Blogs
What Does Consent Mean in Practice? A Lived Experience Perspective
Every time I agreed to 'treatment’, I was told that it was necessary to save my life. I was sold a bunch of lies.
Mad in Portugal
Mad in Portugal's readers can find blogs, book reviews, and first-person testimonials from voices less present in mainstream narratives.
The Betrayal of Professionals with Lived Experience
I know that being “out” at work could help challenge stereotypes and reduce stigma but I hide. I have that luxury.
Usage of Depression Pills in Children and Young People Must Stop
Our citizens would be far better off if we removed all the psychotropic drugs from the market, as doctors are unable to handle them.
We Can’t Help People With Trauma If We Can’t Say Trauma
Although the medical care Cary received was excellent, no one mentioned “trauma” or counseled us on how it might manifest emotionally.
The Wound That Speaks
In my case, writing was the beginning of healing. It pulled me out of the abyss and gave me structure, voice, and purpose. It gave me a sense of authorship over a life hijacked by memory.
Beyond the Pill Paradigm: Reclaiming Humanity in Mental Health Care
By tackling social causes of distress along with personal support, we prevent suffering rather than just reacting to emergencies.
Power, Privilege & Controlling the Narrative: Vested Interests in ‘Mental Health’
Alienating someone from their own meaning-making is a violent action, but that's what happens when professionals use unscientific, decontextualised diagnoses.
The Roots of Emotional Illness: Emotional Conditioning
Psychodynamic psychotherapy gets at the root cause of the emotional distress—a person’s emotional conditioning in childhood.
Something Broken: My Mother’s Story
The use of psychiatry against women who have experienced male violence is a form of control. It silences women and maintains the status quo.
Are Psychiatrists More Mad Than Their Patients?
Misconceptions among psychiatric leaders are at variance with the scientific evidence. They suffer from a serious, collective delusion.
Death in a Bottle: My 24-Year Battle with Benzodiazepines
I’m not even taking Klonopin because it helps me. I’m taking Klonopin so I don’t go through withdrawal from Klonopin. That’s the trap.
And You Thought They Were Side Effects: How Psychiatry Turned Chemical Disruption Into Medical Treatment
There’s no cure beneath the disruption, just a chemical hit that alters perception or behavior.
The Quiet Crisis in Mental Health: The Medicalization and Deskilling of Psychotherapy
The focus on the "worried well" and the exclusion of the "mad" serves to legitimize psychiatric control and surveillance.
Jo Watson Interviews Cathy Wield, Author of “Unshackled Mind”
It’s never too late to seek another explanation for the problems you’re facing, to change your mind and get your life back.
The Garden of the Mind: Fictions Weeded Out by Psychiatry
Delusions are more than fleeting mental turmoil; they reveal the unconscious mind’s storytelling power.
America’s Unhealthy Relationship with Antidepressants
Exhaustive research topples the conceptual house of cards in which the antidepressant hegemony resides.
The Moral World of Personality Disorder Assessment
Professionals in the field must recognize psychiatry's connection to social norms rather than portraying it as a neutral branch of medicine.
Unmedicated Clarity: How I Reclaimed My Voice After Psychiatry Silenced It
My healing didn’t begin with that pill. It began the moment I stopped handing over my truth for someone else to interpret.
Dreaming with Purpose: How the Mind’s Hidden GPS Can Guide Us Toward Personal and Societal Healing
By honouring dreams, we honour our innate creativity, our shared humanity, our capacity to reimagine reality.
Behind the Smiles: Mental Health in South Korea’s High-Pressure Society
South Korea ranks among the highest in the world for suicide, and its people are turning to psychiatric drugs in record numbers.
Akathisia After a Five-Year Taper: Chained to an Antidepressant Forever
I have been on Cymbalta for 17 years now and am gutted that my five-year taper did not free me of the drug.
The Mental Health System in the UK Failed Us
The whole system is broken and I pray for my friends in Great Britain. They need a reform, not cuts or euthanasia.
Lost in Psychobabble? Cut Through the Jargon for Real Mental Clarity
The key to healing is to recognize that you are not dealing with a broken brain, but unlearning survival habits that no longer serve you.
A Reflection on “Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance”
The act of diagnosis is so influential on a person’s sense of self that its limitations need to be repeated again and again and again.
