Over-diagnosis

Seniors are twice as likely to receive psychotropic prescriptions than younger adults but are much less likely to receive mental health care from psychiatrists or to receive psychotherapy, according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. "Our findings suggest that psychotropic medication use is widespread among older adults in outpatient care, at a far higher rate than among younger patients," the study’s lead author Dr. Maust said in a press release. “In many cases, especially for milder depression and anxiety, the safer treatment for older adults who are already taking multiple medications for other conditions might be more therapy-oriented, but very few older adults receive this sort of care."

Medicating children for a host of mental disorders has become very popular in some parts of the USA. More than 8 million kids from 6 months to 17 years of age are on pharmaceutical drugs in this wonderful country. We lead the world in drugging youth for behavioral, cognitive and attention issues. We are once again #1. But I would like to share with parents as well as adults working with children a few not so readily available facts related to medicating kids for behavior issues.

-The Council for Evidence-based Psychiatry reports that antidepressant use in the UK has increased 7.5% since 2013, and over 500% since 1992.

-MIA Bloggers Jonathan Leo and Jeffrey Lacasse review the New York Times' history of reporting on ADHD and the ensuing epidemic of ADHD.

The majority of people taking antidepressant medications have never had major depressive disorder, and 38% have never met criteria for having any mental disorder.

The more a country's system of medical care expands, the sicker people feel -- and much of that effect seems related to psychiatry.

-The US National Center for Youth Law has launched an "action campaign" to persuade government officials to reduce the psychiatric drugging of children in foster care.

Natural News takes issue with the new, increasingly promoted "disorder" of "overly" desiring to eat healthy foods.

-The Atlantic reports on the history of pathologizing and de-pathologizing different sexual practices.

-Was life better in the past, or is there some other reason depression is increasing?

-The industry of mobile apps that diagnose users' physical and mental ailments is already worth some $4 billion.

-Psychiatrists analyze why US bipolar diagnoses in children and adolescents increased 40 times over in less than 10 years.

Psychology Salon psychologist Randy Paterson discusses the Mad In America investigative report about a program that trains physicians and school staff to more readily diagnose mental illnesses in children. "Authors of the initiatives almost always talk about the enhancement of social supports, the provision of psychotherapy, involvement with community, and so on," writes Paterson. "But in the real world of medical practice, screening usually translates into prescriptions written."

Researchers with the Child and Adolescent Health Research Design and Support Unit at the University of Louisville have announced the launch of a three-year...

BrainBlogger has an interview with Gary Greenberg, psychotherapist and author of The Book of Woe: The DSM and the Unmaking of Psychiatry. "The (Diagnostic...

In the JAMA Forum, Diana Mason, President of the American Academy of Nursing, discusses the "Choosing Wisely" campaign and its efforts to get physicians...

The Australian Bureau of Statistics states that some 45 per cent of Australians aged 16 to 85 have been mentally ill at some point...

Drug companies spent over $14 million from 2010 to 2013 to "woo" California doctors who specialize in treating foster children, according to part three...

The dramatic rise in ADHD spreading from the United States to the rest of the world is more an "economic and cultural plague" than...

The Associated Press reports on Fox television and Tufts University psychiatrist Keith Ablow, who routinely diagnoses President Barack Obama without ever having met him,...

NPR Shots discusses the plethora of new programs for early intervention for psychosis, with a focus on Ventura Early Intervention Prevention Services, operated by...

A team of American pediatric physicians has published an article in the journal Pediatrics examining the many ways in which medical overdiagnosis may be...

The increasing use of psychiatric medications in toddlers, particularly of stimulants for ADHD, is explored by journalist Josiah Hesse on Substance.com. Looking into possible...

"The name of a 'new attention disorder' sounds like an Onion-style parody: sluggish cognitive tempo," writes Slate. "It also sounds like a classic case...

The number of people seeking psychiatric treatment in Turkey rose from 3 million people in 2009 to almost 9.2 million in 2013, according to...