article thumbnail

Prescription Drugs Are the Leading Cause of Death

Mad in America

A review of four newer studies, from 2008 to 2011, estimated that there were over 400,000 drug deaths in US hospitals. As an example, the Danish Board of Health has warned that adding a benzodiazepine to a neuroleptic increases mortality by 50-65%. for those aged 70-79. drug deaths per 1000 patients (a 1% death rate).

article thumbnail

Addressing the Silent Mental Health Crisis of Children and Youth Around the World

Child Mind Intitute

This disparity especially impacts the child and adolescent population, as 90 percent of them live in LMICs (United Nations, 2011, Shinde, et al., Moreover, access to specialized mental health care and support services is limited or non-existent in many of these countries. Reliable data require reliable tools.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Searching for the “Psychiatric Yeti”: Schizophrenia Is Not Genetic

Mad in America

And the World Health Organization has called for a transformation of mental health services to focus on person-centered and rights-based approaches. Yet laypeople, and many mental health professionals, still believe that schizophrenia is a genetic disorder. But the promised gains never materialized.

article thumbnail

Giving Caregivers a Platform: Meagan, Mother of Matt

Mad in America

I knew in October of 2018 that Matt was in trouble during a phone call, when he told me in a cheerful voice that he had been to the ER for “mental health reasons” but was “fine.” We attempted to get help from a sleep clinic, and they refused to test him, claiming his insomnia was caused by “mental health issues.”

article thumbnail

Summing up the STAR*D Scandal: The Public was Betrayed, Millions were Harmed, and the Mainstream Media Failed Us All

Mad in America

As such, the scandal now serves as a historical verdict on the ethics of American psychiatry, and by extension, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). “The esteem held by our field in the age of modern medicine rests on the validity of our scientific pursuits.

article thumbnail

Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression

Mad in America

The Office on Women’s Health emphasizes psychosocial causes as being significant in PPD. The Office on Women’s Health makes similar recommendations as in the StatPearls article, but they place an emphasis on therapy, support groups, self-care, social support before turning to medication. We need pills, but we need much more.”

article thumbnail

Remembrances of Linda Andre, Leader in the Fight Against ECT

Mad in America

Linda Andre spent the last eight years of her life institutionalized at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center, where she died by suicide this month at age 63. In Doctors of Deception , she wrote about the unquantifiable, permanent harm she experienced at age 24 from 15 coerced shock treatments at New York Hospital: “My life was stolen.