Yearly Archives: 2017
Lay Health Worker Intervention Effective at Decreasing Symptoms
Compared with standard care, results of a lay health worker intervention in Zimbabwe suggest that this is effective for reduction of common mental health symptoms
The DSM and the Medical Model: New Video
Since mainstream “mental health” care directly affects the public, the public deserves an overview of the issues raised by the critics of these practices. For this reason, I have created a short video lecture titled The DSM and the Medical Model, summarizing criticism of the medical model of mental distress and offering a sharp rebuke of psychiatry and its narrative.
Treating Metabolic Conditions May Resolve Some Depressive Symptoms
New research suggests that treatable metabolic abnormalities underlie some treatment-resistant cases of depression—and treating the metabolic condition has the possibility of dramatically reducing depressive symptoms
“Forced Treatment is not the way: Opposing View”
Psychiatrist Dan Fisher's "opposing view" in USA Today makes the case — from a mental health perspective — against repealing the Affordable Care Act, which has...
Ruby Wax: From Shark Bait to the Doyenne of Disease
I ended 2016 as I started it: listening to a celebrity reducing the complex interplay between society and the psyche to a matter of simple biology. This deprives people of the opportunity to really understand their suffering and find meaning in it — and it undermines the case for prevention.
Healing Madness
After 35 years in medicine, and three years with the same large health care organization where I am now the Medical Director of Integrative Services, I have decided I must quit. I am not willing to be a part of any machine where I doubt in the benefit of what I am being asked to do, and fear it might even be making people sick.
MIA in the Year 2017
We have always conceived of Mad in America as a forum for a community to come together and “rethink” psychiatry and its current paradigm of care. This past year was our first operating as a 501c3, and the support we received from our readers and from charitable foundations has reinforced and strengthened this sense of our mission. As such, we thought it would be useful to briefly review how we expanded our operations in the past year, and detail our ambitions for 2017.
Length of Stay in Emergency Departments Longer for Mental Health Emergencies
Statewide study finds patients with mental health emergencies and who are uninsured face longer waits in emergency departments.
“Update Psychiatric Diagnosis Procedures so They are Accountable & Evidence-Based”
"Psychiatry is under criticism for its subjectivity and unaccountability. Brief crises are defined as lifelong conditions. There is no recognition of this ambiguity. Complaints...
Medical Interventions Are Overused Worldwide
Lack of “right care” causes physical, psychological and financial harm to patients
The NIMH in 2017: Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places
The official announcement of the NIMH's new director proudly proclaimed he had been studying things such as “the role of the hippocampus, a brain structure known to be important for memory and emotional processes associated with anxiety and depression.” Is there any evidence that anything will come of these theories — and the expenses demanded of such endeavors?
“How I Cope With the Three Unwanted Voices That Live Inside my Head”
What now? I’m frightened of being labelled mentally ill.
How Psychiatric Drugs Really Work
A case study of a former soldier illustrated that mefloquine can cause persisting brain injury with unrelenting, permanent emotional and cognitive problems. As my fellow psychiatrists commonly do, they diagnosed the former soldier with psychiatric disorders and treated him with multiple drugs, worsening his brain injury and overall mental condition.
Study Finds Phone Apps Effective for Reducing Mental Health Symptoms
Researchers found that participants using coach-assisted apps designed for depression and anxiety experienced symptom reductions in both conditions
The Biological Evidence for “Mental Illness”
Partners' comment in response to my Carrie Fisher article essentially consists of unsubstantiated assertions, non sequiturs, and appeals to psychiatric authority. Because it comes from, and presumably represents the views of, an extremely large psychiatric practice, it warrants a close look.
Importance of Physical Symptoms in Mental Health Evals
Researchers at Harvard Medical School highlight the need for mental health clinicians to explore the meaning of physical symptoms and pain
“Whitewashing a Black Box Warning: The Chantix Story That Didn’t get Told”
"The decision to remove the Chantix black box warning had its roots in a study known as the EAGLES trial, which was mandated by...
What We Are Talking About When We Talk About Community Mental Health
While I struggle with whether I can work in an ethical way when there are forces and perspectives prominent in our culture that are antithetical to mine, I have kept my day job as a psychiatrist in a community mental health center in Vermont. This is a reflection on that work and the value I observe in the efforts of my colleagues day in and day out.
Extended Leave
Without doubt, Extended Leave profoundly curtails one's freedoms and rights, and the threshold for what is deemed “unacceptable” behaviour is invariably lowered. My only crime was being offensive towards an ACT team member. It seems that the goal I am now reduced to fighting for is merely the right to be rude in my own home.
Understanding Extreme States: An Interview with Stephen Harrod Buhner
Finding myself intrigued by this man who'd never trained in psychiatry or psychology but who nevertheless worked effectively with people in severe distress using self-developed theories, I tracked Buhner down. I asked him to speak to me about these issues, and here is what resulted.
“The Addiction Habit”
For aeon, neuroscientist and psychologist Marc Lewis declares, “Addiction changes the brain but it's not a disease that can be cured with medicine. In...
“The Overhyping of Precision Medicine”
For The Atlantic, Nathaniel Comfort writes: “In our particular moment, biology is the king, and the perennial desire for simple solutions to complex problems...
Stripped of False Realities: Americans’ Political “Psychotic Break”
Bruce Levine, writing to MIA about his popular story on Counterpunch yesterday, wrote "It's basically a politics/election piece, which is why I didn't post...
Living in a ‘Mental Hospital’: Your Stories
The Atlantic invites readers to share their personal experiences in "mental hospitals." If you have your own to share, send them a note at [email protected].
Pioneering New Zealand Antipsychotic Medication Study Focuses on Patient Experiences
Miriam Larsen-Barr's study is the largest to date on the subjective experiences of antipsychotic withdrawal, and the first to explore how people who have successfully stopped antipsychotics are able to maintain their well-being.
