Psychiatry Archives

Home Psychiatry

Social Justice

An Open Letter Accuses Netflix’s ‘Afflicted’ of Abandoning Ethics and Science

The new documentary series promised compassion for sufferers of poorly understood chronic illnesses. Instead, it peddled the tired narrative that their suffering is "all in their heads."

Maya Dusenbery

News in Brief

Evil Genius

For the last decade, forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner has led a curious, self-funded effort to create something he calls the Depravity Standard, a crowd-sourced instrument for objectively scoring the level of evil associated with humanity's most twisted crimes. But can a scientist really define the outer edges of our morality?

Rachel Monroe

News in Brief

The Depravity Standard

An early look at a Pacific Standard story that's currently only available to subscribers.

Pacific Standard Staff

Social Justice

The Enigma of Survival

How does one tell the untraumatized majority about the conditions that constitute the underworld of trauma?

Sally Satel

Social Justice

Why Are Obstetricians Among the Top Billers for Group Psychotherapy in Illinois?

Illinois leads the country in group psychotherapy sessions in Medicare, and some top billers aren’t mental health specialists. The state’s Medicaid program has cracked down, but federal officials have not.

Charles Ornstein

Social Justice

Should We Take Away the Children of Those Who Are Mentally Ill?

Mindi has never harmed her daughter and is capably raising a son, but authorities took her daughter under a concept sometimes called “predictive neglect.”

Seth Freed Wessler

Social Justice

What Makes You Neurotic?

A new study gets to the root of our anxieties.

Paul Bisceglio

Social Justice

The 30 Top Thinkers Under 30: The Science Writer Who Wants to Understand How Sleep Affects Our Health

For the month of April we're profiling the individuals who made our inaugural list of the 30 top thinkers under 30, the young men and women we predict will have a serious impact on the social, political, and economic issues we cover every day here at Pacific Standard.

Avital Andrews

Social Justice

How Do Psychiatrists Treat Werewolves?

With psychotropic drug cocktails, of course.

Ryan Jacobs