Michael Moore Discusses the Impact of Prozac on the Columbine Shootings
Michael Moore learned about the link between prozac and violence at the premier of his film "Bowling for Columbine." Here, he appears in Gary...
Teenagers on SSRIs
Last week, the Wall Street Journal has an article titled The Medication Generation by Katherine Sharpe which questioned the fact that a large number of teenagers are...
Letters From the Front Lines
Dear Bob:
Saw a young man recently, early 30s, who wanted help withdrawing from benzodiazepines.
He had been on escalating doses of Xanax for two years. The...
Withdrawal studies up to 9/23/2005
M.W. Agelink, A Zitselsberger, E. Kleiser, Withdrawal symptoms after discontinuation of Venlafaxine (letter), Am. J. Psychiatry, 154, 10, October 1997, 1473-1474.
G.W. Amsden, F. Georgian,...
Anatomy of a Coverup
The New York Times analyzes the process whereby Celebrex, an arthritis drug, was promoted by Prizer despite knowing that it was no more effective...
Killed by the Huffington Post, Article Now on the Newsstands in Skeptic
Now in the current issue of Skeptic, I have an article called “Depression Treatment: What Works and How We Know” (article rights owned by...
Norway Prosecutors Ask for Psychiatric Care, Not Prison
Saying "in our opinion, it is worse that a psychotic person is sentenced to preventative detention than a nonpsychotic person is sentenced to compulsory...
Association Between Age of Psychosis Onset and Cannabis Use
Researchers at Harvard, NYU, and the VA say in a study published online today by Schizophrenia Research that the age at which 57 subjects...
“Psychiatry Takes a Beating” in Norway
"Anders Behring Breivik is not standing trial alone in Oslo. Psychiatry is being judged as well," says Time magazine, as the trial nears its...
Holistic Recovery From Schizophrenia: A Mother and Son’s Journey
I am a mother of a son who was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia in December 2003, a son who is doing well today...
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy is Effective for Current Depression
A randomized, controlled trial by researchers in the Netherlands compared 102 subjects with recurrent depression receiving mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) + treatment-as-usual (TAU) with...
The Place of Medication in a Recovery Oriented System of Care
I was invited to present a work shop with Dan Fisher, MD PhD at the 2012 NAMI-VT annual meeting. These are my comments. They reflect my long term beliefs integrated with my reappraisal of practice in the past year.
Anxiety Accounts for Bipolar False Positives
Researchers found that of 1,534 patients assessed at Australia's Black Dog Institute Depression clinic, a significant number received a false positive diagnosis of bipolar...
Locus of Control Less Associated with Anxiety in Collective Societies
Locus of Control (LOC), a measure of the degree to which one perceives control of one's life to be internally- vs. externally-determined, was reviewed...
PLoS Medicine Series: Global Studies of “Practice-Based Evidence”
The Public Library of Science calls for "case studies that can help broaden our understanding of global mental health in 'real-life' contexts." The series...
Do I Have Too Many Questions This Morning?
What if it were the sun that could cure you; would you have the courage to go and find it? Would you wear sunscreen?
If...
Whose Recovery Is This?! Helping Families Heal
Last night I had the privilege of attending my first Family Den with other Mother Bears like myself—parents, spouses, siblings and adult children. All of us have family members who have experienced mental health challenges. All of us had a story to tell.
Is Psychiatry “Salvageable”?
A reader in the commentary here asked me if I think “psychiatry is salvageable.” This is a timely question that requires careful consideration.
First, I’ll...
Mad Pride and Spiritual Community: Thoughts on The Spiritual Gift of Madness
Let our Mad Pride movement be grounded in humility and kindness for each other in our diversity of life experiences, a recognition that social movements need good communicators and organizers more than charismatic leaders and messianic visions, and that the beautiful language we use to describe ourselves is only as powerful as the grounded actions we take to back up our words.
The Pond, Learning and Humility
What an amazing ride I’ve had in the past few days on the tsunami of commentary from my previous post. While it’s been fun (dare...
Pandora’s Box
This morning I remind myself to point my eyes forward. I tend to want to re-do the past and try to make bad things...
Why I don’t do “med checks”
I don't do "med checks". What do I do?
Life for Psychiatrists after Reading Bob Whitaker: Let’s Take Back Substance Abuse Treatment
An astounding development is the explosion in the numbers of substance abusers being diagnosed with Bipolar. I teach a class in Substance Abuse at...
Antidepressants Keep GIs Fighting
MIA Blogger Bruce Levine talks with American Free Press about the increasing use of psychotropic medications in today's military.
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Discipline, Not Drugs
This is how a child gets into the mental health system. At age 3 he pitches a fit in the grocery store because he...
