Gabor Maté, MD: The Power of Connection: Finding Wisdom in Our Trauma
From Wholehearted.org: A one-hour introduction to Dr. Maté’s perspective on the absolute necessity of connection to healthy existence, and how deficits in connection early in life influence everything from our bodies, to politics, to society.
Patient Sues Psychiatrist After 35 Years of Treatment for ‘Condition He Never Had’
From Queensland Law Society: The Australian man is seeking damages for personal injury caused by the clinician’s "alleged negligence, breach of contract, battery and misleading or deceptive conduct" over the course of his treatment.
The Cruelties of Self-Help Culture
From The New Statesman: I've been dreaming of a self-help book that is honest about the system we live in, the emotional challenges of surviving it, and the realities of failure, but that offers us practical ways to navigate the real challenges that most people face.
A Review of Alice Miller’s ‘The Body Never Lies: The Lingering Effects of Cruel...
From alice-miller.com/Stephen Khamsi, PhD: For thousands of years, the Fourth Commandment - along with our personal denial of early maltreatment - has led us toward repression, emotional detachment, illness and suicide.
Teenagers Pathologized by Traditional Addiction Treatment
From Filter: Traditional treatment can pathologize normal behaviors of adolescence, thereby reinforcing stigma and existing low self-esteem.
Garth Daniels Suing Over 75 Shock Treatments without Consent
"In a rare intervention, the government has asked Victoria's Chief Psychiatrist for a report on Garth Daniels, a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, whose case...
“The Sexist Ads Big Pharma Has Used to Hawk Drugs”
Martha Rosenberg analyzes the “slick, Mad Men-style ads” that ran in medical journals from the 1950s-70s “in which women clearly ‘knew their place’ and...
‘Mental Illness’ is a Harmfully Misleading Phrase
From The Good Men Project: "Mental illness" is a misleading phrase that often exacerbates the pain of people in emotional distress.
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Reflections on the Cruel and Subtle Costs of Racism and Bigotry
In this essay for the Psychiatric Times, Dr. Edward Khantzian reflects on the pain and grief caused by all forms of racism and bigotry, from...
Helpful and Harmful Therapist Behaviors, According to Clients
From The British Psychological Society: A recent study has broken new ground by asking clients to provide detailed feedback on a second-by-second basis of their experience of...
How the 12 Step Program is Exacerbating the Opioid Crisis
From The New Republic: "Health authorities and medical researchers widely consider medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone or Suboxone the most effective way of treating opioid...
Look to the Medicine Wheel for Mental Health, First Nations Elders Advise
From Medical Xpress: "Traditional teachings have to come back [for us] to know who we are and how to balance ourselves...the mind, the body and the soul [have to] reconnect."
Patients “May Be Afraid” of Microchipped Schizophrenia Pill
From The Daily Mail: Abilify MyCite, which contains a tracker so doctors can check if it's been taken, isn't being used because it could add to patients' paranoia, an expert has warned.
“Saving Psychiatry From Itself”
University of Liverpool's John Read suggests the "unscientific" nature of psychiatry is a major part of what is driving medical students away from the profession.
“When Meth Was an Antidepressant”
The Atlantic compares the use of meth as a “top-line antidepressant” in the 1930s to the 1950s to debates over the use of medicinal marijuana today. “It’s an example of how pharmaceuticals, at their core, are drugs. They’re chemicals that were mixed together and believed to be beneficial to humanity, until they weren't.”
‘Scotland’s Mengele’: The Truth About Dr. Ewen Cameron
From The National: Dr. Ewen Cameron's horrific CIA-funded experiments at a Canadian psychiatric hospital in the 1950s and '60s informed brutal torture techniques now used around the world.
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.
That Time When the Psychiatric System Went Too Far… | Joanne Cacciatore
From Dr. Joanne Cacciatore: A few very persistent scholars have finally succeeding in declaring that extended expressions of grief indicate 'mental illness' — a move that offends many.
Capitalism and Coercive Control
From Red Flag: A society that normalizes the dynamics of coercive control in most aspects of life is ill-equipped to eradicate them from our personal lives.
“New Issue of Recovery to Practice”
The March issue, “Practicing Recovery: Implementing and Measuring a Recovery Orientation,” features contributions by Larry Davidson and Sandra Steingard on recovery-oriented approaches to mental...
“The New Eugenics: Why Genetic Theories of Mental Illness and Addiction Are a Damaging...
For The Influence, addiction expert Stanton Peele criticizes our current genetic and biological “brain disease” approaches to addiction and mental health.
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“FAA: No Psychological Testing Needed of Airline Pilots”
The Federal Aviation Administration has ruled out requiring psychological testing for airline pilots in favor of enhanced mental health support programs in response to a crash...
Health Professionals Must Fight a Trump Administration Expansion of Torture
Psychologist Stephen Soldz writes for STAT: "It was profoundly distressing to hear Donald Trump on the campaign trail vowing a return to abusing prisoners...
Here’s a Great This American Life Segment About Being Neurotic
From Science of Us: This week's This American Life, which addresses questions regarding whether extraterrestrial life exists, reveals a great deal of truth about what it...
Treating Addiction With an App
From MIT Technology Review: A new app, Triggr, is using smartphone data to track the behavior of people struggling with substance use and addiction, with...
