Yearly Archives: 2019
Peer Providers of Mental Health Services Use Personal Narratives to Help
Interviews with peer providers indicate that they strategically use their personal illness and recovery story in order to assist others.
Mentally Ill Prisoners Are Held Past Release Dates, Lawsuit Claims
From The New York Times: The men are no longer in prison because they committed offenses, but because the state has determined they are likely to become homeless once released.
Spiritual Texts in the Psych Ward
With current self-publishing capabilities, thereâs little that can stop anyone with the slightest messianic complex from actualizing their potential as a prophetâexcept perhaps the tactics psychiatry employs: forced drugging, locking people up and limiting their abilities to communicate with the rest of the world.
How Long Does Antidepressant Withdrawal Last?
The patient experiencing the pain of withdrawal believed that they would feel better when they stopped taking their antidepressants. After all, theyâre under the care of a board-certified medical professional who has vowed to do no harm. But despite those reassurances, they find themselves in a world of hurt.
The International Antidepressant Withdrawal Crisis: Time to Act
From Psychiatric Times Letters: Underestimating the problem is not going to help patients get the accurate information, and the withdrawal support services, they need and deserve.
âFull Moral Statusâ for Psychiatric Clients: How I Fought Back
I was going to leave the 'mental health' system on my terms, with all the paperwork proving them wrong. Or I was going to run for my life with an open diagnosis, hoping I would survive withdrawal. As I surveyed the landscape for any other path, there was only institutionalization. There was no template for what I had to do... so I made it up.
Researchers Challenge Interpretation of Antidepressant Meta-analysis
Researchers question the overstated results of a large antidepressant meta-analysis and point to cultural pressures to turn to these drugs for a quick fix.
#MeToo! Believing Women and Freud’s Assault on the Truth
From Indybay: Freud became aware that many patients had been sexually abused as children, but abandoned this belief due to rejection by his professional peers.
Why the ‘Psychological Injury Model’ Will Ultimately Triumph
The Psychological Injury model will triumph, not just because literally thousands of studies show how trauma and stressful life events result in mental health problems, but because at our core, we know it is true. People hurt people, and people heal people. This cracks the intellectual foundation of psychopharmacology.
5 Steps to Personalize Deprescribing Practices
Researchers identify simple ways for clinicians to begin deprescribing conversations.
New CA Surgeon General Puts Spotlight on Early Childhood Adversity
From California Health Report: The impact of stress and trauma on peopleâs physical and mental health looks set to become a central focus of Gov. Gavin Newsomâs administration.
Technology Not a Strong Factor in Adolescent Well-being, New Study Claims
A new study suggests digital media use among adolescents has a smaller negative effect on well-being than bullying or smoking marijuana.
A Secret No Longer
My psychiatrist/therapist was able to give me a true understanding into what addiction and psychosis really are and how they can be treated with little or no medication. I still struggle, but I have been able to manage my symptoms with the help of ACT therapy, exercise, "forest bathing," storytelling, music and art. I am now able to feel a sense of peaceful fulfillment, and that is all anyone can really ask for.
Students Learn From People They Love
From The New York Times: The bottom line is this, a defining question for any school or company is: What is the quality of the emotional relationships here?
Treatment Guidelines Should Not Be Written by Professional Societies and Insiders
John Ioannidis, a leading expert on research methods, takes a critical look at the way professional societies write treatment guidelines.
âShe Was Unrecognisableâ â Families Warn of Fatal Effects of Antipsychotic Drug Clozapine
From The Guardian: Clozapine is heavily restricted in other countries but concerns about its potentially fatal side-effects in the UK appear not to have been heeded.
Critical Psychologist On How Scientific Research Can Influence Public Policy
Critical participatory action research conducted on the higher education programs offered in prison leads to mobilized advocacy and shifts in public policy.
Traumatic Immobility: Depression as a Stress Response
What if we don't have a depression epidemic, but a stress epidemic of traumatic proportions? What if we've been steered away from learning how our minds and bodies actually work, and into believing that our attempts to survive traumatic, threatening real-life circumstances are "symptoms of mental illness"?
Consumers May Be Unaware of Suicide Risks of Popular Prescription Drugs
From ABC7: Time has passed and with it the public awareness of what drugs like Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac can cause a person to do.
Placing Juveniles in Solitary Confinement Makes Them Worse
From USA TODAY: "You may be really destroying these kids emotionally and mentally... Some of these kids may not be able to recover."
Towards Resilience and Possibilities and Away from Diseases and Symptoms
An interview with Professor Jim van Os who says that, arguably, âlove is the most powerful evidence-based treatment in mental healthâ. We discuss his recent paper published in World Psychiatry which envisions a future for mental health that moves away from symptoms and diagnoses and towards peer support and lived experience.
âNot all NAMIs!â: Why Even the Best Local NAMI Chapter is Still a Problem
Every time I write about NAMI, at least one person approaches me and says, âBut not all NAMIs!â Yes, all NAMIs. Every. Last. One. Because even the best of the local chapters are benefiting from the systemic oppression perpetuated by the dominant group to which they are tied. They all participate somehow in sustaining the imbalance.
Developing Alternatives to the DSM for Psychotherapists
A new article suggests counselors and psychotherapists are dissatisfied with current diagnostic systems and outlines some potential alternatives.
I Navigated the Mental Health System and Never Took Medications
I kept thinking, why was I the one to be labeled when my husband was doing all this unhealthy, violent stuff? I sought out doctors through health food stores and communities that didnât believe in medications for a social and family problem. That way no controlling, pill-pushing medical doctor had authority over me.
âADHD: A Return to Psychologyâ Video Series
Most people believe that children diagnosed with ADHD misbehave because they possess an inferior inhibitory system that renders them less able to suppress unacceptable actions. However, this belief has numerous shortcomings. This series of videos challenges these assumptions and offers alternative explanations for why a child may exhibit ADHD behaviors.
