Monthly Archives: December 2021
Kenneth Kendler: “Implausible” That Psychiatric Diagnoses Even “Approximately True”
In JAMA Psychiatry, prominent psychiatrist Kenneth Kendler writes that psychiatric diagnoses are “working hypotheses, subject to change.”
Art-Making as an Alternative Philosophy of Care During Emotional Crisis
From National Empowerment Center: MIA Arts Editor Karin Jervert gives a talk on the role of creativity in the healing process as part of the "Compassionate Approaches to Crisis" webinar series.
Mental Health Care Must Support Consent and Basic Human Rights
Despite the UN’s strong stance against involuntary treatment, many countries continue to uphold legislation that encourages it.
A Love Poem for the Girls with ‘Borderline’ by Rebecca Donaldson
I want to write a love poem for the girls who have been branded with, “Borderline.”
I want to write a love poem for the...
No More Tears: In Memory of Kathleen Fliller
My friend Kathleen Fliller ended her life last month. She had written a chronicle of her struggles with psychiatric drug withdrawal and akathisia, which she asked me to share with Mad In America to be published in hopes that it might help others not feel so alone.
The Essence of Illness
From Psychology Today: Your body creates symptoms based on sensing cues of safety or threat. Sustained mental or physical threat — current or past — will cause serious illness and disease.
When It Comes to Mental Health Problems, The Disability Framework Fails
Treating those struggling with emotional distress and troublesome behaviors as mentally disabled is a barrier to arriving at humane and dignified ways of assisting them.
Drugs as the New Parents
From Mark Goulston MD/Psychology Today: Do emotionally orphan children turn to drugs to fill the void?
Institutionalized 18 Years Ago, I May Never Be Released
Bill Sutherland took a plea deal for a crime he says he didn't commit. Almost two decades later, he was still being held in a psych unit.
A Politics of Care: How the Science of ACEs Deepens Our Emotional Vocabulary
From SuzanneZeedyk.com: In the 21st century, we find ourselves at the very beginning of a public consciousness of the ‘catastrophic burden’ of emotional poverty.
Book Review: “Opening Up: The Parenting Journey”
This is a book about stories, urging families to recognize their own strengths and create new narratives on the path ahead.
Bedridden by Joey Marino
I can remember certain feelings, but I can’t feel very well.
I can’t hold someone’s hand because my hands over grip. They squeeze very hard....
The Impasse by Devin S. Turk
Some say I am explaining
the anti-psychiatry movement
to my psychiatrist,
but I can only tell you:
On the kitchen stove
a tea kettle is screaming
and no one is...
Lithium No Better Than Placebo for Preventing Suicide Attempts
A trial in veterans who had survived a previous suicide attempt was stopped early because the drug was found to be no better than a placebo.
Inside a Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Here’s How to Survive
Sean Gunderson, who was detained by the criminal justice system for 17 years after receiving an NGRI verdict, documents the life of a forensic psychiatry inmate.
Trauma, Trust and Triumph: Psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk on How to Recover from...
From The Guardian: His 2014 book, The Body Keeps the Score, has become a huge pandemic hit, topping bestseller lists this summer and becoming a meme on social media. What does it tell us about the world we live in?
The Woman Who Pioneered “Housing First”
From YES! Magazine: Three decades ago, one nurse came up with a radical idea: Give homeless folks suffering from addiction and 'mental illness' a safe place to be themselves.
It’s In Your Head: Why Reducing All Problems to ‘Mental Health Issues’ Hurts Humanity
From RT: The framing of an increasing array of social issues in mental health terms raises important questions about how we are being asked to think about the problems that face us.
Break Down. Wake Up. podcast – 009 – Integrating an Epiphany Through Daily Practice...
How a ski accident gave a practical philosopher the insight to liberate his own self worth from the judgments of others and to discover his own career path.
