What It’s Like to Be Involuntarily Committed
Ten years after being fired for taking a mental health leave after the Virginia Tech massacre, I was diagnosed as "schizophrenic" and involuntarily committed to a hospital. Now I have a job and a life, but I'm still forced to take drugs and report to a social worker.
Hearing Veteran Narratives is Key to Suicide Prevention
Current suicide assessment practices of the VA are reductive and do not allow for the individual’s narrative to be heard.
Non-Medical Treatments for PTSD Effective, Study Suggests
Group-based MBSR and PCGT therapies effective as a complementary treatment for PTSD.
Time’s Up: Culture of Denial Impacts Mental Health of Sexual Abuse Survivors
Study finds that not believing sexual abuse survivors often leads to self-blame and mental health issues.
Decontextualized Depression and PTSD Diagnoses Fail Indigenous Communities
A case analysis of an American Indian woman illustrates how the DSM diagnostic criteria misrepresent the lives of indigenous people.
Valuing Posttraumatic Growth in Psychosis
Individuals who experience psychosis can also experience posttraumatic growth, which can be a central component of the recovery paradigm.
Ambushed by Antidepressants for 30 Years
They helped me function for a while, but the debilitating side effects of antidepressants held me prisoner. I'm still having a hard time understanding how this could have happened. It's been suggested to me by a therapist that what I'm going through now is another kind of PTSD: the ongoing trauma of realizing what antidepressants did to me for 30 years.
First-Person Accounts of Madness and Global Mental Health: An Interview with Dr. Gail Hornstein
Dr. Gail Hornstein, author of Agnes’s Jacket: A Psychologist’s Search for the Meanings of Madness, discusses the importance of personal narratives and service-user activism in the context of the global mental health movement.
Psychology Needs New Concepts and Healing Models for Racial Trauma
Contemporary empirical research explores new ways to conceptualize and heal racial trauma through anticolonial and sociohistorical lenses.
Prazosin Ineffective for Preventing Suicidal Thoughts — May Worsen Nightmares
A new study found that prazosin was associated with increased insomnia and nightmares, and did not reduce suicidal thoughts.
Correcting Misconceptions of Trauma-informed Care with Survivor Perspectives
Trauma-informed approaches have the potential to promote recovery but must involve survivors and service-users to prevent the experience of retraumatization within psychiatric and mental health services.
The Conflicts That Result From Globalizing Euro-American Psychology in India
Researchers examine the transformation of work, life, and identity in India as a result of Western corporate and psychological culture.
Prolonged Exposure Reduces Dropout Rates and Symptoms for Individuals with Complex Trauma
New study finds that intensive prolonged exposure is a promising treatment option for individuals with multiple trauma experiences.
Distinguishing Dissociative Disorders from Psychotic Disorders: Compounding Alienation
If a person recognizes the “alien” parts of themselves as being parts of themselves, they are likely to be seen as having PTSD or a dissociative disorder. If they see the “alien” parts of themselves as being literally aliens, or demons, they will likely be diagnosed as psychotic. But these experiences are really on a spectrum.
Temperamentally Blessed
From Aeon: The finding that only one in five people avoid any kind of mental health problems or psychiatric diagnoses through their lives has prompted...
The Silence: The Legacy of Childhood Trauma
In this piece for The New Yorker, Junot Diaz reflects on the impact of his experience of childhood sexual abuse and the ways that therapy...
To Treat Pain, PTSD and Other Ills, Veterans Try Tai Chi
From NPR: The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has launched a new program that offers wheelchair tai chi classes in order to help veterans manage...
Popular Drug Reveals the Issue of “Off-Label” Use
From The Washington Post: Despite major lawsuits and detailed reports pertaining to severe health risks associated with the antipsychotic Seroquel, the drug remains one of...
Trauma, Memory, and Mental Health
In this episode of ABC Radio National's All In The Mind, Lynne Malcolm interviews three experts about the impact of trauma on our memory and mental health. One guest,...
Research Is Shedding New Light on Hearing Voices
From Psychology Today: Although auditory hallucinations are commonly thought of as a sign of mental illness, research shows that hearing voices is common among the general population...
Art and Images in Psychiatry
Between 2002 and 2014, JAMA Psychiatry published monthly essays by Dr. James C. Harris exploring the role of visual arts in representing emotional distress, trauma, life...
Puerto Rico’s Mental Health Crisis (Podcast)
From The New York Times: Months after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, the island is experiencing a severe mental health crisis. Public health officials say...
Petition: Protect PTSD Treatments That Work!
The American Psychological Association recently issued a guideline recommending only short-term, structured, and symptom-focused therapies for the treatment of PTSD; the guideline may be...
One Psychologist’s Mission to Save Talk Therapy
In this episode of WBUR's On Point Radio, psychologist Enrico Gnaulati explains why long-term psychotherapy has been devalued ever since the release and marketing of Prozac....
Interview With Black Lives Matter Cofounder Patrisse Khan-Cullors
In this interview for Vice, Black Lives Matter cofounder Patrisse Khan-Cullors discusses her efforts to fight for the civil rights of marginalized communities and to speak...
