Monthly Archives: May 2013

Miscarried Life

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This is not just about pregnancy loss and motherhood. This is reflective of how we treat many people who have experienced pain and are expressing it in ways not immediately relatable to those around them. It is about how we as a society may contribute to some of the truly awful things that happen not by failing to properly screen and assess, but by quite successfully fostering fear and alienation.

Love It, Hate It … Write Your Own Review of the DSM-5 on Amazon

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Greetings, MIA readers. Would you like to write your own review of the DSM-5 (even if you haven’t read it, never mind bought it.) I’ve done neither, but I’ve read, talked, written enough about it to have an opinion. Write your own review of the DSM-5 on Amazon …Here's the link

David Oaks Comes Home: “My Whole Life I Have Been Preparing for This Time”

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David Oaks, whose 1998 challenge to "check out the research for yourself" led Robert Whitaker to write Mad in America and create this website,...

A Soiled Phoenix Rises

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It has been a good time to bury controversy. With all eyes on Washington and the fallout from the publication of DSM-5, over here in England the Institute of Psychiatry has been discretely sending out invitations to a lecture. This is not a public lecture; it is by invitation only. And who is the esteemed guest? None other than Professor Charles Nemeroff M.D., Ph.D.

Thoughts on the Global and U.S. Movements

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I've just returned from a meeting of 17 activists self-identified as users or survivors of psychiatry, or people with psychosocial disabilities, from all over the world. Literally all over the world. An international gathering of human rights defenders that makes me proud to be among them. It was a meeting where I felt heard and acknowledged and able to fully give what I had to give - to offer it up along with everyone else's contributions for the common deliberation. I gave all and received all in return.

Open the Paradigm

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Less than six months ago I had the great fortune to start working with a small group of fellow producers who had spent a chunk of time traveling and shooting at various conferences. Interviews with notable figures in the movement. Survivor stories. A mixed bag of “Mad Media”. Immersing myself in the now 200+ hours of raw footage was like swimming in a sea of the subconscious. So I was swallowed whole by the white whale, consumed with the energy to put my still-developing abilities to the best use I could think of.

Open the Paradigm.

Michael Gilbert, PsyD – Short Bio

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School Matters: An inside perspective on the public education system and how it contributes to the unnecessary labeling and medication of children. Dr. Gilbert also...

Michael Gilbert, PsyD – Long Bio

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SCHOOL MATTERS Michael Gilbert, PsyD, has over 23 years of experience working with children and families, including in foster care, group home, and hospital settings....

PJ Moynihan – Short Bio

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Crossing Over: EMMY-nominee PJ Moynihan has spent years immersed in the world of alternatives to the psychiatric paradigm. He writes of his work as...

PJ Moynihan – Long Bio

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CROSSING OVER EMMY-nominated Producer PJ Moynihan graduated from Columbia University in 2002 and founded Digital Eyes Film in 2003. His first documentary "Fight Town: Sport...

Starvation: What Does it Do to the Brain?

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment was conducted at the University of Minnesota during the Second World War. Prolonged semi-starvation produced significant increases in depression, hysteria and hypochondriasis, and most participants experienced periods of severe emotional distress and depression and grew increasingly irritable. It really should not be a surprise to this audience that the brain’s functioning is highly compromised when the body is being starved of food (and nutrients). What we wonder is whether eating a diet of primarily highly processed foods low in nutrients has similar effects.

Matt Samet: Climbing Out of Benzo Madness

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Rock climber, author, and MIA Blogger Matt Samet discusses his experience becoming addicted to, and subsequently coming off of, benzodiazepines.

Little Victories on Breezy

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In my most recent blog post, “The Unmedicated Life”, I attempted to answer a question I’m frequently asked by other survivors — “How did you get better from psychiatric medication damage/withdrawal?” But there is also a part two to the question that I didn’t address, which is, “How did you know when you were better?”

“Being the Empowered Patient”

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Monica Cassani writes about what, and how much, it takes to be an empowered patient: "I was a mental health professional for so many...

“Is Criticism of DSM-5 ‘Anti-psychiatry’?”

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Allen Frances responds to critics of the DSM-5 protesters, saying "The American Psychiatric Association has never once addressed the substantive questions raised about DSM-5....

“Anti-Psychiatry Prejudice? A response to Dr. Lieberman”

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A doctor (an infectious disease specialist) responds to Jeffrey Lieberman's defense of the DSM, saying "Rather than respond to critics of the APA’s new...

Next Steps: More Lessons Learned From the DSM-5 Boycott

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You never know what you’re going to accomplish when you start something. Who could have predicted that Tom Insel and NIMH would throw the APA and the DSM under the bus? My guess is that two factors played a big part in NIMH’s decision. First, the unceasing barrage of criticism directed at the DSM – its lack of construct validity; its declining inter-rater reliability – had damaged its credibility beyond repair. On top of that, thirty years of DSM-based research had produced no biomarkers.

When Placebos Beat Active Treatment

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U.K. researchers find, in a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of medical (not only psychiatric) treatments that when bias is ruled out and effects...

“Why it’s Truly Bonkers to Believe in Shrinks”

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The U.K.'s Daily Mail reviews "Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good" by James Davies. Article →

My APA protest speech: “Keeping the Channel Open”

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If you haven't been labeled mentally ill by the American Psychiatric Association, you have to ask yourself what's wrong. Perhaps you were ahead of the game: you knew not to reveal yourself to them, you knew how to avoid them, you found other social support, and if so, a big congratulations. If not, what's wrong? Why have you conformed?

Help Create a Real Stigma Reduction Campaign

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The last four years I've been running Poetry for Personal Power, a stigma reduction campaign funded by SAMHSA. Poetry for Personal Power has been going to Missouri Universities and asking students what they do to get through hard times and we now have about 400 incredible videos on You-Tube, with youth wellness tools.

Robert Whitaker & Allen Frances on Al Jazeera TV: “Redefining Mental Illness”

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Robert Whitaker notes on Al Jazeera's "Inside Story" that a helpful diagnostic text must be both reliable and valid, and the DSM is neither...

What DSM-5 Means for Diagnosing Mental Health Patients

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From youtube: The American Psychiatric Association released a new edition of the DSM, which doctors use to diagnose and treat mental disorders. Judy Woodruff discusses...

DSM-5 Statement by the Critical Psychiatry Network

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The Critical Psychiatry Network is concerned with the way the controversy over the publication of DSM-5 is being portrayed in the media and by some academic psychiatrists. The issues raised by the DSM are complex and require careful and studied consideration. There are two aspects in particular that concern us. These relate to the portrayal of the controversy as a guild dispute, and the polarisation of the debate as one of nurture versus nature.

“Science Isn’t Golden”

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Paula Caplan's Psychology Today blog on the "existential nausea" associated with seeing the recent controversy over the DSM and psychiatric diagnosis. This is a...