The Family Institute

The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs

April 8, 2019

Millions of Americans have taken antidepressants for many years. What happens when it’s time to stop?

Source: The Challenge of Going Off Psychiatric Drugs | The New Yorker

How to Quit Antidepressants: Very Slowly, Doctors Say 

March 9, 2019

Mustering solid evidence, two researchers have denounced the standard psychiatric guidelines for how best to wean patients from depression medications. Patients who very gradually reduced their daily dose of antidepressants over time, after years of use, were less likely to experience withdrawal symptoms. 

Patients who very gradually reduced their daily dose of antidepressants over time, after years of use, were less likely to experience withdrawal symptoms.

Source: How to Quit Antidepressants: Very Slowly, Doctors Say – The New York Times

Does Marijuana Use Cause Schizophrenia?

March 9, 2019

As the drug becomes more popular, concerns have been raised that its use can lead to psychotic disorders. Here’s what scientists know for sure, and what they don’t. 

Cannabis plants in a lab at Niagara College in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. As marijuana use becomes more widespread and varied, some people worry that its more potent versions can cause or exacerbate mental illness.CreditCreditCarlos Osorio/Reuters

Source: Does Marijuana Use Cause Schizophrenia? – The New York Times

When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves

November 1, 2018

Researchers are particularly concerned with marijuana use among the young because THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, most sharply affects the parts of the brain that develop during adolescence.

Source: Study: Laying Off Pot Improved Teens’ Learning : Shots – Health News : NPR

A diet guru explains why you should eat dinner at 2pm

October 14, 2018

We focus nearly obsessively on the question of what to eat. Should I eat avocados or steak? Should I eat quinoa or pasta? Should I eat more fat? Should I eat less fat? Should I eat less protein? Should I eat more protein? Let’s face it, the answer changes every few years, according to whom you ask.

But an equally important question lies almost completely unanswered. What effect does meal timing have on obesity and other metabolic parameters? Quite a lot, it turns out. Having a well defined fasting period is likely very important. The strategy of eTRF, and intermittent fasting more generally now gives exhausted dieters a new hope.

Source: Jason Fung explains why intermittent fasting and ADF diets work — Quartz

The Danger of Putting Youth on Antidepressants

January 1, 2018

Why medication shouldn’t be the default treatment for our kids’ mental health.

On World Health Day this year, Dainius Pūras, a doctor and a representative for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, made a powerful statement. By focusing so intently on the biomedical model of treating depression, he argued, we are diverting resources from the “social and underlying determinants” that may have a larger and more lasting effect on mental health: economic injustice, political oppression, social violence. “Mental health services, policymakers, medical students,

Source: The Danger of Putting Youth on Antidepressants · The Walrus

Generation Adderall

April 2, 2017

“We know very little about what Adderall does over years of use, in and out of college, throughout all the experiences that constitute early adulthood. To date, there is almost no research on the long-term effects on humans of using Adderall. In a sense, then, we are the walking experiment, those of us around my age who first got involved with this drug in high school or college when it was suddenly everywhere and then did not manage to get off it for years afterward — if we got off it at all.”

Source: Generation Adderall – CASEY SCHWARTZ – The New York Times