Monthly Archives: July 2022
The Autistic Person Speaks Out by Richard Plowden
I really find it such a stigma
That men to me are an enigma,
(That, greatly to my consternation,
I just cannot make conversation.)
Yes, though I call...
I Wish I Were by Ken Segal
I wish I were....
I wish I were a dolphin, just a-swimming in the sea,
I would swim and fish forever, a happy swimmer I would...
The One That Was Away
I had read about such places in The Bell Jar, I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. For more than a year, this place was my home.
Marx, Spinoza, and the Political Implications of Contemporary Psychiatry | Bruce Levine, PhD
From CounterPunch: That organized religion has a great deal in common with organized psychiatry would be apparent to two of history’s most famous critics of the political implications of organized religion.
July is Both Disability Pride Month and Mad Pride Month: Happy Bastille Day!
The National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) supports both Disability Pride Month and Mad Pride Month: Both are July!”
Mindfulness in Schools Does Not Improve Mental Health, Study Finds
From The Guardian: Students who engaged with the meditation practice benefitted but many were bored by it, say researchers in the UK.
The Biology of Loss: Recognizing Impaired Attachments & Fostering Resilience | Gabor Maté, MD
From BC Provincial Health Services Authority: Dr. Gabor Maté illuminates the sources of developmental challenges, childhood and adult mental disorders, and physical health issues as originating in the prenatal, perinatal, and early childhood periods.
Andrew Scull—Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry’s Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness
Sociologist and author Andrew Scull discusses the history of psychiatry's "Desperate Remedies," from lobotomy and the asylum to the failures of today's drugs and the fads of ketamine and deep brain stimulation.
Opinion: Changes to the Mental Health Act Must Prioritize Human Rights
From The Journal: A group of Irish academics and people with lived experience advocate for a human rights–based approach to treatment under proposed laws.
MIA Webinars: Past, Present and Future
We are pleased to announce that Charmaine Harris, who is a part of the POD team, will join the peer-supported Open Dialogue panel on Wednesday as a co-host.
The Protective Power of Delusions
From Psychology Today/Justin Garson, PhD: If delusions are playing a protective role, you don’t want to target them as if they're the disease itself, as doing so can cause even more harm.
Laura Van Tosh: The Life of a Psychiatric Survivor Activist
Laura Van Tosh has been a leader in psychiatric survivor circles for 40 years, working at local, state and national levels.
How Society Gaslights Survivors of Narcissistic, Sociopathic & Psychopathic Abuse
From Self-Care Haven by Shahida Arabi: Not only does secondary gaslighting from other people further isolate the survivor, it also hinders the healing process.
War in Utopia by Anonymous
the sanest of men are here
they are not carrying weapons
even if they fight against
ticking dynamite
no gunshells against people who walk on eggshells
they have pens...
A Poem for Lovers of the DSM by Rebecca Donaldson
And what is healing?
Chiseling.
Chipping.
Picking.
Smearing and rubbing off the grime.
The gunk.
The graffiti I no longer wish to wear.
To hear.
To feel in my left foot.
Raised shoulder.
Waist...
Nothing At All: How Antidepressants Failed Me
If “nothing at all” sums up my best experience with antidepressants, it also represents the averaged efforts of the psychiatrists who prescribed them.
What’s Wrong With Students? No—What’s Wrong With Colleges?
From Inside Higher Ed: Rather than blame students for a lack of well-being, colleges should consider institutional factors that contribute to the student mental health crisis, say two college counseling directors.
What It’s Like Living With Voices in Your Head
From KERA/Think: Some people who hear voices are actually choosing to embrace them rather than seeking to silence them. Caroline Mazel-Carlton discusses her experience with voices and her work to change how 'mental illness' is viewed.
“Pollution’s Mental Toll”: A Talk with Journalist Kristina Marusic
The reporter explains how air and water pollution affect our brains, why children are so vulnerable, and what to do about it.
“Mental Health Units” in Prison Are Solitary Confinement by Another Name, Activists Say
From Truthout: According to a new report by the HALT Solitary and the Mental Health Alternatives to Solitary Confinement campaigns, isolating 'mentally ill' prisoners as punishment still happens fairly frequently in New York despite laws designed to protect them.
Post-Woke Podcast: Does Psychiatry Do More Harm Than Good? w/Bruce Levine
From Post-Woke: New York City–based activist Mickey Z. interviews psychologist Bruce E. Levine on his new book, A Profession Without Reason, about the crisis of contemporary psychiatry.
World Tapering Day: November 5, 2022
From World Tapering Day: World Tapering Day is a worldwide event to increase awareness of the fact that psychotropic drugs need to be tapered much more slowly than most doctors and patients realize.
Inside A Forensic Psychiatry Unit: Rolled Ankles, RATs, and Invisible Abuse—The Final Obstacles Toward...
Sexual abuse is inevitable, an unspoken and largely invisible tragedy that affects most, if not all, inmates who enter into any detention center, especially a so-called “mental hospital.”
Survivors of Forced Psychiatry Are Suing the State of Norway
From Mad in Norway: Through these cases, the first of their kind in Norway, the focus will be on the state's responsibility for the concrete observance of human rights in psychiatry.
Things Not Taught to a Psychology Student or MFT by Rebecca Donaldson
I wish you could see what happened to me
They are things often not taught to a psychology student or MFT
My mother became a drug...
