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
ADHD Drugs Linked to Cardiomyopathy
Presented at a major cardiology conference, the study suggests a 57% increased risk of heart muscle disease after 8 years of stimulant use.
Antidepressant Trials Last Eight Weeks, So Why Do We Take Them for Years?
The studies are of short duration and are riddled with methodological issues like unblinding and failure to assess withdrawal.
Direct Cash Aid Linked to Long-Term Mental Health Gains in Youth, New Study Finds
Structural solutions like cash transfer programs could be key to reducing emotional distress where traditional treatment falls short.
Nearly All Guideline Authors for Mood Disorders in Japan Took Industry Money
A new study reveals that 93% of authors writing treatment guidelines for depression and bipolar disorder received payments from the drug companies whose products they promoted.
A Glossary for Reimagining Mental Health Ethics, From âTokenismâ to âJusticeâ
Psychiatry still sidelines survivors in research and care. A new framework says that has to change.
What Happens When Voice-Hearers Share Stories Without Judgment
Peer-led Hearing Voices Groups offer a rare space for meaning-making and mutual understanding outside the biomedical model.
Being Anxious About Socializing Is Not Autism
Those who self-diagnose with autism donât have ASD traits or behaviors, but do exhibit higher social anxiety and avoidance scores than those with clinician-diagnosed ASD.
Why Neighborhood Matters in Psychosis Risk: Psychosis Is Not Just in the Brain
A growing body of research reveals how segregation, social exclusion, and structural racism shape brain development and psychosis risk, especially for youth.
Involuntary Psychiatric Detention Linked to Numerous Harms
A sweeping review uncovers widespread harms and only one dubious benefit of forced psychiatric hospitalization.
What Happens When We Treat Nature as Essential to Mental Health
A new study shows that fostering nature connection in youth promotes well-being, empathy, and pro-social values.
Trapped by the Target: Rethinking Goals in School Therapy
While some students find therapy goals motivating, others describe feeling stuck, judged, and disheartened.
Psychiatric Drugs âA Crude Form of Chemical Restraintâ
Mental health nursing has a key role to play in helping people discontinue the drugs, writes Timothy Wand.
Most People Want Therapy That Gets to the Root, but Are They Getting It?
A new national study shows that while the public favors depth-oriented therapy, most are not receiving itâand cost, access, and tech platforms may be to blame.
The Birth of Macropsychology: Psychologists Call for a New Discipline to Tackle Systemic Harms
A growing field explores how laws, policies, and power shape mental health far more than internal traits or disorders.
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.