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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · 21d

An excellent overview of laws on involuntary commitment of drug users. As I said, “Passing a law doesn’t create a system. Treatment of addiction is difficult and takes time. It is not something that’s going to be solved in 30 days.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/h...

Can Drug Users Be Forced Into Rehab? Trump Says Yes. So Do 34 States.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Paul S. Appelbaum, MD

Columbia Ethics @columbiaethics.bsky.social · Aug 7

🧬 What happens when a genetic therapy is made for just one patient? How do we support and regulate development?
@sandrasoojinlee.bsky.social and @appelbap.bsky.social from our Division discuss the ethical implication of “research-treatment hybrids”.
🔗https://jme.bmj.com/content/51/5/jme-2023-109729

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Reposted by Paul S. Appelbaum, MD

Margot van de Weijer @margotvdweijer.bsky.social · Aug 1

New pre-print online: Imputing parental genotypes through Mendelian Imputation: Ethical and Legal Considerations
osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jul 29

An important alert on the implications of an Executive Order on "gold standard science" that many of us may have missed: www.thehastingscenter.org/gold-dust/

Gold Dust : The Hastings Center for Bioethics

The United States has never had a situation in which political and ideological nonscientists got the last word about what is credible science. The direct political oversight of science represented in ...

www.thehastingscenter.org

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jul 23

What do we know about how mental illness affects pretrial defendants' chances of reoffending or failing to appear for trial? Answer: Not very much. See our new article: A Scoping Literature Review of Mental Illness in Decisions Regarding Pretrial Release jaapl.org/content/earl...

A Scoping Literature Review of Mental Illness in Decisions Regarding Pretrial Release

Judges generally make pretrial release decisions based on the risk that a defendant will miss court appearances or pose a danger to the community; for criminal cases initiated in state courts, this de...

jaapl.org

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jul 16

Our analysis of the impact of abortion restrictions on mental health in pregnancy, just out today: :https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/2836537?utm_source=bluesky&utm_campaign=content-shareicons&utm_content=article_engagement&utm_medium=social&utm_term=071625

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our systematic review or the literature on the psychosocial impacts of autism-related genetic testing is now online (in preprint format) at JAACAP: doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

sciencedirect.com

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jun 5

The capacity of newborn genomic screening to identify risks for conditions without effective treatments, along with diseases that may develop much later in life, can create challenges for parents and offspring alike: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/05/h...

The Ethical Minefield of Testing Infants for Incurable Diseases

www.nytimes.com

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jun 5

The new American Law Institute Restatement on Medical Malpractice portends changes in how the courts assess clinician liability, with more emphasis on evidence-based care. Neil Kaye and I discuss here: psychiatryonline.org/doi/epdf/10....

Psychiatry Online

PsychiatryOnline.org is the platform for all American Psychiatric Association Publishing journals, DSM, and bestselling textbooks, as well as APA Practice Guidelines, and continuing medical education.

psychiatryonline.org

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · May 19

Most firearms used in mass shootings in the US are legally acquired--and legal guns are associated with higher number of fatalities. Another reason why focusing exclusively on illegal possession won't stop the violence epidemic. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

An analysis of firearm legality and lethality in 625 U.S.‐based mass murders involving firearms

Understanding the relationship between firearm regulations and the lethality of mass murder involving firearms has implications for prevention efforts. We examined 625 incidents of mass murder involv...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · May 14

Flying under the radar, HHS announces it no longer intends to enforce mental health insurance parity rules. The inevitable result: markedly reduced access to treatment. www.statnews.com/2025/05/13/h... via @statnews

Mental health care may be harder to obtain after HHS rule reversal

Access to care could be affected, following HHS indication that it will not enforce updates adopted in 2024 to the mental health parity law.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Paul S. Appelbaum, MD

Jordan Smoller @jorsmo.bsky.social · May 7

"let’s be clear: It isn’t institutions that are being punished. It’s the researchers who are the future of science in this country"

What am I supposed to say to this generation of young scientists? www.statnews.com/2025/05/07/u... via @statnews.com

What am I supposed to say to this generation of young scientists?

Undermining the future of American science is not a path to accountability — it’s a path to decline.

www.statnews.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · May 4

No one dies of "complications of schizoaffective disorder." Disturbing questions about the quality of care rendered people in ICE custody, including people with mental illness: www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...

Two men in ICE custody died of ‘natural’ causes. Were their deaths preventable?

Top medical experts reviewed records and questioned the treatment two immigrants received before their deaths. “That’s certainly substandard care,” said one neurologist.“That’s certainly substandard c...

www.miamiherald.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · May 1

In this new article, Stephanie Rolin and I review the expansion of liability for colleges and universities in addressing students with mental health issues: rdcu.be/ekaDC

Expansion of Colleges’ Legal Responsibilities Regarding Student Mental Health

rdcu.be

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Apr 17

To what extent should childhood abuse be taken into account in sentencing for murder of the abuser? The Menendez brothers' case is dealing with exactly that question: www.thefp.com/p/the-menend...

Were the Menendez Murders Justified?

Increasingly, judges are giving lighter sentences to criminals who suffered abuse during childhood. That could be good news for the Menendez brothers.

www.thefp.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Apr 3

A study of AI chatbots for treatment of mental disorders has gotten attention recently, but we should restrain our enthusiasm until some key questions are answered: selection bias? appropriate control? duration of effect? human supervision required? www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Mental Health AI Chatbot Rivals Human-Based Tx in Less Time

A generative AI–powered therapy chatbot is linked to significant reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, results of a randomized controlled trial show.

www.medscape.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Mar 26

Social isolation and loneliness are common problems that bring people into psychiatric treatment--and are widely prevalent outside of treatment settings as well. Clinicians need to pay more attention to these factors and help patients break the cycle of isolation. www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...

Lonely Planet: How the World Is Fighting Social Isolation

Loneliness has become a global health crisis, linked to depression, dementia, and early death. With over a billion people affected, how are countries working to reconnect us?

www.medscape.com

Reposted by Paul S. Appelbaum, MD

Jordan Smoller @jorsmo.bsky.social · Mar 13

How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in charts www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in charts

Abrupt cuts by the Trump administration to the US National Institutes of Health threaten progress in medical research globally.

www.nature.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Feb 28

A fascinating and terrifying look inside the chaos at NIH--and an answer to the question of why, despite court orders, grant funding has not started flowing again: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Inside the Collapse at the NIH

Administration officials pressured the NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.

www.theatlantic.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Feb 10

[Off-topic alert] The loss of geographic mobility in America and its effect on economic prosperity, social solidarity, and political polarization. The Atlantic's March cover story, adapted from my son Yoni's new book: www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

How Progressives Froze the American Dream

The U.S. was once the world’s most geographically mobile society. Now we’re stuck in place—and that’s a very big problem.

www.theatlantic.com

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jan 28

For the moment, at least, PubMed seems to be back online.

Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jan 28

PubMed, the indispensable online index of medical literature--essential for all types of medical research--seems not to be accessible. Another effect of the freeze of federal funding? What's next? pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Jan 8

This report on the effort to characterize psychiatric treatment of some chronic disorders as "palliative care" includes my thoughts on why that's a really bad idea. psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/...

Is There a Role for Palliative Care of Severe and Chronic Mental Disorders? | Psychiatric News

PsychiatryOnline.org is the platform for all American Psychiatric Association Publishing journals, DSM, and bestselling textbooks, as well as APA Practice Guidelines, and continuing medical education.

psychiatryonline.org

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Paul S. Appelbaum, MD @appelbap.bsky.social · Dec 10

Very interesting look at how treatment expectancies for psilocybin vs escitalopram for depression affected a trial outcome. Spoiler: the psychedelic was only superior for patients with low expectations for the antidepressant. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Treatment Expectancies and Psilocybin vs Escitalopram for Depression

This randomized controlled trial secondary analysis examines the association between treatment expectancies and the relative efficacy of psilocybin compared with escitalopram for major depressive diso...

jamanetwork.com

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