Yearly Archives: 2023
Akathisia: Historical Perspective for Healing
I'm still tapering from medications, but I am better, which is how I know recovery is possible. Understanding the systems that were impacted by medications was an essential piece of the puzzle.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Six)
On the pharmaceutical industry's spinning of results of clinical trials to hide suicide attempts and deaths on depression pills.
No Difference in Antidepressant Effectiveness After Genetic Testing
Genetic testing may help reduce the length of time people experience the harmful effects of antidepressant drugs, but it is not helpful for predicting efficacy.
Everyone Is Traumatized — A Former Therapist Explains
From Daniel Mackler: People who weren’t traumatized, who don’t split off their feelings in some ways, couldn’t cause the amount of harm that we are causing to each other, to ourselves, and to the planet.
The Nervous System in the Classroom | Gary Sharpe
From Gary Sharpe: Many of our institutions, from schools to hospitals, seem almost designed to constantly trigger our sense of threat.
Cochrane’s Demise: Misleading Denigration of Benzodiazepines for Acute Psychosis
On a misleading Cochrane review of benzodiazepines for acute psychosis, and how Cochrane responded to criticism.
Reclaiming My Yin and Yang
Western psychiatry has done a lot of harm to people, especially when it is forced upon people as their “only” option. People’s experiences are wildly diverse, and only a diversity of options can do justice to our differing needs.
Eating Disorder Helpline Disables Chatbot for ‘Harmful’ Responses After Firing Human Staff
From VICE: “Every single thing Tessa suggested were things that led to the development of my eating disorder," said an activist who posted screenshots of her interaction with the chat bot.
Brett Deacon: Antidepressants Aren’t the Answer, the Truth About the DSM, and the Power...
From Psychlings Podcast: The clinical psychologist and professor shares his views on why more psychologists should use exposure therapy.
State Hospital Memories: More of My Story
The Detroit Free Press did an excellent job in bringing to light the conditions at Pontiac, its loss of accreditation, and closing. Still, they didn't quite grasp the severity of violence there.
Eating Disorder Helpline Fires Staff, Transitions to Chatbot After Unionization
From VICE: "A chat bot is no substitute for human empathy, and we believe this decision will cause irreparable harm to the eating disorders community," said the Helpline staff in a statement.
My Journey: On and Off Psychotropic Drugs by Jane Kotze
Before this slippery slope, I wasn’t the quietest,
I was just eighteen, when I saw a psychiatrist.
Much had happened, for my soul to aggravate,
For pseudoscience,...
Side Effects Include by Anonymous
One day it all seems a little brighter, shoulders a little lighter, head a little higher. Was it the rain overnight, the smell of...
Vultures’ Wake by Karen Marker
1
They’d seen it all, their wings tips touching
like piano keys played together –
so many suicides born from the house
where Nana’s china dolls sat on...
Dark Shadow by David Penner
And it befell on one mundane Monday morn
That trainee Hailey Meersheimer (rank M3)
Began her first shift in the psych ward; the pall
Was looming in...
Survive by Cyndi Schlieger
Running wouldn't help you'd still be yourself. So much noise inside that mind. The never ending urge to flee as if a change of...
Untitled Short Story by Jill Donnell
In the deep dark forest lived many animals and plants, trees and mountain cliffs and trails. There once was a ranger and his wife...
Teenagers Pathologized by Traditional Addiction Treatment
From Filter: Traditional treatment can pathologize normal behaviors of adolescence, thereby reinforcing stigma and existing low self-esteem.
Stockholm Syndrome Is the Norm for Children in Families | Daniel Mackler
From Daniel Mackler/Wild Truth: People who have been traumatized, especially children, often end up not hating the people who traumatized them but rather identifying with and defending them.
Critical Psychiatry Textbook, Chapter 8: Depression and Mania (Affective Disorders) (Part Five)
Peter Gøtzsche continues the discussion of the pharmaceutical industry’s manipulation of depression pill trials for children and adolescents.
Should Everyone Be in Therapy?
A new study finds that those with mild distress are three times as likely to feel worse after therapy than to receive some benefit.
Gabapentin Withdrawal: One Year Later
Even though I was only on the medication for a little over six months, I am still traveling down the long road of psychiatric drug withdrawal. This is the hardest thing I have ever endured.
In-Depth: Patients Struggling to Shed ADHD Label
From The Epoch Times: As the number of people seeking ADHD diagnoses surges, some may face challenges in having their official diagnosis reversed if they come to regret it at a later stage.
Psychiatrists: The Criminals Behind the Scenes of the Conservatorship Business
We need to dig deeper into the doctors who conduct these evaluations, who hide behind their sealed documents with no transparency and zero accountability.
CT Sen. Chris Murphy Calls for Restrictions of Restraint and Seclusion in U.S. Schools
From CT Insider: "It's hard to believe, but there are thousands of kids who are being put in solitary confinement or having their hands bound as punishment for misbehavior at school," said Murphy.
