Open-door policy versus treatment-as-usual in urban psychiatric inpatient wards: a pragmatic, randomised controlled, non-inferiority trial in Norway

The abstract of this trial has been published in The Lancet Psychiatry: “Background Open-door policy is a recommended framework to reduce coercion in psychiatric wards. However, existing observational data might not fully capture potential increases in harm and use of coercion…
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Why do patients want medication free treatment for psychosis? An explorative study on reasons for applying to medication free programs

This research paper from Elisabeth C. Klæbo Reitan, Valentina C. Iversen, Henriette Riley, and Anne Høye has been published in BMC Psychiatry. The abstract says: “Background A focus on patient’s and service user’s perspectives regarding long-term antipsychotic treatment led to a declaration…
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A Revolution Wobbles: Will Norway’s “Medication-Free” Hospital Survive?

“The oldest psychiatrist who’s been working in mainstream psychiatry in Norway for so long said, ‘It’s so tragic to see how little impact the psychiatrist actually has in the recovery process of a patient.’” In this interview , Robert Whitaker talks…
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The BBC, Harrow, and a Public Left in the Dark

“Martin Harrow and Thomas Jobe began their study, which was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, in the late 1970s. They enrolled 200 psychotic patients who had been treated conventionally in a mental hospital with antipsychotics and simply…
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Now Norway is offering drug-free treatment to people with psychosis

Lucy Proctor and Linda Pressly report for the BBC: “Most people with psychosis take powerful drugs to keep delusions and hallucinations at bay – but the side-effects can be severe. In Norway, a radical approach is now on offer via the…
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The Door to a Revolution in Psychiatry Cracks Open

This comes from an article by Robert Whitaker (author of Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill ): “Åsgård psychiatric hospital in Tromsø, Norway is a rather tired-looking facility, its squat buildings mindful of institutional architecture from the Cold War era, and in terms of its geographic…
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Visiting the medication free psychiatric ward in Tromsö

“… the aircraft flew into Tromsö last Sunday and from the window I could see the spectacular view of the mountain and the sea as always is there. The purpose for my visit was to meet with staff and those…
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