Monthly Archives: July 2019
Fake Scottish Psychiatrist May Have Prescribed ECT
From The Scotsman: Zholia Alemi worked in the NHS for 22 years despite having no qualifications. Some of her patients were sectioned or 'groomed' to gain access to their finances.
Psych Survivor Mel Starkman Turned His Experiences Into Poetry, Activism
From The Globe and Mail: Until his death, Mel fought against harsh psychiatric treatments. In many ways he saw the cracks in our midst, especially the ones right in front of us.
Antidepressant Use More Than Doubles Risk of Suicide Attempts
Throughout the past two decades, studies have warned of increased suicide rates in those taking antidepressants, especially in children and adolescents. Researchers also documented...
Musician Feared Antidepressant Was ‘Poisoning’ Him, Inquest Told
From Belfast Telegraph: "He said: 'This drug is poisoning me. It's giving me problems I never had before.' He's handing them the diagnosis on a plate, and the system is not listening," said Professor David Healey.
Understanding Behavioral Challenges as Survival Instincts
From Mona Delahooke, PhD: The popular strategy of simply trying to alter behaviors fails to acknowledge the importance of loving engagement with adults as the foundation of treatment.
Multnomah Co. to Create Alternative to Jail, ERs for ‘Mentally Ill’ Homeless
From The Oregonian/OregonLive: "If youâre at a point where you donât know where to turn, donât have a place to go, experiencing mental health issues, youâre living on the street, where right now can you go?"
On Cognitive Liberty: A Principle to Rally Behind
The concept of cognitive liberty is valuableâone might even say necessaryâprecisely because it goes to the core of what we are as human beings. Correspondingly, it unmasks psychiatry for the profound human rights violator that it is. It reveals such transgression as the essence of what psychiatry is actually all about.
Being-Towards-Suicide
Is it not the very capacity for suicide that makes us human? This capacity, this freedom, of autonomyâs jurisdiction to extend to the outermost seconds of life, namely death, is an innate part of humanity and thus consciousness. Accepting death as a possibility embraces the finitude of our existence.
Time for Mental Health Professionals to Speak Truth to Power
From Dr. Terry Lynch/Mental Health Academy: It is no longer acceptable for mental health professionals to do nothing in the face of a mental health paradigm that is built upon misinformation and false claims.
Why Mad in Italy?
The Italian mental health system, like the majority of them around the world, struggles with accepting a model based on principles of Recovery, which highlights individual and communal mental health needs, social determinants of emotional distress, integration of physical and psychological care and quality of life.
âIf the Land Is Sick, You Are Sickâ: An Aboriginal Approach to Mental Health
From Mosaic: The traditional expertâpatient relationship of psychological treatment has often been seen by Aboriginal people as being based on that of the colonial master and the colonised.
Prepared, Yet Unprepared: My Involuntary Hospitalization Adventure
Overall I learned a great deal during my hospital adventure. The whole experience seemed like a comedy of errors. For me the only people there who were truly out of touch with reality were staff members. All of the patients were very present, albeit in some distress. The reasons for their distress were not unreasonable.
Traffic Pollution Linked to Anxiety and Depression in Childhood
New research explores the impact of exposure to traffic-related air pollution on levels of anxious and depressive symptoms in childhood.
âWe Have to Speak OutâŠand Be Heardâ: Life After Sexual Abuse
From The Guardian: Is society doing enough for adult survivors, who, too often, are overlooked, pathologised and criminalised?
Researchers Propose âMetaphor Analysisâ for Understanding the Experiences of People who Hear Voices
A new study, published in the journal Psychosis: Psychological, Social and Integrative Approaches, explores ways that metaphor operates in the lived-experiences of individuals who...
The Creation of a Conceptual Alternative to the DSM: An Interview with Dr. Lucy...
MIA's Zenobia Morrill interviews Lucy Johnstone about the reaction to the Power Threat Meaning Framework, her life influences, and her hopes for the future.
Inside an Online Charter School: Labeling Kids “Disabled” for Profit
Iâd thought this teaching job would be my chance to make positive changes in childrenâs lives. But most of the recommendations in students' IEPs were related not to reading, writing, and ârithmetic but to behavior control and obedience to adults. And the school seemed to be working very hard to prove that the kids were disabled and to get them certified as such.
Anticholinergic Psychiatric Drugs Linked to a 50% Increase in Dementia
People who take anticholinergic drugs, such as antidepressants and antipsychotics, are at a 50% higher risk of dementia.
Thousands of Immigrants Suffer In US Solitary Confinement
From the The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists: Locked for weeks or months in isolation cells, mentally ill and other vulnerable detainees from around the world are plagued by anxiety, anger, depression and suicidal impulses.
UN Report Criticizes Biomedical Approach to Mental Health
UN official writes that States should focus instead on resolving social inequality and injustice as determinants of health and human rights.
