive to legitimize itself as a profitable medical authority has resulted in a mass delusion so pervasive and destructive that it's put us on a path towards societal collapse. This is not an overstatement, in my opinion, as the statistics are mind-boggling— one in five Americans are on psychiatric drugs. One in five. By my calculations, this means that 62,913,200 people ingest mind-altering, body-altering, spirit-altering pills they believe to be “medications” on a daily basis.

“Serious Breakdown” on Cymbalta Withdrawal Warnings

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"The last four years have seen a 90% increase in the number of serious adverse drug reports received by the Food and Drug Administration," according to a report by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices." Among them, a "signal" that Cymbalta causes "an array of problems such as crying, suicidal ideation, and anger, and other symptoms including effects on appetite and weight gain."

A New Kind of Empirical Article

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Neurochambers' Chris Chambers, a freshly-minted associate editor for journal Cortex, asks for comments on "the most important thing I have committed to this blog...

Let’s All Support Stephen Sheller’s FDA Petition to Revoke the Pediatric Approval of Risperdal

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Thanks to Ginger Breggin for posting about Stephen Sheller's FDA Petition to Revoke the Pediatric Approval of Risperdal on her Facebook Page. Many of you know that Mr. Sheller recently settled a case against Johnson & Johnson over Risperdal causing breasts to grow in a young boy. What is not yet well-known is that on July 27, 2012, Mr. Sheller filed what is known as a "citizen's petition" to revoke the approval of Risperdal (risperidone), and its cousin Invega, for use on children and youth.

J&J Alleged To Hide Evidence That Risperdal Grows Boys’ Breasts

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"A drug that was never meant for kids was illegally marketed to kids," said a lawyer for the plaintiff in opening remarks for the...

Surgeon General Targets Rising Suicide Rate, But Not Drugs Linked to Suicide

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An Op-Ed in Op-Ed News discusses the disconnect between concern about rising suicide rates in the general population (and the military) and awareness of...

Finland: The Pre-Seminar

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What follows is my attempt to report on the Pre-Seminar program from the 17th International Conference on the Treatment of Psychosis.