March, 2025

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Do you have ADHD? That TikTok might not help you decide

NPR - Mental Health

Ever diagnosed yourself with a mental health disorder based on a TikTok video? If so, you're not alone. "I personally don't think that there's anything more human than wanting to understand yourself and wanting to understand your own experiences," says Vasileia Karasavva. Vasileia is the lead author of a paper published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One that gets into why this kind of self-diagnosis can be such a double-edged sword.

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What I Have Learned in Working With 300+ People in Their Journey of Tapering

Mad in America

I am a psychiatrist in the US who completed residency in 2010. I always felt that there was something off with my profession. Yet I didnt know how to question the specifics of my formal psychiatric training. I performed as a psychiatrist the way I was expected to, in the way I had been taught. In 2020, a colleague recommended a number of books to me.

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PET imaging confirms direct involvement of dopamine in cognitive flexibility

Psychiatry News -- Science Daily

Scientists have confirmed a neurobiochemical link between dopamine and cognitive flexibility. PET imaging shows that the brain increases dopamine production when completing cognitively demanding tasks, and that the more dopamine released, the more efficiently the tasks are completed. Armed with this information, physicians may soon be able to develop more precise treatment strategies for neurological and psychiatric disorders.

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Breaking Free from Codependency: Join My Free Live Q&A! Sunday 13th April 2025 12pm EST

The Online Therapist

Join me for a live Q&A where well dive into all things codependency, relationships, and breaking free from destructive habits. Whether you're just starting to recognize unhealthy patterns or deep into your healing journey, this session is for you. Struggling with a romantic partner, family dynamics, or friendships? Bring your questionsthis is your space to ask, learn, and grow.

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Bridging Innovation & Patient Care: The Growing Role of AI

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!

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Drug regulator thinks it is reasonable to mislead people about chemical imbalance in depression

Critical Psychiatry

In a reply to a letter from Peter Gtzsche, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ( MHRA ) has made clear that it has no current plans to remove the references to chemical imbalance in the Patient Information Leaflets (PILs) of antidepressants (see reply ). A reply to a freedom of information request has helped to clarify the history of the introduction of this term into such PILS.

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Federal Agency Dedicated to Mental Illness and Addiction Faces Huge Cuts

The New York Times -- Mental Health

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has already closed offices and could see staff numbers reduced by 50 percent.

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When Narratives Clash: Unshrunk and The Cognitive Dissonance of the NY Times

Mad in America

O n March 19, Viking Press published Laura Delanos memoir: Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance. While a number of writers have published memoirs telling of harm that stemmed from a psychiatric diagnosis and treatment with psychiatric drugs, this is a book, precisely because it is being published by a major publisher, that appears certain to gain major media attention, which has been lacking for other memoirs that told of harm.

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Tragic or Treated: Why We Cannot Miss Postpartum Psychosis

Psychiatric Times

Postpartum psychosis occurs in about 1 to 2 per thousand new mothers. In this personal story, one writer shares her experience with postpartum psychosis.

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Reclassifying Psychopathology

Association for Psychological Science (APS)

Quick Take The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is often criticized for the way it categorizes mental illnesses. New approaches, such as the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology, organize mental illnesses on a spectrum rather than in discrete diagnoses. Individuals day-to-day fluctuations in symptoms are also being given more consideration with new methods for taking frequent measurements.

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My Mother, Codependency and the On Demand Therapy Program

The Online Therapist

I wanted to send a clear message: That codependents arent sick. They dont need pills or diagnosing. I wanted to make it very clear that recovery is very much in the hands of the codependent and that recovery starts and finishes with the codependent. Codependency is behavioural and learned from the environment we grew up in and it can be unlearnt. The only recovery from codependency is to find and maintain the individual within.

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The Ex-Patients’ Club

The New York Times -- Mental Health

Laura Delano walked away from the treatments that defined her teens and 20s. Now, shes hoping to create a road map for others to follow.

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'Grandpas' got together to help kids. Scientists say it boosts the elders' health, too

NPR - Mental Health

Older men can find themselves isolated after retirement. Volunteer groups like Grandpas United are good for both physical and mental health.

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The Editorial Demise of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics Is Bad News For Us All

Mad in America

T oday there is a substantial body of evidence that antidepressants worsen the long-term course of depression, a conclusion that deserves to be known by a global population and derives, in large part, from papers published in Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. It was in 1994 that the editor-in-chief of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics , Giovanni Fava, raised this concern , and for the next thirty years his journal provided a home for research and essays that collectively provided a sobering narra

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In Schizophrenia, Nicotine Enhances Cognitive Performance by Improving Brain Network Function

Psychiatric Times

The prevalence of tobacco use in schizophrenia is over 60%3 times that of the general population. However, the reason for the high prevalence of tobacco use in schizophrenia remains largely unknown.

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Quetiapine may pip lithium to the post for augmentation in ‘treatment resistant depression’: results from the LQD study

The Mental Elf

Kirsten Lawson and Douglas Badenoch review the new randomised controlled trial by Cleare et al, published today in The Lancet Psychiatry, directly comparing the clinical and cost effectiveness of lithium and quetiapine as augmentation treatments for patients with 'treatment resistant depression'. The post Quetiapine may pip lithium to the post for augmentation in ‘treatment resistant depression’: results from the LQD study appeared first on National Elf Service.

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The art of well-being: Group activities shown to ease depression and anxiety in older adults

Psychiatry News -- Science Daily

Group arts interventions, such as painting, dance, or music, significantly reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety in older adults, offering a powerful alternative to traditional treatments. The benefits are universal, with consistent results across different art forms, intervention types, and countries. Group arts interventions were particularly beneficial for care home residents relative to older adults who lived in the community.

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How Airline Pilots Are Incentivized to Hide Their Mental Illness

The New York Times -- Mental Health

Is the F.A.A. really ensuring safety by disqualifying pilots who receive a diagnosis or treatment?

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More Black teens are in mental health crisis. This church tries to help them heal

NPR - Mental Health

At First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, a therapist was fielding 10 calls a week from parents of teens who needed mental health help. Now the church is part of a national pilot intervention and study to address suicide risk among Black teens. (Image credit: Jos A. Alvarado Jr.

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Psychiatry: Medical Science of Mind or Moral Ideology?

Mad in America

T he Scientific Revolution of the 16 th and 17 th centuries released a flood of empirical skepticism across the globe, diluting trust in religious ideology that had been dominating Western Civilization for centuries. The revolution ushered in the birth of modern sciences such as chemistry, biology, and anatomy. These new methods of understanding the world used careful observation and measurement to develop general scientific laws that describe and predict natural phenomena without resorting to r

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COVID-19, 5 Years Later

Psychiatric Times

The impacts of this pandemic continue to ripple. All we can do is try our best to stay informed. Thats where we come in.

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How to Avoid Attracting What’s Missing in You

The Online Therapist

Those of us who battle with self-assurance may find ourselves drawn to someone who is aggressive. Someone who is disciplined may give us solace in the event that we are lacking structure. In the beginning, these characteristics might make us feel excited and complementary. It seems as if the other person "completes" us. This usually happens in the honeymoon period.

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Brief admission during crisis for people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder

The Mental Elf

Dan Warrender publishes his debut elf blog on a recent systematic review, which suggests that brief admission as a crisis management tool is acceptable and can be effective for people with 'borderline personality disorder'. The post Brief admission during crisis for people diagnosed with borderline personality disorder appeared first on National Elf Service.

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Retirement Can Harm Your Brain. Here’s How to Keep It Healthy.

The New York Times -- Mental Health

Its challenging to stay mentally sharp and healthy through the major transition. Careful planning is key.

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Feeling scatterbrained? 5 ways to focus your attention

NPR - Mental Health

What would you do if you had more hours in a day? Here's how to carve out time for your interests and passions even when you have a lot of responsibilities.

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Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics: End of an Era for Independent Journals? An Interview With Giovanni Fava

Mad in America

W elcome to Mad In America Radio. My name is Bob Whitaker, and today my guest is Italian psychiatrist, Giovanni Fava. Before we begin, I’d like to take a few moments and explain the context of this interview. From 1992 to 2022, Dr. Fava edited the journal Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics. We will be talking about the importance of that journal and what may be lost now that the publisher, Karger, may be taking it in a new direction.

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When the Fog Doesn’t Lift: Targeting Cognitive Dysfunction in Depression

Psychiatric Times

Cognitive symptoms affect between 85% and 94% of patients with major depressive disorder. Despite this prevalence, cognitive dysfunction often remains undertreated and inadequately addressed in routine clinical practice.

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First therapy chatbot trial shows AI can provide 'gold-standard' care

Psychiatry News -- Science Daily

Researchers conducted the first clinical trial of an AI-powered therapy chatbot and found that, on average, people with diagnosed mental disorders experienced clinically significant improvements in their symptoms over eight weeks, according to new results. Users engaged with the software, known as Therabot, through a smartphone app and reported that interactions were comparable to working with a mental-health professional.

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The Concept of the Adaptive Personality and the “We-Self”. Relationships and Codependency in Focus

The Online Therapist

There is a notable shift towards more flexible, less traditional interpersonal dynamics, in which people value personal fulfillment over society standards. Today's relationships are more adaptable, digital, and self-centered, emphasizing personal development and emotional freedom above strict structures. These shifts represent a deeper shift in how individuals see love, intimacy, and commitment in the modern era.

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Women with Postpartum Depression Undergo Brain Changes During Pregnancy, Study Finds

The New York Times -- Mental Health

The research constitutes some of the first evidence that the condition is associated with modifications in the brain before childbirth.

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Not sure where to go next in life? These journal prompts can help you figure it out

NPR - Mental Health

Whether you're thinking about starting a new career or moving to a different city, these exercises can help you make hard decisions with more confidence and clarity.

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Psychiatric Drugs “A Crude Form of Chemical Restraint”

Mad in America

In a new article , mental health nurse Timothy Wand argues for conservative use of psychiatric drugs, for advising patients of the risks of the drugs, and for informing patients there is no known biological cause for mental illness. He suggests that mental health nursing has a key role to play in helping people discontinue the drugs. With the knowledge that there is no clear or direct neuro-biogenic cause for mental illness or identifiable disease process, the indication is that psychotropic dru

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The Anxious Generation

Psychiatric Times

Epidemiological data show that rates of anxiety, depression, self-injurious behaviors, and suicidality increased for Gen Z in significantly higher numbers than previous generations.

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Easy solutions to psychological problems?

Critical Psychiatry

Psychological problems are common. People don't always adjust to difficulties in life and relationships very well. They don't always meet their own or others' expectations of how they should function socially. Solutions on offer to psychological problems from mental health services, such as psychotropic medication and talking therapy, may, therefore, seem attractive.

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Potential risk biomarkers found for schizophrenia resulting from cannabis use

Psychiatry News -- Science Daily

A new study has analyzed and compared the fatty acids in the blood of individuals with schizophrenia, of those with cannabis use disorder and of those with both diagnoses, with the aim of shedding light on new biomarkers and improving the understanding of the biological relationship between the two disorders. The study also offers a powerful tool for identifying new biomarkers.

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The Lady Will Have the Laxatives

The New York Times -- Mental Health

If I acted on a date like a girl who has a healthy relationship with food, could I become her?

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COMIC: Still cringing about that awkward moment? Here's what to do about it

NPR - Mental Health

Experts demystify the science of awkwardness and explain how to reduce the emotional intensity of mortifying flashbacks (like that one time you called your teacher "Mommy").

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