Yearly Archives: 2019
The Hypersane Are Among Us, if Only We Are Prepared to Look
From Aeon: If there is such a thing as hypersanity, the implication is that mere sanity is not all it’s cracked up to be, a state of dormancy and dullness with less vital potential even than madness.
The Problem Lies in the Term ‘Mental Illness’
Shouting out “I am mentally ill and I am not dangerous” creates the same incomprehension as blaming ‘mental illness’ in the first place. This would be a perfect opportunity for all those people diagnosed with ‘mental illness’ to stand up and say loud and clear: “It isn’t mental and it isn’t an illness.”
Historical Trauma, Hawaiian Resilience Play Out on Mauna Kea
From Hawai'i Public Radio: Mauna Kea has been a catalyst for native Hawaiians to seek emotional healing – and in ways that traditional western interventions don’t provide.
Lithium Toxicity and an Almost-Human Hospital
Lithium is a notoriously toxic substance, and if it isn’t managed carefully enough, can have some very nasty effects. I discovered this the hard way. It got to the point where I could barely eat or drink or walk around. Yet lithium never made a dent — not for a single moment — in what was going on in my head.
When Side Effects Turn Deadly
From Elemental, by Medium: Akathisia is a side effect of medication characterized by extreme inner restlessness. For some, the turmoil is so strong it quickly leads to death by suicide.
Poverty: The Newest Medically Treatable Brain Disease
If your hunger/worries are so severe and persistent that they lead to abnormal, dysfunctional behaviors, then you have clinical poverty. Like any illness, you can’t just snap out of it on your own. You need help, and it’s now here — ask your doctor about exciting new treatments for poverty today!
How Exercise Can Help With First Episode Psychosis
New study examines the experiences of people utilizing an exercise program following a first-episode psychosis.
Trump Orders VA to Buy “a Lot of” Esketamine for Veterans
From MilitaryTimes: The president said the drug has shown a 'tremendously positive' effect in early testing and he is optimistic it can help with mental health problems in the veterans community.
Substantial Spin Found in Leading Psychology and Psychiatry Journals
: A new review finds evidence of spin and the misrepresentation of clinical trials with non-significant results.
Broken Is Not All I’ll Ever Be: Military Veterans and Psychiatric Drugs
I had been an excellent combat medic — I had deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan totaling over 28 months of combat in Infantry and Cavalry units. Yet, after over six years on these psychiatric drugs, I felt reduced to a helpless being who would require assistance for the simplest of menial tasks.
Risk of Depressive Relapse Three Times Higher After Previous Antidepressant Use
A new study found that having been prescribed an antidepressant previously was associated with an increased risk of depressive relapse.
Monarch eTNS Inspires “Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children!” (SPAC!)
The FDA approval of the Monarch eTNS device is the latest form of psychiatric-inspired child abuse. If not stopped, it will afflict millions of children in unimaginably damaging ways. It has inspired us to form Stop the Psychiatric Abuse of Children (SPAC!) a new international advocacy organization.
The Media Scolds Marianne Williamson (And Gets It Wrong)
Journalists have called Marianne Williams’ comments on depression dangerous and irresponsible. A closer look reveals that her “opinions” on mental health treatment are more in line with the science, and that the know-it-all assertions by Cooper and colleagues are belied by it.
Psychosocial Approaches to Schizophrenia with Limited Antipsychotic Use
Researchers review nine previously studied psychosocial approaches and call for more high-quality trials treating schizophrenia with minimal to no antipsychotics.
Creating Our Mental Health
We wanted to challenge the conventional assumption that mental health is a static condition or attribute by suggesting that it’s more useful to think of it as an activity that people do together, rather than a thing that individuals have or don’t have. This distinction matters because we can change what we do — what we are, not so much.
The Mystic of Ireland: An Homage to Ivor Browne
Ivor Browne fearlessly challenged what he saw as a dehumanizing system, liberating many from institutional care and pioneering new experimental therapies. He developed innovative community models and most of his groundbreaking work took place outside of, and in spite of, orthodox thinking.
Collaborative Strategies for Re-Visioning the Public Mental Health System
The beauty of sticking around for a while is that we’re living to see some of our “outsider” ideas beginning to challenge modern psychiatric doctrine in the public arena, and our “radical” mental health stance is slowly re-visioning important conversations and practices.
When Hospitals Sue for Unpaid Bills, It Can Be ‘Ruinous’ for Patients
From NPR: In Virginia, 36% of hospitals sued patients and garnished their wages in 2017. Four of the five hospitals with the most lawsuits were nonprofits.
Disability and Decolonial Studies Disrupt the Medical Model
Critical disability studies and decolonial analyses take on structural oppression and challenge concepts of normality, mental health, and ability.
In Defense of Anger
The therapy industry has aided and abetted the rejection of anger our society is hell-bent on, and made it astoundingly difficult to know what healthy anger looks like. I clawed myself apart trying to “heal” from all this anger, which compounded with every failure to dispel the anger until I was basically a human-shaped sack of rage.
Big Pharma’s Trail of Greed, Power and Cruelty Must Be Stopped
From AlterNet: Exposure has not stopped the worsening behavior of Big Pharma because it controls most of Congress—candidates rely heavily on the industry for campaign budgets.
Neuroscientists Suggest That Social Inequalities Can Permanently Alter Our Brains
A recently published article illustrates how the concept of neuroplasticity has been used to explain social inequalities, like poverty, by linking them to biomarkers in the brain.
Second Teenage Girl Dies at Middlesbrough West Lane Hospital
From BBC News: A second girl has died at a UK mental health unit for young people where staff face being disciplined for allegedly mistreating patients.
Addressing the Roots of Racial Trauma: An Interview with Psychologist Lillian Comas-Díaz
MIA’s Hannah Emerson interviews Comas-Díaz on the need for culturally competent care in a medicalized and individualistic society.
Opioid Addiction Requires Safe Injection Sites, Not Old Rhetoric From War on Drugs
From NBC News: Though recognized as critical to curbing the epidemic, harm-reduction advocates have been unable to open a single safe injection site anywhere in the U.S.
