RESEARCH NEWS
Summaries of research findings that tell of a scientific need to “rethink psychiatry.”
An archive of research reports on psychiatric drugs can also be found here.
Research News
Indigenous Healing Practices Challenge the Ground Psychology Stands On
Far from cultural add-ons, these traditions reveal how Western psychology’s assumptions about mind, health, and healing may be too narrow to serve a diverse world.
From Behavior Control to Justice: Rethinking School Social Work
A new paper challenges the punitive and pathologizing roots of school social work and proposes a justice-oriented alternative rooted in abolitionist thinking.
PTSD Treatments Work Equally Well, But Who They Work For Still Varies
EMDR performs just as well as other therapies in reducing PTSD symptoms, but new findings suggest that sociodemographic factors like employment and gender still shape outcomes.
Study Reveals Emotional Burden and Moral Distress Faced by Peer Support Workers
The study explores how peer support workers in Poland experience emotional and moral distress, with recommendations for organizational changes to reduce these challenges.
Antidepressant Withdrawal Is Common and Debilitating
Those using antidepressants long-term were more likely to experience withdrawal and to have severe withdrawal symptoms.
More Evidence That Antidepressants Work Via Placebo Effect
Antidepressants were more effective for depressed patients who were more “optimistic.” Still, only 30% responded to SSRIs.
The Climate Doom Paradox: Awareness Without Agency Fuels Anxiety
A growing number of people are overwhelmed by climate change not just physically but psychologically. New findings show that awareness without outlets can isolate but shared action can help.
People in Crisis Want Respectful, Personalized Support from Mental Health Professionals, Study Finds
A new qualitative study finds that service users in psychiatric crisis prioritize respectful, individualized support over standardized interventions.
From Stereotype to Slur in Three Clicks: Inside AI’s Mental-Health Hate Machine
Researchers trace how AI chatbots escalate mild stereotypes into full-blown attack narratives, raising alarms about tech already creeping into digital therapy and clinical decision support.
Coercion in Psychiatric Wards Tied to Worse Recovery, Spanish Study Finds
Investigators found that these experiences increase the risk of suicide and repeated hospitalization, fueling demands for compassionate, collaborative crisis services.
Survivor Accounts Reveal Longstanding Failures in Healthcare Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
Historian Ruth Beecher examines survivors’ own words to show the persistent failures of doctors, nurses, and psychiatrists to offer real help.
Disease Model of Addiction Lacks Empirical Support, New Study Finds
A new Lancet Psychiatry article argues that the brain-disease model of addiction lacks empirical support and obscures the social causes of substance use.
Profiting from Distress: How Outsourcing Mental Health Undermines Public Schools
A new Canadian study finds that privatized mental health programs in schools may erode public education, reinforce stigma, and ignore systemic roots of distress.
Beyond the Clinic: Community-led Mental Health Programs Offer Hope
A review of 35 studies finds that mental health initiatives built with community participation show promise, though lasting impacts on quality of life remain uncertain.
Half of Those Who Take Antidepressants Are Labeled “Treatment Resistant”
Millions of people are trying multiple antidepressant drugs without success, and psychiatry labels them “treatment resistant.”
Objectivity Isn’t Neutral: How Standardization in Psychiatry Can Undermine Epistemic Justice
A new article in Synthese identifies how psychiatric diagnostic tools contribute to the marginalization of patient voices.
Can You Tell If a Mental Health Message Was Written by AI? Most People...
A new study finds AI can convincingly mimic peer support, raising difficult questions about authenticity, trust, and what we lose when the language of care is generated by machines.
Who Speaks for Global Mental Health? New Study Exposes Narrow Power Base
Dominated by Western, male, and psychiatric voices, the global mental health field remains fragmented and lacking in lived experience perspectives, researchers find.
Study Links Economic Hardship and Family Trauma to Teen Mental Health Issues
Norwegian researchers trace rising adolescent depression and behavioral issues to both poverty and adverse experiences at home.
The Certainties of Therapy-Speak Are Contributing to Our Social Collapse
A Lacanian and psychosocial critique challenges the assumption that more self-knowledge always leads to more freedom.
How Psychiatric Labels are Used as Tools of Abuse in Family Court
Even as diagnostic categories face scrutiny, they’re being used in courtrooms to make life-altering decisions about parenting and custody.
ADHD Drugs Linked to Cardiomyopathy
Presented at a major cardiology conference, the study suggests a 57% increased risk of heart muscle disease after 8 years of stimulant use.
Antidepressant Trials Last Eight Weeks, So Why Do We Take Them for Years?
The studies are of short duration and are riddled with methodological issues like unblinding and failure to assess withdrawal.
Direct Cash Aid Linked to Long-Term Mental Health Gains in Youth, New Study Finds
Structural solutions like cash transfer programs could be key to reducing emotional distress where traditional treatment falls short.
Nearly All Guideline Authors for Mood Disorders in Japan Took Industry Money
A new study reveals that 93% of authors writing treatment guidelines for depression and bipolar disorder received payments from the drug companies whose products they promoted.
A Glossary for Reimagining Mental Health Ethics, From ‘Tokenism’ to ‘Justice’
Psychiatry still sidelines survivors in research and care. A new framework says that has to change.
What Happens When Voice-Hearers Share Stories Without Judgment
Peer-led Hearing Voices Groups offer a rare space for meaning-making and mutual understanding outside the biomedical model.
Being Anxious About Socializing Is Not Autism
Those who self-diagnose with autism don’t have ASD traits or behaviors, but do exhibit higher social anxiety and avoidance scores than those with clinician-diagnosed ASD.
Why Neighborhood Matters in Psychosis Risk: Psychosis Is Not Just in the Brain
A growing body of research reveals how segregation, social exclusion, and structural racism shape brain development and psychosis risk, especially for youth.
Involuntary Psychiatric Detention Linked to Numerous Harms
A sweeping review uncovers widespread harms and only one dubious benefit of forced psychiatric hospitalization.
What Happens When We Treat Nature as Essential to Mental Health
A new study shows that fostering nature connection in youth promotes well-being, empathy, and pro-social values.
Trapped by the Target: Rethinking Goals in School Therapy
While some students find therapy goals motivating, others describe feeling stuck, judged, and disheartened.
Psychiatric Drugs “A Crude Form of Chemical Restraint”
Mental health nursing has a key role to play in helping people discontinue the drugs, writes Timothy Wand.
Most People Want Therapy That Gets to the Root, but Are They Getting It?
A new national study shows that while the public favors depth-oriented therapy, most are not receiving it—and cost, access, and tech platforms may be to blame.
The Birth of Macropsychology: Psychologists Call for a New Discipline to Tackle Systemic Harms
A growing field explores how laws, policies, and power shape mental health far more than internal traits or disorders.
How Psychology Is Used to Justify Inequality in Schools
Critics say dominant psychological models obscure structural racism and reinforce deficit views of students.
From Sleep Loss to Suicidality: How Nighttime Light Affects the Mind
The study suggests that poor city planning and excessive artificial lighting could be factors in the rise of mental health issues and advocates for eco-friendly, sustainable urban design to mitigate these effects.
Animal Study: SSRI Neurotoxic in Pregnancy
Researchers: Fetal exposure to vilazodone hampers neurodevelopment and leads to "long-lasting neurodevelopmental impairments."
Why the Standard PTSD Model Fails War Refugees in Ukraine
Critical psychologists argue that clinical trauma discourse overlooks the political realities shaping Ukrainian refugees’ suffering.
Can Opposing Views on Eating Disorders Coexist? A Dialectical Approach to Knowledge and Care
Researchers propose a new way of understanding eating disorders—one that values both scientific data and lived experience without forcing a singular perspective.
Antidepressants in Dementia Patients Increase Risk of Death and Fractures
A large-scale study reveals that antidepressant use is linked to faster cognitive decline in dementia patients, raising concerns about their widespread prescription.
FDA-Approved Genetic Algorithm Fails to Predict Opioid Abuse
Researchers warn that the AvertD test may “give clinicians and patients false and potentially harmful information.”
The Clinic of Solidarity: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Madness
In contrast to prevailing psychiatric interventions, researcher Elan Cohen advocates for a clinical approach rooted in solidarity, human rights, and psychoanalysis.
From Healing to Commodity: The Global North’s Approach to Psychedelic Therapy
A new study critiques how Western psychology has stripped psychedelics of their communal and transformative potential, turning them into marketable, individualistic treatments.
Can Mad Zines Revolutionize the Mental Health Curriculum?
A new article details the Madzines Research Project, which calls for integrating zines into the social work curriculum to include lived experience, creative expression, and alternative perspectives on mental health.
Structural Adversity and Suicide: The Mental Health Field is Asking the Wrong Questions
A new study finds that addressing food insecurity, housing instability, and parental incarceration could prevent suicide and self-injury in marginalized youth.
No, Machine Learning Cannot Predict Schizophrenia
A model that is wrong 90% of the time is not a success.
Is Global Mental Health Missing the Point? Ethiopian Voices Challenge Western Models
Interviews with people diagnosed with depression in Ethiopia highlight how social, economic, and cultural struggles shape psychological suffering, raising concerns about Western mental health interventions.
Why Some Men Feel Trapped by Masculinity—And What It Means for Mental Health
A new study reveals that rigid gender norms, emotional suppression, and self-reliance significantly increase men’s risk of suicidality.
Pollution, Profits, and Public Health: How Chemical Laws Fail America’s Children
A new report warns that weak U.S. chemical regulations are fueling a rise in childhood diseases, from cancer to neurodevelopmental disorders.