She Tweeted That Alan Dershowitz Might Be Acting Crazy. So Yale Fired Her.
From Intelligencer: The case of Dr. Bandy Lee involves conflicting interpretations of the Goldwater Rule, which itself has long been controversial.
New Year’s Resolution: Address Grief and Trauma in Healthy Ways
From Darcia Narvaez, PhD: Everyone needs to learn to grieve losses and deal with shock. Here are practices that build resilience in children (and everyone).
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: The Ground Where Death Meets Life
How the unrelated murder of an inmate on another unit led to Sean's transfer, his escape from forced medication, and eventually, his release.
New Review: Antidepressants Come with Minimal Benefits, Several Risks
A review of research on antidepressant efficacy finds that an unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio.
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?
Darby Penney, Who Crusaded for Better Psychiatric Care, Dies at 68
From The New York Times: She shed light on marginalized people’s lives by examining the contents of suitcases left in the attic of a psychiatric hospital. She went on to become a prominent activist.
The Crisis in Psychiatry and The Slow Way Back: Interview with Vincenzo Di Nicola
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist and philosopher Vincenzo Di Nicola about his call for "slow psychiatry" and a renewed social psychiatry.
The Psychiatric Hospital Is an Institution of Social Control
Psychiatry is an institution of control. It is easier to keep society in check when unwanted behavioral traits can be considered pathology.
Take Your Time: A ‘Slow Thought’ Manifesto
From Aeon: "Our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated...to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations." ~ Norwegian philosopher Guttorm Fløistad
Tragic Schoolboy Was Prescribed Huge Increase in Anti-Depressants
From Belfast Telegraph: Johnny Shields, 14, who tragically took his own life had been prescribed up to a 700% increase of controversial anti-depressant drugs in the months leading up to his death.
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
Researchers argue that common study methods for psychiatric drugs may inadvertently minimize withdrawal effects and inflate drug efficacy.
BBC Sitcom Pilot: “Disordered: The Health Assessment”
From BBC Sounds: For a limited time: Listen to a new sitcom pilot by George Mason about an optimistic but struggling single dad dealing with long-term mental health issues.
2017 Study: Nearly a Third of FDA-Approved Drugs Had Problems
From CNN: Out of 222 new drugs approved, 61 need to have black box warnings subsequently added to call attention to serious or life-threatening risks.
How Should Psychedelic Medicine Handle “Flashbacks”?
Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is one of the after-effects neglected amid the rapid march of the psychedelic renaissance. But is the impulse to pathologise these perceptual changes helpful?
The Time I Didn’t Get Enlightened: My Silly Visit to the Emergency Psychiatric Facility
From Dan Latner/Medium: I’m baffled that such a pleasurable and transformative experience as I had was immediately pathologized as a mood disorder.
Overuse of Psychiatric Drugs is Worsening Public Mental Health, Doctor Argues
A new research article asserts that the overuse of psychiatric drugs may create neurobiological changes that hamper long-term mental health recovery.
What Helps Long-Term Users of Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs Discontinue?
Current long-term users of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs identify barriers and facilitators for discontinuation.
NHS Trusts Criticized Over System That Films Mental Health Patients in Their Bedrooms
From The Guardian: The Oxevision system, used by 23 NHS trusts in some psychiatric wards to monitor patients' vital signs, could breach their right to privacy and exacerbate their distress.
Getting A Diagnosis Meant That My Sister Never Had the Chance to Resolve Her...
My sister was told if she took medications everything would be fine. But everything was not fine, and the medications sent her down a path of no return.
How Emotions Affect Our Cognitive Functioning | Gabor Maté, MD
From Gabor Maté, MD: Nature has given us the capacity to tune out or dissociate as a survival mechanism to escape overwhelming stress.
Kenneth Kendler: “Implausible” That Psychiatric Diagnoses Even “Approximately True”
In JAMA Psychiatry, prominent psychiatrist Kenneth Kendler writes that psychiatric diagnoses are “working hypotheses, subject to change.”
Art-Making as an Alternative Philosophy of Care During Emotional Crisis
From National Empowerment Center: MIA Arts Editor Karin Jervert gives a talk on the role of creativity in the healing process as part of the "Compassionate Approaches to Crisis" webinar series.
Mental Health Care Must Support Consent and Basic Human Rights
Despite the UN’s strong stance against involuntary treatment, many countries continue to uphold legislation that encourages it.
The Essence of Illness
From Psychology Today: Your body creates symptoms based on sensing cues of safety or threat. Sustained mental or physical threat — current or past — will cause serious illness and disease.
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails
Treating those struggling with emotional distress and troublesome behaviors as mentally disabled is a barrier to arriving at humane and dignified ways of assisting them.
