Psychology Today

DECEMBER 18, 2023

Caregiving is possible without sacrificing your own life.

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Mad in America

DECEMBER 25, 2023

In a study of fluoxetine (Prozac) for adolescents, researchers found that the placebo effect predicted good outcomes, but the actual drug treatment did not. After accounting for “treatment guess” (those who figured out that they were receiving an intervention rather than placebo), the drug was not effective in depression treatment. In fact, those who received a placebo but thought they received Prozac improved more than those who received the drug and knew it.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 145

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Depression treatment 145

Bullet Psych

DECEMBER 28, 2023

Today we will begin a new theme: sleep disorders. We will start by providing an overview of important sleep physiology. Today's Content Level: All levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) Why Do We Sleep? 1 , 2 Why we sleep remains one of natures greatest mysteries. The average person will spend about 27 years of their lifetime sleeping. Sleep is essential for many vital functions and a number of theories have been proposed regarding the purpose and function of sleep.

Eating disorders 52

Eating disorders 52

Roland Bal - Resolving Trauma and PTSD

DECEMBER 23, 2023

Here are all the new articles and videos of this year 2023. I hope you will take your time to read, listen, or reread these resources. Here are the posts: Complex PTSD & The Power of Rebuilding Boundaries Crush It With These 4 Trauma Support Insights Trauma Informed Care 7 Simple Tips to Success How Your Complex PTSD Freeze Response Screws You and Protects You at The Same Time Emotional Coping & PTSD: Learn 2 Strategies for Recovery Here are the videos: You Thoughts Aren't just Your Tho

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Speaker: Simran Kaur, Co-founder & CEO at Tattva.Health

AI is transforming clinical trials—accelerating drug discovery, optimizing patient recruitment, and improving data analysis. But its impact goes far beyond research. As AI-driven innovation reshapes the clinical trial process, it’s also influencing broader healthcare trends, from personalized medicine to patient outcomes. Join this new webinar featuring Simran Kaur for an insightful discussion on what all of this means for the future of healthcare!

Healthcare

World Psychiatric Association (WPA)

DECEMBER 19, 2023

It is not easy to write this seasonal message given the situation in which our world finds itself: crises on all continents, terrorist attacks, armed conflicts and wars, societies split by polarising views, houses washed away, and forests burning. According to the World Health Organization, War, armed conflict and other man-made or natural disasters cause profound distress and can in some cases ignite or inflame existing mental health conditions.

Aging and mental health 52

Aging and mental health Education 52

Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research (ABMR)

DECEMBER 17, 2023

Climate science and environmental justice: What it means for behavioral medicine 1 pm EST / 12 pm CST / 10 am PST | 2 hours Visit the event page for speaker bios and to register!

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Mad in America

DECEMBER 21, 2023

A t the end of each year, I like to ask this question of ourselves: Are we fulfilling our mission? Here is our mission statement : Mad in America’s mission is to serve as a catalyst for rethinking psychiatric care in the United States (and abroad). We believe that the current drug-based paradigm of care has failed our society, and that scientific research, as well as the lived experience of those who have been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder, calls for profound change.

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Dr. Deb

DECEMBER 7, 2023

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Adelphi University (@adelphiu) Did you decorate early for the holidays? Deborah Serani, Psy. D, senior adjunct professor of psychology shares the science behind how decorating for the holidays can help our mood.

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Mental Health America (MHA)

DECEMBER 7, 2023

Challenging, Sustaining, and Evolving: An Anthology on Youth Mental Health Advocacy (and Hope) December 07, 2023 MHA Admin Thu, 12/07/2023 - 10:46 Download the 2023 Youth Report Amid this youth mental health crisis, several young advocates have emerged to challenge the status quo, insisting that the world pay attention. Young people have mobilized, organized, and fought to usher in a new era of mental health advocacy, and they are finally being invited to the table.

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Mental health advocacy 52

World Psychiatric Association (WPA)

DECEMBER 14, 2023

WPA President Professor Danuta Wasserman intends for her Action Plan to boost the mental health of patients, psychiatric staff, and the general public through encouraging and enabling psychiatrists and the field of psychiatry to embrace communication, prevention, international collaboration, and a new leadership role in society. According to Prof. Wasserman, This strategic initiative aims to transcend traditional boundaries, extending mental health advancements beyond the realms of psychiatry an

Poverty and mental health 52

Poverty and mental health Mental health advocacy Education 52

Santa Barbara Sanctuary Centers

DECEMBER 6, 2023

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Sanctuary Centers is getting ready to break ground on a five-story, affordable housing and healthcare facility on Dec. 14. The building will feature 34 units of affordable housing. Sanctuary Centers is focused on providing secure housing options for those with mental illnesses. The facility will include medical, dental, and behavioral health clinics.

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Healthcare 52

Lawyers with Depression

DECEMBER 1, 2023

- What Antidepressants Are Saying 30 Years After the Publication of 'Listening to Prozac'

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Mad in America

DECEMBER 29, 2023

O n the evening of December 3, 2022, I overdosed on 400 mg of Amlodipine, a calcium channel blocker blood pressure medicine. I was in ICU for 11 days, and on a ventilator for four of those days. I’m still here, having been found the following day despite myself. So to back way up, as a kid I was brilliant. Funny, compassionate, athletic and so much more.

Trauma and the brain 145

Trauma and the brain Bipolar disorder Construction Education 145

Reidbord's Reflections

DECEMBER 31, 2023

Two senses of psychotherapy is political are often conflated. The first is the notion, popular lately, that psychotherapy either allows or demands political advocacy in the therapy room itself. The other is recognition that political factors influence the nature and practice of psychotherapy. It is a conceptual error to confuse the two, and a [.] The post Political advocacy and psychotherapy dont mix first appeared on Reidbord's Reflections.

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National Register of Health Service Psychologists

DECEMBER 19, 2023

Vronique van der Kleija child and adolescent psychologist in private practice in The Haguediscusses parenting approaches in the Netherlands and how this relates to working across cultures in the practice of psychology. Vronique van der Kleija child and adolescent psychologist in private practice in The Haguediscusses parenting approaches in the Netherlands and how this relates to working across cultures in the practice of psychology.

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NAMI

DECEMBER 11, 2023

I grew up in an inner-city community in San Diego, California, called Southeast. This area has always been known for crime, drugs and most notably gangs. Despite my familys well-intentioned efforts to keep me away from gangs, the gang culture still pulled me in. In 7 th grade, I was caught in the perfect storm. My mother and stepfather divorced; my 18-year-old cousin, who I looked up to, was being sent to prison for a life sentence due to a gang-related incident; and I was failing significantl

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Self-awareness Legal 52

Santa Barbara Sanctuary Centers

DECEMBER 5, 2023

An innovative mixed-use project that will bring 34 units of affordable housing along with on-site health-care services to downtown Santa Barbara is set to begin construction after several years in the planning stages. Sanctuary Centers, a nonprofit focused on providing care and housing for individuals suffering from mental illness, will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, December 14, for its five-story facility, which melds housing and healthcare services together in one building.

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Construction Nonprofits Healthcare 52

Lawyers with Depression

DECEMBER 3, 2023

Todays guest is Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg. Dr. Wehrenberg is a clinical psychologist in Naperville, Illinois. She is the author of six books on the treatment of anxiety and depression published by W.W. Norton, including, The Ten Best-Ever Depression Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Depressed and What You Can Do to Change It and Anxiety + Depression: Effective Treatment of the Big Two Co-Occurring Disorders.

Genetics and mental health 52

Genetics and mental health Trauma and the brain Nutrition and mood Poverty and mental health 52

Mad in America

DECEMBER 9, 2023

Editor’s Note: The following speech was delivered by James Davies to the UK Parliament on December 5, 2023 as part of the Beyond Pills All Party Parliamentary Group Launch. M ost people in this room will have experienced, at some point in their life, poor or very poor mental health. But if you are one of the fortunate anomalies who hasn’t, well, you’ll certainly know someone who has—a friend, a family member, a close associate.

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Poverty and mental health 145

Mad in America

DECEMBER 11, 2023

In a new article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), 30+ prominent figures in critical psychiatry call on the UK government to acknowledge the evidence that antidepressants are no better than placebos for most patients and to increase funding of social and psychological interventions while decreasing drug prescriptions. “Multiple meta-analyses have shown antidepressants to have no clinically meaningful benefit beyond placebo for all patients but those with the most severe depression,” they wri

Poverty and mental health 145

Poverty and mental health Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Depression treatment Hospitality 145

Mad in America

DECEMBER 7, 2023

P rescription drugs require verification that they are helpful, not harmful. Considerable data show this is not true for psychiatric drugs. Moreover, in stark contrast to the discoveries by medical researchers of biological causation for many physical illnesses, psychiatric researchers have failed to find physiological or genetic causation for the most diagnosed mental disorders—the anxiety disorders and depression—negating the rationale for the prescription of these drugs.

Poverty and mental health 145

Poverty and mental health Trauma and the brain Genetics and mental health Anxiety disorders 145

Mad in America

DECEMBER 6, 2023

O n September 9, Mad in America published a lengthy report on the STAR*D scandal, describing how Ed Pigott and colleagues, in a series of publications dating back to 2010, had shown that the STAR*D authors violated the protocol in numerous ways to grossly inflate the announced remission rate in that study. This past August, Pigott and colleagues delivered a final crushing blow.

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Mad in America

DECEMBER 5, 2023

I t is extremely rare that anyone succeeds in changing the horrible laws we have in all countries about forced treatment with psychiatric drugs and belt restraints. I shall therefore tell a story from Denmark. It is so unusual that his obituary was written by a journalist and published in a national newspaper. Silas Dam (photo courtesy of his mother) Silas Dam killed himself this summer, only 24 years old.

Sleep and mental health 145

Sleep and mental health Aging and mental health Hospitality Legal 145

Mad in America

DECEMBER 20, 2023

O n the Mad in America podcast this week, we continue our reader Q&A with Mad in America founder Robert Whitaker. In Part 1 , we discussed Mad in America, the biopsychosocial model and the history of psychiatry. For Part 2, we will be covering reader questions on pharmaceutical marketing and issues with psychiatric treatments including psychiatric drugs and electroconvulsive therapy.

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Pharmaceuticals Aging and mental health Biopsychosocial model Hospitality 144

Mad in America

DECEMBER 26, 2023

A new study in Frontiers of Pharmacology finds that antidepressant use during pregnancy is linked to reduced motor skills in children at 2 years old. The association, although mild, persists even when accounting for maternal depressive symptoms and stress during pregnancy. The current study, headed by Noémie Tanguay of the Université Laval in Québec, finds no such deficits in cognitive or language development.

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Education 142

Mad in America

DECEMBER 2, 2023

Editor’s Note: This article, written by psychiatrist Yousaf Raza, was first published on our affiliate site, Mad in South Asia. “S he was half-conscious when she was brought to me,” our psychiatry professor said, “and this is what she had been prescribed.” He showed us an image of a local psychiatrist’s prescription. The prescription included a total of eight medications, two of which were injections, for a 16-year-old girl who had presented with a two-day history of vague physical symptom

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Biopsychosocial model Pharmaceuticals Hospitality Healthcare 142

Mad in America

DECEMBER 18, 2023

From The Irish Times : “A new training approach to mental health care was launched by the Mental Health Commission (MHC) in Ireland on Wednesday, together with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Organisations from the public, private and NGO sectors across the country gathered in Dublin to pledge to promote a ‘human rights-based approach’ to mental health care across the State.

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Construction 141

Mad in America

DECEMBER 31, 2023

From Psychology Today/Annie Wright LMFT : “‘Why do I struggle to visualize a future for myself, let alone a positive one?’ In the 10 years I’ve been practicing as a clinical psychotherapist, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some iteration of this question. And the question is almost always paired with some degree of incredulity that there are people out there who can really, truly do this—think forward decades into the future and visualize a positive, happy outcome fo

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Mad in America

DECEMBER 8, 2023

From Psychiatry at the Margins : Awais Aftab interviews Martin Plöderl, PhD, a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist at a public psychiatric hospital in Salzburg, Austria, whose research focus is on suicide prevention with a recent focus on the efficacy of antidepressants. “Overall, my take is that the evidence for adults remains somewhat inconclusive.

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Hospitality 131

Mad in America

DECEMBER 14, 2023

“Healing is the result of love. It is a function of love. Wherever there is love there is healing. And wherever there is no love there is precious little— if any—healing.” —M. Scott Peck I write this because I want people who have gone through the process of the clinical trials, or in the grassroots underground psychedelic movement, to not feel alone if they felt silenced, controlled, or interpersonally hurt.

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Psychedelic therapy Childhood trauma Emotional intelligence Eating disorders 129

Mad in America

DECEMBER 8, 2023

M y name is Kyle Hulbert; I am No-One’s Son, The Boy Nobody Knew, and I am the detritus of the great grey beast that is the American psychiatric system. I was born in 1983; that might not be particularly important in and of itself, but it’s the beginning so that’s where we’ll start. I’m not sure what happened in the first three years of my life to prompt it, but when I was three I began receiving medications for what has only ever been described in my records as 

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Hospitality Legal Social Services 128

Mad in America

DECEMBER 22, 2023

R ecently someone said to me: “You’re not even trying.” Actually, they shouted it. This person was someone I needed to trust. A medical professional, in fact. As she and her team attempted to forcefully sedate me, rather than offering calming or encouraging words, she chose angry and cruel things to say. I am quiet; I have always been accused of being “too quiet.

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Healthcare 123

Mad in America

DECEMBER 21, 2023

“We need to describe how human beings unfold and become very beautiful when listened to. Listening shows that the nature of human beings is nothing like socialized content. It is a depth of richness that needs only interactive reception to open out, step by step, into a creative self-correcting development with freshly discovered wanting, personal ethics, and unique work in the world.

Trauma and the brain 123

Trauma and the brain Psychedelic therapy Aging and mental health Education 123

Mad in America

DECEMBER 16, 2023

M any years ago, along with several other psychiatric aides, I participated in tackling a youth who hadn’t followed his behavior management “treatment plan,” and forced him into a seclusion room. I was new to the field and did as I was told. But the violence of the act left me upset and perplexed. The psychiatric hospital where this took place had been founded by Mennonites—a religious order with a strong pacifistic tradition.

Hospitality 123

Hospitality 123

Mad in America

DECEMBER 15, 2023

I t was my Pearl Harbor Day, only I had no FDR to rally me with fireside chat to encourage a heroic comeback. Nevertheless, like USS Arizona and Utah, I lay immobile from what felt like a sneak attack. In the dim quiet of the calculatingly sterile room I was alone, awash with discouragement and sunken in the icy depths of depression. My head jerked to the side repeatedly, unpredictably and uncontrollably, to my chagrin.

Aging and mental health 121

Aging and mental health Trauma and the brain Hospitality Construction 121

Mad in America

DECEMBER 4, 2023

Editor’s Note: Over the next several months, Mad in America is publishing a serialized version of Les Ruthven’s book, Much of U.S. Healthcare is Broken: How to Fix It. In this blog, he addresses the difference between basing a medical system on clinical belief versus one based on scientific evidence. Each Monday, a new section of the book is published, and all chapters are archived here. “It’s not what you know that kills you.

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Healthcare Insurance Technology Education 120