Harvard Neuroscientist: We’re Over-Medicating Kids for Normal Human Behavior | Adam Omary EP 237

Dr. Adam Omary is a psychologist, neuroscientist, and researcher at the Cato Institute. His doctoral work at Harvard focused on the rise in gender dysphoria among adolescent girls, and he is currently writing a book on the psychology of progress.

In this episode, we discuss what the latest data on puberty blockers shows, why psychiatric diagnoses continue to rise despite living in one of the safest and most prosperous periods in human history, and how incentives within the mental health system may be contributing to overdiagnosis.

We also get into the rapid increase in autism diagnoses following the pandemic, the expansion of the DSM, SSRI use among young adults, smartphone bans in schools, social media and mental health, and the difference between normal human suffering and psychiatric illness.

Topics:

• New data on puberty blockers

• Gender dysphoria research

• SSRI use in Gen Z

• The expansion of the DSM

• Overdiagnosis in psychiatry

• Autism diagnoses after COVID

• Smartphone bans in schools

• Social media and mental health

• Grief vs. major depressive disorder

• Incentives in the mental health industry

• The psychology of progress

Find Dr. Omary:

humanprogress.org

Cato Institute

For a high quality education and community consider enrolling in Peterson Academy

Chapters:

—Research Sites—

Newsletter/website

Fuller Research Foundation

PrescribedHarm

—Socials—

Keywords: Dr Adam Omary Harvard, puberty blockers longitudinal data, Gen Z SSRIs overdiagnosis, DSM psychiatric overdiagnosis, gender dysphoria surge teenage girls, Jonathan Haidt social media mental health, ADHD overdiagnosis, autism COVID diagnosis, Cato Institute mental health, Mikhaila Peterson podcast, psychology of progress