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.Â
Research News
Rethinking Trust in Psychiatry: When Mistrust Is Misread as Madness
A new paper challenges the idea that therapeutic mistrust is pathological, reframing it as a rational stance against historical and cultural marginalization.
Study Finds Key Role for Emotion Recognition in Adolescent Well-Being
Longitudinal research links alexithymia to worsening emotional regulation and psychological distress in adolescence.
Cannabinoids Linked to Worse Psychosis Outcomes in Longitudinal Study
Natural cannabis users improved less than non-users. Synthetic cannabis users showed the worst outcomes across nearly all clinical dimensions.
Forced Hospitalization Increases Suicide and Violent Crime
Proponents claim involuntary treatment is necessary to reduce suicide and crime, but new research shows it doubles the risk of these outcomes.
Mental Health Workers Say They Want Recovery-Oriented Care. So Why Do They Still Endorse...
A new study in Greece reveals that mental health professionals often accept involuntary hospitalization as a ânecessary evil,â despite supporting community-based care.
Psychological Disorders Are âShapeshifters,â Not Fixed Labels, Study Finds
Internalizing disorders, including depression and anxiety, shift their shape depending on cultural, physiological, and personal factors.
Philosophy Majors Improve in Critical Thinking, New Study Finds
A study by two philosophers finds evidence that majoring in philosophy increases oneâs verbal reasoning ability, open-mindedness, and other essential intellectual virtues.
Early Life Adversity Predicts Later Mental Health Issues Around the World
Exposure to childhood trauma raises the risk of adult mental illness by 66%, according to a global systematic review.
Many Herbal Supplements As Good or Better Than Antidepressants
Herbal supplements like St. John's Wort, saffron, vitamin D, and probiotics beat placebo more consistently than antidepressants. St. John's Wort beat antidepressants in head-to-head comparisons too.
Before Involuntary Commitment: Coercion in the Shadows
New study reveals that psychiatric force is frequently applied long before formal admission procedures begin.
Participatory Research in India Redefines Who Gets to Create Mental Health Knowledge
Participatory action research yields novel insights and elicits a sense of pride and empowerment, particularly in low-resource settings.
What Clients Say They Get From TherapyâAnd Itâs Not Just Fewer Symptoms
New study shows that clients value growth, self-understanding, and connection more than diagnostic relief.
UK Study Finds Ethnic Minorities More Likely to Face Psychiatric Detention
New research links racial and migration status to disproportionate use of involuntary hospitalization.
Itâs Not Just in Your Head: Experts Urge Focus on Poverty, Discrimination, and Housing
Despite widespread recognition of social causes, clinical care remains focused on individual diagnosis.
Mental Health Needs Anthropology: A New Humanism for Psychology
An interview between several Norwegian psychologists and anthropologist Tim Ingold explores how mental health practitioners could engage more directly and ethically with service users.
UN Guidance Fails to Curb Psychiatric Coercion, British Legal Scholar Warns
Despite nearly two decades since the CRPDâs adoption, forced treatment and institutionalization remain widespread, a new review of UK law and international policy finds.
Youth Adversity Linked to Depression and Anxiety Regardless of Background, New Study Finds
Drawing on data from over 5,600 London adolescents, researchers found a strong, consistent link between childhood adversity and mental health struggles across 16 demographic profiles.
National Study Ties LGBTQ+ Mental Health Disparities to Structural Oppression, Not Individual Pathology
As anti-LGBTQ+ laws multiply, so do mental health struggles and psychiatric diagnoses. Experts say structural violence is the real driver of distress.
Gardening Best Depression Treatment in ElderlyâAntidepressants Worst
âHorticulture therapy,â CBT, and exercise all beat usual care for the elderly, while antidepressants led to worse outcomes than usual care.
Psychiatry Hinders the Relational Capacity of Those with Anomalous Experiences
Psychiatry fails to consider the intersubjective element of hallucinations and psychosis, further isolating those with anomalous experiences.
AI Technologies Likely to Entrench Exploitation of Service Users
Corporate profit and government control valued over service user consent and wellbeing, warns critical law professor
Improving Mental Health Care by Centering Peers in Open Dialogue
A new study calls for rethinking Open Dialogue practices by placing peer practitioners at the heart of therapeutic work.
Growing Up Poor Has Long-Term Mental Health Costs, Danish Study Finds
New research traces depressive symptoms, psychiatric diagnoses, and drug use across nearly two decades, linking them to socioeconomic status at age 15.
ECT Proponents Deny Harms as the Tide Begins to Shift
WHO and APA guidance now recognizes the risks of electroshock, but proponents continue to cherry-pick data and deny the harms.
Study Finds Increase in Psychiatric Framing of Emotions in Czech Journalism
Czech media increasingly frames ordinary emotions like sadness and shyness in clinical language, raising concerns about cultural psychiatrization.
From Subjects to Co-Researchers: A Lived Experience Model for Decolonizing Global Mental Health
What happens when people with lived experience of mental health conditions design, lead, and interpret their own studies? A new project from Ghana and Indonesia offers some answers.
Critical-Liberation Psychotherapy Model Promises Liberation, Not Adaptation
Psychologists propose a comprehensive new model for psychotherapy that integrates insights from critical, liberation, and decolonial psychologies.
Mental Health Providers Support Cultural Humility, But Fear Policy Pushback
A new study finds widespread support for cultural humility among mental health professionals, but many fear institutional backlash and lack the training to do it well.
New Study Reveals Psychological Toll of Stigma in Self-Injury Survivors
Researchers found that stigma related to self-injury is a persistent psychological burden, often silencing individuals and preventing them from seeking help.
Global Study Builds Consensus on User-Defined Mental Health Recovery
Mental health professionals unite around user-centered definitions of recoveryâemphasizing agency, empowerment, and inclusion over symptom reduction.
âItâs Possible, and People Are Doing Itâ: Mental Health Crises Without Coercion
A new study explores how organizers and health professionals are creating non-carceral, community-based alternatives to psychiatric emergency care.
Stanford Researchers: AI Therapy Chatbots Encourage Delusions, Suicide, Stigma
âLLMs make dangerous statements, going against medical ethics to âdo no harm,â and there have already been deaths from use of commercially-available bots,â the researchers write.
Chronic Loneliness as the Existential Global Mental Health Concern
A team of researchers reviews 60 studies on chronic loneliness and finds that current psychiatric and public health models fail to capture its relational, developmental, and cultural dimensions.
Liberation Psychologist Asks if Hatred Has a Place in Progressive Politics
Liberation psychologist Nick Malherbe sees a place for psychologists in navigating rather than repressing political hatred inside progressive circles.
Students Need “Pockets of Humanity” in a Harmful System, Study Finds
A new study explores how âpockets of humanityâ in school environments help students cope with systemic injustice and improve well-being.
Medications Arenât the Measure of Success in Psychosis Treatment
Researchers in Norway find people with psychosis are most satisfied with services that help them work, study, and live in the community.
AI Medical Advice Biased Against Marginalized People
LLMs recommended mental health interventions âapproximately six to seven times more often than clinically indicatedâ for LGBTQIA+ people, according to researchers.
The Future of Mental Health Is Community-Led, Researchers Argue
Researchers call for systemic investment in Community Health Workers, highlighting their role in transforming howâand for whomâmental health care works.
Mental Health and Justice for Indigenous Peoples in Bangladesh
Omar Faruk proposes a model that centers Indigenous voices in care, arguing that epistemic injustice underlies mental health disparities.
The Weaponization of Woundedness: Feminist Scholars Examine Trauma Talk
Once a clinical term used to describe extreme psychological distress, âtraumaâ has become a common feature of public life. It appears in therapy sessions,...
Why Psychiatry Trainees in France Want More Philosophy
A national survey of psychiatric professionals in France shows broad support for integrating philosophical concepts into clinical training and care.
Researchers: “We Do Not Suggest” Antipsychotics for Depression
Augmenting with antipsychotics was no better at reducing suicide than adding antidepressants, but led to increased risk of death from other causes.
Delusion or Design? Rethinking the Logic of Madness
A new philosophical analysis challenges psychiatryâs core assumptions about delusion, calling for a rethink of purpose, meaning, and epistemic justice.
The Brain Isnât a Computer: Why That Matters for Mental Health
Philosopher Daniel Hutto argues that mainstream cognitive science rests on faulty metaphors and that a more humane, dynamic theory of mind is possible.
Liberation Psychology Gains Ground in a Fractured World
As crises of displacement and inequality intensify, more scholars are turning to Liberation Psychologyâs commitment to structural change.
Study Reveals How Adolescent Mental Health Is Shaped by Inherited Wounds
A new study reveals that family trauma, not just genetics, fuels mental health risks across generations.
Elderly Patients Who Stop Antipsychotics Have Better Outcomes
Older adults are often prescribed antipsychotics off-label for behavioral control in the hospital. But thereâs no evidence for antipsychotics helping, and a great deal of evidence of harm.
Online Racism Tied to Psychotic Experiences in Youth of Color
New research finds that online racism significantly increases the odds of psychotic experiences in Black and Asian American young adults, even beyond the impact of everyday discrimination and anxiety.
From EMPOWER to Exercise: What Actually Helps Older Adults Quit Benzos?
Despite clear risks, benzos and z-drugs remain widely prescribed to the elderly. New research explores what helpsâand what doesnâtâwhen trying to stop.
Exposure to Antidepressants in the Womb Makes for Sad, Scared Adolescents
SSRI exposure in utero âalters the offspringâs brain structure,â causing a hyperactive amygdala and fear circuits, leading to anxiety and depression.