Tipping the Scales in Favor of Collaboration
In caring for patients with mental illness or distress as a naturopathic physician, I am either indirectly or directly working with the conventional (allopathic)...
Ghostwriting: Time for a Name Change
There is a fascinating process playing out in academic medicine right now. The general public is understandably concerned that much of the medical literature...
Listening to the Voices of Voice Hearers: World Hearing Voices Congress
It looks like a great event: The Hearing Voices Network 25 Years On: Learning from the PAST, Practicing in the PRESENT, Visioning the FUTURE. ...
Killed by the Huffington Post, Article Now on the Newsstands in Skeptic
Now in the current issue of Skeptic, I have an article called “Depression Treatment: What Works and How We Know” (article rights owned by...
Chemical Imbalances and Other Black Unicorns
“What do you think caused your problems?,” I asked.
“I have a chemical imbalance, a chemical imbalance, an imbalance in the brain that makes me ill.”
A Post-Racial Public Mental Health System: If Not Now, When?
In answer to the question posed in the title to this article, probably not for a long, long time. Or perhaps more accurately, when...
Prayer and Hope, Part II.
Since I accepted the Project Management gig where I work most of the time in the DFW Metroplex in Texas, I've gone through rough...
The Psychopathology of American Life
‘I’m severely depressed.’
These were the words that Donesha*, a 35 year-old African American woman repeatedly uttered to me.
Personal Responsibility and Advance Directives
Thursday afternoon, June 21 from 2-3 Pm EST, I am presenting a free webinar, open to all, on the Advance Directive or Crisis Plan....
The Biochemical Basis for “Mental Illness” – Finally Solved!
I wanted to explain to you the biochemical and genetic and epigentic basis for all "mental illness." I want you to know that I...
Bringing Human Rights Home
The United Nations calls on countries to repeal their mental health laws that authorize involuntary commitment, and to ensure that mental health services are...
The Icarus Project: One Very Good Reason I Sleep Better at Night!
"You are not alone." If you are mad, that is the Icarus Project's bold promise to you. Every time I read it, it moves...
Holistic Recovery From Schizophrenia: A Mother and Son’s Journey
I am a mother of a son who was given a diagnosis of schizophrenia in December 2003, a son who is doing well today...
Our Emotions – The Sole Creators of Every Word, Voice, Symbolic Image, Bodily Movement...
The experience of hearing voices during madness, or during our "normal" and constant inner conversation that never stops, shows that we use words to...
Avoidance of Voices Can Be as Problematic as Listening Too Much
In the system of mental health “care” which is dominant today, “hearing voices” is conceptualized as an illness, and so the goal is seen...
Better Living through Chemistry?
Reading the article “Risky rise of good-grade pill” in the New York Times on Saturday once again raised the philosophical issue of how to...
We did it! Kansas’ Health Insurance Application withdrawn!
Recently one blogger pointed out how managed care systems might be a violation of human rights. I've also been recently posting about how the...
The NY Times: When Stimulants Are Bad
On Sunday, the New York Times ran a lengthy article titled “Risky Rise of the Good-Grade Pill,” and it illustrated, in vivid detail, how our society—and the medical community—may view a “drug of abuse” through one prism (as harmful) and a “prescribed drug” through another (as helpful), even though the drug in both cases is the same.
Are We Not Human Beings with the Rights to be Treated as Human?
(Speech delivered by Daniel Fisher at the rally in front of the Boston State House, June 2,2012)
How can residents of Judge Rotenberg Center (JRC)...
The Place of Medication in a Recovery Oriented System of Care
I was invited to present a work shop with Dan Fisher, MD PhD at the 2012 NAMI-VT annual meeting. These are my comments. They reflect my long term beliefs integrated with my reappraisal of practice in the past year.
US Senator Raises Concerns About Possible Stock Manipulation by Vertex Executives
Senator Charles Grassley is upping the ante on the controversy surrounding the Vertex pharmaceutical executives who cashed in on overstated clinical trial data --...
Black Hats, White Hats, and Financial Reckonings
It is clear now that the marketing of ayptical antipsychotics over the past 20 years was, in essence, a criminal enterprise, as the makers...
SSRIs in The Atlantic: Forget the Science Bring on the Anecdotes
The Atlantic web site has just published a strange piece on the efficacy of the antidepressants. When getting into a discussion with about antidepressants with a...
How Can We Stop So Great an Injustice?
I don't normally post items so close together but today NAMI Ohio has successfully convinced a State Senator to sponsor a bill that I...
Nothing About Us Without Us!
As we prepared for our regular monthly Board meeting, a casually dressed middle-aged man entered the room. I didn’t recognize him. I was struck...
