Yearly Archives: 2012
Dialogical Recovery from Monological Medicine
Open Dialogue* has created a great stir since its public introduction to the United States two years ago through Robert Whitaker's book, Anatomy of...
Mental Health Homes Open Their Proverbial Doors in New York: A Look into the...
The first of New York State's "mental health homes," which are intended to serve as the bedrock for a reformed public mental health system, are now open. Will this reform deliver improved care for those with "serious and persistent mental illness?"
Cognitive Therapy Shown to be Effective For Schizophrenia
Researchers report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry that cognitive therapy improved both positive and negative symptoms in "low-functioning" patients with...
Suicidal Thoughts and Behavior With Antidepressant Treatment: A Reanalysis
In 2004 and 2006, the FDA concluded that SSRI antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal ideation in children and adolescents. However, in this month's...
Lawsuit Filed for Alleged Zoloft-Related Birth Defects
Lawyers in St. Louis have filed a lawsuit against Pfizer that alleges 18 children were born with birth defects caused by the antidepressant Zoloft...
Unraveling the Biopsychiatric Knot: the Future History of the Radical Mental Health Movement
I did the research for this article to try and make sense of this story I carry around with me about being someone who is seen as mad, who struggles with what this society considers a serious “brain disorder.” My hope is that by the time you finish reading my words you will have more tools to analyze this hyper-complicated world around you.
The Death of Leslie Carter
For several years now I have been talking to colleagues and friends about my developing interest in raising red flags regarding harmful prescription drug use. Considering the...
Daniel Fisher, MD – Long Bio
RECOVERY THROUGH VOICE AND DIALOGUE
In an effort to uncover the biochemical basis of mental illness, Daniel Fisher obtained a PhD and carried out neurochemical research...
Daniel Fisher – Short Bio
Recovery Through Voice and Dialogue: Co-founder of the National Empowerment Center, Daniel Fisher, a psychiatrist, writes on alternatives to the medical/institutional model of distress and...
The Role of Inflammation in the Success and Failure of Antidepressants
The evidence is fast accumulating that systemic inflammation has a causative role in depression, or, at minimum, is a major factor in the chain...
Philip Thomas – Short Bio
English Madness: Co-founder and former co-chair of the Critical Psychiatry Network, psychiatrist Philip Thomas writes of madness, meaning and culture.
Philip Thomas, MD – Long Bio
ENGLISH MADNESS
After working as a full-time consultant psychiatrist in the NHS for over twenty years, Philip Thomas, MD, left clinical practice in 2004 to write. He...
Eli Lilly To Freeze Base Pay in 2012
Citing financial pressure from the loss of its patent on Zyprexa, Eli Lilly announced that it will freeze base pay for most of its...
Voice Hearing as a Dissociative Rather Than Psychotic Phenomenon
Researchers in England review in depth the evidence for voice hearing as dissociation, rather than psychosis, and suggest that voice hearing is a common...
First Personal Injury Lawsuit Over Risperdal Starts in New Jersey
Gary Skala's claim that 14 years of Risperdal caused his diabetes went to trial in New Jersey yesterday in the first personal injury lawsuit...
Remembering A Medication-Free Madness Sanctuary
In my last blog entry, I described how the I-Ward first episode madness sanctuary came into being and how I ended up working there as a therapist for over three years. As you read now about my time there, I would again like to ask you to keep in mind the question I posed in my first two blog entries- "If Madness isn't what Psychiatry says it is, then what is it?"
On a Paradox Revealed: Discontinuing Neuroleptics
In Anatomy of an Epidemic, Robert Whitaker posits that long-term exposure to neuroleptics does more harm than good. I will discuss how I have wrestled with this in my practice.
Adverse Childhood Events Contribute Significantly to Most Mental Health Problems
John Read and Richard Bentall write in the British Journal of Psychiatry about the growing understanding and acceptance of the significant role adverse childhood...
Bribery Alleged in Largest Antidepressant Study Ever Conducted
A 2011 whistleblower complaint that was unsealed on January 20 of this year alleges that Forest Pharmaceuticals bribed a principle investigator of the STAR*D...
Bring in the Peer!
Around the country, consumers of the public mental health system speak of ‘empowerment’, ‘recovery’ and ‘independence’ while being disempowered, and made reliant on a system that uses the word ‘recovery’ as only a buzzword. How can Peer provided services help?
Madness Radio: Grainne Humphry on the Psychiatric Incarceration of John Hunt in Ireland
Grainne was courageous to do this interview: I was struck by her strong love for John and her very deep sensitivity to the violence she has witnessed him undergo in the name of treatment. Let us all lend our hearts and passion to the international campaign to free John Hunt and to ensure that no one ever has to suffer the abuses he has suffered.
Return to Self an Alternative Medication?
After nearly two years in Utah, from 2008-2009, I made the decision to return to the splendor of the Pacific Northwest where I had...
Letters from the Front Lines
Dear Bob--
I've had a couple of remarkable conversations, not with my own patients, but with friends and acquaintances asking me for advice. Each example...
The Power of Storytelling
Over the years, I have heard many powerful recovery stories. I’ve also had many opportunities to share our family’s struggle with mental health challenges and our recovery journey.
The Reality Is In Our Heads
Sandra Steingard’s recent post, “Is It All In Your Heads,” has occasioned a spirited discussion—on monism, dualism, and what may be going on when...
