The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "psychiatry" ...
-
Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America
This book documents how the per-capita disability rate due to mental illness has increased six-fold since 1955, when Thorazine was introduced into asylum medicine. The number of adults on government disability has tripled since 1987, the year Prozac was introduced. Finally, the number of children receiving disability due to a serious mental illness has risen 35-fold since 1987.
Tags: medicine; psychiatry; psychiatric medicine; Thorazine; Prozac; disability; mental illness; National Institute of Mental Health; World Health Organization; American Psychiatric Association;
-
Scientology: A Question of Faith
"The report is an hour-long investigation into the Church of Scientology's vehement opposition to the practice of psychiatry, and how that many have contributed to the brutal murder of Elli Perkings..." Perkings was a Scientologist whose son, Jeremey, suffered acute schizophrenia. He went without any formal psychiatric treatment. He stabbed his mother to death because he believed she was evil.
Tags: psychiatric; faith; Scientology; schizophrenia; murder; family; mental illness; modern medicine; religion
-
Head Games
Alan Pendergast, staffwriter for Denver's Westword reports that in 2004, 20% of Colorado's jail population was diagnosed with severe mental illness, and "the true number may be much higher, since some inmates' illnesses are never properly diagnosed." The story compares cost of psychiatric lock-up versus community mental health care. Pendergast advises other journalists doing similar stories should "insist that someone in the accontable chain of command review and comment on the records, even if the actual treatment providers are refusing to be interviewed."
Tags: prison mental illness; correctional systems; lockdown; supermax prison; ADHD; Department of Corrections; forensic psychiatry; head cases; administrative segregation; HIPPA; San Carlos Correctional Facility; Offenders WIth Serious Mental Illness; OSMI; National Institute on Drug Abuse; Mental Health Occupations Grievance Board
-
Prescription for Profit: Two failed hospitals and one very rich doctor; Requiem for a Psych Ward
From the questionnaire, "Our stories look at two nonprofit Detroit hospitals that closed because of bankruptcy. We revealed that, in both cases, for-profit companies controlled by one doctor - who also established both of the nonprofit entities - reaped millions of dollars in profits from those hospitals before they closed. We also discovered that, while companies controlled by this doctor were receiving millions of dollars, patient care suffered drastically and short-handed staff struggled to provide service."
Tags: Soon K. Kim; psychiatry; nonprofit; charity; philanthropy
-
The Yates Odyssey
When Andrea Yeates drowned her five children in the bathtub, the country was shocked at what she had done. Time uncovered how this could happen and who is responsible for missing the warning signs.
Tags: murder; crime; child killing; psychosis; psychiatry; psychiatric; mental hospital; therapy; insanity
-
Fatal Failures
Gibeaut tells the story of a 15-year old girl murdered by a 21-year old severely depressed college dropout. Scott C. Strothers shot Penny Chang because she wanted nothing to do with him. "The story leads our report on why the legal and mental health systems can't always protect us from violent and unstable individuals," Gibeaut writes. Although both systems did their best, they still failed.
Tags: crime; psychiatry; mental illness; schizophrenia; Chinese; Asian Americans; justice
-
American Terrorist: In His Own Words
The ABC News reports on the confessions of Timothy McVeigh, the bomber of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The investigative team checks "McVeigh's account with dozens of others involved in the case - many of whom have never spoken publicly before." Among the interviewees are the psychiatrist who evaluated McVeigh, a child survivor, and a neighbor who trusted the bomber to baby-sit her children. The segment tells the story of McVeigh's childhood traumas and failures in personal and professional life.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FBI; Oklahoma City bombing; children; psychiatry; government; crime
-
The Other Victims of Homicide
The Birmingham News reports on "the effect of homicide on children and family members in Jefferson County, Alabama's largest county." Birmingham is known for having one of the highest homicide-per-capita rates in the country. The reporters find that many families have seen family members die by murder generation by generation in a "cycle of violence", and that the state has failed to provide any counselling or financial aid to the survivors of homicide.
Tags: crime; violence; obituaries; public records; law enforcement; psychiatry; gangs; drugs; cocaine; criminal justice; CAR; database mapping project
-
Sexual Assault Prosecutions
The Augusta Chronicle three-day series covers "almost every aspect of the prosecution of sexual assault cases in the local community." The stories reveals that in Richmond County police and prosecutors give a "dismal effort" to the prosecution of the sexual assault crimes, but few victims find justice in court. Most suspects are released on bond and then rape again and again. Few cases lead to prison sentences, the Chronicle reports. The investigation reveals that the vast majority of rapes are committed by acquaintances of the victims, and that victims often do not report the sexual assault crimes, because they do not believe in the effectiveness of the legal system. The series includes statistics of how judges have handled sex crimes cases in Richmond county and nationwide.
Tags: molestation; children; teenagers; domestic violence; crime; police; murder; sex offenders; forensic psychiatry; rape; prostitution; CAR
-
Slammed
The New Times examines the conditions at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. The series reveals "evidence of physical, sexual and verbal abuse of juvenile detainees by staff, inadequate mental health services and instances where kids were kept in detention far longer than their recommended time of stay." One of the stories focused on how the department was providing substandard education. Another article shed light on the vicious practice of using solitary confinement as punishment for days or weeks, without allowing the detainees to go to classes or to the bathroom. The conditions deteriorated after a federal court order requiring the department to be monitored expired in 1998, the Times reports. Juveniles are released when they turn 18 without any adequate preparation or support.
Tags: FOIA; Arizona's public records law; juvenile justice; children; psychiatry; mental health; incarceration; drugs; crime