Questions tagged [psychiatry]
the study and treatment of mental illness, emotional disturbance, and abnormal behavior.
45 questions
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Is ignoring a bully an effective means to prevent bullying?
It's a common belief among people such as teachers and parents or other carers/guardians that a good way to prevent being bullied is to simply ignore the aggressor, as that apparently gives them no ...
user28632
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Is there any scientific basis for Seasonal Affected Disorder (SAD)?
I've heard a lot of people claiming they they have a disorder called Seasonal Affected Disorder.
Is there any research that indicates this is an actual mental disorder?
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Does too much study cause mental illness?
I've often heard that students (science/math Ph.D. candidates, in particular) who study too diligently and for long periods over longer spells develop mental health problems like depression, anxiety, ...
user3291
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Is sleep training a form of neglect or harmful?
Some people claim that "crying it out" is harmful. For example, the article on PhD Parenting states that crying it out is harmful to a child. I've heard others suggest that it's neglectful. I expect ...
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Are 10% of mental health problems caused by abortion?
A recent meta review (mentioned in some articles in the media, e.g. The Telegraph or CBS News) examining the association between abortion and mental health problems "Abortion and mental health: ...
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Has mental health deteriorated 1000-fold since 1850?
In the standard “things are worse now than ever before” polemic, it's claimed that rates of mental illness are higher now than ever – usually without any proof, and usually alongside known-false ...
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Are antipsychotic drugs vastly overused in the US?
A recent opinion piece in Al Jazeera titled "Mass psychosis in the US" claims that antipsychotic drugs are overused in the US, mostly due to the influence of "Big Pharma" which is pushing new atypical ...
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Are there laboratory tests for mental disorders?
So, as usual, another one of our friends on Facebook has decided to link to something "denouncing the evils of the modern medical establishment", claiming that (among other things) there are no lab ...
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Is there a correlation between mass-murder and use of psychoactive prescription drugs such as SSRIs?
It seems to be a commonly-held belief that there is a strong correlation between the use of prescription drugs such as SSRIs and mass-shooters. For instance, this claim:
Every mass shooting over last ...
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Does sleeping an average of 11 hours or more raise one's risk of brain-related disorders?
I am familiar with the effects of sleep deprivation and some of the harmful effects of oversleeping. However, I have also heard more than once that sleeping more than 10 hours on average, even for a ...
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Are people with depression more likely to commit murder?
Are people with depression more likely to commit murder than people without depression?
In Claims about Andreas Lubitz's mental health only serve to stigmatise depression, Pete Etchells writes
...
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Can split personalities have different physical traits?
It is sometimes claimed that the multiple personalities of a person with dissociative identity disorder may not only display different character, behaviour, and movement types, but even show different ...
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Do Russians get depressed the same way Americans do?
In 2010, The Wired wrote an article called "Why Russians Don't Get Depressed", describing a paper in Psychological Science.
Others, such as The Atlantic and Reuters, wrote about the study as well.
...
user17561
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Can mental state affect eye-color?
I have heard see this sketchy reference that people with Multiple Personality Disorder, or other mental disorders, have different physical features when having different personalities. For example, ...
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Is depression caused by chemical imbalances?
According to this recent Quartz article:
The theory that [depression is] caused by chemical imbalances is false.
And:
[Chemical imbalance as the cause of depression] was once a tentatively-...
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Does standardized testing cause ADHD?
I hear students, parents, and -- some -- teachers pull this claim all the time: standardized tests causes a rise in ADHD in children. I know Sir Ken Robinson mentioned something like that in one of ...
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Is ADHD a fictitious disease?
I found this meme:
Inventor of ADHD's Deathbed Confession: "ADHD is a fictitious disease"
US American psychiatrist Leon Eisenberg, born in 1922 as the son of Russian Jewish immigrants, who ...
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Will 25% of people in Western society develop a mental disorder during their life?
In a profile article published in the Cyprus Mail newspaper (Nov. 2012), Dr John Stein, Emeritus Professor of Physiology & Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, claimed:
“a quarter of people in ...
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Is being a professional logician associated with serious mental health issues?
In Indiscrete Thoughts, Gian-Carlo Rota claims that:
It cannot be a complete coincidence that several outstanding logicians of the twentieth century found shelter in asylums at some point in their ...
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Did 304 US soldiers kill themselves in 2009 compared to 149 killed in Iraq?
An image posted on reddit this week has been getting a lot of attention.
The image is of a mural claiming that in 2009, 304 US soilders committed suicide compared to 149 killed in Iraq.
What is the ...
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Do light boxes help Seasonal Affective Disorder?
Light boxes are sold as a treatment for seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and seasonal mood swings. The claims listed are:
Helps to ease seasonal mood swings and winter depression, and help ...
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Does gender transitioning do nothing to help suicidal ideation?
According to the article A landmark Finnish study is changing how we approach transgender kids:
A major new study out of Finland found that providing cross-sex hormones and gender-transition ...
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Can phobias be genetic, but created in one generation and not by natural selection?
I have seen this article floating around.
Pretty much they state that if a parent is traumatized, the child could be born with a phobia.
Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine, in ...
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Do people with mental illnesses die equal to other health issues?
I have often heard having a serious mental illness it worse than diabetes and smoking. Mental illness is 'as bad for life expectancy as smoking', experts warn
Mental illness is 'as bad for life ...
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Are university research studies involving children a money making scheme?
I would like to point out that this question is from a dubious and unverified claim that I had encountered. I thoroughly searched the internet for any information on such claims but could not find ...
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Are individuals with severe mental illness "much more likely" to be victims than perpetrators of violence?
From an NPR article discussing whether planning a shooting breaks the law:
Advocates often bristle when people lump mental health into conversations about mass shooters. They argue that individuals ...
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Is there a link between strabismus and psychiatric illness?
I have an esotropic latent strabismus which causes my left eye to sometimes point inward rather than cooperating with the other eye. I read recently that youths with a strabismus are more likely to ...
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Is it true that online therapy for mental conditions is as good, if not better, as in person? [closed]
I've red a number of articles claiming that online therapy, in particular for mental disorders, is more effective than in person therapy. Though they do site studies, I find this very hard to believe ...
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Does the "Re-Timer" device help to alleviate "winter blues"?
The Re-Timer website states:
Re-Timer is a wearable light therapy device for Winter Blues.
Winter Blues is a low-mood experienced primarily during the winter months. Symptoms can include loss of ...
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Can smoking marijuana from a young age cause emotional immaturity? [closed]
I was watching a fairly decent documentary regarding marijuana use and at a certain point a clinical psychologist mentioned that long term patients of his that smoked marijuana from a young age showed ...
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Can mental state affect allergies?
I have heard see this sketchy reference that people with Multiple Personality Disorder, or other mental disorders, have different physical features when having different personalities. For example, ...
- 1,077
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0
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Multiple personalities: Do they exist?
Has it ever been proven, or is there a consensus among any body of legitimate scientist (e.g. APA, NIHM, or another) that multiple personality disorder actually exists what are each sides points? And ...
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Are psychiatric disorders curable?
Dr. Abboud Assaf, one of the most notable psychiatrists in Lebanon, said in his website that:
Common Misconceptions:
Psychiatric Disorders are incurable
Are psychiatric disorders (e.g. ...
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Do people with mental illnesses feel the effect more during the full moon?
I have heard many times before that people with mental disorders become hyperactive during the full moon. I have never believed it, but has there been any scientific study carried out to prove it one ...
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Do 1 in 4 of us experience mental health problems each year?
I have seen this quote before but today I received an internal company email with this quote.
The ratio is also cited on page 7 of this 2014 report by Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London:
In any ...
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Do antipsychotics have persistent negative effects on the brain?
I've found many web-sites that warn against anti-psychotics.
But antipsychotic treatment has a negative impact on the brain, so … we must get the word out that they should be used with great care, ...
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Can SSRI make things worse in the long term or cause delayed depression?
I found these two articles that mention that taking SSRI for depression can actually make the depression worse.
Is it true? Can Tardive Dysphoria (delayed depression) be caused by SSRI?
http://www....
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Is bipolar disorder chronic?
UT Southwestern Medical Centre says
There is no cure for bipolar disorder, but the condition is very treatable for most people.
The website says that it is a myth that patients can stop treatment ...
user75978
2
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1
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Are working class individuals 70-80 percent less likely to be accepted as patients by therapists if they are black?
This article claims that a study researching the effect prejudice/racism has on psychiatric treatment found that working class individuals were 70-80% less likely to be accepted as patients by a ...
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Is Ativan addictive?
My primary care doctor prescribed Ativan (a brand name for lorazepam) for me a few months ago to help with episodes of extreme anxiety. He warned that because of its potentially addictive and harmful ...
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0
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Methodology of the Cass review [closed]
This week Dr Hilary Cass published her report on the review of gender identity services for children and young people. The report is on a divisive topic, and though I have my opinion, in this question ...
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Was there a picture of Freud above a urinal at Washington University?
From New Yorker's "Why Freud Survies":
Psychoanalysis was also taking a hit within the medical community. Studies suggesting that psychoanalysis had a low cure rate had been around for a ...
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0
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Is the serotonin theory of depression false?
A couple of weeks ago, this article was published on Nature
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0
I am just a layman when it comes to this subject and it is therefore difficult for me to ...
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Is Leon Eisenberg the "inventor" (or the "scientific father") of ADHD?
Related to this Q it's pretty easy to confirm from the meme the part that claim that Leon Eisenberg said what he said about ADHD, using e.g. his Wikipedia page where Der Spiegel is given as source for ...
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Does mifepristone (RU-486 / Korlym®) help cure depression? [closed]
Several studies in major medical journals have been undertaken to determine how practical it would be, and how effective, to use mifepristone (an "antiglucocorticoid") as a treatment for psychotic ...
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