In a rare behind-the-scenes disclosure (due to a lawsuit), the public is seeing for one of the first times the degree and depth some pharmaceutical companies will go to in order to publish positive results about their drug. Using the same peer-review process that is supposed to prevent abuses by researchers and drug companies and […]

“I think I’m in love with my therapist. What’s wrong with me? What should I do?”
It is not unusual to feel strong feelings of “love” or affinity toward your therapist. But those feelings probably aren’t what you think.
Psychodynamic theory suggests the reason that many people fall in love with their therapist is because they are […]

Everyone’s heard of the need for self-esteem. If you don’t feel good about yourself, how can you ever accomplish anything in your life?
But what you may not know is the need for something else, which may be even more important — self-efficacy. That is, the belief that you have what you need in order […]

Well, maybe not all teens, but I mistakenly thought that something like 80% or 90% of teens were strongly into social networking sites like Myspace and such, given how much you hear about the two being connected.
So I was a little surprised with the release of the Pew Internet and American Life report last week […]

The spigot of free gifts, travel and other give aways to doctors, professors and students in the nation’s 129 medical schools is about to be closed. Gosh, I don’t know how they’ll manage…
The New York Times brings us the story today:

Drug and medical device companies should be banned from offering free food, gifts, travel and […]

Back in December 2007, the British Journal of Psychiatry published an editorial examining the use of computers to help aid people with mental health concerns. Most of these programs focus on psychoeducational techniques (sort of like distance learning) of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). One of the things that CBT is well-known for, compared to many other […]

You’ve got to scratch your head when one of the government’s chief advocates for health care in the Veterans Administration just reinforces the old stigmas associated with mental health concerns. Testifying before a federal judge in San Francisco, Michael Kussman said:

“The number of patients who have adjustment reactions to the experience that they have in […]

Furious Seasons brings us this advice column where a concerned parent is asking about her daughter’s desire to be diagnosed with ADHD to help her get into college:

[… Y]ou can imagine my surprise when she asked that I take her to the doctor to get a prescription for ADHD medication. I was blown away.
She says […]

In the mental health blogosphere this week my favourite post came from Dr. Shock, in a post that is part of the cool Research Blogging initiative. He reported on a new paper published in Cyberpsychology & Behavior called Lighting in Digital Game Worlds: Effects on Affect and Play Performance, by Igor Knez and Simon […]

Imagine taking a weight-loss pill and losing dozens of pounds, only to find yourself profoundly depressed for no reason.
Imagine taking a stop-smoking pill and not feeling the urge to light up a cigarette every again, only to find your mind plagued with suicidal thoughts.
No need to imagine these things — these are the kinds of […]

Ever wonder what a stroke feels like?
Well, while no one can share the exact experience with you, neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor describes her own unique, personal experience in having a massive stroke one morning.

As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied […]

There are dozens of empirically proven treatments for a wide range of mental disorders. Drugs. Psychotherapy. Self-help books and support groups. Other stuff. It all works, and it works even better when you combine it together. This isn’t so much rocket science any more as “common sense.”
So you’d think every family doctor and general physician […]