On July 15, I wrote a post called Psychiatry Debunks the ‘Myths.’ In that article I focused on the myth-debunking of Cognitive Psychiatry of Chapel Hill, but in researching the topic for that post, I came across a psychiatry resident named Shan (no last name) who blogs on a website called Exploratory Encephalotomy. With regards to the name of the website, Dr. Shan explains on his About the blog page: "…'exploratory encephalotomy' implies opening up somebody’s brain in order to search for something. To the best of my knowledge, it’s not a real medical procedure yet…" ...

There’s an interesting article in the July-August 2014 issue of the AARP Bulletin. It’s called Drug Abuse: Antipsychotics in Nursing Homes, and was written by Jan Goodwin. AARP is the American Association of Retired Persons. Jan Goodwin is an investigative journalist whose career, according to Wikipedia, “…has been committed to focusing attention on social justice and human rights…” The article is essentially a condemnation of the widespread and long-standing practice of using neuroleptic drugs to suppress “difficult” behavior in nursing home residents. ...

Psychiatry has always had its share of critics, but in the past two decades these criticisms have increased in frequency and intensity. Psychiatry's underlying concepts are being denounced as spurious to the point of inanity, and its practices are being accurately and forcefully exposed as destructive, disempowering, and stigmatizing. Psychiatry has no rational or logical response to these criticisms. Its leadership and its rank and file remain stubbornly blind to the arbitrariness and invalidity of its so-called diagnoses, the unquestioning adoption of which distorts their perceptions of people and their problems. ...

i have been very depressed three or four times. always it was the same cause. i’ve never had the experience of being depressed for no reason. i’ve never gone to bed feeling fine and woke up feeling depressed.i think i’ve acquired enough sophistication to say:i can’t imagine anyone under the same circumstances not becoming very depressed, crying constantly, hating himself, thinking of killing himself.i also think the circumstances are new to human experience. that is, in the past my guess is such circumstances were very uncommon.what were they every single time: a beautiful girl or woman who was unavailable. but not because i was ugly or boring or whatever.because of my family background.i live in the us. despite college entrance exams above the mean for admits to all of america’s best universities. despite the same for its graduate school entrance exams, i never had a chance of getting in. my parents divorced. my dad hit me, fornicated, was a loser.and so am i. social reproduction is reason enough to top yourself.the pills didn’t work. the psychiatrists and therapists were idiots.my solution has been alcohol.i’m in the following study believe it or not https://www.cog-genomics.org/.but i have no prospects and never will.anyway, blah, blah, blah…it is a fundamental tenet of the american ideology, so to say, that the locus of pathology is the individual, never his society and never the two together. ...

On June 18, the British Medical Journal published an article by Christine Lu et al, titled Changes in antidepressant use by young people and suicidal behavior after FDA warnings and media coverage: quasi-experimental study. Here’s the conclusion paragraph from the abstract: "Safety warnings about antidepressants and widespread media coverage decreased antidepressant use, and there were simultaneous increases in suicide attempts among young people. It is essential to monitor and reduce possible unintended consequences of FDA warnings and media reporting." ...

I recently came across the May 2014 issue of The Costco Connection, which is published by Costco Wholesale. This is the first time I’ve seen a copy of this magazine, and I would describe it as a catalog/lifestyle periodical. There are lots of ads for Costco’s own products, and the articles are wide ranging, topical, and easy to read. This particular issue was drawn to my attention because on page 57, there’s an article titled Blues Clues. The subtitle is: “Physical pain is one of the unexpected signs of depression.” The author is Jodi Helmer, a freelance journalist. ...

Professor Sir Simon Wessely is a British psychiatrist who works at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London. He is also the new President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and in that capacity, he recently wrote his first blog, titled, appropriately enough, My First Blog (May 24, 2014). The article is essentially a perusal of, and commentary on, the program for the RCP’s Annual Congress, about which Sir Simon expresses considerable enthusiasm. He also engages in a little cheerleading. ...

Recently I received a very nice email from Laura Chapman. Here’s the text: "Hi there, My name is Laura and I am emailing because I recently produced a guide on postpartum depression and wanted to share it. Here is the guide I have helped to make - http://www.psychguides.com/guides/living-with-postpartum-depression/http://www.psychguides.com/guides/living-with-postpartum-depression/ Earlier this year a friend of mine suffered from maternity blues shortly after giving birth to her first child. Coaxing her through it, as I've had two children of my own, made me think about postpartum depression. It got me thinking about what advice or information to give new mothers and their family. ...

As my readers know, I am a great fan of former APA President Jeffrey Lieberman, MD. His regular articles on Psychiatric News were always helpful to the anti-psychiatry cause, and he will be greatly missed. But his successor, Paul Summergrad, MD, has recently posted his first presidential message, APA Poised to Take Advantage of Unique Time in History, and it is already clear that not much has changed. Cheerleading and unabashed self-congratulations are still the order of the day. ...

On May 29, Psychiatric News ran an article titled Lieberman Sees Promising Future for Psychiatrists, Patients. The author is Mark Moran, a senior reporter for the American Psychiatric Association. The post is an account of Dr. Lieberman’s outgoing presidential address to the APA conference in New York, and contains many quotes from this most eminent and memorable psychiatrist. "Our future is now. We have been waiting, many of us our whole lives, for the chance to change the way the world thinks of psychiatry and the way we think of ourselves as psychiatrists. Let’s use the momentum we have to plunge ahead into the next year with our confidence brimming, our energy renewed, and our sights set high." ...