Monthly Archives: December 2021
The Year Of Potentiality
I lost three years of my life to my first psychosis. I am living proof that your entire world can be smashed into a trillion pieces and you can recover and turn the broken pieces of glass into a kaleidoscope.
Madness, Beauty, Love by Laurenne Kredentser
There’s a beauty in madness
That most will never understand
A love that opens up your heart
To those you never met, never knew, never saw before.
And...
Consumer Regret
Eventually I realized the drugs were safe and effective—for those prescribing them. Shrinks can never be sued for malpractice since it's "standard care" even if they kill you.
New Review: Antidepressants Come with Minimal Benefits, Several Risks
A review of research on antidepressant efficacy finds that an unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio.
Therapy Before Pills Is Great, But Why Wait Till People Are Depressed to Teach...
From Zac Fine/Medium: Life gives us certain moments — which register in our guts (connected to the vagus nerve) — to break through and grow. This is the moment that you, as an infinitely intelligent organism, are being called into initiation.
When Tapering Antidepressants, is Going Slow Always the Best Strategy?
Do we take enough account of total drug exposure time when devising antidepressant tapering strategies?
Darby Penney, Who Crusaded for Better Psychiatric Care, Dies at 68
From The New York Times: She shed light on marginalized people’s lives by examining the contents of suitcases left in the attic of a psychiatric hospital. She went on to become a prominent activist.
The Crisis in Psychiatry and The Slow Way Back: Interview with Vincenzo Di Nicola
Ayurdhi Dhar interviews psychiatrist and philosopher Vincenzo Di Nicola about his call for "slow psychiatry" and a renewed social psychiatry.
Stop Dishing Out Antidepressants, Doctors Told
From The Times: Doctors should prescribe fewer antidepressants and for a shorter time, experts said, after a review found no strong evidence that the drugs were effective.
The Psychiatric Hospital Is an Institution of Social Control
Psychiatry is an institution of control. It is easier to keep society in check when unwanted behavioral traits can be considered pathology.
Take Your Time: A ‘Slow Thought’ Manifesto
From Aeon: "Our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated...to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations." ~ Norwegian philosopher Guttorm Fløistad
Dear Doctor (Unsent Letters) by Rose Y.
Dear Doctor,
Can we please rewind,
slip back in time?
To the first time that we spoke.
You say you don’t remember me
It’s no trouble,
Let’s refresh your memory
I’m...
Tragic Schoolboy Was Prescribed Huge Increase in Anti-Depressants
From Belfast Telegraph: Johnny Shields, 14, who tragically took his own life had been prescribed up to a 700% increase of controversial anti-depressant drugs in the months leading up to his death.
Common Statistical Method Conflates Withdrawal with Relapse
Researchers argue that common study methods for psychiatric drugs may inadvertently minimize withdrawal effects and inflate drug efficacy.
BBC Sitcom Pilot: “Disordered: The Health Assessment”
From BBC Sounds: For a limited time: Listen to a new sitcom pilot by George Mason about an optimistic but struggling single dad dealing with long-term mental health issues.
2017 Study: Nearly a Third of FDA-Approved Drugs Had Problems
From CNN: Out of 222 new drugs approved, 61Â need to have black box warnings subsequently added to call attention to serious or life-threatening risks.
How Should Psychedelic Medicine Handle “Flashbacks”?
Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is one of the after-effects neglected amid the rapid march of the psychedelic renaissance. But is the impulse to pathologise these perceptual changes helpful?
The Time I Didn’t Get Enlightened: My Silly Visit to the Emergency Psychiatric Facility
From Dan Latner/Medium: I’m baffled that such a pleasurable and transformative experience as I had was immediately pathologized as a mood disorder.
Fatherland Dreamland Motherland Hinterland
I grew up in Rhodesia, a British colony in southern Africa. Until the age of 16, I lived on the grounds of Ingutsheni Mental Hospital where my father worked. As a psychiatrist, he had enormous power.
Overuse of Psychiatric Drugs is Worsening Public Mental Health, Doctor Argues
A new research article asserts that the overuse of psychiatric drugs may create neurobiological changes that hamper long-term mental health recovery.
Q&A: My Child Is Suicidal. What Should I Do?
My child talks about wanting to die. She is only 9 years old. There is so much information out there about what family or friends should say to people who are suicidal, but I’m wondering if there is special advice for supporting a child or young person versus an adult.
What Helps Long-Term Users of Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs Discontinue?
Current long-term users of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs identify barriers and facilitators for discontinuation.
NHS Trusts Criticized Over System That Films Mental Health Patients in Their Bedrooms
From The Guardian: The Oxevision system, used by 23 NHS trusts in some psychiatric wards to monitor patients' vital signs, could breach their right to privacy and exacerbate their distress.
Getting A Diagnosis Meant That My Sister Never Had the Chance to Resolve Her...
My sister was told if she took medications everything would be fine. But everything was not fine, and the medications sent her down a path of no return.
How Emotions Affect Our Cognitive Functioning | Gabor Maté, MD
From Gabor Maté, MD: Nature has given us the capacity to tune out or dissociate as a survival mechanism to escape overwhelming stress.
