“Medicare Drug Program Fails to Monitor Prescribers, Putting Seniors and Disabled at Risk”
ProPublica and The Washington Post have performed an investigation revealing that Medicare has failed to monitor the safety of the large quantities of drugs...
Daughter of a Psychiatrist
Here I was, 15 years old and already in a long-term treatment facility. I was, on paper: crazy! This entire time, all the adults in my life had been speaking for me. I never felt like I was any of the things they said, but I went along with it. What else could I have done? Every time I rebelled, it only confirmed to my mother what she thought of me.
Report from the Parliament: Can Psychiatry At Least Be Curious?
In the past six years, I have had the opportunity to speak at several conferences or meetings that I felt had particular potential to stir some political activity that would challenge current psychiatric practices, and one of those events was the meeting convened in the U.K.’s Parliament on May 11th, which had this title for the day: Rising Prescriptions, Rising Mental Health Disability: Is There a Link?
Funny/Sad Video About Overmedication, ‘Immature’ Kids
A YouTube video called “Drugs for Kids” takes a rather tongue-in-cheek approach to the overmedication and overdiagnosis of kids. Studies reveal a correlation between how young...
“Politicians and Experts Meet at Parliament to Explore Record Antidepressant Prescribing and Disability”
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Prescribed Drug Dependence is meeting today, May 11th, to discuss evidence of the link between the rise in disability...
“CDC Warns that Americans May be Overmedicating Youngest Children with ADHD”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data indicating that as many as 75% of young children who are diagnosed with...
“New Counseling Toolkit Helps Boys and Girls Club Address Kids’ Real-Life Issues”
The staff at Minneapolis’ Southside Village Boys and Girls Club are implementing a specially targeted free interactive counseling toolkit designed by a team of volunteers...
Unhelpful Utterances: 6 Comments We Should No Longer Hear From Mental Health Professionals
Professionals are paid to share their wisdom with those who are, typically, less informed. But, when dealing with mental health professionals in the psychiatric arena, it is wise to retain a degree of skepticism about the words spoken by the doctors and nurses commissioned to help reduce human misery and suffering.
“California Courts Step Up Oversight of Psychotropic Medication Use in Foster Care”
The Mercury News reports that California’s judicial council is taking major steps to address the rampant use of psychiatric drugs in foster care. The...
Finding Clarity Through Clutter
For the last three years, I have been working with people, labeled "hoarders," who have become overwhelmed by their possessions in their homes. This has been some of the most interesting, challenging and thought-provoking work I have ever done. It is also an area that, I think, highlights all of the issues that challenge us in helping people who feel overwhelmed, for whatever reason.
WSJ Hosts Debate on Depression Screening
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently issued a controversial recommendation that all adolescent and adult patients undergo depression screening in primary care. The...
NIMH Info for Parents on “ADHD” Misleading, Researchers Say
A new analysis of the information that the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) publishes for parents about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) concludes that the children’s experiences and contexts are ignored and that medication is presented, misleadingly, as the only solution supported by research evidence.
“The Pharmaceutical Industry’s Role in U.S. Medical Education”
“Pharmaceutical industry influence can harm the social and moral character of medical students. In medicine, the traditional virtues of benevolence, compassion, integrity, respectfulness, honesty...
“Pediatricians Vary Widely in Diagnosing ADHD, Depression”
Researchers found that pediatricians vary greatly in how often they diagnose and prescribe drugs for ADHD and other mental health conditions. “The proportion of...
Epidemiologists Decry Major Problems in US Psychiatric Practice
In an exchange published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, researchers take turns highlighting major problems in the way psychiatry is currently practiced in the United States. In response to an article by Vinay Prasad calling for an insistence on randomized control trials in “evidence-based” medicine, Jose de Leon, from the Mental Health Research Center at the University of Kentucky begins the back-and-forth by pointing out that this type of evidence has been detrimental to the field of mental health.
“Mental Illness Mostly Caused by Life Events Not Genetics, Argue Psychologists”
According to psychologists, “mental illness is largely caused by social crises such as unemployment or childhood abuse.” If this is so, why are we...
Young Transgender Women Burdened with High Rates of Psychiatric Diagnoses
New research published in JAMA Pediatrics reveals that transgender women have more than double the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses than the general US population. The study found that the women, who had been assigned male at birth and now identified as female, had a high prevalence of suicidality, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance abuse, generalized anxiety and major depressive disorder.
“Misdiagnosed Bipolar: One Girl’s Struggle”
The San Jose Mercury News tells the story of Tessa Gallo, who was wrongly diagnosed with bipolar disorder in sixth-grade when she actually had...
“Half of US Preschoolers Diagnosed with ADHD Get Drugs, Is that Necessary?”
Laura McClure for Ted.com explains why giving amphetamines to children for behaviors deemed abnormal is a societal and public policy issue. “It’s a little...
“Study Links Mobile Device Addiction to Depression and Anxiety”
A study published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior found that addictions to mobile devices are linked to anxiety and depression in college students....
Flibanserin’s ‘Effects’ Do Not Outweigh Harms, Review Finds
Despite concerns about the risk to benefit ratio, the FDA approved flibanserin (Addyi) to treat low female sexual desire in August. In a new...
“Too Many PA Foster Children are on Psychiatric Meds”
For Philly.com, staff writer Stacey Burling reports on the PolicyLab analysis of psychiatric drug use among Pennsylvania children on Medicaid. “Many children in foster...
Omega-3 Screening for Psychiatric Symptoms?
There is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that not getting enough omega-3 fatty acids in your diet may be connected to a diverse array of psychiatric symptoms. In a new study published this month, psychiatrist Robert McNamara and Erik Messamore provide an overview of the evidence and call for screening of omega-3 deficiency in people experiencing symptoms associated with ADHD, depression, mood disorders, and psychosis.
“Sometimes It’s OK To Feel The Feels, Sweetheart”
“Tell her how you really feel: Dr. Julie Holland is asking women to embrace their inner ‘moody bitches."’ Dana Farrington at NPR discusses Holland’s...
“Is It Her Hormones?” A Case of Psychiatry Missing the Mark
The case of “Beth” depicts, almost innocently, the trials and tribulations of a well-adjusted, talented 15-year-old who developed depression, paranoia, panic attacks, and self-injurious and homicidal behavior, and “bipolar disorder” after being prescribed antidepressants, and then antipsychotics. After Beth decided - on her own - to discontinue psychotropic medications in favor of hormone therapy, she remained free of psychiatric symptoms.
