The Abyss and Beyond
Psilocybin seemed less interested in helping me avoid the abyss than in showing me that there was an entire landscape beyond it.
When Stopping Prescription Drugs Is Hard: Alicia Martin and the TaperMate Story
Alicia Martin is an Australian community pharmacist and the creator of an ingenious mobile app, TaperMate, which aims to help people with hyperbolic drug tapering and prescribed drug withdrawal.
Remembering Dory Previn: An Interview by Peter Sterling in 1974
Dory Previn was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, and poet whose deeply personal work explored her struggles with mental health, including experiences of psychosis. In October 1974, she met with neuroscientist Peter Sterling for a candid conversation about her psychiatric treatment.
A Hand on the Shoulder (a poem for Lindsay Clancy) by Ann Bracken
It didn’t have to be this way—
She begged for help,
took the drugs,
admitted herself to a psych hospital,
worked with a psychiatrist.
Her doctor treated her over...
How the Moral Panic on Psychiatric Bed Shortages is Fueling a ‘Competency Crisis’ in...
The number of people referred to state hospitals as ‘Incompetent to stand trial’ (IST) has surged over the last decade. In response, states are refurbishing or rebuilding their state hospitals— even as their own experts say this will only make the crisis worse. Why?
Inside the Hot Flush Gold Rush: The Medicalization of Menopause Spreads to Perimenopause
Many brands promising to help women actually make their suffering worse by reinforcing the belief that menopause is a time of deterioration.
Sister-Dove by Leonore Wilson
And with leather straps they cinched me to the gurney, hefted me into the mouth of the ambulance, and I lay there in my paper gown watching the slow traffic--
With Veterans Demanding Action, Bipartisan Support Emerges for Written Informed Consent Bill
On the morning of April 29, representatives of 35 veterans’ service organizations (VSOs) gathered under cloudy skies on Capitol Hill for a press conference...
Examining Psychiatric Medication Tapering and Withdrawal: The Evolving Role of Pharmacists — A Conversation...
Agnes Higgins and Cathal Cadogan join us to discuss their work on understanding the experiences of people tapering from psychiatric medication and the role that pharmacists could potentially play when people are considering stopping their psychiatric drugs.
Spiritual Emergency and the Collective Work of Staying Alive: An Interview with Nisha Gupta
Nisha Gupta reflects on spiritual emergency, wounded healing, and why staying alive in times of profound pain is not only an individual task but a collective one.
The Political Systems Driving Abuse in Psychiatry: An Interview with Human Rights Lawyer Alicia...
Alicia Ely Yamin is the Director of the Global Health and Rights Project and a lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School. She's also...
Veterans Who Depend on Mental Health Care Keep Losing Their Therapists Under Trump
From ProPublica: “Hundreds of mental health professionals left the Department of Veterans Affairs since President Donald Trump took office.
“This administration is finally going to...
Mourning on Schedule: How Grieving Became a ‘Mental Illness’
My wife died ten months ago. In another two months, I will have a new mental disorder: “Prolonged Grief Disorder.”
History, Eugenics, and an Inquiry into Mad Consciousness: A Conversation With Susanne Paola Antonetta
Suzanne Paola Antonetta is an accomplished writer and poet, She joins us to discuss her latest book: The Devil's Castle, Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry's Troubled History Reverberates Today.
Farewell to Suicide
The conditions that create suicide are the same as those required for toxic leadership, toxic environments, and dysfunctional policies.
When a Radical Feminist from South Korea Became a Psychiatrist in the US
The Western mind fights for justice, while the Eastern soul accepts imperfection. Perhaps when we can hold both, we can flourish.
What Isn’t Broken, Part 3: Spiritual Rebirth
My suicidality was right about one thing: Something had to die. It just didn’t have to be me.
Madness by Peter Hobden
They say that madness of the mind
Is just a sickness hurting kind
But what if madness is the balm
That heals the hurts and saves from...
Food First, Pharma Last: Part Two of our Interview with Chris Masterjohn
Chris Masterjohn joins us to discuss the biochemistry of our stress response and the potential benefits of balanced nutrition for those in psychiatric drug withdrawal.
Mitochondria and Energetic Failures: A New Understanding of Antidepressant Withdrawal? An Interview With Chris...
Chris Masterjohn joins us to discuss the importance of our mitochondria, the role of serotonin in our body and whether a new understanding of antidepressant withdrawal is urgently needed.
Peter Gotzsche Defends RFK Jr.’s Criticisms of Antidepressants
In a Substack column, Peter Gotzsche defends RFK Jr.'s criticisms of antidepressants and writes that two professors, Stephen B. Soumerai, professor of population medicine...
Case Studies Contradict Accepted Wisdom About AI Psychosis
Many of those who experience AI psychosis have no psychiatric diagnosis, but were experiencing social and environmental stressors, isolation, and lack of sleep.
Mad in America’s 10 Most Popular Articles in 2025
A roundup of Mad in America's most read blogs and personal stories of 2025 as chosen by our readers.
Childhood Trauma and Recent Stressors Rarely Addressed; ECT Given Instead
Mental health services force electroshock, rarely asking about causes like childhood adversities and recent stressors; few receive therapy.
Learning to Soar: A Conversation With Artist Kev G Mor
Musician and artist Kev G Mor joins us to discuss his experience of psychosis, his daily support strategies, and the pros and cons of having a pit bull for emotional support.
