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
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. Â
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 refugeesâ suffering.
Can Opposing Views on Eating Disorders Coexist? A Dialectical Approach to Knowledge and Care
Researchers propose a new way of understanding eating disordersâone 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 âgive clinicians and patients false and potentially harmful information.â
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 Northâs 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 MasculinityâAnd What It Means for Mental Health
A new study reveals that rigid gender norms, emotional suppression, and self-reliance significantly increase menâs risk of suicidality.
Pollution, Profits, and Public Health: How Chemical Laws Fail Americaâs Children
A new report warns that weak U.S. chemical regulations are fueling a rise in childhood diseases, from cancer to neurodevelopmental disorders.
New Study Links Antidepressants to Increased Risk of Diabetes
Using genetic analysis, a new study finds that antidepressantsânot depressionâare responsible for a significant rise in type 2 diabetes risk.
Less Screen Time, More Exercise to Improve Adolescent Mental Health
Screen time in childhood worsens mental health but exercise seems to improve it, Finnish study finds.
How Prozac Became a Symbol of Biomedical Control and Storytelling Became an Act of...
A literary analysis of Prozac Diary challenges the biomedical modelâs rigid definitions of health, showing how personal storytelling can reclaim mental health narratives.
How AI Risks Deepening Health Inequality
AI is rapidly transforming healthcare, but a new study warns that without careful oversight, it could reinforce existing disparities in access, bias, and digital poverty.
“Waking Up to a Life That Doesnât Fit”: How Antipsychotics Affect Selfhood
People who taper off antipsychotics report rediscovering themselvesâraising urgent questions about how these drugs shape identity.
Are Antidepressants Weakening Womenâs Bones?
A study spanning two decades finds that antidepressant use is associated with a 44% increase in osteoporosis risk and a 62% higher chance of fractures.
Lithium Doubles Risk of Thyroid and Kidney Dysfunction
Serum lithium levels lower than those considered therapeutic still conveyed increased risk.
Psychiatric Euthanasia and the Failure of Imagination
A new article argues that psychiatric euthanasia may be less about patient autonomy and more about clinicians enacting unconscious dynamics, abandoning the role of healer in favor of executioner.
When Mental Health Care Becomes a Human Rights Crisis
A new study exposes how Spainâs mental health system fails to protect human rights and dignity, with coercive practices and inadequate legal safeguards leaving psychiatric service users vulnerable to abuse.
The Digital Divide Is Widening Mental Health Inequality
New research shows that digital access is shaping health outcomes, further entrenching disparities in care and reinforcing social determinants of mental health.
Why Our Beliefs About Mental Illness Are Making Stigma Worse
A new study finds that biological explanations for mental illness are linked to increased stigma, while attributing struggles to sociopolitical turmoil reduces it.
Psychiatric Drug Approvals Questioned by Researchers
Drugs were approved by the FDA based on flimsy evidence and against the recommendations of medical reviewers.
What Foucault Knew: Why Psychology Keeps Getting the Human Mind Wrong
A century of psychological research has failed to develop a truly objective science of the mind. A recent article revisits Foucaultâs work to explain why mental health can only be understood in its cultural, social, and political context.
Mental Health Care Is Stuck in the Wrong Frame and People Are Suffering
From poverty to housing insecurity, systemic conditions drive mental health crises. Researchers argue that policy reformsânot just clinical interventionsâare essential to addressing distress.
Deadly Prescriptions: New Study Links Antipsychotics to Life-Threatening Risks in Dementia Patients
With pharmaceutical companies pushing antipsychotics for off-label use, dementia patients are being put at risk for devastating health consequences. Research suggests safer alternatives existâbut why arenât they being prioritized?
Exercise for Depression: Better Than Antidepressants
With a number needed to treat (NNT) of 2, exercise looks much better than psychiatric drugs for depression.
Turning the DSM Against Itself: Diagnosing the Disorders of Western Psychology
A groundbreaking paper satirically reworks psychiatric nosology, diagnosing colonial behaviorsâgreed, amnesia, and entitlementâas the true psychological disorders.
Beyond Cultural Competence: A New Model Demands Psychology Take on Systemic Oppression
Multicultural approaches in therapy have fallen short, failing to challenge the root causes of suffering. A structural competency framework calls for a fundamental transformation of training, research, and clinical care.
How Global Fuel Poverty Becomes Individual Mental Distress
A scoping review spanning 25 countries finds that financial insecurity, housing deterioration, and social withdrawalârooted in fuel povertyâare major drivers of psychological distress.
Trauma in the Name of Treatment: Multiple Studies Confirm Adverse Experiences in Psychiatric Hospitalization
A comprehensive review of psychiatric hospitalizations reveals widespread harm, from coercion to retraumatization, challenging the dominant narrative of therapeutic intent.
When âCoercionâ Isnât Heard: The Systemic Silencing of Psychiatric Patients
A new study argues that psychiatric coercion is misunderstood due to deep-seated epistemic oppressionâwhere patientsâ lived experiences are dismissed as irrelevant to psychiatric practice.
What Clients Want in Therapy: Active, Engaged, and Attuned Therapists
New study finds that clients value therapists who are engagedânot just listening passivelyâbut activity doesnât mean giving advice or homework.
Antidepressant Withdrawal Symptoms Linked to Life-Altering Consequences, New Study Shows
A new study reveals that withdrawal symptoms from antidepressants can last years, disrupting lives and relationships.
Can Federally Qualified Health Centers Break the Cycle of Institutional Racism?
A team of public health professionals applies an anti-racist lens to the policies of Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), uncovering structural gaps and proposing pathways for systemic change.
Beyond Structural Competency: A Call for Mad Liberation
Nev Jonesâ chapter in Mad Studies Reader critiques structural competencyâs failure to deconstruct psychiatryâs power dynamics and engage meaningfully with Mad perspectives.
Art, Trauma, and Motherhood: Using Film to Rethink Mental Health
How The Color Purple challenges traditional ideas about maternal mental health and offers a roadmap for holistic care.
Health Care Providers Still Spreading the Chemical Imbalance Myth, Study Finds
âMost of them learn about the chemical imbalance explanation in medical school or in their residency training. Itâs a train that is not slowing down,â writes lead researcher Hans S. Schroder.
Rethinking the Black-White Mental Health Paradox Through Intersectionality
Why Do Black Americans Report Lower Rates of Some Mental Health Disorders?
Trauma Transcends Borders: ACEs and Mental Health in Mexican Adolescents
A study highlights the universal impact of adverse childhood experiences but underscores gaps in understanding Mexican Indigenous communities.
Can Your Smartphone Diagnose Depression? The Hidden Risks of Mental Health Apps
A new study highlights how mental health apps may prompt users to question their own intuitionâand lose confidence in their emotional awareness.
Study Documents the Emotional Toll of Psychiatric Microaggressions
A new study reveals that microaggressionsâfrom cold detachment to unspoken assumptionsâshape psychiatric care in ways that undermine healing.
Stigma Worsened by Mental Health âLiteracyâ Interventions
New research suggests that diagnostic criteria for mental illness may perpetuate, rather than challenge, stigmatizing beliefs about psychiatric disorders.
Out of Time: How Addiction Care Fails to Keep Pace with Patientsâ Realities
The linear timelines of addiction treatment clash with the lived experiences of drug-dependent individuals, creating new barriers to care.
Why Psychology Must Reckon with Its Cultural and Historical Blind Spots
Psychologists propose teaching critical histories to foster a more just and equitable field.
Empty Plates, Troubled Minds: New Research Exposes Mental Health Costs of Food Insecurity
A Canadian study links food insecurity to developmental disorders, suicidal ideation, and substance use among children.