Blogs
Facing the Truth About World Mental Health Day
Big Pharma has quietly sponsored World Mental Health Day campaigns, shaping global mental health policy.
DSM: Improve, Trash, Replace, or None of the Above?
Most clinicians are well aware that many diagnoses are vague, not specific, and don’t point to a treatment that works.
An Open Letter to Those I Love Whose Neurotypical Privilege Keeps Them from Seeing What They Need to See
The next time you see someone who is unhoused, have some compassion.
Sweltering in My Own Sour Breath
All I could feel was nightmares budding and leafing darkly from my nerve endings, swinging and rustling in the black air of my grief.
“How Are You?” The Strangest Question to ask in a Psychiatric Hospital
Inside a psychiatric hospital, the social script doesn’t fit the situation. The location itself undermines the premise.
Peer Advocates Who Made Things Happen in Oregon
We must keep the histories of peer advocates alive, lest they be forgotten for their part in making the recovery model a vision for system change.
Counter Archiving “Mental Health Records”
Standing in front of the mirror, i wonder, “what outfit should i wear for scanning my psychiatric records at the local library?”
Beyond Medication: Meeting People in Their Worlds
Dementia strips away memory and function, but it does not erase the longing for meaning. If anything, it exposes it more starkly.
The Vanity Fair of Magic Potions
When someone is searching for medicine, there will always be someone else ready to sell them the “cure."
“I Can’t Remember a Single Day”: New Survey Shows Disastrous Memory Effects of ECT
114 people told us they lost vital memories like getting married, birthdays, and family events.
Green Party of California: Forced Treatment Must Be Abolished
In a public statement, the Green Party of California endorsed the Abolish Forced Psychiatry statement.
The Prescription Pad of Spirit
My boldest "treatment measures" by far did not involve clinicians or doctors or insurance at all.
The Importance of Grief—in the Psychological Process and in Our Lives
In order to mature and to process our pain—things that are unavoidable in our lives—it is necessary to confront this grief.
Individualized Understandings of Mental Health Mislead Us
Diagnosis separates the person from their world and detaches their pain from their circumstances.
How Not to Diagnose Your Child
The reflections of a mental health professional on saving her own son from invalid and harmful labels.
Labeled, Medicated, Misdiagnosed — Until I Rewired My Own Brain
I’m not a doctor. I’m a patient. But I solved what six psychiatrists could not.
Like a Refuge and Like a Prison
From Mad in Puerto Rico: Laura LĂłpez-Aybar interviews Francisco about psychiatric hospitalization.
When Validation Becomes Avoidance: The Hidden Costs of Comfort in Modern Therapy
Each week, her therapist offered affirmations and reassurance. Her eating disorder remained comfortable and unchallenged.
Locura en Argentina
Editor Alan Robinson aims to provide readers with a magazine that represents them and the “mad cultures” found in Argentina.
Why I Kept Going Back: Breaking Free From Trauma Bonds
Breaking free from trauma bonds is a process of doubt, pain, and courage. It’s learning to trust yourself again after years of confusion.
Welcome to the Psychiatry Casino
Modern psychiatry is still, in many ways, closer to educated gambling than science. And patients deserve to know that.
A Place in the Forest: Mental Well-Being from a Wider Perspective
The whole social system as it is now is not designed with the purpose of well-being. Where has this gotten us?
On Love in America
After I nearly died during open-heart surgery, I realized that there is no room in this second life for anything but gratitude — and love.
Public Citizen, the FDA, and SSRI Safety
The safe and effective treatment for depression is psychotherapy and social support, not prescription drugs.
Beliefs that Create Madness
We know that it is not simply a chemical imbalance or a broken brain. We know how the context plays a large role.
