Blogs

Essays by a diverse group of writers, in the United States and abroad, engaged in rethinking psychiatry. (The directory of personal stories can be found here, and initiatives here).

Sun glare through a thick forest of tall trees

Beyond Greenspaces and Mental Health: The Power of the Wild

5
Tensions of sustainability, climate change, and global mental health: grassknots, greenspace, and climate psychology.
The Guardian of Forever from TOS, with an image of R. D. Laing at its center.

Can Madness Save the World? Where R.D. Laing—and Star Trek—Meet

5
What if the only choice we can really make, and trust, is the irrational, even mad, choice to love? What would saving the world look like then?

Putting JAMA Psychiatry and MIA to the Genetic Test

25
We can assess whether Mad in America readers or JAMA Psychiatry readers are being provided with the most robust scientific literature.
Woman cover face using paper with emotions sketch, like hiding mask. Private life identity concept. Split inner personalities. Multipolar mental health disorder. Mood change, expressions and reactions

Animal Theory of Emotion: Emotion Is Not a Disorder

13
Too many people see themselves as having mental disorders when what they have is emotion, and in some cases, a great deal of it.

Interpersonal Caring as an Act of Resistance Among Socially Marginalized

0
Some of the most marginalized and stigmatized people in a community are those with psychiatric diagnoses and those who are HIV positive.
Studio shot of bearded Persian man doctor against gray background in black and white

In Defense of Open Dialogue Research

4
One of the original Open Dialogue researchers responds to a paper presenting a prejudiced and selective review of the scientific literature.
Marital Counselor Taking Notes At Therapy Session With African American Spouses, Holding Blank Clipboard, Filling Information Form At Marriage Counseling Meeting With Blank Couple, Cropped Image

Never Waste a Good Depression: Family Therapy Challenges the Seductive Shortcut of Psychiatric Drugs

1
The widespread use of psychiatric drugs reduces important conversations about the problems of being human while limiting our options for problem-solving.

Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS): How the Last Step to Recovery Became the Final Step...

23
How persistent, unbearable suffering, due to prolonged withdrawal from antipsychotics prescribed as a sleeping medication, led to euthanasia.
Illustration of a red pencil circling a group of people

How Psychiatrists Responded to the Launch of Our New ECT Survey

16
Amid mostly rude and unprofessional jibes, there were also some legitimate points, which are addressed here.
Photo of hands stacking on top of each other in very yellow light

The Integration of Peer Support Principles in Community Mental Health Policy and Practice: Toward...

6
Though there are obstacles, integration of peer support is already underway thanks to change agents in the mental health system.

Benzodiazepines in Canada: Is a Withdrawal Crisis Looming?

4
Why are benzos, for short-term use only, being doled out, in some cases, for years? Nicole Lamberson and Mark Horowitz weigh in.
A Black mother and daughter sit on the couch. Mother is explaining something to a sullen-looking girl.

The Psychiatric Peddlers in Your Schools

27
Educators and parents must equip children with the necessary tools to meet the normal problems of childhood that psychiatry attempts to address.

Reflections on the Silicon Valley Teen Suicides-by-Train: Fifteen Years Later

8
A psychiatrist and mom reflects on teen suicide clusters in Palo Alto and discusses alternative ways to address adolescent mental health.
hand behind barbed wire with dark background

The “Madness” of Inpatient Psychiatry

50
Inpatient psychiatry is not a place of psychological healing; it is devoid of compassion and full of human rights abuses.

Irish Psychiatry Says Chemical Imbalance Is a Figure of Speech—So, What Now?

22
Don’t researchers and clinicians have an ethical responsibility to inform the public that the "chemical imbalance" story is false?
Illustration of a mother holding a baby with dark clouds in the background; pills fall like rain

Enlarging the Treatment Lens for Postpartum Depression

5
Drugs, social support, placenta encapsulation: How can we approach the specter of postpartum depression?
Doctor looking perplexed or angry pointing at a clipboard

How the Medical Profession Pathologizes Emotions and the Damage to Patients

29
Doctors’ diagnostic inflexibility and unwillingness to take an integrative approach limits patients’ autonomy in their own treatment.
A syringe and a bottle labeled ketamine.

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 7)

3
On antidepressants versus CBT, the buzz around ketamine, and drugs for postpartum depression.
A young man sitting on steps outside looking sad

Trauma and Resources Within Social Context

12
What is seen as pathology is a complex web of surviving strategies learned in aversive circumstances that can cause distress later.
Young boy looking through the window

As a Psychologist, I’ve Seen Many Children Misdiagnosed as Autistic—It’s a Clinical Catastrophe

25
The ASD diagnosis glosses over the many developmental specifics that might underlie a child’s challenges related to social communication.
A woman looks to the side in distress, while holding a wedding band and a pen to sign divorce documents

The Social-Emotional Distress Field, or How I Divorced “Mental Health”

18
At this crisis point, I realised that resigning from my job was not enough. I needed to divorce from the Mental Health field as a whole. 
Man with hands against glass, out of focus, looking distressed

Are “Trauma/Addiction Experts” and Psychiatrists Misleading Us?

55
“Experts” refer to an ill-defined concept of “trauma,” but unique traumatic experiences should not be generalized.
Photo of an open hand on a deep red background with scattered white pills

Much of U.S. Healthcare Is Broken: How to Fix It (Chapter 2, Part 6)

0
Les Ruthven addresses the research showing that psychiatric hospitalization increases suicidality.
Climber snaps the safety carabiner on the rope. A climber on a cliff ties a safety knot

RADAR and the Dignity of Risk-Taking

6
The goal may not be to eliminate risk, but to respect the risk that people are willing to take, and to help make tapering as safe as possible.
Unhappy Woman In Converstion With Friend Or Counsellor

“Get Over It”? A Response to Empower Parents to Repair Instead of Victim Blame

27
An epidemic of children blaming their parents in therapy? In my 20 years as a psychologist, I've seen the opposite.