Yearly Archives: 2019
Yale COPE Project to Study How People Control Their Voices
From Yale School of Medicine: The goal is not necessarily to get rid of the voices, said the project's co-director, but to empower voice-hearers with the skills to influence those experiences.
Groundbreaking Report by Public Health England on Prescribed Drug Dependence
From the All Party Parliamentary Group on Prescribed Drug Dependence: The report reveals the disturbing scale of the problem in England and makes several urgent recommendations.
Is Remaking Psychiatric Care Possible?
The failures of our current drug-based paradigm of psychiatric care tell of a pressing need for systemic changes in psychiatry. But as we discovered when marketing our new continuing education course on this topic, it's always difficult to promote radical change.
Ben Furman – Understanding and Dealing With Adolescent Rage
A podcast interview with Finnish psychiatrist Ben Furman in which he discusses adolescent rage and how parents can come to understand and deal with teenagers and young adults who are angry and explosive.
Systemic Constellations: Healing Situations Other Therapies Don’t
From the Findhorn Foundation: I had been trying to think my way through something that needed to be felt and engaged with spiritually. As soon as I partnered with the larger energetic system I am a part of, it helped me with the needed answers.
My Brother Rescued Me; I Wish I Could Have Rescued Him
From The Baltimore Sun: It has taken me until now, nearly three decades after his death, to fully understand how childhood trauma crept up and destroyed him.
Lingering Side Effects of Quitting Antidepressants
Nobody told me what it would be like when I first stopped taking antidepressants. The worst is definitely over, but I’m still experiencing some lingering side effects. When the hyper-arousal to sights and sounds kicks in and my head starts buzzing, I’ve learned some ways to cope.
Scaling Up Psychiatric Interventions Globally May Impede UN Goals
Peter Lehmann argues that administering psychiatric drugs in low-and-middle-income countries works at cross purposes with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Psychiatrist Describes Role in Open Dialogue Model of Care
Psychiatrist outlines varying roles in Open Dialogue model, fostering service-user and family agency through meaningful conversations with a team of providers.
Opioid Crackdown Forces Pain Patients Into Sudden Tapers Off Their Drugs
From The Washington Post: The CDC opioid-prescribing guideline authors acknowledged that medical experts don’t really know what happens to people forced to taper suddenly from high dosages.
Trump and Cuomo: Red Flags Are Red Herrings
Curtailing the rights of people with psychiatric histories is nothing more than a red herring, a ploy to maintain social control. We need to disarm the “re-institutionalization” movement by holding it accountable to the actual science of modern psychiatry and the history of institutions.
How Does the Soteria House Heal?
The alternative treatment model of Soteria helps individuals suffering from schizophrenia without relying on medication or coercion.
How Psychological Injuries Cause Physical Illness—And How Therapy Can Heal It
How does experiencing physical abuse as an 8 year old shorten one's lifespan? How do insulting words turn into diabetes? Or sexual abuse trigger a heart attack 50 years in the future? Emotional wounds can damage DNA and produce a huge web of destructive effects, but therapy can turn the process around.
Response to Criticism of Recent Article on Antidepressant-Suicide Risk
From the Council for Evidence-Based Psychiatry: Far from undermining our findings, the critique by Hayes et al. provides us with a unique opportunity to address important issues that were not covered in our original paper.
Guidelines Recommending Antidepressants “in Contradiction with the Current Evidence”
Researchers critique the German S3 guidelines for depression promoting antidepressants.
Connectedness at School Related to Students’ Emotional Health
New research highlights differences in levels of school connectedness among students diagnosed with emotional and behavioral disorders,
‘Climate Grief’ Is Real and I’ve Got It Bad
From VICE: Climate grief feels like trying to warn everyone of a massive government conspiracy to kill us all, except it’s a conspiracy that’s in the news; that everyone already knows about, and no one really minds.
Mad Pride Rises in Mexico
The Mad Pride movement continues to spread around the world, with a first-ever march in Mexico City.
Re-Examining Violence in Mental Health
From The Guardian: Violence in relation to mental health service users should be seen as a direct consequence of the slow violence of inadequate policy and antiquated treatment.
Informed Consent, or Lack Thereof in My Psychiatric Experience
After telling my psychotherapist about my medication-fueled suicidal ideation, he said, “You have two options. We can do this either voluntarily or involuntarily.” Aghast and shaken, but assuming everyone in the medical system had my best interests at heart, I reluctantly agreed to go to the hospital without any protest.
Dan Hurd – One Pedal at a Time
An interview with U.S. Navy Veteran Dan Hurd, founder of Ride With Dan USA and The One Pedal at a Time Movement. After surviving his third suicide attempt, Dan became inspired to bicycle to all 48 States in the continental U.S. to help raise awareness and make connections.
Australia Has Been Silent on Indigenous Suicide for Too Long
From The Conversation: There is no empathy for the impact of history on Indigenous people in Australia...We are yet to come to terms with our entangled history and how to begin a process of truth-telling.
William James’s Letter to His Depressed Daughter
If you discover that your child has been experiencing a bout with depression, what wise words might you share? Brilliant psychologist William James was forced to address this issue himself when his 13-year-old daughter, Peg, began to struggle with melancholy. I present his long, thoughtful reply for your consideration.
Belgian Guidelines Recommend “DSM Categories Not be at the Centre of Care Planning”
The Superior Health Council of Belgium documents numerous problems with the evidence base in the manuals used to diagnose “mental illness” and cautions against their use.
Pies’ Polemic and the Question of Theories in Psychiatry, Again
If the "Chemical Imbalance Theory of Mental Disorder" is a mirage, if not a frank deception, then what theory are psychiatrists using to justify prescribing their drugs? What is the current accepted theory or model of mental disorder by which psychiatry justifies not just its extensive and unequalled powers, but its very existence?
