Monthly Archives: May 2013

Beliefs and Perceptions Change Outcomes: Having overcome the limiting beliefs and low expectations of the (well-intentioned, but) coercive “helping professionals,” Jamin seeks to map...

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been a hot topic of late. In the recent MIA blog posting, “Colonization or Post Psychiatry,” multiple references were made about “system therapists” promoting CBT coming into the Hearing Voices Movement to possibly dilute or co-opt the essential revolutionary character of the movement, thus turning it into something more mainstream and less threatening to the status quo of Biological Psychiatry’s oppressive medical model.

The relevance of pellagra to psychiatry is that it also can present with psychosis, obsessions, mania, depression and confusion. It involves the main organs of the brain, the gut and the skin – many referred to the 4 Ds: dementia, diarrhoea, dermatitis and death. Pellagra (meaning rough skin) was first described in 1735. At the time, the cause was unknown but it was associated with poverty. Although linked to the poor person’s diet (often consisting mainly of corn products), the going wisdom at that time was that it was contagious (Pellagrans, as they were called, tended to live in close proximity) and was perhaps hereditary (sound familiar?).

As co-chair of the Diagnostic Summit Committee of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, I am pleased to announce that today we officially launch the Global Summit on Diagnostic Alternatives (DxSummit.org), an online platform for rethinking mental health. Our goal is to provide a place for a collegial and rigorous discussion of alternative ways to conceptualize and practice diagnosis. Today's launch is marked by the appearance of our first eight posts. These posts come from a variety of prominent people in the field, each offering a unique perspective on the current state of diagnosis and where we might take things as we move forward.

It is time for a new understanding of suicidal feelings and actions. Perhaps a more open dialogue, without fear of sirens and police and involuntary hospitalizations, would have made a difference for one young man here in Asheville last month. Perhaps more public local conversation would have saved some of the 45 lives we lost here in Buncombe County in 2010. Perhaps a more public and safe national conversation would have saved some of the 22 veterans who died from suicide every day in 2010.

As I write this, my daughter is 18 months old. She operates 24-hours-per-day, 7-days-a-week under a baby’s natural assumption that she is loved and accepted exactly for her. She throws her whole self at you with complete faith that you’ll not only want to catch her, but be delighted to do so. She flashes her round belly, expecting those around her will fight for the privilege to kiss or blow on or tickle it. Any sign that you are questioning her wants and needs leads to shock expressed with wild abandon and never self-recrimination.

Greetings! My name is Michael Rock.  Until now I have been participating on MadinAmerica.com as a commenter named “Marcellas”.  It is very nice to finally introduce myself to this community under my real name.  Although I only occasionally commented, I have been a regular visitor and reader of MadInAmerica. I feel like I need to apologize for hiding behind Marcellas. Anonymity is not something I am proud of, nor was it a trivial matter to me. I have been working with people in groups for twenty five years.  I love my job, and believe I am helpful. I felt that "Marcellas" allowed me to continue to work quietly for change within the system.

Lucy Johnstone from the British Psychological Society on the influential BBC radio news programme, Today (13th May 2013), a great room 101 on changing...

What makes the DSM so pernicious is that it is a cultural document whose influence transcends not only psychiatric practice but also the Western civilization from which it originates. Each revision of the DSM rescripts and reimagines how we make sense of our experiences, reinterprets what thoughts, feelings and behaviors are socially sanctioned, and ultimately what it means to be human.

As the medical director of a community mental health center, my colleagues look to me for guidance on how to approach the new edition of the DSM. How many should we buy? How much time should be devoted to staff training? This is my answer.

Philip Hickey, PhD, of the valuable blog Behaviorism and Mental Health, explicates the fuzzy distinction between "disorder" and "illness" when it comes to mental health,...

For consistently trenchant analysis of the DSM controversy, visit 1 Boring Old Man. Among many posts this weekend, he eulogizes his early career as...

In a bold and unprecedented move for any professional body, the UK Division of Clinical Psychology, a sub-division of the British Psychological Society, issued a Position Statement today calling for the end of the unevidenced biomedical model implied by psychiatric diagnosis. In brief, the argument is that the so-called ‘functional’ diagnoses – schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, personality disorder, ADHD and so on - are not scientifically valid categories and are often damaging in practice.

When Thomas Szasz’s name comes up in debates over defining mental illness, it is fairly common to hear people say something along the lines of, “Well, he made some good points, but he was just too extreme.” Yet I am struck by how conversations about DSM-5, being released this month, make the crisp arguments Szasz consistently offered for 50 years just as timely as ever. I’d even go so far as to suggest that a large number of counselors, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatrists pretty much agree with the main tenets of Szasz’s argument, despite their ongoing disclaimers.

Susan Salasin created this video about the role of trauma in the lives of those who are labeled seriously mentally ill. She collaborated with...

Allen Frances writes, in the Huffington Post, a "plea to the American Psychiatric Association, to the National Institute of Mental Health, and to the...

Britain's Guardian offers "experts on both sides of the debate over the classification of mental disorders" an opportunity to make their case. Article →

THE PLANT SPEAKS Michael Rock has been a group psychotherapist for 25 years.  Using elements of CBT, DBT, and Positive psychology, he developed a model...

The Plant Speaks: Michael Rock has been a group psychotherapist for 25 years. His areas of interests include promoting a national discussion on mental...

If, a little over three years ago, you asked me who I was, my one and only answer would have been, “Bipolar.”  It was the word that defined me, that explained my emotions and behaviors, that gave me answers to the questions, Why am I so unhappy?  Why do I want to die every day?  Why is it so hard to get out of bed in the morning, to shower and brush my teeth and leave the house and interact with the world?  Why do I find it impossible to keep a job, a relationship, a responsibility?  Why do I never feel OK?

Mad in America has been under a low-grade attack by hackers for several weeks. I first noticed an odd traffic pattern in our Google Analytics account, indicating that the front page was receiving more than ten views for each unique visitor. This means that some minority of accounts was reloading our front page over and over again. This is called a botnet attack, where a hacker uses a set of zombie computers, often compromised by malware, to perform repetitive tasks.

The Editorial Board of the New York Times writes "Patients and parents concerned about mental illness have every right to be confused. The head...

Sally Satel, a prominent psychiatrist and co-author of the forthcoming book “Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience" writes in the New York Times...

Beyond Meds: Monica Cassani has seen the system from both sides - as a social worker and as a person whose life was severely ruptured...

BEYOND MEDS Monica Cassani has seen the system from both sides - as a social worker and as a person whose life was severely ruptured...