Recent posts

50 years ago, psychiatrists stopped calling homosexuality a mental illness

By editor
December 15, 2023

The Washington Post By Donald Beaulieu December 15, 2023 Fifty years ago Friday, on Dec. 15, 1973, the board of trustees of the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its diagnostic manual of mental illnesses. Newspaper stories the next day mostly treated it as a technical change rather than a seismic shift that...   read more


Dr. John A. Talbott, Champion of Care for the Mentally Ill, Dies at 88

By editor
December 15, 2023

The New York Times By Trip Gabriel Dec. 9, 2023 A psychiatrist and a prolific author, he criticized what he referred to as a “nonsystem” that left vulnerable people on the streets to fend for themselves. Dr. John A. Talbott, a psychiatrist who championed the care of vulnerable populations of the mentally ill, especially the...   read more


Why Doctors and Pharmacists Are in Revolt

By editor
December 15, 2023

The New York Times By Noam Scheiber Dec. 3, 2023 Once accustomed to a status outside the usual management-labor hierarchy, many health professionals now feel as put upon as any clock-punching worker. Dr. John Wust does not come off as a labor agitator. A longtime obstetrician-gynecologist from Louisiana with a penchant for bow ties, Dr....   read more


Fall is the best time to prepare for winter seasonal depression

By editor
November 24, 2023

The Washington Post By Richard Sima October 5, 2023 A fall check-up can help you prepare for – and potentially prevent – winter seasonal affective disorder Fall is the best time for those who suffer from winter seasonal affective disorder (SAD) to check in and prepare. Susceptible people — an estimated 5 percent of Americans — already...   read more


Mental Illness, Especially Later in Life, Can Increase the Risk of Dementia

By editor
November 24, 2023

The New York Times By Dana G. Smith Nov. 8, 2023 Research is revealing an inextricable link between mental disorders and neurological disorders. In 2021, Sharon Niederhaus, then 77, lost her husband of more than 50 years. Her daughter, Kristin Henry, said her mother was never the same afterward. “We feel like we lost both...   read more


Scientists discover how dozens of genes may contribute to autism

By editor
November 24, 2023

The Washington Post By Mark Johnson October 5, 2023 Using a host of high-tech tools to simulate brain development in a lab dish, Stanford University researchers have discovered several dozen genes that interfere with crucial steps in the process and may lead to autism, a spectrum of disorders that affects about one inevery 36 Americans, impairing their ability...   read more


Children today have less independence. Is that fueling a mental health crisis?

By editor
November 24, 2023

The Washington Post By Caitlin Gibson October 24, 2023 For years, Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology and neuroscience at Boston College, has been closely following two disturbing trends: the dwindling of independent activity and play afforded to children over the past half-century, and the accelerating rise in mental health disorders and suicides among youth...   read more


F.D.A. Issues Warning Over Misuse of Ketamine

By editor
October 23, 2023

The New York Times By Andrew Hones Oct. 11, 2023 Unsupervised treatment — fueled by telemedicine prescriptions — for various psychiatric problems poses a number of health risks, the agency said. The Food and Drug Administration issued an alert on Tuesday about the dangers of treating psychiatric disorders with compounded versions of ketamine, a powerful anesthetic that...   read more


Kaiser agrees to $200 million in fines, fixes after failing to provide timely mental health care

By editor
October 23, 2023

Los Angeles Times By Andrew J. Campa Oct. 13, 2023 Kaiser Permanente agreed to a $200-million settlement and major changes to its mental health services after investigations revealed the healthcare giant canceled tens of thousands of appointments and failed to provide timely care, the California Department of Managed Health Care announced Thursday. The agreement includes...   read more


A Virginia woman was feeling sad. Her doctor prescribed her a cat.

By editor
October 23, 2023

The Washington Post By Cathy Free October 18, 2023 Her doctor, Earl D. King, said he wrote it down ‘because people sometimes don’t follow your instructions’ Robin Sipe’s eyes filled with tears as soon as her doctor entered the examining room. “My cat had recently died and I was feeling really sad and depressed,” Sipe...   read more