Medical Malpractice Verdict Seen as Powerful Message
From PR Newswire: On May 16th, a $2 million verdict was issued in favor of Stanley and Marianne Truskie, whose son died from toxic levels...
The $3 Billion Research Breakdown
In this piece for Medscape, Jodi S. Cohen chronicles the research malpractice case of child psychiatrist Mani Pavuluri, who put vulnerable children at serious risk...
UN Meeting on Human Rights in Mental Health: A Response
On May 14 and 15, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights held a meeting on human rights in mental health. The event represented tensions in the United Nations between the promotion of mental health and the promotion of the human rights of people with psychosocial disabilities under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Treatment-Resistant Depression as a Sign of Unconscious Health
In this video, Dr. Elio Frattaroli describes how biological explanations for "treatment-resistant depression" often ignore the meaning and context of a patient's suffering. He...
Hopeless But Not Broken: From George Carlin to Protest Music
From CounterPunch: Although people are often pathologized and shamed for feeling hopeless, hopelessness is sometimes a natural reaction to an oppressive political climate. George Carlin...
Cultural Confusion: The Shifting Line Between Sane and “Unsane”
From STAT: An unprecedented number of Americans have been diagnosed with a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder. Does this represent an increase in psychological distress...
Nine Rights Every Patient Should Demand
From The New York Times: Many medical centers, professional associations, and states have developed patients' bills of rights. It is time to develop a Financial Bill of...
The Shamanic View of Mental Illness
From UPLIFT: In the shamanic view, emotional distress and psychosis signal a spiritual awakening or emergence, not a pathology. Western cultures can learn a great...
What About Fat Voices? Our Experience With Fat Invisibility
In this piece for Resilient Fat Goddess, psychologist and fat activist Rachel Millner critiques the pervasiveness of fatphobia, sizeism, and weight bias within the eating...
Researchers Advocate for More Robust Informed Consent in Psychotherapy
Paper outlines recommendations for more thorough informed consent process in psychotherapy, which authors proclaim is an “ethical imperative."
APA Statement on Gina Haspel Nomination
The American Psychological Association has issued a letter expressing serious concerns about the nomination of Gina Haspel for the director of the CIA due...
Compelled Disclosure of Campus Sexual Assault May Be Harmful for Survivors
The majority of universities require most or all employees to report disclosures of sexual assault, but these policies may be ineffective at addressing campus sexual violence and disempowering for survivors
Psych Ward Ramblings
In this piece for Medium, activist and survivor Louisa J. Harvey describes the experience of being locked in a psychiatric institution on an involuntary hold.
"This is not...
The Never-Ending Misuse of Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes
From Health Affairs: Although the problem of antipsychotic misuse in nursing homes has been raised to policymakers numerous times over the past six decades, the...
What Care for the Criminally Insane Can Teach Us
In this piece for The Pew Charitable Trusts, Michael Ollove reports on Oregon's model of intense care and supervision for those found guilty except for insanity.
"Oregon’s model...
Drugmaker Group Sets Lobbying Record
From Bloomberg: The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $9.96 million on federal lobbying in the first three months of 2018, representing an...
Expanding Mental Health Care Beyond Adding More Psychiatrists
From STAT: Although many people believe that we need to train more psychiatrists in order to increase access to mental health care, there is no...
How Big Pharma Deceives You About Drug Safety
From The Conversation: A Saskatchewan judge recently rejected a proposed settlement between the Canadian provinces and Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, over the opioid...
Journalists Should Report Their Sources’ Conflicts of Interest
From HealthNewsReview.org: While researchers are usually required to disclose their conflicts of interest in medical journals, media outlets do not often require journalists to disclose...
Big Pharma: The Global Effect
In this piece for Vision Magazine, Danit Felber details the U.S. pharmaceutical industry's efforts to stomp out foreign competition.
"What does this mean practically? A nonprofit...
The Interim Report on the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act: A Response
The report has succeeded in being supremely ambitious in its breadth, whilst remaining disappointingly cautious in its goals. The emphasis is on smaller changes in the immediate future, and kicking more progressive reform into the long grass. It alludes to but does not enshrine a rights-based approach.
Call for Client Inclusion in Recovery-Focused Psychiatric Diagnosis
A new review, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, examines the perspectives of clinicians and service-users on psychiatric diagnosis.
The Unique Way the Dutch Treat Mentally Ill Prisoners
In this piece for BBC, Melissa Hogenboom reports on the way that people who have been convicted of crimes and diagnosed with mental illness are...
Experts ‘In Denial’ Over Withdrawal Harm From Prescription Pills
From The Herald: MSP (Member of the Scottish Parliament) Michelle Ballantyne has spoken out about the epidemic of withdrawal effects of prescription pills, critiquing physicians'...
Ethicists: Access Needed After Brain Implant Clinical Trials
In a new study, Baylor College of Medicine researchers have raised ethical questions about clinical trials of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and other brain implants.
"'Generally,...
