While visiting family over the weekend, I thought you might enjoy these classic entries from our past.

10 Years Ago on Psych Central

• When Tragedy Provides

  My essay about the Columbine tragedy, which also just celebrated its 10 year anniversary a few months ago. Tragedy reminds us that we’re human and gives us a chance to reconnect with one another. But nothing can make sense of tragedies such as Columbine.

5 Years Ago on Psych Central

• Drug Maker Acknowledges Misleading Claims

  In case you thought that some pharmaceutical companies’ recent problems with telling the whole truth about their drugs is something new, I noted 5 years ago when Janssen admitted that it minimized some of the potential side effects of its drug, Risperdal. According to the story, “the FDA determined that the company’s promotional materials still minimized the risk of strokes, diabetes and other potentially fatal complications. The agency also said Janssen made misleading claims that the medication was safer in treating mental illness than similar drugs.” The more things change…

• Caught in the WebForeshadowing the rise of the non-existent disorder, “Internet addiction,” this entry noted how some soldiers in Finland were having a hard time being away from the Internet and got their military service time decreased. Why wouldn’t that work for TV?

1 Year Ago on Psych Central

• One Year Medication-Free with Bipolar Disorder

  We noted the anniversary of when blogger extraordinaire Philip Dawdy over at Furious Seasons marked his one year anniversary medication-free while living with bipolar disorder. His brief second year followup here, where he says he no longer has bipolar disorder:

  So two years after my psychiatrist talked me into going off the last of 18 years of psych meds, my case establishes one of four things: that I was a bad diagnosis back in 1989 and was never bipolar at all; that bipolar disorder burns out over time; that I’m a medical miracle of some kind; or, that I am a sick, delusional man, soon to be hospitalized.

• Another Brain Fad for Depression?A love letter to neuroscientists was published in the Boston Globe which caught my BS-alert detector. Just a ridiculous, one-sided article suggesting that only a biological understanding of mental illness will result in the golden age of treatment. Meanwhile, hundreds of psychological studies are published each and every year on different psychological treatments and theories of mental disorders. Few get noticed because psychological explanations are so… boring compared to the pretty, compelling pictures of fMRI, for instance.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 23 Jul 2009
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.