Free Republic

Transgender adolescents are far more likely to attempt suicide than teens whose identity matches their sex assigned at birth, and trans male youth are especially at risk, a U.S. study suggests. Roughly half of transgender teens who identify as male but were assigned a female gender at birth have attempted suicide at least once, the study found. And 42 percent of adolescents who don’t identify exclusively as male or female have at least one prior suicide attempt. About 30 percent of trans female teens - who identify as female but have birth certificates that label them as male - have...

As the days go by, the controversy ignited by the indictment of former nuncio to the United States Carlo Maria Viganò against Pope Francis on account of the scandal of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick is becoming ever more lively. And it has seen a further flare-up with the explosion of the case of Kim Davis, the Christian county official in Kentucky who was imprisoned for a week in the summer of 2015 for having refused - for reasons of freedom of conscience and of religion - to grant a marriage license to homosexual couples, and was received by Francis on September...

However, the high number might not be entirely reflective of how many kids actually have ADHD, said Dr. Scott Benson, a psychiatrist at the Creekside Psychiatric Center in Pensacola, Florida. Many children, especially those living in poverty or dealing with challenges at home, may struggle to focus. That's natural given the stressors they're dealing with, but it may cause some doctors to question whether the child has ADHD. Inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity are symptoms of ADHD, according to the American Psychiatric Association. "We know one of the common errors is misdiagnosis," said Benson, who was not involved with the study....

The gunman who opened fire on a "Madden NFL 19" tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday was hospitalized previously for mental illness, according to court records. Divorce filings from the parents of 24-year-old David Katz of Baltimore showed that as a teenager he was hospitalized twice in psychiatric facilities and was prescribed anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medications, The Associated Press first reported Monday. Katz, a competitor at the gaming event, had two handguns and extra ammunition inside the restaurant where the competition was taking place, officials said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

In the year before Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock carried out the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the high-stakes gambler appeared to have become increasingly unstable, distant and constantly complained of being sick, according to a final investigative report released Friday. Financial records also showed Paddock had lost more than $1.5 million in the two years before the Oct. 1 shooting that left 58 people dead and more than 800 others injured. One of Paddock's brothers told investigators that he believed the gunman had a "mental illness and was paranoid and delusional," and his doctor believed he may...

The growing use of anti-anxiety pills reminds some doctors of the early days of the opioid crisis. Considered relatively safe and non-addictive by the general public and many doctors, Xanax, Valium, Ativan and Klonopin have been prescribed to millions of Americans for decades to calm jittery nerves and promote a good night’s sleep. But the number of people taking the sedatives and the average length of time they’re taking them have shot up since the 1990s, when doctors also started liberally prescribing opioid painkillers. As a result, some state and federal officials are now warning that excessive prescribing of a...

Eating a lot of hot dogs, beef jerky, salami and other processed meats could do more than just add a few extra pounds — it could cause a serious mental condition called mania. That’s according to a new study from scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine published July 18 (National Hot Dog Day) in the journal Molecular Psychiatry. The study found a link between consumption of nitrates, which are chemicals used to cure and process meat snacks, and episodes of mania, “a serious neuropsychiatric condition associated with significant morbidity and mortality.” Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article215089580.html#storylink=cpy

Forget extreme plastic surgery, tattoos and piercings - a minority are taking body modification to the next level - by voluntarily cutting off their own limbs. A body modifier has exclusively revealed how his "extra" limbs feel alien, and has resorted to the drastic measure of self-mutilation - because he actually want to be disabled. Dr. Michael First, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, has led investigations into this bizarre and extremely rare psychiatric condition which he is calling body integrity identity disorder (BIID). Also known as amputee identity disorder, it gives people a fierce desire to rid themselves...

Here’s a shocking and telling statistic on the direction of American society today: suicide rates have risen sharply in every U.S. state (except Nevada, which was already alarmingly high) from 1999 to 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Suicide rates are up more than 30 percent in half of the states over the last couple decades. There were 45,000 suicides in 2016, up from 44,193 in 2015. Suicides on average across the nation have increased by 25%. Depression, isolation, opioids, technology, and substance abuse are to blame. But more important than the causes is the fact...

Against a grim backdrop of rising suicide rates among American women, new research has revealed a blinding shaft of light: One group of women — practicing Catholics — appears to have bucked the national trend toward despair and self-harm. Compared with women who never participated in religious services, women who attended any religious service once a week or more were five times less likely to commit suicide between 1996 and 2010, says a study published by JAMA Psychiatry. [snip] Among devout Catholic women — those in the pews more than once a week — suicides were a vanishing phenomenon. Among...

I don’t wish to be unkind. But facts are facts. A victim is someone who has something bad happen to him, totally against his will and without any say or control in the matter. Suicide does not “happen” to someone. It’s something one does to oneself. Most of us are drowning in virtue-signaling and political correctness — so much so that we can’t even see it. It seems cool to mourn people who kill themselves even though you never knew them. How do we know we would have liked and admired them had we even known them personally? Consider some...

Maryland tunnel digger accused of killing pal feared North Korea missile attack By Nicole Hensley May 31, 2018 | 7:45 PM A man was charged in the death of a pal killed while digging a secret network of tunnels under his Maryland home he hoped would save him from North Korea’s budding nuclear missile program, according to his lawyer. After months of nuclear weapon tests by the isolated nation last year, 27-year-old Daniel Beckwitt began construction on an underground bunker to protect himself from a possible intercontinental ballistic missile attack at his Bethesda property. The digger’s paranoia was fueled by...

Victoria Toline needed nine months to taper off Zoloft. “I had to drop out of school,” she said. “My life’s been on hold.” Victoria Toline would hunch over the kitchen table, steady her hands and draw a bead of liquid from a vial with a small dropper. It was a delicate operation that had become a daily routine — extracting ever tinier doses of the antidepressant she had taken for three years, on and off, and was desperately trying to quit. “Basically that’s all I have been doing — dealing with the dizziness, the confusion, the fatigue, all the symptoms...

Not too long ago we talked about Ivy League psychiatrist Dr. Bandy X. Lee, who had briefed members of Congress (read: pretty much entirely Democrats) on President Trump’s mental health. Despite having never even met the President, say nothing of examined him, she apparently had quite a lot to say. Dr. Lee and her colleagues who jumped on the dogpile have been getting some significant pushback since then, with not only members of the press (a few of them, anyway) objecting, but drawing a formal rebuke from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) who called for an end to “armchair psychiatry.�...

The American Psychiatric Association called out members of its profession for offering their professional opinions about public figures—namely those they haven’t personally examined. The rebuke comes after questions about President Trump’s mental fitness have surfaced in recent days. "We at the APA call for an end to psychiatrists providing professional opinions in the media about public figures whom they have not examined, whether it be on cable news appearances, books, or in social media," the group wrote. "Arm-chair psychiatry or the use of psychiatry as a political tool is the misuse of psychiatry and is unacceptable and unethical." Allegations...

Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz sounded off on claims the 25th Amendment should be used to remove President Trump over his mental capacity. Dershowitz, a Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton, said calls for removal are "very dangerous." "There’s only one thing worse than trying to criminalize political differences and that’s trying to psychiatrize them," he said. "These psychiatrists who are trying to diagnose without having even met the man. That’s what they did in Russia."

The Goldwater rule is the informal name given to Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics[1] that states it is unethical for psychiatrists to give a professional opinion about public figures they have not examined[further explanation needed] in person, and from whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health in public statements.[2] It is named after presidential candidate Barry Goldwater.[3][4] The issue arose in 1964 when Fact published the article "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A Special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater".[3][5] The magazine polled psychiatrists about U.S. Senator Barry...

Humans love dogs more than their fellow man. Two major studies showed that mankind has more empathy for pooches in dire circumstances than suffering people, according to a report in the Times of London. A UK medical research charity staged two phony donation campaigns – one with a dog and the other featuring a man. Of course, the pooch drew more contributions. “Would you give pounds 5 to save Harrison from a slow, painful death?” the separate ads said, featuring a canine and human “Harrison.” Then a Northeastern University study showed that only a baby human could compete with man’s...

The Las Vegas gunman was allergic to certain chemicals and medications — and often wore gardening gloves around so he wouldn’t get rashes, his brother said Wednesday. (snip) It also emerged Wednesday that Paddock was prescribed 50 10-milligram tablets of diazepam — commonly called Valium — on June 21 by Dr. Steven Winkler, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Stephen Paddock, who killed at least 58 people and wounded hundreds more in Las Vegas on Sunday with high-powered rifles, was prescribed an anti-anxiety drug in June that can lead to aggressive behavior, the Las Vegas Review-Journal has learned.